Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• .AMA/Circle Bell Pro Twins Grand Prix Series: Round 6 Chandler 'wins, Quarterley takes title at Mid-Ohio By Brian Catterson Photos by Bert Shepard LEXINGTON, OH, AUG. 7 Dou g Chandler did, in his first attempt, what Australian P au l-Lewis twice failed to do - win a race on the Com m on wea lth - Honda. Chandler rode the machine to victory in the Ij-Iap event at the Mid -Ohio Sports Car . . Cour~e, sconn~ h!s and owner Martm Adams first-ever Pro Twins Grand Prix victory. Chandler may have won the race , but it was Dale Quarterley's day. • Quarterley finished second behind . Chandler after leading most of the race , but the runner-up lmish gave the Fast By Ferracci Ducati 85 I-rider enough points to clinch th e 1988 AMA Pro Twins Grand Prix Championship. With on e round remaining (at Sears Point in October), the Massachusetts native now holds 101 points, leaving second-place John Long, with 70 points, out of reach of the title. Third place went to Jimmy Adamo on the Team Leoni Ducati 851. Adamo led at the start, and again, briefly, at mid-race, but was slowed by rising water temperatures which forced him to ride a conservative race and save th e motor. Chandler first rode th e Commonwealth Honda - the same one ridden by Australian Paul Lewis.at Daytona where he led before suffering mechanical woes and at Laguna Seca where he finished second behind Quarterley - for the first time in practice on Friday, and immediately took a liking to the RS750 dirt track motor-powered racer. Chandler has plenty of experience with this powerplant, riding Honda dirt trackers in the Camel Pro Series. He compared the machines favorably, but, perhaps surprisingly, says that the 850cc road race machine produces its power at lower rpm a':ld is even more tractable than the dirt tracker. At the drop of the green flag, Adamo romped into the lead with Quarterley and John Long, on his Longevity Racing Ducati, hot in pursuit. Doug Bra uneck put the Dr. Joh n 's Moto G uzzi into fourth, with Chandler already -up to fifth after coming from a third-row starting position. Before the completion of the first lap, Pablo Real went down in turn eight, but restarted his Team Leoni Ducati and returned to th e race. His second wind was short-lived, however, as he again went down trying to catch th e fleeing pack. " It 's very jricky to adjust th e suspension to the track, here, " Real explained later. " T h e bike was hopping very badly, and 1 fell on the back straight. I got back on and tried as hard as I cou ld to catch up, but 1 crashed again." By the completion of the first lap, Quarterley had snuck past Adamo. Ducati-rnounted Kevin Erion had worked up to sixth, leading Mal. col me Tunstall on a Ducati, Dr. David Kieffer on a Ducati 851, Randy Kirnec on the one-and-only Harley- Davidson in th e field , and. Pete Johnson on yet another Ducati. Brauneck and Chandl er soon found a way around Long as Johnson and Randy Shenwell displaced Kirnec from the top ten. But, at the end of lap two , Brauneck got off the Guzzi in a big way. Coming through the carousel - a big right-hander 1 followed by a quick flick left ·- the rear wheel stepped out, highsiding him off the side of th e bik e. H e stru ggled to hold on, but accidentall y opened th e throttle and sen t th e machine speeding toward s th e tra ck's edge. Brauneck bailed off te" avoid running head on into th e hay bale-lined armco The Guzzi exploded the hay bales and suffered extensive damage including a bent and broken front wheel. Brauneck was unhurt, but the crash makes the 1987 Pro Twins champ two-for-two after also crashing in the early laps of the previous round of the serres at Laguna Seca. By lap seven, the three leaders had opened a 20-second gap over thirdplace Long, who held another eight seconds on fourth-place Tunstall, who,. lik e Kieffer.chad passed Eri~m, sending the southern Californian .back to seventh place. As . Saturday,'s Modified Production-class .wmner Pete J.ohnson closed on Erion, the archnvals' pace heate~ up from the 1:55s they 'd been runmng down into the 1:53range, on~-an.d-a-half seconds fast~r than they d CIrculated m Saturday s event. This time, however, it was Johnson's tum to sample the lush green Mid-Ohio turf. Pulling ahead of Erion, he had opened a small ~p, butstrucktroublelaterwhllepassmg a lapped rider. Johnson went to the outside of the lappee, Erion went inside, and resumed his placing. Johnson then closed on Erion too fast in the carousel, hit the brakes while leaned over and lost the front end. H e bruised his left hand, requiring no more than an ice pack, and was otherwise uninjured. J . Craig Shambaugh', who 'd advanced into the top 10, crashed when he missed a shift going into turn II. Adamo took a turn at the front for a lap, but Quarterley regained the lead on the following circu it. A lap lat er Chandler also passed Adamo. "The temperature gaug.e was pinned, ove~ 150-d~grees centigrade. It s~rted gomg a .little slower ~n the straights so I slowed down. I Iigured it 's better to finish," said Adamo. . On lap 10, Quarterlev's bike . faltered and Ch~n.dler dove inside under the start/finish bridge to take the lead . . "The same thing happened at Laguna Seca," sai~ Qu~rt~rley. "~e motor died, so I tried hitting the kill swi tch, but nothing happened. Then, I hit the starter button and Doug Chandler (7 6) leads J immy Adamo (2 6) and Dale Qua~erley (3 2) at Mid-O hio . Chandler won, but Quarterley is the new Pro TWIns champ. it fired right back up. It 's really strange because it doesn 't have a starter motor! " Chandler took the win with a 0.75second margin of victory at an average speed of 86.542 mph. Quarterley held on for second, with Adamo nursing his Ducati in for third. Long concluded his lonely race in fourth, with Tunstall fifth. Erion, Shenwell, Stas , Kirn ec and Griffiths rounded out th e top 10. " T he front brakes faded so I decided to hang back and take my tim e," said Chandler. " When Dal e's bike quit I just drafted past. " "T o stay with Dale I had to slide it, but 1 couldn't keep up that kind of a pace," said Adamo. " I feel more comfortable going in deeper and pushing the front end." " It feels good to win the championship, especially since I've had an up-down-up career in Pro Twins," said Quarterley. • Results PRO TW GP: 1. Doug Chandler lHon): 2. Dale Quanerley (Due~ 3. James Adamo (Due~ 4. John Long (Due~ 5. Malcolma Tunstall (Due); 6. Kevin Erion (Due~ 7. Randy Shenwe ll (Due~ 8. Gary Stas ( Due~ 9. Randy Kirnec (H-D~ 10. Raben Griffiths (M-G) . POINT STAND INGS: 1. Dale Quan erley (101); 2. J ohn Long (70); 3. Kev;n Erion (58); 4 . Jam es Ada mo (46); 5. Doug Braun eek (35); 6. Randy Sh emwell (29); 7. Peter Joh nson (27); 8. Kun Uebmann (23); 9. Doug Chandler (20): 10. Wa rren Elliot (18). AMA Pro Twins Modified ProductiOll Series: Round 6 Johnson wins, takes point lead at Mid-Ohio By Brian Catterson Photos by Bert Shepard LEXINGTON, O H , AUG. 6 Fast By Ferracci 's Pete Johnson defeated J. Craig Shambaugh and Chris Thomas to win the 14-lap Pro Twins Modified Production race at MidOhio. Johnson 's ' win allowed him to assume the point lead in hi s quest to repeat as Modified Production Champion. Two Brothers Racing's Kevin Erion, the rookie pro who led the points chase coming into thi s round of the series, cra shed out of contention just after Johnson passed him for the lead. Johnson now leads Erion 72 to 69. Johnson led from the start, chased by Erion and Shambaugh on . the FBF/ BP Cycles/Montgomeryville Cycles Ducati, with Loudon winner Gary Stas and Dennis Liebrecht following. Erion took the lead before the completion of lap one, ending speculation by his crew that he would cruise behind Johnson and pass on the white flag lap. Pete Johnson took first place in the Modified Production race and point standings on his FBF Ducati. On lap two , Moto-Guzzi-mounted Bob Griffiths passed Liebrecht for fifth. The leaderboard then remained the same until lap five when Johnson passed Erion for the lead. Moments later, Erion threw it away in oil entering the Keyhole. " I ride so much better without th e pressure of racing," said Erion , who's an instr uctor in Reg Pridmore's CLASS riding school. ''I' m starting to wonder if I'm cut out for this (racing)." . As Erion floundered, Thomas got around Griffiths to take fourth , and a lap later they both put a move on Stas, displacing him to fifth. Stas later repassed Griffiths for fourth. With Erion gone, Johnson slowed his pace and cruised home to a 13.96second margin of victory. Shambaugh came home second with Thomas third , Stas fourth and Griffiths, first non-Ducati rider, in fifth. "Kevin (Erion) and I agreed before the race that we would try to jump out front and get away from Shambaugh and Stas. They (Shambaugh and Stas ) can run with us (Johnson and Erion) wh en th ey're following, but I don't think th ey can keep up the pace if th ey're runn ing alone," said Johnson. "I couldn't believe it when Erion crashed," said Shambaugh. " I kept Johnson in sight.Ior a couple of laps, and then said to myself 'Hey, I want to finish this one.''' • Results PRO TW M /P: 1. Pet e Johnson (Due); 2. J. Craig Shambaugh lDuel; 3. Chr;s Thomas lDue); 4. Gary Stas (Due~ 5. Roben Griffiths (M · G): 6. Frank Shockley l Due~ 7. Alan Hippensreal (Yam~ 8. Waltar Sakowski (Due); 9. Erie Phillippe lDue); 10. Blaine Paulus Jr. (M -G~ POINT STANDINGS: 1. Pet e Johnson (72); 2. Kevin Erion (69); 3. J. Craig Shambaugh (611; 4 . . Raben Griffiths (42~ 5. Chris Thomas (3 5~ 6. Gary Stas (31); 7. Blaine Paulus Jr. (28~ 8. Dannis Ueb

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