Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

AMA National Championship Amateur Ice Race Sidecartea~ssnck oil Michigan ice By Bill Wood/American Motorcyclist ALBRIGHT SHORES, MI, JAN. 24-25 A pair of sidecar teams copped a pair of victories each to lead the list· of winners in the '87 National Championship Ice Race program at the Gladwin County Ice Carnival. Keith Root and James Murray won the 500cc and Open classes for sidecar rigs with . . d stu dd ed t.ues, whlle Ran Y ~uue ~nd Richard Kearns teamed ~p the 360cc and -500cc Rubber-Tue Sidecar classes. . Root and Murray, who have been racing together for nine years, looked particularly impressive in pulling of( the double victory on Sunday. After a comparatively easy victory in the 500cc class, they had a race-long duel in the Open class wi th defending champions Dave Scofield and Scott Harper. Root and Murray led early in the eight-lap final, but lost the lead on lap three r when Root missed a shift on the long front straight. Three laps later, however, Root steered under Scofield's machine headed into turn one and In 2 retook the lead. For t~e c~mpions, the Nation~ C~amplOnshlp marked only theu thud race aboard a new Open class machine purchased in December. "We just brought it to have some fun," said Root "but this bike really works. " ' Putze and Kearns were equally dominant in the Rubber-Tire Sidecar classes run on a quarter-mile track on Saturday. Just as they had in 1986, the two won the 360cc and 500cc classes, with Puue driving in the smaller class and ~earns handling the controls in the bigger class. The key to winning Rubber-Tire classes on the ice is simple, Puue said afterward, "Just don't spin your wheels." The only other double champion of the weekend was Leo Anthony Jr. who swept the Open Rubber-Tire classes, winning by himself on a solo bike and teaming with Dennis Mosher to win the Sidecar class. Among the other winners in the solo classes were three riders crossing from other types of motorcycle competition. Jack Warren, a Pro Expert dirt tracker from the late '60s and early '70s, came outof retirernent in 1983 to win an amateur dirt track title_ Since then, he's been using his fiat track racing to promote his business that supplies parts for dirt track machines. Jack and his "demo" bike collected the National OIampionship in the Senior class aheadof defending champ Dan Crawford. Warren is the brother of Ed Warren, tuner for Bart Markel's dirt track championships in the '60s, and uncle of Eddie Warren, one of the nation's top motocross racers. But those two were away in the warmth of California while Jack won his championship in the bitter cold of a Michigan winter. "Ed wouldn't walk across the street to see a nat track race anymore," said Jack jokingly. "He's completely into motocross now. I ride a little motocross myself in the Senior class." A second crossover winner was Brad Lowe winner of the J25cc StL!dded-Tire class. Lowe, who borrowed a Kawasaki for the ice in Michigan, has'!,sypport ride from KTM in the AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series. In 1986, he· finished fifth in the 125cc class nationally. Larry' Pegram, winner of 16 AMA Amateur Championships in dirt track competition, also made the switch to ice racing for the event. The move paid off, as Pegram scored a victory in the 250cc A Studded-Tire class. "We haven't had any ice in Ohio this year," Pegram said, "so we came up here to ride this." Scoring a repeat victory in the 85cc (l2-15) class was Joe Phelps, who was cheered on by his father, Jim, who doubles as race mechanic. "I used to work on restoring BSAs," Jim said, "but Joe's been racing (or about three years now and there's hardly a day goes by that I don't work on his machines now." When it was allover, 350 entrants had been whittled down to 18 National Champions. • Results B5 (7-11): 1. Mike Wer_; 2. Moo'" Br8d1ey; 3. lwo Wiseman. B5(12-15): 1. Joe Phelps; 2. Todd P i _ i ; 3. Brenl~. 125 STUDDED·TIRE: 1. Br.cl lowe; 2. Brent Armbruster; 3. Jeff Chepko. 250 _BER-TIRE: 1. Joe Buckley; 2. Ron Dodd; 3. Ted Arment. OPEN RUBBER-TIRE: 1. lAo Anthony Jr.; 2. Georve Renney; 3. Mark Petrun. 360 RUBBER-TIRE SIDECAR: 1. Rendy Putze/Ri· chard Kaarns; 2. Moo'" Sporting/Beny Vandenbenghe; 3 . .Jerald Shank/Paul Sha... 500 RUBBER-TIRE SIDECAR: 1. Richard Keams/ Randy Putze; 2. Todd CUl)ninghamiPamela Cunningham; 3. Jeff Grout/Kevin Meyws. OPEN RUBBER-TIRO SIDECAR: 1. lAo Anthony JrjDennia Mosher; 2. C.J. Nugent/Ken Nugent; 3. Leny GUben/C1ifford Hanel Jr. 250 B STUDDED-TIRE: 1. Eric Fronc:el<; 2. Jeff Chapko; 3. Ron. Kimmel. 250 A STUDDED·TIRE: 1. Ler..... Pegram; 2. Dave Rabinene; 3. Dan Crawford. 500 B STUDDED-TIRE: 1. Jomea VanAndez: 2. Dan Crose; 3. Steven Charles. 500 A STUDDED·TIRE: 1. Lyle Berber Jr.; 2. Michael Shefto; 3. Tim lowe. OPEN STUDDED-TIRE: 1. Jon'Collins; 2. Troy Farro; 3. Jeff Armob

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