Race Watch

RACE WATCH

Notes From the Astrodome: The Flat-track Season Begins

Houston is a funny place. For 18 years it has been where the chase for the AMA's Grand National Championship begins, despite the fact that the Astrodome's tight, artificial tracks are as different as you can get from the the 100-mph-plus mile and half-mile circuits that make up the majority of the Camel Pro Series.

Still, every year the riders show up: those lucky enough to put to gether a good sponsorship program, resplendent in crinkly-new leathers, perched atop freshly painted bikes; those less fortunate, in patched leathers and riding last-year's ma chines. Regardless of the condition of leathers, bikes or a sponsor's bank account, though. hopes are always high at Houston. And although the evidence is hardly conclusive, the results from the action on the `Dome floor can give some indication about the rest of the season to follow.

In winning this year's Friday night TT, for example, Scott Parker may have shown that he's finally able to temper his wild riding style just enough to change from a place-orcrasher to a consistent high finisher. Certainly, Parker's lines around a racetrack still are unique. And excit ing to watch. Moving up from a so so start, he burst into the lead with just five laps remaining. When oth ers were hugging the inside line, Parker was knocking straw from the outside haybales. If the others were flying in a wide formation, there was Parker down low on the inside, digging for traction.

Parker finished seventh in the next night’s short-track race, and left Houston with the series lead. It remains to be seen if Parker’s newfound steadiness will stav intact for J the rest of the season: certainly he’s long overdue for a run at the title.

Another rider to watch in ’85 will be Scott Pearson, a former Honda factory rider, now a privateer and owner of perhaps the nastiest kneesurgery scar in organized sports. Pearson spent more than a year on the sidelines following his kneebusting accident, but judging from his Houston showings, all touches of rust have been worked out. He finished second to Parker in the TT, after leading most of the race. Then he set fast time in the short-track time trials before finishing sixth in the final. He is now second in the point standings. And hungry for more points.

Include two-time AMA champion Randy Goss on the hungry-for-wins list as well. Goss was on a Honda at Houston, the first time the former Harley team member has raced a bike other than an H-D in his eightyear Expert career. In light of Har ley-Davidson's budget problems (see Roundup, April 1985), Goss hooked up with a new team, and was re warded with a win in the Saturdaynight short-track final, which made up for getting knocked down in the IT and not making the program.

The new team, consisting of Goss and former Team Honda member Doug Chandler, is interesting in it self. The main bankroller is none other than roadrace star Freddie Spencer, who says he is `just trying to put something back into the sport," when asked why he decided to sponsor the team. Known as Team Goss/Chandler, the team's bikes are tuned by Jerry Griffiths, a man who was instrumental in Honda's rise to flat-track prom inence. Honda cut both Griffiths and Chandler loose after the 1984 season: but along with Goss, these two look to play a major part in this year's racing.

Oh, and don't be surprised if team-sponsor Spencer breaks out the steel shoe and climbs back into the flat-track ring. After the GP season in Europe is over, that is.

Over in the factory Honda camp, things weren't going very well. Defending champion Ricky Graham crashed in the first lap of the TT final, causing the race to be red flagged. On the restart, he and Shobert tagged each other upon landing from the course's only jump. Graham went sprawling, and ended up with a five-day stay in a Houston hospital thanks to broken ribs, two compressed vertebrae, a broken thumb and a slight concussion.

Shobert's we~kend was less damaging. but not very productive. An eighth in the TT and 11th in the short track do not make for a particularly auspicious start to 1985.

So, Tear~ Honda is hoping that Houston isn't an indication of things to come for the rest of the season. There are others. however, namely the racing-on-a-shoestring Harley Team and a few fast privateers. who wouldn't mind that one bit.

Rolling With The Changes

Every fall, all the motocrossers and all the factories involved in moto cross play a special game of musical chairs-motocross style. In recent years, though. the game's been get ting harder to play. because when ever the music stops playing. not only have chairs been missing. but some have been in different places. Those chairs are called factory rides. and there's virtually no chance of a rider gaining a national title without one.

This year, the game went on as usual, and as usual, several chairs were missing. The most noticeable was Mark Barnett's at Suzuki. Barnett's contract, rumored to he worth over $333,000 a year. ran out at the end of the `84 season and wasn't renewed. Instead of concentrating on one, highly paid rider, Suzuki is trying to acquire fresh talent, young riders who have untapped potential and are, of course, considerably cheaper than the proven names. Scott Burnworth now ranks as the team's most experi enced rider, followed by George Holland. Erik Kehoe, A.J. Whiting and Russ Wageman are new to the team, and will be competing in the 250 class. Mike Healey and Bobby Moore will be in the 125 class. And because Suzuki no longer offers an Open bike, it will have no riders competing in that class.

r~"t What of Barnett? He's found a new home, with a Kawasaki team that is, suddenly, to be taken seri ously. Not only has Barnett changed teams, but classes as well-he's now back in the 1 25 class that gave him his three national titles. Jeff Ward also has switched classes, but in the opposite direction. He won't be defending his 125 title, but will in stead be on a 250 works Kawasaki, along with Goat Breker. Kawasaki's Open-class honors will be upheld by Billy Liles.

\~amaha's class-switcher is Keith Bowen, who survived his first year on the national trail and now will be riding a production-based 125. That amounts to just about the only change on Team Yamaha; Broc Glover will once again compete in the Open class while Rick Johnson defends his 250 title.

Also defending their titles will be half of Team Honda. David Bailey is an odds-on favorite to continue his domination of the Open class, and Johnny O'Mara has already started work in his second Supercross title by winning at San Diego, the first race of the series. In addition to Supercross, O'Mara will be running the 250 Nationals rather than the 125 class as in the past. The other half of Team Honda, Ron Lechien and Bob Hannah, will be competing in the 125 and 250 classes, respec tively. An interesting sidenote is that Lechien, Bailey and Hannah all have one year left on their contracts, while Johnny O'Mara already has renegotiated for an undisclosed amount of time and money-one year before his old contract was to expire.

Twenty-one Days To Dakar

Some would say a 45-minute motocross GP is a long race. Others might consider a six-hour endurance roadrace or a two-day ISDE qualifier a real test of stamina. Gaston Rahier or Chuck Stearns, however, prob ably wouldn't. That's because they are two members of a very elite group: finishers of the 21-day Paris to-Dakar rally.

This 6000'mile rally winds through small towns and villages in southern Europe before dropping its riders on the edge of the Sahara. From there the going is grueling, with little more than a periodic oil drum marking the route. Staying on the course is a challenge; finishing the event an accomplishment; and winning is a feat only a handful of men in the world are capable of doing.

R~'hier, though, overcame the days, the desert and even a collision with a car to prove that winning Paris-to-Dakar isn't necessarily a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment: He took a BMW to the win for the second time. And Stearns proved that finishing the event isn't for Europeans only. He took a Yamaha 600 to place sixth among motor cycles and become the highest-plac ing American to ever compete in the event.

Enduro Notes

For more than a decade, Husqvarna's domination of the American enduro scene has been overwhelming. And it looks like 1985 will bring little change. It isn't that Husqvarna has one or two of the good riders; the company has almost all of the good riders. Take the first national enduro of the year at Coalinga. California, for example. Not only did Husqvarna win, with Mike Melton dropping the fewest points, but the company secured the next four positions as well, with Kevin Hines, Dave Bertram, Terry Cunningham and Larry Roeseler.

How did Husqvarna'assemble such an all-conquering team? It wasn't through massive injections of money, which is Japanese moto cross-team methodology. Instead, Husqvarna finds riders who can do more than just ride, and places them somewhere within the firm in a con ventional nine-to-five environment. Then the company simply allows them time for chasing checkpoints during the enduro season. For exampie, Cunningham is the East Coast Service Manager during the week, and Meiton is the Enduro Team Coordinator. Roeseler is Meiton's west coast counterpart, the OffRoad Team Coordinator. The en duro team does have some contracted riders, such as Bertram, Hines, Mark Hyde and Eddie Lojak, but still, these riders don't have what you would call world-class sup port. They do, however, generate world-class results.

Magic Boxes And Mystery Weapons

I~Vith the outdoor national MX se ries just underway. the manufac turers are, as usual, being highly secretive about the hardware their factory riders will be armed with. After all, this is the time of season when advantages are established. Whichever team gets its bikes sorted out earliest has an undeniable edgean edge they don't want to give away.

That explains why Honda isn't saying much about its unusual-look ing 250 works bike. One of the machine's most intriguing features is the mysterious box mounted on its right side. Speculation has it that the box actually contains a battery to operate the ATAC system. In the past. Honda has experimented with various electronically controlled power valves and such, but ATAC on the production models is con trolled by a mechanical rpm-sensor. Whatever secrets this mysterious box holds; there's no telling if the new works bike will survive the race season to become a production ma chine, or if it's just another never-to be-heard-from-again step in the ongoing R&D process.

Return Of The Privateer

In motocross racing, being a priva teer means losing. That's been true for years in national and stadium racing, and, to some extent, even in regional competition. But if the re suits of the `85 CMC Golden State Series in California are any forecast of things to come-and they usually are-that may soon change.

This is be~ause the fhc?ory teams are shrinking, shifting their emphasis from full-salaried works-bike team sters to factory-supported riders. And for the first time in five years, privateers-or at least senzi-priva teers-have topped the California winter series. Where previously, only the likes of Magoo, Hannah and O'Mara have won, the winners this year were Jim Holley of Yamaha Support, Phil Larson of Honda Support, and one of Suzuki's junior teamsters, A.J. Whiting. None of these are outright priva teers, but there wasn't one works bike in the group. So while the win ner's circle still is factory territory, there might be a trespasser or two in there before long.

RACE WATCH CALENDAR

Championship Events

AMA/Camel Pro Series

AMA Grand National Motocross Series

AMA National Enduro Series

AMA National Hare Scrambles Series

World Road Race Series

World Endurance Road Race Series

World MX Series

Sidecar

Isle of Man Road Race