z
w
III
)0-
III
en
g
o
:I:
Q.
w
...J
u::
James Domay won his third straight Formula USA race by 12.15 seconds.
Earl Roloff raced with Randy Renfrow. but had to settle for fourth place.
WSMA Formula USA Series: Round 3
Domay makes it
three for three
By David Keck
ROSAMOND, CA , AP R. 3
It's not complacency that slowed . James
Domay in today 's Toyota/Coca-Cola /
Budweiser Formula USA Unlimited Motorcycle Grand Prix at Willow Springs Interna ti onal Racewa y. .
Instead, the re was a th ought
.
f sav m g ~ he eo u i men t, n o t
o
e eq u ip
to p us h It a ny m o re tha n
n ecessa ry. There was also a healthy .
respect for th e strong wi nd that
blows through the 2.5-mile, ni neturn road course.
But it seems that n o matter how
much Do m ay tries to back o ff, he's
still way a head of everyone else. And
like a jet among bi p la nes, Dom ay
easi ly scored h is th ird Formula USA
wi n, bea ting runnerup Paul Vogel
by 12.15 seco nds.
" I di dn ' t n eed to do a ny th ing
rea lly cra zy o u t th ere because of the
wi nd," Doma y sai d a fter wa rd , "So
I just cru ised ."
T he Sylmar, California, resid ent
cruised a t a n avera!?e speed of 101
mph , with lap tim es In th e m id-I :29s.
It was n' t exac tly a br eakneck p ace
for the kit-built Yosh imura Suzuki
750 rider , but, considering th e windy.
co nditio ns, it wasn 't bad, eithe r.
It was more th e directi on of th e
wind tha n its force that ga ve th e
riders prob lems; th e gus ts blew fro m
th e so uthwest instead of the ir normal
northwest pattern, creati ng da ngero.us crosswinds in tu rns five and
eig h t.
It may have been those wi nds that
knocked Chuck Magnusson off the
co u rse in turn five on the opening
circu it of the IO-lap rac e. Magnusson
was taken to a local hospita l but wa s
not ser iously hurt.
" I think that's what happened to
Chuck," Domay said. "T he re was a
sid e gust comi ng off th a t h ill. You
really had to be careful about the wa y
you rode. "
Domay shot out to th e lead in th e
first tu rn o f the ope n ing lap a nd
slowly bui lt his adv antage. Vogel,
ow ner o f Grizzly Performance P ro d ucts in Sac ra me nto, managed to
stay fairl y clo se to Doma y until
mid wa y through , w he n Dom a y
gradua lly began pulling away.
Vogel , riding a Su zuki GSXRllOO
backed by G rizzly a n d AI's Mo torcycles of Roseville, m anaged to keep
well a hea d of the rest o f th e Cield to
score. h is best- ever finish in th e
Formula USA Seri es.
T ha t seco nd spot was fin e wit h
Vogel. T he 35-yea r-old rid er h as
raced the Formula USA Series since
last year, experienc in g n othing but
p robl em s until today's ra ce. With a
crash here, electrical p roblem s the re,
in th e p ast, it was little wonder Vogel
decided to pl ay it safe once he had
a so lid posi tio n.
" I was prett y su re we co u ld fi nis h
seco nd if we got a decent start,' :
Vogel sa id. " Bu t 1 kn ew we proba b ly
cou ld n't catch Doma y.
" I was riding about as fast as I
wanted to . H is average lap times a re
about two seconds faster tha n m ine.
H 1 wou ld have gotten closer, he
wou ld ha ve just turned it u p. "
De ma y's large lead o nce again left
th e field raci ng for positions two
thro ugh six, wi th Voge l ta kin g
seco nd at the en d of the first lap.
From th ere Randy Renfro w, Ear l
Rol off , Barry Bu rke a nd Ken Davis
slugged it o u t. T he best raci ng came
from Ren frow and Rol o ff, wh o
battled for th ird the entire race.
Rol off, o nce agai n ridin g th e
Kawasaki 1000 Ninj a on wh ich he
wo n th e 1986 Formula USA Cham p io ns h i p , we n t fa s ter o n th e
stra ig h ts , whil e R enfrow , o n a
Hond a R S2 50 , co n tro lled t he
co rners. Renfrow even tu all y wo n o u t
to fini sh third , relegating Rol off to
fou n h.
" I thin k th e rea r shock is wo rn
ou t," Rol off said o f th e o ld Kaw a saki , affecti onat el y kn own as , " T h e
T ermina tor. " " It was ho p p in g a ll
over th e p lace. I was just happy to
fin ish fourth an d survive. It 's Easter
Su nday ; I h ave a wife a nd two kid s
a t home. "
With the wi n, Domay h olds a
perfect 45 po ints in th e series sta ndings. H e has a 25-poi nt lea d over
Rol o ff, wh o moved to seco nd in the
poi nt sta nd in gs over Carry Andrew,
who finished seventh today.
Wi th th at kind of points lead, the
q uestion is raised : Ca n Domay wrap
up the eig h t-race series cha mpionship early?
" I do n 't like to talk abou t tha t,"
Do m a y said. " A n y th i ng co u ld
happen. I just want to keep ridin g
well a nd hope and pray noth ing
happens . I'just wa nt to go out th ere,
look good a nd keep m y sponsors
happy."
One m ore sp o n so r, th e Mill er
Brewin g Co m pany , recently joined
th at li st. Th e sp o nso rs h i p wa s
secured through track ow ner Bill
Huth, wh o was co ntacted by the beer
co m pany .
" H e (H u th) ca lle d me up a nd told
me th at Miller ca lled h im a nd sai d
th ey wa nted so meone to help out,
I' m reall y ha p py abo u t th at. Since
I'm ridin g well , sponsors are ta ki ng
a look a t me. I wo u ldn 't wa nt it a ny
o ther way."
Meanwhile, th e onl y thing th at
seems to hold a cha lle nge to Demay's
dominance is rumors and m ystery
bi kes.
Among th ese is a Yamaha FZR7 50
th at is reponed ly bein g p repared for
Earl Rol o ff in Yamaha 's Buen a Park
. shop. The bike was su p posed to be
co m p leted by the firs t Formula USA
race in February, bu t p robl em s set
in. Rol off , who h asn ' t even seen th e
bike yet , h as n o id ea a bo u t th e
motorcycle's sta tus .
" I d on 't kn o w ," Rol off sa id .
"T h ey (Ya ma ha) sai d it was go ing
to be here th e fir st race. Then th ey
said it was go ing to be here th e
seco n d race, etc., etc., etc.
"So wh ile James rides off into th e
su nse t with th e cha m p io ns h ip , 1 still
don 't hav e a bike. He do esn't think
a ny bo dy ca n do a ny th ing abou t it,
an d he 's ' righ t; th ere's not a damn
thing a ny body ca n do abo ut it. H e's
riding rea lly well right n ow. "
Bike builder Mark G agn on o f
Yamaha , contacted a fter th e Formula
USA race , p romised th e b ike wo u ld
be ready by th e n ext event o n .Ma y
I. Gagnon sa id th e del ays were due
to th e origina l bu ilder of Rol off 's
bik e, Tim Norton, being transferred
to another dep anment within th e
co m p a ny, plus parts deliv ery holdups a nd a n "
increasin g amount of
work at the Yama ha shop.
G agnon, origina lly in the ATV
a n d o ff-road testi ng wi ng o f
Yam ah a , rep laced Norton two
m onths ago. Gagnon said h e is still
trying to get used to the road raci ng
department.
" I don' t think a nyo ne (a t Yama h a )
rea lized ho w ma ny part s we were
bringing in, " Gagnon said. "Un for tu na tely, the pa rts di d not arrive in
ti me for th e first race. All the parts
are here now."·
Wh en wiII they be o n th e new bike?
" T ha t's a good questi on," Gagnon said. " I hope to start on it any
day now .
' 'I' m so rry for Ea rl. This was
started before I got here and I ha ven't
been able to sa tisfy h im. I keep trying
to in still con fide nce in him, but it 's
kind of d ifficult without the
machine. I don't blame him for being
skeptical.
" Bu t eve n if 1 have to work
overtime, it will be done (by th e nex t
Formula USA ra ce). It may not be
painted , bu t it will be done."
In th e Formula US A Li ghtweight
divisi on , for bikes lim it ed to a
m aximum engine d isplacement o f
600cc, it was En glishman Al an
Carter wh o took the wi n.
Carter, teammat e of Ri ch Ol iver
on th e J ohn Lassak Racin g T eam
and t he you ngest man ever to win
a World Cha mpions hip G rand Prix, .
took his Yama ha TZ250 to th e lea d
o n th e sixth lap after ridi ng fou rt h
in th e open ing circuits.
Carter a lso had prob lems wi th th e
win d.
" It 's scary to me, " Carter sa id wi th
a sm ile. " I guess it 's experie nce.
Before lunch ti me I was going rea l
good. T h en it (the wi nd ) p icked up
lat er...
Ri cha rd Moore led the race early,
bu t crashed in turn two on th e founh
lap. It was a na sty spill, bu t Moore
was unhurt, th a n ks to th e absence
o f a berm th at was moved by Huth
during th e winter.
Oliver fini shed seco nd a nd Ren frow was th ird. Current Formula .
USA Lightwei ght poi nts leader and
former AMA Formula Two Na tional
Champion Don G reen e took fourth,
a lso on a RS250.
.
Los An gel es-ba sed Kent Kunitsu gu was the first production bike '
ri de r h ome, scoring a fifth place
finish on h is H onda 600 Hurricane.
Seven of th e to p 10 riders rode 250
GP ma chines.
Carter, Ol iver, R enfro w and
Greene were using th e race as a warm
up for th e Uni ted States G rand Prix
at Lagu na Seca Raceway in Monterey , Ca lifo rn ia.
•
Results
F· USA OPEN: 1. Jam es Domay (Suz); 2. Paul
Vogel (Suz); 3. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 4 . Earl Roloff.
Jr . (Kaw); 5. Barry Burk e (Yam); 6. Ken Davis (Vam);
7. Carry Andrew (Suz); B. Wi ll iam Beck (Suz); 9.
Bruce Tebo (Suz).
F·USA LIW: 1. Alan Can er (Vam); 2. Rich Oliver
(Vam); 3. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 4. Don Greene
(Hon); 5. Kent Kunitsugu (Hon); 6. Ben Williams
(Yam); 7. Tom Paris (Hon); 8. Kenmobu Yoneda
(Vam); 9. Tom Aquino (Hon); 10.Joe Brett W illiams
(Hon).
OPEN TW: 1. M ick Of ield (Due).
A SIB: 1. Dave Skaien (Yam); 2. Ken Panslev
(Vam).
C SIB: 1. Jam es Domay (Hon); 2. Tom Aquino
(Hon); 3. Joe Brett Williams (Hon).
F·2 : 1. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 2. Ben William s
(Vam); 3. Kazunobu Yoneda (Vam). .
CHAL CUP OPEN: 1. Henery Moradilla (Suz); 2.
Howard J ones (Sull .
CHAL CUP 600 : 1. Danny Lizardo (Han): 2. Roben
Bowallius (Han); 3. Doug Holmes (Vam).
F·USA OPEN POINT STANDINGS: 1. Domay (45);
2. Roloff (20): 3. Andrew (18); 4. Burke (11); 5.
(TIE) Christensen/Cooley/Davis/ Vogel (10); 9.
(TIE) Adams/Greene (9).
F·USA LIW POINT STANDINGS : 1. Greene (30);
2. Oliver (20); 3. Kun itsugu (1
4. (TIE) Caner/
Leisner(15); 6. Wi lliams (ll ); 7. Coe(lD); 8. Aqu ino
(9); 9. mE) Renfrow/Pave (B).
n
