wcbr6_3a

1988 Season;   WCBR6.
Our season opener was again Daytona... oh those were the days, the days when the program was great fun, excitement and the Premier-500 race was the "Premier Race" of the day! Since then AHRMA has gone downhill, 2006 being more of the same - and WCBR stays home.

Back to the races... This would be Bret's first time at Daytona, and like years past we'd run the short-course, though this year (1988) the 250GP & 350GP would no longer be combined. That said, Mike Green entered the 350GP at the last moment on the 250 Ducati (Mike won the 250GP racew for the 3rd year in a row!). The 350GP race had some top guns on the grid; Dave Roper, Malcom Tunstall, plus the CVRG Wrecking Crew members, which we were part of. In the final practice Bret was attempting a plug check when he stuck a piston on the banking...     as soon as the machine was back in the paddock Bret and Mike had the top-end off, and fitted and new cylinder/piston for the race (plus a bigger main just). In less than 10-minutes the bike was being backed out of the truck and Bret was suiting up; Gary Winn, then AHRMA E.D. had given Bret permission to do 2-laps on the back of Race-1 of the day, which was to start any minute. Plug check completed, while Rob Whitaker prepped the bike for the 350GP, and topped off the 250 as well, Bret and Mike took a few minutes to discuss race tactics.
Since Mike was starting at the back with the 250, he would have to make a mad dash to close the gap to Bret... as Bret was to tow the 250 down the banking (which now had 1 less tooth on the rear gear)... and the due was to stay on the extreme bottom of the bank (shorter way around) in order to close the gap with the lead group.
Once the green flag flew Mike Green made his way through the pack and met up with Bret as they entered the banking... the pair in approx 10th position or nearenough. As the race progressed the duo of WCBR Ducati's made its way to the front, Bret finishing in 4th and Mike in 5th. Later in the day the same due would line up 32nd and 34th in the 500-Premier race, and lap after lap they slowly moved their way forward through the 50 strong pack of machines.... losing ground on teh banking, but eating the competition alaive in the infield section. In the good ol days the Finish line was on the infield straight just after the International Horseshoe, and it was here on the final lap that Green shot the 250 past Bret and the 350 to take 4th overall (Bret being 5th). Not bad for a couple of Duacti singles huh? We thought we'd done quite well! Well the next day at the AHRMA meeting there was some wieners... one man on a KR750 H-D bitched about the smaller machines... from the crowd comes, "if I was you, I wouldn't admit I got beat by a 250 while on a 750!"   Laughes all around! Needless to say, AHRMA would one day ban 250cc GP machines from bumping into the 500-Premier class; thus "another Mike Green rule" - as some have said over the years.

At Sears Point in March, a CVRG/AFM event, Bret and the 350 would taste victory! Bret lead every lap... Good job Bret!

Then it was off to Riverside Raceway, a place that is sadly no more. Once again we'd be guests of the AFM, and the CVRG grid was full of 350cc machines up front, and 250cc machine on the back rows. If memory serves right, Bret had a slight handling problem this day, even Mike Green took the bike out to try and sort out the problem... a big wobble over the bridge into turn-1 saw the 350 using up the road at an alarming rate! Tighten that & that, adjust the Bilstein shocks... better, but not perfect. We seem to remember Scott Borem being the winning 350 on this day, with Bret second in class (WCBR-Duc 250 was 2nd overall and won the 250GP). Once home we replaced the AM18 Avon test tyre with a Roadrunner R2TF test tyre, and this settled the bike down... our next outing to Sears Point on June 18th and Riverside on June 26th saw Bret and the 350 in the winners circle yet again! Laguna Seca (AMA National) wasn't a good day for WCBR, Bret finsihing 3rd in 350GP, thus giving Scott Borem the points he wanted. In 500-Premier Bret had problems, hard starting/lack of power, a bent valve was the cause.

Awe... Steamboat Springs race through the streets, the only "real road race" in America for Motorcycles!
WCBR has always had great results at Steamboat. Bret & Mike first raced here in 1987, it was a place they really enjoyed.
In 350GP action, Bret was gridded up from alongside Borem, Craig McLean and others... while Mike Green on the 250 was a few rows back on the outside. When the green flag flew the pack was off, Bret leading into turn-1, Borem following... and get this, Mike Green was third(!), having passed McLean, Mork and others in the dirt to take third place.... where he would stay. The object was that Green would race with Borem while Bret made a breakaway. It didn't work out that way, as Borem got the best of Bret this day. The bonus was that Bret won the CVRG 350GP Championship.   In Steamboat 500-Premier action Bret finished sixth.