Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

years. Carruthers was crew chief for Kenny Roberts in his title winning years in 1978, 1979, and 1980, and for lawson in 1984" 1986 and now in 1988. In addit ion, Carruthers was the 1969 250cc World Champion . 'By p~p~ Wf~LfY . The cance lation o f th e Ar~entini an GP and a seco n d-p lace fimsh in th e August 28 Czechoslovakian GP wrapped up the 1988 500cc World Championship for Eddie Lawson (Yam). " I don 't believe it , I've really done it, " said Lawson. "This championship is the best of th e three. Number one is back where it belongs, and I pl an to be ba ck next year to make su re I keep it. " Lawson finished 1.91 secon ds behind dethroned World Champion Wa yne Gardner (Hon) a t Brno with Wayn e Ra iney ' ( Ya m) fini shing third. Pi erFrancesco Chili (H on) and Tadahiko T aira (Yam) rounded out the top five. There were originally two GPs sched u led to run (Bra zil on September II an d Argentina on September 17) after the Czech round but th e Argentinian GP was canceled because the race organizers in th at So u th American country failed to upgrade th e facilities as th ey had p romised to do after last year's GP. The point standings with just th e o ne round remaining have titlecl inchin g Lawson on top with 232 points, Gardner second with 212 a n d Rainey th ird with 189. Although th ere ar e still 20 points up for grabs, La wso n 's six GP wi ns th is season to Ga rdner 's fou r means that even a Gardner victory and a Lawson DNF in Brazil would still not be enough for th e Australian to reclai m the titl e. In t he 250cc GP in Czechoslovakia, Spaniard J uan Garriga (Yam) won to close the po ints gap on fellow countryman Sito Pons (Hon), second at Brno, in their battle f or the 250cc crown. Pons leads Garriga by just six po ints, 216 t o 210. Luca Cadalo ra (Yam) was third in Czechoslovak ia with Lor is Reggian i (A pr) and Carlos Cardus (Hon) finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Eddie Lawson's third World Championship ties h im wi th Kenn y Roberts for fifth on th e a ll- ti me 500cc title list; the two Am er icans follow Italian Giacomo Agostini wh o won 'eigh t 500cc titles, and Bri ts Geoff Duke, Mike Hailwood a n d John Su rtees wh o each won four 500cc World Championsh ips. lawson 's third World Ch ampionship was Marlboro Yamaha crew ch ief Kel Carruthers' sixth in 10 John Van den Berk (Yam ) cl inched the 250cc MX World Championsh ip, with 3-2 rno to fin ish es in the August 28 Swedish G P. ' It was hi s seco nd straight Wo rld Cham p io ns hi p title; he was 125cc MX World Champion last year. Finland's Pekka Vehkonen (Ca g) was th e on ly rider w ho had a cha nce to dethrone th e 21-year-o ld Dutch rider but to do ,so Vehkonen had to win both m otes in Sweden with Van den Berk scoring no more th an II points. Va n den Berk's third p lace fin ish in th e opening rnoto, worth 15 points, cl inc hed th e title eve n ' th ough Vehkonen fini sh ed seco n d behind Dutchman Gert Jan Van Doorn (Cag) , who al so won th e seco n d m ot o. Vehkonen was third in . th e seco nd rnot o beh ind Van Doorn an d Van den Berk. The fin al World Championship 25.0cc MX Series point standings sh o w Cha mpion Va n den Berk with 315, Vehkonen with 285 and Am erican Rodney Sm ith (Suz), who .fin ish ed 6-11 in Sweden, third wi th 230. Van Doorn finished fourth with 225 points. Harley-Davidson 's Chris Carr has cl inched the title in the inaugural AMA 600 National Championship D irt Track Series. The rain -out of the August 27 Indianapolis Camel Pro Series round and its rescheduling to Sunday, Aug ust 28, canceled the I n dy 600 round which was to have run on Sunday and that leaves j ust four rounds on the schedule. With a win worth 20 points, a maximum of 80 points is now available. Thus, Carr with 187 po ints can 't be caught by the two riders who going into Indy had a mathematical chance of overhauling him in the point standings - Kevin Atherton who has 100 points or Will Davis at 95. Off-road ace larry Roeseler (2) and pro motocrossers Jeff Ward (1), Micky Dymond (12) and Johnny O'Mara couldn't get enough track time in during a celebrity race following the Yamaha YSR50 Finals held recently at Ponca City, Oklahoma, so they had their own race after t he event. Everyone said they had a blast on the machines, and the grins on their faces throughout the half-hour plus session proved it. After riding the riders stayed to sign autographs for the fans who had gathered to watch: . Canadian Gary Goodfellow (Suz) won th e first leg and finis hed third in th e second to take the overall victory at th e August 28 Sugo, Japan , round of th e World Championship SuperbikeRoad Race Ser ies. Australia's Michael Doohan (Yam) won th e seco n d leg. Fred Merk el (Hon), th e on ly Am eri can co mpeting in the series, fi nished secon d a n d 11th. Davide Tardozzi (Bim), who fin ished 33-4, co nti n ues to lead th e point sta n di n gs with 58 points, whil e Merkel holds secon d with 47.5 an d Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam), who DNF th e first leg a n d fini shed 10th in th e second, is third with 44. Though American Eddie Ingels was top scorer on both nights, the World team defeated Team USA in USA vs . the World Speedway competition at Baylands Park in Fremont, California. Team USA won Thursday night's racing on t he 1/7-mile speedway track 59 to 49, during which Ingels turned in a perfect performance, but the . World team turned the tables Saturday night on the 1 /4-mile, winning by a combined total of 170t0158. John Rozko, 37, a 16-year veteran in the tire and rubber industry, has been named motorsport manager of Bridgestone (U .S.A.), In c. In a n no u n cin g th e appointment, Bridgestone presid ent James P. McCann sa id that Rozko will oversee th e co m pany 's involvement in g r as s- roo ts and professional racing from the company 's n ew co rpora te offices in Nashville, T ennessee. After. ~duat ing from Ohio U n iversity In 1972, Rozko was with Seiberling T ire and R u bber Company, and th en with Dunlop Tire Corporation where, for a time, he served as national sales manager of the motorcycle tire ' division. Team Honda's 'Guy Cooper, Team Yamaha's Doug Dubach, Team Suzuki's Jimmy Gaddis and Team Kawasaki's Denny Stephenson, Jeff Emig and Dennis Hawthorne will compete at the September 10 $10,000 Colorado Supercross Championship at Island Grove Park Arena in Greeley, Colorado. Novice class racing will be run Saturday morning, with. racing getting underway at 9 :30 a.m. The gate drops on Saturday night's action at 6 p .m. w ith Amateur and Expert class compet ition. One ticket ($8 adults, $4 12 and under) covers both sessions. For more information, call 303/482-5752 or 221 /1318. ' Bill Peters, instructor of th e U tah Sport Bike Asociation 's new riders school, ha s asked us to h elp him fino Bruce Burness, w ho wa s formerl y with S&:W. An yone knowin g th e wh ereabouts of Burness shou ld drop Peters a lin e a t 1728 Hillri se Circle, Salt Lake Cit y, UT 84124, or ca ll 801/942-7453. Several teams which will compete against Americans Rick Johnson; Ron Lech ien and Jeff Ward at the September 11 Motocross des Nations i n France ha ve been announced . Glen Bell, Craig Dack and Jeff Leisk w ill race for Australia; M ika Kouki, Kurt Ljungqvist and Pekka Vehkonen will represent Finland; J ean -Michel Bayle, Y ann ig Kervella and Jack y Vimond are entered for France; Italy will send Mich ele Fanton, A ll esa n d r o Pu zar and Fra n c o Rossi; Holland will be represented by Dave Strij bos, 12 5cc World 2 (Continued to page 5)

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