Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Billy DeBere has been unstoppable in AFM Honda Interceptor Series events in 1986. winning three out of three. AFM Toyota/Budweiser/Coca Cola Formula USA and Kerker Superbike Series: Round 3 It's eke's turn at Willow By Bruce Newton RO SAMO ND , CA , AP R. 27 J im Vreeke an d his Ker ker/ Dunlop/ND/ Spectro-sponsored Yamaha FZ750 Su p erbike were the stars of th e third AFM race of the year at Willow Sp rings In terna tiona l R acewa y, tak in g both th e T oyo ta / Bud weiser/ Coca-Col a Form ul a bik U SA a n d Kerker S uper 1 e even ts. T he even t drew 310 en - 16 tries and 5000 spectators. Vreeke rode h is Steve J ohnso ntu ned Superbike in th e Formu la USA event. H e faced Doug Tola nd, wh o rode Team Ham mer's Arai/Vance &: Hi nes/ Fox Racing USA-sponsored 1985 end u ra nce bike, p repped by J im La Bine wi th a Suzuki G SXRII OO en gin e, Ear l Roloff o n h is all- b lack Ka wa sa ki G Pz lOOO R X n ickna med " T erm ina to r" tu ned by Craig Rol o ff and sponsored by Dun lo p , and Scott Gray on a Shoei/ Du n lop/Eu roc ycIe/Fox Racing USA-sponsored 1200cc Boxer-framed Kawasaki KZIOO Oj. Toland had crashed Team H a m mer's '1986 endurance b ik e in a WE RA /E BC National Endu rance Series event at Rocking ha m , North Carolina th e da y before, Apri l 26, hurting hi s left shou lder; Toland couldn 't lift h is left arm when he new ho me for th e AFM race. Still, To land j umped off the starting lin e like a rabbi t, headin g into th e firs t turn wit h Rol off in seco n d p lace, Vree ke th ird a nd Gray fou rt h . Toland's first £l yi ng la p was a I:30.4 1 a nd th e o th ers were right on h is tail. Bu t o n the seco nd lap as he exited tu rn two, Tola nd noticed a defi ni te lack of power , th e sa me at turn th ree, and by tu rn fo ur h e wa s p u ll ing into th e i nfield a nd coasti ng back to th e pits. (A teardown la ter reveal ed that a bo lt in th e end of the crankshaft h ad backed out, relea sing oil pressure and cau sin g th e rod bearings to tighten up ). • -; T ha t ~u t Ro l o~f in th e lea d with Vree~e rig h t .beh In d , bo th of the m ru nni ng co ns rsten t 1:30 and 1:3 1 lap ti mes , we ll off th e 1:29 a nd 1:30 ti mes Tolan d a n d G ra y (t he n on a Yoshimu ra Su perbike) recorded in thei r March battle here. T ha t didn 't m ean the crowd on the h i~1 was bored : For three la p s ".'ree~e . railed Ro loff arou nd the fas t circuu, a nd each lap went for the inside run altu m one. Vree ke n eve~ ma de It past at that corner, though , Instead passing at turn fo u r o n lap five . It was a clean pass, m ade all th e easier by a blister develo ping o n Rol o~£' s rear Dun~ op ~Iick; Ro lo ff later sai d that th~ bl istering was caused by a cracked Mitchell wheel. At any rate, Rol of f's resultant handling problems were spectacu la r, both ends shaking and sliding u n p red icta bly at every co rner. Vreeke, meanw hi le, ran co mforta bly to the f!ag, winni ng h is first Toyota/ Budwelser/Coca-Co!a Form~ la ,?SA rac e . and ~ecomIn~ t~e thi rd di ffere nt WInner In the senes In as man y races. Vreeke had already won th e Kerker ?uperbike race, j umping s.traight out Into th e lead and stretchi ng that to four seco nds or more o n T o la nd a nd , h is Van ce &: H in es Suzuki GSX R 750 S uperbi ke by th e h a lfw a y mark. Vreeke went to th e fin ish a fter eig ht laps wit h a red uced bu t still com fortable margin over To land. AMA F-2 Champio n Don G reen was throwi ng a n anci ent CB 750F Superbi ke arou nd with much skill and verve but wit hout much horsepower or hand ling. H e ran fourt h but mistook th e wh ite £lag for th e finish a nd ended up last. The 75OccStock Productio n event, a (Top) Jim Vreeke won Formula USA and Kerker Superbike . (A bove) Terry Statum t opped 600cc Superstreet on his Yamaha despite hitting reserve . Suzuki GS X R Cup Series round , saw Gray getting th e jump on the pack wit h his Suzu ki . Gray immediately built a big lead , but almost as q u ick ly cras hed in turn three. Gray had been testing a n ew co m po u nd rear tire for Du n lo p at Willo w duri ng the week using Mi chelin fronts but found they could not handle th e tremendous tr action o ffered by th e new , experimental rear Du n lo p . "It's better than some slicks I'v e ridden o n," said Gray before the race. For th e race G ra y elected to put on a Du nl o p RS front and discovered exact ly th e sa me problem as wi th th e M ich el in fro nts, o n ly in a more dramatic sty le. Rol of f and his Ma tzinger Racing-spon so red Yama ha FZ750 fit ted with a Mich elin H i-S po rt rear ti re took over the lead, o nly to be p assed by Michelin-sponso red Hi ll. By la p six To la nd was o n H ill 's ta il an d co m p leted a pass at turn one, an d m o ved a way to a co m fo rtable win . Bu t T ol and h ad p assed for th e lead under a sta tio nary yellow £lag, which h e th ough t wa s legal but wasn 't , an d he wa s dock ed a la p af ter H ill protested . T ol and was cred i ted with 26th. Rolo ff lat er sai d he burned th e Miche li n tryin g to stay with Tola nd and Hill, and fin ish ed a di stant th ird, turned into a seco n d by Toland 's pe nalty . Tola n d a nd G rav were bo th out again for the O pen ' Product ion race mome nts later o n Suzuki G SXR II OOs, Toland agai n o n H i-Sports, Gray th is time o n Dun lop K700 ra di als. It was G ra y who got the j u m p o ver hi s arch-rival and led the opening laps. Toland made h is first pass a t turn th ree o n la p three, bu t Gray st u ffed Tolan d at tu rn fo ur. T he two proceeded to swap the lead and do a lot of slideways ri di ng over the next few laps. It all came down to th e flat-o ut turn eight o n the las t lap, wi th Toland . in th e lead. Gray was on Toland 's tai l and was a bo u t to ma ke h is m ove when th e rear end broke loose, Iorc-, in g him to back off. To la nd wo n , wi th Bob Reinen br in ging hi s Suzuki in third. In th e H onda Intercepto r Series, Bi ll y DeBere clea ned up for th e third stra ig h t . time with Redl in e Video/ Tem p le City H onda team m a te Steve R eyn o sa se co nd . T us ti n H onda 's R ich a rd Moore clai me d third. In other Stock Pr od uct io n ac tion, Champion Moriw aki USA /Spectro/ Du nl o p -spo n sored JeH H oep pn er took th e 600 class o n h is Kawasa ki Ni nja 600R by ha lf-a-wheel from th e FZ600 of Stephen Ca rdillo, while Ken neth Turlone and Dea n Mizdal fin ished first and seco nd in the 450 class, both o n Yama has. H oep p ner, 20, who is so poor h e has to borrow h is roommat e's hel met to go raci ng, too k th e lead early in th e eig h t-la p rac e and held it until lap six when Long Bea ch Yama ha/Spectro/ Dunlo p -sponso red Cardillo passed him ill turn n in e. H oeppner trailed b y a t 1<-a st o ne " 'co nd goi ng int o turn eight 0 11 th e last lap, bill fo und a superior driv« out o f nine to tak e the win b y rlu- na rro west o f marg ins . Costa Mesa- based rac er T erry Sta tu m kn ocked Ea rl Rol off fro m h is 600cc Super-Street class throne with a n a ll -the-way wi n on the astonishing ly fa st Cycle City Ya ma ha XJ 550. Statum docked consistent I:34s lap times o n his way to th e w in , h is o n ly d rama being running o n to rese rve while making th e transition from three to . four. " T ha t was fu n," sai d Statum lat er. " I wa s a bad boy th ough , I scuffed up m y knee pads." Statu m normally never to uc hes h is kn ees down whe n riding. - Results TOYOTAIBUDWEISER/COCA·COLA FORM ULA USA : 1. J im Vreeke (Yam); 2. Earl Roloff (Kaw ); 3. Scott Gray (Boxer). . KERKER SUPERBIKE: 1. Jim v reeke (Yom): 2. Doug Toland (Suz): 3 . Jeff Stem (SUl). HONDA INTERCEPTR 1. Bill y DeBere: 2. SIev e : Reynosa : 3. Richa rd Moor e. OPEN STK PROD: 1. Doug Toland (Su z): 2. Scott Gray (SUl ): 3. Rob Reinen (Suz). 750 STK PROD: 1. M alco lm Hill (SUl); 2. Ear l Roloff (Ya m~ 3. Da.e Langford (Suz). 600 STK PROD: 1. Jeff. Hoeppner ( Ka w~ 2. Ste· phen Cordillo (Yam): 3 . Craig Beecher (Yom). 45 0 STK PROD; 1. Ken neth Tur lon e (Ya m~ 2. Dean M izda l (Yam ~ 3. St eve Flem ing (Yom). OPEN GP: 1. Cra ig Harris (Kawt: 2. Ken ith Mac · Neill (Kaw) . F-l : 1. Jeff Ste m; 2. Don Bia.a (Yom): 3 . Vin ce Costa (Kaw). F-2: 1. John Glover (Yom ): 2. Chris McNellis (Yom): 3. Michael Hall er (Ra). . OPEN SS: 1. Da.e Sartorius (SUl );' 2. Marty Siegel (SUl): 3. M ike Wi lliams (Suz). 750 SS: 1. Malcolm Hill (Suz): 2. M ike Me nn ing (Suz): 3 . Joy Tonner (SUl). 600 SS: 1. Terry Statum (Yam): 2. Earl Roloff (Kaw): 3. J im Poet (Kaw). 4 50 SS: 1. John Wells (Yam): 2. Mark Sch ubert (Yam); 3. Chuc k Morton (Yom). OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Bob Reinen (SUl); 2. Da.e Sarto rius (Sull: 3 . Marty Sieg el (Suzl. 75 0 MOD PROD: 1. Da. e Langford (Sul l; 2. Don Cane1(Su z); 3 . Ja mes Demay Jr . (SUl ). 600 MOD PROD; 1. Earl Roloff (Kawl; 2. Stephen Cardillo (Yam); 3 . Da.id Nean Yaml. 4 50 MOD PRDO: 1. Ken Fur long (Yam): 2. Jar i Wallach (Yam l: 3 . Dean Mizda l(Yam). OVE R 40: 1. Denn is Fryer (Hon ); 2 . Ray Adam s (Hon); 3 . Den nis Kun ste r (Kawl. FORMULA SINGLES: 1. Bud Rogers (Yam); 2. Greg Colescou (Hon). 75 0 TWINS : 1. Da. id Hedges. 250 MO D PROD: 1. Kim Krugl ick (Kaw); 2. Dyla n Code (Kaw); 3 . A .J . Parks (C-A). VINTA GE: 1. Ken Borden (Hon ); 2 Wi lliam Fennessy (Yam). SIDECA R: 1. Kellog /Kell og (Kaw): 2. E..aff l Greenlaw (Kaw); 3 . W ilsonlTaylor (Kaw) .

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