Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ..J ..J W '" > a: a: ~ e > '" en 0 , >- ' 0 J: e, ~ 00 O"l ..... ~ 00 C'I ..... tr.I ;:l ... CD ;:l ~ (A bov e) The start. w ith the front row already blasting ou t of the frame . (Below) Fabulous Speed Boys' Larry Burkholder (5) passes Mediumweight Production c lass winners Horn Brothers Racing early i n the morning. WERA/Wiseco National Championship E~durance Road Race: Round 1 Speed Boyswin Nelson Ledges 24-Hour .By larry Bell WARREN , OH, AUG . 10-1 1 The Speed Bo ys team turned in a sm oo th, co nsisten t, an d near flawless race to p ost a stu n n in g come-from-behind victory in the 17th Ann ual 24-Hours of N elson. T ea m 26 m embers Larry Burkh older, Bob Frank, Mark H eis er , Jim 1\ibou a n d J oh n Yurejefeic, o n a Yamaha FZi 50, parlayed the m ech a rn ca l mffifdrH1I1t'Ot' fro n l'- runn in g Cycl e T ech Racin g in the 2 1st hou r into a co m m a n d ing lea d a nd lat er held o ff a lat e cha rg e by H .S.C. Racing and their Yama ha FJ II 00 to fini sh w ith a vict ory m argi n of 17 la p s on Nel son 's 2.0-mi le, l 2-tU1'f! . t m l. sN ·T IIle.,w in rltlrs com - pleted 999 laps for a to ta l of 1998 racing m iles. Cycle T ech Racing , who h ad led fro m th e second hour, fin ish ed third o n a Su zu ki GSXR750 with 977 laps - five la p s o u t o f second. Team H ammer, th e current number o ne p late h older a nd winner o f la st yea r's race, was forced o u t o f co nt en ti on in th e second hour with m otor p robl ems. H ammer h ad a tw o-lap lead when forced to d rop o u t. S peed Bo ys member s a re no stra nge rs to 24-hou r ra cing. At la st year's race th ey ca p tu red third o vera ll and fir st in Mediumweight Production. " We d id it, " sa id a j u bila n t Burkholder. " O u r cre w, o u r scorers, a n d th e d edication of everyone did it." The tea m did it by lead ing th e last th ree hours a n d was o n lv th e third leader o f th e ent ire ra ce. ' Pre-r ace fav orites T eam H ammer , Cycle T ech Ra cin g, Northridge Yam a ha a nd Z-P Racin g (second overa ll and first H ea vyweight S u per bi ke la st year) set th e to ne for the week end by a rr ivin g seve ra l da ys in adva nce 10 d o pre limi nary tes t i ng. H ammer 's Kerk er/ Arai /Emgo/ BelR a y/ Ca m 2/ D y na / Mot o -X Fo x / 'D ~ " I(jp 4; 'J ~ jot!(i(l· :S u'LU·k i ' GO I ~50 I had few problems. "We've gone all out for bike prep" sa id a H ammer rider. Those words would later come ba ck to haunt th e team . I n the second h ou r, a fter Russ P aulk had sta rted fro m the pole position and put a twolap lead on th e fie ld , the engine began 10 sputter. "It 's onl y running on tw o cy lin ders, " Hammer rider Dave Schlosser said. Th e ultimate ca u se of th e proble m after the ignition, carbs a nd a lot more was checked , was a ca m cha in which had slip ped a few teeth , resulting in bent valves. Ra ther than swap motors, Hamm er's crew decided 10 pack it in for the day a nd save the hardware for th e 24-hour a t Willow Springs. Cycle T ech Racing's Moto-X Fox/ Turbo Blue gas/ Du nlop/Vance & Hines/Sboei-supponed Suzuki wa s h aving h andling prob lems. "We lowered th e fork tubes and rai sed th e tripl e tre es 10 co rrect th e problem. " J oey Osowski sa id . Osowski teamed with Dave Aldana , John Kocinsk i, David Zirkle a nd T erry Hampton on th e bi ke. C ycl e Tech piled up a commandi ng 16-lap lead before Zi rkl e rode off th e tra ck with transmission problems. "I was co m in g up 10 a turn and it just popped o u t of ge a r. It would ra tch et, but not sh ift," sa id Zirk le. Aft er a quick trip ba ck to th e pits o n th e tow truck Aldana took it o u t. A lap la ter he returned to th e pits and th e who le motor was pulled. T h e 57-minute a ffa ir a ll o wed Speed Boys 10 s lip into th e lead. N orthridg e Yamaha , with Ralph J ohnston Jr. , riding th e Wi seco/Metzeler/ Ara iz'Mor o-X Fox /N :D .-supported FJIIOO, h ad 10 o verco me a badl y slip pi ng clutch . " T he clutch sta rted to g la ze a bit in practice," said team m ember Don Sielsch ott. Once th at was so lved the next problem to a p pear was th e sus pens io n . " T he tr ack is reall y rough and our sus pe ns io n is start ing to bottom out," Ral ph Jr. sa id a fte r co m in g in from h is first sti nt. The suspens io n became th e least o f th eir co ncerns as Ralph Sr. cr as he d in th e fourth hour and went 10 th e h ospital with a b ro ken righ t wr ist. Aft er puttin g th e FJ ba ck to gether, a nother crash ende d th eir hopes. Z-P Ra cing su rvived a practice crash 10 be a mong the top fiv e o n th e D.E. Machina /R ick 's C ycle/Cam 2/Klouback ed FJI IOO until th e 'fin a l hour wh en a cracked g enera to r housing a nd a n o il lea k end ed th eir charge. Riders Kevin Perry, GreggZizza , Chris Hughes a nd J ohn L opez had been runn.in.g second with two hours re m a m mg. T o w in a t th e 24- hou r yo u have 10 go fas t a t night. Just into th e eig h th hour rain sta rted to fa ll and many team s became worried about which tires to use. Leader C ycl e T ech was usin g a tw o-way co m m u n ica tio n system which allowed the pi t crew a nd rider to di scu ss em erge ncie s. With rain falling in th e ca ro use l, Cycl e Tech pitted for ra in tires. One lap later, th e Suzuki pitted a ga in for a return 10 sli ck s, Once the slicks were remounted , O sowski was off. Cycle T e ch's two pit s to p s to ok fiv e minutes. Speed Boys had Mark Heiser at the co ntro ls. Heiser isa fo rm er dirt tra cker who "just loves 10 slide in th e rai n," as he pu ts it. They made no stops during th e brief rainy p eriod. In fact, th ey o n ly us ed one rear tire a nd two front tires during th e ra ce. "We wer e close to putting intermediates on , but we talked Jimm y Tribou into stay in g o n th e slic ks ." Burkholder said. Theonl y tim e Speed Boys enco u n tered a n y difficulty a t n ight wa s with thei r stock headl ight. " We slipped to th ird a bou t 5:00 a. rn. because th e ~i gh( s wet'cn :t ' rea ll y. Up 'IO' p:i ~. lWe

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