Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Z ~ w Z UI ~ ~ a: ~~~===:-;;;;;;;-;:;"'- ~ I - ~ ~ a.. After two restarts, Greg Wing (3) led Team Sunset's Walt Nitto (69) to the finish at the PR RO Two-Hour at Firebird. Peterson wins, Johnson champ at DeAnza hillc'imb By Carrie Lewis SUNNYMEAD, CA, NOV. 17 Northern California's number one hillclimber, Tom Johnson, took an upset win in the Open Exhibition class at the lIth 58 Annual World Championship Hillclimb held over two days at DeAnza Cycle Park. After failing in his first attempt at the hill, Johnson came back in the second round and rode a totally different line up the left side of the hill to win. Though Johnson won the Open Exhibition class, event favorite Kerry Peterson won six of the seven classes to emerge the big winner of the weekend. Utahan Kenny Kimball blasted his four-cylinder Honda to a first-round fast time of 15.5 seconds, with Peterson in second at 16.2 seconds. During the second round, the hill changed as fast as the finishing positions. After Johnson's winning 14-second ride, the pressure was on Peterson, and through t!:te early parts of the hill it looked as if he and his nitro-fuelinjected 1500cc Harley were going to deliver. His ride took him through the lights in 12.08 seconds - easily fast enough to win - but his rear wheel caught in a rut and threw the bike sideways and down. Peterson levered the bike up 10 try to clutch it over the hiJI, but the steel paddles simply dug a hole. Since he did not top the hill, his time was not counted, and Johnson took the win with a very pretty ride. Brothers Mel and Kenny Kimball took second and third, respectively. Peterson had better luck in the 500cc Exhibition class where his Klemm Research-tuned, American Honda-sponsored CR500R topped the hill in 13 seconds to win the $3000 Purse class. Cal£iomia rider dominated the class with Carl Collier taking second and Russ McCoy - the first rider over the Widowmaker earlier this year - third on YZ490s. The 500cc Altered Stock class was another class run on Sunday, the second day of the two-day event. At 35 entries, this was the largest Purse class, and Peterson, once again, took top honors, though SoCaI rider Dave Gestoso was fastest rider in the hrst round. Gestoso's run' endured for second in the standings. Utah's Lance Lungren roosted his KX500 Kawasaki to third place. On Saturday the hill was run as a speed, or timed, hill just to the right of the rough hill used. Sunday. A 500cc Altered Stock class was run on the speed hill as well, but the class was not run for a purse. That class was one of the six wins tallied by Peterson as well. Kenny Kimball took second and Lundgren was third. Motocross grandma and lormer Women's National Motocross cham· pion Lori Farmer parked her 125cc Kawasaki and won the Women'sdivision on a 490cc Yamaha, besting defending hiJlclimb champion Debbie Whitlock. Whitlock's father, Earl, topped the highly competitive Vets class. George Sauer and Don David filled the top three, and all rode Yamahas. Results MINIS: 1. Robie Peterson; 2. Brian Van Minendorf; 3. David Van Mittendorf. WOMEN: 1. Lori Farmer; 2. Debbie Whitlock; 3. Terry Odall. 250 STK: 1. Kerry Peterson; 2. Doug Olsen; 3. Don Orosco. 260 ALT STK: 1. Kerry Petenon; 2. Richard Mar· dock; 3. Curtis OllMln. 500 STK: 1. Kerry Peterson; 2. Carl Collier; 3. Otis Roberts. . 500 ALl SlK: 1. Kerry Peterson; 2. Kenny Kimball; 3. Lance Lundgren. 500 ALT STK (SUN): 1. Karry Paterson; 2. Dave Gestoso; 3. Lance Lundgren. 500 EXHIB: 1. Kerry Peterson; 2. Carl Collier; 3. Russ McCoy. OPEN ALTSTK: 1. Russ McCoy; 2. MartyWilson; 3. Mahcel Thomas. VET: 1. Errol Whitlock; 2. George Sauer; 3. Don David. OPEN EXHIB: 1. Tom Johnson; 2. Mel Kimball Jr.; 3. Kenny Kimball. Ranson DQ'd after GPwin By George Thermal PHOENIX, AZ., DEC I Steve Ranson won the combined 250cc/350cc class at the "Sun" Riverbottom Grand Prix, but Dennis Wardon was awarded the victory when Ranson was disqualified for neglecting to stop at the checkered £lag, (as required by o££icials to enhance video coverage of the race). Ranson and Wardon were both mounted on Honda 350 four-strokes, . which were invited to run with the 250s in order to fill out the class. Ranson's disqualification moved Mol Mollick (Suz) into second place and advanced John Milburn to third. The second 250cc race was a carbon copy of the first with Ransom finishing first and Wardon second. Terry Plonk . took third. The GP was held on the eastern slope of the White Tank Mountains, west of Phoenix, Arizona, on a track that utiliied trenches and hills created during tests of construction equipment. It looked as if prerace favorite Tony Pierce wouldn't make the program when he had difficulty starting his KTM 495 before the first Open class competition. He fired up the bike just in time to make the race and went on to take an easy win over John Garrison (Hon) and Guido Rivard (Hon). "Pudley" Raimonde grabbed an early lead in the second Open class race, but Pierce quickly blew by him and into the front. Mark Companion moved around Raimonde to grab second place and Arnold Homes set the top three finishers when he bumped Raimonde to fourth. The Children's race was a wide open family affair between the Pierce tribe and the Waitzclan. Presto Pierce nailed the holeshot, followed by Jesse Waitz (Yam). Waitz pressed Pierce umiJ a closed peteock caught up with him, putting him out of the race. Bart Pierce moved into second behind Presto, and Josh Waitz moved into third. Sue Pierce won the two-lap, Ladies race, while Wardon and Linda Lou Navasatis took the Buddy competition. Bob Learn and Barb Smith finished second in the Buddy event, while Tim Daley finished third with an assist from Gabe Homolya. Wing and Adams win at Firebird By Bruce Newton PHOENIX, AZ, DEC. 8 Local Phoenix riders Greg Wing and Willie Adams rode a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 to an overall win in the PRRO twohour at Firebird Raceway. They also took the Formula One class win for heavyweight motorcycles. So'uthern California's Team Sunset scooped the Formula Two class for middleweight motorcycles with its brand-new Champion Moriwaki· built and backed Kawasaki Ninja 600. Team riders Peter Carroll and Walt Nitto nearly took. the overall win on the tight track, falling just four seconds short of outright victory. The race started poorly for Team Sunset. Carroll was slow away from the Le Mans start, while Adams quickly moved into the lead. However, that didn't deter Carroll, a 26year-old motorcycle mechanic, who quickly dropped the nimble 600 into J minute,13-second times, far quicker than anyone else on the,circuit. Within 40 minutes he was in the lead, when Adams pitted. However, Carroll's brilliant ride came to nought when PRRO oHicials twice stopped ~ rac.e in a matter of laps to clear downed riders arid machinery from the track. Thank-· I fully, there were no serious injuries in either incident. That left a 35-minute sprint to the checkered flag when the grid reformed fOTt h esecond restart. Niuo,I984and 1985 AFM Champion, took over the Team Sunset machine, while local expert Wing had taken over the GPz1000RX. Team Sunset was immediately put al a disadvantage as PRRO officials decided to line the field up in original grid positions, which were determined by a drawing before the race. That put Team Sunset on lhethird row for the clutch restart, with Wing on the front row. Nitto, however, showed all his experience and skill to be fifth on the first lap, while Wing cruised into the lead. Nitto quickly moved into second on the Dunlop-shod 600 and began carving huge chunks out of his opponent's lead. Despite having only seen the race trdck the day before and this being his first race on the Team Sunset machine, he, too, was lapping in the I: 13 bracket. With 15 minutes to go, the two leaders were running nose to tail. Nitto was confident he could pass, despite his horsepower disadvantage: "I was just waiting for him to make a mistake. I was sure I could get him, but I didn't want to go by until late in the race." That came sooner than the 29 year· old expected though, the white flag signalling the last lap catching him by surprise. "Wing put on a real good move then to get some lapped riders between us and I knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to make up the ground before the cheCkered flag," said N itto later. Team Manager Marcus Falley was happy with the Formula Two win and second overall, particularly as that included beating the current J\,MA/CCS U.S. Endurance ChampIOnship middleweight title-holders, Team Double Down, which finished sixth. Results OVERAlL: 1. Greg Wing/Willie Adams (Kaw); 2. Peter Carroll/Wa~ Nitto (Kaw); 3. Greg Curtis/ Mike Mangham (Suz); 4. Tom Dahl/Norm Benne· dum (Yaml; 5. Paul Patrocelli/Randy Denzer (Hon); 6. Jim Cox/Henry Tezcs (Yam). Dashiell dashes to Pro win at Sand HillMX By Lee Denlinger BRENTWOOD, CA, DEC. 8 Honda-support rider Larry Dashiell (Answer Racing/Sierra Racing Products/Oakley Goggles/Petaluma Motorcycle Center) dashed to victory in the250cc Pro class today at Sand Hill. Dashiell was CUlO££ at the first tum in the first moto by Yamaha-support rider Jim Ellis (Sierra Racing Products/Scou USA/Harrison Construction), who £lew into a first-lap lead. A broken power valve in the second lap dropped Ellis o££ pace, and Dashiell zipped his Honda past the Yamaha. While Ellis was coaxinR his crippled bike to stay in the running, Dashiell was fe"ding of( challenges from Honda rider Joe Wright (Hi·Point! Alai Helm«s/FMF Pipes/Scott USA) and KTM-mounted Rich Mythen (Diablo Spo!'ts Cycle/Cycle Gear).Dashiell left the pack in the sand on lap five ta take the checkers, with a six-second kad. In the ~nd moto, Dashiell gnij). bed the hGleshot and set the pace for the race. "'Jkhind him. Wright and Ellis fou for the second-place spot. A determii'ihl Ellis finally cut a line to the outside on the last lap and then

• Cover