Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

John Ashmead. Superb ike w inner on Peter Brady's Honda. (Above) Rueben McMurter (Y am aha 24), Dave Busby (Honda 72). Ricky Orlando (Ho nd a 12) and Carry A ndrew (Honda 41) duel for fourth before the rest art. (Below ) Adamo (2 6) lap s traffic in BoTT. brand-new rear tire. According to witnesses, Merkel and Schwantz were running together: Schwan tz passed Merkel going into turn four ; Merkel repassed Sc hwantz heading up the hill between turns four and the down hill left-right corkscrew, playfully kicked at Schwantz's bike, stuffed it into the corkscrew underneath some slower riders, grabbed a big handful of throttle exiting th e co rner and crashed. He broke several bones in on e foot and was sched u led for su rgery by Dr. Dave Kieffer , th e ra cer a n d orthopedic su rge o n who patched up Merkel 's broken wris t last year. Other rid ers injured in crashes during practi ce o n the unforgiving Laguna Sera tra ck included J a y Parnell, wh o go t a ride o n a Su pe r T eam FZ750 Yamaha , crashe d a nd su ffered a broken verte brae in h is neck ; Tod d Brubak er , who crashed o n n ew tires o n the first la p o f ra ced a y pract ice a nd rode th e race with a suspected broken foot; and Jeff Haney , wh o crashed h is RS500 i n F- I practice and broke hi s foot. Sam McD onald didn 't even mak e it to th e tr ack ; he's still recoverin g from injuri es su ffered at Pocono . Merkel was th e only rider to turn lap s in th e I minute lO-second range o n a Superbike; Sch wa ruz 's best la p s wer e lo w I: I I s: a few other riders turned I: II s; several rea ched I :12s and most ran 1:13s or slower. Before Merkel crashed, the race looked to be a showdown between Schwantz and Merkel; the big question was whether or not Schwantz could find the extra bit of la p time he needed to r a c e with Merkel. Schwantz's Yoshimura Suzuki resisted all efforts to make it run perfectl y during practice on Th ursday and Friday. with mechanics chasing the problem through carburetion a nd ignition and finally in sta ll in g an entirely different engine. Joining Schwantz on a Yoshimura Suzuki for Laguna Seca wa s Doug Toland; the race marked his first AMA Superbike event and his ' first time at Laguna Seca. Filice and McMurter rode FZ750 Superbikes prepared by the Yamaha Motor Corp. Testing Department; the bikes were ridden by Sam McDona ld and McMurter at Da yto n a and campaigned by Mc Dona ld since then ; revisions for the Laguna Seca event incl uded new works front ends with 40mm stanchion tubes, 17-inch front wheels, Brem bo ca lipers, more linear (less progressive) rear shock lin ka ges and fo u rt h (Imm) oversize pistons. Filice's bike was prepared by his usual mechanic, Lou Vallerga of Palo Alto (California) Yam aha; the Super Team FZ Filice usuall y rides was borrowed by the Testing Department ~!1~ wepp~d 'p~r~~I} ; ", I • • • Randy Renfrow join ed Todd Brubak er on Starfire Ra cing H ondas but withdrew from th e race after p roblem s cro p pe d up with th e bike in practi ce. Haney a nd Entropy Racing debuted new sponsorship from Bank of Am eri ca for both Haney's Super bike a nd hi s RS500; hi s RS500 cras h during practice eliminat ed a ny chance of H aney bringing home results for his new spo ns or. " T ha t new front en d made suc h a d ifference," Filice sa id before th e heat races. " An d 17-in ch front wheel is a big improvem ent. With th e 16, in th e slow corners it wa n ted to o vers teer a n d fall in . I thi n k th at 's w hy I was th rowing th e thin g a way so m uch . But th e suspens io n 's th e b ig differenc e. I use d to drag th e wa ter p ump and stuff. Now I don 't drag an ythi ng beause the suspension 's n ot bo tt o m in g o ut a ll th e ti me." Fili ce a lso said th at the bi ke h e rode u sed his Super T ea m en gi ne, a nd th a t it ran better than th e engines prepared by Ya maha . Ash me ad wo n the first h ea t race for grid posi tion o n hi s G ary Med leytuned , Peter Brady Racin g/ Onta rio Mo ta Tech VF7 50F sponsored by Mi chelin, ND, Fox a n d Castrol. But th e most exci teme nt a t th e sta rt of th e ' heat race from Scott Gray, wh o bla sted o ff the last row of th e grid to pass 10 o r 12 riders before the pack rea ch ed th e firs t turn, as h e worked from th e left side of the track to th e ri ght to set up for the turn. Filice led four of th e five laps across the line, with Ash mead and McM urter right behind; on the last lap, in th e last corner, Filice slid and Ashmead moved over, almost into McMurter; i t looked like all three would bounce off each other and crash for a moment; all made it to the finish line. Ashmead getting there first. Dav e Busby (Han ) was fourth ahead of R ich Oliver ( K aw) , R icky' Orlan do (H o n), Carry Andrew (Han ), Gray. Dale Quarterley (Yam ) and Bru ba ker. Oliver was docked one lap for jumping the start so was credited for last place in the heat race. The five laps took 6 minutes, 10.46seconds for an average speed of 92.317 mph. Schwantz led every la p of the second heat; Betten court was second every la p ; and Toland finished third after starting la st, a t the ba ck of th e grid. Schwantz immediately pulled a big lead , turning I :lis, but didn 't slow dow n ; one lap he got the Suzuki into a big fu ll-lock slide coming out of fa st turn eight. a banked , downhi ll righ t-hander; th e crowd in the turn nine grandstands and along th e fen ce near turn eight ch eered; Schwantz la ter said th e so ft tires he ran in th e heat ra ce overheated; told th at th e fan s liked h is slide , he said " T hey did? It kind of sca red me." , Kerry Bryant was foruth in th e heat ra ce with Earl Rol off fifth a nd Keith h> r I Pinkstaff sixth. Schwantz wheelied across the finish line from the last turn ; his winning time was 6:04.597 at 93.802 and gave him the pole for th e sta rt of th e final. And Schwantz came around the first lap of the race wi th a commandi ng lead ahead of Filice, Ashmead, Toland and Betten co u rt ; halfway a ro u nd the second lap, Schwantz's bike broke, and Ashmead , who had passed Filice, was now the leader. H e wouldn 't be passed again , and he 'd lat er tell reporters that he worked a t keeping co o l, concent ra ted o n bein g smooth a nd trying not to make an y mi stak es. Bett encourt, meanwhile, wa s working on Filice , closing up, fin all y passing on the fifth lap. It was a surprise that Bettencourt and hi s Bettenco u rt' s H onda /Bel l/Fox VF750F made th e start a t a ll. He'd co m e in from practice the morning of th e race a n d co m p lain ed to mechani c Dav e Hoyle th at th e bike wasn't sh ifting as well a s he'd like; Hoyle ch an ged th e engine before F- I qualifying. Bettencou rt ra n F-I qualifying a n d mad e the field in 19th p lace w ith a 1:12.81; th e en gi ne promptly broke a nd H oyle ., . , " . .. faced the task of sw apping engines again in the limited time before the start of the Superbike final. He made i t, rolling the bike through final tech inspection with the four-minute sign alread y up. Bettencourt made it around th e tra ck before the oneminute sig n went up and took his position o n the grid. Toland was losing positions each lap, working backwards from third to ninth behind a ferocious battle between Busby, McMurter, Carry An drew in eas il y the best ride of hi s ca reer on his Performance Machinesp o nsored Interceptor, and Ri cky Orla ndo ; Oliver, Quarterl ey a nd Brubaker were hot on Toland 's rear wheel. But somebody dumped a stream of oil all around the ra cetrack ; on the II th la p Andrew crashed in turn three, Don Biava and Berndt Kog ler crashed in tu rn fou r, and Bu sb y crashed in turn seven; th e race was red flagged on th e 12t_h lap as Ashmead led Bettencourt, Fil ice, McMurter, Busby, Orlando, T oland a nd Oli ver . T he re wa s a len gth y dela y as co rner wo rker s dumped oil dry on th e strea m a n d broomed i t in. Ashmead's cre w used th e av ail a ble time to in stall a • • • • I • •• 9

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