Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ AFMjHondajSuzukijYamahajKawasakij Vance & Hines Series: Round 6 . . 8 ~ Polen, Renfrow dominate Willow By Brent Ross ROSAMOND, CA, JULY 5 It u sed to be that Californians were the dominate force in local road racing, pu t n ot anymore. Now, every time an out-of-stater lines u p on the starting grid at Willow Springs International Raceway they end up winning. And that's j us t what T exan Doug P I d W tV' inias o en an .es rrgr Randy Ren fro w did. .Polen 's three-win streak star.ted with th e 7.50cc Stock Productlo~ class .on hIS Dunlop-sh od Suzukt G SXR. H e led comp letely unchallen ged from :'I midpack start all th e way to th e finish. In Pol en 's wa ke vying for a spot wer e 36 o the r determined race rs. In th e early stages, APE Tru ckin g/Dunl op- s pon ~ored Chris Ste ward, Van ce & H m ~ s' RIchard Moore, .1 6-yea~-01 ~- N ovlce T? m Lyn ch, MIk e Minnin g a nd w i n ne r of round four Ja mes Doma y were all in a tight bunch at th e fron t. . Tiring of th e heated pace, Lyn ch d ropped back to .seventh, whi le th e race for second thinned to a two-way du el between Ste war~ and Moore. A cou ple of seconds adrift, Domay a nd Minning argued for fourth. Steward narrowly won th e battle for runner-up position over Moore, a nd Minning go t th e jump o n Domay a t .t he checkered flag. Pe ter Carroll nailed down SIx th, bu t out front it was Polen who turned th e fastest laps (1:30s) and saw th e black and white flag first. ISunday's racing was plagued with accidents causing th e red flag to be u~sheathe.d numerous times. Gusty WInds, t!:.uck dust, elevated tempera tures, shppery tra c:k cond itio ns and, of co urse, th e WIll to win were blamed for th e unusual number of red-flagged ra ces.. The: a mbulance left for th e hospital four diff eren t times through out th e da y. . , :The two -wave 750cc and o pe n Su perstreet ra c:e was brought t<;> a halt ,,:hen Ma~k ":lrt crash ed hard. in t~rn eight. WITt, in rep ortedly hIS third race, lost con tro l of Ius Yamaha FZRIO.OO in Will ow 's hi gh-speed lU;n eight. .H e cras hed at ov~r 120 mph .and di ed la ter th at da y m th e hospital, . . . .In Open Stock Production aC~lOn, Ib wa s P? len a g~ m . ThIS nrne , how ever, II took him a lap to ta~e charge, as Moore had p lans of hIS own . Moore had spe nt the Frid ay before testing a Van ce & Hines Su perbike for the upcoming AMA National at Laguna Seca. Then Saturday was spent a top h is three Van ce & Hinessponso red production bikes, so he was read y for Sunday's m atch es. I H e gra bbed the holesh ot with Polen and New Zeal and 's Su perbike Champion lain Pero close beh ind. The T exan rider sli p ped aroun d Moore betw een turns eig h t a nd nine, but Moore remained in str iki ng distan ce as the two stretched th eir lead over the field. Diving into turn three for the second ' time, Moore attemp ted an inside pass orr Polen, but was unab le to pull it off. Rounding turn four, Moore got out of shape, giving Polen the br eak he need ed t? build a comfortable l ea~. Polen. s lead :-vent unrehnquished as did Moore s second place. Minning had pulled ou t while leading th e Fo rmula One event earlier in th e da y to sa ve his new motor for.th e Suzuki money ra ce, a nd was up to third by th e third lap. T h ird ra nked Na tional 250cc rid er Calvin Rayborn III go t off to a slow start but was visibly more aggressive th an' th e other racers, as he rode th e wheels o ff hi s FZR sl idi ng a n d sh u tte ri ng hi s m o torc ycl e p a st slower riders . H e finally settled in to a race for fo urth with Steward, J eff H agan a nd Pero. . The battle for fourth lasted all th e way to th e finish . Rayborn found th e edge and took fourth away fro m H agan; Stewa rd a nd Pero fo llo wed. Rayborn's FZR was th e first Yamaha in the top eigh t. Po len's 1:30.6 la p times ga ve h im th e win. Seco nd went to Moore third to Minning. The 600cc Stock P roducti on race (also kn own as the H onda Hurri cane race) was a repea t performan ce of th e; Open race. Polen topped th e 55-bike field and eigh t seco nds lat er Moore crossed th e finish line. On Moore's rear whee l were Domay, Pero , Walt Nitt6 and David Deveau. Th~ 250cc GP event brough t ou t AMA stars Don Green e the curre nt 250 champion, and Ran'd y Renfrow. Both were at Willow testing for the up-coming National in Monterey, but when the flag dropped th ey were all business. Renfrow took th e lead right from th e start with Green e in tow . Ren frow won with Green e close behind. Finishing a di stant third was Rod Sm ith . Renfro w all but di sappear ed in th e Formula Two ra ce, leaving Doug Toland and Kevin Clark to bump fairings for second. Clark aboard an alphabet soup TZ250 and Toland on a Ron Wood Rotax single-dueled for the entire race. Coming out of nin e for the last time Clark had a fair lead , bu t then his Yamaha began to sputter allowing Toland 'to almost nip him a t the flag. Williams team sweeps Cast'e Rock Nationa' Hillc'imb By Maxine Casey HORNELL, NY, J UN E 21 Father and son team John and , Greg Williams won round four of th e AMA National Championship Seri es, hosted by the H orn ell M.e. Th is co mpe tition was the last qual ifier for th e Invita tional Na tional that will be h eld August 2 in Jefferson , Pennsylvania. The event marked John ,W ll iams' i first win in the 750cc class. His STP Randy Renfrow returned to Willow Springs Int ern at ional Raceway and won the 250cc Grand Prix class and the Formula Two race on his Honda, Suzuki-mounted Doug Polen ventured t o W illow Springs on h is way to Lag una Seca and won t hree classes. Special H onda flew over th e 400-foot hill in 6.32 seconds. So n Greg took th e 500cc ST P Special H onda over th e top in 7.77 seconds. .Greg holds th e Grand Na tional title in th e 500cc class, a titl e his father held, several times before he moved to th e 750cc cla ss four years ago. Second pla ce in the 750cc class went to XR750 H arl ey-Davidson rider T om Reiser wh o turned in a beautif u l ride in 6.59-seconds. Last week 's winner, Louie Geren cer, ca me in third aboa rd hi s XR7 50 with a 6.86seco n d rid e. R andy G abrie l, a member of Rei ser 's USA Racing Tea m, fini sh ed fourth with a 6.99secon d ride, while BSA p ilot Earl Bowlb y ca me in fifth in 7.19 seco nds. On his first ride th is seaso n , Triumph-mounted Stev e Krauter took second place in th e 500cc di vision with a 7.90-second ride. Steve's father, Bob, finish ed second in . the fir st two climbs but was seriously injured in th e third. Bob Krauter will be confined to his bed for abo ut six weeks. . BSA-m ounted Tim Fraizer aga in finished third in ih e 500cc class wi th a 7.91-second ride. T im has- had a lock o n third all seaso n but hopes to do better a t the In vitational. Rod Riddle, ab oard a BSA, placed fourth and last week 's winner, Bru ce Sweiga rt, finish ed fifth abo ard a Triumph. David Newsom e, who jumped to th e 750cc cla ss this season, fin ish ed sevent h a nd is the fin al qualifier for th e Inv it ati onal. H e took his T riumph between the tim ers in 7.58seconds. Results 500 : 1. Greg Willia ms (Han); 2. Steve Krauter (Tri); 3 . Tim Fraizer (BSA ); 4. Rod Ridd le (BSA ); 5. Bruce Sw eifljl rt (Tri). . -, 750 : 1. John Williams (Han); 2. Tom Reiser (H· D); 3 . Lou ie Gerencer (H· D); 4. Randy Gabrie l (H· D); 5. Earl Bowl by (BSA I. - Bell doub.es in Firecracker MX By Athie Sanders . TALLAHASSEE, FL, JULY 4 Chuck Bell nailed double-moto wins in two clas ses (l25cc B and 250cc B), and Ashley Epps, Eddie Wasdin a nd Brian Broussard claimed the overa lls in their resp ective .classes (l25cc A, 250cc A and 250cc C) during th e first round of th e Southeastern Championsh ip MX Series at Hyman Myers Racewa y's Firecracker Mot o. The Ronnie Lusk-promoted even t was the second-ever race a t the new track. \ Lusk said, . " I' m a little disappointed in the rider turnout. We onl y had 99 riders. We are working hard to provide a top notch nati onalca liber riding facility at Hyman Myers in order to develop th e talent of th e riders in this area of th e cou ntry to its full est p otential. We aren't go ing to get di scouraged. We kn ow th at once a r ider comes and rides th e track, they will come back. " At the start of th e first l25 cc A and 125cc B motos, run together bu t scored separatel y, B clas s rider Bell battled A class-ace Alan Andreu through th e wh oops and around th e first turn. Andreu ca me out ahead, a nd Ep ps quickl y charged by Bell, lea ving him to lead the B class throughout th e mo to . Epps moved up to pressure the leader th en a tte mp ted a pass to th e inside of a high banked berm. Andreu swep t down to cut him off. Epps kept th e pressure on and soo n moved out front. 39

• Cover