Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: Round3 ~ "!Iii C'I O"l O"l ,.......; ~ e,.......; v I:: ~ I--) T he F·USA race begins with Steve Crevier (I), Reuben McMurter (24), Micha el Martin (96) and Jeff Gaynor (28) leading the way. Canadian champion Steve Crevi er rode to a convinci ng victory on his Kawasaki. Crevier unstoppable on home turf By Colin Fraser SHANNONVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA, M AY31 by bad wea ther, and 1992 was no ad weather, cha nging track conexcep tio n. T he featu re ran o n an ditions and a mid-race red flag coul dn 't stop reigning Canad ian almost dry track, but th e Air T ech WERA Formula Il / Brutune Racing Na tio na l Ch ampion Steve Crevi er from ta king hi s wo rks Weld R i te Services RAC E Pro 250cc Grand Prix event opened on a soaked surface, the Kawasa ki to victory in the WERA Ftrac k gradually developing dry pa tches USA/ RACE Pro 750 Su perbike comthat fried the rain tir es mos t com pe t, bin ed feat ure in Su zuki's presen ta tion of the McBride Cycle T eam USA vs. itors chos e to use. Former Can adian T eam Canada Match Races at Sh an 250cc champion Jon Cornwell played nonville Motorsport Park. a waiting ga me on hi s Mobile Weldin g Yam ah a TZ250, traili ng Ca nadian Although he held the po ints lead in class number one Ri ck T ripodi until the AMA/CCS 600cc Supe rspo rt cla ss the rare 1992 Aprilia rider's tires went and would lose that lead by rac ing at off, " Corndog" pulling ahea d to a home ins tead of the conOicting AMA con vinci ng win. race at T exas World Speedway, Crevier pi cked up wh ere his Two Brothers As in th e F-USA race, Air T ech, bac ked '91 Aprilia pilot Al Salaverria Racing teammates left off in Texa s, taking a clea r win in th e final as well was o ne of the fastest competitors on as dom inating th e 750cc Production , th e track, bu t a trip up the back straight ' "escape" road late in th e race held the race ear lier in the day on h is stock Kawasaki ZX-7R. ' Ca lifo rn ian to th ird at the finis h. T he history of the RAC E and WERA Starting positi ons for Sunday 's 20co-sanc tio ned event has been plagued lap feature event around the constan tly B 16 turning 15-co rner, 2.5-m ile S.M.P. facil ity were esta blished by a six-lap ' heat race o n Sa turday , with hea t gri d ' positions alternati ng between WERA riders based o n 1992 points standings and RACE competitors in order of th eir 199 1 final Na tiona l pl acings. T his put Chuck Graves o n th e pole wi th the Valvoline -Suzuki, join ed to Crevi er, Lee Sheirts, on h is monster 1340cc Suzuki GSXR~ and SunocoFAST /Yama ha team leader Li n nley Clarke. Sheirts got the jump as -the ligh ts turne d green, but Crevier muscled his way up the ins ide of turn o ne , movi ng Sh eirts to second. H e was in tu rn ' chased by Graves, Clarke , Valvoline Suzuki 's Michael 'Mart in, 1991 ma tch race winner J eff Gaynor (debu ting th e liquid-cooled Suzu ki GSXR750, comp leted days earl ier), Mo nette Yamaha 's Ben o it Pilon, Competition Wh eels Kawasaki 's Mich ael T aylor and u nretired Rueben McMurter o n the ActionH on da RC30. Graves moved by Sh eirts j n turn four, the Moss Carousel , but Crevier was alread y lon g go ne, runnin g close ' to h is ou tri gh t lap , record, tu rn ing a best heat to ur of 1:47.37 in the coo l and clo udy co nditions. Staying closer to the local ace than any ot her U.S. four-stro ke com petitor has ever managed, Gr aves su ffered a ligh t fall in th e ultra-tight tu rn 10, quickly remo unt in g only to retire du e to dr agging body work. Martin impressed to take second ahead of a cha rg ing Gay no r, McMurter, Tay lor, Clarke, Sheirts, Dona ld Jacks, Pilon and Salaverri a (up fro m the bac k of the gr id) ro undi ng ou t the to p 10. Following the heat , the Cana dians conce nt ra ted on chassis adjus tmen ts to th eir mos tly brand new machines, since this event marked the sta rt of their National tour. The top Ameri cans, however, were concerned with horsep ower, more exac tl y too mu ch of it! Graves said it was almost im possible " to ever even think abo ut opening the th rottle right up. We're goin g to p lay wi th the ignition and th in gs to make it a bit easier to ri de." The threat of rain on ly aggravated their concerns, and once aga in engi ne builder Keith Parry wondered aloud if Sh annonvill e wasn 't the p laceto use thei r 750 motor s whic h were sit ting at hom e. Horsepo wer king Sheirts, hi s GSXR reportedl y making close to 180 bhp o n the dyno, eased his power delivery by welding a washer in the end of hi s exha ust system, effectively fitting ' a learner-bike type governor! Wet weat her ar rived for race day, the star class practici ng in light dr izzle o n a wet track. But by the ti me th e 4:00 p.m . sta rt ro lled around, the track was nearly dry, the rain was holding off bu t the skieslooked very threatening. , Si nce the 250cc race went just half an h our befo re th e fea ture , th e F-I1 com petitors had a big advantage in condi tio n kno wledge and tire choice. The front row (Crevier, Mart in , Gaynor, McMurter ) o p ted for inte rmedia te fro nts and slick rears, while further back pet theories abou nded. Sala verria, fast at the end of the F-Il/ 250 affair, opted for slicks all aroun d. Shie rts again mo tore d ahea d off the ) line, pu tti ng hi s drag rac ing experience to good use, chase d by McMurter, Crevier and Gay nor. But Crevier was in no mood to wait, again pu shing pas t wh ere no open ing was obvio us, in the non- straight between turns two and th ree. An aggressi ve Taylor tried to pass Gaynor for fourth a nd slid off en tering th e fo urth co rn er , la ter, wondering if hi s form erl y im maculate I ZX had su ffered some kind of mecha nciaI prob lem. Crevier was mor e than two secon dsI ahead of McMurter a t the end of lap o ne, "The Rueb " under pr essure from r Gaynor and Clarke, She irts keeping fifth from a pack of challe nge rs incl ud ing Pi lon , J acks, Hall, Salaverr ia, and J oe Pitt man 's Yam aha TZ2 50. Ga ynor was im pressin g everyo ne with the pace of his untested G SXR, h ounding McMurter, but Gay nor's race ended , with a mi nor electrical problem at the start of the back stra ight on lap two. T here was no stopping Crevier as the ot hers struggled against th e constan tly changing track conditio ns, the nu m ber one gr een machi ne ho lding a 1 4.7-second lead af ter two tours, 6.6 seconds on the next lap . McMu rter was alone, but Salaverria was third and ga ini ng, having dealt quickly with the busy ba ttle for fourth betwe en Pi lon, Clar ke an d Pitt man . Las t row starter Graves was already through to sevent h by lap five, passing team ma te J acks, j Hall was hol di ng ninth fro m another good dice between roo kie superbike rider Steve Wykes a nd h is FAST backed Yamah a a w ol and T ripodi. T he last ride rs on th e pace were Shei rts t and West Coas t Honda RC30 pilot Sean Smyth, disputing 12th . r Sala verr ia got by McMurter in record ti m e o n la p eight, w ith P ittman I moving up to a strong fourth and Clarke now fightin g to hold six th over 0 a pack made up of Martin , H all and T ripo di. Then McMurter ran wid e on I lap II , running into a puddle wh ile-, passi ng a slo wer racer and cras hing I exi ti ng the tight turn ni ne, his bike I sliding into 10 and oiling th e surface. McMurter req u ired medi cal attent ion :t for his bro ken wrist, and severa l racers fell on the oil, bringin g o ut the red flag. All the slo w cras hers were able to join the gri d for the restart, with tumb ler Clarke str uggling to fix a carb man ifold air leak problem . Along with 1992 Du cati ace Pascal Picotte, Clarke wa s th e o n ly o ther ri de r ab le to , challenge Crevier reg u lar ly in Can ada in 1991, but hi s Mat ch Race fortunes ) fell with th e fuel delivery problem, ) since the bike began to idle a t 7000 J rpm! I Other riders making repair s and ch a nges before the seco n d sta rt incl uded Graves (clu tch problems) and Smyth, who had th e misfortun e to stop for the red flag ri ght in McMurter's dr opped oi l. Graves and Crevier opted for new rear Dunlop slicks, a pl oy that may well ha ve been a factor at the restar t. } Crevier was angry at the loss of his big lead , and top U.S. team member Gr aves made th e most of hi s second chance, bursting into first at th e turn from yellow to gr een . Crevier, Clarke, Pilo n , Salav erria , Pittman, T ripodi

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