Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127160
Cam Roos rode his Sam Yamashita /Moto Liberty-prepared Yamaha ' FZR400 to w ins in two classes - 0 Superbike Expert and Fo rm u la 2 . N ovice Todd Hoge (2 3 01 won th ree classes bu t was d isqualified from two of them f o r illegal airbox modifications on h;s Honda Hurricane . Cli fton Bigoney , rid ing his Yam ah a TZ 250, chased Roos in t he Formula 2 ra ce and wou ld have caught him if t he race hadn't been red- flagged . WERA Grand National Finals Cam Roos'ts 'em . t a Road Atlanta By Brian Catterson Photos by Tom Grant and Catterson BRASELTON, .G ~ , NOV. 3-6 Local boy Cam R oos made good a t the 16th Annual WERA G rand Na ti on al Finals, ri ding h is Honda CBR600 Hurrica ne an d Yamaha FZR400 to four Na tional Ch amp io ns h ips a t Road Atla nta . Roos too k wins on all three da ys of Sprin t co mpetitio n in th e C P roduction, C Superbik e, D Superb ike a nd Formu la 2 clas ses. Unfortu nately, the Roswell , Georgia, resident's weekend turned sour d uring Sunday's last race, the Suzuki GS XR 750 Cup Final. Ro os had worked up to eigh th p lace from his fourt h-row starting position when o n la p th ree, he los t the rear end u nder acceleration from the not orio us tu rn 12. Roos somehow managed to get off the low side, sliding into the ha y ba le-lined tire wa ll literally to th e feet of his fat her, Buddy, who was watching fro m a top the em ba n kmen t. Roos wa s put in a neck brace and placed o n a backboard for tra nsport to the hospi tal, but his on ly in ju ry was a bro ken a n kle, which he'd injured o nce before. Roo s' str ing of GNF victori es rea lly bega n in 1986, wh en as a Novice he wo n four class cha m p ionsh ips. Las t year he swi tched to the Expert ra n ks, raced at the GNF wh ile ill an d wo n two mor e. This year's mul tipl e wins began o n T h urs day with a victor y in the Formula 2 Expert race. R iding hi s Sam Yamashita-prepared Yamaha FZR400, Roos raced with Roswell H onda end ura nce racin g teammate Mike Sm it h, until Smith cras hed hi s Yam ah a TZ250 in tu rn o ne on lap fou r. Cliff Bigoney chased Roos on his TZ, a nd probab ly wo uld have caught hi m if th e race hadn 't been red -flagged. Roo s was havin !? problems shi fting, a result o f hIS shift lever, which pivots o n the foot peg, ga lling a nd seizing. (Su rprisi ngly, the replaceme nt had a bea ring in it .) Fabian Cortez fini sh ed behind Bigoney o n hi s FZR. mith had a mis erable weekend, cra sh ing or breaking every th ing he rode . Du ring Saturday morning 's p racti ce a rider fell ri ght in front o f hi m , a nd he ran over th e rider's a rm before crash ing vio len tly and reducing h is Hurri can e to scra p. Roos' next win ca me in Sa tur day'S C Produ cti on Ex pert race, not ab le for its a lmost total lack of Suzuki machinery (the first Suzuki Katana Cup heat race was sch eduled sh ortl y a fte rwa rds) . H u ma n Ra ce team's Kurt Hall wo n the race to turn three, wh ere he and his Hurr ican e bounced in the red Georgia clay . Steve Mat thews led th e charge u p th rough th e esses with Da vid Mu rray a nd Fritz Klin g in tow, but it was Roos wbo led on lap three. Murray finis hed seco nd a t th e chec kers, but was one o f a rash o f H u rricane pilots to be disqua lified (mo re on that la ter ), so Kli ng mo ved up to second with Larry Schwarzbac h third. Roo s' fina l wi ns ca.me o n Su nday. After spe ndi ng Saturday ni ght swa pp ing mot ors in hi s H urricane to cha nge fro m Production to Superbik e ru les. Roos beat H all to win the fir st race o f th e day, C Superbike Expert. Roos led from the start , with Hall grabbi ng th e lead o n lap five, bu t Hall got sideways in turn five a nd Roos got by fo r th e win. Martin Miller , ridi ng with a recentl y broken wrist, fini shed th ird o n his Katana. Roos' fourth a nd fin al win came in the D Superb ike race, wh ere he blitzed th e start and sp lit to an 11.2seco nd mar gin o f victory. Cortez fini sh ed seco nd with Rentzell tak ing third , th e top three a ll on FZR400s. Ren tzell was lat er disqualified for running a racing fairing (no holes for headligh ts), handing hi s position to Murray, now riding an RZ350 ra ther than his ill egal H onda. T he weeken d 's o ther bi g winner was Nov ice T odd Hoge. wh o won three classes o n hi s 600cc Hurricane - A Producti on, C Superbike a nd C Production - and al so took a seco nd in B Produ ction and a fou rth in B Superbike, Hoge was also the biggest loser, however, since he and a numb er o f o the r top-placin g H u rr icane rid ers were disqualified from th e production cl ass es for illegal airbox modifications. These so-called mods co ns isted of variations o n th e same theme, either removing th e sma ll intake ducts which connect th e breather ho les in th e fram e with th e front of the a irbo x, or s im p ly removing the ba ffles from in side these duc ts. At least o ne of those DQ'ed pleaded comp lete ig norance, say mg th a t he' d purch ased the bike used and didn't kn ow that th e parts were miss in ~. Even Roos said that af ter taking h IS bike apart so ma ny times th is season, . he wasn 't sure if he still had the pa rts (he did). H o ge a nd the aforementioned Mu rray were joined on th e list o f DQs by Danny Lizardo and Daniel