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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126974
Ex-World Champion Marco Lucchinelli (above) romped to an easy win in the Pro Twins Grand Prix division, besting point leader Doug Brauneck. running fifth , ahead of Gary Patton's Cagiva. Adamo began to fall slig htly off th e pace on lap l2 with a fail ing battery, and th e Du cati contingent suffered ano ther setback o n lap 16 when Eik er was h it fro m behind by a lapped rid er and went down in turn nine wh ile running a strong sixth . Lucchine lli, however, was ou t in front with a 14-second adva ntage and cruising. Lucchinelli took the checkers with a commanding lead over Bra uneck, who led Lo ng across the li ne. Lon g tried to get around Brauneck o n the fin al Jap bu t had to settle for th ird when his gearbox starti ng acting up. H e fou nd h imself shifti ng into fal se neutrals when he went into the turns. Ada mo, wh ose bi ke began runni ng on on ly one cylinder near th e end of th e race.. too k fou rth ahea d of Kieff er; desert-racer-turned- ro adracer Du an e Summer s and Ku rt Li ebmann. "I don 't go fast, like practice," said Lucchinelli. " In practice we go I: lOs. We change sprocket, but ma ybe it too long for today. We do lIs for four laps and mostly 12s. It not necessary (to go fast ); I'm in front. " " It started on th e fifth lap," said ea rly-leader Adamo of his mechanical problem , " and it just got worse and wors e. The last six laps it was running on one cyli nder." _ - Results I Doug "Mr. Supersport" Polen powered to his fifth Supersport win in six trys, despite the handicap of starting on row eight. AMA/Pro Twins Road Race Series: Round 6 Lucchinelli tops Pro Twins By Farren Williams MONTEREY, CA, JULY l2 Former 500cc World Champion Marco Lucchinelli rode his 1986 Team Leoni Ducati to victory in the Pro Twins GP 16 class a t Laguna Seca, winning easily ahea d of Loudon a nd Road America winner Doug Brauneck o n 'the Dr. J ohn Moto -Guzzi a nd Duca ri mo unted J ohn Long. The Modified Production class was wo n by Mark " Du ke" Yarrow, who was riding h is firs t roa d race of the season a board an X V920 Ya ma ha. H e -. top p ed H arl eyDavidson-mounted Eri c Swo rts fig u re a n d Duca ti ri der Randy Shem well. The win in th e Grand Prix class was Lucch in elli 's seco nd in P ro Twins competi tio n this year (he won at Da ytona on th e ultra-trick, wat ercoo led , fo u r-va lves-per -cyl in der, Weber fuel-inj ected Du cati ), and hi s second straigh t victory o n Lagu na's 1.9-mile, n ine-turn course. Confidence was some thing that defending cham p Gene Church .was sorely lacking. His mi serable 1987 lu ck continued at Laguna even th ough he decided to ride Lucifier's Hammer , th e time-tested factory Harl ey-Davidson mount he won th e champ io nship on last year , instead of th e Buell /H-D he has piloted in most of th e Pro Twins races thi s season. The change in motorcycles didn't help. Church 's H arley stuck a tappet and threw a valve during pra ctice Friday, forcing tuner Don T illey to rebuild th e top end. T he engine th en acted as if it was go ing to " tie-up" durin g practice Sunday morning, forci ng Church to pull o£f th e trac k' early. It did th e same thing during the fin al a nd Church dropped o ut o n lap six while running seven th. Brauneck conti nues to run' away with the Grand Prix poin t s ta n di n~s. H e now leads Long 97-63, while Adam o is breathing down Lon g's neck with 62 points. Fast by Ferraci Cagiva p ilot Peter J ohnson still leads the Modified P rodu cti on class sta ndi ngs over Blaine Paulus jr., 80-50, desp ite no t sta rti ng the main event . J ohnson cras hed in practice Friday goi ng into the corkscrew and reported]y suffered a brok en ar m. T eam Leoni ' s Jimm y Adamo powered his big Du cat i first off the grid at th e start of the 21-lap, 39.9m ile main event, foll o wed by Long, Dr. David Kieffer and Lucch in ell i. Lucchin elli moved into second by lap two and put constant pressure on teamma te Adamo before tak ing over the top spot o n lap four as the two front runners raced through th e co rkscrew (turn six). Brauneck was well back in the pack and slicing th rough traff ic after a sta rt that saw the Dr. J ohn's MotoGuzzi rider co me off th e 19-rider gri d in last place. Brauneck's bik e broke a clutch cable as he was pulling o nto the grid for the start, and he put a vice-gr ip on the engine clutch lever and used the tool to hold the lever in so the clutch wouldn 't engage. At the start , he couldn't get th e vice-grip off fast enough and was last off th e line. At th e midway point, Lucchinelli was powering away while Adamo held off Long; the hard-charging Brauneck had moved into fourt h. Ducati-mounted Fred Eiker wa s GRAND PRIX: 1. Marco Lucchin elli (Duel; 2. Doug Brauneek (M- GI; 3. John Long (Due); 4. James Adamo (Duel; 5. David Kieft,er (Due); 6. Duane Summers (Due); 7. Kurt Liebmann (Ouc~; B. Hilton Van Staden (Due); 9. Sherry Friduss (MG); 10. Gary Patton (Cag); 11. Mack Ofield (Nor); 12 . Earl Campbell (Due); 13. Fred Eiker (Due); 14. Raymond Baker (Yam); 15. Chr is Scott (Nor); 16. Ji m Schm idt (Nor); 17. Russell Paulk (Due ~ l B. Gene Church (H· DI; 19. David Busby (Yam). MODIFIED PRODUCTION: 1. Mark Varrow (Yam); 2. Er ic Swortsfigure (H-D); 3. Randy Shemwell (Due); 4 . Trevor Dunne (Cag); 5. Stan Friduss (M G); 6. Randy Decker (Cagl; 7. Bill Fennessy (Yam); B. Larry Vevig (BMW); 9. Thomas Sharp (H· D); 10 . Elm er Riddl e (Yam); 11. Jean Charles Meynet (Vam); 12 . Ward Rodgers (BMW); 13 . Pet er Johnson (Cag); 14. Bruca Wasserman (M-GI. AMA GRAND PRIX POINT STANDINGS : 1. Doug Brauneck (971;2. John Long (63 ); 3. James Adamo (62); 4 . Russell Paulk (531 5. David Kieffer (46); ; 6. Kun Liebmann (3B); 7. Roger Reiman (34 1; B. . Hilton Van Stad en (20)9. Sherry Friduss (19); 10 . Gen e Church (1BI AMA MOD PROD POINT STANDINGS : 1. Peter Johnson (BO) 2. Blaine Paulus Jr. (50); 3. John ; Stapleton (40); 4 . Thomas Sharp (37); 5. Ron Mas s (321; 6. Stan Friduss (30); 7. Gerard DeMott (29); B. (TIE) Bob Hanbu ry /Doug Grass (25); 10. (TIE) David Kanen /Chris Helland (24). AMA/EBC Brakes Supersport Series: Round 6 Polen wins Supersp ort By Farren Williams MO NTEREY, CA, J U LY II Doug Pol en of Denton, Texas, pow ered his Honda 600cc H urricane from th e 36th starting position on row eig h t of th e Supersport grid at La guna Seca to win th e race by more tha n 14 seconds ahea d of ru nner-up H onda pi lo t T hom as Stevens of Florida. Col ora do 's Ri cky Orlando, also mo unt ed o n a Honda Hurr icane, fini shed third. T he victory marked Polen 's fifth win in six Supersport attem p ts (the on ly tim e he was beaten was by Stevens at Ro ad Atlanta in May, and he fini shed second) and stretched hi s point lead in th e battle-for the firstever AMA/CCS Supersport Championship. Victory circle may have been fill ed wi th nothing except H ondas but each of the three Su persport race machines was clad with different tires. Polen 's win ni ng H onda was fitt ed with Dunlop rubber, Stevens' m a ch ine spo rted Metzel ers a n d Orlando's bike was fitted with Avon tires. Polen was relegated to th e back row of the starting grid when an ign itio n wire ca me unpluged o n hi s CB600 Hurrican e as he exited turn eigh t on the ini tia l la p of the first five-lap heat race. " A wire came unpluged," said Polen. "We changed jetti ng after practice and we must have bumped the wire whe n we took th e carb uretors off. All we had to do (to ma ke repairs) was p lug it back in." Wi th Polen o ut of it, the heat became a ba ttle between Ca lifornia 's Terry Statum and lain Pero of New Zeland . Pero pass ed Statum between turns seven and eight on th e final lap to seem ingly take the win , but was later pena lized a lap for jumpin g the start, giving the win to Statum. Orlando garnered second ahead o f California's Chris Steward and J im J epsen . St ev en Dick o f Bri tish Columbia filled out th e LOp five. . Ste vens wrestled the lead from Richard Moo re in turn one at the beginning of lap two in the second heat, and held off the determined Moore in a fierce battle th at lasted all th e way to the checkered flag . Eric Ginn of Washington finished third, ah ead o f Yam ah a-mounted Cal Rayborn III and Mich ael Graves. Stevens nabbed th e hol eshot at th e start of the l6-lap, 30.4-mile main event. H e was passed bri efly by Ginn in turn two, but retook th e lead almost im mediately and Ginn soon was bumped to th ird by Sta tum. Pol en was ho t off row eig h t and immediat ely began slici ng his way through traffic. When he crossed the stri pe th e first time around he was in 12th position . H e moved into eighth on lap two, was sixth on th e thi rd go-around and was kn ocking o n 'Stevens ' back door by the end of lap five. Traffic was thick in the openi n g laps and Yam aha FZ600 rid er Ra y- . born became a victim of tigh t tra ffic at th e end of lap one. " T raffic was crazy," Rayborn said. " I stuffed a whee l into tum nine and someo ne clipped my front wheel and 1 wen t down. Then Moore ran over me l I'm skinned up, but nothing seriou s." Stevens clocked 1:14.l5 (92.2 mph ) o n lap three a nd 1:14.14 o n lap six, . while Polen was gaining abo u t two seconds a lap on th e leader. Polen turned in hi s fastest circ uit on lap six wh en he pos ted a I:12.21. Also on th e move was Pero, wh o ' took over th ird o n th e sixth lap after starting on row six in 30th pos ition, Polen po wered past Stevens to take the lead on lap seven in turn three of La guna Seca's nin e-turn, 1.9-mile course, and Pol en held a two- second ad vantag e at the halfway point o n lap eigh t. On lap 10 Polen turned in a 1:12.22 time, and by lap II he had pulled o ut in front of Stevens by 6.95 seconds. Pero lost third to Moore on lap II and began ' to fade. Moore took over the show spot after a heartstopping, rear-end-way-out-there slide co mi ng o ut of tu rn n in e. By lap 13; Pol en 's ad vantage was 10.22 secon ds and he was still averaging a two-seconds-per-lap gain over Steven s every ti me ' he went aro und th e track. When he took th e checkers , Pol en was 14.36 seconds in front of th e runner-up rid er. - Results SUPERSPORT 1. Doug Polen (Han); 2. Thomas ; Stavens (Han); 3. Ricky Orlando (Hon); 4 . Richard Moore (Han); 5. Eric Ginn (Han); 6 . Steven Dick (Han); 7. lain Perc (Honl ; B. Chris Steward (Han); 9. Kirk Hoeppner (Han); 10. Jim Jepsen (Han); 11 . Michael Graves (Han); 12. Walter Nitta (Honl; 13 . Ron Sharp (Yam); 14. Margan Murphy (Han); 15 . Eugene Brown (Honl; 16. Tony Mathews (Han); 17 . Andrew Dung (Han); 1B. Stuan Hutch ins (Han); 19. Alel<8nder Wh ite (Honl; 20. Jeffrey Rheaume (Han).