Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Pro Series:Round I e Scott G ray( 73) lead s Thomas Stevens( ll), Kurt H all (1), Dav e Sadowski an d Wes Cooley(34) at th e start of the F-USA main. Ken t Kuni tsu gu (9) won the dash to th e finish line ove r Ch uc k Graves (5) in th e Ca lifornia Superb ike Schoo l Challenge. a Fa stline P erf o rm an ce- p re p ared GS XRlIOO. Beh in d Ada ms came Dal e Q uarterleyon a Dutch ma n Ra cing GS X RI 100, hastil y repaired fo llowi ng a morn ing practi ce crash. " I was go in g arou nd th is guy a t th e top o f the hill , a nd h e zigged lef t 10 go rig h t a nd took th e bars right ou t o f m y hands," th e u ni n j u red Quart er. ley sa id . T h e b ike su ffered a broken rearset, clip-on a nd bra ke line, a n d a bent pipe; dirt als o got into the carbs, requiring clea ni ng. AMA 250cc Grand Prix-class sta ndout Rich Oliver fini shed seventh on a Team Marlboro Ro berts Yama ha TZ250 , th e lightweight machi ne 's performance ha mpered both by its slow starting a bilities and by the wi nd. Oliver was capable of tu rning I:27 la p times in ca lme r weather, with the winds ad ding two or more seconds per lap. In th e prior heat race, reign in g Western Regi ona l F-USA Cha m p io n Bur ke p a ssed re ignin g F-USA Natio na l Cha m p io n Kurt H all in turn n in e o n lap two and cru ised 10 the wi n. H all , Smith 's Team Suzuki End ura nce team mate, finished a lonel y seco nd with for mer two-time AMA Superbi ke Ch am pi on Wes Cooley th ir d . both on Tea m H a m m er GS X R II OOs. Ph i l Kress, ridi ng a n ex-Richard Arnaiz 1000cc FZR 750 w it h a cu sh dri ve borrowed from T h e H u m a n Ra ce Team finished fo urth . Mi ke Hart h fin ish ed fifth on th e Team Uno Suzuki GS XR l lOO, which was repaired overnight fo llowing a cra sh d uring Sa turday's en d u ra nce race; H arth 's regu lar F-USA mount broke during T h ursda y's practi ce. F-USA main Gray untouchable at Willow Springs By Brian Catterson ROSAMOND. CA. APR. 29 osh im u ra Suzuki 's Scott G ra y wa s untouch ab le in ro u nd one o f th e 1990 Formu la USA Seri es , th e featured cla ss o f th e inaugural na tio n wid e WERA Pro Seri es, he ld at Willow Spri ngs Int ern a tional Racewa y. R id in g a n I I00c c Suzuki superbi ke on Michel in rad ia l slicks. Gray led start 10 fini sh 10 defeat Va nce & Hi nes team ma tes Dave Sadowski a nd T homas Stevens. th e two Dunlop-sh od Yamaha FZR 750R R O WOI superbi ke p ilo ts ha vin g swa p ped posi tions in th e dash to th e stripe to finish seco nd a nd th ird . respectively. Loca l hero Barry Burke rode h is Dr. J oh ns Frame Shopbacked , Mich elin -shod 1000cc Yamaha FZR750 to a fourth-place finish , wi th Mike Smith of WE RA National End u ra nce Champions T eam Suzuki fifth o n a Dunlop-sh od T ea m H ammer GSX RlIOO. Y 18 Gray turned la p times mostly in the I minute, 28 second range duri ng th e race. with occa sio n a l excursions int o th e high I:26s a n d 27s, av eraging 102.171 mph over th e 20-la p distance; la st year. Burke averaged 100.839 mph en route 10 his win Ho wever , ea rlier in th e day, before th e no toriou s a fternoon h igh desert win ds pi cked up, Gray broke hi s ow n long-stand in g lap record to estab lish a new ben chmark tim e for th e cha llen g in g 2.5 - m i le. nin e-turn ro ad co urs e. T he Sa n ta Rosa , Ca lifo rn ia, resident was clocked at a I :25.9 during Sunday morni ng's first pract ice sessio n, ecl ips ing hi s o ld mark of 1:26.33 set during an '88 test sessio n . H a p p y with hi s time, Gray sat o u t th e second practi ce sessio n. Gray's dominan ce took many offgua rd, since he'd sat ou t most of last season in semi -retireme n t, Two weeks ago, how ever, G ra y ent ered an AR RA club race a t Will ow Springs and turn ed low I:27s, so a few knowledgeable locals co nside red him a pre-ra ce favorite. An es t i m a te d 3500 spectators wat ch ed Sunda y's raci ng, th e largest crowd seen a t Wi llow Springs for a motorcycle rac e in a lo ng, long time. F· USA heal races Two three-lap heat races were held Su nday morn in g to determinestartin g g rid p os iti o ns , a nd G ray earned the po le ha ndily. Despi te starting on th e 10th row , the '87 Willo w Springs Motorcycle Assoc iation F- USA Cham pi on defeat ed adowski a nd Steven s 10 win the faster heat race. Chuck Graves too k fourth o n hi s Lirtl ej ohn s Ca ndies-spo nso red GSX R I I00 , fo llo wed by fell ow local Curtis Adams o n With Gra y sta rt in g from th e pol e position th er e was lilli e doubt wh o wou ld lead into turn o ne. The ultraa ggressiv e Yo sh im u ra Suzuki rider n a iled th e th ro ttle at the start, and wa s n ever seen again . At firs t, Stevens gave va liant chase, bu t before long he had more to worry abou t beh in d h im tha n in front as hi s tea mma te Sadowski was closi ng fas t. Sa dowski had run . fou rt h a t the start behi nd th ird- placed H all . bu t tha t d idn 't last. and by ' la p five he was pressuri ng Stevens hard fo r seco nd . On la p eight , Sadowski made his move, a n d wou ld co nt in ue 10 lead Steve ns for most o f th e remai nder of th e race . Cooley h eld fou rt h during the early going, but he began a gradual slide back through the p lacings, eventually fin ish in g 20t h a fter a number of torri d slides . " T he tire ch u n ked o n th e fourt h or fifth lap ," Cooley sa id . G raves was th e first rider to pass Cool ey, a n d he th en set hi s sig hts on H all . passing th e South Carol in an for fourth o n la p two . But like Cooley, G raves had tir e troubles, and he was soon bein g hounded by Bu rk e, whose machi ne was a lso ru n ni ng at less th an its full potential d ue to a split exhaust syst em . Behi nd the fro nt-ru n ne rs. a bailie was brewi ng between H all , three-time AMA F-2 Champion Donn ie G reen e on a Dutchman Racing GSXR l l OO, Ol iver a nd Kress. H ow ever, Sm it h wa s o n the gas a fter a last -minute suspen sio n adj us tme nt. a nd before too lo n g h e moved past all th e o the rs to occu py th e six th p osition; o n la p 17 he passed G ra ves for fifth , which he held 10 th e ' finish. Gray rode a fla wless race, h is most significant prob lem being the fact th a t he was using a ha rd er rear tire th an he'd pract iced o n. H e al so had difficu lty o verco m in g the ever -p resent traffi c jams ca use d by th e giant 56-bike field ; a lt hough he o pe ned up as much

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