Who's Riding What; Roberts Switches To Dunlop; Ama Sanctions Bott And Pays Winston Pro Road Racers
Who's Riding What; Roberts Switches to Dunlop; AMA Sanctions BOTT And Pays Winston Pro Road Racers
RACE WATCH
FACTORY TEAMS
With the start of the racing season just over the horizon, here's how the big teams shape up for 1982:
Honda: Gained two champions with big-money offers. Road racing 500cc World Champion Marco Lucchinelli left Suzuki to ride the new Honda two-stroke Triple in Grands Prix and the new fourstroke V-Four at Daytona. He signed a two-year contract. Mike Kidd, who won the AMA Winston Pro Series Championship riding a Harley XR750 for Yamaha-contracted Roberts/Lawwill Racing, will race for Honda in AMA dirt tracks, riding an XR500-based TT bike, a CR250-based short-tracker and the CX500-based, water-cooled NS750 in mile and half-mile races. Kidd also signed for two years.
Backing up Kidd in Honda’s dirt track program is Billy Herndon,the top-ranked AMA Junior, who was the first person to win a race on an NS750, (although it was a Junior race).
Freddie Spencer heads to Europe with Lucchinelli, although he’ll also ride the Formula One V-Four and a Superbike at Daytona. Campaigning the entire U.S. season for American Honda will be Mike Baldwin, who teamed with David Aldana in World Championship Endurance Races in 1981, winning the Suzuka Eight Hours. Baldwin will ride both Superbike and Formula One.
Continuing in Honda’s road race support program will be Roberto Pietri, who pays his own expenses but gets bikes, parts, tires, gas and a salary for his mechanic from Honda.
Mike Spencer (no relation to Freddie) came within a last-race, brake-failurecaused crash of winning the AMA Formula One Championship for Honda in his first season as a professional racer, and visited the winner’s circle at several Superbike events. But in a surprise move, Honda did not hire Spencer for 1982 and instead signed former Honda motocross—and two-time Superbikers TV race winner— Steve Wise.
For motocross, Honda will field 1980 AMA Open Class Champion Chuck Sun, Johnny O’Mara, Donnie Hansen, Jim Gibson, Brian Myerscough, Darrell Schultz and David Bailey on works bikes. Sun and Gibson will race in the 500cc class; Hansen, Schultz and Bailey will race 250cc; O’Mara and Myerscough will race 125cc; and all seven will enter Supercross events. continued on page 164
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Honda’s support program will include Jimmy Ellis, Danny Chandler, Larry Wosick, Jo Jo Keller, Steve Martin and
Ron Turner on production bikes.
Harley-Davidson: America’s own motorcycle company will send former AMA Grand National Champions Jay Springsteen (three times champion) and Randy Goss (once champion) into the Winston Pro Series fray to win back the title for the factory Harley team.
The pair will compete in short track, TT, half-mile and mile races. They won’t enter road races.
Husqvarna: Husqvarna will field teams for enduro, off-road and motocross races. For enduros, eight-time AMA Champion Dick Burleson will manage the team of Terry Cunningham, Mike Melton and Mark Hyde, without actively seeking a ninth title himself. Burleson will, however, ride in selected events and assume more of an R and D role for the company.
Scot Hardin and Brent Wallingsford, winners of the Baja 1000, will team on Huskys for SCORE off-road events, and Tim Kelly will ride with various local Husky racers in SCORE events.
In motocross, Billy Grossi and Kris Bigelow will receive full support, consisting of bikes, parts, mechanics and vans for AMA Nationals and Supercross races. Grossi will enter 500cc Nationals while Bigelow will ride a 250.
Mike Guerra will continue to campaign a Husky in World Championship 250cc motocross Grands Prix.
Kawasaki: Kawasaki’s big gun is reigning Superbike Champion Eddie Lawson, who will ride a KR500 in F-l events as well as competing in Superbike races. Lawson may also compete in the 250cc
Formula Two race at Daytona only. Wayne Rainey will ride Superbikes.
Lawson and Rainey will both ride dirt trackers, Lawson entering the short track at Houston and Rainey riding at short track and TT events throughout the year.
For motocross, Kawasaki will field Jeff Ward in the 125cc Nationals and Supercrosses, Tommy Benolkin in 250cc and Supercrosses, and Goat Breker in 500cc Nationals and Supercrosses
Maico: Maico will support Carlos Ser-' rano, Ed Arnett and Scott Johnson in the 250cc Motocross Nationals and Mickey Kessler, Gary Pustelakand Andy Stacy in 500cc Nationals. None of the riders will be sent to all the Supercross races, but Maico will enter selected stadium events.
Suzuki: Randy Mamola returns to contest 500cc road race Grands Prix and the Daytona 200, as well as a possible appearance at Laguna Seca. Two-time Superbike Champion Wes Cooley will ride Yoshimura Suzukis in Superbike and L-l racers, using a 16-valve Katana Superbike on fast tracks and an eight-valve GS1000 on tighter courses. The F-l bike will still be based on the eight-valve GS1000 engine for at least the first part of the season.
Six-time Pro Stock drag racing champion Terry Vance will continue with Suzuki in NMRA drag events and will field a road race effort, using Byron Hinesbuilt Katana engines in F-l and endurance bikes piloted by Bruce Hammer.
For motocross, Suzuki will field works bikes ridden by 250cc (and former 500cc) National Champion Kent Howerton, Supercross and 125cc Champion Mark Barnett, Warren Reid, Denny Bently, Alan King, and George Holland. Riding for Suzuki’s Pro Support Team on production RMs will be Clinton Hardick, Chris Heisser and Gary Denton.
World Championship contender Brad Lackey will again ride Suzuki works bikes in the 500cc Grands Prix, and in selected U.S. events.
Yamaha: Three-time 500cc road racing World Champion Kenny Roberts will try for his fourth championship title in 1982, facing 1981 World Champion Marco Lucchinelli (Honda) and serious threat Randy Mamola (Suzuki). Roberts will ride his 500cc works bike in the Daytona 200.
Jimmy Filice will ride Bud Aksland-prepared road racers, a TZ250J in Formula Two and a TZ 500 in Formula One* events. Filice will also enter Winston Pro Series dirt tracks, riding various Yamahas prepared by Aksland and his assistants. C.R. Axtell and Mike Libby will be in charge of engine development for the team.
Yamaha becomes the first Japanese^ manufacturer to enter the Battle of The Twins, hiring AFM Open Box Stock and Open Production Champion Chris Steward to ride an XV920J in the B.O.T.T. Stock Class. Under the terms of his contract Steward gets a salary and win bonuses. Steward will also campaign his own TZ250J in Formula Two, with support from Yamaha. -
Yamaha’s largest involvement is in motocross, with 500cc National Champion Broc Glover, former 250cc National Champion Bob Hannah, and former Supercross Champion Mike Bell heading the works-bike team. Scott Burnworth joins what Yamaha Race Manager Ken Clark, refers to as “The Terrible Trio” on works bikes. Hannah will ride 125s, Bell will race 500s, and Glover and Burnworth will compete on 250s. All will ride Supercrosses.
Yamaha’s Pro Support Team will provide production bikes, parts and expenses to Troy Blake and Eric Kehoe in the 125cc class, Rick Johnson and Jeff Jennings in the 250cc class, and Jeff Hicks and Eric McKenna in the 500cc class. Johnson and Hicks will also be provided with full-time mechanics. All the support riders except Blake and Kehoe will enter Supercross races.
Yamaha will also sponsor drag race? Ray Worth on a Seca 750 in the NMRA 750 Pro Stock class.
PRIVATEER PAVEMENT PLANS
ave Aldana doesn't have a factory ride `for 1982 but will ride the Bob Work/ Wasco/Don VescoTZ750 at Daytona and Laguna Seca. Ron Pierce is likewise without a ride, but will borrow Roberto Pietri’s TZ750 for Daytona, receiving technical assistance from Bob Work.
Mike Spencer will ride a Moriwaki Kawasaki.in the Daytona Superbike race. The bike will be prepared by Champion Moriwaki USA with an engine built in Japan by Mamoru Moriwaki. A Moriwaki mechanic will accompany the engine to the U.S.
Rich Schlachter was promised sponsorship from several companies for a World Championship assault in 1982, but everything fell through. To date, Schlachter plans to ride Bob MacLean’s TZ750 and TZ250 at Daytona.
Dale Singleton has given up his Grand Prix aspirations and will stay in the U.S. to defend his U.S. Road Racing Championship. He may, however, make a few trips to European non-championship events.
WINSTON PRO SERIES POINTS FUND GROWS, RECOGNIZES ROAD RACING
.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has in creased the size of the Winston Pro Series point fund from $ 125,000 to $ 150,000 for the 1982 season. Part of the increase—$15,000—is set aside for the top road racers on the circuit, recognizing that very few riders race both on the pavement and on the dirt.
The money will be paid in two installments to dirt trackers, once at mid-season and once at season’s end. The top-ranked dirt tracker on the circuit at the halfway point receives $10,000. The top man (and Winston Pro Series Champion) at season’s end receives $25,000. The top road racer is paid $7000 at the end of the season.
FACTORY TEAMS TO SKIP TRANS-USA
Motocross teams fielded by the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers may not compete in the 1982 Trans-USA Series.
“The season is too long,” said Yamaha racing manager Ken Clark. “We can’t race 11 months out of the year. We’ll do nine. Yamaha will not compete after the Carlsbad 125/500cc National on August 22. There are just too many races.”
“The season is entirely too long because it doesn’t give us enough time to prepare machines for the following season or to give people time off,” said Tosh Koyama, Suzuki racing manager. “It’s just common sense that we won’t race the Trans-USA if the other teams are not entered.”
“We’re not specifically opposed to a Trans-USA series,” said Gary Mathers, Racing Manager for Kawasaki. “We’re opposed to the year-round schedule of racing. We simply can’t justify the time and expense of some 35 races per year, besides needing time for testing and rider R and R. At this time we have no plans to compete in the 1982 Trans USA Series.”
According to company spokesman Bob Doornbos, American Honda’s Race Team Manager, T. Kezuka, states that the company decided not to participate in the Trans-USA Series based on earlier statements of non-participation made by Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawaski.
Doornbos added, however, that since some Honda team riders expressed personal interest in riding the series, they may enter on production motorcycles.
Husqvarna spokesman Mark Blackwell said that the Swedish company would compete if the Trans-USA series was held. Blackwell pointed out that riders and mechanics without salary-paying factory rides depended upon the series to earn money late in the season. Blackwell also said that the Trans-USA series has its roots in the Inter-AM Series, which he said was largely responsible for launching American interest in motocross. For that reason he hoped that Trans-USA Series would be held.
AMA officials have scheduled a meeting with promoters and race team managers to discuss the series’ future and have declined official comment until after the meeting.
AMA SANCTIONS BOTT
The American Motorcyclist Assn.
(AMA) has reached an agreement with organizers to sanction 1982 Battle of the Twins road races. BOTT events proved popular last year and are limited to twincylinder four-stroke motorcycles in three classes; Stock Production, Modified Production and Grand Prix.
Plans call for an eight-race BOTT series run in conjunction with AMA Nationals and Pro-Am races.
AMA ELIMINATES NOVICE CLASS
The American Motorcyclists Assn.
(AMA) has combined the Novice and Lightweight Expert categories into one class, to be known as Formula Two. The license for Formula Two will be called a Lightweight Road Race license. Formula Two allows 250cc two-stroke Twins to compete against 500cc four-stroke Singles and 425cc four-stroke Twins.
WINNING MONEY WITH STOCK BIKES
Stock class road racing became popular because it’s less expensive than running in classes allowing extensive modifications. It’s often more competitive, too, with everybody on more-or-less equal machines. In most racing organizations, the rules for Stock Production and Modified Production are close enough that the fast guys on Stock Production machines can race and win in both classes. Thanks to a Kawasaki contingency program, that became a lucrative proposition for several racers in the California-based AFM and the Connecticut-based AAMRR during 1981.
Frank Mazur was the big money winner of the year, running his stock GPz550 in AFM 600cc Production, Modified Production and (twice) Superstreet classes. Mazur entered 32 races during the year, won 21 (including one stretch of 20 consecutive wins) and was paid $150 Kawasaki contingency for 17 points-paying races. Mazur’s winnings totalled $2550 and the points he earned in the process gave him the AFM No. 1 plate for 1982.
On the other side of the country, Mark Rivard became AAMRR’s top Kawasaki money winner, earning about $ 1300 on his KZ750.
Kawasaki paid a total of $13,500 contingency money to AFM riders and $4950 to AAMRR pilots.
According to a Kawasaki spokesman, the company will continue the program for the 1982 season.
SHOHEI KATO
Shohei Kato, son-in-law of Pops Yoshimura and key man in the development of the Suzuki factory-backed, Yoshimura-built Formula One racebikes, was killed while testing the latest version of the GS1000R at Ryuyo Circuit near Hamamatsu, Japan. Kato, 32, was Japanese National Champion in the 350 Junior class in 1975 and in the International Senior class in 1976. In his U.S.1 Superbike racing debut at Daytona in 1978, Kato led several laps and was running a close third when his bike’s ignition failed. In 1980 he retired from active competition to devote more time to the family business, but continued to test new race machines. He leaves his wife, Yumiko, and son, Yohei, six.
ROBERTS SWITCHES TO DUNLOP
Three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts has signed a contract to use Dunlop tires in World Championship and international road races this year.
Roberts’ three successful seasons and one unsuccessful season in Europe were largely financed by sponsorship from Goodyear. But Roberts lost his championship in 1981 and placed much of the blame on Goodyear tires, which he said were no longer superior to other brands.
Marco Lucchinelli won the World Championship on Michelins. S
