Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

made a successful mo ve around th e outside in tum 10 (where Eddie Lawson made a race -winning pass on Freddi e Spencer last year). But Filice continued to lead, and the action shifted back to the third spot, where Greene was beg inning to set up McDonald. About eight laps into the race , Greene took over third. Filice, meanwhile, was flying. H e was unofficially tim ed for one lap at 1:32.3 1, and he started to draw away from Merke l. . The top three were set fro m th e halfway point on , bu t fou rth went down to the final lap s. McDonald fou nd his margin on Howard steadily sh rin king, and two laps fro m th e finish , the Canadian rider went past. McDonald was relegated to fifth with another Canadian, Cornwall, sixth. " He (Jim ) was riding hard ," said Merkel. "J im m y and I stayed close for the first half of th e race , and then my left clip-on started to get loose, so I followed him the rest of the wa y. I just couldn't quite get it together to sta y with Jimmy. " Merkel thanked sponsors Team Merkel Racing, Cas trol , Dunlop and Champion Spark Plugs. CP Enterprises/ND/CastrollKalGard-sponsored Greene made it a northern California sweep of the top three. Howard's fourth was his best - and only - finish of the da y in three classes. McDonald's fifth added valua ble points towards the F-2 championship. ... ~~pi~~~ ~ Q.) ..0 a Q.) -..l c, Q.) rJ'J Results (Above) Scott Cook (6) leads a large group of amateurs. (Insert) Randy Skiver went fast. (Below) BOTT winner John Williams. (Bottom) Pete Essaff and Dennis Crueger are the new ~idecar champs. 18- LAP FINAL: 1. J immy Filice (Yam): 2. Fred Merkel (Yam); 3. Don Greene (Yam); 4. Rhys How ard (yam); 5. Sam McDonald (Yam); 6. Jona tha n Corn w all (Yam); 7. Dale Fra nklin (Yam); 8. Ken Botham (Yam); 9. M ichael Kenyon (Yam); 10. Hugh Hum ble (Yam); 11. Paul Peiroli (Yam); 12. Steve Haug (Yam); 13. M ike Sullivan (Yam). FORMULA TWO POINT STANDINGS : 1. Sam McDo nald (106 ); 2. Fred Merkel (85); 3. Don Greene (70); 4. (TIE) Dave Emde/Hugh Humble (69); 6. J immy Filice (65); 7. Craig Mo rris (53); 8. Rhys How ard (43); 9. A lan Labrosse (4 1); 10. Mark Homchick (291 . Battle of the Twins round at Sears Point, saw his hopes for this event go away about four laps from the finish . "I don't know what went wrong. I just coasted into the pits. We'll go back to New Jersey an d get ready to head down to Florida for the last two rounds, where we'll be do ing some testing," said Adamo. Adamo's demise left Williams the easy winner. " My luck has turned around a little bit this year. I' ve ha d a lot of problems since Daytona and have gone through a lot of different sponsors. Dal e Newton is a sponsor who really enjoys my riding and rea lly helps me out. I'm looking for ward to a bright future." Williams also thanked Vanson Leathers and Arai Helmets. Williams was the only finisher in the·G P class . The Expert Modified clas s saw Miller taking the win with Bill Atkinson second. Ted R usso came out on top of the Amateur Modified ranks, besting Lewis Harruff and Chris Ban nister. And in the Stock class, Steward once again took the win. He was followed by Peter Brady and Wa yne Reiss. Results GP: 1. Jo hn Williams (Due). EX MOD : 1. Joey Mills (Due); 2. Bill Atkinson. AM MOD : 1. Ted Russo; 2. Lew is Harruff; 3. Chris Bann ister. . . STOCK: 1. Chris Stewa rd (Yam); 2. Peter Brady; 3. W ayne Reiss. Sidecar Lind/Hart take , a win, E$saff/ Crueger take the title By Bruce Scholten KEN T, WA, SEPT-.12 Williams wins in a walkaway " If we can ge tthe power to the ground, we've already won the race," observed Bruce Lind after h e and passenger Jack Hart By Dale Brown made the two -hour switch from treaded rain tires to slicks. L in d/H art were defen ding their 1981 National Sidecar Cham p ionsh ip on home gr o und in the Barnett/ ND Spark P lugs season finale. And though they won the race, th e title went to the season's most consistent team, the northern California duo of Pete Essaff and Dennis Crueger. They survived a deflating front tir e to finish third and sew up the 1982 Sidecar Championship. EssaffiCrueger's Kawasaki 1000had the points lead after the tough Sears Point National, and they only needed to finish to clinch the title. They won the morning heat race for gr id position, ahead of L ind/ H art, who kept slipping the front tire in the stilldamp curves. With a dry track surface and slicks, Lind/Hart broke their old Sidecar lap record by three-tenths of a second, dropping it to 1:39.5. H art , owner of the rig, believes they might hav e gotten lower, except for oil in turns three and nine. . The Bill Davidso n/Pat Dunn Kawasaki 1000 took second, far ahead of Essaf fiCrueger, who began los ing front tire pressure midway th ro ugh the race. This is Essaff's third national championship, his second as a driver. Essaff plans to defend the title in 1983. A buoyant, joking competitor, he also has his eye on the world champi onship trail, as do Lind/ H art. KENT, WA, SEPT. 12 John Williams kept his Dale Newton-sponsored Duca ti in sight of leader Jimmy Adamo through mos t of the 18-la p Ba t - I 16 - After another la p went by the order Dale Franklin and Ken Botham . . was F ilice , Mer kel, McDo na ld, Su cceeding la ps saw Merkel rea lly Greene, Howard,.Jonathan Cornwall, . . _pressure Fi lice, and twice he .almost tle of the Twins event. And when Adamo pulled off the track with a few laps to go due to mechanical troubles, Williams was right there to take the overall and G P class win. For Williams, who suffered a broken ar m in a club race on the same.bike a few months ago, this race and the second he took beh ind Adamo a month ago at Sears Point marked on upswing in his career. The race had begun with R hys Howard taking the Bob Work-tuned Yamaha XV920 to an early lead over Williams and Adamo. That only lasted a lap before Adamo had taken over the lead and begun to pull away. Howard's ride only lasted fou r laps before he crashed and was forced to retire. By the midway point in the race , Adamo and Williams had pulled such a lead on the rest of th e slim field that it was difficult to tell what th e order was behind them. Local rider Brian Su tton was doing well on a Triumph until he crashed. Duca ti rider Joey Mills had led the Expert Modified class from the drop of the flag and he appeared to be up in the overall order. As usua l, Yamaha's Chris Steward was leading the stock clas s. Adam o, who wrapped up the GP class cham pio nshi p.in the previous Results • 1O-LAP FINAL: 1. Bruce Lind/ Jack Hart (Yam); 2. Bill Davidson/Pat Dunn (Kaw); 3. Pete Essaff /Den nis Crueger (Kaw).

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