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FIM COUll d'Endurance: Final Round Vieira and Honda in command at 801 d'Or By Kel Edge L E CAST ELLAT, FRAN CE, SEPT. 9-10 Alex Vieira, on the factory Honda RVF750, totally domina ted th e 53rd Bol d'Or and became the 1989 FIM Coup d 'Enduran ce Champion. Together with teammates Joan -Michel Mattioli and Roger Burnett. Vieira co mrn pleted 610 laps o f th e Paul Rica rd circ uit before th e track was invaded by the vast crowd. 20 minutes from the end. In th e runner-u p spo t was th e second factory H onda of Amer ican Fred Merkel, with teammates S te p h a n e Merten s and Mar io D uhamel, just o ne lap behind. Third p lace went to '88 World Endurance Cha m pions H erve Moineau , Thierry Cr ine a nd Adri en Morri llas, a further two la ps ad rift. Vieira showed h is co nsistently superb form by q uali fying fastest in practice ahead o f Mer kel , who was taking part in his first 24-hour race. Mer kel learned of his Bo l d 'Or ride ju st fo u r da ys previ ousl y w he n Canadi a n Migu el Duhamel was declar ed u nfit to ride because o f a n injury he sus tained in practice for th e Suzuka Eigh t-Hou r. At 3:00 pm. Sa turda y the ligh ts turned green a nd 71 riders spri nted across th e track to their machines . Merk el got the hol eshot followed b y Vieira, Moineau and Patrick Igoa. At th e end of th e first lap , Merkel led , but Mo in ea u , Vieira and Igoa were r ig h t in h is wh eel tracks. The crowd Iining the Mistral Straight ga ve a huge roa r when they saw Fren chman Morneau 's Suzuki ease past Viei ra a nd Merk el , but within o ne la p Viei ra decid ed to tak e control a nd shot into the lead. As th e race progressed , the wo rks Honda o f Vieira, Mattiol i and Burneu slow ly starte d to increa se its lead a nd was able to co ntro l th e race fro m the front. O nce Vieira got the R VF in front a fter th e fifth lap they were never headed despite tw o m in o r prob lems. First th ey had to rep lace a hol ed exha us t and then a hose th at had been rubbi ng against th e fai ring. Coi ncid enta lly, the second fact ory H o nda suffered exac tly th e sa me p rob lems! T he Suzuki France team had a n early los s when their n u m ber-two bik e wa s crashed bv Lav ei lle in hi s very first sessio n. Altho ug h th e bik e co uld have pro bably been pushed in , Laveillc's hand was too badl y da mag ed, so Erns t Gs ch wender did no t even ge t a ride. T his left Mo ineau , Cr ine a nd Mo rillas to ba ttl e it o u t with the Kaw asaki Fran ce team o f Igoa, with teamma tes Christoph e Bo uh eben a nd Steve Boll e fo r the th ird spo t. The Kaw asak i did actua lly get ah ead of th e Suzuki, b ut cras hed o u t of co n ten tio n when Bo uheben ca me o ff at th e 120 mph right-hander at th e end o f th e Mistral Straig ht. T he T ha t's Racing team of Malt O xley, Steve Chambers and Mo rrison fi nishe d sixth a t th e end of th e race, but found th em selves upped to fi fth w h en th e N ati onal -M ote s H onda was disqualified for receiving o uts id e assis ta nce. The Brit ish H onda team had been holding a superb seven th positio n , but Oxley Alex Vi ei ra of France became the FIM Coup d'Endurance Champion by w in ning all of this yea r's end ura nce races on the factory Honda RVF75.0. cras hed on th e right-hander before the start o f the Mistral Straight, a nd th ey dropped down to 33rd, before figh ting th eir way up agai n. Vieira's win o n the unbea table R VF H onda not o n ly mak es him the 1989 Endurance Ch ampion, but he a lso d id it in magnificent sty le by win ning all of this yea r 's ra ces. Burnett becomes vice-cha mp ion , with Ma ttiol i third. At the start of the year it "loo ked like Suzuki a nd Kawasaki wo u ld provide formidable o pposi tio n, bu t wh en th e racing began in earnest, the com bina tion o f Alex Vieira and the factory Honda RVF750 proved to be an unstoppable force. - Results BOl O'OR: 1. Vieira/Matt iol i/Burnett (Hon); 2. Merkel/DuHameJ/Menens ' (Hon); 3 . Moineau l Crine /Morillas ( Suz~; 4 . M eier/ Sch laefli / Hafner (Han ); 5 . Ox ley/Chambers/ M orr ison (Hoot; 6 . OeletrazlChaffard /M eynet (Hon); 7. De Ooncker / Brigvet/Kellenberger (Yam); 8. Gumet/Gouilloux/ Penetene (Hont 9 . R a i ~ on lThompson/ R ose (Kaw) ; 10 . Sobeau/ HampelTiberio (Kaw ); 11. Bravo / Coq/Govin (Hon); 12 . TolandiCrevier /Rover (Hon); 13 . Verkenne/ Berger/Bragard (Han); 14 . Valder . h a u g / T o mi n g/ M oe (Ho n) ; 15. Simeonl Ch .Anigues/Rouller (Suz). Thousands in Products sunstar SPROCKETS ~.DUN~ Tlifflj~ The Invitational! Series Pro-Am Finale Are You Qualified? Damon Bradshaw, Larry Wa rd , Jeff Glass , Jay Mann, M ike Brown, Steve Child ress, J im Chester, Ken ny Kizzar, Jeromy Bueh l, Mike Goolsby, Todd Nea l. Mike Andrews, Chad Lough, Kevin Wa lker, Jeff Shuler, Tommy Martin, J im Neece, Cliff Walker, Are Some Of The Top Riders Qua lified? Will You Be There? The ~~MAIN EVENT" 1989 = = Info ~4_ Vintage Race & Show October 22 I I I I I i 'vfcJo~p~~1ff€C/~ I I Bike Pro Payoff Gua ranteed 1 = $700 2 = $400 3 $250 4 ='$2 0 0 5 = $160 6 = $140 7 = $120 8 = $100 9 $80 10 = $60 ~fi.!~ tbet\l. \\ Ou\\ GIANT AMATEUR Trophies 10 Places In Classes ' 50cc thru 40 55 Plus 6 Quad Classes Product Awards thru 5 Places 615-323-5497 nights : · .. 1·~ Tony 0 Suzuki 'Schoo l October 21 Last Chance Qualifier October 8 Muddy Creek , The $15,000.00 Series Finale c f .O . . . . Blountville, Ten nessee The Biggest Purse The Biggest Trophies · Series Awards .Seri es Jackets Product, Product, Product, Product 27