Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Schwantz missed the race because he crashed ' Dale Newton's Ducari in practice Friday. when th e bike threw a chain. Schwantz. .who mi ssed a deadline to sign a two-year Superbike co nt rac t with U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. earlier in the week, suffered a . broken collarbone. Wes Cooley led th e points with the Starfire Racing Honda 'going into the Sears Point round, but his run at his third cha m p ions h ip ground to a halt in a sicken ing, major'crash that left Cooley hospitalized with exten sive injuries, incl uding two broken femurs, a broken vetebra, broken hip and ruptured spleen. He is expected to recover. Cooley's crash occured at controver sial turn one, a top-gear lefthander bordered by a din em ba n kment. It is ironic that Cooley, a founder of the Professional Motorcycle Racer's Assn. (PMRA), a member of the Jon Woo Memorial Safet y Project, and a strong proponent o f ' im p ro vin g track safety, was hurt so badly in a corner that track officials - have frequently been contacted about . and asked to improve. "Our local representative, Kun Bickel , went so far as to make drawings of how turn one co u ld be improved to make it safer, and this was well over a year ago," said Bruce Hammer, president of the Jon Woo Memorial Safety Proj ect after Cooley's crash. "Bickel met with Rick Lalor and spoke to owner Jack Williams of Sears Point Raceway and the suggestions were generall y brushed off. Now a guy who has done nothing but good IorSuperbike racing in general and for Sears Point Raceway in specfic has been needlessly hun more seriously than he would have been if that hill had been modified liked we asked. Cooly spent a couple of da ys doing pre-race publicity for the track and his reward is a simple slide-out turned into a life-threatening tragedy because they aren't interested in making safety improements." Things started smoothly on Saturday as the first Superbike heat got the program rolling. Cooley led the field into turn 'one with Honda pilots John Bettencourt, Glenn Barry, Merkel and local favorite Rich Oliver (Kaw) following in hot pursuit. Cooley pulled out some distance in the first half of the opening lap, but Merkel got moving to pull even going into turn II. Cooley kept Merkel at bay while the duo pulled away from the rest of the pack and by the second lap the front two had put seven seconds between themselves and Barry in third. Merkel temporarily snuck past Cooley going into turn II, but at' the end of three laps Cooley was back in _ . front. Lap four saw Merkel take the lead going into turn seven, but once again Cooley was the. first. to exit. Turn seven, however, turned out tobe the place for Merkel as he rode around the outside of Cooley on the last lap and held on for the win. Oliver, meanwhile, had finally gotten the handle on Barry to finish third. Barry followed in fourth with Bettencourt rounding out th e top five. The second heat was a battle o f th e Yamahas in th e first turn as J imm y Filice continued hi s stri ng o f roc ket st arts with Sam McDonald right behind in second. At the end of th e first lap it was still Filice and McDonald with Dale Quanerley (Yam), Rueben McMuTler (Hon ), Brubak er and Scott Gray on the Yoshimura Suzuki following. Gray, from nearby Santa Rosa, was on the move, but got into a slight tangle with Brubaker going into turn two. The mishap slowed him down, but only• moment"1 ... • .. • . ~. .. ; I . I arily as he moved into fourth at the end of the second lap. Gray didn 't stop there and set hi s sights on Filice afte r di sp osin g of McDonald a nd McMuner. McMurter, h ow eer, put his 'Honda back pas t Gray as the two caught Fili ce on th e third lap. Gray a nd McMuner swa p ped positions again on th e third lap a nd Gray slid under Filice in Him seven to take the lead. McMurter followed in suit on the next go a ro un d and th e three finished in th at o rder. Brubaker .put his Honda ac ro ss th e line in fourth a nd McDonald took fifth . The firs t, and best, ponion o f th e accident-riddled Superbike ra ce got • underway with a bang as' Cool ey, Gra y a nd Merkel didn 't waste an y time in heading for the fron t. Filice followed in fourth to lead the freighttrain of Rich Oliver (Ka w), McMurter, McDonald, Ricky Orlando (Hon ) and John Bettencourt (H on) . . Merk el got by Gray in turn seven on lap two , but Cooley still held the top spot. Th e pa ce was furi ous as the three clocked a 1:44.75 during the seond lap and were already 40 seco nds up the the last place rider. On the third lap Gray put his Suzuki past Cooley's in turn three to take over the lead with Merkel in third. Filice still held on to fourth , but it was a distant fourth . McMurter moved by Ol iver who was followed by Brubaked and a fading McDonald. The top three could be covered by a blanket a s they pulled 10 seconds clear of Filice. Gray was still the leader, but Cooley and Merkel were close enough to pounce. On the seventh lap, the leading trio began to pass back-markers and Cooley's experience was beginning to show as he moved closer to Gray. Merk el, on the other hand, looked to be working a little harder wiih the back tire beginning to fade . The eighth lap saw a sudden change in the top three as Gray went into turn two a little hot and barely escaped crashing with his rear wheel off the track. The thought of body meeting pavement temporarily slowed the hard-charging Gra y, thus allowing Cooley and Merkel to slip by. Cooley continued to lead Merkelwith Gray dropping slightly off the pace. The first catastrophe struck on lep 10 as Gray stepped off hard on one of the fastest sections of the track, turn nine. With Gray injured and hay bales spread all over the track, the race was halted by the red flag . Following clean-up, the race was restarted wi th Coo ley, Fil ice and Merkel leading the way. Cooley was no longer benefiting from Merkel's . wrong tire choice as the Honda pilot had switched to a harder compound before the restart. The first lap of the restart saw Orlando, McDonald and McMuner get -Involved in a tangle with Orlando and McDonald going down. The mishap occured in turn seven, but the effects were forgotten quickly as Cooley and Filice were involved in a spectacular crash in turn on e. " H is rear end slid out and the bike exp loded, " Filice said o f the in cident. " T he gas tank new wa y in th e air a n d ca me down straight in front of me. " Filice esca ped unhurt an d rushed to check Cooley's co n ditio n as th e race faced its seco nd red flag. The third sta rt got underw a y with Cooley bein g a tten ded to a t So no ma County Hospital. With Co ol ey, G ray and Schwantz nursin g in j u ries, the last portion o f th e race was void o f a ny drama. Merkel got o ff to a fourth pl ace sta rt, but there was little doubt as to the o u tco me of this one. Merk el took over th e lead on the seco nd lap and never looked back . He quickly ?p~ne~. t.!l? ~ ..t~r~~- ~~c?!ld .l.e!!~. a!1? (Above) Fred Merkel (1) and Wes Cooley (9) before Cooley crashed. (Below) McMurter (24), Perry (15) and Brubaker in the Superbikes. the only race was for second. McMurter, Brubaker, Oliver, Barry , Nitto and Bettencourt were all in "posirio n to take the runner-up spot in the early going as the positions changed hands regularly. Merkel continued to lap in the mid-to-low 1:46s and pulled out to a 5.5-second lead on the fifth lap. The battle behind continued, but Brubaker began to settle in on the runner-up slot. The tight race was for third with Oliver and McMurter going at it. The suspense soon diminished, however, as both riders went down in the carousel. Brubaker held on to take second behind Merkel with Nitro, Barry and Bettencourt rounding out the top ' five. . . Merkeltook home the win and the • championship points, but it wasn't the most pl easant win for the defending Superbike champion. " T he sealer on the track comes up when ·th e wheels spin and it was just like a n ice skat e," Merkel said. "I ran o ff th e tra ck Once (befo re th e' first resta rt) a n d 1sho u ld be in the hospital. I chose th e wron g co m pou nd a n d 1 co u ld n' t have won (withou t th e resta n ). We are go ing wide-open on the fro m stra ig hta way now a nd we 've never been a ble to before. We're just go ing too fast a nd th e wh eel spi n p u lls th e sea ler from the trac k. Wes j ust sp u n it aro u nd and the same thi ng hap pen ed to Gray." T he cras hes were o n everyo ne 's li ps and th ere was mor e th an o ne versio n o f th e Mclvlurtc r-Oliver clash . Wh en as ked what occured a t the turll .s)x ,<;a!?pseI , 9?l? riders_stated opinions: "The local hero tried to be a hero," McMurter said. " He slid it out and took me with him. 1 moved over a little more and I don 't know if he lost the front or the back end; 1 couldn't do an yth ing." Ol iver's story proved to be th e opposite and he had the backing of Orlando - who apparently also had a gripe towards McMuner. "He tightened up, gassed it and pulled in front of me," Oliver said. " H e hit my front tire and we went down. 1had a full front wheel on him going in. but he tightened up on me ." Orlando was a blatenrly upset with McMuner. . "Me and Sam (McDonald) were going at it and when we set up for the Rueben McMurter and Same were all over me," he said. "I couldn't see what happened, but 1 think it's pretty rn u-c h . Ru e b e n riding over aggressivel y. The next thing 1 knew they were on top o f me. He tri es to int imidat e yo u." Results FINAL: l. Fred Merkel (Hon); 2. Todd Brubaker (Hen] : 3 . W alt Nitto IKawl: 4. Glenn Barry (Hon): 5. John Bettencoun (Hon); 6 . Carry Andrews (Ho n); 7 . Frank Mazur (Hont: 8. Don Biava (Kawl: 9. Kerry Bryant(Kaw): '0: Dava Harr is (Sul): '1 . Sam McDo · nald (Yam): 12. Keith Pinkstaff (SUl): 13. Stuart Cooper (Yam): 14. Jeff Haney (Hon): , 5. Jim Vreeke (Yam); 16. Jim Tribou (Yam); 17 . Bernd Koegler (Hon ): , B. Vince Costa (Kaw): , 9. Bob Reinen (Kawl; 20. Rueben McMurter (Hon). POINT STANDINGS: t . Fred Merkel (36): 2. Wes Cooley (29): 3. Todd Brubaker 1271: 4 . (Tie) Kevin Schw8ntz/Freddie Spencer/Glen Barry (20) ; 7 . (Tie ) Jimmy Filice/Walt Nitto (18) 9 . John Benen court j t 51 10.Jeff Haney('4):' 1. Rueben McMur: ter I' 3): , 2. (Tie) Carry Andrew/Scott Gray(l 0):'4. ear l Roloff (9): 15. (Tie) Mike Harth/ Frank Malur/ . Ricky Or lando (8); 18. (Tie) Don Biava/Terry Hamp- ton (7): 20. Kerry Bryant .l61. 11

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