Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Washington's Bruce Lind end Jack Hart dominated the sid!'C8r r:aee on their TZ750-powered hack; the win eamed them the championship. . tr ack so hard it gashed m y leathers, but that a lso bounced me back up and in the ri ght direction. I figured if I su rvived that , th en there wasn't any wa y I wasn't go ing to win ," • Twins final at Mid-Ohio Sports Gene Churc h and hi s Harley-Davidson led every lap of the Battle of '!'he Twins race; Jimmy A damo and Malcolm Tunstall were second and t hird , 10 egy was to m ake as quick a m<;>ve a s possible," said Renfrow, " bu t J Immx didn 't wait for a nyo ne on th e start. " I wanted to stay wi th Jimmy," sa id McMurter , " bu t I ran in to handling problems ri~ht a wa y. I :va s ha ving trouble keeping th e bike going where I wanted i t to go in the turns a nd I ended up spendin g most ~ f th~ race hanging on rather than racing, Sam McDonald 's strin g of hard luck co n ti n ue d a nd he parked his b ik e on lap six. "It's a n en gine problem," said McDonald, " bu t we won 't know exactly wh a t it is until we get inside th e engi ne ," Bettencourt and Renfrow battled for second 10 seco nds behind Fil ice o n lap n ine wi th McMurt er, Lusb y, Brubaker (ridi n g with front brake problems), Orlando a nd the Monahan R&D Yamaha of Kevin Monahan foll owing . On lap 10, th e battle for seco nd became o ne for th e lead as Fili ce ca me . pa st th e p i ts pounding on his gas tank and slo w ing. " It felt so good being out front and everr.thi~gse~":led to be going m y wa y, said Filice. " Then , the engine started !o v!brate a nd run ra g ged . I wa s hoping II was just so methi n g little a nd that I could nurse i t to the fin ish. It wa sn 't a nd two laps later th e engi ne blew - big time. It was a long walk ba ck to th e p its," Be ttencourt, o n th e Beuencourt Honda -sponsored , Dave Hoyle-tuned m ount, had a nearly three-second lead on Renfrow whe n Filice retired a nd th a t was as close as a nyone would get until he was su rro unded in wi n ne r's ci rcle. " We m ade a cha nge in the front bra kes j us t before th e sta rt ," said Ren fro w, " a nd then co u ld n ' t ge t them to work right. I had ha rd ly any ~res sure at the br a ke lever. Some la p s m to the race th e press ure bui lt up a nd I cou ld hardl y pull th e levc;.r.in ': ' . O n la p IS, Monahan 's n de 10 seventh came to a ha lt as he coasted to a stop with undisclosed proble ms a n d parked h is bi keaga i ns~ th e wa ll separati ng th e track and p it a rea. Bettenco urt co n tin ued his run o u t front, with Renfrow a bo ut five seconds back o n la p 19, fo llo wed by McMurter L us by and Brubaker in a ti ght ba ~tle for fourth a nd O rl ando in fifth . The six th -p lace battl e included D~ le Qua rterley, Koc insk i, Fred Ren z. Mik e Harth , Barry a nd Larry Shorts. , One lap la ter , it was Renfrow s turn to pound the gas ta n k in frus tratio n . '" missed a shift a n d bent so me va lves in -t he engi ne ,~"sa id -Ren frow: - " T he chain came off j us t befo re the finish to end m y ride." Quick pit sig na ls a bo u t Renfrow's problem got McMurter back o n th e gas " a nd pull ing ou t a ll th e S!oPS in th e fin al laps," U p to th at poin t. th e Lusby/Brubake r bar rl e h a d been closing in as McMurter struggled with handling ill s. Orlando had to be co n ten t to watch fro m fi fth. '" h ad to ru n o ne o f m.y old engines," sa id O r lando, "an d II just got sl o~,er a nd slower as the race wore down. T h ree laps from the end, Be ttenco ur t's m a rgin quickly sh runk fro m 17 seconds to 10. '" had a problem wi th the front end," sai d Bettencourt , "and I wa sn 't sure what it was. I thought it might be a -loo se a xlt: o r that th e brake ca lipers were co rm ng loose. I slo wed , looked down, a nd saw it wasn 't ei ther. I figured co rrectly, it was something in th e steering h ead a n d ' could handle th at. I wa s keeping an eye o n m y pit board and I wouldn 't have gi ven up so much time if I didn 't have it . It was a m atter of bein g safe. H ey, i t wa s a great race. I feel terrific," • Results 1 John Bettencourt (Hon ); 2. Rueben McMuner (Ya;"); 3. Todd Brubaker (Hoo); 4 . Ricky Orlanm (Hon)' 5 John Kocinsk i {Hon l: 8. Glenn Barry (Hon). 7 Mike'Hanh (Yam); 8. Dele Quanerley (Yam); 9. F;ed Ren. (yaml; 10. Larry Shons (Hon); 11. Ray 8owman; 12. Peter Lusby (Hon); 13. Pat Heron (Yam); 14. Joseph Nelson (Yam); 15. James Tnbou (Yam); 15. Clive Ng-A·Kien (Yam ); 17. M Itch MarqUi (Yamt 18. Randy Renfrow (Hoo); 19. Stuart Cooper (Yam); 20. Mike Landrum (Hon). Time: 42 mrn.. 13 .314 sees. Average speed: 85 .264 mph. AM AICAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS : 1 Fred Merkel (96); 2. John Benencoun (6 8); 3. J~hn As hmead (65 ); 4. Todd 8rubaker (63 ); 5. Glenn Barry (62); 6. J im Fil ice (4 8): 7 . Rueben McMuner (42t 8. Ricky Orlando (31); 9. M lchea l Harth (30t 10. We sCooley (29 ); 11. Sam M cDonald (26); 12. (TIE) Kevin SchwantziFredd,e Spencer (20)' 14 Wa~er Nino (18); 15. Oale Quan er ley (17 ). 16. Jeff Haney .(14 t 17. (TIE) James Tri bou / Oave Busby/Peter Lusby (t 3 t 20 .(TIE)Seen Gray/ J ames Adamo /Doug -roland/ Eorl Roloff (10). Same of the Twins Church mofors away L EXI NGTO N , OR, AUG . 3 G en e Church turned in a sta rt to-finish ride o ut fron t in th e 17-1ap, 40-mi le Ba ttl e -of the · ' d Car Course . Church , aboard the H a rl ey-D avidson Owners Groupbacked , Don Tilley-tuned. H arley, h ad li ttl e trouble a fter th e thud lap as he opene d up real estate on th e T eam Leoni Cagiva of Jimmy Adamo. In turn , Ad amo had a good distance on third pl ace finish er Malcolm Tunstall o n th e Cran e R acing-sponsored Ducati . The top three ra n in position from th e third lap on. T he fourth through six th places in the o verall fini sh wer e set from th e end o f lap three with the Moto-Guu i of North Am erica moum of Gregg Smrz ta ki ng co m mand of fourth from Da vid Keiffer and h is Sports MC Racing/Rough Stock Racing Ducati. The top five overall wer e a lso the top five in the GP class. Sixth overall a nd th e win in th e H ea vyw eight Modifi ~ class went to Da vid McClure a n d his H arle y-Da vidson/Expre,s s Ra cin ~ backed H arley. McClure s class wm gave h im a co n ti n ued hold o n the ove ra ll ser ies point sta ndi ngs lead. . T he win in the L igh tweigh t Modi fied ra n ks a nd seve n th o vera ll fell to th e Wol£ Racing /Red Line Ducati o f Ro ger Sears. Dean J oas an~ Sears battled in the ea rly laps unttl J oas crashe d . J oas brok e a throttle ca b le, e nd ing his cha nce of a rest art. . Will Roeder , the Stock class winner. fini sh ed 12th o vera ll. Church had things his way right from the start a nd by lap fiv e had five seconds o n Adamo. "The bike wa s handling fin e," sa id Adamo, " bu t so mewhe re a lo ng th e wa y between practice a n d th e fin al we seemed to lose o u r to p-end speed. About h al£wa y through th e race I looked ba ck a n d I had a pretty good lead on th ir~ so I fig u red I d idn 't n eed to p us h II a ny more than necessary." T he hal£wa y m ark sa w Ch urch wit h 12 seconds o n Adamo . H o wever. Do n Ti lley, Ch urch ' s t u ne r , wa s kee pi ng a close eye o n h is ~i der. "T~e e ngine wa s totall y rebu ilt for thi s ra ce," said Tilley. " We blew u p a n engi ne a t Lagu na Seca a n d it took a lo t of wor k to get rea dy for here. I finished rebuildi ng it la te Thursda y and w hen we started it up, I discovered an oi l leak so it was tea r it down and p u t it back together again befo re we left," After the ea rly la ps, th ird -place T u nst a ll was never really cha lle nged. " It may hav e look ed lik e a n easy ride, but it was n 't," sa id T unsta ll. "There wer e a lot o f slic k spo ts o n th e track an d I go t o u t of sha pe a nu m!>er o f tim es. I'm g lad m y lu ck ha s fm all y turned a ro un d. I rea lly wanted to do well , es pecially si nce there are a n umber of people from Cra ne Ele ctron ics , m y sponsor, here to wa tch. " Fo ur la p s from th e finish Ch urc h al most sa w h is ride co me to a n end. " I h it a sli ck spo t," said Church, "an d got so o u t of shape th at m y feet ca me ~ff th e foo tpegs. My right knee h it the Results OVERAlL: 1. Gene Church (H·DI; 2. J immy Ademo (Cag); 3. Malcolm Tunstall (Duc.to 4 . G"'Illl Smr.(M·G); 5. David Keiffer (Ouct 6 . David McClure (H·D); 7. Paul McMillan (Duc); 8. R,,?er Sears (Duet. 9. Sh erry Fr idus. (Duct 1O. Terry Sptegerberg (Duel. GP; 1. Gene Church (H·D t 2. JImmy Adamo (Cog); 3. Malcolm ' Tunstall (Duc); 4. Gregg Smrz (M -G); 5. David Keiffer (Duc). HIW MOD : 1. Devid McClure (H· D); 2. Paul McMillan (Duc); 3. Sherry FridulS (Duel; 4 . Terry Spiegerberg (Ducl; 5. Poul Ziescheng. . UW MOD : 1. Roger Sears (Ducl; 2. Rick Herndon (Nor ); 3. Craig Mo rr is (Nor ); 4 . Mike Smith (No

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