Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1985 08 07

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Doug Ch an dl er points o n th e road race tracks to ca tch h im in th e sta n di ngs a nd the n passed h im at a din track . Now, Bubba has to come to road race tracks where with th e Su perbike h e's rid in g - it's har der to do busi ness o n tha n th e Form ul a O ne GP bike I ride. Bu bba has never ridd en a G P bi ke a n d ' I do n ' t beli eve H o nda would put h im on o ne since h e h asn 't. I feel th at giv es me a n edge on the road ra ces , but he has mu ch more time o n din tracks th an I do an d a lo t o f mil e Na tional win s so th at 's hi s edg e. I reall v hated to see Ted Bood y slip back in ' th e p oints beca use i t j u st mak es th in gs more excitin g when th ere are three o r fou r o r m or e rider s go in g fo r it. Wh o kn ow s wh at will happen in th e last half o f th e seas<,m ? As long as th ere's a race for th e tltle and th e cha m p io ns h ip chase goes ri ght to th e fi na l Nat iona l th en it 's good. T he id ea a t th e beginn ing of th e season, Freddi e Sp en cer 's idea , wa s fo r him to win th e 500cc World Cha mpionship a n d fo r Ra n d y to win the Camel Pro Seri es titl e. It 's changed aro u nd a bit, but if we ca n w in titles in Europe and here it wi ll be a big boost for next year's progr a m . Jerry Griffith Did yo u see th e team gaining th e points lead atthi~ point in the sea.s o~? I was hop in g for It, a lt houg h , realistica lly I did n' t reall y see it a t this tim e. I knew Dou g was ca pa ble o f doing it, but we had a bun ch of mech anical p roblem s in th e ea rly season d i.n tra ck Na tion al s an d th ose hurt us 111 the points. On th e road ra ce side we were lookin g fo r a bike - a H o n da R 500 since Da ytona . Freddi e Spencer was look in g for o ne, as were a nu mber o f o ther pe ople. T here were bikes a vailab le in Europe , but th ey were 35,000 and we co u ld n' t a ffo rd that. T his RS500, Wes Coo ley's form er bike, ca me up j us t as we were ge tting rea dy to bu y a (Hon da Int ercep to r) Su pe rbik e. It isn' t a brand n ew bike, bu t it 's been re lia ble a nd ha s reall y done th e job for us. A lo t o f p eop le tol d m e not to get a n RS for Dou g, but I felt he co u ld han dl e it. H e has very goo d throttl e co nt rol and that 's w ha t it tak es to ride the bi ke, p lus h e's got a bu ilt-i n sa fetv facto r - he does n 't go o u t and do crazy th in gs. I kn ew buying a Su pe rbi ke wo uld n't hav e been th e rig ht move be cau s ~ yo u ca n 't re~ll y be in th e hunt agai ns t th e G P bikes o n o ne. How important is ha vi n g th e point lead at th is point to the program for the rest of the seaso n? I think it's importa nt because I feel it wiII give Doug m or e confiden ce. I think h e's fin all y realizing just how good he reall y is. If we ca n keep th e eq uipment un der h i m , th en it 's up to hi m. H e's ca pa ble a nd we've go t momentum n o w . It 's the un foreseen probl em s o r bad luck tha t you worry about. It would be ni ce to th in k tha t since we'r e in th e lead we co u ld loo k for ward to bringing in mo re sponsorsh ip , but I rea lly doubt it. We' re on our o wn, a t least th at's th e wa y we'v e got to figure it. If we ca n get some add itio na l help, g rea t. One thi ng whi ch is go ing to help us is th at we hav e a new wo rk sho p right o utside th e H o nda pl ant in Ma rysville (O h io) . That is going to sav e us a lo t by giving us a base in th e ea st ra th er th an havi ng things we need back in O akdale (Ca lifo rn ia ) w hen th e m ajo ri ty of ra ces in the fin al half o f th e seas o n a re back here. We ma y no t h ave enough m o ney to race agai n n ex t yea r, but we' re goi ng to give th em a heck of a run for th e title. I'v e had to di g kind of deep, bu t I'm su re things will co me arou nd . I think we've go t to mak e o ur o wn destin y an d if we ca n p u t together every thi ng - a n d luck pla ys a big fact or in that ~ th en we'll co me o u t a ll ri ght. I d id sell a p iece o f land I had to put mo re ca p ita l into th e program . T here a re a lot o f reasons, persona l reaso ns, we want to win th e title. I' m 'ha p p y right now. I don 't bel ieve a n yon e took us seri ous ly unti l Do ug wo n Santa Fe, I reall y don 't. I th ink a lo t o f people are going to find o u t Do u g is a lot bett er racer , a lot sma rter a nd coo ler racer th an th ev th ink he is. We ma y not win every thi n g , but everyo ne is going to kn ow we're th ere. I kn ow a lot o f peop le thin k we're gett in g free parts a nd hel p from here an d th ere in o u r program , but it 's co mi ng o u t o f o ur p ock et right now. Freddie hel ped so me a nd Su perTrapp h elped so me, bu t th at mo ney wa s basicall y gone befor e we ever got o u t o f tow n . Th is is th e kin d o f dea l where we're not rea ll y making a nyth ing , but we'r e doi ng someth ing we want a nd if we ca n win th e titl e th en we sho u ld be ab le to turn it a ro u nd a nd put together a str o ng program for n ext season. I m issed a num ber of poten tia l spo nsors for this sea so n because we d idn't put togethe r th e p ro gram unti l ver y late last year. I' ve been keep in g i n touch with th em a nd th ey kn o w wh a t we're doing. T o do so me thi ng like thi s, with a ll th e wo r k invo lved , yo u have to thrive o n it , yo u 've got to live it 24 hours a da y. T here a re ti mes i t isn ' t worth it. Wh en yo u get down, yo u 've got to th ink o f winn in g . • Jerry Griffith Team Obsolete 's Jeff Elghanayan rode a 1959 Matchless G50 to v ictory in t he Laguna vintage races. (Below ) Dave Kieffer (74) leads Don Vesco. both on Team Obsolete machines. Team Obsolete sweeps Laguna Seca vintage By M ichael G reen :VI01\'TE REY , CA . J ULY 13 New Yor k-based Tea m Obsolet e too k first, seco n d, a n d fo urt h overa ll in the sixth ro und of th e CV R C's Cha m pi onsh ip Vintage Seri es, held in co nj u nc tio n with th e AMA Camel P ro Seri es Na tio n al a t Lagu na Seca Raceway. jeff Elgha na ya n , who races under th e na m e Marco Po lo , won o n T eam Obsolete's Accessory Mart / Cast ro l/ Bell / Champion -sponsored 1959 G5 0 Ma tchl ess tuned bv T eam Obso let e founder R ob l a n'nu cc i a nd Dick Mann . Do n Ves co ro de T ea m Obsolete's 1959 Ma n x Norton to seco nd o vera ll, a hea d of Cran e Raci ng 's Malco lm Tunstall an d hi s Syd 's Cycles Duca ti 350. Dr. Dave Kieffer was fourth o vera ll, third in th e 500c Premier class, o n T eam Obsolete's 1961 Mat chl ess G50. R ight from th e begin ni ng o f th e o ne wa ve sta rt , El ghana yan , Vesco a nd Kieffer see med to dominat e th e ove ra ll event with two Ma tch less G5 0s a nd o ne short stroke Manx No rt on. Da ve Ro per, al so o f Team Obsol ete wa s unable to race due to a broken a n kle h e got whi le a t Sea rs Po in t Na tional in Mav. Farther back in th e 500cc cla ss, C VR G regu lars batt led it o u t o n a co n glo me ra tion o f British mach in es ranging fro m BSA Gold Stars, Veloceu es a n d a co u p le o f T riumph twins . The highest p lacing go in g to T om R ien ecker's Wh eel Works BSA sixth place. As for th e 350cc class , Tu nsta ll a rrived fro m Florida wit h h is Syd 's Cvcle Du cati Desmo to take th ird overa!'1 and firs t 350cc wh en Kieffer went down in turn n ine. Kieffer did, h owever, recover hi s G50 a nd went o n to fi nish fo urt h ove ra ll by narrowl y beating out GeoH McCarth y's 450 Ducat i, T he seco nd p lace 350cc of Michael Moore was docked a la p for passi ng u nder the yellow flag when Kieffer went down . As Moore pu t it , " It wa s o ne o f those things, I wa s a lrea dy set up to pass and goi ng too fast when th e yello w ca me out. " The lap wa s lat er returned , giving Mich ael seco nd 350 an d a distant l l th o vera ll. While a ll th is was goi ng o n , th e leaders were lap pin g traHi c a t a h igh ra te o f speed, some doi ng lap tim es as low as 1:22! In th e 250cc class, Fr ed Mork 's Aer macch i led for eigh t o f th e 10 la p s until hi s motor went sou r, lea vin g Mi ke Canepa (Due) a well ea rned win that pushed CV RG points lead er Mik e Green to second o n th e H ap j ones Ducati a n d j ohn Schm id t th ird o n • a no the r Ducati, Resu lts OVERA LL: 1. M arc o Polo (M ati : 2. Don Vesco INor); 3 . Malcolm Tun stall (Due); 4 . Or. DA ve Kieffer (Mat); 5 . Geoff McCart hy (Duel: 6. Dave Weldedn ITri ); 7. Tom Rienecker (BSA); 8. Seon Sor em (Vel ) 500: 1. Marco Polo (M at): 2. Don Vesc o (Ma nxl: 3. Dave Kieff er (M at). 350: 1. M alcolm Tun stall (Duel ; 2. M ichael Moore (Due); 3. J im Craig (Ossl. 250: i . M ike Can epa IDuc ): 2. Mike Gr een IDuc): 3 . John Sch m idt (Due). POINT STAND INGS , 1. M ike Green (34 1 2. Chris : Quinn {24 1 3 . (TIE) Fred M ark /Mike Canepa ( H ): 5. ; Joh n Sch m idt ( 16): 6 . Tom Rlen ecker {14 1 7. {TIEl : Henry Deaton/Carmen Lynaug h (12); 9 . Dave Troetschler (101: 10. Michael Moore (9); 11 . (TIE) Ken Heuser/ Gary Hub back (8 1 13 . (TIE) Michele ; Bisson /Dave Roper (7 ): 15 . J im Cooper 1 16 . Bud 6): R,ddle (5): 17. J im Craig (3). 23

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