Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; ROADRACE WERA Pro Series/RACE Canadian National Championship_:R_o_UD_ds_3/_I m Canadian Jeff Gaynor pulled off a surprise win in the third round of th e WERA F·USA Series, held in Can ada. Steve Crevier (~) leads T om Kipp (16) as they battle for third earl y in the race. Gaynor surprises Yanks at Shannonville By Colin Fraser P hotos by J oh n Armstrong and Fraser SHANNONVILLE, ONT, CANADA, MAY 26 ome track advantage was once again the key factor at a WERA Pro Series round, wi th new Suzuki Canada team leader J eff Gaynor taki ng a three-year-old Suzuki GSXR 750RR to the Formula USA win and Darrell Cooney grabbing the F· H 14 2 laurels at the McBride Cycle Suzuki Match Races. In wet conditions that ra nged from the workable (F· USA) to torrential (F·2), the home boys used th eir knowledge of Canada's most popular motorcycle track, the 2.5-mile, 15-corner Shannonville Motorsports Park long circui t, to full advantage. In the final Ma tch Race point standings, cou n ting the top 10 fin ishers in both F-2 and F·USA, T eam Canada d isma n tled the U.S. sq uad, 106·26. Mak ing hi s debut as Miguel DuHamel's replacement, Gaynor was asto nis hing in th e wet, grabbing the lead from th e start and setting a see m ingly impossible pace. Many potentia l challengers disa p pe ared ea rly : hea t ra ce winners Robbie Petersen' on the Marl boro Yam ah a YZR500 and Benoit Pilon on the exSteve Crevier Yama ha OWOI were eliminated in a first -turn pileup, and Yoshimura Suzuki's Chuck Graves was on his side in another multi-bike incident by turn three. Whi le Gaynor styled in the lead, several riders disputed second place including slow starter Tom Kipp on the Wiseco Yamah a, Steve Crevier on the Weld Rit e Racing works Kawasaki , Actio n Honda-mounted Yves Brisson and FAST Yamaha teammates Pascal Picotte an d Linnley Clarke. At the end of 22 laps, Pico tte battled wi th Kipp for the ru nner-up spot whi le Brisson scored a lonely fou rth. Clark e was fifth and Marl boro Yamaha 's Rich Oliver cam e from th e back of th e 36-rider grid to earn sixth, hindered by a crash he suffered while lead in g on e of Saturday's heats. In his debut with the just-form ed LA. Motorworks team , well-regarded but chronically underfunded privateer " Boo m Boom " Cooney won hi s first Nat iona l level F·2 feature, dicing with the Wayne Rainey-owned, O tsukaspo nsored Yama ha of Allan Scott until the later ran off th e tra ck. From th en on Cooney was unchall enged, running as much as 34 seconds ahea d of a dice for second between survivors Richard Nelson and event ual ru nner-up Dave Sjob lom . Among the pace-setters ,not around at the finish of the highly competitive 250cc race were fast heat race win ner Jon Cornwell, Chris D'Alu isio and _ Donn ie Greene. Top American F·2 finisher was rookie Kenn y Roberts J r., doing a good job to finish seventh in his first-ever rain ride. Run as an invitation-on ly affair in • previous yea rs, the third a n nual version of Canada's " Match Races" involved an all-new format in 1991 , in corporating joint WE RA/RACE classes, in clu ding the Interstate Baueries WE RA Formula USA/Castrol Motoplan RACE Pro 750 Superb ike Feature and the Air Tech WERA F· 21Bru tune RACE Pro 250 GP classes. The two features count ed for Can adian and U.S. Nat ional Series points, as long as the mac hi nes were legal for the appropriate classes. Highlights of the events will be aired on television in both countries. Although Saturday's weather was poor, a su rp risi ngly stro ng crowd tolerated the constant drizzle and occasiona l rain. WERA and RACE officials were happy with the cooperation between the two groups, and hope to run sim ilar joint events in the future. Friday's official practi ce had the Roberts Yamahas setti ng th e pace, running in the one-mi nu te, 48·second (Oliver) and 1:49 (Petersen) ra nge, struggling to put the po wer down around Shannonville's always-turning circuit. Pi cotte's outright lap record of I:46.5 wasn 't th reat ened due to slightly sli p pery track co n d itio ns. Oliver geared his bike down in the afternoon to set his best time, wheelieing the GP "m ach in e the length of the front straight , then Petersen had an interesting scrap with Gaynor while scrubbing tires at the end of the day. The only real mishaps invo lved major , engine failures suffered by Brisson, in his works Honda debut (abo ut $10,000 in damage, according to team owner Ru eben McMurter) and Dal e Quarterley on the Human Race Team BimotaYamaha 1000. Saturday's first and fastest F·USA heat hinted at the kind of action a dry final m ight have produced , wit h Petersen holding off the chargi ng Cana dian 750cc four-strokes of Picotte, Crevier and Clarke, as well as top American superb iker Kipp, by 1.5 secon ds. H ea t two looked like an Ol iver walk-away, the '89 Match Race 250cc star setti ng a blinding pace right from the green light. But Ol iver lost the front end in th e fast first turn , slidin g off on some oil-dry and per. forming major surgery to the 1990 YZR500. Oliver was mad but no t hur t and damage was limited, bu t hardy fans had a chance to see a real GP bike come apart late into Satu rda y night. Following Oliver's spec ta cu la r departure, all-out privateer Pilon and Gaynor swapped th e lead , ban ging fairings while holdi n g off Brisson and Valvoli ne-S uzuki teammates Bri tt Turkington and Kurt Hall. Gaynor looked to have the edge, then ran wide exiting the hairpin onto the long back straight on the fifth and last lap, handing Pilon his first National-level . win by just .3 of a second. The initial 250cc hea t was a crowd pleaser, the packed front grandstands cheering on the efforts of Cooney as , he diced with and eventually beat Scott b y 2.25 seconds. But second heat winner Jon " Corn dog" Cornwell , preparing for a 'GP trip to Europe later in the season , was sensational in part two. He took the Alex Mayes-tuned Davhar Yamaha to a seven-second win over pal D'Aluisio's Davhar Yamaha, turning faster laps than those posted by th e much-vaunted F·USA " monster bike" riders. Sunda y's sh owers de pressed th e promotors, sin ce the two previous Match Races had been rain-plagued, but th e lo cal stars were ready to

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