Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... Q :r rn s o ::> ...J « u.. C3 z w 1= o "" u rn > III > III o .... o o .... o :I: 0.. :I: 0.. .... v ..0 o ..... u o Billy Hamill (left) and Eddie Castro lead Walt Farnum and Brad Oxley at Costa Mesa during the final round of theU .S . National qualifiers. Diego Basis was fifth and former World Champion Eddy Lejeune was sixth. Bosis and Lej euene finished th e trial tied , but Basis got th e nod on th e tie-break er. Spaniard Lluis Gallach , who wa s sid elined most of th e season wi th a broken ankle, took seventh.. Results 1. Thierry M ich aud (Fan) 55; 2 . Donato Miglio (Fanl; 3. Jo rdi Tarres (Bet); 4. Steve Saunder (Fan); 5. Diego Bosis (Apr); 6. EddyLejenne (Mer ); 7. L1uis Gallach (Mec); 8. Phil ipp e Berlat ier (Bet); 9 . Thierry Gir ard (Yam); 10 . Dav id e March i (Ap r); 11 . Renata Chiaberto (Be.); 12. Andreu Codina (Gas); 13. Tom m i Ahvala (Apr ); 14 . Pet er John (Bet); 15 . M arcu s Kip p (Fan) . FINAL POINT STANDINGS; 1. Thierry Michaud (202); 2. Jo rdi Tarres (197);3. Donato Miglio(169 ); 4. Steve Saunders (156); 5. Diego Bos is (136); 6. Eddy Lejeune (108 ); 7. Thierry Girard (85); 8. Phi lippe Ber lat ier (73); 9. Renata ' Chiaberto (70 ); 10. Peter J ahn (68); 11. Andreu Codina (58); 12. Pascal Couturier (4 3); 13 . Tommi A hvala (3 9); 14 . L1uis Gallach (33); 15. Gabino Renales (18). Trials des Nations France wins, U.S. ninth in Czechslovalda R EVNI C E, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, , SEPT. 18 Th ierry Mi chaud , wh o th e weekend before ' had clinch ed th e World Ch ampi on ship, ce le b ra ted b y leadi n g th e French tea m to victo ry in th e T ri a ls des Na tions in Czech osl ova kia. With a b e s t-o f- th e -t ri al sco re o f 25 , Michaud led team m at es Ph ili p p e Berl a tier, T h ierry G irard a nd Pa scal Cour ru r ier to vi ctor y o ve r th e r unn er -u p It al ia n team , led b y Dona to Mig lio 's 37, a nd th e Spanis h tea m , led bv T arres' second best sco re o f 33. which fin ished third . T he Fren ch tea m's winning sco re was 14 1, with th e Ita lia ns posting a 18 1, and th e Spaniards 183. Finishing fourth was th e Finnish team led by T ommi Ahva la, w ho turned in th e tria l' s fifth best individual pe rfo rma nce with a sco re of 50. Am er ica ns R yan You ng, Ma rk Manniko a n d Ron Com ma crac ked th e top 10 with a n imh p la ce fini sh . Fi n ishing behind th e U.S . sq ua d were tea m s from Czechosl ovakia , Austria , Sw itzer la nd . Pol and a n d H olland. Young was top American p erformer with a score of 112, whi le Ma n n iko logged a 157 a nd Comma 182. Results 28 1. France (141); 2. Italy (18 n 3. Spain (183); 4. Finland (215); 5. Sweden (294); 6. Belgium (32 2); 7. Germany (338); 8. Great Britain (358); 9. U.S. (451); 10. Czechoslovakia (486); 11. Austr ia (497); 12. Sw itzerland (523); 13. Polan d (595); 14. Holland (600). INDIVIDUAL: 1. Thierry Michaud (Fan) 25; 2. Jord i Tarres (Betl 33; 3. Donato Miglio (Fan) 37; 4. Philippe Berlat ier (Bet)48; 5. TommiAhvala (Ai>rl 50; 6. Steve Sa unders (Fan ) 55 ; 7. Eddy Leje une (M er) 59 ; 8. Peter Jahn (Bet) 64 ; 9. Thi erry Girard (Vam) 68; 10. (TIE) Diego Bos is (Apr)!Amos Bilbao (Be. I 70. AltA National Championship Hillclimb Series: Round 6 Williams brothers top Freemansburg He By Maxine Casey FREEMANSB URG , PA, SE PT I I Greg Williams took hi s T P Special H onda over th e 500foo t Freem ansb ur g h ill in 7.86 seco nds to take to p h onors in th e 540cc class. Wa de W illi ams ' winn in g TUn in th e 800cc class lasted 7.82 seconds. G reg h eld a comforta b le lead. BSA rider T im Frazier finished seco nd with a n 8.32 second ride o n hi s new motor. Scott Everett fini sh ed thi rd in 8.72 seco nds a nd Pa u l P in so n na u lt was fou rt h aboard hi s H onda. Bru ce Sweigart, Triumph , ca me in fifth . T he 800cc class was close again. T om Reiser was a wh isker o ff the wi nn ing tim e with a 7.84-seco n d ri de. J eff Yod er, who rides a n X R H -D , had a 7.86-seco nd ride. Lou G eren cer sto p p ed the clock in 7.93 seco nds for fourth a nd BSA p ilot Earl Bowlby fini sh ed fifth wi th an 8.06seco nd ride, barely edgi ng Randy Ga bri el. Results 540; 1. Greg Williams (Hon);2. Tim Frazier (BSA); 3. Scon Ever ett (Tri); 4 . Pau l Pin son naul t (Hon ); 5. Bruce Sweigart (Tri); 6. Ralph Kreeger (Tri); 7. J ohn Hislop (BSA); 8. Doug Klont (Tril; 9. Ernie .r ellen (Hon); 10. Steve Oress er (Suz). 800: 1. W ade W illiam s (Han); 2. Tom Reiser (H· D); 3. Jeff Voder (H· D); 4. Lous Gerencer (H·D); 5. Earl Bowlby (BSA); 6. Randy Gabriel (H· D); 7. Rick Hunter (H·D); 8. Steve Nafe (BSA); 9. Dan ny Ha lcomb (Tri); 10 . Con ley Newsom e (Tr i). WERA Tsubaki/GS Battery National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 1.2 Texas 8-Hour to Team Suzuki CO L LEGE STATION. TX, SEPT. 24 T ea m Suzuki came o ff th ree disastrous WERA N ation al Endurance Series races to outlast the co m pe titio n and wi n an 8-hour ra ce a t T exa s Wo rl d Speedway. Team Suzuki 's wi n co mbined wi th maj or p roblem s for other leading teams moved T eam Suzuki from a d ista nt fourth to a close th ird in th e series p oint sta ndings and rekindled th e team 's hopes of retaining th e seri es ti tle. J u st one week before this race, Team S uzu k i's G S XRI IOO was Ronn ie Stewart (27P) won the 125cc Beginner class at Ascot. to ta ll y destroyed in a vio lent h igh speed cras h in the Wi llow Spri ngs 24-H our in so u the rn California, but th e team built an entire new race bi ke in thr ee day s, tested it an d set u p ns suspe- io n a t Wi llow Spri ngs on th e fourth da y a nd th en drove to T exa s. At Texas World Speedway, lead rid er Mike H arth o f G eorgia sh ared riding du ties . with su bstitu te rider Britt Turkingto n of T exas. Turkin gton fill ed in for J amie James, who was inj ured in th e crash at Willow S pri ngs. H arth a n d Turkington consistently ran in th e to p three posi tio ns during th e race, taking the lead for good a nd pu lli ng away in the fin al four ho ur s. . Local tea ms BMH Racing with riders Dr. Ken H arvey, Rob ert Bradlaw a nd Da vid Clyde a nd Pro motion Mot o rsports w ith riders Meril Moen, R o be rt Ta y lor a n d Greg Ab o tt fi n ished second an d third , respectively. BMH riding a H onda C BR600 a n d P ro m oti on u sin g a S uzu ki GS X R I IOO. BMH logged 2 18 lap s an d Promotion 2 16. Rou nding o u t the top five were P DQ Raci ng in fourt h a nd Ro ya le Raci ng in fifth. Seri es poi nts leaders The Human R a ce T eam s u ffe red a se ri es o f probl ems , i ncl u di n g tw o b ent wheels, two flat tires an d tw o broken ex h a ust sys tems d u e to th e ver y ro ugh track su rface . Hu m an lost a bo u t an h our in th e pits, eventua lly fini shi ng 24th. . Sol ma x Racing, cu rrently secon d in th e p o in t s ta n di ngs , su ffe re d hand ling probl ems in p ractice a nd decid ed not to start th e race, whi le third-in-points Kayo Racing crashed in th e las t hour an d dropped fro m third to seventh po sit ion. . T eam Suzu ki cov ered 22!llaps, 669 mi les a t a n average speed o f 83.6 mph. T eam Suzuki's finish va ulted th em from bei ng 144 poi nts o u t o f fir st pl ace to o n ly 90 points beh ind , w it h three races left in th e series. A typ ical race win p ays between 80 and 11 5 poi nts d ep end in g upon mi la g e co vered. U nde r th e W ER A best-nin efini sh es-co u nt poi nts system, a team may replace poor ea rly -season fin ishes with better fin ish es fro m lat er in th e seaso n. Going into th e fin a l three ro u nds , a ny of th e top four teams ca n take th e title, but Team Suzu ki ha s three lo w-p o int DNFs to th row o u t a nd the other to p ru n ners h av e no lo w -p o int DN Fs s ti ll included i n their points total s to th ro w out. Results 1. Team Suzuki (Suzl; 2, BMH Racing (Hon); 3. Promotion Mo torspon s (Suz); 4. POQ Racin g (SU2) ; 5. Royale Racing (Suzl; 6. Team 8anza i (Hon); 7. Kay o RacinSil(Yam); 8 . Sonny Burgess Racing (Hon ); 9. SAS RaCIng (Hon); 10. MOB Racing (Yam). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Human Race Team (959); 2. Solmax Racing USA(898); 3. Team Suzu ki(870); 4. Kayo Racing ( 8 6 8~ 5_Royale Racing (763). Hicks bags big win at Costa Mesa By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA. CA, SE PT. 16 Ga ry Hi cks ca p tu red o ne of the biggest win s of hi s speed way caree r when he swep t the final ro u nd of the 1988 Na tio nal Champ io nsh ip Q ua lifiers at the Orange Co u nty Fai rgr ounds. H icks turned in his best perfor ma nce o f th e seaso n aboa rd the Modular Case wo rks Systems/ M iln e Bro s.lSTP/Quak er Stat e/ K&:-l w esla ke. After wi n n ing a ll three o f h is heats , he defea ted Edd ie Ca stro. Sh awn McCo nn ell a nd Greg Ha ncoc k in hi s semi 10 ea rn a ticket 10 rid e in th e ma in even t. Bo bby Schwam. the overa ll C ham pio n o f -the Qua lif iers. [ell wh ile chasing " Rad" Brad Oxley in the ope n ing semi , Sch wa rtz was da zed a nd was u nable to nu ke GIll [o r th e restart. Oxley wo n it o ver Dubb Ferrell a nd Eddi e Ingels. Ro u nd ing o u t th e ma in even t field wa s Alan Christian and Billy Ha mill. T he Co n so la tio n was the biggest race o f th e seaso n fo r two riders. Louis Kossu th a nd Ca stro ca me ·int o the event ba ttlin g for th e final o pen slo t in the 1988 U.S. Nat ional Ch am pi o nsh ip . Wh oeve. fini shed hi g her in the co ns i moved on to th e Na tio nal. That ba ttle didn 't last lo ng . Ko ssuth go t o ff th e line a head o f Cas tro a n d soo n ' alter Cas tro 's sea t broke. That pu t Ko ssuth int o the National for the first tim e o f h is ca reer. Lu cero won th e co n si with the ela ted Ko ssu th seco nd a nd Ferr ell third. " In the main, H icks showed the wa y the en tire d ista nce. H e bea t Christian lO th e first turn and then held h im o ff as Christian turned up th e heat on th e in sid e th ro ug ho u t lap one . Hamill , who was worki ng well o n th e ou tsid e a ll n ight long, sen t Ch ri stian to thi rd wh en he raced a ro u n d him a t th e end o f the open ing lap. H am ill tried to sweep ar ound H icks as they ca me o ff tu rn two , but H icks mov ed up to block h im . That a llow ed Ch ris tia n back into seco nd. H icks co n tin ued u ncha llenged. until the fin al circuit wh en Christian ga ve it o ne last sh ot . Ch ris tia n raced. to H icks' rear ti re a n d was br eathing down his neck wh en th ey raced by th e chec kered na g o f J erry King. H a m ill look th ir d with Oxley gelling the wrap-up Results MAIN EVENT: 1. Gary Hicks (West 2. Alan Chn st ian (J a wl; 3. Bilty Ha mill (Wes!; 4 . Brad O.ley (Wes ). CONSI: 1. Steve Lucero (Gdn); 2. loUIS Kossut h (Jaw); 3. Dubb Ferr ell (Wes); 4 . Eddie Castro ew es!. Ellertson eludes pack at Ascot MX By Ken Faught GA RDENA. CA. S EPT. 23 Su n west Cycles -spo nso red Nathan Ellertson turned two good sta rts into two easy mot o wi ns to wrap u p th e overa ll vict ory in d ivisio n o ne o f the 80cc Beg inner cla ss a t A~Ol Pari.... Wh en the ga te dropped at the start o f the Fir mot e Ellenson roc keted in to th e lead, st followed distan tly by Dustin L u nde. Dusti n Syers, J ason H eller a nd Reginal d Mitch el l. Halfway th ro ugh the first lop Syers lost hi s front end o n a slip pe ry o rr-ca mber a nd took himself o u t a lo ng wi th H ell er. As the pa ck ca me a ro und to co m p lete la p o ne, Ellert so n had o pe ned up a co m fo rta ble th ree-sec ond lea d o ver L un de, McConnel l. Mi tch ell a nd Sch mit t. H o wever, sho rtl y af ter the race L un de was d isqual ified for cu tt ing the track wh ich advance d everyo ne exce p t for Ellenson up o ne po sit io n. . Second-mo te ac tion sa w Ell enso n aga in master th e sta rt to lead ~cCo n n e ll , Mik e Do m bro wski a n d C h ris Bren es. Lunde and H ell er tan g led in turn three, dro pping: wa y to th e back o f th e pa ck. Up fro n t Ellertso n co nti n ued to pu ll a way as Do mbro wski mo ved pa st McCo nn ell for th e run ner -up position. Ell en son cruised to th e easy win foll o wed by Domb rowski , ~IcCon nell , Bren es a nd Mi tch el l. Ell ertson 's perfect sco re gave h im th e overa ll, McCo n nell was seco nd wi th h is 2·3 a nd Mitchell was thi rd wit h h is 3-5 ta lly. Ro n n ie Stewart put together a 2· J moto tal ly to win divis ion o ne of th e l 25cc Beginner class. In th e first moto Steve Gaeb lei n ho leshot Stewart. Nei l Hamada. Ro b Cozad a nd Mam o Nieves. Gacb lcin had h is ha nds full with Stewa rt th e enti re rnot o as Coza d snuck by H a mada fo r third. N ieves was fo urth with Ham ada d ro ppi ng to fifth . Stewart was spo t o n a t th e sta rt of th e second mot a as he led N ieves. G aeb lein, Cozad a n d \Vade Do wn ey. T he top five stayed th e sa me the first co u p le o f la ps befo re G aeble i n man aged to sh oo t b y Neives. Cozad 100 dr opped Nieves back o ne pos itio n o n the last lap wit h Ja mes Sta rda rdi ta king fifth . G acb lein wra p ped u p th e to p spot, Gaeblein was seco nd with hi s 1·2 sco re while Cozad. N ieves a n d Stardardi rounded o u t the to p five. Results 50: 1. Corey Hoeft (Yam); 2. Shawn Igerc:. (Yam); 3. Ryan ic Toh ill (Yam); 4 . Ch riS McNatt (Yam); 5. Ph ilip Schatz (Yam). 60: 1. Jos h Spencer (Ya m ); 2. Jason Dan iels (y am t 3. Jar ed Spencer (Vam!; 4. Nathan Judd IONK!; 5. Corey Davenport (Kaw) . " 80 BEG 0 - ' : 1. Nat han Ell enson (Ya m); 2. Dylan McConnell (Suz!; 3. Reginald M il chell ("aw); 4. Fred Schm itt (Yaml; 5. Ja mie Dole {Kawl. 80 BEG 0 ·2: 1. Eric Koestner (Hont 2. Mike Holqu in (Yam); 3. Dion Brow n (Suz); 4. Pau l 110 (Yamt 5. Char les Jon es (Yaml . 80 J R: 1. Marc Lippert (Suz). Hon). 80 INT: 1. Ch ris Kefal as C

• Cover