Racewatch
Magoo Chandler Wins TV Race; National MX Restructured; Big Brother Helps McDonald Win F-2 Championship
RACEWATCH
CHANDLER FIRST IN TV RACE
Show business has its moments. When Danny Chandler crossed the line the winner of Superbikes IV, the made-for-TV show, it was the best finish of the best race in the event’s history. And it came from the worst field in the event’s history.
Politics did it. When the race was organized for ABC’s sports division, the idea was to get the world’s best riders from motocross, road racing and flat track. The riders could use any bike, limited only to 500cc Singles or 750cc Twins, and they’d race on a mix of pavement and dirt. This would test talent, the thinking was, and would bring the various stars together for the first time. Especially when they’d compete for a $50,000 purse.
What the promotors hadn’t figured was: not all 500 Singles and 750 Twins are equal; most of the world’s best ride for factories; and factories don’t invest in riders so those riders can lose races in full view of a nationwide audience.
Thus, when the road race heat lined up for qualifying, it didn’t include Ken Roberts, Freddie Spencer or Randy Mamola. Standing on the sidelines were Eddie Lawson, Mike Baldwin, Wayne Rainey, and Wes Cooley. Not there for the motocross group were Brad Lackey, Danny Laporte, Bob Hannah, Mike Bell, Mark Barnett, Kent Howerton, Johnny O’Mara, or Donnie Hansen. Some weren’t racing because of injuries or schedule conflict, but most were out because Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki had decided not to play.
Honda had decided to play. Hard. Steve Wise, winner of the two previous Superbikers races, had a modified CR480 and waxed the road race heat.
Flat trackers don’t have many factories to work for, but Harley-Davidson figured it was time to join this event, in the person of Jay Springsteen. Next to him was Ricky Graham, the 1983 AMA National Champion. Both naturally were on Harley XR750s, rigged for TT. Tuners Bill Werner and Tex Peel hadn’t been in this race before so they guessed on power and gearing. Tex’ engine was tuned to last. Werner added power but it came on so hard not even Springer could handle it in the dirt, so they chopped off the exhaust pipes to broaden the powerband. (And subtract 15 bhp, but that’s racing.)
Graham got off in front and won the heat, while Springsteen started in the wrong gear, rolled away last and powered through to second. It was the fastest heat of the day, giving heart to four-stroke fans everywhere.
As the other MXers leaped away from him, Chandler learned that CR480s geared for 110 mph don’t make good starts in 2nd gear. Not to worry. He passed the entire field and won the motocross heat.
The final had elements of a classic. Danny Chandler, winner of all four motos in the 1982 Motocross des Nations and Trophée des Nations, vs. twotime Superbikers victor and motocrosser-turned-road racer Steve Wise, vs. new AMA No. 1 Ricky Graham vs. three-time national champ and all-time AMA winner Jay Springsteen. Honda vs. Harley. Two stroke vs. four stroke.
And that’s the way it went. Not to offend the other riders, but it was a fourman race. The Harleys led, then a Honda broke their ranks, then the Hond as led and a Harley jammed through, back and forth, the big 750s powering past on the pavement, the agile 500s tucking inside on the dirt, while no matter who was where, the fans saw a top racer from his field battling it out with top racers from other fields. Just what we’d been promised all these years.
At the finish, conditioning told. Chandler first, Wise right behind him, Springer on Wise’ heels, Graham trailing Springsteen.
A good show. ABC doesn’t know at this writing when it will be broadcast, but it’s worth checking local listings for time and station. >
NEW MX RULES
Yes, there will be a national championship season for motocross. But it was a near thing.
Early last year the American Motorcyclist Assn., the promoters and the factories most involved in professional motocross came up with a new system for the national championships, one that would result in a, repeat a national champion, in contrast to having no. one plates for 125, 250, 500 and stadium classes. No sooner had the new system been adopted than it was objected to, the result of that being a $15 million lawsuit filed by the AMA against Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha.
Subsequent meetings and discussions by the involved parties have brought an agreement to separate the lawsuit, which continues in typically slow fashion, from the racing rules and the 1983 season.
The new arrangement begins with sponsorship. Wrangler, the blue jeans people, will fund the $100,000 Wrangler Super Series, with both stadium and outdoor races.
Next, the outdoor races will have all three classes, with shorter motos to get in all the racing.
And there will be a Grand National Motocross title, with riders adding up points from the stadium races and from their best results in one of the three outdoor classes.
Thus, no rider will be required to ride all classes, and riders who don’t won’t be handicapped by their choice. And because all outdoor championship meets will have all classes, the fans will get to see the champion and all the factory stars on the same day, even if they all don’t compete directly against each other.
What comes next, we can’t say yet. The factory teams, homes of all the stars, have not officially agreed that they will take part in the outdoor series.
Yamaha and Honda have formally promised to enter the stadium events, while Suzuki and Kawasaki expect to be there but not for direct quotation. On the other side, the promoters of the first race, at Anaheim Stadium, haven’t signed for AMA sanction.
But there will be a motocross season, and there will be a national motocross champion.
McDONALD FAMILY STILL ON THE GAS
It was nine years ago, on the now-defunct Ontario Motor Speedway road course, that an astonished 17-year-old from Tulsa found himself passing famous riders he had read about in magazines for years. Barry Sheene. Gregg Hansford. Gene Romero. Don Castro. Kenny Roberts.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Phil McDonald, now 26, reminiscing recently. “I mean, these guys were my idols, and I was passing them. I passed Kenny Roberts on the back straight, and when he passed me back in the esses, I passed him again on the front straight. My bike was faster than his was.”
McDonald led the first 100-mi. leg of the Champion Spark Plug 200 until the gas stops, when he pulled in for refueling only to find his father, Norm, so excited by the impossibility of his son leading the race that he fumbled with the quickfill. McDonald’s stop lasted 18 sec. to Roberts’ 3 sec., and Roberts won. McDonald came back from ninth to fourth in that first leg, but crashed early in the second leg after running over an errant traffic cone while passing Roberts on the brakes before a tight turn.
McDonald's career never matched the brilliant flash of that Ontario race and he doesn’t race anymore. But Phil McDonald is still making his mark in racing.
When his younger brother found himself without a mechanic just before the start of the 1982 racing season, Phil offered to fill in for the first race of the year, at Daytona. But after Sam McDonald, then 19, finished third in the Daytona Formula Two (250cc) race behind Grand Prix stars Rich Schlachter and Martin Wimmer, the one-race deal became a two-race deal. After all, Talledega was just one week later, and the two brothers, their van and two TZ250s (supplied by their parents, Norm and Lucy McDonald through the family shop, K&N Motorcycles of Tulsa), were already in the vicinity.
Sam’s second at Talledega, after nearly winning, turned the two-race deal into a three-race deal, which a second place at Long Beach turned into a fourrace deal, which another second at Riverside turned into a five-race deal, which .. . you get the idea.
When it was all over, Sam and Phil had gone to 11 races scattered around the country, turning a string of consistent finishes into the 1982 AMA Formula Two Championship.
Sam's purse winnings and what money Phil could earn between races by building TZ250 engines for local midget car racers kept the pair on the circuit. As the results came in, so did sponsorship, albeit limited sponsorship, from Yamaha, Bell, Champion, Kal-Gard, Diamond, Dunlop, Lectron, Ferodo (PRO) and fabricator Dave Garoutte.
Sam ended the year using an aluminum Spondon frame, purchased three races from the end of the season to replace a frame damaged in a crash during practice. Money for the new frame—and other late-season expenses when money was short—came again from Mom and Dad McDonald.
Along the way, Phil gave Sam the benefit of his experience. “I think one of the problems with my career was that I started too soon,” says Phil. “I lied about my age and started racing when I was 14. The AMA thinks I’m 31 or 32 now. The talent was there, but maturity and consistency wasn’t. So Sam, by starting later, has an advantage.
“Because I used to race, I could help Sam figure out what the motorcycle was doing and how to correct it. He’d come in from practice at the first few races and not know what was wrong. But when we talked about it, I’d ask him if it did this or did that, and we’d be able to piece together what the motorcycle was actually doing. I'd tell him what I used to do when my bikes did that, we’d try it, and he’d come back in and say it was much better.”
The teamwork worked: Sam won the championship without a single DNF and was offered a ride on a Honda Superbike at the final Pro-Am race, after clinching the F-2 title at the next-to-last-event. He finished fourth, and earned a place in Honda’s 1983 Superbike Support program. Phil, meanwhile, has been hired as mechanic for Team Honda and will prepare Superbikes and Formula One machines.
CALIFORNIAN SCHREIBER SECOND IN WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
The only off road World Championship that America hasn’t dominated this season is the delicate balancing act of trials. But California’s Bernie Schreiber came very close to taking the title. He battled all season with 20-yearold Belgian Eddie Lejeune, eventually losing the title in Finland after 10 rounds of the 12-round series.
The opposition, including current World Champion Gilles Burgat, were relegated to spectators as Bernie and Eddie traded wins and second places all season long. Lejeune’s consistency finally paid off while Schreiber faltered with, among other things, an injured arm sustained during a stadium trial.
Lejeune’s victory is impressive not just because of his consistency, (he only twice finished worse than second), but also because he is the youngest world trials champion in history and the first ever to win on a four-stroke. His factory Honda is the first thumper to win a major trials series since Sammy Miller won the British championship aboard an Ariel in 1964. And many observers credit much of Lejeune’s success to the Honda’s ability to find traction where the two-strokes could only spin their wheels.
With the pressure off during the final two rounds, the new champion could afford to make mistakes. He still managed to win the Swedish round while Schreiber slipped to fourth and Burgat gained points with a second place. Burgat narrowed the gap on Schreiber even further in the final round in Poland, but Schreiber’s second place finish ensured a runner up spot in the championship.
DAVE ALDANA RIDES THE WORLD'S MOST UNUSUAL RACEBIKE
Dave Aldana teamed with Christian LeLaird on the unusual Elf E Honda for three World Championship Endurance races, and has been offered a contract with the team for 1983. The team DNF in Germany and finished ninth in Austria, then failed to finish the 24-hour Bol d’Or when a connecting rod broke 10 min. into the race. Aldana reports that the bike is much lighter than it appears because every solid-appearing alloy strut or brace is hollowed out on the backside. The bike doesn’t have a conventional chassis; the swing arm pivot plate and fork attaching section bolt directly to the engine. The exhaust system curves back over the engine, the gas tank is under the engine, and the oil tank is under the seat. Fiberglass bodywork keeps exhaust heat from burning the rider.
Each wheel is attached on one side only, with one short-travel shock absorber, and the front wheel features kingpin steering. “It’s the fastest thing on the track because it has better aerodynamics,” says Aldana, “but it needs more development. The suspension doesn’t work as well as it should. You have to back off the gas over bumps and brake earlier than you want to because it bounces around. You’ve got to hang on , and wait until you’re over the bumps to gas it or brake hard. It doesn’t squat enough when you turn on the gas, which makes it feel funny.
Dave A/dana in action on the Elf E, wearing leathers borrowed from co-rider Christian LeLaird.
“But it’s amazing the adjustments those guys can make to the bike. We just come in and tell them what it needs and , they can make it better. Because it’s an all-new design it still needs work but I’m sure those guys can get it right. The thing is really advanced.”
The first time Aldana saw the bike, he asked “Which end is the front?”
PRIVATEER WINS BOYCOTTED, SHORTENED TRANS-USA SERIES
Privateer Dave Hollis won the 13th and final AMA Trans-USA Motocross Championship. The fall outdoor MX series, originally called the TransAm but changed when Pontiac objected, • was the first American motocross series to draw European riders—at a time when European stars were superior to American motocrossers. The 1982 ver, sion of the series allowed riders to run 250cc or Open class bikes in three 20min. motos per race. •
Factory riders from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha boycotted the series on orders from team managers due to a dispute over 1983 rules plus reported strains on team budgets and logistics caused by an overly-long racing season. Whatever the reasons, America’s top motocrossers were not present for Trans-USA races.
With the boycott by big factory teams, the final two rounds, scheduled for Colorado and California, were cancelled. That left just three races, in Minnesota, Michigan and New York.
At the opener at Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota, the natural-terrain circuit with sand whoop sections met with the approval of all, especially Hollis, who won overall with 1-2-1 moto finishes. Veteran Billy Grossi, now back on a Husqvarna, was second overall, and first-year pro Billy Liles piloted his Kawasaki KX250 to third overall despite a snapped chain in one moto.
KTM’s Donny Cantaloupi won overall at Red Bud Track ‘N Trail in Buchanan, Michigan, the second round, powering his 495cc to 1-5-1 finishes on the demanding, dry, yet dust free, course. (Cantaloupi wasn’t in contention at the first round due to engine troubles). Hollis went 12-2-1 for second overall and held the points lead, while Husky’s Kris Bigelow was third overall. Grossi was fourth and Denny Bentley, a Suzuki teamster contractually cut loose for the Trans-USA, was fifth despite a sore ankle.
At the final at Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New York, Liles styled to the overall win, beating Maico’s Mickey Kessler, who finished second. But the big honors went to Hollis, who played a points game all day and took the championship with a fourth overall, behind
Grossi. Cantaloupi crashed and broke his collarbone, and Liles’ win left him still eight points short of the title.
— Tom Mueller/Cycle News East
CUNNINGHAM TAKES ENDURO TITLE
Husqvarna’s Terry Cunningham captured the 1982 AMA National Amateur Enduro Championship, winning six enduros before the end of the season.
Cunningham’s title was assured at the Black Coal National where he was sidelined most of the race with ignition problems. The Black Coal was the 11th of 13 enduros on the calendar, and the only person with a chance of catching Cunningham was Mike Melton, another Husky rider. But to win the championship, Melton would have to win the final two events while Cunningham failed to finish either one. Cunningham did DNF the last two events, but Melton didn’t win, and the title went to Cunningham.
Can-Am’s John Martin won the Black Coal, just as he has in three of the last four years. Martin dropped 33 points.
—Brian and Ann Palormo
GIBSON GETS WORKS YAMAHA RIDE
Jim Gibson, 23, of Canyon Lake, Calif, has signed with Yamaha to ride the 125cc Motocross World Championship circuit in 1983. Gibson joins reigning World Champion Danny LaPorte and former 500cc World Champion Hakan Carlqvist on the team, based at Yamaha Motor NV in Holland.
Yamaha Motor NV hired LaPorte last year after the young American was turned down by Honda despite strong recommendations from Roger DeCoster, his long-time friend and mentor. After getting the works Yamaha ride, LaPorte won the World Championship in his first try.
American Bill Buchka will be Gibson’s mechanic.
KAWASAKI TRIES GPZ75O SUPERBIKES
Kawasaki’s road racing team tested the company’s 1983 Superbikes at Riverside Raceway and found that the new bikes handled well but didn’t make enough power. On the short course, the bikes were lapping in 1 minute 34 sec., about 4.0 sec. a lap off a fast practice pace.
The bike has two spark plugs per cylinder and magneto CDI ignition. At the test session, the machines were ridden by Wayne Rainey and new team member Wes Cooley, who joined after Eddie Lawson signed a contract with Yamaha to race Grands Prix.
HONDA TESTS 750 SUPERBIKE
Honda continued to test its new Superbike in preparation for the 1983 season, in which new rules limit the class 750cc. The new bike is based on the Interceptor and weighs right on the minimum weight for the class, 390 lb. According to our man in the scene, the only stock-looking parts were the cylinder castings and frame. The swing arm appeared to be sand cast and was machined to accept bolt-on reinforcing. Other nonstock, special parts included the suspension linkage, remote reservoir Showa shock and Showa forks with TRAC anti-
dive and a drop-away, hinged front axle mount.
Engine modifications include a dry sump (the oil tank is under the seat) and an oil cooler hanging down in front of the front cylinder head. Carbs are sand-cast magnesium Keihins and the two stock radiators are replaced by a single massive aluminum radiator that completely fills the space between the frame downtubes and the 16-in. front wheel. Ignition is total loss, powered by a wetcell battery hung off the right side of the cylinders. E8
