Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

With all the modern GPs being started by cl utch starts fro m thi s year, the H istoric G Ps add another note of nostal gia by being th e o n ly races to begin wit h the traditi onal deadengi ne, pus h start. As Spa nish ACU boss Toni Lopez dropped the flag at J erez, it was a surprised Ca thcart who found hi mself first away o n th e bello win g Italian Paton twin, us ually one of the more difficu lt bik es to fire up o n the lin e. But at the first co rner o f th e tight, demand i ng cir cuit, Woodhall stuck his Aerrn acchi's nose in fro nt to take th e lead. Beh in d, Dearden had tak en an age to ge t the Aer m acch i underwa y, while Hugh es had turned the Matchless' fuel tap off on th e line, a nd forgo tte n to swi tch it o n aga in: halfway around the first corner it died, relega tin g him to the back of th e field before he sorted ou t th e prob lem. Up front, Evans had now join ed the two leaders, who th en swap ped th e lead for the next five la ps in a fine di sp lay of cut a nd thrus t raci ng wh ich had th e crowd standing on th eir seats a nd cheeri ng as if they were at a bullfigh t. O le! Bu t o n lap six , th e last o ne, Evans forged ahea d as Hughes swept past Wood hall to tak e third pl ace, with Dearden also closing fast: sadly, th e float chamber fell off Woodhall 's bike on that lap , giv in g the 3S0cc cla ss win to Dearden after.a stirring ride from th e back. Even more stirri ng was H ughes' progress on th e Arter-Mat chless, o utbra king Cathcart on th e Pa ton to tak e second p lace at th e en d of th at lap, with Evans now in his sight. But Evans responded with hi s fastest lap of th e race on the fin al round, just tak in g the checkered flag a cou p le of len gths ahead of th e Arter bik e, with Carthcart a coup le of seconds further back. Dearden was fourth, with Prior just pipping Mortimer on th e line by half a length for fifth pl ace after a race-lo ng battle. Barrett was 3S0cc class run ner-up in 10th pl ace on hi s Aermacchi, wi th Batch elor a magnificent class th ird on hi s 2S0cc bike. .. The spec tacle of exciteme nt a nd nostalgia provided by the firs t-ever Spanish H istoric G P has led ' to several o ther G P organizers expressing interest in staging similar events n ex t seaso n, w he n th e fr es h lyrestored T eam Obsolete three and four-cylinder MV Agu stas may be ab le to join in . In the mean tim e, three more Histori c G P races will be organized by IHR O this year (a fourth, sched uled for Monza in May, has been cancelled because the FIM would no t permit promoter Flammini Racing to hold a th ird supporting race besid e the Yamaha Cup and Su perbike races already p la nned). The French GP at LeMans in July and Po rtuguese G P a t J arama in Spain, in Sep tem ber, will see th e born-again Continental Circu s in action again, but before that the next da te is at th e Dutch TT a t Assen at the end of June. Alread y, a su perb entry has been assured for this next race, including sta rs of the past suc h as Hugh And erson, Da n Shorey, Alex George and Mortimer mixing ' it o n Manx Norton and Matchless ma chinery with the la tter-day h istoric racing aces such as American Da ve R o p er , Dave Hu ghes a n d Richard Cutts. And perhaps most exciting of all, Boet van Dulmen 's retirem en t from racing a t the en d of last seaso n looks to be almost as sh ort as an y of P hi l Read's: he's pla nning to co ntes t the H istori c Dut ch TT o n a SOOcc Matchless GSO. • Results 1. J im Evans ISee); 2. Dave Hughes (Mat ); 3. Alan Cathcan (Pat); 4 . Dave Doarden (Aer); 5. Rob Prior (Tri); 6. Chas Monimer (Nor); 7. A lain Fil hol (Soo); B. J oaquin fo lch (Mat); 9,..J.L Cuvilli or (Nor); 10 . Paul Barrett (Aor). TOYOTA UNLIMITED MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX • ANY SIZE ENGINE - THE WIDEST TIRES - RED HOT FUELS. JUNE '6 - 7 : F/USA ROUND #3 CAN EARL ROLOFF BLOW SCOTT GRAY AND HIS YOSHIMURA TORNADO BACK OUT TO SEA WATCH IT HAPPEN! MAYBE? ••••• THE 1987 TRAP IS SET! SCOTT GRAY Santa Rosa, CA • EARL ROLOFF Spring Valley, CA Earl Ro loff -' F/USA ser ies leade r w ill be ready on his all new Coors Super Silver Bullet Yamaha YSR 1000 for round t hree. Dave Emde. second in t he F/USA ser ies got his new inj ectors ready for the second round and finished second behind Roloff - he says his M iller Amer ican is getting faster all t he ti me. James Domay on his M ichelin Lim ited Edit ion w ith two th ird placesand currently th ird in the series is being seen but not heard - the fast, silent type . Scott Gray's Yoshimura Suzuki Tornado has solved the fuse problem and w ill spark to life not only with another w in in mind , but plans to break the all-time record at Willow Springs held by Randy Mamola on the Suzuki F/l, and collect the $5,000.00 reward offered by track owner Bill Huth. Gray 's round one w in and round two DNF will make his effort even harder. Jim Vreeke and his Budweiser Eagle w ill be the ones to watch out for. The arm's getting stronger and the Eagle's ready - Steady Jim's getting ready for a vengeance. WATCH OUT, GANG! THE FLAG'S GOING TO DROP ON FjUSA ROUND THREE JUNE 6-7!

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