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
pulled away, bu t by turn seven, Greene
too k aim on O liv er. Oliver worked
up to a three-second lead, but Greene
used slower tr affi c 10 his a dva n tage in
th e last laps o f th e ra ce to whittl e
aw ay at Oliver' s lead . Greene fin all y
slip ped past Oliver in a kn ot' of
slo wer riders o n th e last lap. Oliver
put o n a n as to u nd ing cha rge from
th e last turn that brough t the crowd
to th eir feel. H e p assed Greene as th ey
crossed th e fini sh line, but Green e
had gotten th er e fir st 10 win literall y
by inch es. The final decision requir ed
a m eeting o f th e sco re rs . Denn y
Dohert y worked h is wa y to th e from
of th e tightl y bunch ed ri de rs fighting
for th ird pl ace to tak e tha t trop hy.
The Open G P race showed every
: sign o f being a repeat of th e th rill ing
Superstreet race. T he tw o bikes and
riders were well mat ched . At the sta rt
th ey ran away from th e rest o f th e
field to give fans a n exhi bit io n of
close, fast co m pe ti tio n . T he two bikes
wer e nev er sepa rated by much, and
th e ord er c ha n ge d repeatedl y as
Greene and Oliver took turns passing ea ch other. Green e had just made
a diving pass on Oliver in th e t urn I I
h a ir pi n on th e third la p and was
accelerating up th e front straight
when he missed a shift. He glanced
ov er hi s sho u lde r to see which way 10
dodge just in time 10 sec Oliver get
hi s from wh eel back o n th e pavernent, in ch es from Green e's rear tire.
Oliver was un abl e to avoid th e co ll ision. H is from wheel gl anced off
Greene's rear wh eel, th e axle end
tearing o u t a ch u n k of rubber and
then gell ing tangl ed in th e cha i n
adjuster. Oli ver wen t down in a spectacular cra shand slid th e length o f
th e stra ig ht ; Oliver jumped up a nd
over th e wall , bruised but un injured.
G reen e recov er ed a nd went o n fo r th e
win . Ed Woo took second o n his
TZ750 , a n d Ron Weil and too k third
on a Kaw a saki .
Interest in middl ew eight ra cing
has been g rowin g for th e past two
years, but a sudden jump in en tries
caught th e AFM offici al s by su rprise.
The resuh was a n 84-bi ke g rid for the
combined 450cc and 600cc Stock P ro duction classes. A co n tro versy has
risen in th e northern Ca liforni a ch a p ter of th e AFM over co n tingenc y
money in box stock races; AFM Nort h
o fficia ls decided on a tWD wave start
for the 600cc class. The riders in th e
first wav e were riding for co nt in gen cies, the second wave for trophies
only.
Wah Ni tto , AFM Number One, led
the first wave off th e grid on a new
Yamaha F]600 but was soon passed
by Nigel G al e, a lso o n a F]600. At th e
end of one lap Gale was still in front ,
barel y. They were closely pursued by
a large group o f close ly-ma tche d riders includin g D Dn Biava a nd Ed
Kawag uch i. Th e close racing co n tinued with only minor cha nges in
th e order . By th e las t laps riders were
strun g a ll th e wa y a ro u nd th e track .
Ed Woo , riding an RZ500 , had slowl y
worked his way up to th e money riders . Niuo dropped farther behind
Gale in th e den se traffi c. Yamaguchi
and W DO di ced in the last laps a nd
moved up 10 threat en Nino , The
final order was G al e, Nitro. Wo'o and
Ya m ag uch i, all o n Yamahas. Yama- '
guchi was a warded th e third place
finish since Woo 's gra y-m ar ket -imported bike was not lega l in class.
Results
OPEN GP : 1. Don Gree ne (Han) ; 2 . Edw in Woo
(Yam ); 3 . Ron W eiland (Kaw).
FORMULA I: 1. Don Biave (Kaw); 2. Frank Mazur
(Han); 3 . V inc e Costa 1 ~8w l.
FORMULA II: 1. Dwayn e Chung (Yam l; 2. Bob
Lu gfian i (Arm); 3 . Eric Kon do (Yam) .
FORMULA IV : 1. J eff Leggin (Yam I; 2 . Alan SCali
(Yam); 3 . Sh annon Cris s (Han) .
. FORMULA S: 1. Jeff Murrey (Yam); 2 . Allan Yar row (Yam); 3: Ja me s Lerer (Yam) .
75 Dcc FORMULA T: 1. Paul Galli van (Tri); 2 . Pat
Ryan (Tr i); 3 . David Ne al (Nor).
OPEN FORMULA T: 1. Bud Ridd le (Ya m); 2. Rick
We be r (BMW); 3 . Art Cha mbers (Due).
• CCESSORIES BELlFLOWER YAMAHA .
• TOURING'
.I
r-------------------------------------------~
Serving All of Southern California '
~REfT • OFF-ROAD I
I SAlES' SERVICE· PARTS A
!'. '