Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Canadian Alan Labrosse won hi s first National at Brainerd . (Below) Dan Chivington pilots his Yamaha to a f ine second pl ace. AltA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: RfUJd 25 Labrosse hauls in win at Brainerd National By Gary Van Voorhis BR AIN ERD, MN , SE PT. I Can adia n Alan L a brosse scored his first Camel Pro Series Formula One win in the final round of th e series a t Brainerd In ter n ational Racewa y. Labrosse, in his first season 6 of Formula One after three years in Form ul a Two , di ced . f or t h e Iea d ~VIt h Ran d y Renfrow for the firs t h alf of th e race before Ren fro w crashed out of con- tention, La brosse ra n a smooth a nd ca ut i~>us race ou~ from to th e£in.ish o f the 2:>-lap, 75-mtle $20,000 Natio nal . Da n Chivi ngton came through to runner-up by hard riding and taking advantage of th e m iscu es o f others. Boonie Knott p laye d a sim ilia r ga me pl an and wa s rewarde d with third and h is firs t-ever appearance in a Formu la O ne wi nner's circle. Renfrow , despi te taki ng time to check over h is bike a nd spendi ng a lap making sure it was al righ t a t racing speed, worked back to fourth. Miles Baldwin rounded out the top five. Interesti ngly. the top three were mounted o n 500cc G P machi nes of different makes. Labrosse rode his Motoplan In suran ce o f Ca nada H onda RS500 to victory whi le Chivington was aboard a Gee Vee Performa nce-backed Ya m ah a YZ500. Knott filled o u t th e champagne tasters on his TrFN-sponsored Su zu ki RG 500. Ren fro w a nd Bal dwin were Honda RS500-moumed with Renfro w aboard a Sta rfi re Racin g mou nt a nd Bal dwin 's backed by Brothers H onda. Mike Baldw in , winner of the 1983 and '84 Nation al s a t BIR was n o tably a bsent. H e wra pped up h is fourth series title a t th e Mid-Ohio ro u nd a nd spent the wee ke nd racing th e final GP o f th e season in Italy . T he fina l poin t sta n d in gs sh ow Baldwin a t 89-poims to Renfrow 's 80. Labrosse an d Ch ivin gton, via their to p fin ishes, m oved to third a nd fou rth , respectivel y, at 76 a nd 66poi nts, Fifth in th e fin a l sta n di ngs belongs to Rich Schlachter a t 63. Sunday was a clear and su n ny day in co mparis o n to th e ra in o f Sa turday. Q ual ifyin g sa w Renfrow post a 104.61 m ph la p of th e ci rcu it to ea rn the pole p osit ion for th e Nationa l. Do u g Br aun eck , Mil es Ba ldw in , Schlach ter and Chivi ngron filled out the top five. Brauneck didn' t mak e the race af ter crashi ng hard o n th e warm -up lap of th e Form u la T wo race ru n ea rlie r in the day. At the promoter's option a n d w ith AMA approva l th e 31 riders o n hand all made th e Nationa l fie ld . T he money fro m th e Last Chance Qualifier wa s added to th e purse. Problems hit a number o f riders in q ua lifying wi th La brosse's crew o f tuner Stuart Sh aw a nd Pa t Bra dy working a t fu ll throttle to rep lace a broken piston before th e ca ll to th e grid. T eam MacLea n's Wa yne Rainey and Sch lachter weren ' t in the best of m oods a fter Ra in ey broke a cra nks h a ft in h is R S500 e n g i n e a n d Schlachter seized hi s bike's en gine . Sch lac h ter bare ly mad e th e start wh ile Rainey watched th e race from th e p its . " Do n' t a sk me how I did it because I don 't really kn ow ," said Labrosse a fterwa rd a bo u t h is su per sta rt which ca rried h im fro m row three to th e lead bv th e seco nd turn. " I felt co n fident tha t things were going to work o u t desp ite th e engine problem earlierin th eda y. I knew Ldidn' t h ave to worry." Miles Bal dwin was rig ht behind and keepi ng h is fingers crossed h is engine would hol d together for the 75 m iles. "I've got 2000 mi les o n the cra nk," sai d Bal dwin. "The engine's run ni ng hot, it wo n't p u ll revs, and I've go t some handli ng problems . Other tha n th at , everything's fine." Renfrow q uickly moved into second over Bald win and th e three di ced for the lead befo re La brosse a nd Ren frow broke a way fro m Ba ldwin. Dale Fran klin, o n th e Remon Yamaha T Z750, h eld fourth over Ch iving to n , Kno tt , The Cagiva 500 of J imm y Ada m o a nd th e th ree-way battle for ei gh th a m o ng H enry DeG o u w a nd hi s Yamaha T Z750 a n d Superb ike riders Glenn Barry a n d Tom Maso n with Barry aboa rd a Honda and Mason Yamaha -mounted . Stuart Cooper, o n another Cagiva 500, was in th e p its a nd o u t for th e da y before two la ps were in the books. Sch lac hter, with handl in g p roblem s ca used by hi s steering damper , wa s a lso quickl y in th e p its a nd o u t for th e day. T he ba ttl e for the lead saw La brosse and Renfro w trading p laces a ll around the 10-tu rn track, but the highligh t wa s the draft and pass attack by each o n BIR 's 5200 foot from straight which leads into a sweeping righthander taken at full speed. The halfway point saw Fra nklin in th e pits after ru nning a solid fifth. " I've go t some extra engine cooling n ow," said Frankli n poi n ting to a hole in the engine case ." Ren fro w and Labrosse continued their battle for first while Bal dwin and Chivington were engaged in a simi liar fig h t for third as the ha lfwa y flags flew. Kn o tt and Adamo were clear of challengers in fift h a nd six th while Barry a nd DeGouw were still fighting . By th e start of lap 16, things had changed arou nd qui te a bit. " I'm no t sure wh at I did," said Renfro w, " but wh a tever it was it wasn 't th e right thing a n d I crashed . I spen t a bo ut a la p once I go t starte d making sure everyth ing was a lr ig h t before ge tt ing back to speed. " . Ch ivin gton , a fter sta lking and tra di ng pl aces wi th Baldw in , moved a head fo r good. T he ir battle fo r th ird h ad beco me o ne for seco nd o n Ren frow 's crash. As th e laps wo u nd down, Adamo began to slow. DeG ou w crashed out o f th e baule for seven th, H is bike a nd ego were badly da maged, bu t aside fro m skin ned finge rs and some bumps and bruises h e was a lrigh t. T he fin al laps sa w Knott m ove in to third past Bal d win , wh o later compl a in ed o f hand ling problem s. " It was n't worth ris ki ng a crash to try for th ird," said Bal dwin . La brosse too k the checkered flag whi le sta nding o n hi s foot pegs a nd had both arms raised in th e air. Ch iington, some 28-seco nds behind , did a wheelie whi ch carried him a good third o f the wa y down th e from strai ght. Knott, a sim iliar di stance back in th ird , sal uted th e cro wd by punching th e a ir wi th his left fist. " I wou ldn 't let Ra nd y get away," said Labrosse in winner 's circle. "T ha t wa s th e key to m y ra ce. If it had go ne to the fin a l lap, I would ha ve made m y m ove in turn 10 before the from stra ig h t beca u se it's wh ere I wa s. stro ngest o n th e track." "If yo u ca n't go fa st. you ca n a lways show o ff," said Chivington a bo u t h is wheelie a n tics , It too k a whi le to mo ve up because I wa s o ff th e track a nd in to the dirt o n th e first lap when I go t ban ged arou nd. Maybe if I h ad go tten to th e from in the open ing la ps things co u ld've been different." • Re sults 1. Alan Labro sse (Hon); 2. Dan Chivi ngton (Yam); 3 . Boonie Knott (SU%); 4. Randy Renfrow (Hont 5. Miles Baldwin (Han); 6. Glen n Barry (Han); 7. Ji mmy Adamo (Cagl; 8. Tom Mason (yaml; 9. Mar tin Morrison (Suz); 10 . Dave Schlosser (Yam); 11 . James Tr ibo u (Yam); 12. Gary M aslanka (y am); 13 . Dave Kieff er (Due); 14 . J ohn Jaco b (Han); 15. Pat Unneen (Yam); 16. Henry DeGouw (Yaml; 17. Dale Frank lin (Yam); 18 . Jeff Atwell (Bue); 19. Rich Schlach ter (Han); 20. St uart Cooper (Cagl. TIME: 44 min.• 10.66 sees. AV ERAGE SPEED: 10 1.86 mph. FORMULA ONE FINAL STANDINGS: 1. M ika ; Baldwin (89 ); 2. Randy Renfrow (801 3. Alan lJI brosse (76); 4. Dan Chiv ington (661 5. Rich ; Schlachter (63 ); 6. M iles 8 aldwin (61 ); 7. Doug Chandl er (55); 8 .W ayne Rain ey (51 ); 9. Doug Brau neck (461 10 . Jimmy Adamo (26); 11. (TIE) Randv ; Mamola/Freddie Spencer (20); 13. Ted Boody (I 7); 14 . (TIE) Boonie Knott /Kenny Roberts 116);16 (TIE~ Glen n Barr y/J eff Haney (131 18. Rueben McM ur; t er (12); 19. (TIE) Ricky Orlando /David Reed (11). CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. 8 ubba Shoben (223); 2. Ted Boody (190); 3. Doug Chandler (1671 4. Scott Parker (154); 5. Scott Pear; son (1291 6. Ricky Graham (114); 7. Chris Carr (99 ); ; ; 8. Ronnie J ones (95); 9. Mi ke Baldwin (891 10.(TIE) Rand v Ren frow /Jay Sprin gst een (80); 12. Alan Labro sse (76); 13. Steve Mor ehead (72); 14. Alex J or gense n (68); 15 . Hank Scott (67); 16. Dan Chivi n gt on (66 ); 17 . Pet e Hames (64); 1B. Rich Schlachter (631 19. (TIEl Randy GasslTerry Poovey ; 1 .. 621

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