MOTORCYCLES : AMA Races Highlight Big Weekend in Pomona

Fred Merkel knows the drill. He ought to; he has been doing it since he was 6.

It starts like a motorcycle parking lot, has 150-m.p.h. turns while you scrape your knee for balance and ends in exhaust and exhaustion.

Ah, there’s no place like home. Merkel’s home at the moment is at the Pomona Fairplex, where the second stop of the American Motorcyclist Assn. Superbike Championship National Series is being held as part of the L.A. Motorcycle weekend.

Merkel, 33, will be one of the most experienced and successful riders at Pomona. He won the national championship three times (1984-85-86) before concentrating on the world championships, which he won in 1988 and ’89.

After living in England for the past eight years to compete in the international world championships, Merkel has decided to concentrate on the national championship--a 10-race series held in the United States.

Merkel won the opening race of the series, the Daytona 200. It was an event that featured riders from both the national and the world championship series, so Merkel’s victory in the 750cc SuperSport class was impressive.

Pomona will be different in many ways. A 2.1-mile oval, Pomona is about half the size of Daytona, and many of the riders from Daytona have left for Europe.

Last year, there were complaints that the pavement was too bumpy and too crowded, but Bill Marcel, whose Race West Productions organized the event, said that those parts of the track have been repaved and they have reconfigured other portions of the course.

But accidents can happen on any course, and that’s why Merkel has a career plan to keep his 3-year-old son, Travis, safe. “He’s going to be a professional golfer whether he likes it or not.”

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Motorcycle Notes

Today the road-track races start at 3:30 p.m. The 125cc Grand Prix will be the first event, followed by the 750cc SuperSport and the new SuperTeams event. In SuperTeams, there is a mandatory pit stop and a change of riders. The AMA Grand National dirt-track events start at 7:30 with the finals starting at 9:30 p.m. . . . On Sunday, road-track races start at 1 p.m. The Harley-Davidson Super-Twins will be the first event, followed by the 600 SuperSports, 250cc Grand Prix and the the Superbike main event. There will be morning practice and qualifying sessions on both days.