Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127554
and Wykes were right behind, but
cro wd attention focused at the front.
Un will ing to wai t to pass , Crevier dove
un der Graves ent eri ng th e sweep ing
turn five, taking the lead for good on
the first of the 10 remaining laps. The
race lost a potential challenger on the
first lap wh en Sal averria tried to pa ss
P il ion, go t o n a wet spot while
brea king very ha rd at the end of th e
back stretch , and a lmost nail ed Clarke.
" I was al most over the bars, and I
do n ' t kn ow ho w I mi ssed him
(Clarke)," exp lained escape roa d artist
Sa laverria . " T hen I reall y h ad to
cha rge. It 's a sham e, becau se the bik e
ran the best it ever has. "
By lap three Crevier was 3.5 seconds
ahead of Gr aves, and wat ching his pit
board for the margi n. Pitt man was up
to a clear th ird, having wisely removed
himself form the Pilo n/ ClarkelTripod i/ Wykes tag team disp ut e over
fourth. Smythe was getting the hang
of the conditio ns in eig h th ahea d of
H all, production Kawasak i mo u nted
roo kie James Perreault was a happy
10th , while Yamaha Super Tene re
mou nte d Twins class star Dave Klassen
held off the Yamaha OWOI stocker of
Peter Marsh for I I th . . .
Tractio n was a factor la te in the race,
and Pittm an spoiled hi s good ru n wit h
an off-trac k trip , getting bac k o n and
charging back to fifth. Tripodi finall y
go t th e better of Pilon for good to pull
away in th ird spot, o n ly to suffe r
en gine problems at the end of the back
straigh t wit h a lap an d a ha lf to go.
The rider to watch was Sa laverria,
ru n ni ng a pace sim ilar to Crevier's best
for th e second leg tim e at 1:48.77, set
wi th a treaded fro nt tire. Sal averria
su rvi ved a lu rid catch -and -spi t-overthe- fairi ng mom ent to move to eighth
from 27th at the end of lap one.
Po pular victor Crevier was 15.7
seco nds ahea d at the finish , seco nd
p laced Graves was happy to "settle
dow n and get some points. I pus hed
hard for a bit and didn 't get anywhere,
so I backed off. Steve was ridin g grea t,
and I wanted to take over the WERA
points lead . T he restart rea lly worked
for us, and I rea lly love the trac k, so
we 're not don e with Steve yet."
. Third fini sh er Pilon, aboard th e
1989 OWOI that Crevier earned h is first
nu m ber one on, was likewise sat isfied,
say ing, ' 'I' ll be even faster at th e
(Ca lgary ) Na tio nal next week, because
no w we can p ut in the nu mber one
motor." The Cal ga ry track has th e
kind ofio ng drag str ip straight the U.S.
riders were looki ng for.
Even though he str uggled thro ugh
practice in his superbike debu t, former
Production class ace Wykes came good
in th e final, and pleased mentor Michel
Mercier, owner of the FAST School,
no end by racing to fourth, right with'
P il on at th e checkered. Pittman's
inspired ride netted fifth , the top 250
machine, whi le H all and Sa laverria
contin ued the F-II the me in sixth and
seven th. Smy the did well in his S.M.P.
debut on h is elderly Honda to clinc h
eigh th . Clark e was in real troub le in
the last la ps, barely making it to the
fin ish in ni nth , with road racing guru
Keith Code nearl y catching Clarke at
the line wi th thi s ex-Donnie Greene
1991 Dianetics-Yam ah a.
P robab ly the closes t racing of the
weekend too k place in Saturday'S FI1/250cc G P heat , BCH-Yam pilot
Ku rt Hall demonstra tin g his new
found G P prowess by jumping into
first a t the sta rt with Greene, Cornwell
and Tripodi rig ht on his tail. By midheat Greene and Cornwell, old sparring pa rt ners , were figh ting for firs t
just ahea d of a solitary H all, Salavaria
and local hero And rew Trevitt disputing fourth while Tripodi tried to keep
(Left to right) Chuck G raves, Crevier
and Benoi t Pilon celebra te.
six th fr om Pittman and Mi chae l
Graves. On the last lap Cornwell tried
a brave maneuver to pass Greene in
the esses just befor e the front straigh t,
ga ining ground on the brakes o nly to
come up j ust short. Greene earned the
pole fro m Corn well, H all, Salaverria,
T revi tt, Tripodi, Graves, Pittman and
ninth p laced leading 600 four-stroke
en try S teve McKi ssock o n th e
Goodfellow- Ho nda CBR600F2.
A drying track had man y co mpetitors nervous at the start of the I4 lap
F-I1/250 cc G P final, Green e in particul ar stating tha t he just wanted to
guard his points lead and stay upright.
Troubled throug ho u t 1992 by teething
problems with his self-imported Aprilias, Camer ica Games-sponsored Canadian nu mber one T ri podi wasn't in
the same fram e of mind as hi s U.S.
single digi t counte rpart, charging to
first from the start, setting a hot pace
fro m the get go.
Multi - tim e Ca nadian flat tr a ck
cha m p Corn well shadowed Tripodi in
th e early go ing and didn 't pass until
lap six, immediat ely buil di ng a lead .
H onda CBR600 F2-mo u nt ed Ca na d ian Produ ction class star Mark
Kowal ski battled for th ird in the early
goi ng with Hall , but eventually faded
wit h engine problems to place fifth.
Salaverria was too cautious in the
openi ng lap s bu t then went on th e
attac k, pushing th ro ugh the field to
zero in on second pl aced Tripodi, o nly
to run off the trac k while trying to ru sh
past lap ped traff ic with three laps to
go. Salaverria then rejoined th e race
by reversing on th e esca pe road,
frig h tening Hall and th en passing him
to keep an eventua l third.
Cornwell couldn 't be sto pped at the
front, ju dgin g the conditions perfectly
to score an emotional win . Following
a crash in practice at Laguna Seca at
th e en d of Ap ril that broke h is
sho ul der, Co rn we ll m issed severa l
races and' was looking to get h is
privateer program ba ck o n track.
Heading to the finish line Cornsell
slowe d an d crossed standing, arms in
air, to the delight of the cro wd. Tripodi
ca me past five seconds lat er, still
cha rgi ng, while fastest race lap setter
Sa la verria ( I:58.8) proved th at h is
decision to run a slick front and lig h tly
grooved rear against th e o ther .rider's
rain tir es was a good one, pullin g the
best whe elie of th e weekend to -cross
the line for third.
Cornwell was modest in the winner's
circle, saying, " I ,just wanted to wait
and see what would happen , j ud ge the
conditions, see whose tires were working, an d go from there." Tripodi was
mor e outspoken, stating: " J o n had th e
Ch uck Graves still leads the F-USA championship after finishing third in Canada.
The Air-Tech F-I1 race was won by Canadian Jon Cornwell (49) in wet co nditions.
right id ea , he' waited and fig ured
everyt hing o ut . By th e tim e he passed
me for the first time, I was in tire
tro u ble. Wh en J on came by, my tires
were h istory."
Sixth a nd seve nt h bel on ged to
Mackie Moving 1991 Yamaha teammate J o n Sharrard an d Mike Orch ard.
Reign ing Canadian AM 400 Prod uction cha mp Sharrard proved he had
adjusted well to the ex-Cornwell bike
to net a strong sixth, a good dis tance
ahead of a lonely Or chard. Gree n too k
i t cautiously for eighth, tai led most of
the way by a dice betw een h is sponsor
Code and crasher Michael Graves fo r
10th. Late race charger, rookie pro Phil
Schilling, eventually p ushed his tro u blesome Tri City 1990 Yamaha to
ninth between Greene and Code.
Earli er in the program, Crevier
started the charge to h is second P ro
750cc Production crow n with a clear
win in that class, h is opposition
decimated by seven crashes in the first,
wet lap. Kowa lski was alo ne in second
for much of the race, ear ni ng th e
runner-up spot over third place practice crasher Gaynor.
Ra in ace Kowalski looked to have
Pro 600cc Prod uctio n sewn up earl y,
but slid off gently u nde r braking for
a tight tum while well ahead, giving
Eas t Coast favorite Don Mu nroe his
ch anc e to win. Munroe held first
throughout th e rest of th e race from
fellow Honda rider Owen Weichel,
Weichel competing with a cast o n his
recently broken right leg. On the last
lap , heat crash er and back row starter
Linnley Clarke moved his 1991 title
winning Yam ah a in to the first place
battle, getting well sideways looking
for the dr y lin e to pass Weich el; th e
pair running side by side for severa l
consecu rive cor ners t Clarke go t second,
bu t try as' he might he couldn' t qui te
get Munroe, a surprised and happy
win ner. After a trying weekend , Weichel was happy to keep third in his
first ride on a CBR that was a box of
unrelated parts earlier in the week! 01
Results
r -USA/PRO 7;()cc SB FINA L: I. Steve Crevier
(Kaw ); 2. Chuck Gr aves (Suz); S. Benoi t Pi lon (Yam);
4. Steve Wykes (Yam ); 5. J oe Pittman (Ya m ); 6. Kurt
Hall (Yam ); 7. AI Salaverria (Apr); 8. Sean Smyth
(H o n ); 9. Linnley Clar ke (Ya m); 10. Keith Code
(Ya m ); 11. Peter Marsh (Yam); 12. J ames Perreault
(Kaw ): 13. Dave Klassen (Ya m): 14. Co lin Snider
(Han ); 15. Klau s Moehrle (Suz); 16. Mar c Masionneueve (H o n); 17. Groff Robb ( Ka w); 18. Lee Shierts
(Sur); 19. Ri ck T ri podi (Apr); 20. Reuben McMuner
(H on).
Time: 18 m in.• 19.08 sec
Distance: 20 laps. 50 mi les.
Margin of Victory: 15.59 sec.
Fastes t Lap Steve Crevi er, J:48.77, Lap 2r·11I25O