Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ruben McMurter leads Steve Dick in 750cc Pro action at the Molson Superbike Challenge. McMurter finished fourth; Dick crashed. Reggie Cantrell (64) launched himself to a pair of runaway wins in the 125cc Novice class at Secession MX; Tony Burgess (390) finished third. final of the day. Rich Rowe.led a field of Rotax-based machines, with Dale Gingrich's Yamaha thrown in, oUlof the second turn. Behind Rowe in various combinations were the Majeskis, Mike SCOll and Gingrich running the somewhat nar'row Pine Grove turns three abreast. Around halfway, Rowe slipped off the groove with Rob and Tom Majeski taking the front. The next lap saw Tom take the lead on his recently acquired Rotax. With Rowe crashing on the next lap, Eric Buckwalter moved up to challenge Gingrich and SCOll for third late in the race, but Gingrich held of[ his bid, causing him to drift high and lelling SCOll by for founh. On the final lap, Tom waved Rob by for the wm. Another close finish was in the 250cc Amateur as Mike Klopp, Ben Machamer, George Fultz and Dave Lesnick quickly pulled several lengths in front of the remainder of the field with only two lengths or less separilling each of the front four. With two laps left, Lesnick moved in 0 second and took the lead from Klopp as they got the white flag. Coming off the last turn, Fultz slipped under Klopp for second. Troy Fisher again took the 200cc Amateur final, but had constant pressure from Jeremy Himmelwright and Rich Mellinger, who battled over second throughout. Fisher led Himmel wright across the line by two lengths. Jon Simpson grabbed the lead from the rest of the 250cc Expert field, looking to repeat his heat win, but Jim Haas had other ideas as he took the lead on the backstretch on the second lap. Simpson fell on the next lap while Steve Bromley and Mark Myers ballied over second during most of the middle stages of the race, with Bromley taking second for good on the sixth lap. On the final lap, Jell Conrad slipped by Myers for third spot. Results 55: I. Dan Leale (Yam); 2. JohnWinsenJr. (Yam); 3. Richerd Heverly (Yam). 80 AM: 1, Kevin Varnes (Yam); 2. Eugene Dieolf (5ul); 3. Chuck Wrocaica (Yam). 125 AM: I. Gary Clark (Han); 2. Jeramy Him· melwright (Kew): 3. Eddia Hidden (Yam). 200 EX: 1. Mika Varnaa (Yam): 2. Rob Smith (Bul): 3. Rich Mallinger (Yam). PP: 1. Kim Fitzchatles (Yam); 2. Lucinda Salerno (yom). 200 AM: I. Troy Fisher (Yam); 2. Jeremy Him· melwright (Kaw): 3. Rich Mellinger (Yam). 260 AM: 1. Dave Lesnick (Yaml: 2. George Fultz (5uz); 3. Mike Klopp (Viii. 250 EX: 1. Jim Haas (Hus); 2. Steve Bromlev (5uz); 3. Jon Conrad (Yam). 5R: I. Joe Heberling (Yaml: 2. Wayne Franklin (Yam). 500 AM: I. Joe Hebarling (Yam); 2. Damon Lengle (Yam); 3. Bob Ba.. (Yam). 500 EX; 1. Rob Majeski (H·D); 2. Tom Majeski (H·D); 3. Dale Gingrich (Yem). Robbins takes Superbike Challenge at Shannonville By Jeremy Fleming SHANNONVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA, JULY 27 The Fifth Annual Molson Superbike Challenge, billed by organizers R.A.C.E. as Canada's biggest motorcycle road race of the year, lived up to its repUlation for 1986. The second round ofthe five-race Canadian National Series. the Castrol National Championships, featured all of Canada's top racers from across the country - but in the end it was An Robbins and his RS500 Honda taking the win in the featured Superbike Challenge. Robbins was in a bit of a dilemma coming into the Molson weekend: billed as the rider to beat due to his three previous Superbike Challenge wins (the feature is for F-I bikes), reigning Canuk champ Robbins had yet to win a race in 1986. Small mechanical problems had slowed his Rothmans Honda RS500, and at the opening National at Westwood, British Columbia in July, Robbins had placed fourth behind winner Michel Mercier, Tom Walther and Steve Dick. But Robbins lived up to the hopes of his homeLOwn fans, taking a thrilling victory by less than a second over race-long leader Mercier's Suzuki Superbike heat race winner Mercier, aboard the CAM 2/Phoenix/Shoei/ White Power/Dunlop/Rocket/Wiseco/Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR750R, shot into the lead from the stan of the 20-lap final, with the Vancouver Suzuki/2ool Stereo/WolflShoei/j.P. Feurgeson GSXR750R of Walther in hot pursuit. It looked like a replay of Westwood, but then Robbins got by Walther and set off after the fast disappearing Mercier on the Treen/Castrol/Shoei backed GP Honda. While Robbins chased Mercier, crowd attention focused on the efforts of Canada's best-ranked-in-the- U.S. rider Gary Goodfellow. After stalling the engine in his Vancouver Suzuki/ ND/Shoei/Flamingo Rentals/Dainese GSXR 750 Suzuki at the start of his heat race, Goodfellow charged from 36th to 20th, but would still have to stan from the middle of the pack in the final. A brave holeshot saw Goodfellow move up to eighth at the end of the first lap, with further scratching giving Robbins a surprise when Goodfellow moved into second on lall three. By 'Iap four Mercier was trying to build a lead, running on the track lap record, while Goodfellow and Robbins battled and Walther fell into the clutches of the Yamaha FZ750 of Rueben McMurter. Clive Ng-A-Kien led MacMillan and Lusby for sixth. Crevier had crashed his FZearly while Dick suffered a spectacular high-side in front of the main grandstand while running in the top 10. Then Goodfellow pulled a few bi ke lengths on Robbins and began to cut inLO Mercier's lead. By halfdistance, both Goodfellow and Rob· bins were right behind Mercier, and Goodfellow made his move while the leaders cut through lapped traffic. Coming up on Berge in the ultra-tight turn five, Mercier went to the outside and Goodfellow went inside; Goodfellow briefly grabbed the lead before losing the front end while braking and sliding right into a surprised Berge. While Mercier and Robbins made it through, Goodfellow was trapped beneath the combined weight of two GSXRs, and suffered burns to his foot and ankle. While the record crowd recovered from the loss of Shannonville rookie Goodfellow, Mercier came under the close scrutiny of Robbins. "I didn't know if I could get by, and the pace was pretty hot," Robbins said. "But I noticed that Michel was beginning to slide a lot coming out of the corners..! decided that every little slip was a quaner second gain for me, so I cranked up the pace and said 'hey, Jel's go!'" Mercier was using all of his flat track experience to control the wildly sliding GSX, now gravely troubled by rear tire wear woes. With a lap and a half to go Robbins snuck by in the braking area for notorious turn five, but Mercier wasn't ready to give up. The pair were side-by-side all the way through corners two and three on the last lap, but Mercier was too wide to make a pass. He tried Robbins going into the last turn but nearly crashed, and Robbins beat Mercier by 15 bike lengths at the flag. Hindered by a sliding helmet in the hot and humid conditions, Walther had slowed his pace and wasted precious time adjusting his field of view. But pride took over when McM urter went by on the Sports Afield II/ShoeilTreen/CastroI/Wiseco/Dunlop Yamaha, and the pair started a wild battle a few seconds behind the leading dice. McMurter was ahead most of the time, but Walther went 100% on the last lap to nab third. Yamaha Canada/Canadian Tire backed Ng-A-Kien hada refreshingreturn to form a fifth while privateer Steve Nelson also surprised in sixth on his McBride's/Phoenix Suzuki. Interceptor-mounted Peter Lusby and stock Honda rider Paul MacMillan should also have been in this group, but a misjudged passing maneuver staned by Lusby on the last lap took them both out. Steve Gervais moved from 26th on the grid to place seventh on the Castrol/Suzuki RG5oo. Results AM 125 GP; 1. Rick Cauvier(Hon); 2. Fred Bakker IHon): 3. Gus Johnston (Duc). AM F-2: 1. Andrew Trevitt (C·A); 2. Sylvain Portugais IC·AI; 3. Daniel Stan IYam). AM 600 GP; 1. Kyle Andrews (5Ul); 2. Richard Gref 15ul); 3. Stephen Longataffe (5uzl. AM.400 PROD: 1. Randy Atkins (Yam): 2. Yvan Levac (Han); 3. Chris Traynor (Han). AM 600 PROD: 1. Kyle Andrews (5uz); 2. Richard Gref (5ull; 3. Stephen Longstaffe (5uz). AM 750 PROD: 1. Kyle Andrews (5uz); 2. Stephen Longstaffe (5Ul); 3. Andrew Burgell (5uz). AM 5UPERBIKE: I. Brian McLuney (5uz); 2. Bryce Dowler (5Ul): 3. Craig Bleck (5ul). AM OPEN: 1. Brian McLuney (5ull: 2. Bryce Dowler 15ul); 3. Andrew BurgeIl15ul). LTWT VINTAGE: 1. Brian Wood (Duc): 2. Jim Wood (Due); 3. Gus Johnson (Duc). HVYWTVINTAGE: 1. Frank Mralek (Han); 2. Dan Sorenson (Nor); 3. Ken Hodge (Nor). 5UPERVINTAGE: 1. Frank Mrazek (Tri); 2. Larry 5rung (Lav): 3. Bob 5loke (Han). SIDECARS: 1. Jack Hart/Bruce Lind (Was·Yaml: 2.lan FillerylSt8v8 Quinn (Yam); 3. An Dailey/John Dailey (Yam). PRO 125 GP: 1. Dana Green IHon); 2. Lucas Roskell (Han); 3. Mark White (Honl. PRO F-2: 1. Michel Cholene (Han): 2. AI Inglis IYaml; 3. Chria Knowlea (Han). PRO 600 PROD; 1. AI Rover (5ul): 2. Merio DuHamel (Suz); 3. Pierre-Jean Poulin (Suz). PRO 750 PROD: 1. Paul MacMillan (Han); 2. Stave Crevier (Yam); 3. carl Patoine (Suz), PRO OPEN PROD: 1. Paul MacMillan (Honl; 2. Steve Crevier (Yam): 3. Derrick Medaglia (Suz), PRO 750 5UPERBIKE: 1. Gary Goodfellow 15uz); 2. Michel Mercier (Suz); 3. Rueben McMuner (Yaml. PRO OPEN 5UPERBIKE FEATURE (F-ll: 1. Art Robbins (Han); 2. Michel Mercier (Suz); 3. Tom Walther (5uz). L.eachmon two for two at Secession Motocross By Gary Crider ANDERSON, SC, JULY 26 Jeff Leachman edged Keith Brady to win the 250cc Amateur class in round three of the six-race Night MX Series at Secession MX. Leachman came back for an easy win in the I25cc ~mateur division while Carl Fogle swept all four moLOS in Junior and Senior Mini action. The first 250cc Amateur moto saw Leachmon and Brady swap the lead back and forth until Brady secured the position and won over Leachmon. Leachmon gassed his Honda to the holeshot in moLO two, but surrendered the lead to Yamaha-mounted Brady on the second lap. Later, Brady dropped off his pace and let Leachmon go by for the moLO win and first overall. "I just got tired," said Brady, "I've only raced a few times this year, so I'm not in shape." Brady held on to finish second nettin~ runner-up

• Cover