Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a B I 00 00 O"l ........ Sco tt Gray brakes for turn five en route to winning his second F-USA Unlimited Grand Prix in WSMA Formula USA Series: Round 6 Gray day at Willow Springs By Brian Catterson ROSAMOND , CA, J UNE 5 Yoshimura Suzuki factory rider Scott Gray led from start to finish to win the sixth round of the ' 'T o yo ta/D u n lop/Yamaha Formula USA Unlimited Motorcycle Grand Prix Seri es at 'Willow Springs . International Raceway. In just hi second appearance this S • .• year at the southern California 16 facility, the Yoshimura/Michelin/ Kushitani/ Arai /Phillips 66/Motul/ Fer odo-sporisored 1987 F-USA Champion is now two-for-two and ha s mov ed into fourth place in the point sta ndin gs. But with seco ndv : place finisher and points leader Jam es Doma y now holding 65 points, and only three races remainin g - one of which conflicts with the AMA Sears Point National even if Gray wins and Demay DNFs twi ce, Gray has no chance of pa ssing Domay to repeat as champion. Yoshimura/Michelin ICRT/Motu l/Shoei/Cycle Racer/Alpine Starspo nsored Domay shado wed Gray th rough out the IO-Iap affair, both .ri ders turn ing lap times in the 1:27ra nge, just tenths of a second off G ray's 1:26.33 lap record. Even ' so, it a ppeared th at Gra y was rid in g o nly as fast as he had to and , if Doma y had cha lle nged, Gray would ha ve simply left him behind. Phil Kress made it two third-place finish es in a row on his Larry Kress Racing/Helimot/Enviroshade/Tim Smith/Michelin ICRT-sponsored Yamaha FZRIOOO. Kress worked hard, outbrakin~ both fifth-place finisher Ken DaVIS and fourth-place finisher, 1986 F-USA champ Earl Roloff into turn three. It was a far cry from the last ra ce - run in th e absence of Gray, Roloff and, effeclively, Domay (who crashed on the third lap) - in which Kress just followed runner-up Barry Burke from flag to flag. When asked before the race what he'd cha n ~ed on Burke's Yamaha F~RIOOO Since th.e la~,t race: ~~.mer JI~ Leonard replied, the OIl, . ~ ut he s promised to have a modified 'm o tor ready for the next round of the series, to be he ld Sep tember II aft er the ho t summer months have passed. Gray suffered mech anical problems during Sunday m orning 's practice session. Moments after turning a sub-I :27 lap at over 103 mph, th e titanium bolts Yoshimura were trying on th e r ear wh eel sprocket sheared off, and Gray coas ted back to th e pits. The bolts were replaced by som e proven steel parts before the race. Between practice a nd th e race, Gra y exp lained how he was a ble to turn fast times, even in th e windy co nditio ns, which, th ough bad , were nowhere near as severe as a t p revio us events. "T he '88 has a little better aero dynamics so the wind doesn 't affect it as much. I think we co uld get into the :25s without the wind," he sa id. At the sta rt, Carry Andrew jumped o ut front o n his H onda VF750F Superbike, but it was G ray who led ou t of turn one. Domay followed Gra y into turn two , with Roloff o n the o utside, Andrew o n th e in sid e, a nd then Burke on the o utside and Kress o n th e inside behind Andrew. And then it happened. According to eyewitness Kress , " Carr y lost the back end and left Barry nowhere to go. I looked outside, but I saw Barry was there so I went under Carry. I saw Barry . crash, but it didn 't look like he fell that hard." Andrew slid off the track, bruising only his rear end and his ego. Burke tw'? attempts. was ini tially rep orted co nscious but no t moving, and was transp orted to Antelo pe Valley Ge neral Hospital where he was treat ed for a broken left hand, righ t fingers' a nd a sepera ted sho u lder. H e was released, but told to return for examina tio n of poss ible back injuries. Gray a nd Do m a y immed iatel y began to pu ll away, leavin g Ro loff, Ken Davis and Kress to scra p for thi rd. . Rol off was fina lly aboard th e longawaited, much a nticipated factory bac ked Yama ha FZR 750R that he'd been promised at th e beginnin g of the seaso n. The bike, built by Yamaha's Mark Ga gn on, fea tu resall of the factory Su perbike engine a nd chassis ki t pa rts, a mech anicall y-actuated clu tch , chro memoly cra nkshaft and the cylinder head from the ex-Jimmy Filice Superbi ke. Bra kes are Brembo - a pair of 320m m floati ng ro tors up fro nt sq ueezed by four-piston calipers - wheels are Marvics (the rear with a cush drive ada p ter) and . tire s a re Dunl op ra dial slicks. The bike also sports a cool air induction system manufactured by Pro-Fab. T he motor was fired for the first time Friday night at 7:00, a nd a problem occurr ed when th e vent hos es from the still airbox were sucked into the carburetor throats. Saturday's practice was spent making jetting changes; the first time out i t foul ed the spark plugs. " I hurt myself by using some old If

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