Grattan WERA C Production Skirmish

• Larry Lawrence

Robby Braunscheidel (No. 665) races his Kawasaki GPz550 ahead of a pack of other novice racers in a WERA C Production race at Grattan Raceway In July of 1984. This was a seriously talented class of novice riders; several went on to be successful in the expert ranks. The race featured quiet a mix of bikes. Braunscheidel leads the Yamaha RZ500 of Kenneth Davis (No. 654), Dan Thomson (No. 237) on his Yamaha RZ350, Dave Barnard (No. 511) on another GPz550 and in the background Neil Tolhurst on his RZ350. Davis used the power of his RZ500 to top this group of riders at the checkered flag.

Robby Braunscheidel (No. 665) and his Kawasaki GPz550 leads the Yamaha RZ500 of Kenneth Stephens (No. 654), Dan Thomson (No. 237) on his Yamaha RZ350, Dave Barnard (No. 511) on another GPz550 and in the background Neil Tolhurst on his RZ350. This was a WERA C Production Novice race in July of 1984. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Robby Braunscheidel (No. 665) and his Kawasaki GPz550 leads the Yamaha RZ500 of Kenneth Davis (No. 654), Dan Thomson (No. 237) on his Yamaha RZ350, Dave Barnard (No. 511) on another GPz550 and in the background Neil Tolhurst on his RZ350. This was a WERA C Production Novice race in July of 1984. (Larry Lawrence photo)

8 thoughts on “Grattan WERA C Production Skirmish”

  1. How ironic! Years ago, my wife made a collage of some racing memorabilia for my office, and your article from that race is in there. The results showed Rich Winder and Doug Gere in 2nd and 3rd. I’m surprised Neil Tolhurst wasn’t further up in this, as he was always a main competitor for me.

    Remember back when American Roadracing was the WERA magazine?

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  2. Hi Kevin,
    Thanks again for the oomplement. I don’t recall why, but I finished 9th in that race. It was an OK, not great day with the 9th, two 5ths, a 6th and a 3rd in the classes I was in.

    Larry’s report in CN shows Kevin first, Rich Winder second, and Doug Gere third. His last paragraph is all about how you beat Doug Clemens to win D Superbike.

    Also thanks to Larry for continuing to post these pics – great fun for us Senior Citizen retired racers! Even better to show the kids to prove Dad wasn’t as lame as the kids think. 🙂

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  3. Oh yeah, we called it ARM back then. I think I had the honor of being the only journo who wrote for AR under all four different owners before it went belly up.

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  4. My kids still think I’m lame, because I quit roadracing. I remember beating Dan that weekend, Neil, and considering he was my riders school instructor, he was a bit peeved!

    Didn’t the D Super novice regional championship, come down to you and I at Elkhart? We were really tight on points, and I seized my new motor up, warming it up in the PITS! I thought that gave the championship away, but they cancelled the rest of the race due to fog. At least that’s how I remember it.

    Hey Larry….kind of coincidental that you were the only guy to have been there from the beginning…..did YOU kill it?

    Just kidding!!

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  5. No, I actually took the AMA PR job about a year before AR went under. So you could argue I kept it afloat!

    🙂

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  6. Good memory, Kevin, better than mine!
    From my notes & WERA points standings sheets not my faded memory: You’re right, the 10/14/84 races at Road America were cancelled because of fog and points were assigned equally. I don’t think I knew you seized your motor. In D Super we were given 3 points. You and I were very close all season, just 7 points apart in August, with Andy Fenwick and Joe Ardolino right behind us. Up to that October day at Road America you had 98 Regional points, I had 89, Andy 71, and Joe 69. After we got the three points you won the Regional Championship with 101. I ended up with highest National points with 62 over Terry Slone’s 55 and Andy’s 53. It was a great season of racing.

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  7. That seems about right, Neil. I had just rebuilt my engine for that race, hoping for a bit more speed on the long straights, but didn’t bleed the oil pump properly(I didn’t go premix till the next year). I remember running it up the pit road hill, and having it sieze. I immediately knew I had lost the championship, and in fact remember finding you in the pits afterwards, and I congratulated you on winning. I remember you looked a bit confused, until I told you what had happened. Lucky for me, they cancelled the race, but that’s not much of a way to win a championship.

    Just to prove that we don’t learn from our mistakes when we’re young, I fixed the bike, took it to the GNF, and promptly did the same thing. Doh!!

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