Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. ------.. -.--... -- ... - _-. ~ -.::t< ti ~ (Above) The start. (Below) Solmax Racing (45) leads eventual winners Speed Boys through a turn. Solmax finished fourth. S .... ~ 0.. en ~ Team Mota Guzzi's Larry Shorts (shown) teamed with Gregg Smrz to win at Mid-Ohio. despite a broken driveshaft. WERAjWiseco National Endurance Series: Round 8 Speed 'B oys at Road Atlanta By Larry Lawrence BRASELTON, GA , AUG. 17 Fresh fr om their victory at the 24.- Hou rs of Nelson Ledges, Speed Boys took their secondstraig h t W ERA National Endurance Series win at the 'scen ic R oad Atlan ta road course. Speed Boys covered 506 miles on the ir Parts Un lim ited / Me tzeler/ FZ750 Yamaha Superbike. Cycle T ech Racing ' fin ish ed 24 seco nd wi th Tea m H ammer th ird . Speed Boys h ave now wo n three o f the eigh t rou nds o f th e National Series to date with Cycle Tech winning fo u r a nd T eam H ammer takin g o ne even t. Th e best nine fin ish es in th e series CO U Ill, with six races remain ing . No ta bles not making th e Atlanta ro und were North Ridge Racin g a nd Fast Co mpa ny . bo th reco vering fro m crashed machines at Nelson. Team H ammer was again th e fastest o n the race co urse . (E vide nce : R uss Paul k o n th e H am mer Suzu ki had la pped th e en tire field in 13 la p s!) Bu t thi s has been a frust ra ti ng seaso n for Hammer wi th the exceptio n of their openi ng-ro und win a t Indian apolis. Afte r lead in g for nea rly an ho ur a n d build ing a n im pressiv e lead , Paulk brought th e sputte ri ng Suzuki in to th e pits. T he cu lp rit, a faulty bat tery lead wire, was quickl y replaced ' . a nd H ammer was o ff a nd ru n ni ng. U n fort u nately for H ammer , th is was not to be thei r last problem of th at day. Ser ies leader Cycle Tech a lso fell victim to engi ne problems, a nd team rider David Aldana brought th e so urso u nd in g Su zu ki in o n th e seco nd la p . Tea m C apt a in Bil l Fo st er su m me d up th e team 's p robl ems, " En gi n e parts for the GS X R750 are pract ically impossibl e to ge t, and we're ha ving to co nsolida te parts from o u r three mot ors to co me up wi th o ne good motor. It 's beginn in g 10 catch up with us." Cycle Tech changed carburetors and co n tin ued , but th e Suzu ki's mot or st ill so u nded qu ite tired throughou t the event. Wh ile th e two quickest teams were busy sorting out th eir problems , Speed Boys co nt in ued 10 p ro ve th at uh i.ma te speed is n ot a lways th e-key to wi n n ing end u ra nce races: Speed Boys led af ter th e fir st hour by o ne lap over Kevin Rentzell'sJam U p's Racing on a Yamaha FJ600. Bill 'W3tson' had ' recruited Glen J on es to ride with Wa tson and regular Kevin Hunt for Acm e Racing. The tr io had moved Acm e's F]750 into seco nd pl a ce o n Iy seco nds behind Speed Boys afte r J am Ups crashed in the seco nd hour. . Acm e's challe nge Ior th e lead ended when Hunt dro p ped th e Yamaha duri n g th e th i rd h our. Ac me re entered a nd eventua lly wound up third in th e H ea vyweight Product ion t:lass. C u rre nt Middleweigh t Su perbike ser ies leader Tea m Wanker , arr ived a t the track just minutes befo re th e start of th e race. After hurri ed prepa ra tion s. Wanker made it to th e starting grid and began an im p ressive ride. Wanker ran as hi gh as secon d pl ace before a fifth-h our en gine probl em with thei r 600 Ninj a kn ocked th em o u t of co n tention. Hammer 's Doug To land had never seen Road At lanta before practice but did an excellent job, a long with Paulk, of bringing the repaired Hammer ma ch ine from 19th place in th e 'seco nd hour to seco nd a t th e halfway mark in th e race. At o ne p oint Hammer had ac tually taken th e lead over Speed Boys, but th at lead was short lived as again th e H amm er bik e was pi tted for fuel line repairs. " T h e bike is running better th an it has a ll yea r," sa id Paulk. " O ur new tuner , Vic Fasol a , has done a fin e job so far , but a few o f th e bike's previous p roblem s have still not been worked o u t." Dave Aldana , J oey O sow ski a nd J ohn Koc inski rode th e wheels o ff th e ai li ng Cycl e Tech GSXR750 a n d stead ily worked th eir wa y back into the race. Cycl e T ech with 199 laps ended up two laps beh ind Speed Boys at the race's co m p letion. Hammer finished 195 laps as did Sol max Racing who fin ish ed fourth. M&R Racing put i n a fin e p erformanceon th eir Suzuki G S500 to tak e fifth overa ll. Speed Boy' s Mark H eiser was a . gracio us winner creditin g part of hi s succes s to co m pe titor David Ald ana " I found so me ver y good lines by followin g Ald ana for severa l laps. I p robably ga ined a seco n d per lap just wat ching him ," sa id Heiser. Metzeler Tires' Da vid Graham also pl ayed a n important p art in th e Speed Boys' win by choosing th e ri ght tire . co m bi na tion fo r th e wet , dry , th en • wet-again track co nd itio ns. Results • oveRALL: I : Sp8ed BOY$ ( .Tv 8urk!'olderI Bob I Frank / Mark Haiser) Vam FZ750. 20 1 laps; 2. Cycle Tech Racing (Dave Aldena l John Kocinski!Joey Osows ki) SuzGSXR750. 1991aps; 3. Team HamlTJl!L (Russ Paulk/Doug Toland) Suz GSXI15OR. 19 5 la ps ; 4 . Solrnex Racing (Ron nie Bowen / Ch r i s Chandler/Terry Bailey/Dwayne Palmer/Y ama ha FJI 100. 195 laps ; 5. M&R Racing (Marc Lautzenheser I Ron Bourke ) Suz GS550. 190 laps ; B.Team Horizon (Suzanne BrightbililOaniel Reif /Thom as Runkle /Edward Runkle ) Hon VF500F. 188 laps; 7. Jam Up Racing (K~vin Rentzell/ Jeff Farmer) Vam FJI 100 . IB7 laps ; 9. Team St. Lou is (Dan Hayes / Bob Marquardl/Gaines Desloge ). Vam FJ600. 187 laps ; 10. Radioact ive. Vam RZ350. lB4laps. AMA/CCS U.S. National Championship Endurance Road Race Series: Round 8 Guzzi nips Lockhart at Mid-Ohio By Randy Marrs LEXINGTON, OH, AUG . 17 Larry Shorts a nd G regg Smrz, aboard th e Dr. John's Team Moto-Guzzi entry, pos ted a 54second margin of victory over Team Lockhart after six hours of ra cing a t Mid-Ohio. The win marked the fourth o f the series for the team and gives th em a stron g hold on the . o vera ll p oints lead. The two teams both fini sh ed 160 laps on the 2.4· mile, 15- tu rn tra ck. " Larry a nd Gregg have similar riding styles and al so prefer nearly identical set- up o f the bike," said MotoGuzzi 's John Wittmer . " T hey run nearl y the sa me lap times a nd seem to think th eir wa y through situations rather than j us t rea ct ing. Together, that 's the key 10 su ccess." " We 're go ing 10 lead right fro m th e start a nd stay th ere to th e finish ," sa id Sh orts just prior to th e noon sta rt for th e 48 tea ms. Exce p t for a pe riod during the firs t hour. th e team wa s in front a ll th e way. Shorts. on th e Mot o-Cuzzi LeMa ns 1000. took co m man d o n th e start with Dean j o a s, on th e Tea m Velocit y Yam ah a FZ750, behind. The pai r mov ed a way from th e field while the T eam Lockhart Kawasak i Ninj a 900, with Wendell Ph il lips rid in g , carved th rou gh 10 th ird . J oas took th e lead fro m Shorts. but Shorts took it back at around th e -t o-mi n u te mark a nd T eam , St reet ' & Competition th em moved into seco nd with Lockhart down to th ird a s Tea m Ontario led Quester-

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