Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ...... Vl Vl 0 a: w "" ~ >- al 0 0 I- :I: e, l!") 00 O"l ... Q.) ..0 8 .... Q.) Team Double Down won the Four-Hour Endurance race at Firebird . 0.. Q.) AMA /CCS National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 9 CFJ Double Down takes Firebird by storm By Mike Ross CHAND LER, AZ, AUG. 24 Team Double Down end u red inten se h eat, high humidity and a dust storm to take the overall win at the Firebird International Racewa y AMA/CCS Four-Hour Endurance Road Race. Tea m m embers N ig el G al e a n d H enry Tecza pilo ted the ir Mi ke Daly-tuned Yam aha FJ 600 to victory by outlasti ng the last-hour charge of T ea m Lockhar t's Wendell P h illip s a nd Carry Andrews on a very wellprepared 900 Ninja. A weekend-long heat wave sent temperat ures soaring to 115 0 by Satu rday a ftern oo n, making the race a true test of hu m an and mechanical en durance. And as if the heat wasn ' t enoug h , a su m mer monsoon blew u p a d us t storm co m p lete with lig htn ing which kn ock ed ou t the pit lights and cut visibili ty to zero for almost a n ho ur during the night ra ce. At 8:55 p .m ., the race stewa rd called the field 10 th e sta rt ing grid. T ea m No Name - J eff Ude ll and R icha rd Kohn - blasted into th e lead o n th eir Ka wasak i T urbo. The tr ustv Kaw asaki served th em well until late in th e fourth hour whe n th e en gine began making noises. With th e heIp o f volu nteer Mike Will ia m s, No Na me fin ished th ird. T ea m E P (Eide lweis Performa nce o f La s Vega s). wi th riders Slim Stevens an d Curt DeLa ite, mat ch ed the pa ce of the early leaders on a 600 Ninja . H ard and consis tent rid ing p aid o ff with a fourth overa ll a nd seco nd in th e GT U class. Local fast guys Greg Wi ng, R ick Wille an d Willie Adams co u ld n ' t get th eir T ea m Abbo tt Ni nj a 10 coopera te and missed th e sta rt by 10 laps . U nda u nted , T eam Abb ott a tta cked th e co urse with a vengean ce, wi th Wi lle's aggressive tu rn 12 exits im pressing everyo ne; bu t th e tea m co u ld on ly manage 11th overall. Disaster stru ck T eam 3-D in th e for m o f an ove rh ea ting a nd poorrun n ing 750 In tercep tor - they finished 14th overall . Team Hamer overca me a fla t tire , two cras hes and an engi ne fire to garner 12th overa ll. Tom Kra us a n d T om Da h l ra n well ea rly o n, bu t a sp u n ro d bea rin g knocked th eir Tea m TNT Suzu ki GS550 o u t o f th e race in th e fourth hour. At th e h alfway point in th e race, Loc k ha rt and Do u bl e Dow n were still on th e same lap, o n ly seconds apart. Lockha rt had 10 make tw o extra SlOpSa s th e h ea t too k its toll on P h illips. Even so , both team s sta rt ed to up th e pace a nd draw a way from th e field. By dropping down into th e 56- a nd 55-seconds-per-lap range, Lock hart a nd Do u ble Do wn cl icked o ff 66 laps in th e fourth hour, compared 10 59 in th e first . At th e end of th e race, th e lone Moto G uzzi of Team Pasta was still ch urning o u t laps in th e hands of Tom Moo re and Gi l Lesca rbeau , fro m T ucso n . T h e Rena issan ce Moto rsbacked 'Guzzicaptu red third in GTU, six th o vera ll. T eam Pork roo ted ou t sevent h overa ll and fourth GT U with Phoen ix Road Racing Organization 's (P R R O) n u mber one rider Kevin Ellio u, Bruce Vicker man and Steve Ma y a t the co n trols; Doug Lindsay a nd Larry Grapent ine brough t the ir Yamaha RZ350 home for fifth in class. When th e chec kered fla g came ou t, Do u ble Down was o nly secon ds ahead o f Lockhart a fter fo ur ho urs of racing. Lockhart received eno ugh la p po int s 10 push th em n ea rer to th e AMA/CCS poi nts lead. " I beli eve we're seven po ints behi nd now 3097 to 3 104," sai d Ph ill ip s after the ra ce. A ver y tired and happy Ga le was p leased wi th Double Down 's victory. " Last time O U I we had tw o acci de nts in th is place - go t kn ock ed off tw ice. T hev weren ' t o ur fault ; eith er o ne of th em . So, we h ad 10 red eem o u rse lves th is tim e o u t." When as ked a bo u t nex t year's race, Gale sa id , " We' lI be back but we'll have a bigger bike, eithe r a n FZ750 or a n FJ 1100." Lockhart's Phill ips said , " We a lready kno w wha t we' re goi ng 10 rid e a 1000 Ninja , a nd we' re go ing 10 buil d th e motor, It shou ld be ' fun ." • Results OVERA LL: 1, Double Down (Yaml : 2 , Loc khan (Kaw ): 3 , No Name (Kaw) : 4 , Team EP (Kaw); 5 , Screwdr iver (Su z); 6, Pasta (M-G); 7 . Pork (Su z); 8. Yorbla s (Yam); 9 , Sloth; 10, Roadburn er (Yam), National Champion Tony Head dominated at Donner Ranch. AMAjNATC National Observed Trials Championship series: Rounds 6-, Read dominates Donner Ranch By Kevin Scott DONNER PASS. CA. AUG. 24-25 Californian Scott H ead continued his domination of the Nor th American T rials Council (NAT C) ch ampionship series with easy wins in rounds six and seven at Don ner Ranch . Head , who recently clinched the Na tional Ob served Trials Championship, ma stered everything he was confro nted wi th whi le beating his competi tors handil y over the two-da y event. Saturday's ro und six took its 1011 time-wise on the rid ers as most finished over their a llo tted tim e limi t. Most the sections were long a nd the loop W .' iS sp read o u t over the rocky mou n tainous o terrain . He- ld 's 19 po ints p lus .2 po ints time penalt y put h im well ahead of second-p lace fin isher Stan Bakgaard. Sunday's round saw Head p ut his two years of European experience to good use as he cleaned most sectio ns that cla imed threes and fives from the other top riders. Section fou r pa rtic u larly gave the riders problems as it proved to be u nclean abl e all da y. A wet creekbed Io llowed by two tig ht , ro ug h turns and a thr ee-foo t sheer clim b saw a lot of fives carded despite a grea t effort by most. Ala ba ma rid er Steve McNeal showed tha t determin ati on helps, as sheer effort go t him a two on each loop. H ead, meanwhile, spe nt a lo t of time on the last lap figuring ou t a unique line. bu t it proved all for naught as he co llected a five. Section nine, the " O tis Elevato r," wh ich claim ed so man y viaims during th e Wagn er Cup two years ago, was easily cleanable by most of Sunday's top riders. A sligh t mod ification that a llowed the rid ers more of a run a t a IO-foot wall made the difference. Wh en th e final resu lts were tallied, H ead was again th e winner on Su nday, posting 35 pouts to McN eal' s secondpl ace effort of 71: Bakgaard carded an 85 for third . Spectacular sections and scenery were the ru le o f the weekend an d the orga nizers did a grea t job with the layout a nd scor ing. • Result s SATURDAY CHAM PIONSHIP: 1, SCott Head (19 ,2t Stan Bak, gaard (5 1t 3, Steve McN eal (72 ,6); 4 , Andv Saum (75,2t 5, Ryan Young (76,1); 6, KiPI' Webb (77); 7, Matt Pritcha rd (80,4 t 8. M organ Kavanaugh (83 1 9, : Oavid Pyle (84 ,4 1 10 . Keith Adams (96 ,8), ; SPTSMN : 1, Ronald Sch melzle (16t 2, Todd Tuckar (18t 3, Kelly Echte rlin g (20t 4 , O ive BelVOir (29): 5 , Steve Clark (38); 6, Hila ry M uscatell (39); 7 , MIke RBed (4 1); 8, Bim Miller (43 /1 0 cle ans/9 onesl; 9, Larry Drawhom (43 / 10 / 6); 10, Terry Peacock (44 ), SATURDAY CHA MPIONSHIP: 1, Scott Head (35); 2, SIeve McNeal (7 1t 3 , Stan Bakgaard (85t 4 . Kip W ebb (99 ); 5, Don Sweet (l OSt 6, (TIE) David PyIa/Andv Saum ; (1081 8 , (TIEl Ron Commo J r.lRyan Young (112): 10 , , Morg an Kavanaugh (1191 SPTSMN : 1, Charles King (3t 2. Rona ld Schm elzle (7t, 3 , Clive Balvoir (1 1); 4 , Kelly Echterling (14); 5, H, Galbreat h (20); 6 , M ike Read (22); 7, (TIE) Terry Peacock/Todd Tucker (25); 9, 8im M ill er (26); 10, Keith Mclaughlin (30), , VET: 1, An W abster (62t 2, Ja ck Hemin w ay (B21 SR; 1. Oala Ma lasek (20 ); 2. Robin Farmar (30t 3, Charla s Ma llow (3 1): 4 , 8 ill de Garis (36): 5, John Husman (70t 6 , Ron Saum (7 2); 7, Gary Conr ad (78t 8 , Bob Pick (88 t 9, Steve M uscatell (96 t, 10 , Lawrenca Schmelzle (1 19), SPR SR: 1. Jerry Young (131 2, Wi ltz W agner (52): 3, ; 8 ill W achendorf er (64 1 4 , 8 ill Thompson (88), ; HIGH SCHOOL: 1, Mo nte Tudter (64); 2 , Kevin Manniko (72 ), 21

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