Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

III cz: cz: R ~ < ~ > c z < a:: C Z < VI Z a:: ~ 0 0 00 > 0"1 z ~ """". > a:: 00 < t.:l C\f ~ V ~ 8 V ;> 0 Z Lap one, turn five: Que.ter/Sullivan'. Mike Harlow (9) lead. Steel City Racing'. Bruce Egan (41), Po Folk.' Dale Burrough. (601, Team Hammer', Ru•• Peulk (1), North Ridge Racing'. Ralph John.ton Jr, (4) and Team Ontario'. Lynn Miller (2), WERA/Dunlop National Championship Endurance Road Race Series: Final round Team Hammer takes second championship By Gary Van Voorhis BRA ELTON, GA, NOV. J I Lady Luck and Mother Nature teamed up to add a bit of drama to the Road Atlanta FourHour, the final and championship-deciding round of the series. Team Ontario, the defending race winner, came out on LOp again, after consistent, no-mistakes riding and a trouble-free change to rain tires 8 in the final half-hour enabled them to erase the nearly two-lap I adTeam Hammer had on them at that time, Hammer's problems with their tire change and an ensuing additional pit stop demanded by WERA tech officials to safety wire a bolt on the front ax.le, left the team a half-a-lap shy at the finish after having held the lead for the majority of the race, However, 'the second-place finish cemented a second straight championship title for the California-based team. Team Hammer's John Ulrich and Russ Paulk were joined in handling the riding chores by Dave Schlosser when Ulrich got sick dur- ing his second-hour stint on their Prototype class ll36cc Suzuki. Last year's final race during the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta saw Ontario and Hammer running (or the tiue with Ontario winning the race, but losing the title. This year Ontario chose to contest the AMA/CCS Endurance Series and clinched the series title with a win in the final round at Daytona International Speedway on November 2. The win at Road Atlanta provided riders John Ashmead and the Ontario crew with a bit of vindication for last year's loss. A field of 73 teams took the green nag to begin their trial on the 2.52 mile, 12-lUrn course at Road Atlanta. Paulk, handling the first hour for Hammer, blitzed into the lead and was lapping traffice before the end of lap two. Lynn Miller putthe Ontario Honda VF IOOOF Heavyweight Superbike enlJ'y into second with the Po Folks Kawasaki third over the Quester/Sullivan Suzuki GSIIOO, Three teams - QuesterlSullivan, Speed Boys, a Mediumweight Production class entry, and Hammer all had a shot at the NationaltitIe in the best-eigh t-finishes-count series. However, Quest r and Speed Boys came into the race having already run eight series rounds while Hammer had only seven to their total and thus began racking up points in the poi nts-eq ual-mileage-covered affair. To add more spice, the race paid double points since it was the final round. 'Tm nervous," said Ulrich, as he watched Paulk slice his way through traffic. "We don't really have lO win, but if we did we couldn't lose the title. With double points being paid, the only way to be sure is just to beat everyone else." Quester was hedging their bet and had two entries with Mike Harlow and Jerry Holm on theiT number one bike and Mike Barenbruggeand Tim Knutson handling the second entry. "Only one entry counts for points," said Harlow before the race. "We had two bikes ready to go so we decided to race both." Paulk blistered the track lO open up a one-lap margin over Ontario by the end of hour one with Quester's number one bike in third, two laps o[fthe leader's pace along with Boonie KnOll's FBI Racing Yamaha TZ750 and the North Ridge Racing Yamaha FJ 1100. Po Folks, plagued by problems all season long, had their ride end before the finish of hour one with a sour engin . Fifty-five starters were still running. Gas stops and rider changes completed, the field rolled on into hou two. One of the first among the frontrunners to strike trouble was. FBI with a problem with the exhaust system which led them to change pipes and eventually cost the team about" one hour in the pits. The gap between leading Hammer a.nd Ontario closed during hour two lO less than a (ull lap while North Ridge, Taylor Racing, Quester and Z-P Racing battled it out behind. The second Quester entry had dropped off the pace and hovered at about 20th (or the rest of the race. "We're running good, but we were preuy slow in hour one," said Greg Zilla of Z-P Racing. The Yamaha FJ lloo-mounted team induded Kevin Perry and Lex Hutton. "I keep telling our team we've got a chance," said Zilla, "Of course, Hammer, North Ridge, Quester and Speed Boys all have to blow up. It could happen. Realistically, we're going (or the best showing possible to auract some sponsorship (or next season. It costs a minimum o( $10,000 to do 10 rounds and we can't afford to do it without more backing for next year. You'll probably hear the ame from just about everyone racing here." The end of hour two saw most teams make routine gas/rider change with Hammer about 45 seconds up on Ontario, followed by orth Ridge, Taylor, Quester and Z-P. Heschimura Racing, on a Honda 500, held the Middleweight Superbike class lead at 10th overall while Team Casual, in the Lightweight Superbike ranks, led Your-ln-On-ItRacing, a Lightweight Production class entry, in a battle for 19th, "Quester's strategy is simple," said Harlow, "We're riding as hard as we can because we've gotlO beat Hammer lO win the titk. We had a tire problem with our second entry, but both teams are still running good."

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