Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

TEri YEARS AGO Belgi an motocros s sta r Roger DeCoster used a pair o f co n vinci ng victories in th e West G erman 500cc G rand Prix o f Mot o cr o ss 10 r eg a i n th e World Championship title h e lost in 1974 to H eik ki Mikkola. DeCoster was able to win th e seco nd rnoto in sp ite o f a flat front tir e; th e o vera ll win g av e him a n insurm ountabl e lead in th e point standings - with three ra ces s till rem aining in th e seri es. After thi s ra ce. Mikk ol a was seco nd in the point standings. an d Gerrit Wol sink wa s just 19 points behi nd Mikkola in third. Am eri can rider Brad La ckey wa s tied for fifth p lace with Belgi an Jaak Van Vel th oven . Kenn y Robert s cr a c ked a rear sprocket while leading th e 20th lap of th e 25-lap Ascot National TT ra ce. turning th e battle for th e lead over to Harley-mounted Gary Sco tt and J oh n Gennai (Tri), On th e sa me lap that Ro berts ret ired . Sco tt ma de his move on Gennai a n d led th e field to th e ch eckered flag. Far back in th e pack was Mer t La w will in eig h th pl ac e. with Gene Romero rig h t o n h is ta il for n inth. Co r ky Keen er wa s so me how ove rlooked by timin g o fficials in th e tim e trails fo r th e a n n ua l G a rdena G old Cup. but a fter much a rgu m en t wi th track officia ls was a llowed to enter his heat race. Keen er proved h is po int during th at h eat. posting th e seco nd fastest tim e of th e ni ght. In th e Expert fin al , Alex J org ens e n c h a llunged Keener until his Norton exp i re d wi t h me chani ca l troubl e; Keen er went o n to ta ke first place . fo llow ed by Jay Springsteen a n d John Hatel y. Suzu ki 's Ton y DiStefano put together a 2-1 sco re to win th e 250cc class at th e Delt a Inter -AMA in Delta. Ohio. topping Steve Stac ka bIe with a 3-2. a nd Jimmy Weinert with a 1-4 finish . Marty Smith dem olish ed both mOlOS in th e 125cc Nati onal . winning both times by a co m forta ble sixsecond margin . Tim Hart cla ime d second pl ace in both mot os for second overa ll . a n d To m my Croft pl aced th ird. For th e first time. in 1974 dirt-b ik e a nd ra ce bike sa les o u ts tr ip ped th e sales o f st reet-lega l m o torcycles. capturing 55% o f th e U.S. market. Danny La Porte turned in a perfect II score to clinch th e I25cc Pros a t the C;\IC NIX a t Carl sbad , Ca lifo rn ia . LaPorte fought off a serio us secondrn ot o c ha lle n ge fr om Yamaha mounted Bro c Gl o ver . bu t Gl over's bid fell short . a n d he event ua lly fell to third p la ce behind J oh n T essit ore. The "Bultaco Bu llet " J eff J en n ings cleaned both rnotos of th e 250cc Pros - both tim es w it h a co m fo rt a b le half-lap lead. J eff Bo rd en ro de his Maico to sec o n d place. and T er ry Turner placed third a boa rd hi s Yamaha. _ o RCEFUL U LOPRIDER FINDS SECRET TOWI NING M LAGUNA SECA: MICH LIN. A ll kinds of things happened at Lag una Seca. Ra ndy Mamola on M ichelin radia ls beat Kenny Roberts o n Dun lop radials in the Formula O ne ra ce. The day befo re, Jimmy Adamo o n his Ca g iva twin, riding on Michelin tires, led the Battle of the Twins from start to fini sh. But the most unusual story was that of John Ashmead . John is supported by D unlop, but he is obviously a n independent thinker. Because when he d iscovered d uring practice that Michelin gave him faster times, he politely asked us if we could outfit him with our tires. A nd we agreed. The rest is history. John won his first National Superbike race-, So, is there a connectio n between ~ w inning and M ichelin? The best riders in the world think so. ~ MIOEJN: BECAUSE SO MUOIIS RIDING ONlOUR nRES; Kenny Roberts uses P J1 oil to break his own Laguna Seca track record and set a new mark at 1:06.488 with an average speed of 102.876 mph. Special thanks to crew chief Kel Carruthers Askfor Pjl, theexacthi-performance blendofoilsand lubricants thatfactor), race teams use on their uinning race bikes . 5

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