Cycle World Race Watch

CYCLE WORLD RACE WATCH

Lawson wins Superbikers TV race

Yamaha’s Eddie Lawson won the produced-for-TV Superbikers race, riding a YZ490 to a decisive victory at Carlsbad Raceway in Southern California. Every-

body knows that Lawson is a road racer, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, two-time AMA Formula Two Champion and new Team Marlboro Grand Prix star.

Less well-known is Eddie’s dirt-track background, a background that served him well in the combination of pavement/smooth dirt/ fk rough dirt.

‘ip In practice a few days before the race,Lawson was certain he couldn’t win on his Yamaha, which had plenty of grunt but no topend power. But lastminute changes to the bike gave Lawson what he needed to do business: lots of horsepower and speed. As raced, Lawson’s 490 ran a ported cylinder; a standard reed block, head, exhaust, and ignition; a 41mm Mikuni carburetor; and a combination of chassis parts including an OW31 front disc, an RD350 caliper, an XS650 master cylinder and 19-inch wheels using a YZ490 rear hub and an TX750 front hub. Lawson was several seconds a lap faster in practice than anybody else. The way Yamaha racing manager Ken Clark tells it, at one point during practice, Team Honda motocrosser Bob Hannah asked a member of the Yamaha crew who he figured would win. The Yamaha man replied that Eddie Lawson would win. “No way is he gonna beat Magoo (Chandler),” Hannah replied. At just that moment, Lawson came flying through the chicane in full view of the pair, obviously the master of that part of the track. Hannah, the story goes, shook his head and walked off, saying, “Magoo’s in trouble.”

Which is how the race went. After winning his sixlap heat (with a time 10 seconds faster than Chandler’s winning time in his heat), Lawson simply took the lead and sat 4.5 seconds ahead of the field. When Chandler closed up to within a few seconds, Lawson stretched it out again, and won the 10-lap final event. All the while, TV cameras rolled and a helicopter shadowed the riders. Yamaha’s Broc Glover was third, and Andre Malherbe fourth on a Honda and Eric Gebboers fifth on a Suzuki. First man not riding a motocrosser converted to Superbikers trim was Bubba Shobert on Ron Wood’s fTotax-engined, 225-pound, 500cc TT bike. Notable nonfinishers included the entire Harley-Davidson team, sidelined with transmissions broken in their XR750 V-Twins.

The whole affair gets televised on ABC sometime in the future (check local listings), billed as the showdown between road racers, dirt trackers and motocrossers to crown the world’s best allaround racer. In that respect, the show is a sham (witness the absence of World Champion Freddie Spencer, former World Champion Kenny Roberts, aspiring champion Randy Mamola and former National Champion Ricky Graham, to name four), but it is motorcycle racing and provides good entertainment.

Team Hammer wins National Endurance Series

Tearn Hammer came on strong in the last four races of the WERA/ND National Endurance Series to take the championship. The team’s comeback from a big points deficit started with a 10th in an eight-hour at Texas World Speedway, following a crash while leading. That may not sound like much, but it gave the team nine valuable points while arch-rival Team Ontario blew up two engines and didn’t finish. At Nelson Ledges, Ohio for a six-hour, Team Hammer won while Team Ontario broke a crankshaft. At Summit Point, West Virginia, Team Hammer won again and Team Ontario crashed, then blew up. Team Hammer,which was 44 points behind at one point in the 1983 season, went into the final race at Road Atlanta with an 18-point advantage, needing just a 10th place finish to take the championship. When the flag fell, Team Ontario’s Lynn Miller and Luther Wikle won the race, but Team Hammer’s John Ulrich, Joey Osowski and

Steve Baron won the war, and the title, with a third-place finish. Team Hammer Two, Russell Paulk, Joey Sommers and Jon Gray, finished second overall.

Team Hammer also won the AAMRR Northeastern Endurance Championship Six Hour at Loudon, New Hampshire, making their season record 15 finishes out of 17 starts. Team Ontario started 16 races and finished 10.

Fast Vision

IVhen the smoke cleared at the WERA/Nippondenso National Endurance Series 8-hour at Texas World Speedway, the clear winner was Team Good Times on a Yamaha 550 Vision, stone-stock except for a Fox rear shock. The win may have left the better-known teams with big racebikes feeling sheepish, but it really wasn’t a surprise: Joe Fisher, Charles Brothers and Stuart Cooper had been showing the big bikes around long before their first overall win.

Riding out of Fisher’s University Cycles in College Station, Texas, Team Good Times ran five endurance races in 1982. The team’s worst finish was fourth overall in a six-hour; the best three finishes were second overalls in each of the three 24-hour races held by WERA. Those three second-places were important—the three 24-hour races made up the Nippondenso Triple Crown of Endurance Racing as well as being included in the WERA National Endurance Series, and Team Good Times won the overall Triple Crown Trophy for their performances.

Besides the Texas World eight-hour overall win, Team Good Times finished 11th overall in a six-hour at Texas World, third at the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges (with Ron Mayfield and Bob Sellers also riding) and 6th in a six-hour at Road Atlanta, all in 1983.

Their secret? Consistent, hard running with quick pit stops and no mistakes. Team Good Times doesn’t crash, doesn’t break, doesn’t wear out tires, doesn’t do anything wrong. When other teams break or crash or stop for new tires, Team Good Times makes up time and positions like a bandit.

It’s a good approach to endurance racing, and if Team Good Times gets their way, they may run the entire WERA National Endurance Series in 1984. If they do, maybe the next U.S. Endurance Champion will ride a 550 Vision.

Kawasaki sells off racing engines

K awasaki’s racing department sold its entire stock of road racing engines and parts, including large numbers of cylinder heads and crankshafts complete with forged titanium rods, to Vance & Hines racing. The sale came as the result of a visit Terry Vance made to Kawasaki to discuss possible drag racing commitments. Vance saw piles and piles of road racing engines and parts, and made an offhand remark offering to buy the lot for a ridiculously low price. Kawasaki took the remark seriously and came back with a slightly higher figure. Vance, incredulous, jumped at the opportunity and hauled away three truckloads of exotic lOOOcc and750cc engines and parts.

Honda signs Graham, Shobert, Chandler and Muzzy

A merican Honda’s dirt-track racing program has signed 1982 Camel Pro Champion Ricky Graham, up-and-comer

Bubba Shobert, Camel Pro Rookie of the Year Doug Chandler and former Kawasaki crew chief Rob ' Muzzy for the 1984 season. According to dirt track manager (and former National Champion) Gene Romero, Graham and Shobert will compete on racebikes built and maintained by Romero’s American Honda staff based in Gardena, California and Indianapolis „ (working out of whichever shop is closest to the races at any given time). Doug Chandler will ride Hondas prepared and tuned by Jerry Griffiths, based in Oakdale, California and Indianapolis.

Race calendar

The move marks new emphasis on dirt track racing (and dirt track winning) at Honda. Along those lines, a new R and D department was created within Honda’s racing program, dedicated to developing engines for dirt track and road racing. That program, which will devote about 80 percent of its energy toward dirt track engines, is run by Muzzy, the man who masterminded Kawasaki’s Superbike championships in 1982 and 1983. Many of the mechanics affected by Honda’s cutbacks in its road racing department have been transferred to the new R and D department to work with Muzzy.

Team Honda will include Graham -and Shobert in test and practice sessions scheduled before each Camel Pro road race; if the two turn competitive times and feel comfortable on the F-l machines, they will enter road races to earn extra points toward the Camel Pro championship.

Honda was testing 1984 short track and TT machines during the second week in December, 1983.

Cooley signs with Yoshimura

Two-time Superbike Champion Wes Cooley will ride a Suzuki 750cc Superbike prepared by Yoshimura R&D of America. Cooley, who won both his titles on Yoshimura Suzukis, rode for

Kawasaki last year, and Yoshimura didn’t enter any Superbike events. But under the direction of Fujio Yoshimura and Suehiro Watanabe, Yoshimura spent 1983 in an extensive GS750 Superbike development program. Satisfied that they’ve got enough power to beat the V-Four Hondas, Yoshimura decided to return to Superbike racing in 1984 with Cooley at the controls. Graeme Crosby will also ride a Yoshimura Suzuki at Daytona, the first race of the year.

Long wins contest

•/ohn F. Long of Topeka, Kansas won the first part of the Race Watch Contest announced in the December issue. Long correctly identified Roger DeCoster, five-time 500cc MX World Champion, and received an autographed photo of Roger D. aka The Man and Roger Rockdodger. S