Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ro thmans H onda' s Freddi e Spe ncer won both th e 250 a nd 500cc Bel gian G P roa d races a t th e Spa -Fra ncorcha m ps circ uit in th e Ardennes on Sunday, Jul y 7. Eddie Law son (Yam) finis he d 5.27 seco nds behind Spe nce r in th e 500cc G P, with Ch ristia n Sarro n (Yam) th ird, Wa yne Gardn er (Hon) fourth, a nd Raymond Ro che ( Ya m) fi fth . Ca lifo rn ia n Ra n d y Mam o la (Hon) cras hed o n la p 14 o f th e 20-lap r'!ce and DNF; he was ru n nin g si xth a t the time. Connecticu t's Mike Bal dwin (Hon) fini shed 11th . Spencer now leads Law son in th e point sta ndings, 96 to 86, with Sa rron th ird with 62. Carlos Lavado (Yam) finished second to Spencer in the Belgian 250cc GP. with Anton Mang (Hon) third. and Martin W immer (Yam) fourth . Spencer. whose marg in of victory was 12;7 seconds. strengthened his points lead with the win; he now leads Mang. 104 to 70. w ith just four rounds remaining . Spencer said he hopes to cl inch the t itle at the British GP on August 4 and. if he does. he will sit out the 250cc race at the last two GPs . T he Belgi an 125cc GP was wo n by Fausto G resini (Gar) . Pier -P ao lo Bian ch i (MBA) held o n to h is point sta ndings lead with a fifth place fin ish , bu t hi s mar g in over G resi ni was trimmed to five points, 69 to 64. Egbert Streuer and Bern ard Schnieder (LCR) won the Sideca r GP. The final round of the World Championship Road Race . Series. the San Marino GP. was to have t aken place at lmola, Italy. on September 1. but it was announced by the FIM that the race has been switched to Misano. Italy. The owners of the Imola circuit had been told that their track had to be widened in certain areas. but they were uanble to purchase the land necessary for such changes. Scori n g problem s saw several versions o f results at th e ARRA Six-hour endurance ro ad race held at Willow Spri ngs Raceway on Ju ly 4. At presst irne , the most recent versio n o f th e results sa id tha t Scott J ohnson, Kenny Ko pecky an d Ga ry Ta tsumi rode J ohnso n 's G Pz 750 to victory, six laps a head o f th e FJ 1100 of Curtis Adams, J oe So lis and Kenny Borden with the Cycle Tune of T orrance FJ 11 00 o f Dennis Sm ith, Ni ck Ianatsch and Kevin Clark ano ther three laps beh ind in th ird . Earl ier, Adams/ Sol is/Borden were declared th e winners. 2 Husky's Danny LaPorte is still mending from a broken u ppe r left leg sustained in m id-J une. " The physicians pinned the break w ith a single screw." said race team coordinator D ick Burleson at the July 7 Buchanan. Michigan. Na t ional MX. "and Danny is healing very quickly. We brought Andy Stacy back to continue w ith t he developmentwork on the 500CR. which came to a standstill after Danny was hurt." Stacy took the bike to his best National finish ofthe season - fourth overall in the 500cc class. Jo J o Kell er ga ve the Boyesen-Link rea r suspens io n of inve ntor Eyvin d Bo vesen its Na tiona l debut at Bu chana n, an d Kell er sa id he was "very im pr essed with the per forma nce o f th e suspens ion in testing sessio ns a n d decided it was time to tra y a Nat io na l with it." Kell er too k th e H on d a CR5 00R - ba sed mo u nt to second beh ind Bro c G lover in th e first 500cc mot o , b ut a broken reservoir oi l line resu lted in a DN F in mot o two. " I cou ld never reall y gi ve it (the suspe ns io n system) th e aci d test beca use th e track was so d us ty a nd slo w," sai d Keller. Mike Beier rode a Yamaha in the 125cc class at Buchanan. but had mechanical trouble and was held to a DNF-25 ta lly. "I was in San Marino on June 30 riding the 125cc MX GP there." said Beier. " and also had mechanical trouble while running th ird and DNF. I'm heading back to Europe for the (July 14) Finnish 125ccGP." The Doctor J ohn 's T eam MOIO-Guzzi 1000 Lem ans, wi th G reg Smrz a nd Larry Sho rts ridi ng. won th e ina ugura l Ju ly 3-4 Paul Revere 250 a t Flori da 's Dayton a Intern at ional Speedway. T eam MOIO-Guzzi bea t Northridge Racin g 's (Yam FJ 1100) Dou g Cro ss a n d Ral ph Joh nson , J r. by a 40second mar gin af ter 71-laps on the 3.56-mile com bined ova l/road co urse. Th e winners covered 252.76 mil es at a n average speed o f 94.456 mph. Thi rd o vera ll wen t to Tea m Six teen (Yam ) with Kevin Schw antz and Steve Nardi ello riding. Seen at Willow Springs Raceway: The tire leaning against this stack is a 150/70VR18 Dunlop Sport Radial 700 . According to a Dunlop brochure recently distributed in Australia . the tire is also available in 150/BO-15. 150/80-16.140/80-17.120 /90-18 and 130/80-18 sizes. Randy Renfrow was slated to test the new tires at the track the week before the Laguna Seca Camel Pro Series event; Dunlop hopes the new t ires will stem the recent production-class dominance of the slick-based Michelin Hi-Sports. Wood-Rotax dirttrackers swept all three classes at a race held in Odessa. Missouri on J uly 7 . Chris Carr led the sweep with a w in in the Expert class. w ith Brian A therton winning in the Junior class. A Wood-Rotax also took the Novice division. The AMA will ho ld an informa l me eting on proposed roa d racing rule cha nges on Friday, July 12, a t 7:30 p .m . in the Del Monte H yatt H ouse in Monterey, California . The meeting tak es p lace prior 10 th e July 13- 14 Lagu na Seca Nat ional. Road racer Wes Cooley has been released from the hospital and is now recuperating at his Ramona. California home. Cooley sustained extensive injuries. including two broken femurs. a broken hip and a ruptured sp leen. in a May 19 acci dent in the Sears Point (Ca lifornia) Superbike Series round. Alan Kin g , wh o in addi tio n to Stacy a n d Mik e Beier , 'was left wit hou t a ride a fter T eam T a mm fo lded , wa s at Bu chan an with a self-sponsored Kaw asaki KX500. Still nursin g hi s left wrist - which was broken in May - Kin g rod e with th e wr ist heavily taped an d carded a 13th in th e fir st mot o. Kin g elec ted 10 sit o u t m o io two because of pain in the wrist. The California Bureau of Land Mamigement (BLM) has five posi t ions to be filled on the California Desert Advisory Council for members whose terms are set to expire on December 31. 1985. The positions are in t he following catagories: environmental protection. renewable resources. wildlife and two publ ic-at-large representatives. Anyone can submit nominations for qualified persons in any of these catagories. Nominations must be submitted by August 2 to the Ca lifornia Desert District Manager. BLM . 1695 Spruce Street. Riverside. CA 92507. Mike Baldwin told reporters that he crashed at Assen because he picked an intermediate-tread tire inst ead of a rain tire. But in this photo of Baldwin's crash. his bike appears to befitted w ith a full -rain Michelin. For a report on the Dutch GP at Assen, see page 8 . T he Cal ifornia Department o f Parks and Recreation is lookin g for a Senior L and scape Archit ect for th e OffHighway Vehicle Divisio n , and a pparently the job title doesn 't have much to do with th e job responsibil ities. In formed so urces say th at any sta te employee with a n interest in o ffro ad vehicles and a su ffic iently-high job gra di ng h as a sh o t a t th e job . More informa tio n is avai la ble from the department 's person r;tel o ffice. Bill Amick. the AMA Director of Competition. has now assumed additional responsibility. Amick will be responsible for management of AMA dirt track and road race competition . inclu ding the Grand National Championship / Camel Pro Series. Under the revised management structure. AMA Vice President Wayne Moulton will continue to oversee AMA professional motocross programs. both on domestic and international levels . Bill Boyce continues his inv ol vement in all phases of AMA professional rac ing as special projects manager. Accordin g 10 Brady Brooks, director o f th e Professional Motor cycle Road Racers Association (P MRA), a u to gra p h sessio ns an d a p rize drawing h e ld durin g th e recent L o ud on Nat io na l meet rai sed nearl y $2,000 to help defra y Wes Coo ley's medical expenses . Leon Primus was the big wi n ner in th e dr aw in g , taki ng home a Arai ~es Cool ey helmet. Cal ifornia Assemblywoman Doris Allen. the sponsor of AB412. a bill which wou ld establish state-run motorcycle r ider training pro grams. recently rode a st reet bike

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