Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The start of the Kerker Superb ike race. with Scott Gray (289) shooting up through the front row between Dale Quarterley and Walt Nitto (1 ). Kevin Schwlintz (4) won on a Suzuki GSXR750. - - -- - - - - - - - (Above) Marty Sharpe gets out of shape and kicks trying to avoid a highside in Open Stock Production; he finished second in class to Earl Roloff. who is already ahead. out of the picture. (Below) Honda Interceptor Series w inner Steve Reynosa. AFMjKerker West Coast Superbike Series: Final round Schwantz and Yoshimura dominate with GSXR7S0 By John Ulrich ROSAMOND , CA, NOV. 10 Kevin Schwan tz returned to th e si te of h is first AMA Su p erbi ke victory to win the final round of the AFM/Kerker West Coast Superbike Series, riding the Yoshimura-prepared, 10 o il-cooled Suzuki GSXR750b d S bik h 'II . ase uper l e e rac;e 10 1986. Schwantz won th e eigh tlap race 'easily, turn ing laps at' I m in ut e. 39-seco nd s o n a .cold , blustery da y w it h 40-m p h winds. Scott Gray was seco nd on Sch wa n tz's aircooled GS7 00-based 1985 Yosh imura Superb ike, a fier a race-long ba ili e for seco nd with J im Vreeke (Ya m) . More surp rising tha n Schwantz's victory was th e sp eed sh o w n by Vreeke 's Kerker-sp o nso red , FZ750bas ed Superbike, Vreek e wrapped up hi s second AFMIKerk er Series before th e fin al round, a nd h as been develo p ing his bik e with th e help of Kerker's St eve Johnson a ll yea r. At Willow for this race, Vreeke had th e fastest bike, us ing th e power to h is ad va ntage to reel in a nd pull a lo ngside Gra y later in th e ra ce. And Vreeke sh o t off th e sta rt in g grid to lead into th e first turn, with Schwan tz a bo u t fo urth behind G ra y and Dal e Quarterl ey (Ya m ). Sch wrantz was second behi nd Vreeke by th e end of th e fir st lap , followed Vreeke u p th rough left -h and , uph ill turn th ree. a nd stu ffed hi s way undernea th in th e m iddle of turn four, where th eir co u ld n 't h av e been en o ug h room; fro m th at point o n , Schwa ntz j ust pu lled distanc e, a nd Vreeke 's challenge was to hold o ff charg ing G ra y. By the end o f th e seco n d la p , Sch wa n tz had two seco nds o n Vreeke: Gray closed o n Vreek e, th e tw o runnin g n ose to tail arou nd th e to p o f th e tu rn fo u r hill , down into left -h and turn five, a nd up' into right-hand, bl ind -cr est , off -ca m be r turn ' si x . Wh er e G ra y pull ed up a lo ngs ide Vree ke as th ey reach ed th e apex , th e two back a nd forth by in ch es as th ey worked th e th rottles, tr ying n ot to sp in o u t a t th e cres t: th en Gray was past a nd dri vin g hard down th e back straigh t. Vreeke pull ed a lo ngside a nd a p pea red to pass G ra y just befo re turn o ne, but G rav outbra ked and sla mmed th e door ' into the co rner, a n d Vreeke n ever had a wheel in front again . Vreek e got close enough to m ak e Gra y feel h e had to weav e o n th e stra ig h ts to keep Vreeke o u t of h is draft, but the position never actua lly changed hands agai n. By th e fifth o f eig h t laps , Sc h wa nt z had seve n seconds o n Gray, a nd was tu rning m id·I :30 la ps: he slo wed to 1:31s for a few laps a fter th e Yos hi rn ura cre w showe d h im h is lead o n a sig nal board. At th e sta rt o f th e last lap , Schwant z wa s eigh t seco n ds a head: he crossed th e finish line 10 seco nds a head of Gray. who fin ish ed a length or two ahe o f Vreeke. ad Schwantz's GSXR750 ca rr ied 40 pounds o f lead in side its rectangularsection a lu m in u m -a lloy Irarne rail s to br ing it up to the AMA m inimum weight of 400 p ounds. Sch wa n tz still re ported that th e bike handl ed signi ficaml y better th an th e ai r-coo led S uperb ike h e rode in 1985. T hat's th e bike G ray rode, but with 748cc instead o f th e usual Tltscc: (with AMA -rulesa llowed I mm o verbore) due to a shortage of pistons, Yosh imura R&D of .,. ~ !1!erj C" n .bo ss Suehi ro .Wa !a n a,b. J e said. Quarterl ey had co me O UI fro m Bosto n with hi s Eagl e Racing FZ750 to race a nd look for 1986 sponsorship , but had p roblems setting up hi s Yamaha 's suspens io n. Pat H ernon mad e th e trek from Ohi o for th e sa me rea son, a nd had ca r buretio n p roblems w ith h is FZ in h is first ap peara nce a t W ill ow Springs . Yoshimura of J apan 's Fujio Yoshi mu ra brough t Sa tos h i T sujimoto, th e J ap an ese TT Formula On e Champi on, o ver for a tes t sessio n in the U .S.. a n d Tsuji moto rode G ra y's bike in th e 750 S uperstreet a nd Open G P races. Tsuji moto won 750 Superstree t o n th e tra ck but d idn 't show up in th e resul ts because th e bike doesn 't ca rry a stoc k charg ing sys tem a s per Superstreet rules. H e fin ished well ba ck in Open GP , riding co nservativel y o n a track he later said he d idn 't like much . Joe Solis jumped o u t front and stayed there in th e final rou nd of th e Honda Interceptor 500 Series, but wh en it was all over, Stev e Reynosa won 'the series ch am p io n sh ip with 122 points to Richard Moore's 11 7 and Solis' 103. Whil e Solis ran a few seconds in front from th e first lap , a terrific battle for seco nd sh ape d up between Tustin Honda's Moore, Temple City Honda and Red line Video's Billy DeBere and Reynosa, who has some so rt of tie-in with Action Fours. Reynosa went from fourth to seco n d on one lap, d rafting DeBere an d Moore o n th e front stra ig h t and shooting pa st into a nd a ro u nd th e o u tside of turn o ne, lea d ing into turn two. The battle clos ed up o n Solis, cu tt ing his lead to two seco nds, but Solis held on to win. R eyn osa's seco nd pl ace an d Moore's fourth gave Reynosa th e title. T he race wa s DeBere's fourth in th e se ri es o n th e R edl in e Vid eo machine: h is p revio us finish es were 15th, fourth a nd seco nd , with tire sponsorshi p from hi s wi fe, Kell y. Doug Tola n d won th e 750 Stock an d 750 Modified producti on races, co ming from seco nd-wa ve sta rts in th e co m bi ned Open !7;iO event s to fini sh seco nd-ove ra ll-a nd -ga in ing o n O pen -cla ss winner Earl R oloff (Ka w) eac h time. Tola nd a lso won 600 Stock Product ion. R oloff's o the r wi ns in cluded O pen GP a nd 600 Modifi ed P roduction. • Results KERKERSUPERBIKE: 1. Kevin SchwanlZ(Suz); 2. SCOll Gray (Suz); 3. J im Vreeke (Vam) HONDA VF500F: 1. Joe Sol is (Honl ; 2. Steve Reynosa (Hon); 3 . Bill DeBere (Hon); 4 . Richard Moore (Hon~; 5. Ben Will iams (Hon). 450 STK PROD: 1. Stua rt Wi lken (Yam); 2. Kenneth Furlong (Yam ); 3. Mark McDaniel (Yam). 600 STK PROD: 1. Doug Toland (Vam): 2. Gary Tatsum i (yam(; 3. Walt Nitto (Yam ). 750 STK PROD: 1. Doug Toland (Yaml; 2. Walt Nitto (Yamt; 3. Don SiSV8 (Yam ). OPEN STK PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw ); 2. Marty Sharpe (Yam); 3. M ichae l Johnson (Yam). 450 MOD PROD: 1. Stuart W ilken (Yam); 2. Stephen Wh ickland (Hen); 3. Ed Thiele (Yam). 600 MOD PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw ); 2. Steve Cardillo (Yamt 3. Tom Aqu ino (Yam). 750 MOD PROD: 1. Doug Toland (Vam): 2. Wa~ Nitto (Yam); 3 . Greg Hillman (Hon) . OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kawt 2. Marty Sharpe (Yam); 3. M ilo Goldseger (Yam). 450 SS: 1. Larry Dunnagan (Yam); 2. Dan Cane! (Yaml: 3. Jon Hill (Yam) 600 SS: 1. Steve Cardillo (Yam); 2. Pete Carroll (Yam): 3. Tom Aqu ino (Yam). 750 SS: 1. J im Poet (Suz): 2. Don Biava (Yam): 3. Ray Adams (Hon). OPEN SS : 1. SCOll Gray (Kaw );2. Alan San erlee (Hon): 3. Greg Blink (Kaw). VINTAGE: 1. Dave Walden : 2. Craig McLaan (Nor) ; 3. Swiss Niederberger (BSA) OVER 40: 1. Ray Adams (Honl ; 2. Patr ick W hita (Kaw t 3. Bill Bartels (H-D). SINGLES: 1. Paul Rasmus sen (Honl; 2. E. Flory (Hon); 3. Kirk Murd (Hon). 75 0 TWINS : 1. Fred Eiker (Nor); 2. Bryce A nder son (Duct 3. M ark Wiesendarger (Nor). OPENTWINS: 1. Paul Vogel (Tril ; 2. A rt Chambers (Due). VAMAHA RZ CUP: 1. M alcolm Hill (Yam); 2. Dave Morris (Yam); 3. J on Hili (Vaml. OPEN GP: 1. Earl Roloff (Kawl; 2. A lan Satt erlee (Hon): 3, Edwin Woo (Yam). F-l : 1. Jim Vreek e (Yaml ; 2. Curtis Adams (Yam); 3. Jim Poet (Suz). F-2 : 1. Ed Koc ina (Yam ); 2. Dan Ca net (Yaml ; 3 . Tom Serra (Yaml . F-4 : 1. Rye Hefl ey (Hon); 2. Lance Tilghman (y am); 3. Matt Winiarski (Hon ). • SIDECARS: 1. James Kinne /Robert Kellog (Kaw); •.• 2. Ton~ RarniretlPete r Breede (Yam); 3. Ernie Sloan/Steve Gerbino (Kaw) .

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