Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE A group of Southern California club racers came together in 1986 and made an assault on the AMA U.S. National Endur- ance Championship. They called themselves Team Sunset, named after a SoCal oceanside community, and were a cadre of racers often gathered at a pub for after-work brews. This ambitious group of young rac- ers instantly became a leading contender in the series. Along the way, the friends from the pub, turned teammates, made some memories that would last a lifetime and help make a couple of local club riders into nationally known racers. Team Sunset all began with a young road racer named Marcus Falley. Falley and some friends competed in Southern California endurance road races riding a Kawasaki GPz550 in the mid- 80s. "And we loved it," Falley says. So much so that Falley gathered even more of his racing P106 ride, but we went ahead with the team." Even though they were a brand-new squad, Team Sunset had a very professional look. Shoei Helmets was their primary sponsor with Frank Thomas Boots a secondary. Another plus for the new team was the vast experience veteran racer Whitney Blakeslee brought to the table in helping with bike prep and setup. "Whitney, Peter Carroll and I would work late into the night getting the bikes ready for the season and we enjoyed it. "Australian journalist Bruce Newton was living in California at the time and met the guys by sheer chance at the pub and became part of the squad, help- ing with the marketing material, as well as becoming the team's buddies to take on a 24-Hour en- durance race at Willow Springs at the end of 1985. It takes rid- ers with a certain personality to enjoy 24-hour racing and Falley and his merry band of fellow racers apparently matched the profile. "After the 24-hour, that was the first time we began talking over doing the AMA Endurance," Falley remembers. "We started putting together a couple of 600 Ninjas for that." Marcus' dad, Frank, was an enthusiastic supporter of his son's racing efforts. Unfortunate- ly, one day, he was at the track with his son when he suffered a stroke, and passed away a week later. "During that same period, I also bought Champion Moriwaki, so I was trying to run the busi- ness and form a national endur- ance team at the same time. My dad was helping me, but after he passed away, I was dealing with all this and decided I couldn't (L-R) Team Sunset riders Peter Carroll, Terry Statum and team owner Marcus Falley on the podium after winning at Sears Point. THE SUNSET PUB GANG

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