Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Joey Osowski replaced t he injured Wes Cooley and teamed with Oav id A ldana to give Cycle Tech Rac ing the w in . A fiel d of over 75 teams leave the start li ne in t he second round of t he endurance championship at the new St. Louis. Raceway_ Wiseco/WERA National Championship Endurance Road Race Series: Round 2 -, Cycle Tech wins St. Louis Thriller By Larry Law rence FAI R MOUNT CITY. IL. MA Y 25 Cycle Tech R a ci ng, with 'David Aldana and Joey O so wski at the controls won the WE RA Six-Hour hosted by the Midwest Cafe R aci ng Association at the new St. LouisIntern a tio n al Racew ay. O sowski was ca lle d in only a few days ea rl ier lO replace Wes Cooley wh o is hospi talized from hi s cras h at Scars 18 Point th e week belon-. Cvrl e T ech 's winn in g margin o ver se~'(} 1J(1 pluce ' )" ( ';1 111 H amme-r W:lS o n lv Sl '\"l 'n Sl'e· o n ds a fu -r 50i .5 m ik s o f ri" 'ing o n r1H' 2.5-mik t rark , 'Speed Boys, on th eir Pan s Un li m ited Yam aha FZi50 fin ished n in e laps lx-hin d Ha m mer. A field of ove r i 5 teams bla sted o u t o f the gate at noon with Russ Paulk, on the Hammer ent ry. taking a com- Russ Pau lk paced t he Team Hammer Suzuki to an early lead before a crash dropped the team to second place. manding lead, foll ow ed by Aldana o n Cycle Tech's specia lly -p re pa red Suzu ki GSX Ri50. Northridge Ra cing p ositioned th eir Yamaha FJ 1100 in th ird. with T eam Indv a nd th e North Sh o re Yamaha /Ha'nda en try in close pursuit. Paulk stre tched o u t a huge lead over Ald ana -in th e ea rly stages of th e race. Team Indy's Kurt Eisma n push ed th e H onda i 50 Interceptor a nd went wh eel-to-wh eel with Northridge Ra cing 's Ra lph J ohnston Jr. The Indy ent ry lat er dropped back. _ Quester -Sulli van 's Mike -H a rlo w a nd N orth Shore' s G a r y Gibson battled in th e first hour, with Quester returning to th e Suzuki GSllOO whi ch they co ntested th e series o n last year. By th e end of the first hou r. lead er Hammer. Cycle T ech a nd Northridge all wer e o n lap 34. The Fast Bo ys from Illinois (Tea m FBI), with Boonie Kn o tt a nd Chuck McCabe riding , stood al one in fourth with 33 laps. Th e teams in fifth th rough 15th place were p ack ed in a t 32 laps. w ith Speed Bo ys leadin g that g roup, Att rition was th e story in th e seco nd hour. Ri sin g Sun Racing cra shed wh ile braking for the fir st co rner, wi th th e rider laying in th emiddle of th e track a t th e end o f th e stra ig ht. Qu ick wo rk by th e co rner personnel . co m bi ned with qui ck reacti on by so me ride rs, averted a ca ta stro p h e. A few m in utes later, Dave Sch losser lost co n tro l o f th e H amm er m achine a nd went down, wh ile at a bo u t th e sa me tim e th e Quester-Sulli van ent ry crashed , Sch losser was a ble to re-enter th e co urse a nd get th e bike back to th e pi ts fo r m in or repairs. Qu ester 's Suzu ki had th e igniti on unit ripped o rr th e side o f th e m o tor, en di ng thei r day. H ammer 's re pa ir ti me in the pi ts cost th em th e lead; both Cycle T ech and Northridge got by H ammer before th e seco nd hour. By the halfwa y mark , Cycl e Tech led with 101 laps. On e lap down was Northridge Racing foll owed by Tea m Hamm er, Speed Bo ys a nd Cycle Sp eed Racing a board th eir Yamaha RZ350. Nort h ri dge a n d Cycle T ech swa pped th e lead back a nd forth fo r th e n ext hour a nd a half, then a cra sh sideline d Northridge, Sch los ser never seeme d to be abl e to get the H amm er bike down to co n sisten tly qui ck tim es. although he did )';0 fast er than former Hammer rider Os ow ski . Schlosser sa id, "The co m bina tio n o f a new bike a nd new track got m e off to a bad sta rt. 1 just co u ld n ' t ge t into a smooth rhythm today, but I feel I'll be ready fo r next week 's race a t Su m m it Point. " With o n ly o ne h ou r rema ining , P aulk h opped o rr th e H amm er ma chine a nd handed th e bik e to Sc h losser a fte r turnin g o ne minute, 39 seco nd laps, which moved H ammer ah ead o f Cycle T ech into th e lead, Ald ana took th e Cycle T ech reins from O sowski a nd began pulling a wav from Sc h losser. Sc h losser was ca ll~d i n after 15 minutes a nd Paulk entered th e co ur se a bo u t 50 seco nds behind Aldana. The questi on was n ot o n lv wh eth er Paulk co ul d mak e up th e 'defici t, but if Cycle T ech 's Su zuki co u ld mak e it to th e fini sh o n th eir rem a ining fu el suppl y. The exci teme nt inten sified as Paulk slo w lv wh i tt led a wa v a t Ald ana's lead . Aldana was ge u ing pit board sig na ls from team cap ta i n Bill Foster , and kn ew Pau lk was gain in g on him, With o n ly tw o minutes showi ng o n th e track clock . Pau lk co u ld see Alda na a h ead o n th e strai ght. Paulk madea va lia nt final la p push to ca tch Alda na, bu t finis he d seve n seco nds sho rt , An exha us ted but happy Ald an a sai d , "I ke p t looking a t th e pit board, see ing th at Paulk was gai ning a nd wish in g th at six o'clock would hu rry 'u p an d co me ." Aldan a th anked Arai, Fox a nd Cycle T ech for su p porti ng the winn in g effo rt. Speed boys ro ok third beh ind H amm er, a nd ca p ta in Larry Burkholder seeme d very pl ea sed. " I think we h eld o ur o wn today aga ins t very exce lle nt co m peti tion. a n d we're still in a good position in th e sta nd ings ." Kurt H all's Ri squ e Racing put o n a fin e p erf ormance, , ta kin g fourth o vera ll an d a first in th e Mediumweight Product ion class o n th eir Greenrose H onda 500 Int ercep tor. Rounding o u t th e top five with a no the r so lid ride was Solmax Racin g , keeping th em in co ntention , - Results · SPRINTS OV ERA LL: 1. Cycle Tech Raci ng (Suz); 2 . Team Hammer (Suz); 3 . Speed Boys {Yam t; 4 . Risque Raci ng (Hont; 5. Solmax Raci ng (Yam) ; 6 . Team F.B.I. (Ya m); 7 . Cycle Speed Raci ng (Yam); 8 . Student loa n (Ya m); 9 . Go W ild Racing (Han) ; 10 . Je urink Lubbers (Han).

• Cover