Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

z ~ ~ u, u, 0 :I: w e o a: 0 w 'Cl >CD ~ til 0 0 00 I- ...... '<1. 0') ' :I: ...... ;>C\l ~ Terry Vance (above) won Pro Stock class with a 8 .300/160.85 mph pass. (Below ) Sam W ills (near) and Elmer Trett face off in the Top Fuel final. mBA National Championship Drag Race Series: Round. . Wills, Vance tops at.Gulfport drags By George Hoffman GULFPORT, MS, AP R . 13-14 A record-breaking field of entrants looked on as Sam Wills and Terry Vance dre w fir st blood in the IDBA season opener a t Gulfport International Dragway. . 20 The T op Fu el fi na l brough t together Sa m Wills,"aboard hi s purpl e Naff Racin g blown Kawasaki a nd Elm er Trett wi th h is new titan ium framed exotica - also a blown Kaw asa ki. The run was ove r in record tim e. Will s blasted to a new ET record o f 7.290 seco nds at 194.80 mi les pe r hour to Elmer 's 7.567/196.36. T erry Vance, st ill ge tti ng used to h is new Suzuki 1150E Pro Stocker, meta consistently qu ick Randy Mason in th e Pro Stock fin al - a fina l that pro ved to be a h eartbreaker for Mason. As Vance did hi s burnout, Mason started h is bike and rolled it to th e burnout area . The en g ine th en bega n to qui t cylin der by cylin der with lat er exa mi na tio n turn in g up a dead ba ttery as th e cu lp ri t. Wi th Mason releg a ted to spec tato r sta tus, Va nce clocked a n 8.30/ 160.85 to ' back up p revious runs,a nd give Va n ce both ends of the Pro Stock reco rd with an 8.28 E;T . and 161.14 m p h top spe ed . - The Pro Co mp fin a l saw J erry Meyers face Jim Dod ich in a ru n th at left both men si tting at th e en d of th e track wo nderi ng who won . " We were si tti ng there unsure o f wh o won whe n I sa w Ch ris from J erry's crew come flyin g up with a smi le as wide as the ha nd lebars," said Dod ich . " I immediately co ngra tu la ted J err y." It took a near pe rfect .4 13 react ion ti me on the sta rt by Meyer to Dod ich 's .445 to do it. Dodi chs 8.364 / 158.59 co u ld n ' t make up the difference a nd lost to Meyer 's 8.388/ 156.25. Su nday's eliminations found o n ly three T op Fu elers left fro m Saturday's eigh t. Larry McBr ide, o n the Reisell Mac hi ne an d T ool Works, Ariassponsored Suzuki a nd T reu had q ual ified one-two , resp ectivel y, a nd were locked into those positions . Will s, a fter break in g a tra nsm issio n o n Sat urda y, ret u rned to qual ify Sunday ' and laid down a 7.30, which was threetenths faster than McBri de's 7.68 to p tim e. Ro und one of T op Fu el elim ina tions pitted McBrid e agai nst Wills. Wh en the ligh ts came down , McBr ide wa s o u t first trying to regain so me o f tha t qua lifying edge th at Wills di spl ayed. Mid -track fo un d Wills edgin g u p on McBride wi th both m en 's tires ha zing an d . whispin g smoke. Wh en Wills was about to edg e by McBride leaned on th e Suzu ki h ard an d th a t's wh en the ti re, bike a nd rider disappeared in a th ick cloud of s m o ke to reappear in the traps. McBride h eaded for the trailer with a 7.736/ 184.99 to Wills ' 7.540/193 .54. Trett ran so lo, takin g h is time Ieeling o u t th e bik e with a reaction time o f .749 an d an id entical ,7.540 to Will s' at 195.43. When Wills me t Treu in the fina l, even with th e 7.30 'clockin g of Wills, no one was dis counti ng Treu, The pair sta ged a n d were gone. Will s was o u t first, Trett on his heels. Th en , a s with McBride, Wills' tir e started hazin g , but Trett co u ld n' t make up th e differen ce. Will s got th e big money. " I co u ld n' t back o u t o f it wh en the tir e started to spi n because of the h igh top spe ed tha t Elm er had been get ting ," said Will s. " I knew h e wou ld get me on top end so I had to sta y in it an d hope I had gott en O U I well eno ugh at the start to hold him off. " Trett sa id of the m id- tra ck smoke: " Us ua ll v it would h ave been where I might ha ve caught him , bu t I was o n th e rear brake tryin g 10 keep my rear whee l fro m spi n n ing. Besid es. he had a great run ." T re u a lso ex p la ine d h is slo wer tha n us ua l reaction times on th e bra nd new bike by saying: " Whe n I ge t o n th e bik e it 's lik e co m ing home a t n ight with th e lights o ff a nd find in g th e furni turehas been rear ran ged. I'll ge t used to it." C ha nges in th e ru les this year h ave m ade Pro Stock raci ng probably the tightest co mp etitively. T he weight limit for bo th Ka wasak i a nd Suzuki ha s been dropped 30 p ounds wh ich has stirred u p the co mp etitio n. La st year if you were runni ng 8.50s a nd 8.60s yo u were in the h unt. T his year forget it. If yo u 're no t runni ng 8.40s yo u ' ]l probab ly get to sit in the shade . before th e rest of th e guys. Of the top fo ur q ua lifiers, a ll were in the 8.40s excep t Van ce a t 8.322. T he nu mber five quali fier sat wi th a n 8.505. Wh en th e sem is ro lled arou nd , ' three o f th e four were th ere plus J oh n Ma faro wh ose co nsistency go t h im th e win at th e G a toma tion al s. The th ree were Vance, Barry Kogut a n d Ma son. T he fourth top qual ifi er was Dave Sch u ltz. He went o ut to Mafaro wh en h is carburetors went so u th a nd began overflo wing. Wh en th e lights turned green h is tire had to sp in through a two-foot wide puddle of gas. Mafaro go t him wi th an 8.5211.156 to Sch ultz 's 9.538/ 155.44. Th is left Van ce to face Ma faro an d Kogu t to run Mason. Before th eir p ass Van ce was ex p lai n ing how it was 10 be ridin g a new bike a n d ge ttin g used to it. H e sa id, " So me ti mes I tell Byron h e sho u ld ge t someone else to ri de it. T he compu ter we h ave says it sho u ld go 8.22 and I'm runn in g 8.30s." Wh en Mafa ro ca me to the line to mee t Vance he kn ew he would have to ge t ou t qui ck if h e was going to trailer Van ce. Ma fa ro got ou t first with a .485 to Vance's .527, but tir e spin nega ted a ll tha t im mediately , a nd off went Va nce 10 the Pro Stock ride of h is life at 8.28 1/ 159.7 1 10 Mafar o 's 8.508/1 57.34. Kogut an d Ma son m oved to th e lin e next. Kogu t had been runn in g we ll a ll weekend , but th e rou nd before agains t Steve Mil es he had started lat e and then ran through Schu ltz's gas spot a nd a lmost lost it a ll. Wh en th e bik e h ook ed up aga in he was o ff afte r Miles. As th in gs would have it, 12 feet ou t Miles brok e. Kogu t wouldn 't let that happen again. T he two h ad been runn in g cl ose a ll weekend so th e race would be won a t th e ligh t. It was - Kogu t jumped too soon and red-l ighted, Th e fin al found a broken Mason sitti ng in th e wa ter. Van ce was still thi nki ng a bo u t th e bik e an d ge tti ng dia led in. Wh en the lights came down, h e ca me o ut a lmost o ne -ten th lat er , but put o n th e smoot hest and str aightest run of h is weekend a t 8.300/ 160.85. Ted Hunnicutt took the overall win at the Rovers hare and hound. 30 seconds ahead of Dan Ashcraft. Rovers AMA 0.37 Hare and Hound Hunnicutt whip~ fiel~ By Larry Langley R ED MOUNTAIN , CA , AP R. 14 T eam Yam ah a rid er T ed Hunnicuu led from start to finish to wi n th e Rovers AMA D-37 H are and Hound. H unnicutt (AXO / Dura lube/ Sco tt ) fought off h eat sickness th e entire second loop 10 fini sh a sca nt 30 seco n ds over fast closing Dan Ash craft (H us)., " I had a good lead but th e heat reall y go t 10 me" sai d Hunnicutt. " I kept loo kin g ba ck an d didn 't see a nyo ne so I took it easy a nd sto pped for wa ter at eac h chec k." H owever Hunnicutt failed to see Ash craft closin g . " I got pretty clos e a t th e end " stat ed Ash craft. " I kn ow Ted didn ' t see m e. I go t close en o ugh to see h im fin ish . An other cou p le of mi les a nd I think I co u ld ha ve go tte n him. The sta rt did m e in. I go t a horrible start, abou t 40th a t th e bomb." Yamaha s were running one, two and three for m ost o f th e ra ce with P aul Krause an d Mike " Do wn h ill" Alexander chasing Hunnicutt until di saster struck for th e p ai r. Kra use had hi s bi ke' s cha in co me o ff. wad up and totally destroy hi s cases. Shortly after Alexand er p assed Krause, Alexa nde r crash ed . in juring h is shou lder. ''I' m not sure w ha t ha p pened " said Alexander. " I passed Paul (Kra use) a n d had a hi gh speed slide o u t a nd th en th e bike h igh-sided, throwi ng m e a co nsiderable d istance right onto m y shou lder . It's tore up pretty good". Alexander m anag ed to ride back to Kra use an d Krause rode Alexander 's bike into th e fin ish and got help. A very good turnout o f 444 riders donated a ni ce $500 to Rescu e Three. T he h eat took its 1011 as a lot of riders dropped out due to deh ydration . Eric H a ll gath p ow ered h is Malco lm Smith Motorcycles/ Answ er Prod uct s-sp ons ored Husk y 250XC to 'th e 250cc wi n. Duane Summers wo n th e I 75cc class but 'o n ly a fter T om Elias (Pro- Cycle KTM/Duralube) led m ost of th e way until a shock went away . Su m me rs fina lly passed Elias who was tryin g to keep th e KTM (C o n t in ued to page 32)

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