Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ered th ro ugh traffi c a nd used it for a block ing adva ntage. Un knowing ly, Ashmead a lso had so me hel p fro m McDonal d. ~ " We hit traffic just as my rear tire began to go away," sai d McDo na ld. " I went with a soft compound on the rear. I got a pretty bad start and had to use u p too much of the tir e - blistered it - try ing to reel in J ohn. O nce that happened , I had to bab y it around a nd tak e wh a t I could ge t wh ich wasn 't too bad. T hird is a good start a nd th e best pl aci ng -ever for a Yama ha . We're on th e right track , but th ere's still a lot o f work to do." By halfway in th e 37-la p race. Merkel wa s ah ead by 21 seco nds. Ashmead had nearlv five seco nds o n McDon ald and Bettencourt was bar ely holding off the challenges of Harth for fourth. Barry was alone in seventh. Back in 14th, Quarterl ey a nd Kurt Liebmann were having a good fight for position with Liebmann o n top as often as not. " I had tire problems," said Quarterley. " I wore them out charging through traffic and when I did. my charge almost came to an abrupt halt." Almost unnoticed in th e strung out field was Filice, who was methodically working his way up to th e top 10. With 10 laps to go , Filice was in ninth - two positions and a lap behind lead er Merk el, wh o eventua ll y lapped everyone except Ashmead a nd McDonald. "Traffic wasn 't too much of a problem ," sa id Merkel. "The gu ys wh o sa w o r heard me comi ng mo stl y mo ved over. So me tried to rac e me, but I was hard o n th e gas and it di dn 't ta ke long for the m to ge t th e message. Most o f th e time I wa ited for a spot to pass. A couple of times I forced the si tua tion a nd ended u p runn in g off the track." In th e fina l la p s, Harth fell vict im to a bro ken cran k, whi le runn ing fifth . Betten co u rt seized the advantage o n Ha rth 's m isfort u ne to open a bit of room in fourt h, but had to hol d off a las t-lap charge by Lu sby to retain the posi tio n at the flag. Barry wasn't far bac k in sixth . Merkel, with over 40 seco nds in ha nd, took th e wh it e flag with hi s left fist u pthrust. He celebra ted by wheelieing a nd gi ving the fans a show arou nd the track. Wh en he got th e checkered flag he gave the fans o n th e fro nt stra ig h t a sho w by standi ng up o n th e pegs, taking hi s hands off th ~h andl e bars and waving a t everybody as hi s bike rolled ri ght along.. " I kn ew I had enough of a cus h io n th at I p robabl y could have pushed th e bike a goo d di stance and won, " sai d Merkel, " so I gave th e fan s a sho w." Merkel also obliged th e fans with a champagne bath after sprinting ac ross the track from winner's ci rcle to spray a loudl y cheer ing group. " Third last week and second th is week isn ' t too bad a way to go," sa id Ashmead. " We're moving up, but it's go ing to take some luck and a bit of help from Merkel before we might win one. Hey , on to Pocono." McDonald, grinning from ear-to ear. was ready for a n instant repla y of the race , onl y this time he .wanted to make a different tire choice. "I believe I could have finished second if I had had the right tire choice, " sa id . McDonald. " I guess there's rea lly no use thinking about it. You take a cha nce and sometimes you co me out on top a nd sometimes yo u don 't. " • Results 1. Frad Merkal (Hon); 2. John Ashmead (Hon); 3. Slim McDonald (Yam); 4 . John Benencoun (Hon ); 6 . 8 , Peter Lusby IHon); 6. Glenn Barry (Hon); 7. Dave Busby (Hon); 8. Jimmy Filica (Yam); 9. Jimmy Adamo(Cag); 10. Jeff Haino(Suz); 11. Scon Lyman (Hon); 12. RockyOr lando (Hon); 13 . Dale Cuanerley (Kaw ); 14 . Karry Bryant (Kaw); 15. Wall Gray (Ka w); 16 . J a mie J ames IKaw); 17 . Lance Jones (Yam ); 18 . Clive Ng-A·Kien (Yem); 19. Fred Renz (Hon); 20 . Chr is Buchanan (Hon), TIME: 43 min .• 52.209 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 80 .96 6 mph. POINT STANDINGS: 1. Fred Merkel (76); 2. Todd Brubaker (43); 3. Glenn Barry (40); 4 .Jim Filice (32); 5. Wes Cooley (29); 6. (TIE)J ohn Ben encoun /Sam McDon ald (26); B. (TIE) Kevin Schw antz / Freddie Spencer (20); 10. Waltar Nin o (181. Battleot the Twins Win to Adamo LO UDON, NH , J UNE 16 " It' s about time I finally got something going," said Jimmy Adamo after taking the overall and GP class win in the Battle o f th e Twins fin al. The 25-lap, 40mile final was th e first race of th e afternoon on Sunday and wa s run full distance in a light mi st with occasional drizzl e. Adamo, on th e Team Leoni Cagiva, was followed home b}' Roa d Ameri ca winner John William s and hi s Du cati USA/Aero Union/Dunlop/Red Line Oil/Dale Newton-sponsored Ducati a n d a Leoni Ca gi va with Stuart Cooper on board. Harley-Davidson/Express Racingbacked Da ve McClure turned fourth ove rall into the Heavyweight Modified class win , his fourth class win in a ro w, wh ile Mark Mercadante rod e a Du cat i to th e Lightweight Modified class wi n. The Stock class vietory went to 12th overall finisher J oh n Dillingham , aboard a H arl ey-David son . It was n' t a good weekend for the series' num ber one p lateholder, Will Roed er. Roeder 's H a rley suffered a brok en cra nk ear ly on Sarurdav an d he a nd h is crew spent a good dea l of the rest of rhe day and night repairing the da mage. On the start of the fin al, h is bik e's engine q uit j ust as thc fla g dropped and he cou ld n 't gel started un til th e field was half a lap away. To add ins ult to th e res t of hi s troubles, Roeder cras hed with in 50 yards o f th e checkered flag, a nd had 10 p us h across th e lin e to fini sh . He still go t thi rd in class. G en e Church , o n th e H arl eyDa vidson Owners Grou p e ntry , Adamo and Will iams set a fast pace o u t front in th e fin al a nd gave fan s o f the rumbling twi ns th eir money's worth. A di stance back in th c pack, the battle for th e lead in the Heavyweight Modified ranks was going o n betw een Sh err.' Friduss, o n th e Sta n's Cycles o f Ga in'esvill e (Flori da) Mot oGuzzi and McClure. " I enj oy riding in th e ra in," sai d Friduss a fterward. " It's a great eq ua lizer." At th e finish , Fr iduss was fifth overall and seco nd in clas s behind McClure. Church a nd Adamo brok e free of Williams wh en Will iams had hi s faceshield fog up and he had to open hi s visor to see. Will iam s rod e with it o pen for nearly half the race a nd had badly bloodshot eyes a t th e finish. " It sho u ld n 't have fogged up," sa id Williams, " bu t wh en it did I didn 't have any ch oi ce excep t to back off a nd hope it would clear up. Once it fogged a second tim e I had to ride with th e visor open to see." Adamo kept close co m pa ny with Church on lap 10 and one lap lat er was even closer. On that sam e lap, Mcp ure moved past Friduss for fifth. In fourth, and riding a cont ro lled race, was Cooper. H is smooth, stead y pace " was the key to a good fini sh ," sai d Cooper after ward. Church . with apparent faceshield fogg ing p roblems of hi s o wn - he was seen trying to clear th e sh ield as Gene Church and his Harley lead Jimmy Adamo's Cagiva in the rain; Adamo won. Church crashed; John Williams was second. he crossed the start/finish line on lap 16 - gave Adamo an opening and th e Cagiva rider pounced . Two laps later Adamo was in total command a fter Church crashed, unhurt in turn IWO . Results • GP: 1. Jimmy Adamo (Cog); 2. John Williams (Due); 3. Stuan Cooper ("I -G); 4 . Malcolm Tunstall (Due); 5. Jamie Clegg (BMW) . H/W MOD: 1. Dave McClure (H· Dt 2. Sherry Fridu ss 1M- G); 3. John Ruffo (BMW ); 4. Paul Zieschang (M- Gt 5. Bob Fletcher. LIW MOD: 1. Ma rc Mercadante (Due); 2. Roger Sears (Duct 3 . Steven Fahey (Yam); 4 . Richard W inningstad (Cog); 5. J ohn Aksal (Yam ). STK: 1. J ohn Dillinkgham (H· D); 2. Todd Henn ing (Hon); 3. W ill Roeder (H-D); 4 . Glenn Emerso n (Hon); 5. John McNu lty (Hon). Formula Two Schlachter edges Sommers LO UDON , NH , J UNE 16 Rich Schlachter, on th e MacLean Racing Honda RS250, led all th e way in the 32-lap, 5I.2-mile Formula Two final, but never figured hi s margin of victo ry would be less than one foot. J oey Som mers, the 1984 race winner, turned wh at looked like a com ma nd performa nce by Schla chter into a barn burner with less than half a mil e to go . Sommers ma y have finished seco nd, but he was happy enough to have been th e winner. Third place and a not he r ear-to-ea r grin belonged to Garry Griffith after he snatched th e posit ion from Don Greene in the closing laps. Greene finished fourth, with Doug Brauneck fifth . The top five were mounted on Honda, Yama ha, Yamaha, Honda and Spondon, respectively. Miss ing from the action in th e fin al was polesitter Wayne Rainey, who was injured in a Formula One practice sessio n Sunday morning. Rainey topped Greene in the fastest Formula Two heat , whil e Schlachter took an eas y win in heal two over Jeff H eino. The fina l wa s gridded in a ligh t sho wer a nd intermediate or full rain tires were th e order of the da y. Heino a nd J ames Stephens took th emselves o u t of th e race in spectacular fashion with both crash ing a nd tumbling downhill toward turn six on the opening lap. Both wer e thrash ed bodil y, but otherwise uninjured. The same could not be said for their bikes . Schlachter led Eurocycle's Greene by nearly six seconds at the end of lap four with Sommers, on his Jeff Dauvintuned TZ250, on th e move in third. Doug Brauneck , o n th e John Hasty Racing-sponsored Spondon, led Griffith 's Cycle o f Chattanooga, Tennessee-sponsored TZ rider Griffith and David Curtis. aboard the Avon Pest Control TZ, in a ti ght confrontation for fourth, So m mers moved in to ' challenge Green e for seco nd o n lap n in e as Curtis' crashed a nd went to th e hosp ital for observation. Schlach ter's marg in grew to nearly 12 seco nds by lap 13 whi le G reene's space over Sommers co nt inued to sh rin k. Brau neck a nd Griffith were engaged in a tig h t battle for fourth with the position changing han ds on eac h lap. So m me rs moved to Green e's rear tire on la p 15 a nd So m me rs mad e hi s move o n th e next la p as th e two came over the hill , sweep ing in side to grab secon d. T he Greene/Sommers fight a llowed Brauneck a nd Griffith to clos e th e gap. Th e track , very wet o n th e start, began to dry in spots which brought up th e fac to r o f how 10 sa ve th e softer compou nd ra in tires wh ile still keeping up a good pace. Schlachter began to slow some, while Sommers pi cked up hi s pace, but th e gap varied with the traffic the two enco u ntered . Sommers was eager to mak e a move since he had ga m bled just before the rac e a nd gone with the hardest compound rear ra in tire that was ava ila ble. " It wasn 't any good on the start of th e race ," Sommers said later, " but as things dried out I co u ld push harder than just about anyone." Leader Schlachter held a five second lead on Sommers on lap 26 and was cutting through traffic with authority to keep as many backmarkers as he could between himself and Sommers. Two laps earlier. Griffith had slipped by Greene to leave him in a battle with Brauneck for fourth. Greene got past Griffith with Griffith returning th e favor with two laps left. The positions, third and fourth remained the same to the finish. ' Sommers gobb led up the gap between himself and Schlachter on . the fina l lap , and exiting turn eight with less than half a mi le to go was right on Schlachter's rear wheei and almost didn 't realize it . " I looked ahead," sa id Sommers, " and I co uld n' t read the name on the back o f th e leathers. but I saw Honda (Con ti n ue d to pag e 30)

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