Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Jim Vreeke leads Earl Roloff on the first lap. (Above. right) Steve Reynosa won the Honda Interceptor race. becoming the third winner in three events. (Below) The 600cc Stock Production start; the front row includes Nitto (1) . Gale (170) and winner Toland (251). AFMjKerker West Coast Superbike Series: Round 3 Vreeke ;s unchallenged By John Ulrich ROSAMOND, CA, MAY 26 Jim Vreeke bolted an IS-inch wheel on the front of his Yamaha FZ750 and rode to an uncontested .victory in the Nfr-sponsored third race of the AFM/Kerker West Coast Superbike Series. Vreeke cred. , ned the 18-mch front wheel with a handling improvement th at made his vic to ry p ossible. _ " , C~a mp lOn Mo ri waki USA .s, Wa lt Nitta and Seaw eed Ka wa.sak ~ s. Earl Rol off, bo th ~n Kawasakis, fini sh ed 20 second and th ird. Missi ng from the starti ng grid was Starfire Racin g 's T od d Brubaker, who cras h ed h is VF750F Super bike in practi ce and mis sed the race. Brubaker was not inj ured in the crash . As Vreeke to ld it before th e race , h e h ad n't been a ble to ride h is Yamaha as hard as he wou ld have liked beca use th e l6 -inch front wh eel " feels like it wants to push , push es to th e o utside o f the tu rns ." With a lo w-p ro file slick mounted o n th e front wheel , the tendency wa s too much to dea l wit h . he said . So Vreeke bolted on the 18-inch front whee l from hi s 1984 Ka wasaki Superbike, and said th at th e cha nge made th e steer ing m uch better . The im p rovement showed in h is lap times during pract ice on Saturd a y. the day befo re the race : Vreeke rea ch ed I mi nu te, 31-seco nd la p tim es. With strong winds blowing for . Su nday's race. Vreeke ra~ co ns istt;n t I:32 an d I:33 la ps to W ill , steadi ly p u lli ng away from Ro loff a nd Nitto'S battle for second pl ace. Nitta led Rolof~, the n ~ol oH pass~d Nitta . The di fferen ce III the ha nd lin g o f th e two Ka wasak is was readily apparent to o bservers. Rol off 's GPz750, w h ich weig hed in at 481 pou nds at the AMA Pro -Am la st month, is co m p lete with starter mot or and stoc k whee ls an d brakes. " It's n ot th e mos t sta ble bike. in th e world ," Rol o ff said o f the ma ch ine, which he refers to as being "a tuna boa t." And Du nl op tir e techni cia ns diagnosed Rol off's ha ndling p roblem s as stem mi ng from hi s use of slicks o n th e relati vely-narrow stock rims. But no matter wh a t th e ca use, Rol o ffspent most o f h is. time fig h tin g with th e wobbling Kaw asak i, stru ggli n g wit h elbows o u t a nd ha n d lebar s wiggling back a n d forth in sec t io ns wh er e Ni tta 's b ik e ran straight and true. The han dl in g p roblems were most ap paren t en tering do wnhill left-b a nder ni rn five, but handlin g problems or no t, n obody cou ld acc use Ro lo ff o f back in g of f th e thrott le. Ro lo ff's seco nd -p lace lasted unti l th e last lap. when Nitta repassed him 'a nd crossed th e fin ish line a head . Nitta ma de h is pass exi ting turn nin e. the las t co rner; Rol off had ea rlier pa ssed Nitta in turn two , a h uge uphill swee pe r. Ro loff wo n O pen Stoc k Prod uctio n a nd Open Modified Producti on onhis N inj a 900, a nd was cred ited wi th winn in g 600 Mod ified Prod uction o n h is Ninj a 600R a fter Doug Tola n d withdra w hi s entry because h e hadn 't ta ken th e time to rem ove a h eader from his FJ600 before th e start o f that race; T o land used hi s he ad ereq u ipped FJ600 to win 600cc Super street, th en bo lted the stoc k pipes ba ck on to wi n 600cc Stock Pr oduction. In both ra ces T ol and was uncha lle nged, a n d hi s fast est la p for th e da y was 1:35.9. No ne of tha t is unusu al. Wh a t was u n u s u a l wa s a m a ss prote st o f T ol and 's bik e bv most o f th e o the r riders in th e 600cc Stock Product ion race. th e ringleaders bei ng secondplace Nitta and thi rd-p lace Ni gel G ale. As Toland 's bike was torn down, Nitta severa l tim es referred to wh at wo u ld happen to T oland " when we find out how yo u' ve been chea ting." (T he AFM ru lebook provid es for loss o f points for the year.) But as th e tea rd own p rogressed , tech inspe ctor Carl Nagy a nd Ga le's m echan ic, Bill Fennessey, cou ldn ' t find anyth ing wrong. Nitta, u nde terred, wanted th e bik e's electronic ig nition black bo x torn apart. Tolan d declined to a ttem p t to dismant le th e elec tronic control bo x, but instead offered to trad e black bo xes with Nitta ; N itta refused . Wh en th e top-end showed no sign of ill egal modifica tio n , the lo wer end of To la nd's engine was confisca ted fo r tea rdown la ter in th e week . When th e cra n kcases were sp lit and exa mi ned , no m odi ficati ons co uld be Iound . "As far as I cou ld tell , everythi ng is legal," Fennessey sai d afterwards . "And both Doug and J im (La bine, Tola nd 's mech anic) handled th emselves lik e ge ntlemen." The results o f tile tea rdown left Nitta a nd G a le facing th e possibi li ty th at Tola nd 's lap times a nd wi ns co me as th e result of h is skill as a rid er. J ames Stepha ns won th e F-2 race on th e Phil Sch ill in g- tu ned Spondo n Ro ta x, unch all enged. J ohn Glover. wh o wo n th e 1984 Pro -Am F-2 ra ce at Willow, didn 't sta rt beca use h is Barry Ell io t TZ250 Yam a ha 's Spondon a lu mi n u m fram e cra cked in practi ce. " We got o ur use o u t o f it ," sa id Gl over . " I figure we go t o ur m oney's . worth ." T he fastest man of the day at Wi llow wa s Rich Ol iver o n th e Kosm an Specia lties 1235cc Kawa saki Superbike. O liver turned I :30 la ps despi te the ra ging winds, and won bo th th e Open Superst reet a nd O pen G P races. After winn ing th e S upers tree t race a head o f j -rr Ste rn 's 1I00cc GS I 000 Suz u ki a nd Denn y Dohert y's Kawasa ki - O liver rem oved th e Superstreet-ru les-req u ired a lte rna to r and did those I :30s in the O pen G P race. In that race. G lo ver came from behi nd o n the Eurocycle Fior-concept-Iram ed Ka wasa ki to fini sh second in cla ss. a hea dof Dohert y; but th e race was ru n co m bined with F-l. wh ich was won by Vreeke and h is Superbi ke. seco nd overa ll betw een Oliver and Gl over. Steve Reyn osa wo n the Honda 500 Interceptor Cha llenge race , th e third winner in th ree races. Earl y leader Whitney Bla keslee j umped o u t front o rr th e sta rt , but event ua lly fin ished seven th . As Bla keslee told it la ter. he downshifted once (ins tead o f twice) entering turn o ne o n o ne lap , bogg ed the eng ine , lost co ncentra tio n, made a few ot her erro rs, an d found h imself bein g pa ssed by a huge group of riders. Once out fro nt , Reynosa was never ca ught or passed; Joe So lis fin ished seco nd with G a le th ird. Pa ul Van Zu yle a nd h is J ohn Las sa k-ru ned RZ350 won th e RZ Cup aga in , bea ting Ma lcol m Hil l. T he race was com bined with F-2, and Van Zuyl e finish ed thi rd o vera ll. H e al so ca me from th e seco nd wa ve to fin ish seco nd overa ll in th e 600cc and 450cc Superstreet com bi ned race , behi nd o n ly 600cc winner T ol and . • Results 600 MOD PROD: 1. Earl RoioH (Kaw) : 2. Ed Ragle (Vam ); 3 . Richerd Moore (Hon l. 450 MOD PROD: 1. Jo hn Hill (Yam); 2. Ray Carson (Yam); 3. Steve Flem ing (Yam). 750 MOD PROD: 1. Chr is Crowell (Vam); 2. Scott Johnson (Yam); 3 . Henry Tecsa (Vam ). OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Earl RotoH (Kaw); 2. Many Sharpe (Yam); 3. Kenny Kopecky (Kaw) . F-4 : 1. John Glover (Vam); 2. Chris Hugh es (Han); 3. Terry Varger (Yam). OPEN TWINS : 1. Paul Vogel (H- D); 2. An Chambers (Due); 3. W ill Sandford (M -F). 750TWINS : 1. Fred Eike r (Nor); 2. Dav id Gibbon s (V a m~ 3. Joe W illiams (HanI. 250 MOD PROD: 1. A .J . Parks J r. (C-A); 2. Da. id Pare (Vam); 3 . Ja mes Craig (Ossl. OVER 40: 1. Ray Adams (Han); 2. Ray Straka (Yaml; 3. Nick Theraux (Han). F-2 : 1. J am es Step hans fRIX); 2 . M ar k Smit h (Vam); 3 . Gordon Hede mark (Yam). YAMAHA RZ350 CUP: 1. Paul VanZuyle (Vaml; 2. Malcolm Hill (Vam); 3 . WillV Sarli (Yam). OPEN SS: 1. Rich Ol i.er (Kaw); 2. JeH Stern (SUl ); 3 . Den ny Doheny (Kaw) . 7 50 SS: 1. Don Bia.a (Han); 2. Vin ce Costa (Kaw); 3 . J ohn Dve (Han). 600 SS: 1. Doug Tola nd (Vam ); 2. Ma rk RuHner (Yam); 3. David Mo rr is (Yam). 450 SS: 1. Paul Van Zuvl e (Yam); 2. W ill v Sarli (Vam); 3 . Ma tt hew Gale (Yam ). HONDA 500 SERIES: 1. Steve Revnosa (Honl; 2. , Joe Solis (Han); 3. Nigel Gale (Han). OPEN PROD : 1. Ear l RoioH (Kaw); 2. Kenny Kopeckv (Kew ); 3 . Ma ny Sharpe (Vam). 75 0 STK PROD: 1. Chr is Crowell (Yam); 2. Scott Johnson (Yam); 3 . Kurt Bickel (Yam ). 600 STK PROD: 1. Dou g Tol and (Yam); 2. Walt Nino (Yam ); 3. Nige l Gale (Yam ). 450 STK PROD: 1. Jon Hill (Yaml : 2. Steve Fleming (Yam ); 3. J af i W all ah (Yam) . KERKER SUPERBIKE: 1. J im Vreeke (Vam); 2. W alt Nitta (Kaw); 3. Earl RoioH (Kaw ). OPEN GP: 1. Rich Ouve r (Kaw); 2. John Glover (Kaw l; 3. Den nv Dohen y (Kaw l. F- 1: 1. Ji m Vr eeke (Yam); 2 . W alt Nino (Kaw); 3 . Paul Van Zuyl e (Yam).

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