Rider Files

Michael Earnest racing a Kawasaki GPz750 at Willow Springs way back in the day, 1986 in fact. Earnest is still winning races today, 24 years later. That’s impressive. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Believe it or not this is a photo of Michael Earnest racing in a club event (I think a then rare West Coast WERA weekend) at Willow Springs way back in September of 1986. He was a teenaged kid in only his second full season of racing.

Fast forward 24 years and Earnest is still racing and still winning, and not just some low-level class, he’s winning Formula Pacific races, the premier class in the AFM!

Running his Pacific Track Time track schools has apparently kept Michael’s skills very sharp, even though Michael says he really doesn’t get that much track time during his schools.

I’m not certain, but this shot from ’86 it looks like Earnest is racing a Kawasaki GPz750. This was during a time when Kawasaki wasn’t participating in Superbike racing and the GPz was not known as a great racing machine. That didn’t change until 1989 when they introduced the ZX-7.

Earnest raced some AMA Superbike races three or four years ago and as I recall had a very respectable finish at Infineon Raceway as late as 2007. So here’s proof that Earnest has been around racing for a long time and I think the fact that he’s still so competitive makes him a freak of nature.

Barry Burke races his Yamaha in the WERA Pro Formula USA race at Heartland Park Topeka in 1990. Burke was forced to ride his 1987 Yamaha FZR 1000 in the final after he couldn’t get the Ohlin forks to work on his new Yamaha OW01. “The forks came with super stiff springs, it’s totally unrideable. I’m not sure why we can’t get softer springs, I guess they aren’t unavailable.” Burke said. Burke was a fast Southern California club racer who made good showings when he branched out to compete in national events. In addition to racing in F-USA Burke made several appearances in AMA Superbike races that season. He scored a solid ninth place finish at Road America. Today Burke does testing for Motorcyclist.

Barry Burke races his Yamaha in the WERA Pro Formula USA race at Heartland Park Topeka in 1990. (Larry Lawrence photo)

This photo shows why many consider Mosport International Raceway one of the most picturesque road race circuits in the world. Elevation, beautiful trees, even the signage was done tastefully. This photo is from the 1989 Canadian round of the World Superbike Championship. Belgian racing ace Stephane Mertens (4) leads the pack into turn 5a, or Moss Corner. Behind Mertens are two of Canada’s best Miguel Duhamel (45) and Steve Crevier (48). Coming up on the inside of Crevier is Marino Fabbri (30) then comes Michel Mercier (63), an unidentified rider, Mike Baldwin (76), Raymond Roche (27), Rene Rasmussen (34), Roger Burnett (11), Davide Tardozzi (3), Wolfgang Von Muralt (35), Tom Kipp (33), Paul Iddon (24), Mario Duhamel (61) and Fabio Biliotti (72). There are five others in the photo, but the numbers are too small to read. American Fred Merkel won the first race at Mosport, while Giancarlo Falappa won the second.

Belgian racing ace Stephane Mertens (4) leads the pack into turn 5a, or Moss Corner in a round of the 1989 Canadian World Superbike Championship. Behind Mertens are two of Canada’s best Miguel Duhamel (45) and Steve Crevier (48). (Larry Lawrence photo)