Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126779
..-----------------------------------------_.- Teem Hemmer's Russ Peulk (1) leeds Po Folks' Dele Burroughs end QuesterlSulliven's Mike Harlow. Dunlop/WERA National Endurance Series: Round :; Team DamlDer rolls at Roehling RoadEight-Dour By Randy Marrs FAULKVILLE, GA, JULY 7 Team Hammer rolled to its third consecutive win in Saturday's Dunlop/WERA National Endurance Series 8-Hour, crossing the finish line nine laps ahead of second place. Team Hammer's John Ulrich and Russ Paulk together rode seven hours of the eight-hour race, with support from team riders 18 Steve Baron and Joey Osowski. The team covered 326 laps over.Roebling Road Raceway's nine-turn course, located near Savannah. "This track is great," said Ulrich after the race. "I like it as much as Willow Springs." Ulrich gave much ofthecreditfor the team's win to bike prep work by Ward Ring of Greenville. Rhode Island's Motoring Services. . But when 25 teams took the green £lag for the 10:00 a.m. start, the Kerker/Arai/Maxi-Bore/Emgo Moto-X Fox Suzuki didn't get going, due to a deflated tire. "We had.a £Iat on the warm-up lap," said Osowski. "We're not sure why it went £lat. and the wheel it was mounted on wasn't exactly the quick-change type." The incident cost the team four laps. With Hammer temporarily out of the picture, Dale Burroughs, put the 1200cc Po-Folks/Sure-Fire Kawasaki KZIOOOR in front followed by Tommy Blackwell on the Roswell Racing Kawasaki GPz750. Third was held down by the Last Minute Racing Suzuki Katana ridden by Dean Swims, fourth by the Klotz/Wiseco North Ridge Racing FJIIOO Yamaha being handled by Ralph Johnston Jr., and fifth by the current series points leader Arai/Bassani/Ferrodo/Dunlop Quester/Sullivan GSlloo Suzuki with Mike Harlow riding. With four laps to make up, Hammer's Russ Paulk roared out of the pits and began to reel in the leaders. After some early dicing in the first stages of the race Harlow moved into second behind Burroughs and by the end of the first hour Po~Folks had a one lap advantage on Quester-Sullivan followed by North Ridge in third, the Speed Boys FJ600 Yamaha ridden by Larry Burkholder and Mike Yureje£Cic fourth, and the Cycle Mart Racing TPz550 Kawasaki fifth. By the second hour the Hammer Suzuki with Ulrich riding had moved into the top five, boldingdown fourth place. Bill Trowbridge had taken over the Po-Folks Kaw and moved up two full laps on the Quester-Sullivan Suzuki being ridden by Dave Boggess as the end of the second hour approached. With the third hour underway the Po-Folks Kawasaki and the Hammer Suzuki were swapping positions back and forth although Hammer was four laps down on the IOOOR Kaw at the time. The North Ridge Yamaha and Speed Boys Yamaha were having a go at it for fourth and fifth, "Our crew chief is in Europe right now so we're at a slight disadvantage, and our fuel gauge isn't working. But everything else is going smooth" said Speed Boys' Mike Yurejefcic. As the race entered the fourth hour the standing took it big change with Hammer taking over the lead. Paulk and Ulrich had been turning consistent I:22's and occasionally getting into the I :21 (the lap record is 1: 18) range and all the while making up time on Po-Folks. A string of pit stops dropped Po-Folks down nine laps by the end of the fourth hour. Fotks'lftJ'lt'rTflrt1'l1'l 6tl"<.,.n "j(j the'r p·roblems ste~nmea trom a cI utch actuator and a broken oil fill on the side cover. "We had a problem with the clutch actuator and then the oil fill broke. We've got it duct taped right now and it's working fine" he said. "We've got Dale back out and are making up some time on Ham·mer." North Ridge Yamaha continued to stay within striking distance of Hammer being one lap behind in second. North Ridge Yamaha's Ralph Johnston Sr. said "Everything is going great but we'll have to change a tire soon. We've got an 18 inch on now but need a 16 and nobody has one." By the end of the sixth hour Paulk had turned in a string of I:22s on a tire with the cord showing through, and managed to put the Hammer Suzuki three laps up on North Ridge. The team then did a wheel change. Quester-Sullivan's Harlow said. "The bike was fairly fresh from the 24 hour at Willow. What cost us our time earlier in the race was the oil we hit on our pit stop, dumping the bike: We had just moved into first at the time and the pit accident cost us eight laps." With just over an hour left the Quester-Sullivan Suzuki moved back to third and the Po-Folks Kaw had made up enough ground to take fourth. At the end it was Team Hammer taking the win, second overall and first in Heavyweight Superbike going to North Ridge Racing. Quester-Sullivan was third, Po-Folks fourth. • -- Rick Oliver pits his Ninja with a leaking front tire; the wheel was later changed. Paul Van Zuyle (shown) teamed with Tracy DeMuro and Brent Ross on a Yamaha V-twin. Results 1. Team Hammer. John Ulrich. Russ Paulk, Steve Baron. Joey Osowslti (Suz GS1100) 326 laps: 2. North Ridge Racing, Ralph Johnston Sr., Ralph Johnston Jr.• Don Sielschon (Yam fV11001 317 laps; 3. Quester /SuJlivan Racing, Mike Harlow, Dave Boggess. Mika Baranbrugge (Suz GS1100) 315 laps; 4. Po Folks, Dale Burroughs. Bill Trow· bridga (Kaw KZ1 OOOR13141aps: 5. Cycle Man Racing, Ronnie Bowen, Chris Chandler, Cindy Bowen, Allan Juna (Kaw GPz55D) 314 laps: 6. Speed Boys, Larry Burkholdar. John Yurejefeie (Yam FJ6001313 laps; 7. Roswell Racing, Bob Henman, Tommv Blackwell. Mark Zalenslti (Kaw GPz75D) 305 laps: 8. Team Redline, Randy Ward, Mike Tavlor, George Fitt Sr.. George Flu Jr. (Hon VF5ODF) 305 laps: 9. Team St. Louis. Den Hayes, Bob Marquardt, Gaines Desloge (Kaw GPz55D1305laps: 10. Team Wanker. M.S. Murphy, Ken Welty, Dick Blanton, Lee GraVes (Kaw KZ1 0001 304 laps. AFM Six-Hour (Continued from page 16) third. DeMuro/Van luyle/Ross trailed them by one lap, and two laps behind them were Carroll/Sadowski and Pace/Sharpe/Sharp still going at it. Mitchell/Crowell still led at hour five, but Bryant/Oliver/Phillips had picked up the pace a bit and were only Ilf laps back. Van Den Broek/ Hagie were two laps behind them with DeMuro/Van luyle/Ross still holding fourth, eight laps behind the leaders. Things started to get exciting with 30 minutes left in the race as Mitchell/Crowell lost their one-lap cushion after a few unexpected pit stops. Their gas tank was leaking and Crowell's helmet came unlatched. Phillips could already taste the champagne; he knew he had to have that trophy. Although his rear tire was compl~tely worn out, he didn't let off. The Ninja was starting to wobble badly even in the straights. The rest of his teal1} was just as hyped-up; upon hearing strange noises eminating from the Mitchell/Crowell machine, Bryamand Oliver stood on the pit wall screaming "Break! Break, sucker! "Phillips was ~etting closer to the first-place machIne with each lap. With 10 minutes to go Phillips was only six seconds behind. Three minutes later he passed Crowell emering turn one. As that team rejoiced, another team cried. Carroll/Sadowski Marty Sharpe (shown). Tom Sharp. and Chuck Pace won the 600cc class. who, after having had more than their share of problems, rode at a sprim-race pace for most of the race, and fried their clutch with a mere five minutes left. They had to settle for 12th overall, fourth in class at the end. At the finish Phillips led by 12 seconds to score the win that he has sought for eight years. Mitchell/ Crowell thought they had won, and lodged a protest. "I thought they (Bryam/Oliver/Phillips) were still a lap down on usorI wouldn't have let him by," said a dejected Crowell afterwards. But after a second careful check with the SCCA scorers, the protest was disallowed. "Lockhart laps the. competition" said Bryant as the champagne flowed. "We want to thank our sponsors - Lockhart, SuperTrapp, Richmond Kawasaki and Shoei." It was ironic that Lockhart and SuperTrapp had put up the cash for the $500 purse that they had just won. The second-placing Kawasaki of Mitchell/Crowell, sponsored by Weigl Telefix, Mac Pipes, SBS brake pads and prepped by Mark Sottileof Action Fours, helped to create one of the closest endurance race finishes in recent memory. The third-place finishers, Van Den Broek/Hagie rode a consistent, trouble-free race, even though they had no from brake after the third hour. "We set our fastest lap times without the brakes" said Van Den Broek. They had a very efficient pit crew, a tire change and fueling .look them onl y 40 seconds. Their Dunlop-sponsored Ninja was an ex-magazine test bike, with an extra radiator (a snowmobile radiator) bolted on to the from where the headlight went. Van