Race Watch

RACE WATCH

All Harleys at Sacramento Mile; Malherbe Tops Opening 500cc MX Grand Prix; Husky Wins Las Vegas 400; Barnett and Howerton Lead U.S.

SACRAMENTO: THE ONE-MAKE MILE

Double debut, or so they said. Sacramento was the first mile race on the Winston Pro series calendar and Honda and Yamaha both were scheduled to introduce their V-Twin racers.

At tech inspection, it was yes and no. Honda had the NS750, and an incredible piece of engineering it is, but Freddie Spencer and Jeff Haney were in the backs of their heat races. Neither made the main event and the best finish for a Honda was Haney's 9th in the Trophy Dash.

Yamaha, uh sorry, Roberts/Lawwill Racing, had just barely finished bolting their engines into a frame and making sure the rig would actually run. With no track time and thus no tuning and no suspension shake-down, Mert Lawwill figured they Tad nothing to gain, so they left the new machine back at the shop.

(Our spy network, by the way, says the 75 ° V-Twin, just like the Virago except it's the chain-drive version is putting out power just a bit below a Harley, at the same engine speeds on the same dyno, and Mme Yamaha can be revved faster than the pushrod H-D. When it arrives, we've been told, the Yamaha will weigh less than an XR750 and more than the Honda.)

Except that the retail price to a Yamaha dealer will be about $2000 for the raceready engine, against nearly $10,000 for a Honda NS750 engine.

Harley, in the form of the factory's racing team, had troubles, too. National champ Randy Goss made up for his lackluster Ascot showing and jammed his XR into fastest time of the trials and the pole in his heat. He was second in the heat to Alex Jorgensen by less than a foot but in the main his engine went bad and he finished 11 th.

Jay Springsteen missed Ascot with a mashed hand suffered while play riding near home (You wondered what racers do in their spare time? Go riding, what else?) He was in good shape for Sacto but his

engine, too, got sick and when it slowed he banged another rider, went down, missed the main event and headed for home.

So. Who did the racing? The closest collection of private Harleys you ever saw. Mike Kidd and Hank Scott led, then Jorgensen passed them and then Wayne Rainey was in front for the first time in his career as an Expert. Scott Parker challenged while Jimmy Filice and Steve Morehead and Gary Scott and Scott Pearson all bounced back and forth in the sort of race where you don't dare look away for fear of not knowing who's in front.

At the flag it was Jorgensen, Parker, Hank Scott, Kidd, Filice, Pearson, Bubba Shobert, Rainey and Morehead on the same lap. AH 16 finishers rode Harleys.

A SPORTSMANSHIP TROPHY

Keen racing fans may have noticed in the Sacramento report that Mike Kidd and Jim Filice, known to be riding for Yamaha, finished the Sacramento Mile despite not having their expected Yamaha racers. They rode—gasp!—Harleys?

Yes. Roberts/Lawwill is sort of a private team, working for the Yamaha factory. But Roberts and Lawwill have done

their arithmetic. They know their riders need all the racing and points they can get, and they know what it's like for racers to sit out races.

So a few contracts were modified. Kidd borrowed back the Harley he rode as a privateer, but it broke so he borrowed another. Filice rode Lawwill's very own Harley, which by no accident was race

ready because it's going to be used as the benchmark for development.

It was a practical approach. At the same time, Yamaha didn't need to allow it, but they did and the fans got to see two top riders who otherwise would have been spectators. Good for Yamaha.

HARDEN/WALLINGSFORD WIN LAS VEGAS 400 AGAIN

For the second successive year Team Husqvarna's Scot Harden and Brent Wallingsford won the annual Las Vegas 400, the richest professional motorcycle desert race. The pair's Husqvarna 430XÇ finished 30 min. ahead of the runner-up Husky of Tom Kelly and Terry Clark. Third in the Open class went to Team Maico's Jack Johnson and Kevin Davis.

Brothers Kent and Scott Pfeiffer powered their Yamah~ YZ250H to the 250cc win ahead of locals Troy Fitch and Kevin Steele, who were also Yamahamounted, Husky riders Chuck Stearns and Dan Ashcraft finished third.

Californians Bob Maxwell and Scotfe Atchison pushed their Yamaha YZ125H water-pumper past the Husqvarna Team of Daryl Folks and Scott Coutt to top the 125cc class. Suzuki riders Billy Hill, Jr. and Randy Honeycutt finished third.

In the senior divisions John “Smokebomb” Gaetz and Rick Shirey won the Over-30 class on a Yamaha YZ465H while Sam Bass and Art Knapp captured the Over-38 class on a Husqvarna 430XC.

Chuck Harper

MALHERBE WINS OPENING 500cc MX

Reigning 500cc motocross World Champion Andre Malherbe won the opening round of this year's championship series, taking first in both motos on his works Honda. The win near Vienna, Austria devastated Malherbe's opponents, many of whom had loudly proclaimed that Malherbe—who broke his wrist six weeks before the race—would not be a threat.

Notable non-finisher was American Brad Lackey, now riding for Suzuki, who had bad starts in both motos and pitted, frustrated by not being able to work up

into a points-paying, top-10 position.

J.J. Bruno finished second in each moto on a Suzuki.

The track was extremely dusty and rocky, and about 10,000 people attended the race.

BARNETT, HOWERTON LEAD OPENING MX NATIONALS

The momentum that Team Suzuki stars Mark “Bomber” Barnett and Kent “Rhinestone Cowboy” Howerton found in the 1981 season's opening rounds of the Supercross Series helped them continue their winning ways right into the first three events of the outdoor AMA National Motocross Championships. Barnett has dominated the 125cc class, while Howerton is holding off the determined advances of Team Yamaha's Bob “Hurricane” Hannah in the 250cc class.

o> Reigning 125cc National Champion and present Supercross Series points leader Barnett ran away with all six 125cc motos to collect overall wins at Hangtown, Saddleback and Lake Whitney. The only rider who could possibly stop him, former three-time 125cc Champion Broc Glover, was so thoroughly thrashed by Barnett in last year's National Championship bout that Glover asked Yamaha to move him to the 500cc class this year where the pickings look to be easier. Thus, Barnett should have no trouble repeating his title on the Suzuki watercooled RA 125-81 Floater works bike, tuned by Jeff Clark. To see any> close competition race fans have had to content themselves with the tight battle for second place each race between Kawasaki's Jeff Ward, Honda's Jim Gibso»* and Johnny O'Mara, Yamaha's Rick Johnson, and Scott Burnworth on the* other Team Suzuki bike.

In the 250cc class Bob Hannah has ffnally returned to winning form after his serious leg injury, but is being hampered by trouble with the latest OW-50 Yamaha works bike with its numerous technical innovations like watercooling, power ex* haust valve, YEIS induction system and new progressive leverage rear suspension: The Yamaha is close to 30 lb. over the weight minimum, making it difficult tc) ride.

Kent Howerton's RH 250-81 factory Suzuki, however, is the picture of sim^ plicity without watercooling or the Yamaha's other engine trickery, and yet theSuzuki seems to be just as fast if not faster. The Suzuki is right on the AMA minr* mum weight limit of 197 lb., so it is easy for Howerton to ride and set up.

The Hangtown National opener saw.

Howerton run away with both motos while Hannah worked his way up from poor starts to very distant second-place finishes. Hannah showed his frustration when he returned to the pits after the first moto, dropped the bike on the ground, and yelled at the Team Yamaha personnel that they better do something about the bike to correct its problems, or he would quit the team and go over to Suzuki where he could have a bike which was competitive.

At Saddleback the next weekend Hannah was determined to do better. He and Howerton engaged in a fierce bumpingand-ramming battle that saw them trading insults and hand gestures as well. Howerton won the first moto by inches, but Hannah took the second moto and the day's overall win for his first victory in nearly two years.

Next came the Texas National at Lake Whitney, where on his own home turf, Howerton once again dominated both motos despite having just spent two days in the hospital due to a severe cold. Hannah had to settle for second overall again amid some strong challenges from Honda rider Donnie Hansen. Jim Gianatsis

LANG HINDLE FIFTH AT DAYTONA

Canadian Lang Hindle was fifth in the 1981 Daytona Superbike Race, not Mike Spencer as reported in the June issue. The confusion stemmed from an error in originally-posted AMA results and ensuing protests.

Final results list Spencer as finishing sixth.

VANCE WINS PRO STOCK AGAIN

Reigning NMRA and I DBA Pro Stock Champion Terry Vance won the second NMRA round of 1981 in Gainesville, Florida. By defeating “Superbike Mike” Keyte in the final, Vance bumped his season points total to 1488, well ahead of second-in-points Keyte's 840 and third-inpoints Bob Carpenter's 615. >

In the final, Vance turned a 9.01 e.t. to Keyte's 9.02. Vance rides a VHR Suzuki; Keyte a self-sponsored Kawasaki.

GETTING A FACTORY RIDE, PART II

Mike Spencer's rise from determined club racer to factory rider has already been reported in these pages (Cycle World, April 1981, page 179). Here's another success story.

Gennady Luibimsky, 27, recently signed a contract with U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. to be Wes Cooley's Yoshimura teammate in Superbike and F-l races. Like Spencer, Luibimsky started out as a club racer in California, buying and maintaining his own bikes, while supporting his racing by working for a bakery goods company. He graduated to racing his TZ250 in AMA nationals, and put in some good rides. Then he bought Wes Cooley's TZ750 (when Cooley started riding the Yoshimura four-stroke F-l bike) and went F-l racing. His first big race yielded a fourth place, at Road Atlanta last year, behind Rich Schlachter, Wes Cooley and Bruce Hammer.

Luibimsky was pleased with his success, but realized that factory Superbike teams are where the money is. He polished his Superbike skills by riding a friend's Kawasaki at Sears Point, and started writing to and phoning Fujio Yoshimura— sometimes calling twice a week—asking for a chance to ride a Yoshimura Superbike.

Luibimsky's chance came when Fujio held a riding audition at Willow Springs,>

inviting several interested and promising^ riders to try out.

“I just concentrated on making it look"1 easy, like I wasn't really trying hard,” ex^ plained Luibimsky later. “Compared t<P my TZ, the old practice bike they broughj^ out to the test session wasn't very fast. H tried to be real smooth.”

Luibimsky didn't turn the fastest lap time (Chuck Parme did, by about 1 sec.), but his coolness and the lines he took through critical Willow corners convinced Fujio that he was the man to hire.

SLICK-TIRE TIP

Here's a race-prep tip from Mike Velasco, Freddie Spencer's mechanic. Before mounting Goodyear slicks for Fred^ die's road racers, Velasco takes an Exacto knife and removes rubber flash from th<? bead area. According to Velasco, removing the flash makes the bead seat more evenly and securely on the wheel rim. Before he began removing the flash, Velasco says, mounted tires often had visible run-^ out because the uneven flash buildup prevented complete bead seating in some spots.

Velasco also feels it is important to inspect a slick before buying it, especially in the area where the tire number is imprinted (for example, D1705 or D2389). Sometimes the tire is too thin in the area' of the D-number imprint, says Velase which may lead to leaking or failure.