Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ fa rJ could run na t o ut. I lea rned a bit by keeping an eye o n Fred's lin es, bu t I ~ cou ldn't take adva ntage of it. T he . engine Lou Valerga built runs strong . 1;; Now a ll we need to do is sort o ut the ~ handling a nd I thin k th e Super Team a: has a potential winner. " ::> o " I rea lly want to thank everyone on ~ T eam H onda a nd especially Ud o Z Gi etl for g iving me th e opportunity ~ to ride o ne of th eir bi kes, " said :i: Kocinski . " I on ly wish 1 could have gj done just a bit bett er." ~ Fifth-place finish er Betten co u rt z sported a n ear-to -ear grin aft er the ~ race. Bettenco urt was pleased by h is > finish in the points to en d the season. ~ Additiona ll y, Betten co urt picked up ~ major sponsorship for next year from CD Cra ne Elect ro n ics (of Cinc in na ti, III O h io) and go t hea rty congratulations on his p laci ng fro m owner Sta nfo rd :I: Cra ne. a. o O ~ ~ o 0(') .... v ..0 o ..... u o !5 Results Jimmy Filice (17) leads John Kocinski (30), Glen Barry (behind Filice) and Fred Merkel (1) in the Superbike start. (Below) J ohn Long (132) leads Jeff Heino (2 4 7 ) and Don G reene in Formula Two. ~ AMA Superbike Championship Series: Final round Merkel's Daytona win ends season By Ga ry Van Voorhis DAYT O NA BEACH, FL. OCT. 20 H onda 's Fred Merkel closed out his second cham p ion sh ip win n ing season with a victory a t Daytona International Speedway. Merkel opened up an advan tage on the start and added to it throughout the 17-lap / 50-m ile sprint over the 3.55-m i le Speedway course to lead Super Team 's J im my Filice 6 a nd hi s Yamaha FZ750 by nearly a half-minute margi n at th e finish. Third place and a lmos t a nother 30 seco nds back was J ohn Kocinski , riding Merkel's n u m ber thre e back- up bi ke o n a one- time dea l. T he fourt h a nd fifth p lace fin ishers were also a good distance apart with Ho nda of Bartow (Flo rida) rider G len Ba rry lea ding Beuen p urple Raci ng 's J ohn Betten court home. Bo th were Ho nda -mo u nt ed. With Merkel a lready having p u t a lock on his second straight series title, the atten tio n shifted to th e battle for second in th e standing-s..Todd Bruba ker , who did n 't co mpete, held seco nd in th e points heading into the fin al round, with Betten court third and Ba rry fourth. Betten co urt 's fifth p lace finish tied him on points a t 105 each with Bru ba ker, but gav e him the nod for second in th e fina l poi nts ta lly via h is Mid -Oh io series wi n as hi s best pl acing o f the season . Brubak er dropped to th ird with Barry remai ni ng in fo urth at 99 poi n ts. John Ash mead, who cra shed early in the fina l, barel y held onto fifth , 65 to 64 poin ts, over Fi lice. Saturday's heat races saw Merkel earn the win over McDonald Racing's Sam McDonald and Barr y. . The second hea t produced a sho rt ba il ie in the four laps between wi nner F ilice and ru nner-up Koci nski. Sports I Afield 's Rueben McMurt er took h is H onda to third. " T he p la n is to lead fro m the start a nd set a q u ick pace in th e openi ng la ps," said Merk el. " I want to ge t a way fro m Jim my (Fi lice) early a nd then I' ll watch my pit boards to see what type of ra ce I need to run . Jim my's bike is fast and if he co u ld brea k away from me I'd have trouble catching up in a race on a n open track. " Merkel was true to his word as he quickly opened up a three-second gap o n th e rest of the field in the first two laps. Fi lice sett led into seco nd in front of a duel between McDonald , Kocinski a nd five other riders for th ird . By lap five, McDo nald was out of the race a fter gelling into a vicious tan k slapper in o ne infield horsesh oe turn a n d banging his righ t kn ee badl y a s well as tea rin g loo se the bik e's throttle ca bles in the process. " Sam was in fro nt of me w hen he got o u t of shape," sa id Kocinski . " We didn 't tou ch , bu t it was close. He slowed a fter th a t a nd I never saw h im agai n . By the time that happened I didn 't h ave any real isti c sh o t at win ning a nd no t much of a chance at ca tch ing jimmy. I sett led into a steady pa ce from there on. I didn't get a good start a nd to be able to win you've got to be right with the top two or three right awa y." At nearl y th e sa me time McDonald wa s having hi s problem s, J o h n Ashmead was ha ving h is ride in abou t sixth come to a n end wh en he crashed while running behind Bett en court. By th e midway point, th e top five were stretched out and in position to th e fini sh. However, a battl e right through the fin a l la ps wa s going on for sixth among Yamaha FZ750 rid. ers Mit ch Marqui, Da n Wal ker, Mike Harth a n d Pa t H ernon with Hondamounted Carry Andrew a nd Larry Sh orts rounding out th e bailie group. In the end, it wa s Marqui pu lling o ut the stops for sixth wi th th e sh uffle behind set tling dow n into Wal ker, Harth , Andrew, Hern o n a nd Shorts a t the fin ish . Merkel was all smi les in win ner's ci rcle . " T he race went ba sicall y as p lan ned," said Merk el, " a lth oug h J im m y had som e probl em s a nd wasn 't a fac tor lik e 1 felt he would be. My tuners, Mi ke Velasco and Merlyn Plumlee, d id it again. The ' Bru ise Brothers' are my secret weapon. " " I thi nk I had a shot a t wi nning, " sa id Fil ice. " I be lieve I had motor on Fred, bu t then 1 had problems with m y rear shock and the bike wasn't . ha ndling the wa y I n eeded it to so I 1. Fred M erke l (Han ); 2. J immy Filice (Yam I; 3 . John Kocinski (Han); 4. Gle nn Barry (Han); 5. John Bellencou rt (Han I; 6 . M ilCh Marqui (Yam); 7 . Dan Walker (Vam); B. M ike Hart h (Vam); 9 . Carry A nd rew (Han); 10 . Pat Hernon (Vam); 11. Larry Sho rts (Han ); 12. Thomas M ason (Yam); 13 . Je ff Farmer (yam ); 14 . Rick Shaw (Yaml; 15. Ken Stephe ns (Han); 16. Tom my Sloan (Ha n); 17. St eve Kluge (Vam); l B. Joe Nelson (yam); 19 . Kurt Liebmann (Ha n); 20 . Paul Schwemmer (Hon ). FINAL POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Fred Merkel (1251; 2 . (TIE) Jo hn Bellencourt lTodd Bru bake r (10 5); 4. Glenn Bar ry (99); 5 . J oh n As hmead (6 5); 6. J im Fil ice (64 ); 7. Kevin Schwantz (60 ); B. Sam McDonald (43) ; 9 . Rueben M cM urter (4 2); 10 . Ricky Orlando (3 9). Formula Two Long sizzles DAYTONA BEACH , FL, OCT. 20 J oh n Long led four riders in a near photo finis h of the Formula Two fina l. Lon g was follo wed across th e finish line by Jeff Heino, Don Green e and James Stephen s with no more than six bik e lengths separa ti ng th e four. The final half o f th e 14-lap/ 50-mile fin al saw th e closest a nd most hot ly cont ested race o f th e Daytona Pro -Am Weekend. Lon g , on th e Lon gevity Racing Yama ha , a nd J eff Heino and h is H onda sp ent the majori ty of their tim e in the cl osing la ps trad ing th e lead wit h Greene a nd his Eurocyc1e Honda righ t in their shad ow and Rot a x rid er Stephens a lways managing 10 close right back despite losin g the draft o f the front three on man y occasio ns. Lost in th e excitemen t of th e battle up front was the ride of Aavon Exterm in ators-ba cked David Curtis a nd his Honda in fifth . Kevin Brunson , on th e Mach I Racin g Arm strong, eas ily won the qualifying he race on Saturday. ar Brunson , winner of last year's Pro Am round, was eage rly looking for a nother win before heading back to clas ses a t North T exa s Sta te Un iversity in Denton. Brunson has sq ueezed in his road racing between book tim e for four seaso ns. The sta rt saw Brunson rock et away into th e lead with the battle for second quickly shaping up between Long and H eino as Green e followed wit h Stephens and Curtis tilling ou t the top six. G reen e had made his move q uickly since he had to start from the rea r o f th e 22-rider grid aft er en gine problems in the q ua lifying heat race ended h is r ide in one la p. T he series title was sti ll u p for grabs go ing into the race, bu t when contender Ri cha rd Schl achter wa s a no-sh ow the tit le a u to ma tica ll y went to Green for th e secon d yea r runni ng without having to put a tire o n the track. Schlach ter was the o n l y ot her rider with a chance at winning the title. Bru nso n cl icked off laps aropnd

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