Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ";. l.r) 00 0") r- >- (Above) The VF500 Interceptor race finish; Moore (1 83). Gale (1 7 0) . Reynosa (75) and Biava (10) . (Below) Crowell (301). M artin (138) and Toland (251) in 7 50 cc Modified Production . Toland won. ~ ~ Jim Vreeke (22) leads winner Kevin Sc hwantz (289) on the f irst lap of the Kerker S uperbike race. Schw ant z and the Yoshimura Suzuki won. AFM/KerkerWesfCoasfSuperbike series: Round 4 Schwantz runs away By Lori Tyson RO SAMO ND . CA, J U N E 30 Kevin Schwantz took his Yoshimura GS700S Suzuki to victory in the AFM/Kerker Superbike Series by a comfortable m argin over Yamaha FZ750-rhounted Jim Vreeke at Willo w Spri ngs. Arai -sponsored Sc hwan tz won convincingly after comi ng fro m a la st-ro w grid position to pass most of the . 22 .. G a le a fte rwa rd. " He was cu tt ing h im off everywhere." Reyn osa did protest , but h e protested th e ent ire field - for non-standard shoc k length . His protest was disallowed , bu t with h is third-place fin ish , Reynosa too k th e lead in the series points. Ro lo ff won th e 600cc Modifi ed P roducti on a fter a fifth- lap red flag a nd resta r t. Numerous cras hes halted th e race near th e h alfwa y m ark with wrecked bikes lying in th e racing line. At th e restart Rol off was fifth off the line, but by th e n ext lap h e h ad recaptured his lead from Steve Cardill o a s the two entered turn nine. In th e en d, Rol o ff won by three seconds. Third was decided between Walt Nitta , Moore, G ale , Tom Aquino and Blak eslee, but Nitta fin ally m anaged to sepa ra te himself from th e others to tak e third. G ale and Moore di ced to th e la st moment with Moore taking fourth. Ro loff hopped o ff th e 600 right o n to hi s 900cc Ninj a for th e Open Modified Production, taking back to-ha ck wins in th e sea rin g, 1000 + desert heat. Ro lo ff led o ff th e start and was never ch a ll en ge d. Mart y Sha rpe (Ya m) rode a smoo th race in second , stea ling tha t pos ition from Kenny Ko pecky (Kaw) , The 750cc Modifi ed P rod uct io n rac e showed Do ug T ol and sp rinting to th e lead o n his first ride o n Cycle Tune 's FZ750. After virtua ll y no pra ctice tim e on th e bike, Tola n d outbrak ed L azer H elm et's Chris Crowell entering th e third turn o f [h e fir st la p a nd rode unm ol ested to hi s first 750cc class win. Nitta o n h is bran d new FZ750 a lso go t by Crowell and took field o n th e first la p . It took two more laps before h e was ab le to get pa st leader Vreeke, but on th e third lap o f eig h t. he went by Vreeke on th e front stra ig h t a nd rode alone to the checkered flag. " I wa s test ing some ex pe rimental tires," said the young T exan, and th ey were too h ard . There are six long black marks in turn one where th e tires slid all but th e fir st two laps. " M idway through th e race , Schwantz started sh o w in g off for th e crowd, whee1ieing up th e hill in turn three. Vreeke - sponsored by Kerk er , Du n lo p , Spectro, ND and Cycl e Ra cer - had won the last round of the series, but had to settle for second th is tim e, holding a seven-second margin over Earl Rol o ff, who was 10 seconds ahead of Kevin Monahan (Kaw ) by the end of the race. R ich a rd Moore won the H o nda VF500F Intrcep to r Series ra ce - th e best race o f any so fart his year. Moore led off th e start, but was dogged by Don Biava, Nigel Gale, W hitney Blakeslee a n d Ro n Swe et. T he lead changed with a lmost every turn , with fo ur riders charg ing down th e front straight side-by-s ide for the finish . Moo re won by less than a wh eel , bu t seco n d was a lOSS- Up at the lin e; G a le was awarded second wit h Reynosa third . Reynosa h ad moved up from a l mos t la st at th e start. " It kept wh eel ieing on m e a t th e sta rt," said Reyn osa . " I think Steve (Rey nosa) shou ld protest Moore's ridi ng," said • : 1 i.,,! ~ . I • lJJ~ l j } _ I. !; IIJ)t' . t'11 o ver second, but a ba ckm arker fro m th e Open class moved into his line just as Nitta was about to pass him at the en tra nce to turn five. '" grabbed th e brakes ha rd , but wh en' tried to turn ," said Nitta , "the bike went straight." Nittocrashed hard and was lucky to have only minor injuries. Crowell tossed his FZ away four turns lat er, but was uninjured. Craig Martin th en inherited second with Shawn Leipo ld taking third. The 600cc Superstreet race was won by Jim Poet a fte r a second -la p red flag ca used by a downed bike o n th e tra ck . At the restart Poet led the pack, and lengthened hi s lead to five seconds by [he en d . Ro lo ff took second aft er getting into it with To land and David Morris. (Roloff was d isqua lified la ter for passing under a wav ing yellow flag.) Tola nd took an un famil iar third . "T h e bi k e was ma ki ng c1ackety-c1a ck no ises a nd was dow n o n power ," ex p la ined Tola nd later. He wi thdrew h is entry from the 600cc Stock Production because of the problem. Pau l Van Zu yle took the RZ350 Cup win again with som e fast 1:34.4 la p times. Bu t this time Malcolm Hill a nd Van Zuyl e co n tin ua lly tested eac h other in a race o f stra tegy . On th e la st lap th e two were side -by-side going down the front stra ig h t wh en Van Zuyl e sta rt ed to move o ver, setting up for turn one. But when he moved he found Hill and th ey bump('C!. Hill countered with a n elbo w in th e side a nd Van Zu yle went into a h orrendous ta n k-sla pper. but managed to sav e it . The end sa w Van Zu yle winn ing th e drag race 10 the line by a h al f-a -bikelen g th , Nigel G a le, a lway s looking for the unusual , hopped on a 1340cc HarleyDavidson FXRT touring bike, sponsored by Bartel's H-D of Santa Barbara, complete with J erry Bran ch heads and touri ng Eli te tires, and won the Open T wi ns class by a co m m a nd in g lead over a ll th e Japanes e a nd European bikes in the race. R ol o ff won the Open Stock P ro duction class over Sharpe. Toland showed th e 750cc Stoc k Production bikes [he way , setting a new class la p record in th e process at I:35. I. Don Biava tri ed to o u tbra ke T oland into turn three ea rly in th e ra ce, but crashed . In th e F-I Open GP ra ce J ohn G lover rode th e exoti c " Box er" Kawa- saki agains t R ich Oliver's Kosm a n Ka wa sa ki a n d it was very close for a whi le. But on th e fifth la p , Glover dropped it in th e fast turn nine and th e bike parked itself in th e middle of the tr ack . " \\'e put on a n ew rear tire before th e ra ce," said G lov er , "but we sho u ld have put o n a new front also. I lost th e front en d going into the turn ; it slid a long way before it finally fel l." Like Schultz, Glover wa s test ing new experime n ta l Dunlop tires , which a p pea red to be radials. Scott Gray pi loted a n ex-R a nd y Mamola RG 500 Suzuki in th e race, ' got a terrible start, bu t worked hard from there to make u p time. H e came from a ha lf-lap behind everyone to tak e the lea d from O liv er on th e seventh lap. Gray, sponsored by Dun lop, Frank Thomas Boots and ND, was a ll sm iles afterward . " I like th a t bike," sa id G ray. " I' m rid ing it at Lagu na Seca ." Gray put in some respectable 1:28.4 la p times on his way to [h e w in. Oliver sti ll too k the Open GP honors, a s Grav was ridi ng in the F- I class. Steve Biganski won th e F-2 (250c c GP ) by quill' a ways. . • Res ults 600 MOD PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw); 2. Stev e Cardillo (Vam); 3. Walt Nitt o (Varni . 450 M OD PROD : 1. Brian Hewett (Vam); 2. Ray ca rson (Yam); 3. Joe Will iams (Hon) . OPEN M OD PROD : 1. Earl Roloff (Kawl; 2. M arty Sharpe (Vam); 3. Kenny Kopecky (Kaw) . 750 M OD PROD: 1. Do ug Toland (Yam); 2. Cra ig Manin (Vam); 3 . Shawn Leipold (Yam). OPEN TWIN : 1. Nigel Gale (H·D). OVER 40: 1. Ray Adams (Hon); 2 . Randy Red mo nd (Hon); 3 . Peter Poland 1Kaw ). 750 TWIN : 1. David Gibbon s (Yam); 2. Joe wnn . am s{Hon). F-4 : 1. Chris Hughes (Hon); 2. Lance Til ghman (Yam); 3 . Mathew Winiarski (Hon) . SINGLES: 1. Kevin Sinclair (Yam). KERKER SUPERBIKE; 1. Kevi n Schwa ntz (Suz); 2. J im Vreeke (Vam); 3 . Earl Roloff (Kaw) . OPEN SS : 1. Rich Oliver (Kaw) ; 2. Denny Doh er ty (Kaw); 3 . Ken MacNeil (Kaw) . 75 0 SS: 1. Don Biava (Yam); 2. Phil Smi th (Hon); 3 . Shawn Leipold (Vam). 6OOSS: 1. Ji m Poet (Kaw) ; 2. Doug Toland (Vaml; 3 . Steve Card illo (Yam) . 450 SS: 1. Pau l Va n Zuyle (Vam); 2. Charles Morton (Vam ); 3 . Larry Dunnagan (Yam ). HaN 500 INTERCEPTOR: 1. Richa rd M oore [Hon ); 2. Nigel Gale (Hon ); 3 . Ste ve Reynosa (Hon). OPEN STK PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw) : 2 . M arty Sharp e (Vam); 3. Sco tt Gr ay (Vam). 750 STK PROD; 1. Dou g Toland (Vam); 2. Rich Oliver (Varni; 3. Scott Jo hn son (Vam). F-2 : 1. St eve Bigan ski (Yam I; 2. Cli nt Whiteh ou se (Varni; 3. Pete Carro ll (Hon ). RZ350 : 1. Paul Van Zuvle (Vam); 2. Ma lcolm Hill (Varni; 3. John W ell s (Yam). 600 STK PROD : 1. Ste ve Cardill o (Varni; 2. Ga ry Tataum i (Yam); 3 . Chris Grabau (Han). 400 STK PROD : 1. Ray Carson (Yam I; 2. Stev e Flem in g (Yam); 3 . Phi l Sm it h (Yam). F-l : 1. Scan Gray (Suz); 2. Bob Reinen IKawl; 3 . Kevi n Monahan (Yam ). OPEN GP: 1. Rich Oli ver (Kawl; 2 . J eff Si ern (Suz); 3 . Denny Doheny (Kaw l. SIDECAR : 1. Ramirez/Sreede; 2. Wilson /Gerb ino (Ka w) ; 3 . Kinne fTaylor (Kaw).

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