Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ W lAo a: w u > lD a ... a :J: l>. l!") - 00 0') ~ l!") iU e ~ ~ Bruce Sass dominated MRA road racing at Pueblo on his new Yamaha FZ750; Sass won the MRA Championship last year. Strong, Wilson storm Hannegan FTopener By Clay Light BELLI NGHAM , WA, MAY II AMA Cl a-ss C Experts Kirk Strong and Donald Wil son rode to impressive main even t wins a t Bellingham 's H ann egan 46 Speedway q ua rte r-mile ova l £lat track opene r. Strong (Hon ) wo n th e 250cc Pro main to li ne up a t the victory p od iu m with fellow National nu mber-h older Wilson, 'wh o was wi n ne r of th e O pen Pro main event. Young Dann y Sta n ley rode magni ficiently in two Sem i-Pro classes. winning the80cc Aa nd 125cc A ma in events. Sta n ley beat J an e Bousch ard in th e 80cc port ion and Ch uc k Ra m bow in the 125s. Ram bow h eld o ff Todd Da vies for runneru p in th e m ain as well as ge tti ng a good view of Sta nley wi n n in g both tro phy dashes. T he trop hy da sh races saw the top two from th e h eat races line up for a few ex tra lap s with win s going to Strong in the 250cc Pro dash . Strong beat BBRF Racing 's Ra n dy Roose (H on) and Yamaha-mounted Mike McClai n fo r the 250 win. But Strong was not as lucky in th e Open dash , witnessing a four-rider shooto u t between Wil son, Ro bert j onseve. AMA ' Novice Mark Illian (H on) and AMA IJ u n ior wildman Ricky Albee (R tx) 'w ith Wilson' co m i ng o u t ahead for .th e brass . Ra in the n ig h t before made racing quest ionable and many wer e ready to race after' last n igh t'S disappointing Oregon TT rai nout. The 250cc Pro ma in event stirred excitement with St ro n g si tti ng a t th e pole on h is Na tional number 59-p la ted H onda . St ron g shot o ff the lin e to lea d McCl ain , Rance Barclay (Hon) a nd Terry Kertis. Strong had on ly h is shadow to pace h im and rode th e m aj orit y o f th e race un contested en route to th e checkered £lag, with McClain ha ving h is hands full in a swapfest for second with Barcla y. McCl ain got the nod for the spot with Kertis fourth an d Roose fifth . Wilson rode superbly after grabbing th e lead in the evening 's hi gh p oint, wh ich was th e Open Pro m ain even t. Canadian sensation Steve Aseliine (H -D) has fina lly turned of age to ra ce th e big boy s legally (a fter beating Mick ey Fa y and Randy Green last sea so n a t 15-years-old ) a nd rode a ra m pant pace in second wh ile Albee rode in th ird , much to th e delight of the h ometown fans . In fourth rode Strong, on th e meanest so u nd in g ma chine on th e track - a HarleyDavid son XR750. Strong was ha ving trouble hooking up o n th e slick dusty tra ck, which had dri ed much more th an track officia ls had ho ped for . Strong couldn 't keep up with th e lighter 560s and ha d to fi gh t.off AMA rookie E r t Brian McG o ni gal for o ne o f th la st money spots on hi s Sea tt le H onda/ Sim p son-sponsored XR750. McGonigal (BBR P Racing/ KTM 560) a nd Roo se (R tx) gave th e specta tors an a ll -Pro lin eu p . with Wilson gett ing his firs t win of th e season in o u tdoor raci ng. T he most exc i ring p oint o f th e race was on th e last lap, co m i ng o u t ol th e final tum . Aseltine gave Alb ee eno ug h room' to sq uee ze into seco nd which drove th e ch illed crowd crazy and gave th e h ometown bo y seco nd money a t th e fip is h ove r Asel ti ne , S trong and McG onical. Results OPEN PRO : 1. Don W ilson; 2, Ricky A lb ee; 3. Steve Aseltine; 4 . Kirk Strong; 5. Br ian M cGon igal. 250 PRO: L Ki rk Strong; 2. Mike M cCla in ; 3. Rance Barcley; 4 . Terry Kerns: 5. Randy Roos e. OPEN PRO TO: 1. Don W ilson; 2. Robert Jonseve; 3. Mark lilian. . 250 PRO TO: 1. Kirk Strong: 2. Rand y Roose : 3. Mike McCla in . Brundage blasts Intermediates at DeAnza By Nate Rauba SI NNYMEAD , CA. MAY 12 Three riders en ded .u P tied in poin ts for th e o vera ll in the 250cc Int ermedia te clas srodav a t DeAnza Racing Club 's MX. Frankie Brundage (Ka w) broke i t wi th a win in th e second moto after a crash in mo to one left him third. Ma lcol m Sm ith -Yamaha rider Ron Urman led G ilbert Valdez (Suz), I25cc' win ner Mike Yo un g (Yamaha Suppon / Gear/ RaceTech / A'ME ), a nd Cycl e World 's Ron Lawson (Suz), Brunda ge (JT/ Maxi ma/Sco tt Kaw ) go t o ff to a bad stan, but moved in to . fourth posit ion by th e seco nd lap. At th e end o f lap tw o th e pack was in tigh t order wh en Brunda ge fell in a co rner. Law son p lowed into him but stayed u p, los in g a few posit io ns to th e 125cc riders . whil e Brundage d idn 't get goin g until eve ryo ne went by. Out fro nt, Urma n had Valdez o n his tail a nd su rrendered the -lead o n th e fifth lap. Yo ung th en we nt by too, an d a few laps later h e wres tled th e lead from Valdez a nd began to p u ll a way . While Ur man shadowed Va ldez for the res t of the race. Brundage was busy making up lost ground. By the last lap Brundage had U rm a n a nd Valdez in sight, a nd in the la st turn ma de a ch arge at Ur ma n which ca me up sh ort. In th e end it wa s Young cro ssi ng the line fir st with th e 125cc win , with Valdez, Ur ma n, a nd Brundage co m ing in in ch es a pa rt for th e top three 250cc p osit ions. Once agai n Urman put hi s Yamaha a t th e front of th e cr owd a t th e sta rt of mot o two, with Brundage, Va ldez, a n d Young foll o win g . Brunda ge tail ed Urman for the lirs t three laps, then took th e lead a n d qu ickl y put a few seco nds on th e Yamaha p ilot. Valdez d idn 't a p pear to be up for a nothe r figh t, as h e quickl y fad ed after Young put h im .back to fourth. Brundage continued 10 pull away, while Young went to secon d on th e 10th lap. From then o n, Brundage j ust cru ised to th e win a s Young rode hard a nd closed in o n th e fin al laps. Ur man was th e seco nd 250 to come home, claim ing second overall with a 2-2, which beat Valdez's 1-3 score. The second mota of the 250cc Beginner class featured a close battle for the overa ll win. After finishing second Eric Karsgor in rnoto one, Jeff Smith ca me ba ck to cla im th e o vera ll victory in the seco n d round . But first he had to work a ro u nd Ma rk Shuck a nd Ken Behm. and once he got th e lead he had to fight w ith Behm to keep it. Every lap Behm a tte mpted to ge t him on th e big downhill , bu t every time ' Sm it h sh u t h im o ff in th e following corner. Behm co u ld n ' t m ak e it by on the final pa ss a nd h ad 10 sett le for seco nd overa ll. whil e Sh uc k wo u nd u p th ird. Results PEe WEE: 1. J erry Alema n (Yam ); 3. Ian Hassell (Yaml. M INI BEG : 1. Todd Sm it h (Yam l; 2. Brian Wi lson (Suz); 3. Ja m es MacKay (S uz). . MINI NOV: 1. Joel A lbrecht (Kaw ); 2. Brett Bya rd (Yam); 3 . Jeremy Albrecht (Kaw). MINI INT : 1. Phil Lawrence (Yam). MINI EX: 1. An thony French (Hon) . 125 BEG : 1. Tom Bon acci (Kaw ); 2. Richard Ger raghty (Yam ); 3 . Rob Chu fo (Honl. 125 NOV: 1, Olaf Sven son (Han); 2. Roger Haupt ma n (Kawl: 3. Ma rk W ied eman (Su zl. 125 1NT: 1. Mike Young (Yam); 2 .Johnny Bona cc i (Suz); 3. Todd Kobetsky (Kawl. 250 BEG : 1. Jeff Smith (Ha n); 2 . Kan Behm (Suzl; 3. Mark Shuck (Han). 250 NOV: 1. Daryn Walls (Kawl; 2. 'John Sing letary (Yam) ; 3. Craig Connelly (Hon). 250 INT: t , Frankie Brundage (Kaw) ; 2 . Ron Urman (Yam) ; 3 . Gilbert Valdez (Su z). 250 PRO; 1. Tom Combs (Kawl: 2. Luther French (Suz); 3. Lance Gorton (Kaw). 250 EX: 1, Tom Thompson (Yam ). OPEN NOV : 1. Ralph Turnbull (Yam) . VET J R: 1. Ken Feulner (Ma i): 2. J ack Mill erd (Hon); 3 . M ich ael Langness (Hon ). Ve T INT: 1. Alan Ken t IKaw); 2. Dan San ch ez (Yam): 3 . Lenn y Rock (KTM). VET SR: 1. Bust er Lawrence (Hus) ; 2. Dav id Hes sell (Ho nl : 3 . Larry Lowen (S Ul) . $ass tops MRA opener By c. E. Rife PUEBLO. CO, MAY 5 Local ho tshoe Bru ce Sass do mina ted th e ac tio n a t Puebl o Mo torspor ts Racewa y today in the Mountain Roadracing Associa tion season opene r. Sass , sporting p late number one as last yea r's ove ra ll MRA cha m pion , took three firsts a nd o ne seco nd on hi s Tea m Spiri t-p repped Yamahas o n th e 2.25 mile-long co urse. Follow ing a red-fl agged Novice race won by C hr is Hill on a GPZ550, and a 450c(: Su perbike co ntest dominat ed by RZ350s an d eventually won by Greg Sm ith o f G olden , Sas s took th e pol e p osition in th e 600cc Su perbike class. Bill ed as th e " race o f th e day" by an nounc er J oe Da y, th e 57bike field featu red seven o f last year's top 10 MRA racers in th e fir st two rows . N u m ber two Dan Turner and number three Dan Walker, a lso on FJ 600s, filled o ut th e first ro w. Ano the r fea tu red r-ide r in th e race was Superbike Na tional number six Ricky Orlando, FJ600-mounted in the third row. Sass jumped to an early lead on the Vi ck er y/Woody's/Dunlop/DUMPspons ored bik e, but was soon passed by Orlando o n a Dennis Zickrickprepared MPC/Surt ech /Yamaha Loveland/Bassani/TK-7 bik e. The ch all enge didn 't last long, as Orlando fad ed after three laps. Sa ss had a seven seco n d lead by th e h alfway mark over second pl ace rider Gre g Smith (Ya m). Sass wa s nev er challenged agai n, . nor did Sm ith lose seco n d pl ace. Turner ' rounded out the top three. Similar results cha rac terized the O pen Superbike a n d Open Production class rac es, with Sas s campa igning his four-day-old FZ750. Sa ss loved the FZ, sayi ng it was " wor king great," a nd went on to prov e it. Early challen ges in the Production race by John H opperstad on a Kawasaki Turbo 750 were waved a way by Bruce. H opperstad took seco nd in .the Production race, followed by Greg Curtis (Yam ). Dr. Dav e Kieffer (Kaw) took second in th e Superbike race despite a late rac e challenge by Jim Edwards (Han). The onl y serio us blow to Sass' day ca me in th e Formula One race. Or'Ia ndo , riding hi s Zickrick-prepared Interceptor, posted a new lap record o f 144.7, three seco nds below th e old mark. O rlando p rov ed th is en route to vic to ry by putting over half-a-lap be tween h imself an d Sass, then on a n FJ 1100. Keith Kiyot a (Yam) pulled in third. T he 600cc Product ion ra ce was to p pe d by Danny Wal ker, follow ed by Dan Turner a nd Mike Cunningham. The leaders h eaded a fleet of FJ 600s a head of rafts o f 600R N in jas a nd Intercep tors. Results NOV: 1. Chris Hill (Kaw) ; 2. Guy G1asen (Han); 3. Paul Zimmerman. 450 SUPERBIKE: 1. Greg Smith (Yam ); 2 . George Tatge (Yam); 3 . John Hjelm (Yom). 600 SUPERBIKE: 1. Bruce Sass (Yam); 2. Greg Sm ith (Yam); 3 . Dan Turner (Yam ). OPEN SUPERBIKE: 1. Bruce Sass (Yam); 2. Dr . Dave Kieffer (Kaw); 3 . J im Edwards (Hon ), F·1 : 1. Ric ky Orla ndo (Han); 2. Bruce Sass (Yam ); 3. Keith Kivota (Yam) . FORMULA COLORADO: 1. Keith Kiyota (Yam); 2, 2. Aaron Turner (Yam I; 3 , Dan Turner (Yam). OPEN PROD : 1. Bruce Sass (Yam ); 2. John Hopperstad (Kaw); 3 . Greg Curtis (Yam ). 600 PROD : 1. Dan Wa lker (Yam); 2 . Dan Turner (Yam); 3 . Mike Cunningham. Cunningham covers Expert MX By Paul Nielsen . BELLINGHAM. WA. MAY 9 Mark Cun ni ngham aced bo th starts to tak e the overal l wi n in the 125cc Expert class today a t Han negan Speedway. Opposing him a ll da y was Steve Frisen, who threat en ed but would finish out of th e top th ree. Darryl Marten 's seco nd place finish in rn oto two was good enough for second overa ll , a nd Scott Steffy wo r ked hi s way up to finish third for the day. C u n ni ngham g ui ded h is H on da aro un d th e corner an d into first pl ace a t the start o f th e fir st 125cc Expert m o to with Frise n (Han) by hi s side and tr ying to p ass. At th e en d of lap one, o f th e I I-l ap ra ce, Brent Mel vin (Ya m) was in seco nd . Cunningh am o pe ne d h is lead o ver Mel vin , wh ileLarr y Visco (Kaw) was in fourth and o n the m ove. On th e fourth lap, Visco pa ssed Fr isen an d th en go t Melv in in th e six th lap a nd set out after Cunn in gham. On lap nine, Visco reeled in Cunningham a n d led to th e flag. Cunningham was secon d, Melvin third . a nd Fr isen fo u rt h. It was Cunningham 'aga in in first pl ace a t th e sta rt o f th e second rn ot o, a nd agai n it was Fr isen right beside hi m . On lap fi ve, Steffy (Kaw) got

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