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/126937
Thomas Stevens (38) leads Jeff Dean (246). eventual winner Ron Ewerth (34). Terry Hampton (43) a.!!d thereat of the B Production class. Cam Roos won three Novice National Championships at Road Atlanta during the WERA Grand National Finals.• New technology meets old technology as Mike Reed (220) and his Suzuki RG260 goes around the outside of vintage Harley rider Wayne Allen. Kevin Rentzell(48) prepares to pass Greg Tysor (67) in the C Superbike race; Rentzell took the title on his Vamaha witft.-Tysor second. WERA Grand National Finals [werth, Hoos lead the. way at Road Atlanta By Larry ~wrence BRASELTON, GA, NOV. 6-9 Road racers from across the country converged on Road Atlanta for the 14th AnnJlal WERA Grand National Finals with a total of 591 riders competing in. the four-day event. Georgia riders expert Ron Ewerth and novice Cam ·· ed Ro?s, h ow~ver, h:lghhght .the racmg actIon WIth each rIder 10 taking home three National Championships. In the past; local riders from Georgia have dominated the GNF champio!1ships, and this year was no different. Of the 30 sprint titles up [or grabs nine of them were won by riders [rom Georgia. Riders from Wisconsin and Ohio took home three titles each. Roos started his successful weekend with the overall win in the combined (Expert and Novice) Clubman class. Expert Keith Wakefield led the first lap aboard his Honda Ascot be- . fore Roos ~sed the top speed advantage of his Roswell Honda/Yamashita World Co.-sponsored Yamaha TZR250 to pull past Wakefield on the long Road Atlanta back straight. Roos went on to win by seven seconds as Wakefield took second overall and first Expert. Last year's E Superbike champion (oneoftheclasses that was consolidated to form Clubman) Clif Niblock took third overall and second Expert. The Vintage One machines were run along with Clubman and Dick Runyon (SUI 250) and Frank George (Hon 250) bauled early until George crashed with only two laps to go leaving Runyon to take the easy win. Lou Snedden finished second overall and first Novice on a Ducati 250. The second race on Thursday was D Superbike Novice. Roos won again on his Yamaha to take back-to-back National titles. Robert Willis won over Craig Batershell in a race-long battle for second between the two; both were riding Yamaha RZ350s. Tommy Blackwell was the first rider to defend his National title in the D Superbike race. Blackwell led from start-to-finish on his Roswell Honda-backed Yamaha RZ350. Vintage 2 ran with D Superbike and a good baule between the BSAs of Ted Hubbard and Ray Lewis ensued. Hubbard, a former BSA factory rider, was passed by Lewis but an oil leak developed on Lewis' Golds.tar and he had to seule for second overall and first novice. The big bikes came out for the first time for the A Production Novice race. Two of the finest novice racers in the coumry Paul Bray and SCott lampach were favored, and they quickly sprinted away from the rest of the field on the first lap. Bray has the experience at Road Atlanta and it showed going into turn one where he would gain serveral bike lengths as well as coming down the hill into turn 12. Zampach was close, but the last two laps in traffic Bray made his lead stick. "Every lap I would look back and see Zampach, and on the last lap I just put tny head down and gassed it as hard as I could to stay in froOl of him," said Bray. Formula TIKee and Vintage 3 combined for the next race. Formula Three rider Greg Comstock led early despite hiuing a speed bump which launched the small MBA 125cc GP bike into the air. Comstock recovered and chased vintage rider Tony Faircloth on his Tdumph to the finish. Dean Hill rode his Kawasaki 250 to fjrst place Novice in Formula Three, while further back in the field David Paller rode his 500cc BSA to first Novice in Vintage 3. Comstock commented on his offtrack excursion. "I just took the MBA for a little motocross ride. When I hit' the grass I just kept the gas on; I didn't even lose my lead." Andy Fenwick took his Franklin Cycle/Sports Villa Yamaha/Shoei RZ350 to victory in the D Production combined class after two early leaders crashed. Novice Ray Lewis and Michael Martin ran close the entire race. Lewis took first Novice at the line. The last race of the day was the combined Formula Two/Vimage 4 classes. Pete Frost charged imo the lead on his Yamaha TZ250 before losing the from end between turns four and five and crashing. After that it was all Roos, who romped to an easy victory while taking his third Novice title of the day. Cliff Bigoney finished second overall, but was the first Expert across. the line. "I was riding a Honda NS250earlier in the year and the difference between that and the TZR250 is a lot of top speed," Roos said. The Vintage 4 race was a good one. 1esse Morris bauled Devin Bauley early before Bauley crashed in his own oil. Rich Greenway nearlycaught Morris, but it was Morris and his big rnumph defending his vintage title. No sprints were run on Friday because of the six-hour endurance.