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/127727
,* ROAD RACE , ' , ' ' " '" , Round 3:Lagu aSeca Raceway n , AMA National Championship R R oad aceSeries Iena ts ch h ad taken the ea rly s h ift aboard th e Dutchman Racin g Yamaha FZRl000, settling into a steady third and h o ld ing it until ex a ct ly th e halfwa y mark, when Fritz Kling took ov er. By the time all the leaders com pleted their rider changes, Kling was facing a 22-seco nd deficit - bu t was well in front of fourth - an d rode steadily to the end. Michae l Barnes ended up seco nd and fo urth o n th e day, b rin gin g th e Erion Racing Too bike hom e in fourth after the team suffered a n ea rly setback . Lead ri der Rick Kirk m ad e an unscheduled pit s top on the firs t lap lea ving the team in last place. When he pitted the seco nd time, to give way to Barnes on the 15th lap, h e' d w orked his w ay up to six th place. Barn es m ade up tw o m ore spo ts by the end . An ot her lap back cam e th e Action Speed Racing team , Hikaru Miyagi an d Don Canet, w ho, like th e Erio n team s, l~ we re Ho nda CBR900 mounted. Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Resu lts: April 29, 1995 (Top) Cycle Motion Racing's Mark McDaniel and Dave Deveau gave the team the ir first SuperTeams win of the season. (Above) Takahito Mori led the wet 125cc GP class from start to finis h. ner's ci rcle, after finishi ng second, 10.258 seco nds behind Deveau . "By the ti me 1 go t go ing C ycl e Moti on had p a s se d me . 1 fee l b a d b e ca u s e M ik e (Ba rnes) gave m e a b ig lea d a n d I lost it." The Cycle Motion team completed 31 laps of th e 2.2-m ile road co urse at a n ave rage speed of 69.149 mph. Dutchma n Racing's Nick lena tsch and Fritz Kling finished thi rd , abo ut 28 seconds behind Erion Racing, but close to 40 secon ds in front of Erion Racing Too, the final team to finish on the lead lap. Barnes did double duty o n th e Erion Too bike, riding second after Rick Kirk. With 3-2-1 finishes th is year, Cycle Motion Racing takes over the championship points lea d with 97 points, two be tter th a n Dutchman Racing, with seven races to run . Defending national ch am p ions Erio n Racing is th ird wi th 84, one better than Fastline Racing, w ho finished eighth tod ay. Rain swept through the area all d ay, so metimes heavy enough to floo d th e tra ck w ith m u d a n d cause extens ive ' delays w hile the track was clean ed . By th e ti m e the Su per Te a ms ra ce wa s g ree n-flagged it was 5:45 p .m . and the rain was still falling. " Fro m th e ve ry start Bar nes was in the lead and edging away, and by the seventh lap he was well in to traffic and makin g good u se of it. At the halfw ay mark he had an ll -secon d margin on Mark Mc Daniel an d, at the 32-minute ma rk, handed off to Larry Pegram. Just as Pegram was en tering the tr ack fro m the access road , on the exit of turn two, Cycle Moti on Racing' s Ma rk McDa niel sped by to take ov er the lead for the first tim e. Their tim e at the fron t was brief - at least for now - with McDaniel pitting at th e 37 - m in u te m ar k to g ive way to Dev eau . Bo th Deveau and McDa niel have extensive we t-weather experience fro m racing in th e Pacific Northwest an d, in very sho rt order, it showed. On his first flyi ng la p Deveau was ab ou t 9.5 seconds behind Pegram, but closing rapidly. It was down to 5.65 seconds two laps lat er, and in another two laps he went around the o u tsi d e of Pegram going into turn two. Pegram st ru ck back on th e exit of th e corner, then it was Deveau in front fo r good after passing Pegram exi ting turn five. The onl y troubles that Deveau had were a m inor clutch probl em and a foggin g face shield . "I wa s having a foggin g problem and 1 cou ldn't see the plus or minus on the p itboard ," Deveau sai d . Once h e 'd adjusted it properly, he wa s lon g gon e. "When 1 got on they said 'Fin ish, finish, finis h. Don ' t 'do an ything stu pid,": Deveau sa id, thoug h it appeared , on one lap, tha t he didn't hear them. He nearly h it a backmar ker exiting turn two and almost hit another in turn 11. O the r than . that, it was smooth sailing. "The th ing neve r sto ps pulli n g . It was smo kin' fast. Th e tires are no t even worn ," Dev eau sai d, adding that mu ch of th e engine work was being done by Hyp ercycle's Cary Andrews. S UPE RT EAMS N ATIONAL: 1. Cycle Motion Ra cin g (Suz); 2. Er io n Ra ci ng (H on ); 3. Dut chman Ra cing (Ya m); 4. Erion Ra cin g Too (Hon); 5. Act ion Speed Racing (Hon ); 6. Bartley Cycle (yam); 7. Team s Coo l Breeze Racin g (Kaw); 8. Fas tlinc Racing (Ka w), 9. Speed Qu est Racing (Su. ); 10. Oa ts Racing (Su.); II. Mark Miller Ra cing (Ka w); 12 . Big Valley Hond a Motorsports (Han) ; 13 . An derso n 1Dy na mi c Ra ci ng (Yam); 14. Mille r Gen uine Draf t (Ka w) : 15. Tea m Serna Suz uki (5uz); 16. Barne tt Raci ng (Ho n); 17. Cheeta h Racing (5o z); 18. Tea m Tw o Hu sky Racing (Ka w); 19. Universal Capital (Suz); 20. Radioactive Racing (Due); 21. Keystone 1Northstar Racing (Yam); 22. Crago Racin g (Han); 23. New Tech Racing (Suz); 24. Lariviere Racing (Suz); 25. The Dream Team (Han); 26. Aqua One Racing (Kaw); 27. Grand Prix App arel Supc rte am (Yam ). Ti me: 59 min.• 33.209 SE'C. Distance; 31 la ps, 68.2 m iles. Margin of victory: 10.258 sec. Average spe ed: 69.149 mph. SU PE RTEA MS CHAM P IONS H IP SE RIES POI NT STAND INGS (Aft er 3 of 10 ro un ds): 1. Cycle Motion Racing (t17/1 wi n); 2. Dut chm an Racing (95 / 1); 3. Erion Racing (84 / 1); 4. Fastlin e Racin g (83); 5. Mark Mill er Racin g CbS); 6. Keystone Northstar (63); 7. Oats Racin g (57); 8. Action Speed Racing (52); 9. Anderson Dynamic Racing (51); 10. Mille r Ge nui ne Dr aft (49); 11. Battl ey Cycles (46); 12. G rand Prix Apparel Su pc rtea m (38); 13. Barne tt Raci ng (35); 14. Team SernaSu zuki (33); 15. Che eta h Racing (30); 16. Erion Racin g Too (28 ); 17. Rayce Team (26); 18. Peg as us Mo torsports (25 ); 19. Te a m Cool Bree ze Ra cin g (24); 20. (T I E) Lee's Killer Be / Stant on Racing Industries (23), es Upcoming rounds: Round 4 - Lexington, OH, June 4 Round 5 - Elkhart Lake, WI , June 11 AMA 125cc Grand P series rix , rtf By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Ab rams MONTEREY, CA, APR 29 -oto Liberty's Takahito Mori was simply unstop pable in the 125cc ! __ Gran d Prix final at Laguna Seca Raceway, with the Ja panese rider in a class of hjs own during a driving rainstorm that drenched the area. Mori and this Brid ge st one-sh od H onda RS125 le d from the s ta r t and we re never headed, lapping so me four seconds quicker than his pu rsuers. The man who led the chasers acro ss the line w as Randy Ren fro w on hi s privatee r Honda R5125, though the Virginia n was a whopping 56.780 seco nds beh ind after 12 laps an d 26.4 miles of raci ng. Followin g Renfrow was Road Racing Worldsponsored Ch ris Rogers on the Yama ha TZ 125. Elf Tea m Kep la' s Rodney Fee, w ho crashed on the last lap w hile trying .to h old off Ren fro w, fin ishe d fo urth, with Honda- mo u n t ed Cra ig A v e ry_ rounding out the top five. Wit h first-ro und wi nne r Fee finishing fourth, Mo ri took over as th e cham pionship poin ts lea der, 67-63, over Fee . Avery is th ird wi th 50 p o in ts, seven clear of Andre Ca stanos and Wesley Totsubo, w ho finished eighth and sixth, res pec tively, today. The rac e for the lead lasted for two comers: Renfrow led on the ru n up the hill toward turn two, he led throu gh turns three a n d four, and th en Mori swoo ped past on the entra nce to tum five. End of story. The Japa nese ace led by four seconds at the end of th e first lap, eig ht seconds aft er tw o la ps, 14 seco nds after three laps, 23.5 seco nds after five laps... and it only got worse for the competi tion . "I expected Randy Renfrow to chase, bu t fortu nately my bike is faster than his bike and m y tire is very good for rain," Mori sai d la te r. " I th ink Rodney Fee crashed twice th is weekend . 1 think he don 't like rai n . 1 like d ry , b u t 1 com e from Japan an d Ja p an it rai n all th e time." , The race from then on was for second p lac e, alt h o ugh earl y o n it seeme d as though Fee wou ld also cru ise in. Renfrow held off Rogers for third w hile he ba ttled with a leaky face shield . When he got th at sorted ou t, the litt le Virginian mad e a run at Fee that saw him right with th e California resident at the start of the final lap. Renfrow showed him a w hee l in tum tw o, followed him throu gh tum three with Fee look ing over his shou lder on th e exit of th e righ t-hander - and then Fee tossed it all away in turn four. "I th ou ght the winner's circle wo uld be over...," Renfrow said in reference to Mo ri's big lead. "The idea was to put in a coup le of ho t laps and see if 1 could get close to hi m (Fee) without taking too m any chances. 1 knew I couldn't pass him going down into two, but 1 could at least make sure he knew I was there. 1 snuc k up inside of him just to ma ke sure he absolutely knew I was there. I really d idn't th in k 1 was go ing to p ass h im before the finis h line becau se 1 wasn' t go ing to take a ny cha nces . Witho ut being mean , th at was kind of the idea. 1 wan te d to m ake him as n er vou s as possible." W h ile Fee qu ick ly rem o u n ted , Rogers sneaked throu gh to finish thi rd: "M y plan th e first few laps w as to follow Ra nd y (Renfrow) a ro u nd an d d b the same thing he did to Rodney (Fee); follow h im an d see w here he would make a m istake o r w here 1 was quicker. 1 just wa n ted to follow him, but he put in two killer lap s and took off. He was gone. 1 tried to keep the pace, but it was tough . 1 jus t tried to keep it on two l~ wheels and hope for the best." Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Resu~s :ApriI29 , 1995 125ee GRAND PRIX : 1. Ta ka hito M an (H on) ; 2. Rand y Ren fr o w (Ha n) ; 3 . C h ris Rog ers (Yam) ; 4. Rodn ey Fee (Hon ); 5. Craig Avery (Hon ); 6. Wesley To tsubo (Han ); 7. Arnold Van Kem pe n Jr . (Hon); 8. An dre Casta nos (Han) ; 9. Da vid Colbert (Hon ); 10. Tod d Bowm an (Ho n); 1L Vicky jackso n-Bell (Hon); 12Kevin Murray (Han); 13. John Bums (Hon ); 14. Mike Mond o (Hon); 15. David Pare (Ho n); 16. Mark Erickson (Han) ; 17. C hris Lac r uze (Han); 18, H a nn a h Frehe (Hon); 19. Joshu a Frazzitta (Ho n); 20. Joseph Gaude (Ha n); 21. Charles Lucasc y (Hon); 22. Peter Feme nia (Han); 23. Vince Du ran (Ho n); 24. David Brown (Hon); 25. Bill Borselll (Hon); 26. Ma uri ce J. Daroy (Hon); 27. Fran cis .Maz ur (Han); 28. Fre deric Pu tt (Han); 29. Ioji Toku mo to (Hon); 30. Warren Dunaway (Han ); 31. Joel Herm oso (Yam ); 32. Na ncy Delgad o (Han); 33, Patrick Klein (Hon ). T im e: 22 min., 48.976 sec. Distance: 12 lap s. 22.4 miles . Ave rage Speed: 69.866 ·mph. Ma rgin of Victory: 56.780 sec. l2See GRA ND PRI X C'S H IP POINT ST AN DIN GS (After 2 of 9 ro unds) : 1. Takahito Mori (67/1 win); 2. Rodney Fee (63/1 win); 3. C ra ig Avery (50); 4. (TIE) Andre Castenos yw es ley Tosubo (43); 6. Kevin Murra y (42); 7, Mik e Mondo (39); 8. (TIE) Todd Bowm an /Randy Renfrow {37}; 10. Chris Roge rs (36); 11. Dav id Colbert (3S); 12. (TIE) Billy Graef / David Pare (30); 14. Jonatha n Cornwell (28); 15. Ce Terranova (26). ep Upcoming rounds: Round 4 . Lexington, OH, June 4 Round 5 - Elkhart Lake. WI . June 11