Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

III III :i2 11. :c z :I: o ..., > '" ~ Ln N .... Q,) ..0 o ..... u o Shawn Moran leads Hans Niels~n in the final race of the British League Riders ' Championship at Belle Vue. w U Z w a: ~ > a: a: ~ > '" o .... o :I: 11. The race wa s stopped and Corfey was excluded only to be involved in a sim ilar incid ent in hi s final heat. This time. th e referee decided he was not responsible for th e stoppage and he was a llowed in th e rerun, but h e mad e a bad start and trailed off last, The o the r Am er ican co n ten de rs, Lance King a nd Rick Miller . fad ed after showing ea rly p rom ise. Miller ca used the fir st sensa tio n o f th e meet in g whe n h e ca me from behind to beat Engl and ca p ta in Kelv in Ta tum, b u t he managed o n ly th ird pl ace in h is o ther four o u ti ngs. Kin g had o ne moment of g lory, racing away fro m Miller a nd J erem y Doncas ter in hi s seco n d heat. but h e n ever h it th e hi gh spots again. co llec ting o n ly two thirds a nd twice fin ishing last in h is o the r ou tings. Results Runner-u p Paul Bray (1) leads wi nner Kurt Hall (6 0) and third- pla ce f inis he r M ike Sm it h (behin d) in t he Formula USA National at Indianapolis. British League Speedway C'ship" American Moran is British champ! . By John Hipkiss BELLE VUE, ENG LAN D, ocr. I R ebel rider Sha wn Mo ran, bann ed fro m In tern ati on al competi tio n earl ier th is year after fail in g an a lcohol test in 20 his qua lifyi ng ro u nd of the Worl d Long Track Cha m p io nships , got revenge in the best possibl e style by win ni ng the British League Riders' Champions hip at Bell e Vue. Mo ra n beca me th e first American win ner in th e 25 years of competition . succee ding whe re grea t rid er s lik e twi ce-World Cham p ion Bru ce Penhall a nd Sa m Ermo len ko had fai led. It was a su perb show from Moran , w hose sus pe nsion m eant h e was unable to compe te in th e World Champi onships. Moran h ad th e adv antag e of riding o n hi s home British league track a nd he made it pa y a ll th e way , ga tin g immacul at el y a nd using hi s local kn owl edge to th e best advantage. With Errno len ko absent from th e m eeting due to injury, al ong with top Danes Erik Gundersen and J an Pedersen , th e normall y presti gi ous meeting lost some of its appeal, but World Champi on H ans Ni elsen was th ere a nd he was clea rly th e man to beat. Moran m eant business from th e opening heat wh en he str eaked away fro m Martin Du gard and R ich ard Kn ight, a nd foll owed up by gell ing th e better o f hi s fellow Ca lifo rnia n Ronn ie Correy. Dan ish rider Brian Kar ger was th e n ext victi m, and Mo ran co llec ted hi s fourth wi n by leaving Ala n Grahame beh ind . N ielse n. had kept pace, wi n ni ng h is four races with the same de termina tion, a nd the climax carne wh en th e two met in th e fi nal heal. Nie lsen was away, gai ni ng the initiative on the firs t turn a nd leadin g into th e back straight, but wi th Mora n sna ppi ng at h is rear wheel , he gave h is b ik e a Iit tle too much th ronl e. Ni elsen's fro nt whee l lifted, a nd before h e cou Id ge t bac k in co ntrol, Mo ran had shot through o n the insi de to sna tch th e lead. The Worl d Cha mp ion tri ed a ll he kn ew to make up th e los t gro und bu t Mo ran d id not waver. He grad ua lly wide ned th e ga p, blockin g N ielse n's every m ove, an d crossed th e lin e wi th two len gths to spare a nd th e tremendous chee rs o f th e home fan s ringing in hi s ea rs. It was a brilliant exh ibitio n by th e 27-year-old rider from Lakewood , Ca liforn ia, wh o was third in th e cha m p ion sh ip in 1981, seco n d th e following year and third agai n in 1986. . At one stage it seem ed he wou ld be joined o n th e pr esentation rostrum by Correy, wh o co llec ted eig h t points from hi s first three rides an d was h ead ed o n ly w he n h e m et Moran. But every th ing went wrong for Co rrey in hi s fourth race wh en h e slid in to th e sa fety fen ce as Du gard cha rged th rough on th e in sid e. BRITISH l EAGUE RIDERS' CHAM PIONSHIP: 1. Shaw n M oran (USA. Bell e Vu e) t 5; 2. Hans Nie lsen (Denmark. Oxfo rd) 14; 3 . Brian Karge r lDen mark . Sw indon l 12; 4. M art in Ougard (Engla nd. Oxfordl 9; 5. m El Ronn ie Correy (USA, Wolverha mpto nl/ J immy Nilsen (Sw eden. Swindonl / Kelvin Tatum (England. Covent ry)/ Al an Graham" (Engla nd. Cradley Heathl 8; 9 . (TIE) Sim on Wlg g (England. Oxford)/ Rick M ill er (USA. Coventry l/ Richa rd Knight (Engla nd. Kings Lvnn ) 7. WERA Toyota/Dunlop Formula USA Road Race Series: Round 7 Hall scores at Indy By Larry Lawrence CLE R MO NT, IN , ocr. 8 T he H uman Ra ce T eam 's Kurt Hall go t back on th e winning _ track in th e Formula USA Series by cru ising to a co mma ndi ng win a t In di a na pol is Raceway Pa rk. The Ind y victory was Hal l' s fou rt h in the eigh t-race series, and p u t h im solidly in co n tro l o f h is ow n des tiny go in g into th e fin al round at th e Road Atl anta G rand Na tio na l Final s. T eam Su zuki's Paul Bray fin ish ed seco nd a t Indy, 16 seco nds behind Hall , a nd is th e on ly ride r wh o has a cha nce o f catch ing Hall by virt ue' o f th e double points ava ila ble a t th e fin al ro un d. Hall 's win was mad e even more impressive b y th e depth o f hi s co m pe titio n a t Indy. Besides series regulars lik e Chuck Graves, Mik e Smith, Paul Bray a nd Don Caner, Hall had to deal with sever al tough veteran rid ers making rare Formula USA appearances. Mike Harth a nd Wes Cool ey were o n hand to try to mak e a mark in th e new seri es. Even th ough both rid ers hav e been a ro u nd for a whil e, you ca n never co u n t th em OUI. H arth had a se lf -descr ibe d " kille r motor" Suzu ki GSXRIIOO to do battle on, while Cool ey sa id he had th e T eam Suzuki Endurance machine " set up and ready to go." Also on han d were talented Midwestern riders Tom Kipp , Andy Fenwick and Fritz Kling, and IRP aces G en e Burch am and Shawn Nicoloff. Then th ere was Kevin Rentzell , who would h av e to deal with a big horsepower disadvantage since he wa s ridin g th e on ly 600cc machine in th e field. Throw in a couple of New J ersey boys, Russ Bigley a nd Kurt Lentz o n venerable Yamaha TZ750s, a nd yo u had th e m akings o f a n interesting ra ce. At th e dro p o f the gree n fla g, Paul Bra y go t th e j ump o n hi s Phil SC Olltu ned GSXR I IOO. followed by h is team mate Mik e Smi th. Hall lit u p the rear ti re o f h is Yamaha FZRIOOO a n d tu cked in behind Smi th. Michiga n rider Randy G add ey got a good sta rt a nd ca me up fro m hi s fourthro w grid position to hold down fourth. Behind G add ey ca me Graves, Harth a nd Ca ne r. Hall di sp osed o f Sm ith in hi ghspe ed turn two and th en pulled off a risky pass on Bray in turn five. heading on to the ba ck stra igh t. " I knew he wou ldn 't be ready for a pass th ere. so I figured that would be a good place to do it. I think it sh ook him up a lilli e." exp la ined Hall. Bray co n firmed th at it was a gutsy move. " I had my bike sliding pretty good and all of a sudde n. out of the co rne r of m y eye I see Hall going by me." Turn five is a tri ck y. 110 mph right-h ander . lined with Armco. Once ou t front . H all began to pull awa y fro m th e field. running a seco n d-a nd-a-half faster pe r lap than seco nd pl ace Bray. On th e second lap, Sm ith m oved arou nd Bra y for seco nd. T he fact th at Sm ith was able to run with Bray at a ll was pretty a mazing. co nsi de r ing th at Bray 's bike had horsepower a pl enty over Smith 's. Even th ough th e two Georg ia ride rs a re teammates, th ere is still quite a ri val ry betw een th em . an d it showed a t this race wi th nei th er giving th e ot her a n in ch . Ri ck Del gado crashe d in to th e back of Sh awn Ni col off o n the first lap, eliminating both from th e ra ce. Fenwick wa s moving up, passing Graves before running into a stu bborn H arth wh o, according to Fen wick, used every tri ck in th e book to keep him a t bay. Fenwi ck fin ally moved arou nd H arth to tak e fourth an d was reeling in Sm ith and Bra y w he n hi s dri ve was sto p ped by overheati ng tires. H is len gthy ba ttl e with H a rth had ta ken its toll. G ra ves was being co ns u me d by th e rest o f th e field. From hi s front-row sta rt he wa s stead ily losin g positions eac h lap. By th e end o f th e race. h e h ad fallen all th e way back to 12th place. T ha t fin ish wasn 't as bad as it sou nds. th ough. si nce Graves wa s at th e tail end of a fierce seven -b ike battle for sixth. That scra p wa s th e most interest ing o f th e ra ce a n d involv ed Caner, Cooley. J ay Denham. Graves, Kipp, Kling a nd Rentzell. Kipp, Kling and Rentzell a ll led th e procession a t o ne time or another. but it wa s Caner wh o prevail ed in th e en d. Cool ey felt he would hav e finished higher th an II th had he not made a big blunder before th e race even began. " I wa s doing a practice start on pit ro ad and tlie bike sho t strai~ht up . I let off the throttle and the bike ca me down so hard it bent the front wheel." At th e fini sh it was Ha ll averaging 90.014 mph to win in convincing fashion as Bra y prevail ed in his battle with Smith over second. Fenwick backed o ff and fini shed a distant fourth. H arth rode a lo ne in fifth. followed by th e freight-train finish for sixth led by Caner,

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