Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

World Championship Observed Trials Series: Round 4 Commo cleans up Chepachet Trials Michaud wins in LuxeJJ:lbourg CHEPACH ET, RI , APR. 10 New Eng land T ria ls Cham pio n Ro n Comm o sho wed th at he is readv for the Nat ionals by winni ng th e second ro und of the New En gland Trials Association's Championsh ip Series aboard his Cosm o pol ita n/ K.S.I. / Spec tre-sponsored Beta, held on the lar ge rock slabs of Ch epa chet. The five-foo t steps and slippery hillsides sui ted th e aggressi ve riding of J ohn Ekdahl as he too k his Beta to the Expert class win over Wayne Gal vin. Geoff Aaro n beat all challengers for the Advanced class win on h is T ryal s Shop-sponsored Ap rili a. T rues da le put in a super ride on hi s Montesa to take th e Senior A win, wh il e Bill McC orm ick beat AI Samuelman in a tie-break er rid e-off to take th e Senior B win. A close finish in th e Novice class saw Mark Lazarski edge Brian McDermott for th e win . Resu lts ElTELBR UCK , L UXEMBOURG, APR. 17 Two-time World Champion Thierry Michaud scored his third win in four starts with a commanding performance in th e Luxembourg round of the Worl d Champion ship Series a t Ette lbr uck. The Fantic rider, wh o won his titl es in 1985 a nd 1986, was tied with event ual runner-up Donato Miglio aft er the first lap of the 16-section course but on th e next two laps Michaud po sted th e low est sco res and handily topped Fantic-mounted Mig lio, 135 to 148. Three-time World Champion Eddy Lejeune gave Merlin their bestever World round finish as he took third, II marks down on runner-up Miglio. Current World Champion J ordi Tarres finished fourth on his Beta, j us t one mark down from Lej eun e, Fantic's Steve Saunders was fifth , two marks behind Tarres. Sixth p lace went to Diego Bosis, followed by Renate Chiaberto, P a sca l Couturier and Louis Gallach. The opening lap of th e trial was run in dry conditions but a thunderstorm made for slip pery going on the n ext two laps. The scores reflected th e change in traction as Michaud's first lap produced a 31, his second a 48, and his third and final lap a 56. With much of th e course being run on roc ks , th e ra i n turned d irt a pproach lines into m uddy ones and that mud was carried o nto the rocks by th e co m pe ti to rs a n d wh eel spinnin g, point robbing attempts at some sectio ns ended in dead stops and " fives." Although th e ra in turne d a difficult course irito a very difficult one, th e open ing lap in the dry showed on e and all th at the first-ever Lu xembourg World round wouldn't be a cakewalk. The opening sectio n saw rider after rider fail to co mplete it; Michaud him sel£ dr ew a five wh en he came to a stop jus t yards short of the end of the sectio n. The second section was eq ua lly difficult and stopped m an y rid ers until Micha ud negotiat ed it wi th a single da b. Sections three a nd four p roved easier and most of the top r iders had little difficulty with them. Sectio n five was another story a nd sto p ped top riders like T arres and Saunders. In fact, no rider escaped sectio n five with out collecti ng at leas t three marks. Section six was cleaned by Mich aud and others, bu t th e following section, a long twisting ascen t, . proved diffi cult for all. Michaud looked set to clean it but had to da b his way o ut of th e sectIo n. The remaini ng sectio ns caused less problem s, although many provided spectacular p erformances to th e delight of the specta tors. The rain dramatically altered the trial , but th e Warken club wa s commended for th eir efficiency in organizing th e even t which at th e very least produced, in the opening lap , a spectacu lar trial. Results 1. Thierry Michaud (Fan) 135 ; 2. Donato Miglio (Fan) 14B; 3. Eddy Lajeune (Mer) 159; 4 . Jordi Tarres (Bel); 5. Steve Saun ders (Fan); 6. Diego Basis (Apr); ·7 . Renata Chiaberto (Bet); B. Pascal Couturier (JCM); 9. Luis Gallach (Moe); 10 . An dreu Codina (Gas). POINT STAN DINGS: 1. M ichaud (77); 2. Saunder.(65t 3. Tarre.( 51); 4. Bosi.(5DI; 5. M iglio (50); 6. Lejeune (38); 7. Peter Jahn (33); B. Chiaberto (30t 9. Philippe Berlalier (24); 10. Couturier (15~ By Dan Wi lliams H-PT; 1. Ron Comma (Bet) 14 . EX: 1. Joh n Ekdahl (Bet) 27; 2. Wayne Galvin 42; 3. Oarren Lane 44 ; 4 . Brian Nagbengast (Han) 45. . ADV; 1. Geoff Aaron (Apr) 55; 2. Mike Samuelman 96; 3. Dave Samuelman 101; 4 . Scan Stone 103. INT; 1. Mike Meda. 37 ; 2. Robert Kwalek 50; 3. Eric Schle ich 51; 4 . Jason Thibodeau 67. SR A; 1. George Truesdale 36; 2. David Russell 64 . SR B; 1. Bill McCorm ick 2; 2. AI Samuelman 2; 3. George Elli. 3; 4. Wi lliam Jervis 3. NOV: 1. Mark Lazarski 16; 2. Brian McOermon 16; 3. John Cheresko 20; 4. Paul Olsen 22. Newell nails win at Pueblo Motocross By Larry Johnson P UEBLO, CO , APR. 17 Dave Newell took hill advantage o f a double points race at Pueblo and wo n th e Open Pro clas s. H e has won every Open moto so far this seaso n , . a total of 12. In moto one J im Thompson ga ted first ahead of Bob Hanrahan and Newell. Nothing changed until lap three whe n Newell took over second. Then Thompson got o ut of shape on lap four and Newell sli p ped pas t, with H anrah an fo llo w i ng .i n to second. T he tri o circ ula ted in th e same ra nk to the finish , wi th Newe ll holding on ly a slight adva n tage at the flag. H an ra h an led Ne we ll a nd Tho m p son th rough turn o ne of moto two, but Newe ll didn't wait long to gai n the lead this time. O nce out fron t. the Team Green ace pr ogressively edged away fro m hi s pursu ers and won by II seconds ahead of T hompson, who overtook Hanrahan o n lap five. Thompson ' left H anrahan far beh ind to claim second overall. Derek Bro wn nail ed down his third consecu tive overall win in th e 250cc Pro class. H e passed ewell quickly in moto one and maintained a five-second gap over Newell all th e way to the checkers. Stacey Cook held Brown at bay for four laps of round two before Brown slanted past on a slick off-camber. Brown never looked back and won easi ly over T im Buchli and Coo k. Cook a nd Buchli staged ano ther of th eir du els in th e 125cc Pro class. Cook led Buchli out of th e gate in moto on e, but Buchli slipped past soon after and held Cook 0 [[ until lap seven. They swapped the lead in one turn , th en Buchli stymied Cook's efforts from there on out to win. Cook led round two from flag -toflag, while Buchli was bus y fighting to second aft er a fourth-place star t. Buchli took over second on lap four, 10 seconds 0[[ Cook's pace. H e finall y reached Cook at th e end of 00 00 O'l '" Geoff Aaron climbs a ledge aboard his Apri lia on hi s way to winning the Advanced class at the Chepachet Trials. th e last lap, but couldn't make the pass, and Cook won the o vera ll. Resu lts 60 NOV: 1. Cory Pe.rman{Kaw); 2. Bren Rodman (Kaw). NOV; 1. Jason Rush (Kaw); 2. Todd Robertso n (Kew); 3. Shawn Malone (Suz). BO AM ; 1. Ale. Neir (Kaw~ 2. Oes Piihl (Kaw); 3. Justin Monger (Kaw ). EX; 1. Andy Atkins (Kaw ). '25 NOV: 1. Tim Scheere (Han); 2. John Murray . (Yam); 3. Chad Wollaston (Cag). 125 AM ; 1. Lance Johnson (Kaw); 2. Mike Mat heny (Han); 3. George Ashby (Han). ' 25 PRO: 1. Stacey Cook (Hon); 2. Tim Buchli (Yam); 3. Robert Revoir (Kaw ). 250 NOV: 1. Dan Johnston (Kaw); 2. M ike Bare (Han); 3. Jason Cesario (Hon). 250 AM ; 1. George Betzen (Han); 2. J im Melvin (yam); 3. John Ramos (Yam). 250 PRO;. 1. Oerek Brown (Kaw ); 2. Tim Buch li (Yam); 3. Stacey Cook'iHon). OPEN NOV: 1. Forrest Fridlund (Kaw): 2. Date Van Ma"e (Han); 3. Aaron Rhinehart (Han). OPEN' AM ; 1. Bruc e Sylvester (Han); 2. M ike Stanfill (Kaw). OPEN PRO: 1. Dave Newell · (Kaw); 2. Jim Thompson (Ho n); 3. Bob Hanrahan (Kaw) . VET NOV: 1. Doug White (Yam); 2. Steven Benn is (Han); 3. John Davis (Han). VET AM : 1. Phil Antonuk (Kaw); 2. Ricky Lee (Han); 3. Bob Wi nter (Yam). VET EX: 1. Kirk Medina (Han); 2. Dw ight Catalano (Yam); 3. Dan Greenwood (Yam). SR NOV: 1. Charl es Ledford (KTMI; 2. Larry J ohnso n (Yam). SR AM : 1. Jim Reimer (Kawl ; 2. Stan Heffner (Yam). SR EX: 1. Terry Frydendall(Yam); 2. Vic Ziemer (KTM I; 3. Dave Wo llaston (ATK). WMN: 1. Tracy Frydendall (Yam). eo eo Hayes hauls at Texas Drags ENN IS, TX, AP R. 23-24 Larr y H ayes wo n th e Top Fuel Elimi nator class duri ng th e Dra gbike! USA Texas USA Texas Cyclenationals at Billy Meyer's T exas Motorplex Raceway. Hayes go t the dro p o n Mike Mal o ne wi th a .564 ho lesh ot to Malone's .791 and was able to j us t hold 0 [[ Mal on e's better run o n th e basis of his ear lier lea ve. Hayes.' wi n ni ng tim e w as slo wer tha n Mal on e's, but hi s 7.99-second run at 162.39 mph was sti ll good eno ugh . to put him across the finish line first as Mal on e cranked a 7.97/170.45 run. In th e Superfinal, a unique event which pits the winner of th e Overhead Cam Funnybike class against the winner of th e Superfuel Pushrod clas s, Ralph Sm ith pu t hi s turbocha rged Kawas aki funn ybike up agains t the double-engined H arl eyDavidson ridden by Paul Davenport. Davenport used a l .Ll -second head star t, calculated based on th e best tim es from each rider 's class win, , and turned in a 8.83/1 57.04 run to beat Smith, who fell off th e pace with a 8.48/122 run. Nigel Patrick ran hi s Suzuki to a 8.59/145.20 run to edge Harold Damon's 8.97/145.20 and take th e victory. TJ Jackson took th e ProGas final with a holeshot win at .507 to .550, hi s slower 9.25-second run was good enou gh for th e wi n over Kenny . Shurtz' 9.21 by virt ue of the better leave. The new ' Ultra Elmininator class was won by Tom Lay to n , who ran a 8.70 with a .574 light to outru n a quicker holesh ot by Ed Grothus. Grothus carded a .564 light, but h is 8.80 run co ul d n' t catch up. Andris doubles at Saylands MX By Mike Vandl FR EMONT, CA, APR. 13 Yamaha -mo unte d Kell y Andris took top honors in both th e 250cc and Open Pro classes ton ight at Baylands Raceway Par k. Andris ha ndily won all four mo tos entered and in th e process m ust have made his sponsor s, H i-P oint , Arai , T orco Oi ls, Pro Ci rcuit Racin g and Renthal H andlebars , proud. In th e 250cc Pro class th e toughes t competi tio n came early from Eric Sandstrom, but when he tried th e challe nge was fro m J e[[ Pestan a on yet another Yamaha. Pestan a was able to push himsel£ to capture two second p laces behin d Andris while Sandstrom pa rla yed a fourth and th ir d for a thi rd overall o n h is Kawasaki. Ch asin g Andris to th e checkers in the first O pen P ro mo to was Clayton Blood ' o n a Kawasaki. In the early go ing of moto two it was Andris again forging to th e fro nt but th e ba ttle raging beh ind him . was to result in a second pl ace for Matt Arena and a third for Blood. Bloods' seco nd and third pl acings were good enough for second overa ll payout wh ile Arena was th ird overall. For the second week in a row George Heare has top ped the Vet class with three wins ou t of the four motos ente red. Hear e did no wrong as he managed to win both mOlOS under steady pr essure from Bernie Reali in the first moto and then La yne Castner in th e second moto. 27

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