Race Watch
RACE WATCH
Who’s Riding What In 1983; Bruce Hammer Founds John Woo Memorial Safety Project; Steve Wise Proves His Critics Wrong.
DEPARTMENT
RACING IN 1983
The AMA Winston Pro Series becomes the Camel Pro Series, Suzuki and Yamaha scale back their U.S. road racing efforts, Eddie Lawson heads to Europe, and motocross gets one national champion—those are the headline stories for the 1983 racing season.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has long backed AMA Grand National racing, first under the Camel cigarettes brand, then under the Winston brand, and now, for 1983, back under the Camel banner. The series retains its usual format with four types of dirt track racing—short track, half mile, mile and TT—and road racing. This year, however, road racers get their own earned numbers as well as a separate championship. More on road racing later.
Meanwhile, the big name in Camel Pro dirt track racing is Harley-Davidson, and the team from Milwaukee will be back with Jay Springsteen, Randy Goss and Scott Parker. The trio will ride XR750s and SS250s, development on the XRs proceeding just in case Honda gets their racing version of the Shadow 750 working right.
One exciting bit of potential news here: the Harley team is preparing a road racer, something they haven’t done since the Yamaha TZ700 drove all the 750 Twins off the tracks back in the Seventies.
The two elements are the popularity of the Battle of the Twins series, and the unveiling of Harley’s XR1000 which, by no coincidence, has racing cylinder heads and lots of other good stuff. The bike won’t be fast enough for Camel Pro points, but it should do just fine against other Twins and Harley wouldn’t mind being seen on pavement again, plus Springsteen likes road racing. The proper papers have been filed with AMA, the team engineers are chuckling over the dyno runs and the racing XR1000 is scheduled to appear at Daytona’s BOTT race.
Oh. Also scheduled to appear is Dick O’Brien, the legendary director of H-D racing. Seems the season looks like so much fun he decided not to retire yet.
Reigning Winston Pro champion is Ricky Graham, who won the title on Harley-Davidsons tuned by Tex Peel. Graham will be back on Peel-prepared Harleys for dirt tracks and will skip road racing, and the effort will be backed by the usual sponsors, including Iron Horse magazine, Shoei, Castrol, ND, Wiseco, Diamond and Simons, but no big-time corporate sponsorship deal has been flung at the feet of the champion.
Team Honda is the big Camel Pro challenger with new bikes based on the 750 Shadow, the team headed by former champion Mike Kidd with Terry Poovey in the number two riding spot.
Yamaha’s presence in Camel Pro will be limited to the first two dirt tracks of the year, a short track and a TT at Houston. Both races will be entered by threetime 500cc road racing World Champion Kenny Roberts and two-time U.S. Superbike Champion Eddie Lawson, newly signed with Yamaha.
The same is true of Yamaha’s road racing involvement. Roberts and Lawson may appear at Daytona and Laguna Seca but Yamaha won’t back 1982 teamster Jimmy Filice or anybody else for the duration of the series.
Things are looking up for privateer road racers campaigning Yamahas, however, since Yamaha racing manager Ken Clark is working on obtaining sand-cast engine cases for TZ750s, the backbone of privateer road racing in the U.S. That would solve a serious problem—the die used for the standard die-cast cases is worn out and no new cases have been available for over a year. TZ750s habitually break and warp engine cases over prolonged use. The last for-sale TZ750 was built in 1978, but dozens of the bikes are still in use.
Yamaha has imported about 10 TZ250K road racers, which are a little lighter than the 1982 TZ250J with a different rear brake and a slightly altered frame. The company still has TZ250Js in stock.
Eddie Lawson has signed a multi-year contract with Yamaha to contest the 500cc road racing world championship. Lawson, 24, decided to go with Yamaha after discussing the deal with Kenny Roberts, who will also ride for the Yamaha factory in 1983, the team being managed by 14-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini and sponsored by Marlboro. Lawson had his choice of offers, including the Yamaha deal or a contract racing for Kawasaki in U.S. Superbike and Formula One events, and says his decision wasn’t motivated by money.
“It was mainly the challenge,” said Lawson. “Both offered about the same money, so that wasn't a factor. I wanted to get on something really good. Kenny said he'll help me out and teach me as I go, so you can't beat that. I'm going over there to learn during my first year, sit back and learn from Kenny and see what everybody else is doing. I want to do well but it’s ridiculous to expect to win the championship in the first year.”
Lawson’s departure from Kawasaki (after winning two Superbike and two Formula Two championships) left an opening, which was promptly filled by two-time Superbike Champion Wes Cooley. Cooley, 26, came from the Suzuki-backed Yoshimura team, which prepared the bikes that carried Cooley to national prominence and the two titles. Yoshimura pulled back from Superbike and Formula One in the face of Suzuki budget cuts, although they will prepare engines for and supply motorcycles to Chevron-backed Team Hammer for endurance use.
Cooley’s teammate at Kawasaki will be Wayne Rainey, 1982’s great find, who won one Superbike race and visited the winner's circle several times in his first season of professional road racing.
Rainey will likely concentrate on Superbikes with Cooley competing both on Superbikes and Formula One machines.
Honda will field Mike Baldwin and Steve Wise in U.S. Formula One and Superbike, the pair riding FWSlOOOs at Daytona and NS500s at other F-l races. Honda will also provide Superbikes and some support to Dave Aldana, John Bettencourt, Sam McDonald, Roberto Pietri and Fred Merkel. Fast Freddie Spencer will again compete on a Honda in the 500cc road racing World Championship series. Spencer won two Grands Prix in 1982, his first full year in Europe.
Honda’s lineup for Daytona is awesome, including the riders named aboveu plus England’s Ron Haslam, Japan's Takazumi Katayama and former 500cc World Champion Marco Lucchinelli.
Randy Mamola and reigning 500cc World Champion Franco Uncini will ride Suzukis in Grand Prix events under the German HB Cigarettes banner, with 350cc World Champion Tony Mang receiving support in the 500cc class.
Thad Wolff, the top privateer in U.S. F-l and Superbike racing in 1982; doesn’t have a superbike ride but will continue to campaign the Escargot Suzuki RG500, prepared by Matsu Matsuzawa, in F-l. Privateer Harry 'Klinzmann will ride a Krauser-sponsored MKM, (a Twin which uses BMW crankcases with special racing engine and chassis parts) in BOTT and Superbike events and Carter Fisher’s TZ750 in Formula One.
In motocross, Yamaha will field Mike Bell and Broc Glover in 500s, up-fromminibikes Ron Lechien on 125s and Rick Johnson in 250. All four will ride the Supercross series. New 250cc World Champion Danny LaPorte will defend his title on a Yamaha.
Kawasaki's motocross team will include Billy Liles, Jeff Ward and Kent Howerton in undecided national classes. All will ride in stadium events.
Suzuki's motocross team includes Mark Barnett, Alan King, George Holland and Scott Burnworth. It’s not decided which national class they’ll enter, but all will contest supercross races. Suzuki support riders will be Clint Hardick, Rick Ryan and Gary Bowman.
Riding motocrossers for Honda will be Bob Hannah and David Bailey on 250s, Johnny O’Mara on 125, Danny Chandler and Daryl Schultz on 500s. Honda’s support riders are Phil Larson (500), Steve Martin (250) and Kenny Keylon (125).
Donnie Hansen, still recovering from injuries suffered in the practice for the Trophée des Nations last year, will sit out the year while still on retainer for Honda.
Bad Brad Lackey, the first American to win a motocross World Championship, doesn’t have a ride for 1983. “I guess you could say I’m semi-retired,” said Lackey. “I’ve talked to virtually everybody but I don’t have anything to ride. I’ll go down in history—the first undefeated World Champion.”
Chuck Sun will ride Maicos in the U.S. in 1983. Husqvarna has a large support program but no factory team.
In addition to series champions in each of the motocross displacement classes and the Supercross series, there will be a Wrangler Grand National Champion. Whoever gets the most points in Supercross races and any of the three outdoor motocross classes gets the title, the money and the knowlege that he is the best motocrosser in the country.
JON WOO
Rising superbike star Jon Woo died Rising while trying out for the Honda road racing support team at Laguna Seca
Raceway. Woo crashed in Laguna’s Turn Two and slid with the motorcycle into a dirt embankment bordering the track, suffering head injuries.
Woo, 27, of Chico, Calif., had steadily improved during the 1982 season, riding a Kawasaki superbike he built and maintained by himself. He received limited product sponsorship from Bell, Nippondenso, Kal-Gard, and Champion Moriwaki USA, and proved a privateer could do business on his own by finishing fourth in the Sears Point AMA Superbike round, beating several factory riders. Woo’s finish was later disqualified when it was found that his bike was eight pounds under the 416-lb. weight minimum. That was because Woo used a bathroom scale when building his racebike in his garage.
Later in the season, Woo finished second in the motorcycle race held in conjunction with the Las Vegas Formula One. car race, beating Harry Klinzmann and closing fast on winner Miles Baldwin.
Woo was a rare individual with no enemies—everyone who met him liked him. He was talented, and was turning the best lap times at the Honda tryout session, which gave about 13 riders a chance to show what they could do on works superbikes.
His wife, Jerri, told reporters after Jon’s death, “He was doing what he loved to do, racing motorcycles. Make sure you tell people that.” —John Ulrich
JON WOO MEMORIAL SAFETY PROJECT
Following the death of Jon Woo at Laguna Seca, Bruce Hammer organized the Jon Woo Memorial Safety Project and called a rider boycott of Laguna Seca and Road America (Elkhart Lake) until specific changes were made to improve rider safety at the two tracks.
Hammer, 33, of Los Angeles, remains in a wheelchair as the result of spinal injuries suffered in a crash at Elkhart Lake last season.
The Jon Woo Memorial Safety Project is calling for removal of steel barriers outside Turn Four at Laguna and the Carousel at Elkhart, and the bulldozing back of a hill outside Laguna’s Turn Two. Riders joining the movement include Dave Aldana, John Bettencourt, Wes Cooley, Dave Emde, Harry Klinzmann, Eddie Lawson, Richard Schlachter, Mike Spencer and Thad Wolff.
It remains to be seen if the racetracks will make the changes, and, if not, whether the riders will actually boycott AMA events scheduled at the tracks.
WISE IS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Steve Wise was named the AMA Athlete of the Year after switching from motocross to road racing and almost winning the Winston Pro Series Formula One championship in the process.
When Honda road racing manager Udo Geitl hired Wise—who had just been released from Honda’s motocross squad—skeptics didn’t think Wise could make the transition from dirt to fast pavement. But both Geitl and mechanic Mike Velasco supported Wise, pointing to Wise’s two wins in the staged-for-television Superbikers dirt/pavement race as proof of Wise’s ability on tarmac.
It still wasn’t easy. Wise was awestruck at the horsepower produced by the 1025cc Honda road racers, and early in the season his performances were not spectacular. It got worse. A series of crashes had Wise wondering if he’d ever learn to go fast and stay on two wheels on pavement, and after Laguna Seca Wise seriously considered quitting.
It was then that Geitl, who throughout it all kept his faith in Wise and encour-
aged him, brought in road racing guru Keith Code, the man largely responsible for Wayne Rainey’s rise to stardom. Under Code’s coaching, Wise smoothed out, stopped crashing, and began looking forward to doing business in 1983.
Looking back at the 1982 season, Geitl, now vindicated in his decision to hire Wise, said “I knew he could do it. L used to motocross myself, and I knew Steve had the talent.”
SMITH/ASHCRAFT WIN FRONTIER 500
Team Husqvarna’s Dan Smith and Dan Ashcraft won the inaugurai
Frontier 500 professional off-road desert race in Nevada. The pair’s six-speed Husqvarna 500XC covered the 450-mi. Las Vegas to Reno course in nine hours) and five min., 15 min. ahead of second overall (and 250cc class winners) Bruce Ogilvie and Jeff Kaplan on a Honda CR250R.
In the senior divisions A. C. Bakkan and four-time U.S. motocross champion Gary Jones won the Over-30 class on a Husqvarna 430XC.—Chuck Harper
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FORMULA TWO THE HARD WAY
The easiest and most popular way to race Formula Two is to buy a
TZ250 Yamaha and have at it. But there are always a few dreamers who insist on doing it the hard way—with air-cooled two-stroke 350s or 400s or four-stroke 500cc Singles.
Sometimes doing it the hard way is effective—Craig Morris won the F-2 race at Elkhart Lake last year with an aircooled 350cc Twin in the TZ250 frame. And Kurt Bickle is getting close to the front with his Can-Am Sonic.
Bickle’s 1982 record shows constant improvement in lap times and results as he sorted out his bike. Before the year ended Bickle had beaten John Glover (sixth at Daytona in F-2, 1982) to win an AFM race at Sears Point; taken fifth in his heat at the Sears Point AMA National and briefly run fourth in the final, eventually finishing ninth; and gotten down to 1:34 lap times in winning another AFM F-2 race at Willow Springs.
At year’s end, Bickle was about three seconds off the lap record for F-2 at Willow and about five seconds off the F-2 lap record at Sears Point. But that’s closer than other Singles of recent years and it’s close enough to run up front in the class at AMA Nationals.
Bickle’s bike uses a 494cc Can-Am (Rotax) engine modified by Harry Lillie. Bore and stroke are stock at 89 x 79.4mm, but Lillie cut the cylinder to boost c.r. to 10.7:1. Lillie also installed bronze valve guides and 35mm stainless steel intake valves (stock are 34mm) and fitted a camshaft delivering 0.375 in. intake and exhaust lift. Intake duration is 296°, exhaust duration 288°.
Lillie claims a 20 percent improvement in velocity and a 22 cfm improvement in flow from welding up and reshaping the intake port. The bike runs a 40mm Dell'Orto with a velocity stack.
Other changes made by Lillie include cutting down the crankshaft flywheels and removing the counterbalancer and kick starter. Ready to race, the engine weighs 82 lb.
The engine is installed in a prototype roadrace chassis kit built by Terry Knight of Knight Racing Frames. Made of chrome-moly steel, the frame has a 52.2-in. wheelbase and 23° of rake. It uses TZ250 forks, triple clamps and seat; DID rims laced to Kosman hubs (WM4 front, WM5 rear); a single 13-in. floating Kosman disc with Lockheed caliper in front, a 10.5-in solid-mount Kosman disc with Grimeca caliper in the rear; an XT500 gas tank; oil tank and rearsets made by Knight; Fox Superbike Shox; and a Lockhart oil cooler. Bickle claims the bike weighs 237 lb. wet.
Bickle revs the bike to 8500 rpm and says power is strong from 4500 rpm. He figures he’s about 5 mph down in top speed against a top-line TZ250, and about even with average 250s. On the other hand, Bickle says his bike accelerates harder in the mid-range. The bike is difficult to ride in fast S-turns, Bickle says, and doesn’t seem to flick back and forth as easily as a TZ, probably due to a higher center of gravity.
Last season Bickle’s bike ran 29.5 hours and never broke. Lillie tore the engine down for inspection at five hours, replaced the rings at six hours, and did a valve job at 20 hours.
Bickle financed his 1982 effort by selling his street bikes, getting a creditunion loan and talking his girlfriend out of $1000—a typical privateer’s story of lots of determination and not enough money. He did get some help from Racer's World, Redline Oil, Lockhart andShoei helmets, and, being a hard-core privateer and optimist, figures he’ll make his mark in 1983,
