Race Watch
RACE WATCH
Mini faired Yamaha YZ465 Wins Baja 500; Vance and O'Brochta Win Again in NMRA Drags; Kawasaki Finds Stars in AFM Box Stock; Aldana and Baldwin Scorch Endurance Races
YAMAHA SWEEPS BAJA 500
Bruce Ogilvie and Larry Roeseler really surprised everyone, including the finish line officials,at this year’s Baja 500. Nobody expected the pair, or anyone else, to complete the grueling 405 mi. loop in six hours and 42 minutes! Bruce and Larry’s Yamaha YZ465H was one of the trickest bikes entered, sporting a minifairing to help them cut through the air at speeds estimated in excess of 120 mph! The trickery also extended to the tires; much of this year’s course was run on paved roads and the team captain fitted the winning bike with Goodyear DT11 dirt track tires for the longer paved sections. Quick change wheels allowed changing both wheels in less than a minute.
Bikes left the starting line in Ensenada at 30 sec. intervals beginning at 5:45 a.m. Jim Fishback was first off the line on a George Erl-prepped 430 Husky. Roeseler started nine places back. He smoked down the 26 mi. of pavement to Santo Tomas where the pit crew changed to knobbies, topped the gas tank off and changed riders ♦n 50 sec.! Ogilvie moved up to third place by the start of the mountain climb leaving San Telmo but bailed hard avoiding a head-on with a car, something that seems to be happening much too often in upper Baja. The get-off detuned his timing and he was 7 min. behind the Fishback/Miller «Husky at Mike’s Sky Ranch, 150 mi. into the race. Bruce straightened his head out after leaving Mike’s and started cutting the distance between him and the lead bike. When Roeseler took over again for the final section, they were leading by 30 sec. Roeseler, who was still healing from a previous race get-off, had only ridden the 26 mi. pavement section, so was rested up and ready to turn the wick up for the final 90 mi. of the loop.
The Fishback/Miller Husky had experienced several problems; first the pipe broke hurting engine output, then several .thrown chains delayed the fast pair.
The Pfeiffer brothers, Scott and Kent,
blitzed the 250s on their Yamaha, finishing in 7.06.33. Kurt Pfeiffer and Michael Goodwin took 125 honors on a watercooled Yamaha. Ron Bishop and John Watkins kept Yamaha in the winners circle bringing their YZ465 into first in class 38. The only non-Yamaha win came in class 30 where George Erl and George Luther beat the competition on their Up-Tite Husqvarna.
Most riders liked this year’s counter clockwise loop that ran south down 26 mi. of pavement before turning west into the dirt. The next 71 mi. ran mostly next to the Pacific Ocean where riders had difficulty with coastal fog messing their goggles. From the coast, the course ran up the mountain the back way to Mike’s Sky Ranch before dropping down toward San Felipe, then back to pine covered forests and into Ensenada for a total of 405 mi.
Bruce Ogilvie summed it up when asked how the course was, and how his day had gone. “Pretty good,’’ he grinned.
RESULTS
VANCE, O’BROCHTA WIN AGAIN
Terry Vance rode his VHR Suzuki GS 1100 to another N M RA Pro Stock victory in Epping, New Hampshire. Vane**, set low e.t. of the meet, turning 8.69 on the rough track. In the final round, Vance defeated “Superbike Mike” Keyte, who owns, built and tunes his Kawasaki KZ1000.
Bo O’Brochta continued his Top Fuel winning ways, shooting straight to thp finish against R.C. Engineering’s Wayne Davis. Bo turned 7.68 sec. at 149.50 mph on his terminal Van Lines Kawaski. Davis’ Kawasaki dribbled oil as he staged and was forced to shut down. Davis defeated Jim Bernard and the Tesón/Bernard Ya* maha en route to the final.
Funny Bike (formerly called Super Eliminator) champion Mike Bruso junked his fuel-injected Kawaski’s transmission coming out of the gate against Vince Santangelo, who turned 8.01 at 167.49 mph to win. The upset was rookie Santangelo’s first-ever National win and his second Funny Bike race.
Krol Racing’s Geoff Masters, winner of last year’s R.C. Sportsman Cup SerieS, successfully defended his Pro Comp title against Charles Israel’s turbo Kawasaki. Masters’ Kawasaki ran a 9.05 at 145.23| mph.
In Stock Eliminator, Tom Faucher let -the good times roll on his stock, giantkiller GPz550, turning 13.30 at 99.22 mpéï to win. —Joel Breault
UPCOMING PAVEMENT STAR
Wayne Rainey, 20, first hooked up with Kawasaki to ride a KX25Qbased short tracker. But now Rainey, whose best results on dirt have been with an XR750 Harley-Davidson, is making his mark on pavement.
Kawasaki sent Rainey to the California Superbike School, then put him on a KZ750 and took him out to American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) races> in Southern California. Rainey soon established himself as unbeatable in 750cc Box Stock, tearing apart the competition and dropping lap records in the best tradition of two other AFM Box-Stockers-madegood, Eddie Lawson and Mike Spencer.
When Kawasaki put Rainey on a GPz550 in 600cc Box Stock, the result was the same, although Rainey had stiff competition in the smaller class from established AFM (and retired AMA) pilot Whitney Blakeslee, 35.
Rainey’s experience closely parallels that of Lawson. Rainey started dirt tracking 10 years ago, and like Lawson, is a dirt tracker first. But under the guidance of hired-by-Kawasaki road racing instructor Keith Code, Rainey has made the transition to asphalt quickly and smoothly. In his debut on a KR250, Rainey won the Novice event at the Loudon, New Hampshire Winston Pro Series road race.
Kawasaki is betting that Rainey will turn out to be as hot a road racing property as once-unknown Lawson did. And in case he does, Kawasaki representatives are already scanning the AFM Box Stock ranks for the next likely “unknown” with big-time potential.
BALDWIN AND ALDANA SIXTH IN GERMAN ENDURANCE RACE
Americans Mike Baldwin and Dave
Aldana were fast qualifiers at the eight-hour West German round of the world endurance championship series, riding a factory-supported Honda RSI000 for Honda France.
Baldwin crashed in practice Thursday before the race, breaking his collarbone. But Baldwin immediately went to famed motosport doctor Joan Derweduwen of Belgium, who operated to pin the collarbone. Two days later, on Saturday, Baldwin qualified fastest.
Baldwin started the race for the team and led after the LeMans start. After one lap Baldwin was five seconds ahead of second place. Baldwin pitted after six long laps on the huge Nürburgring course and> Aldana took over just before one hour elapsed time.
Baldwin and Aldana still led after three hours, but the rear brake stay tab had pulled out of the swing arm. Crewmen quickly removed the broken stay and Baldwin went out. Honda team officials later called in the leading machine for a swing arm/brake-stay-assembly change that
cost Baldwin/Aldana 15 min. and five positions. Baldwin said later that he couldn’t understand why the repairs were needed since the caliper, in the absence of the stay arm, simply bumped against the swing arm and didn’t cause any problems.
French Honda works riders Dominique Sarron and Jean-Claude Jaubert won the race. Aldana and Baldwin finished sixth.
A WIN FOR THE NR500
Honda’s incredible, complex and mysterious GP bike, the four-stroke NR500 Four that Honda hopes will defeat the two-strokes, has won a race.
Not, it’s true, a major race. But at an international meeting at Japan’s Suzuka circuit in June, Honda test rider Kengo» Kiyama beat Yamaha test rider Keiji Kenoshita and Suzuki test rider Hiroyuki Kawasaki, while another NR500 came in fourth.
No details were available, but it sounds as if the race was more of an outing and competition for the various factory R&D* teams. Even so, it’s the best showing for the NR500 to date and Motor Cycle News, our source for this report, says the Honda team is much encouraged and wifi field another improved version of the bike later in the GP season.
