Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE e WERA Pro Series: Round 1 Chuck Graves (24) won both legs of the F·USA race at Willow Sprin gs; here he leads Robert Miller (11) an d Michael Martin. Lee Shi erts returned from back injury to finish second behind Grav es in both races. Graves, Greene dominate Willow Springs opener By Brent P lummer ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 5 h uck G raves demonstrated his mastery of the powerful, unlimited Formula USA motorcycles to score the overa ll win at the Cal ifornia Cycle Jam, held at Willow Springs Raceway. In winning what was the opening round of the WERA Pro Series, the team Valvoline Suzuki rid er pocketed the $5000 winner's sha re of the $17,650 purse. C 14 Graves notched commandin g win s in both 12-lap Formula USA legs aboard h is Suzu ki GSXR II001750 combination to secure the victory. As per last year, WERA scores the races separately, a nd averages th e points garnered in each leg to determine an overa ll winner - wi th th e second race being a tie breaker, if necessar y. Wit h the demise of the Marlboro . Team Robert s YZR500s, Graves kn ew that he wo u ld ha ve a fig hting cha nce for the overall wi n , and was feelin g the pressure, " I was nervous, so nervous befor e (the races)," Graves said. G raves, a nd everyo ne else who read th e pre-entry sheets, knew tha t th e co mpe titio n wo uld be tough. Very to ugh . Willow Springs Interna tio nal Racewa y' s fo u r- stro ke motorcycl e lap recor d hol der Sco tt Gray was on tha t list - a man fu lly capab le of tu rning la p 'times in the o ne-min u te, 25-second ra nge, faster than Graves has ever run, So was AMA Su perbike Champio n Thomas Stevens, who was acco m panied by Mu zzy Kawasaki's full -bor e-noexpense-spared Formula One/Suzuka Eig h t-Hour Kawasaki ZX7R, Stevens' fastest Will ow Springs lap time is a blisteri ng I :25:9, a nd th e Formula One-spec ZX7R was rumored to be sig n ifica ntly faster than th e superbike Stevens set that time on. Al a s, a g reat t h re e-way ba ttl e between Graves, Stevens and G ray was 'n o t to be. Gray's 1991 Muzzy Superbike floundered a nd failed after com p leting a little more than six laps in the first leg a nd it didn't return. He rode a slower Suzuki GSXR in the second leg , and eventually fini shed a di sappointing 12th overall. And Stevens was ta ngled in a web of comm itme nts: " I wanted to win, but I could n' t lose focus of wh y we were here," the Florid ian said. " The main reaso n we came down this weekend was to test (the Formula One ZX7R ). It had never been tested on a rough tra ck (li ke Will ow Springs ), and Suzuka is also fairly bumpy, so if you can make so me th ing work here, we can take th at knowledge to Suzuka. I'm no t going to fall down while testing a quarter million dollar motorcycle, trying to be a hero ." True to his reputation , Steven s rode sma rt, stayed well within hi s limits, a nd finis hed sixth overall. Many other na tion a I caliber riders wh o' appeared were eq ua lly impressive, leavin g th e ou tcome of th e races open to specu la tio n af ter Friday's untim ed practices. Defending Formula USA Ch ampion R ich O liver had made good o n his pro m ise of running an upgraded Humm el 350cc kitted Yamaha TZ250. Another wil dcard wa s Mic hael Martin - wh o wou ld be riding a " Methano l Monster" T ea m Hammer/Valvoline GSXR. So too would Dona ld J a ck s, Th ou gh h is version wo uld not use methanol. One series regular who was mis sing fro m the equation was Ku rt H al l. T he former champion h ad switched to For mula T wo, fo regoing F-USA co mpeti tion for th e 1992 season. Dave " Du tch " Sch losser and h is Dut ch man Racing team made the long trek fro m Pi ttsb urgh, Pennsylva nia, to field a two-rider tea m. Mike H arth fresh off his Dayton a 750cc Su persport win - was pilo ting a wild ly fast Dutchman Racing GSXR II 00, as was h is p artn er , eighth -see ded Bri an Bernard. Formul a Two sen sa tions Chris D'Aluisio a nd Col in Ed wa rds had made th e journey to test the mettle of th eir Dav id Harold-tun ed / O T Ssponsored Southwest Mo torsp o rt s Yamaha TZ250s against the big bikes, a nd pl anned on co mpensa ting for a seri ous hor sepower deficit w ith higher cornering speeds. They certainly had th eir wor k cu t ou t for th em - as some of the big four stro kes had twice as much , or more, than their ap proximated 85 horsepower. Defending Formula Two Champion Donnie Green and ex-Mar lboro Team Roberts rid er Robbie Petersen were both in similar circumsta nces - they, too, were ri di ng Yama ha TZ 250s Gr een 's backed by Dianet ics, Pet ersen 's by Del Am o. . But in the end, it was the regional tal en t that sto le the show, and the remaining two podi u m spots behind Graves. O ne of them , loca l rider Lee Shierts, was com p leti ng a m iracu lous 'recovery from a dirt bike accident that left him with a broken back. Sh ierts remained busy whi le recupera ting, building h im self a Form ula bik e, a nd planning a glor ious return to road racing afte r a year and a half hiatus. " It is a 1340 (Suzu ki GSXR ) that I buil t," Sh iert s said. "It was a lo t of work, hundreds of hours - 86 of them just in th e cyli nder head. T ha t is what I've been do ing the whol e year I was , of£. I sold my TZ250, paid part of my doc tor's bills, and bought a dyno. That was the only p lace I rod e for a year , o n my dyno l It ma kes a 100 pounds of torq ue at seven grand, a nd 165 hor sepower a t the rear wheel. It £lies!" Indeed it do es, as Shierts piloted h is self-named a nd sponsored Lee's Cycle Shop creation to second place in bo th legs, securely clinching second overall, and the $4550 in second place prize money. Rob ert Miller was th e o ther loca l rider who asto unded the co mpetition. Rid ing an R-CAL-sponsored Suzuki GSXR, Miller fin ished th ird in both legs, a nd naturall y, th e sa me spot overall. The weekend's racing co m menced with Saturday's timed qua lifying. When it was over a nd done wi th , a .few surprises emerged - and the fact that, G ra y was fastest was not one of them. T he person occupying second spot was first-year ex pert Edwards, less than a third of a second off Gray's 1:27:05 time. Donnie Greene was right on Edwards' heels, with Graves struggling behind in fourth, with a 1:27:63. Stevens wa s fifth overall. F·USA At the signal to start the first F-USA leg, Graves nailed the holeshot , with St evens hot on his tai lpiece, and Michael Martin execu ting a rniracu-

• Cover