Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Gray won the final round at Willow Sp rings, and w ith it took the championship; Gray won five of the six races in the series. . WSMA Formula USA Unlimited Motorcycle Gran Prix Road Racing Series: Round 6 . . Gray takes win, title, record in F·USA finale By Brian Catterson ROSAMOND , CA , NOV. I Scott Gray won the final round of the series to clinch the Formula USA Unlimited Motorcycle Gran P rix Championship at Willow Springs International Raceway. The North ern California .r id e r dominated the series, winning five out o f the six races held . . . . at th e so u thern California or- 24 cu it, Gray a lso set a new. motorcycle lap re~o rd o f 1: ~6. 3 3 during pracuce o n ;nda y, besll~lg Randy Mam ol a'~ 198_ mark of 1:_6:4, set o~ a Suzu ki RG500 Grand Prix m ach m e. It wa s · "1 a pro fn an e wee kenc for G enu -ray , as lie co llected th e S5000 bounty posted by tra ck owner Bill Huth for br eaking the record, plus th e $JOOOrace purse, and a Toyota pickup for winning th e series championship. Seco nd place in th e 'series, and third in the race . went to 1986 Formula USA Champion Earl Ro lo ff Jr. The 30-yea r-o ld Spring Valley, Californi a . resident sa id that th e track was slick afte r a SPOilS 2000 ca r race held ea rlier in th e day. Roloff was ham pered by a lack o f p racti ce, as h t"av~ rains interrupted Sa tu rday's p~?(·eedlllgs. Nevertheless, he won 1:>0, plus a Yamaha 600 a nd a WaveRu im er perso na l watercraft. James Dorn ay fini sh ed th i'rd in th e ser ies, a nd seco nd in th e race, on h is Yoshimu ra Suzu ki GSXR750. The 2'!-year-old rider beat Rol off for th e . .1 . . seco nu co n secu u ve lime, and co llerted $500 purse money, a Yam aha Y~~50, a nd $1000 from Bd-Ra y for h is dfor~s.. . _ Budwlser. Eagle Yamaha .FZ750mounted J!m Vreek e go t the hol es h o t, l e;~dll1g through turn o ne before being passed by un stoppable G ra y through turn two. Roloff a nd Doma y cha sed Vreeke, and were p ast by th e completion o f lap o ne. Emde held fifth, with Curtis Adams sixth , Paul Vogel seven th , Carry Andrew Spring Va lley, Cal ifornia's Earl Roloff (1 ) lost his number one plate to Scott Gray; Ro loff ended up t hi rd on the day but second in the series. (·ig h th. Tom Lynch nimh , a nd Barry Burke 10th . By th e end of lap two, Gray had a si x-seco nd lead on Roloff , turning a I :28.53 on h is Yoshimura Suzuki 1100 T orn ado. Riding so me two seconds off his record pa ce, Gray rode co nserva tively (b y h is standards ) 10 insure th e victory. On lap four, Mi ller Am erican/ Cycle Ra cer / Ami -sponsored Emde tri ed to out-brake Vreek e into turn o ne, but couldn 't pull it off. R id ing th e Curt Jordan-tuned Yamaha FZ which features a ' FZR I 000 cylinde r block o n a n FZ750 bottom end for 840cc di splacem ent, Ernd e has been ra cin g h ead-to-head with Vreek e throughout th e series. Dom a y p a ssed Coors/Dun lop/ C ycl e R a ce r /Oh lin s-sponsored Roloff fo r second a t th e end o f lap fo ur , as th e numb er o ne r id er wa tche d hi s cha m p io ns h ip hopes d isappear. On lap five, Gray held an eig h tseco nd advantage over seco nd place Doma y, wh ich he stretched to 10 seco nds by lap seven . On lap eig h t, a n ex h ube ra n t Gra y, sens in g hi s victo ry, began wh eelieing for th e fans out o f uphill turn three. By lap nine, he wa s pa ssing ba ckrnarkers. Domay, meanwhi le, pulled out six seco nds on Roloff. . Emde draft ed past Vreeke to start th e white flag lap , and held it to the finish . " I thi nk Vreeke ca ught a little wind going into turn nine on th e seco nd-to- last lap ," Emde said. " I was drafting him and right as I p u lled o u t at the sta rt / fin ish line, I hit a bump a nd ca ug h t so me a ir a nd wobbl ed halfway to turn on e. I fig ured , 'do n' t shut off now ; just . keep going." Unbeknownst to Gra y, h is crew ca me close to losing th e ra ce for him as th e tower warned th em to get ba ck behind th e pit wall or he'd be blackflagged . Fortunately. they complied . Gray held o n for th e win , follow ed by Doma y , R oloff, Ernd e , and Vreeke. Pau l Vogel finished sixth, Curtis Adams seventh, T eam H yperCycle's Carry Andrew eighth, 17' ' year-o ld Tom Lyn ch nin th, and Chu ck Magnusson 10th. • 1 In th e winner 's circle after dr iving th e Toyot a Supra pace ca r for his. victo ry lap , G ra y thanked his sponsors Yo sh imura , Motul , Michelin ICRT, Shoei, Kushitani, Fox , Tsubaki , Phill ips 66, Mlkun, and ND . H e praised h is mechan ics, saying that " the bike worked a bsolu tely p he no mena l." Abou t 'the cham p io ns hi p, G ra y commented , " Ea rl didn 't mak e it easy . " We had th at breakdown at th e beginni ng o f the yea r. TIle one thing th at I kn ew , and that 1 told Yoshimura wa s that Ea rl doesn't break and he doesn't fall down ; he a lway s Iinishes. vl m ay be going faster and setting track reco rds and everything, but I'll tell yo u wha t . . the nerves sti ll flowing, ' ca use wh en Ear l's behind yo u, you know he's th ere; a nd h e's always th ere. The points just made it that much more evident this year. Hopefully, Earl will come o ut next year and we'll have some more di cing." • Results . 1. Scott Gray (Suz); 2. J ames Domay (Suz); 3. Ear l Roloff (YamI; 4 . David Emde (Yam); 5. J im Vr eeke (Yam); 6. Pau l Voge l (Suz); 7 . Curtis Adams (Suz); 8. Carry Andrew (Suz); 9. Tom Lynch (Suz); 10 . Ch uck Magnusson (Suz). . FINA L PT STANDINGS; 1. Scott Gray (10 1); 2. Earl Roloff (93); 3. James Domay (B2); 4. David Emde (70); 5. Jim Vreeke (6); Curtis Adams (49); 7. Jeff Stern (29); 8. (fiE) Curt is StewardlTom Lynch (20); 10. (TIE) Bob Reinen /Carry A ndew(1 9).

• Cover