Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.....j"co·l:Olo"••o·.~o"'•••oil"'.·.o"" Duo•••loa DUola -o o•••'1 co-eolo o••~_ . CeDlral PipeliDe . ... ~ $0.4. Q,) ..0 8 Q,) u· Q,) Q Anson Holley took a delayed Top Fuel class final. Steve Mills gave Kawasaki a win in the Pro Stock class. Holley tops.fuII field B/MB: 1. Wayne Oar-lock (Kaw). F/M: 1. Virginia Blackard (Tri). 111M: 1. Van Rayburn (Suz). STREET TROPHY CLASS CLEAN SWEEP WINNERS BOTH DAYS 2-STROKE TRIPLE: Robby Cumberland (Kaw). 4-CYL-4 VALVE: James McCullah (Suz). ST TURBO: Mike McLeod (Kawl. SMALLBLOCK 4: Joan McCullah (Suzl. SATURDAY WINNERS SPORTSTER': John Schwent (H·D). VERTICAL TWIN: Kenneth Lynn (Tril. SOHC 4: Steve Gunlock (Han). ORIENTAL DRESSER: John Anton (Han). SUNDAY WINNERS PAN·SHOVELHEAD: John Marchman/Jackie Schmidt (H· D). SPORTSTER: Leonard Jakab (Sportster). VERTICAL TWIN: Virginia Blackard (Tri). 4-STROKE SINGLE: Phil Bartlett (Yam). 4 CYL·2 VALVE: Craig R. Weikel (Kaw). SOHC 4 CYL: Terry Dunham (Han I. FLATHEAD: Greg Vargo (H-D). ORIENTAL DRESSER: James Smout (Yaml. By Tom Loughlin Jr. Photos by Jack West HOUSTON, TX, NOV. 8 The AMA, San Jacinto High Rollers Motorcycle Club. and the AMA-DRAGBIKE! National Championship Series joined 18 forces to produce the largest first-year cycle drag championship ever held... the relocated AMA-DRAGBIKEI Longhorn Nationals at Eastex Dragway. More than 2200 race fans and 162 entries topped off by a full field of top fuelers poured into the track on Sunday to compete for more than $9,500 in cash plus contingency prizes. In Top Fuel, Anson Holley, of Harley-Davidson of New Orleans, came out 'Of a number six qualifying spot, soloing in the first round against a broken Dave Covey, then advanced to the finals as the Harley outdistanced Steve Suter's points leading supercharged Kawasaki to earn its spot against Coloradan Bill Meyers Kawasaki. Myers had made the finals by beating Denny Martin's turbo Kawasaki in round one, then getting the number two qualifier's bye tthe eight bike field had to be rewritten .to five due to breakage). The finale was a dramatic one as Myers had broken on the semi final. The event director had given the Pros a 45 minute round call following the semi finals and had added that 15 minutes additional would be granted to fix broken iron if need be. Myers' crfIW asked for 20 minutes on top of that, Loughlin said to consult Holley... the opponent. Holley said "race director's decision.. .I'll go with it."...Loughlin granted 10 minutes on top of the original. When the fields of Pros came ready to run at the end of the race, a brief power failure in the tower, and normal running time had given Myers a bit more time than expected, and as he lit the supercharged Harley, the Kawasaki was right there, ready to give the fans a side.by-side run. Holley did a quick, tire-turn cleanoff burnout. ..and staged, placing Myers in a "hurry-up" position dissimilar to his regular procedure...and forcing him to stage quickly, too. At the "go" Myers pulled ahead then lost traction, while the Harley pulled steadily despite moderate wheelspin. At the other end the Harley's light went on for a traction plagued finale with the H-D _clocking a 9.40 to Myers'IO.14. Pro Dragster was its usual thrilling self at Houston, especially with Saturday qualifying giving the number one slot to Houstonian Mike Pizzitola on a Kawasaki, and the number two to' Vicki Farr. In round one, Pizzitola received the number one bye run, and Vicki Farr faced Rodney D. Kay of KT's Cycle Service on a Harley. After Farr had done her final chirp burn and headed toward the. line, Kay churned the nitroburner's tire across the line a second time...a violation of the one-burnout across the line rule.. .£or Pros (none for semi Pro or ET)...placing him out of competition. Mr. Kay took his disqualification with a gentlemanly, sportsmanlike attitude - a credit to him and his team. In the rest of round one...a little more regular procedure held sway. In the next pair out, the Harley-Davidson of Stick Engineering, .Beever Productions and Miller Racing wowed the cr.owd with a smoky burnout "par excellence" and got by the Kawasaki of Harold Windham of LaPorte and Lazar Porting 9.98 to 11.85 as Windham redlighted. Finally, Harry Lartigue's 1,327cc Kawasaki downed Archie Carter's Harley 9.98 to 10.28. In round two, the Mathis Harley went down against the Pizzitola Kawasaki 9.43-10.079 while the Lartigue Kawasaki was defeated by Ms. Farr 9.82 to 13.47. . In the final, the Union Cycle Salvage speciaL.Pizzitola up was a slight crowd voice-poll favorite as' the "hometown hero" against Ms. Farr ...who received a solid vote from the fans ...(though the "applause meter may have been thrown off by the higher pitch of the voices vocalizing for Farr). When the lights came on at the other end, the win was Pizzitola's capping a high flying weekend for the up and coming new star in the AMA-DRAGBIKEI National Championship series Pro Dragster ranks. Final round times - Pizzitola 9.19 to Farr's 9.95. Results SEMI PRO CLASS XX/F: 1. AI Simon (H·D). XUD: 1. Don Rothwell (H-D). D/F: 1. Jimmy Harris (Nor). F/F: 1. Bruce Bottorff (Tri). FIG: 1. Don Blackard (Tri). AI A: 1. Terry Kreuger (1200cc Z). XL/M: 1. "Whiskers" and John Howell (H-D). AIM: 1. Floyd Gaulden (Kaw). Custy cleans up Colorado CC By ElJ1ie Ferguson LOVELAND, CO, NOV. 14 November in Colorado means 'cooler weather, and today was definitely a cool morning. The sun was bright and the weather was clear, but frost graced the prairie grass as hearty Colorado motocrossers prepared for an endurance cross country race. The Mini B riders and the Mini Novice riders left the starting line in a cold engine start on a seven-lap, !J5 mile race. In the Mini B class, Brian Custy endured the cold to take the first place finish:Behind him were a host of gutsy motocrossers, including Donald Anderson, Butch Watkins, Bobby Halbrook and Jay Ruterbories. . The Mini Novice class was won by Tom Green. He was followed by Corey Guerrero, Keith Zeffel, Rusty Dapp and Forrest Fridlend. In the afternoon the bigger r..acers set off on a IO-lap, 80 mile race. This race was a real test of hike and rider endurance. The Veteran Novice class saw Al Hjelm cross the finish line first. Behind him, David Dapp took second with Tom Lucas third. In the Veteran B class, Darrell Gates rode to first place over Zig Post. He was followed by Jim Robinson. The Veteran A class was captured by hard-riding Mike John. He led Terry Friedendall and Jim Thompson. The OP6l1 Novice class showed some good racing as Keith Henrichs won over Mike Denning and Dwight Miller. The Open B class was taken by Douglas Fast, he was chased all day . by Richard Grupp. . In the Open A class, Chris Sundstrom led the pack to.a first place finish over Joe Coppedle and Dick Dostal. The 250cc A class provided some superior racing by Brian Sharp. Brian burned up the circuit over Rusty Latimer and John Bruckbaker. The 250cc B class was taken by John Hjelm followed by Jack Fisher. In 250cc Novice; Mike Gavitt won over Mike Guerroro and Al Kevelaar. The 125cc A class provided some thrills when Phil Lindeman stayed out in front to the flag. He led Mark Fiesia and Darcy Satterfield. In the 125cc B race, Danny Kyle led the field in front of Art Dehoff and Butch Waitkins. . 'The 125cc Novice class saw Mike Mogard out in front over a fast-riding lady, Brandi Nasher, and Rich Winter. Borgman blasts to CO Speedway win By Ernie Ferguson DENVER, CO, NOV. 12 Speedway Promotions, Incorporated put on another excellent show at the National Western Complex Arena~ ,In the first event, a First Division Handicap heat, Dan Wei~m edged out Rick Steele and Mark Corbett, respectively, to take the first checkered flag of the evening. In the second event, another First Division heat, Don Mayberry raced his way past Fred Martin to capture his first hea't of the evening. Event number three presented hard riding Dave Peiper passing all riders from a 40 yard handicap position to capture the event over Johnny Zweygardt. The fourth event was won by Dave's brother Ken Pieper, as he swept his way past Brian Hoel and Allen-Rohr. The Second Division racers got on the track in the fifth event, with Lance Darsow taking the flag over Vince Reichardt and Scott Crooks. In the sixth event, a hard riding .Dennis Hartley took the inside line to 'win . over Jeff Kenley. The Scratch heats began with the seventh event. Super-riding Mark Borgman showed the fans how to race on a short track. He toqk the

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