Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Roloff leads Toland (33) and Gray on the second lap of the Toyota/Budweiser Formula USA race. (Below) Vreeke (22) ran away in KerkerrSuperbike action. AFM Toyota/Budweiser Formula USA & Kerker Su'-!!.rbike Series: Round 2 Toland takes it twice By John Ulrich ROSAMOND, CA, MAR. 23 It was Toland, Toland and Vreeke when the dust settled on the three most hotly contested classes in AFM competition at Willow Springs International Raceway. Doug Toland broughl OUl a GSXRlloo-powered endurance bike lO beal Scott Gray and Earl Roloff in LheToyota/Budweiser 16 Formula USA race, and beat the same set of arch-rivals lO win the bikepacked 750cc SlOck Proouction race, a round of the Suzuki GSXR Series. Jim Vreeke, who finished founh in the Formula USA event, won the Kerker Superbike race 011 his Kerker Yamaha in the absence of Gray, who crashed one of Kevin Schwantz's Yoshimura uzukis on the warm·up lap, and Toland, whose Vance & Hines Suzuki threw a connecting rod in practice. It was grudge match time when the bikes rolled to the grid [or the stan of the 750cc Stock Production event. for the ursttime separated £rom the Open SlOck Production class due to the sheer number of entries. This time, tnere were 40 bikes in the race, 37 of them Suzuki GSXR750s. The grudge part of it comes from a fierce rivalry between Gray, Roloff and Toland; Gray and RoioH con- sider themselves better riders and want the kind of sponsorship and suppon Toland seems to attract easily. For Gray and Roloff, nothing is worse than losing to Toland. Complicating matters is a full-on tire war centered at Willow Springs, Gray and Roloff running on Dunlops for Matzinger Racing, Toland using Hi-Sport Michelins from International Cycle Race Tire. Roloff and Gray beat Toland a month ago, Toland citing the failure of his bike's stock rear shock as the reason. This time, Toland rolled to the line with a Fox Shock just like Gray's, and there could be no excuses. Gray, meanwhile, was somewhat distracted. Likable, so serious that if determination were a color he'd glow bright red, Gray is set on landing a competitive Superbike ride. He's lost weight, is training like crazy, has never ridden better. He had another shot at his dream at this race. Yo himura R&D of America showed up in force with two of their bikes from Daytona, and a strong contingent of VIPs from U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Co. of Japan came out to observe the proceedings. If Gray did well, he could be on a Yoshimura Superbike for the next National. In concentrating on setting up the Superbike in practice, Gray managed only two laps on his Shoo/Dunlop/Fox Racing USAf Yoshimura-sponsored stock GSXR750, fitted with Dunlop K700 radials. Kawasaki dealer Roloff, with his usual fleet of Kawasaki a well as his FZ'750 Yamaha, was having problems with the evaporative emissions control system on hi stock FZ, and hadn't quite figured it out by race time. His bike was slower than it could have been. Toland had no excuses. He and his Vance & Hines Performance Center of Torrance-prepared, Ara i-sponsored GSXR 750 outbraked and dove underneath Roloff to take the lead entering the third turn of the first lap. From there, Toland simply ran away. Nothingslowed him, not even a huge slide and almost-highsideexiting turn three on the second lap; Toland hung on and kept pulling away. Toland's bike, tuned lo the limit of the rulebook, was fast, but he gave away nothing in the lower turns, gained ground in sweeping turn two, and got the best drives of the day up and over the turn six crest onto the fast back section of the track. By the fourth lap, Toland had five seconds on a ferocious battle between Gray, Roloff and Malcolm Hill (Suz), all three passing and repassing so one lap it wa Hill-GrayRoloff and the next it was RoloffHill-Gray. Toland's fastest lap set a new class record, according lo race promoter Jim Moore and lOwer personnel, being a 1:31.9. The race was slOPped when two mid-pack bikes crashed exiting tum four and blocked the track. When the race was restarted for a final three laps, Toland drag-raced past Roloff before the first turn and took off again. Hill crashed in turn four and RoioH soon found himself in fourth, behind Toland, Gray and Richard Moore (Suz), but set up Moore beautifully in turn one, apexingearly and driving hard underneath at the exit. Gray went faster after the restan, and said later that in the first stan, his bike, still set up for a race he ran in Georgia the week before, was pushing the front end; his crew made adjustments between start and restart, but the bike still slid some, Gray said. Moore finished founh. "I don't make excuses, " said Roloff. "I got beat. He was faster than me." "The Superbike is what matters," Gray said. But when the uperbikes gridded, Gray was picking himself up out in turn eight, having never made it through the warm-up lap. "I can't believe it," he said. crushed. "I was at 10,000 rpm in fourth gear going into eight, just lost the front end. I don't even know why it did it. I can't believe it. That finishes me. Rolling on the ground, I just said LO myself, 'My life is over. '" Two-time Kerker Series Champion Vreeke led the start, the first lap, the eighth-and-finallap, cruising at low I :3Is, doing wheelies up the hill into turn four for the crowd. Kerker/Dunlop/ND/Spectro-sponsored Vreeke had no problem. But Formula USA was different. His strategy, had Gray been in the Kerker race, would have been to latch onto Gray, watch for weaknesses, try lo pass later, Vreeke had said. But in Formula USA, the pace was hot, hotter than last month. Rich Oliver jumped out front off the start on the Kosman Specialties monster Kawasaki, but crashed in turn three while leading. From there it was Roloff (on - -his GPz IDOORK Kawasaki), Gray (on' a spare Yoshimura Superbike), Vreeke and Toland until the front straight, where Toland took his just-assembled, sLOck-engined, works aluminum£rarned, 320-pound GSXR II 00 Suzuki from fourth to second. The lap times were 1:29s; Toland was on Roloff and Gray wa on Toland, but Vreeke couldn't stay on Gray. On the fifth lap Toland drafted past Roloff lo lead; two turns later, Gray was second and the pair started pulling distance on Roloff, who would discover after the race that his bike's front tire was losingair. Around turn eight, through turn nine, down the straight, and Gray drafted Toland, flew past and rode around the out ide of turn one, then promptly mis ed a shift and ran wide in turn three as Toland dropped underneath inlO first again. Toland pulled out a one-second lead, then lost that lead in turn three the next lap when he missed two downshifts and Gray closed up. Last lap. Less than one second between Toland and Gray. All it will take for Gray to win is the slightest error or mistake. But Toland doesn't blow it, instead turning his fastest lap of the day, a I:28.8, and winning the Formula USA race. Gray said afterwards that his bike's tires were sliding around, especially around two, and it slid hard exiting turn nine on the la tlap, and that he figured it would be better to get econd than lo cra h again. "That bike's bitchen! It wheelies coming out of turn nine, and it feel so lightl It's so much fun LO ride!" said Toland after being interviewed by local TV stations and newspaper reporters. It was his first ride on the bike, which u ed lo house a GSI150 engine and was recentl y con verted to usea GSXRllOOengine by mechanic Jim LaBine. Roloff won the Open SLOck Production race on his Kawasaki Ninja after early-leader Jim Poet crashed his GSXR II 00. Robert Reinen and Don Biava were second and third, on Suzukis. Billy DeBere ran away with the Honda Interceptor Series race for the second time this year, but his bike was protested. AFM o£ficials impounded several engines, including DeBere's, for disassembly and examination for rules violations. Race results won't be released until oHicials decide if the LOp-running bikes are legal. • Results TOYOTA/BUDWEISER FORMULA USA: 1. Doug Toland (Suz); 2. Scon Gray (Suz); 3. Earl Roloff (Kaw). KERKER SUPERBIKE: 1. Jim Vreeke (Yam); 2. Curtis Adams (Yam); 3. Jeff Stern (Suz). HONDA INTERCEPTOR: (Under protest). OPEN STK PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw); 2. Robert Reinen (Suz); 3. Don Biava (Suz). 750 STK PROD: 1. Doug Toland (Suz); 2. Scott Gray (Suz); 3. Earl Roloff (Yam). 6DD STK PROD: 1. An Kawaguchi (Hon); 2. Craig Beecher (Yaml: 3. Ben Williams (Hon). 450STK PROD: 1. Stove Fleming (Yem); 2. Daren Fields (Yam): 3. Ken Munozz (Yam). OPEN GP: 1. Rich Oliver (Kaw); 2. Brian Brinkman (Suz); 3. Ken MacNeill (Kaw). F-1: 1. Jay Tanner (Suz); 2. Don Biava (Yam); 3. Ed Ragle (Yam). F-2: 1. Gary Tatsumi (Yam); 2. Gill Martin (Yam); 3. Clinton Whitehouse (Yam). F-4: 1. Matt Winiarlki (Han); 2. Karen Lynaugh (Hon); 3. SIeve Rodden (Kawl. OPEN 55: 1. Mike Willilms (Suz): 2. Marty Siegel (Suz); 3. Ken MacNeill (Kawl. 75055: 1. Malcolm Hill (Suz); 2. Alan sanerlee (Suz); 3. Ken Evar (Suz). 6DD 55: 1. Pete Carroll (Klw): 2. Tom Aquino (Yam); 3. Ed Ragle (Yam). 45055: 1. David Pere (Yam): 2. John Wells (Yam); 3. Chuclt Mortln (YamI. OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kawl: 2. Chris Stewart (Suz); 3. Robert Reinen (Suz). 750 MOD PROD: 1. James Domav (Suz); 2. Don Canet (Suz); 3. A/en Sanerlee (Suz). 600 MOD PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kawl; 2. Jim Jepson (Yam); 3. Vic Karshner (Kaw). 450 MOD PROD: 1. Stewart Wilken (Yaml; 2. Bud Rogers (Vam); 3. Steve Fleming (Yam). OVER 40: 1. Rav Adams (Honl; 2. Dennis Kunster (Kaw); 3. Patrick White (Kaw). FORMULA SINGLES: 1. Oennv Dohertv (Rtx); 2. Bud Rogers (Yaml; 3. Ross Wells. 750 lWINS: 1. David Gibbons (Yam); 2. Kregrsuk Phumirat (Kaw). OPEN lWINS: 1. Fred Eiker (M-G); 2. Mick Ofield (Nor): 3. An Chambers IDuc). VINTAGE: 1. Ken Borden (Nor).

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