Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126817
.~ :I: U it: ..J ::l Z :I: 0 .., ~ > CD til 0 0 I- :I: e, ~ 00 Q') ........ ~ ~ c-r ...... ..... ~ 0.. ~ (Above) Doug Tol and (289) leads on the first lap, ahead of Jim Vreeke (22), Todd Brubaker (399) and Earl Roloff (58). (Below) The race turned out to be between Toland and Brubaker. To land ridin g his first Superbike race. Brubaker riding his fastest. . The victor: Todd Brubaker of Starf ire Rac ing. on a Honda. Kerker West Coast Superbike Series: Round 2 Brubaker stops . oshimura and Y Toland By John Ulrich ROSAMOND , CA, APR. 14 Starfire Racing's Todd Brubaker u sed his Ken Funkho u ser-tuned VF750 F Honda Sup erbike to w in the Lockhar t-sponsored second round of the Kerker West Coas t Super20 bike Series at WillOw. Springs I 1O bea t Doug Toland and the Rae: way, ~O)1ljpg (r rp.Qt;tIind . ..y. 9spim",ra. Rile!? 9£. J\rp.e.rjc;:q _ . Suzuki. In winning, Brubaker avenged his three recent losses to the Yoshimura Suzuki; both times the Suzuki was ridden by Houston's Kevin Schwantz. But this weekendSchwantz stayed home in Texas and his place was taken by Toland, who was being considered as a second rider on the Yoshimura team. All Toland had to do to earn a ride on a Yoshimura Suzuki for the up· coming AMA Pro-Am scheduled for April 27 was beat Brubaker. The way Yoshimura's Suehiro Watanabe explained it to Toland, he'd need to turn I minute, 30 second lap times, as fast as Schwantz went in his first ride on the Yoshimura bike. To land did turn I:30 la p times, but lost to Brubaker. The catch was that Brubaker, between his last defeats at Schwantz's hands, had gotten faster , and won the race turning 1:29s. The race started with Toland jumping out front, his first la p from a standing start taki ng 1:36.45 to Bru baker's 1:37.67. But Toland's lead shrunk on th e second lap, when he turned a I:31.40 and Brubakerturned I:30.32. Both turned I:30s forthe next two laps, Brubaker just behind . Toland, drawing even entering turn four but not gelling past. But on the fifth lap Brubaker drove hard on Toland .exiting the, last tutn. pulled.. . up beside him on the straight, and dove past into turn one, in front. Brubaker's laps from that point on were all I:29s, the fas test 1:29.28; Toland's remaining la ps in the eightlap race were I:30s, a I:31 and a 1:32. Brubaker won by seven seconds. "The first couple of laps I kind of stayed behind him, to see how fast he was going to -go ," said Brubaker. "About halfway through in turn eight it looked like he got a lillie tired. the way he was hanging onto the bike. I got a good drive out of turn nine. Then I passed him. I expected Doug to come around on the straight, but he didn 't. "My bike was gelling a lillie wobbly," Bru bak er said. "That's the fast· est I ever went, so I imagine the suspension was set up a lillie sort. I'm as happy as I can be." "The rear tire started sliding at the top of the hill," said Toland later. after jumping off the Superbike on to his La Habra Yamaha FJ600 and winning the 600cc Stock Prod uctio n event immediately after the Kerker Superbike race. "I'd have liked to beat Todd, but I'm satisfied for my firstraceon a Superbike. At least now I know between practice and a race is worth two seconds, one to two seconds - that's how much faster I went in olh ~ fa,et,' i , 1I !1! . 1; - ._ • t.. ,,