Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

---- en ~ ~ lr lr <{ ~ > 0 z <( lr > '" o lo if li") 00 Q') ....... ~ li") CJ.) C ~ io--:l Team Ontario won its first race of 1985 at an event marked by the non-attendance of all the other top teams in the series. AMA/Championship CUp Endurance Road Race Series: Round 5 Ontario hot in Texas By Randy Marrs GRAPEVI NE , T X, MAY 18-19 After suffering through a malady of various mechanical ills and one crash in the three previous rounds of the series, Team Ontario's John Ashmead and Lynn Miller put it all together at Green Valley R C' f h ei Ii " f ace Ity or t elf irst w In 0 the season. Ashmead and Miller rode a Honda VFIOOOR to a 36 five-l ap m ar gin o f victor y on the 1.5mile, seven -tu rn road ' co urse over runner-up Brad Holman and th e ABC Racing Suzu ki GSI 150 in th e fou rhour race. The turnout fo r the en d ura nce round wa s a very sli m n in e tea m s due to a ll the top series runners passing up th e T ex as ro u nd to prepar e for th e upcomin g Paul Revere 250 at Daytona in Jul y. Miller, rid in g th e first leg on th e Am er ican H onda/ O nt a rio Moto-T ech /Dun lop/D.E. Mach in a/ Lindsay Equipment/Carn-z/ Spectro/ ND /Mot o-X Fox Honda , jumped into th e lead a t the start a nd was trailed by Marvin West o n th e Euro-C ycl e Imports BMW 1000, Robert Bub r idin g th e Back Road Bandits S uzu ki, th e Yamaha FJ6000fTeam Visa , an d Holman By th~ co m p letio n of th e seco nd lap, Holman had moved into third a n d beg an to close on West. Miller had the Ontar io H onda on th e move a nd began to stretch o u t a lead on th e field. On lap six, H olman go t aro u nd West a nd starte d to move o n Mill er. Mill er H olman and West were now in th e' process of bu ilding a co mman din g lea d o n the bal an ce of th e field. By th e halfway poi nt o f th e first hour West bega n to slo w o n the BMW and on th e next la p left th e race with a blown motor. With 15 minutes left in th e fir st hour, H olman got aro un d Miller for th e lead. Tully went down in turn one, but was a ble to ge t th e bike up an d m aintai n-Team Visa 's lead in th e G T U class. At the end of th e Iirst hour Mill er had th e lead back with Hol~an runnin g seco nd on th e sa me lap. The Back Road Bandits team on their Bassan i/Withrow Suzuki/ND / Barnett v'West Al ex andri a Am oco . h S uzu kiI Wit. M att W as h i gt ?n nid . m mg, held third ove r T eam Visa a nd T eam Northstar • • • Four h ou rs o f endura nce racing 11l th e hot Texas su n is no easy feat fo r a ny team , let al one o ne rider w ithou t relief , but th at's just what Holman elected to do . Ashmead ,riding forOntario, bega n to mo~or away fr<;>~ H olm.an . " O ur po wer s goo.d a n~ It s .h and lmg super , bu t th e mam th~ng IS we kn ow o~r c1 ~ tch ~rob lem IS so lved. My a~m IS su ll ~ore f.rom th e crash a t WI!I ~w a nd I .m a httle ~ut ?f s h~pe, bu t we re running grea t, sa id ~1 1! ~er. At t? e halfway POIn ~ I~ the race, Ontario hel? a two-l a p advant age <;> n H ?lman with Back . Road Bandits thud; Northstar. Racin g had moved a ro u n d ':ea m Visa for fourth . . . The thud h our saw Ontar io wit h a flye-,I ap lead o ver H?lman. T eam Visa s Steve T u lly, wit h. Bob Green now o n th e track , exp lained a prob~em ~he ~eam was ?avin ~: " ~u r c1ut~h IS slip p ing so we re taking It easy . , Of no te, w~s the fa ct th at Vlsa~ . FJ 600 was u SI~g a. p rot otype K~m monosh ock urnt wit h Part s U n h mired 's David Grah?,m ~n. hand to oversee th e r.esults. -rh ls IS ~ pr?totyp e of th e first ~ f a I~~ e ~y Koni for a ll monoshock bik es, said Grah am , wh o helps Koni with resear ch an d develop m ent of m ot orcycle shocks. In th e last hour, Ho lma n h ad to call on rel ief, bu t rode th e last half hour of th e race. A~hme~d , ridi ~g t~e la~ t leg for Ontario , p it ted wit h _0 .rnm u tes left , to replace th e front brak e pads. " My hands a nd ar ms are a littl e sor~ and m y ribs ~ti ll" hu.rt so me, but I m ok ay o therwise, sa id Ashmead afte r tak in g th e flag. " T~ is is m y .first en d u ra ~c~ race an.d I m re~lI y tired .. I h a ~ ~n t. ridden this Suzuki ~uch eithe r, sai d H olman . Follo wing H ol man ca rne the Back Road Bandits team with North -sta r Racing 's Gary Len zrneyer an d . Kevin Le.nzm.eyer fourth. Fift h ove ra l. a n d first In G TU went to Team 1 Visa. • Results ENDURANCE 1. Team On ta rio (Ha n); 2. Team AB C Racing . (SUl); 3. Back Rood Ban di ts (SUl ); 4 . Toam North star Racing (Han); 5. Team Visa (Vam); 6 . Team Rose (Suz): 7. Team Put nam Rac ing (Yam); 8 . Team TNT (SUl); 9. Team Euro ·Cycl e. ... ,.. ...... Eric Geboers'~ second in Championship points. went 2-1 for the day. ter in the next race," said th e 22-yearo ld Belgi an ex- 125cc World Champ ion . And he qui ckl y showed h e meant bu sin ess when th e gate dropped on moto two , hitting th e front from the stan a n d holding it for four laps. But Malh er be was in top form a nd was soo n ri ght with him and p ressuring h ard , tak in g over the fro nt- ru n ni ng position for the middle period o f the ra ce, but G eboer s had every th ing under control. This tim e Malherbe co u ld n ' t stay' with " T he Kid " an d he stalled hi s engine in a slow turn, losing 10 seconds restart ing that let G eboers free 10 tak e a clear lead . The two Belgians were so far ah ead of third man Thorpe that Malherbe 's seco n d was n ever in danger , but Thorpe himself wasn 't so lu cky. Startin g to fade in the closing stag es a fter fighting th rough fro m seven th, he wa s fir st p a ssed by Kawa sak i number o ne G eo rges jobe a nd th en o n th e last lap by Am erica 's form er 250 cc World C ham pio n, Dann y La Porte, to sli p back to fifth in the race a n d thi rd in th e series, 10 poi nts ad ri ft o f lead er Malh erb e. " I go t nackered ," ad mi tted the Brit ish rider. "The br ain was wor kin g , but th e body wasn 't ; I don 't kn ow wh y, an d here if yo u don 't rid e q u ickly yo u hit every bump a nd th at mak es it worse." j obe's th ird pl ace wa s mad e even more cred ita ble wh en he revealed lat er th at h e'd ridden th e wh ol e race wi thou t a fro nt br ak e a fter a first lap co ll ision. Un ha p p ily a stone ja m med between his gearbox sp rocket an d chai n rui ned h is first race, but th e Belgian is still wait in g for h is day 10 co me and th ere' s a lon g wa y 10 go yet in th e 12-round seri es. LaPorte a lso had a bad fir st mot o, to m ar hi s seco n d leg efforts, cra sh ing in th e ea rly stages a nd breakin g his cl u tch, losin g a lap while h e carried o u t running repairs a n d bein g credo ired with 20th pl ace. . Yamaha number one H ak an Carl qvist was struggling agains t th e sa me flu bu g th at h it C ha n d ler a nd co u ld o n ly manage eigh th in m o ro one before h e pulled o u t of th e seco n d leg with fever a fter onl y two laps. • Results World Cha~OIIsb;p' 5DOcc MX Series: Roand 4 Malherbe, Geboers score in ·Finland By Neil Webster H ELSINKI, FINLAND, MAY 12 A dose of flu wrecked Danny Chandler's hopes of stayin g with the point standings leaders when he had to pull out of the seco nd mo to of th e Finnish Grand Prix. Th e KTM rider struggled 10 third in moto one after sta rt in g stro n gly a nd leading in th e o pe n ing stages, but he co u ld n' t keep it up for 45 min u tes. G elling out o f th e gate well in third p lace a t the sta rt o f th e seco nd mot o , he soon sta rte d 10 go backwa rd s a n d slip ped down 10 15th before ca ll ing it a da y. "I just got weak er and wea ker," sa id th e Cal iforn ian . " In th e end I just co u ld n ' t hold on a nym ore . I was r et chin g in side m y helmet but co u ld n ' t bring anythin g up a nd had rea l bad pains in my back a nd side wh ich go t worse with every bump." H onda teammat es Andre Malherbe a n d Erik G eboers sha red a fir st a nd seco nd pl ace each to go 10 th e top of th e point sta nd in gs. Never a t home on the bumpy san d pit track just outside H elsinki, la st · week 's lead er Th orpe wa s never in . th e ru n ning . H e h eld third behind Malh erbe as th e Belgian closed on early leader Ch andler, but th en ca ug ht hi s foot on hi s H onda 's radiat or cove r in a deep rut a nd fell , dro pping down th e field as Malherb e h it th e front an d sta rte d his coas t home to a n easy win. T horpe fou ght back for fo urth behind the fad ing Chandler , but h is teamm at e G eboers had by' th is ti me tak en o ver the second spo t. Doubl e winner in Sweden last week", G eboers was robbed of th e cha nce 10 a ttack defending cham p Malh erb e whe n he go t tangl ed with an other bik e on the first lap . H e staye d o n, just, but by th e tim e he recovered he'd slip ped down th e field an d had 10 work h ard 10 ge t back on terms. H e managed seco n d by halfway, but Malherb e had a lready go ne by th en . " I had to try so hard in th e beginning tha t in the end I was tir ed a n d co u ld n' t ca.tch ... dre,. bu t I'll do beta. An . . 1st MOTO; 1. A. Malherbe IHon); 2 . E. Geboers (Han); 3 . D. Chandl er (KTM); 4 . D. Thorpe (Han ); 5. G. Rand IHon); 6 . J . Wh atley IKaw) ; 7 . K. Nicoll (KTM ); B. H. Cerfqvl sr IYam); 9. G. Jobe (Kaw);1 O. J. M artens IH us); 11. L. Spence (Kaw ); 12 . K. Ljungo' vist (Yam); 13 . L. Persson (Yam ); 14 . W . Siegle (KTM ); 5 . I. van den Broeck IMai). 2nd MOTO: 1. Geboers; 2 . Malherbe; 3 . Jobe; 4 . D. LBPorte (Hus); 5. Thorpe; 6. J. Sintone" IHus); 8. A . Vromans (KTM); 9 . J . VBn Velthoven IKTM); 10. Spence: 11 . Martens; 12. Whatley; 13 . VBn den Broeck: 14 . J . Ponje e (Kaw); 15 . Ljungqvist . POINT STANDINGS : 1. Ma lherbe (12 2 ); 2. Geboers (120); 3 . Thorpe 1112); 4. Chandler 189); 5. Nicoll (74) ; 6. (TIE) Jobe /WhaUey (59) ; B. Spence 4 1 50); 8 . Vromans 1 7 ); 10 . (TIE) Martens/van hove n (32). \ ~' ~' l~ H il \W.f . J 1J J , vea- f ("

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