Afm Six-Hour

AFM SIX-HOUR

Eddie Lawson and Ron Pierce Team on a Kawasaki to Win America's Fastest Endurance Race.

John Ulrich

Eddie Lawson and Ron Pierce teamed on a Kawasaki Motors Corp. KZ1000 Superbike to win the Budweiser-sponsored AFM Six-Hour at Riverside Raceway. The pair’s Kawasaki, built by crew chief Rob Muzzy, was clearly the fastest motorcycle on the track and covered 175 laps on the 3.3-mi. course.

Lawson qualified fastest in heat races on Saturday, and led immediately off the line in Sunday’s final event. “The first part of the race I got through traffic okay,” said Lawson, who often turned 1:55 laps during the race in spite of slower bikes around the course. “But when I started slowing down 1 had some problems. 1 had one time in turn three (a righthander in the Riverside esses) where I almost died. I tried to sneak under a guy and he came right down to the painted line (inside the turn) and he was going real slow. I was going real fast and all I could do was jam on the brakes and run over the alligator bumps inside the track, then across the dirt and back onto the course. It was close.

“At the end I thought I was going real slow, but they (Lawson’s pit crew) kept signalling me to slow down—if I went any slower I thought I’d tip over.”

Lawson’s best lap during the race was a record 1:53. He ended the race turning 1:57s after a terrible front-wheel slide in banked turn nine. “I guess I was going too hard too long,” explained Lawson. “The front tire was worn past the cords and the front end pushed real bad one time when I went into turn nine. That got exciting, and I just pulled into the pits for a wheel change.”

Pierce rode hard and fast, often equaling Lawson’s times during the race, his best laps being 1:55s, and making the point that he has definitely recovered from serious injuries suffered in a crash at Suzuka, Japan last year. It was Pierce’s first major race since that crash, and he looked to be on top form.

Team Hammer finished in second place,

first non-factory machine, with a 1170cc Vance & Hines GS1100 ridden by Bruce Hammer and John Ulrich. Backed by Chevron USA, Inc. and Derale Oil Coolers with a pit crew from Cycle Tune, Team Hammer finished five laps ahead of third place in spite of losing the left upper shock mount bolt and the right-side seat mount bolt, both losses causing handling of the Moriwaki-framed F-l bike to deteriorate.

Third place was hotly disputed. Initial results said that Dave Emde and Harry Klinzmann were third on the San Jose BMW, which Emde also rode to second place in the Big Twins sprint race held the morning before the Six-Hour. But final results showed Emde and Klinzmann finishing three seconds behind Steve Sowden and Rick Mitchell. The finish came down to the last lap, with Emde’s pit crew waving him on as he closed on, then passed, Mitchell. Figuring out the situation from Emde’s pit signal board, Mitchell frantically gassed it up and repassed Emde for third place. Unfortunately, a scoring error denied Mitchell and Sowden their first trip to a photographer-laden, champagnedampened victory circle. They were declared third two days later. Sowden and Mitchell’s Kawasaki, owned by Mitchell, had an 1105cc engine built by Mark Sottile with sponsorship help from IBCO Gaskets, M.A.C. exhaust systems and S.B.S. brake pads. It finished with a broken front motor mount and two broken exhaust header studs, rasping and wobbling its way around corners.

Fifth overall and first in the 750cc class were Pat Eagan and Chris Steward on the California Suzuki of Orange GS750. Eagan started the race dead last, since he hadn’t finished his heat race—while Eagan was leading his heat, the carburetor vent hoses tucked into the catch tank became submerged in oil from the crankcase breather, and the. engine died. The Cal Suzuki crew found the problem in time for the final and Eagan had the class lead before the end of the first hour. California Suzuki owner Phil Epier backed the effort and served as crew chief.

Notable non-finishers included Gennady Luibimsky and Dennis Smith on the Yoshimura R&D GS1000 Superbike. Smith and Luibimsky were second when their bike broke before the halfway point.

Chuck Parme raced his GSM/Champion Motorcycles Kawasaki with Luibimsky in a first-hour battle for second place, but Parme’s partner, Whitney Blakeslee, never got to ride because the engine broke.

Jimmy Adamo, who won the Battle of the Twins sprint race on a Reno Leoniprepared Ducati, ran fifth behind Lawson, Luibimsky, Parme, and Hammer in the first hour, but his bike’s chain started repeatedly jumping the sprockets and he eventually retired. John Bettencourt and Richard Chambers ran in the top 10 on their White’s Truck Stop KZ1000 Superbike until the engine blew up, and Rusty Sharp (partner Bruce Sass) rode his Flower Company GS1000 Superbike from second-to-last into the top 10 overall before it broke.

There was a 250cc GP race before the six-hour, and Dave Emde won on the Bob Endicott TZ250H after leading early on, then following Fred Merkel, the Laguna Seca Novice winner. Emde made his passfor-the-win on the last lap. Gill Martin was third after coming up from a bad start and setting a lap record for 250s in the process, turning 2.00.18 on the Tony Smith Racing TZ250H.

Terry Statum and Mike Krolick won the Kawasaki Two-Hour held on Saturday for Production and Box Stock bikes. Early leader Pat Eagan (partner Chris Steward) crashed in oil, picked it up and continued to lead. Due to a slow pit stop Eagan/ Steward finished second by eight sec., two laps ahead of Dennis Smith and Ken Farmer who were forced to pit when their bike’s ATK device blew up and shattered the battery. All three top runners rode Suzuki GS 1100s, and all three battled back-and-forth in the first hour.