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/126822
...... Mike Harlow (9 ) j umps Quester-Sullivan 's Yamaha out front at the start. AMA/ChampioRllhip CUp Entl.....nee Bo"" Raee Series: Bound 4 Hoad A.",erica win to 'q u e s t e r -S u l l i v a n By Randy Marrs ELKHART LAKE , WI , MAY 4 The Road America Six- H o u r saw Q uesterSulh vanRacing's Mike Baren bru gge, Mike H a rlo w, and Bo b Vo orhees cover 508 miles in 127 laps on the four-mile road course to take first overall a n d fir st in th e GTO division o ver runner-up CG Racing a nd th eir Yamaha FZ750 by tw o laps. G oing into round four, Dr. J ohn 's Tea m MOIOGuzzi were th e odds -on fa vorites, bu t finished third. The back-to-hack ro unds took their toll o n severa l tea ms, th e most no ta ble bein g Ameri can Honda-sponsored Team Ontario. Su fferin g mor e th an their sha re o f bad Iuck o n th e West Coast swing, th e problems for th e team co nt in ued a t Road America. John Ashmead sho wed up with h is foot in a cas t from a crash in th e AMA Superbike round a t Willow . Lynn Miller's arm was in a sling from a cras h in th e end u ra nce ro u nd a t Will ow . Filling in for Ashmea d was Jay Parnell, with Miller riding in pain. Ontario's problems with th e new VFlOOOR Honda contin ued with Parnell coming in from th e morning practice session co mplai ni ng' of a badl y-slipping cl u tch. On tari o tuner Keith Perry installed a new cl u tch for the race, hoping to cu re th e si tua tio n. As On tario a nd many o f th e 39 teams on hand found o u t, clutch es became a major problem . QuesterSullivan held the pole for th e start of the six-hour rac e a nd led th e field o ff. By th e end of th e first hour, Miller had th e Team Ontario /American Honda/Cam-2 /Dunlop /Spectro/ ND /D.E . Ma chin a /Moto-X Fox VFI OOOR in from followed by QuesterSullivan, Moto-Guzzi, T ea m Lockhart , and the Backroad Bandits Suzuki ridden by Matt WashinglOn and Ro ber t Bu b filling th e top five. An additiona l nine other teams were a ll on the lead lap with Ontario. . However, at the end of th e second ho u r, Q uester 's Bar enbrugge, on the Spectro/ Arai /Dunlop/Ferodo/ Russell Perforrnance/ Mo to-X Fox/KK/ Libert yville Yamaha FJ was th e on ly rider on the same lap with Ontario. With Bob Voorhees riding, Quester moved into first by th e en d o f th e third hour as Ontario 's cl u tch problems continued to ge t worse. Team Lockhart 's rid e ca me 10 an end j us t into the fou rt h hour. With Wendall Phill ips riding, the team 's Ni nja bega n to sound increasi ng ly ro ug h each consecutive lap. Accordin g to Phillips, the mo tor seized d ue 10 overhea ting . Quester-Sullivan main tain ed a onelap lead on On tar io wi th two hours left while Moto-C uzzi was th ird, one lap do wn. T he CG Racin g Yam aha FZ750 was fourt h. CG was slowlv and co ns istentl y mak in g u p gro und to mount a stro ng bid on Moto-Guzzi. TheCG Yam ah a, ridden byJeff Atwell, Co urtney Co llins and Crai g Gaver, moved onto th e same lap with MotoGU7 in the fifth hou r. .zi Just into the fifth hour, Nick Phil lips, n ow ridin g th e Moto-Guzzi North Amer ica / Kon i/ Metzeler/ Parts Un limited/ T ea m Sure-F ire/M obill H ella/Bell LeMans moved into seco n d. Mill er br ou ght the Ontari o H onda in to the pits and th e resu lt ing sto p cost the team two laps whil e th ey repl aced th e front brak e pads. " I h ad to pum p th e brak es six times goi ng into eac h turn ," said Miller. " We brak ed h ard beca use o f th e cl u tch p roblem an d hoped to go the di stance o n a set o f pads." CG Raci n g moved aro u n d Ontari o in th e final hour a nd had th eir sights set on MOIO-Guzzi. Witli 15 minutes left, Coll in s caug h t a nd passed th e Moto-Guzzi 10 tak e second. Voorhees, riding the last leg for Quester -Sullivan , took the win follow ed by CG Racing , Moto-Guzzi and T eam Ontario , with T eam Hornblower ro u nd ing o u t the top five and GTO class. Mot o-Guzzi still maintains a commanding overall point lead in th e series with two firsts, a second and a thi rd, wh il e Bridgeport Kawasaki leads the GTU di vision. • Results ENDURANCE GTO: 1. Que ster-S u lli van Racing (yam): 2. CG Racing (Yam); 3 . Or . John's Team Moto· Guui (M · G); 4. Team Ontario (Hon); 5. Hornblower Racing (Hon); 6. Motorcyc le Specia lists (Vam); 7. X-Cel Racing {Yam); 8 . Backroad Band it s (Su z); 9 . Student Logan Racin g (Yam); 10 . Red Racing (Yam). GTU: 1. Local M otion Racing (Kaw); 2 . Team Ve locity (Yam); 3. Br idgeport Kawasaki (Kaw) ; 4 . King Brot hers Racing (Kaw); 5. Quant um Racing tHon); 6 . Go Wild Racing (Yaml; 7 . Team VISA (Yam); Team RadioaC1ive (Yam); 9 . Bi-W heel Rae· ing (Suz); 10 . Tarmac Dr ifters/Matrix (Han) . a. 17