Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

place fini sh er Doug Brauneck in th e seco nd heat. Ra in ey won the long drag race to turn o ne on th e 15-turn , four-m ile co u rse and was never serious ly ch allen ged fo r th e lead from la p two o n . Gree n e, Sc hlachter a nd Fra nkl in form ed a tra il in g trio wi th th eir positions in co nstant flu x. By lap five, David Sadowski, Bra uneck an d James Stephens had settled . into fifth through seventh wit h Ch uck Aksla nd behind. _ As the halfwa y fla gs were shown to Rainey, he had a 7.4 second ga p o n th e three-wa y battle fo r seco nd . T wo laps lat er . Schlachter began to lose th e draft o f Franklin a nd Green e a nd slow ly sli pped backward. "The front brak e ro tor warped in one spot," sai d Schlachter a fterward. " Wh en I wa s brak ing, th e front en d would develop such a bad vibration I co u ld hardl y see. I backed off a bit and tri ed to co m pe nsa te for it. At fir st, I th ought th e wh ol e wh eel wa s breaking up ." The top eig h t - the same as on lap five - a p p ea red to be set as th e laps wore down. Franklin 's n o-show as the white flag was shown to th e field signaling th e fin al lap cha nged th at a nd everyo ne behind second pl ace Greene moved up o ne position. "Every body o n th e MacLean Racin g crew g ives a bo u t 110% on the bikes. so Itry to pa y the m back ," sai d Ra in ey. The win ma rked hi s seco nd stra ig h t vic to ry in Fo rmula Two rac ing. " I had m y hands fu ll with Ri ch a nd Dal e," sa id Green e, " My tuner. Rol and Cushw a y cou ldn' t come to th e race because of a n ill ness in hi s family so I was playing tuner as well. T h is race wa s a good boost for me since m ysponso r, Eurocyc les, is sending me to Bel gium for th e 250cc G P there on July 7." " It was a bit fru str ating o u t there eve n bef ore th e brak e p robl em s cropped up ," sai d Sch lac h ter. " I'd follow Dal e and Donn ie into a turn a nd be righ t on th eir rear wh eel s. but th ey'd pull me five or six bik elen gths as we exited. I never co u ld ge t the edge I needed to break a way from th e p ack ." • Results 1. Wayne Rainey (Hon~; 2. Don Greene (Han I; 3. Rich Sch lachter (Han); 4. David Sadowski (Han); 5. Doug Brauneck (Spa); 6. James Stephens (Rot); 7. Timothy Knutson (Vam); B. Chuck Aksland(Vam); 9. John France (Yam); 10. Joseph Lachniet (Hont ; 11. Don Gugl ielmi (Yaml; 12. Robert Lugian i (Arml; 13. Dav id Curtis (Yam); 14. Lee Racicot (Yam); 15 . Dan Geiger (Yaml; 16. Ronald Everling (Yom); 17. Brad Holman (Yom); 1B. Alan Hippenstea' (Kaw ); 19. Alan Ingl is (Vam); 20 . Malcolm Montgomery (Vam). TIME ; 35 min.• 45 .099 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 93 .9B2 mph . POINT STANDINGS ; 1. Wayne Rainey (60); 2. Rich Sch lachter (55 ); 3. Donn ie Greene(42); 4 . Jaff Ha ino (2 7); 5 . (TIE) Chuck Aksland /Dwayne Chung /David Sadowski (22); 8. (TIE) Doug Brau · neck/Freddie Spencer (20); 10. (TIE)Dole Franklin / John Glove r/John Long (1 1). A H A Superlri.e Championship Series: Round 4 . Mer.el eoastshome ELKHART LAKE, WI , J UNE 8 Honda's Fred Merkel broke free of a duel for the lead in the IS-lap, 60-mile Superbike final at Road America to coast home ,8 th e winner with an II -second adv an tage over Todd Brubaker. Runner-up Brubak er h eld a 14-second margin over John Ashmead wh o fini sh ed third. Starfire Racing 's Brubak er a nd Ontario MOIO T ech/Peter Brady-spon sored Ashmead, as well as Merkel . were a ll H onda 750 Int erce p tor . m ounted. Merkel, th e defend in g series cha m- pion. added to hi s points lead while Brubaker moved in to second in th e sta ndings, replacing th e injured Wes Coo ley. Merkel sta nds at 56 points wh ile Brubaker isa t43 . Gl enn Barr y, th e fourth pl ace fin ish er, broke ou t of a th ree-way tie for fourth to move in to third - at 31 - a head o f Cooley, wh o has 29. T he first five-lap q ual ifyin g h eat sa w Merk el a nd Sh oei /Dunl op Ca n ada-sponso red Rueben McM urter give th fans a sho w as th e p air crossed th e fin ish lin e in a d ead hea t. Merk el lo st th e coin to ss agreed u pon to decid e wh o would sit on th e pole for th e fin al. " It didn 't co me u p h eads," sai d Merk el. Brubaker won th e seco nd h ea t by a margin o f 10 seco nds over Barry. T he hi ghl ight o f th e race was Sa m MeDonald's cha rge to third from a back row sta rt. H e m issed heat one - th e o ne he was su p pose d to be in - due to m echanical p roblem s a nd was then gridded last in th e fin al h eat. " T he ignit ion o n m y Yam ah a (FZ750) decided to quit just before th e start o f m y heat," said McDonald. "The AMA offi cials were ni ce enough to let us ch a n ge to heat tw o so we co ul d make repairs." J immy Filice led th e drag race to turn one in the fin al on h is Yamaha FZ750 via a holeshot from row two . " Eithe r everyone was sleep ing on th e fro nt row or m y dir t track in st in cts paid off," sai d Filice.o f h is bri ef run o u t front. By th e en d of lap one, it wa s Merke l, Ashm ead , H onda -mounted McMurter, Fili ce. Clive Ng -A-Kien . o n a n FZ750, an d Brubak er in a n oseto-tail p ack. There were o n ly three in the lea d for ma tio n two la ps lat er , with Ashmead sh ow ing the way to Merk el a n d McMurter in very close q ua rters . Fi lice, with a transmission wh ich d idn ' t want to shift into fifth gear. slip ped back . Brubaker qu ick ly made h is move a n d j oined th e fr ont- run n er s to en la rge th e p ack th at was di cing for th e lead to fou r. Ashmead wa s running ou t front a t a 94.57 mph average a t th e end of lap five. The quart et becam e a tri o in a no ther lap when McMurter began to slo w with engine problem s which event u a lly put him out o f th e race. " T h e en gine began to slo w and I tri ed to nurse it a bit, but th en it qui t," sa id a dej ected McMurter after th e race. " It probably dropped a val ve, but we won't reall y kn ow until we ge t in side th e m otor. Fred (Merkel) an d I had a good di ce going with Ashmead , a n d we were just warm in g up before really getting th e ga s o n. I th ink I sh o u ld ha ve had seco nd. Wh at really ca ps th e who le th ing is th at I even h ad to split th e fast qualifi er money si nce it was ca lled a dead h eat ." Ashmead was th e next to lo se co ntact with the leader s a nd th a t left Merkel and Brubaker to duel it out. " 1 had a couple of problem s," said Ashmead. " First, th e gas cap popped ope n as I was a t top speed on th e front stra igh t and sloshed gas all over. Luckily. none got on m y faceshield. A few laps later. th e d u tch sea l blew and that problem caused m e to give up any ideas I had o f still runn ing up fro n t." Merkel broke away from Brubaker a t just past the halfway point and quickly opened up a comfortable gap, although every so often his lap times became erratic. " I was doing wheelies for th e fans a t d ifferent spo ts around th e tra ck ," exp lai ned Merkel. "They paid good m oney for a show and I was trying to g ive th em o ne ." Barry moved into fou rt h o ver MeDonald as th e fiel d comp leted lap 11 . T he two had earl ier sl ipped by Filice as he fought h is transm issio n p roblem . The top four finish ers were set from there to th e ch eckered flag. McDonald slipped to sixth a t th e finish behind Filice. "The engine sta rte d cu tti ng o u t and running reall y ragged tow ard th e end o f th e race and I th ought it wa s ge tt ing read y to drop a va lve," sa id McDonald. " T he problem wa s th at th e engine was ap parently sta rvi ng for gas, a lt hough the re was pl enty in th e tank. I gra bbed th e brea th er tu be a nd began blowin g into it to p ut so me pressure into th e gas tan k a nd it worked, but every ti m e I ra n o ut o f breath the gas wo u ld slos h up the tube. It was a desperation move wh ich worked." Merk el wa s a ll sm iles in winner 's circle. " Mike Velasco a nd Merlyn Plumlee make su re I have a fast bike a nd I h a ve to ma ke su re I ride it that way ," sai d Merk el. " I got a bad start a n d had to deal with traffi c before ( could ca tch up to th e leade rs," said Brubak er . " Ken Funkhouser a n d Pat H ampton did a g rea t job with th e bike, I o n ly wish I had gotten to th e front sooner. " Ashmead had earned his Iirst-ever trip to winner 's circle in an AMA Superbike Championship race and was enj oy ing it to th e hilt. " Hey , it really feels ni ce to be in winner's circle," said Ashmead after breaking o u t in a wide gr im . " I m ight hav e had a co u p le o f p roblem s, but G a ry Medl ey built me a rocketship a nd it didn 't m iss a trick." • m e. Later, I had a problem with th e rear wh eel. A spacer apparently broke a nd th e hub was grinding aga inst th e swingarm mountin g p oint." Church's race wasn 't without problem s. bu t th ey were m inor co m pa red to a cra sh in a n ea rly Sa tu rday practi ce sessio n. " I d idn 't do in a ny thi ng m ajor," sa id Ch urch o f hi s practi ce crash , " bu t I d in ged the bike up a good bit. " In th e closing la ps o f th e fin al a sea l o n th e tra nsmission began to leak a nd I was getti ng oi l o n m y root a nd shi fter, wh ich made it ha rd to sh ift smooth ly." Williams h ad n o problem s, bu t wa s well awa re o f th e horsepower of Church 's H arley an d rode as hard as he co u ld wh en th e chec kered fla g wa s in sig ht. Dave McClure wasn 't su re he would be ab le to ride a fter a cras h in Fr iday's practi ce, which battered hi s ribs. He did an d led th e Heavyweight Modified class sta rt -to -finis h on h is Harley a n d was ge tt ing dollar signs on hi s pit board on th e last two laps. Ducati rid er Roger Sears and Harleym ounted Will Roeder, th e overall series cha m p io n last year, turned in strong winning performances in the Lightwei ght Modified and Stock cl asses, respe ct ivel y. • Results GRAND PRIX: r . John Will iams (Due); 2. Gene Church (H·D); 3. J immy Adamo (Cog); 4. Malcolme Tunstall (Ouc); 5. Dave Kieffer (Ouc) . HIW MOD : 1. Dove McClura (H·D); 2. Bert Stuckert (8 M W); 3. Sherry Frieluss (M-G); 4. Paul Zieschang (M ·G); 5. Steve Wentworth (H-DI. UW MOD : 1. Ragar Sears (Due); 2. Dean Joes (yam); 3. Paul Winn ingstad (Caul; 4 . Hilton Van Staden (Duel; 5. SIeve Tatro (Yom). STOCK: 1. Will Roeder (H·D); 2. Bob Crawford (H-D); 3. Robert Fogan (M-G); 4. Ed Thompson (8 MW); 5. Wayn e Raiss (BMW) .1 Results 1. Fred Merkel (Honl; 2. Todd 8rubaker (Han); 3. JohnAshmead(Hon); 4. Glen Barry (Hon l; 5.Jimmy Fil ice (y am); 6 . Sam McDonald (Yam ': 7 . Cl ive NVA -K ien (Yam) ; 8 . Fred Renz (Yam); 9 . Jamie James (Kaw); 10. James Tr ibou (Yam); 11. Thoma s Mason (Suz); 12. Phil Schmin (Yaml; 13 . J . Adam Doering (Yam); 14. Ed Key (Yom); 15. Jeff James (Vam); 16 . Bob Bergman (y am); 17 . 8ruce Nido (Han); 18. Fred Gia imo IKaw l; 19. Kurt U ebmann (Han); 20 . Kenneth Dav is (Yam), TIME ; 37 m tn.. 42 .240 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 85 .481 mph . POINT STANDINGS: r . Fred M erkel (561 2. Todd ; 8rubakar (43); 3. Gle nn Barry (3 1); 4 . Wes Cooley (29 ); 5. J imm y Fil ice (25); 8. (TIEl Kavin Schwantt/ Fraddie Spencer (20); 8. Wa~ Nino (18); 9. John 8ettencourt (15); 10. Jeff Honey (14). Sldeear Thriller to Lind/Hart ELKHART LAKE, WI , J UNE 9 In contrast to previous sidecar races at Road America. this year's was a hard-fought one all the way, and the outcome Battle ~ the TwIns Williams .edges Chureh was up in air right to the finish. After th c 32-mile. eig h t-la p sp rint around the power-robbing four-mile tra ck, no more th an one sidecar length separa ted th e Yamaha -powered rig of Bru ce Lind an d J ack Hart from th e similarl y-pow ered ch air o f Dan Chivas a nd Margar et Hallida y. It was a lso th e largest sidecar field ever - II rigs - to co m pe te a t Ro ad America. The two teams swa pped the lead throughout the race without either a p pea rin g to h old ba ck to mak e a sho w o f it for th e fans. Wh at some of th e spec ta to rs ma y not have kn own was th a t th e Chivas/Halliday team ca lls Gran vill e, New South Wal es, Australia , home a nd a re in th e U.S. on a racing holiday. "T h e Auss ies a re th e'best co mpetition we've had in th e States," said Lind af ter th e ra ce. " We n earl y lost the race after being caught in traffi c. but we managed to get back out front and hold off th eir final lap charge," " We' re really having a good time here," said H alliday. "J ack and Bruce ca me 'dow n under' to race last year and convinced us we should come to the U .S. a n d see what the racing was like here. We'r e glad we took them up on th e invitation. " • ELKHART LAKE, WI . JUNE 9 "I hope this will be the first of many wins this year." said an elated John Williams after his two-bike length margin of victory over G en e Church in the Battle o f th e Twins fin al. " It was a hard race a n d I reall y h ad to work for th e win. wh ich mak es th e victory very worthwh ile." Williams. on th e Aero U nio n / Du cat i/Dunlop-supported Du cati, an d Ch urch. on th e Harley-Davidson O wners Group-sponsored Harley. fought a race-long duel for the lead with T eam Leoni Cagiva rider Jimmy Adamo right in there until problems slowed his charge. " I' m gl ad John (Williams) is racing," said Church before the final . " beca use he's a ver y good rider and yo u can't give him an in ch ." Williams, Church and Adamo split almost immediately from the p ack in the fin al and set up a swap-the-lead party with each taking a turn at the front . Throughout th e first five laps of the 1O-lap, 40-mi le race, the three rem ained in cl ose formation with th e field stru n g out behind. On lap six. onl y Williams - in th e lead - a nd Church were heading up th e race. " I got into a real tank slapper o n lap si x," sai d Adamo. " It was suc h a good o ne th at m y steering da m pe r is bent like a p retzel. At th at point , Joh n a nd Gen e got away from Results o 1. Bruce Und/ Jack Hart (Vam); 2. Dan Chives/ Margaret Hallidav(Yam); 3.180 Fillery/Roland Riedmann (yam); 4 . John Dailey/Arthur Da iley(Suzl; 5. Marvin Hagele /M ichael SChneider (Yam); 6. Jef· frey Millard/James Mu rry(Kaw); 7 . Robert Garbut/ Gary Carlson; 8 . Steve Earnshaw/M ichael Griffin (Kaw); 9. Paul Knoll/CraigTerlau (Yam); 10. Freder · ick Wallis/Brad Holman; 11 . Win ifred HopplWilliam A lston (Kaw) . TIME; 21 min.. 56 .566 secs. AVERAGE SPEED: 87.50 mph .

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