Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126917
Steve Reyno.. (173) lead. Richard Moore, Billy DeBere (186), Ben William. (261), Joe Soli. (366) at the stert of the VF600F reee.
Doug Polen (296) won the 760cc Stock Production reee, beeting Richard
Moore (183) and Don Canet. Thi. i. the stert.
Doug Toland (33) led the Formula USA rece until being remmed on the last
lap. Here, winner Earf Roloff (2) and Jim Vreeke (22) follow.
Polen hit Toland'. Suzuki (shown)
on the last F-USA lap.
AFIf lJudweiser/Toyota/Coca-Cola Formula USA
and Kerker SuperlJike Series: Round 5
sued by Vreeke on his Kerker-sponsored Yamaha FZ750 Superbike,
Rolo££ (on the Craig Roloff-prepared
Ninja 1000 fitted with Brembo brakes,
Dymag and Campagnolo wheels with
Dunlop slicks, CR carbs and a D&:D
exhaust system) and Polen, riding his
GSXR 1100 wi th a rear slick and a
Kerker exhau~l system.
Roloff out-braked Vreeke to take
over second place and Polen charged
past both of them. Toland, running a
full two seconds slower than when he
battled Scott Gray at Willow two
races ago, turned 1:30 lap times in a
conservative race, looking over his
shoulder exiting turn nine and staying just ahead of Polen, Roloff and
Vreeke.
On the fifth of eight laps, less than
1.5 seconds separated the lOp four,
with Toland slightly ahead. Roloff
. closed up on Polen entering turns
eight and nine and tried to outbrake
entering turns one and two; they werp
side-by-side around turn two. and
Roloff got a better drive off turn two,
but Polen braked harder for turn
three. Polen stayed in second, and
closed slightly on Toland, driving
down the turn four hill harder and
gaining over the top of turn six, but
losing it all and more in acceleration
into turns eight and nine.
Toland picked up the pace slightly
and gained a fraction of a second, but
not enough to keep Polen from thinking he had a shot at winning. He took
that shot on the last lap, entering
turn three, when he took a tighter
line and dove underneath Toland,
hilling Toland's bike in the tailsection and knocking Toland off the
racetrack. Polen crashed, and while
Toland turned around in the dirt
Roloff wins when Polen
rams Toland at Willow
By John Ulrich
ROSAMOND, CA, JUNE 29
Earl Roloff won the Formula USA race at
. Willow Springs International Raceway when
Doug Polen rammed leader Doug Toland
on the last lap and crashed, forcing Toland
off the track. Jim Vreeke finished second and Toland recovered to finish fifth.
Vreeke had his revenge when
he won the Kerker Superbike event,
beating Roloff, who finished second.
In Honda VF500F Interceptor Series
action, joe Solis and Steve Reynosa
both beat previously undefeated Bill
DeBere.
Reynosa jumped out to lead off the
grid, immediately pulling a second,
then two seconds ahead of a fierce
battle for second involving Richard
Moore, DeBere, Ben Williams and
Solis, with Polen trailing in sixth.
By the second lap, Solis was in
second place; on the third be made up
two seconds and pulled even with
Reynosa entering turn one, almost
getting underneath. And on the fourth
lap, Solis was in front of Reynosa,
with DeBere, Williams and Moore
clumped togeilier, just ahead of Polen.
Two laps later, Polen caught Moore
and dove underneath at the entrance
to turn one and the order was set for
the duration of the eight-lap race.
Solis attributed his victory to the
engine in his motorcycle, prepared
by Denny luckel, service manager for
Solis' new sponsor, Montebello Honda, and to his use of a 140170-18 rear
Michelin Hi-Sport compared to the
130170-18s used by most of his competitors. Solis also thanked sponsors
Hermes· Distributing, Trick Racing
Gas, Shoei and Torco Oil.
Toland shot off the grid on his jim
LaBine-prepar~Suzuki GSXIHIOO
to lead the Formula USA event, pur-
run-off area, Roloff, Vreeke, Chris
Steward and jeff Stern passed.
With the incident went Toland's
shot at winning the Formula USA
Series and the Toyota pickup that
goes with it; Toland, who missed the
first round. won the second and fourth
rounds and broke in the third round.
needed to win the last six events to
take the title.
"I don't know what he was trying
to do/' said eyewitness Vreeke of Polen's move. "There was no way he
couJd have passed him there."
Vreeke led every lap of the Kerker
Superbike event, which had a dismal
turnout cif only six bikes despite'a
recent change allowing 10000c machines, up from the previous limit of
75Occ. The only rider taking advantage of that was Rolo£f, who finished
second.
Polen won the 750cc Stock Production race, a GSXR Series round, after
an early-race challenge from Richard
Moore. Don Canet was third, ahead of recently-out-of-retirement David
Langford. Toland was seventh with
bike problems that Dennis Smith of
the Vance &: Hines team described as
being self-induced by straying from
known tuning combinations in search
of more power. Toland had the same
trouble in the Open Production race
and finished third, behind Cycle Racer's Bob Reinen and Steward.
e
Results
FORMULA USA: 1. Ee,i Roloff (Kawl; 2. Jim
Vr_ (Yam); 3. Chris SI8_rd (Suz).
KERKER SUPERBIKE: 1. Jim Vreel