Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~I ::: G W I a: :s > a: a: :s > e '" r.n ... U":l 0 0 00 m ...... J: Cl.. ...... ...... l- eu ..0 E eu .... 0.. eu rJJ (Above) Joey Osowski (51 ) leads Team Han ion en route to Blackhawk victory. (Below ) Mark Heiser on the runner up Speed Boys FZ750. Doug Toland gu ides the Team Hammer Suzuki throug h the rai n; t he team fi ni shed fourth despite the cras h that sen t Rus s Paulk to the hospital. WERA Wiseco National Championship Endurance Road Race Series: Round 9 Cycle Tech s lides to Blackhawk victory By Larry Lawrence BELOIT , IL. AUG. 24 Cycle T ech R aci n g , wi th riders John Kocinski and J oey O so ws ki aboard a Suzuki GSXR 750, managed to overcome two crashes on rain-slick pavement to take their fifth victory in th e series. Cycle Tech travel ed 384 miles in six hours o n th e treacherous 1.8-mile, eigh t-tu rn Blackhawk Farms 20 co urse. Speed Boys, winner of th e la st two ro unds of th e series, rod e th eir normal cons istent. no-frills race to finish second two laps down to Cycle T ech . Gen eri c Racing turned in their fin est performance o f the season, taking third o vera ll o n th eir Midwest Yam ah a FJ600. Genericfinished with 206 laps, three laps up on defending series ch a m p io n T eam H am mer. Ha mmer was again struck by hard lu ck wh en rider Russ Paulk lost contro l in the ra in and cras hed. The race began under dry track co n- di tions a nd Kocin ski, on th e Cycle T ech Suzuki, immedi at el y set th e pa ce. Following Kocinski in th e first hour was Paulk on th e Hammer Suzuki an d Mark Heiser o n th e Speed Boys Yamaha. Kocinski a nd Paulk quickl y settled into a blazing pace a nd o pened up a co ns idera ble gap o n th e field . Heiser . on the Parts unlimitedl Metzeler-backed FZ750 ran alone in third at th e end of th e first hour. Heading up a closel y-packed wave o f learn s baul in g for fourth was Horn Bros. Racin g o n th e Competition Cycle Yam ah a FJ 600. Ed Key. who has proba bly ridden mor e race la ps arou nd Blackhawk tha n a nyone, was o u t rid in g "j ust for fun ." Even tho ug h Bill th e Ca t Racing's 1979 Kawasaki KZ650 didn ' t seem to be a serio us th reat to the top tea ms, a nyt ime Key races a t Blackhawk you had better ta ke no tice. Bill the Cat Racin g ran in the to p five all day lo ng, run ning as h igh a s second a nd fin ish in g fifth overall and first in Mediumweight Superbi ke, By the end o f the second ho ur , the race .was shaping up to be th e lo nga wait ed showdown between Cycle Tech and Hamm er. Onl y nine seconds separated th e two a n d Doug T ol and, o n th e Hammer bik e, wa s goi ng quicker lap by lap. T he ra in began jus t into th e third hour a n d as an y rid er that knows Blackhawk can tell you, the track becomes a I.S-mile ice co u rse when it ra ins . As many as 24 teams crashed on th e slick surface with most bi kes sust a ining minor d amage getting quick ly back on co u rse. The race, a t this point, became a slo w-mo tio n test of balance as lap times for most dropped by more than a minute per lap! Paulk had just hopped on th e Hammer Suzuki for the second riding sessi on and made onl y three laps befor e losing contro l on the wet su rface a n d crash ing hard in th e highspe ed ca ro usel section . Paulk went to th~ ho spital for arm X vra ys, (H e sus rai ned a badl y-rush ed righ t elbow, bU I no brok en bones.) T ol and a n d crew set out to find the bike, but si nce so man y bikes had cra shed , corner workers co u ld n 't tell them wh at corner the bike went down a t. Finally, a spec ta tor told Toland where the bike was. but it took another co u p le of minutes to find th e bike. T he delay knocked Hammer well down in the field as well as leaving Toland in a difficult situation. Could Toland ride th e remaining three a lone ? As it turned out, Toland felt fin e and rode to a commendable fourth-pla ce finish . Bill Foster a lso had a laugh choice to make. Should he signal the Cycle Tech machine into th e pits for rain tir es? "After our experience at Nel so n, I'm not going to cha nge to rains until water is sta ndi ng o n the trac k, " FOSler sai d. 'Anot h er plus for Cycle T ech wa s that Sp eed Bo ys had co me in for a cha nge to ra in tir es a nd were still turni ng slo wer lap times. At the halfwa v ma rk , Cvcle T ech had co vered 124 laps co m pa red to Speed Bo ys and Bill the Cat Ra cing eac h wi th 115. Gen eric Racin g and Racin g Ottaw a were dicing for fourth. bo th o n la p 114. Riding o n slicks in th e rain caug h t up with Cycle Tech 's Kocinski as he went down twi ce wit h in th ree la ps . Nothi ng ma jor was da maged in th e first crash, bu t the second fall cracked , th e engine side cover. Cycle T ech 's repai r time in th e pits ena bled Speed Bo ys to close within o ne lap o f th e lead er. Ma gnu sson Ra cin g 's Kawasaki Ninja 600 made a stro ng bid a t th e leaders during th e last two hours via a strong ride by Ken Davis. Magnusson had to settle for sixth overall aft er being passed by Hammer a nd Bill the Cat Racin g in the last ho ur. The rain su bsided toward the end o f th e fourth hour and teams got back up to speed . Cycle Speed Racing and Local Motion Racing, both on Yamaha RZ350s, had th eir o wn personal duel going. The teams swa p ped positions all day long. Cycle Speed finished ninth overall an d first in the Li ghtweight Superbike cla ss j ust a hea d o f Local Motion, wh o fin ished first in Lightweight Production. Speed Bo ys closed in on Cycle Tech during T ech 's problems, but had Iitt le cha nce o f out-gunning Kocinski to th e finish. Kocin ski and Heiser took the checkered flag together, both with fists in the air. Toland charged back for fourth a fter Hammer's crash, and looked fresh even a fter nearly five hours of • riding. Results 1. Cycle Tech Rac in g (J ohn Koc ins ki /Joey Osows ki) Hvywt Superb ike. Suz GSXR750. 2 14 lops; 2. Speed Boys (Lorry Burkhold erI Mark Hei· sor/Bob Frank) Hvywt Superbike. Yom FZ750. 2 12 laps; 3. Gen eric Racing (Vern Everene/ M ike Stevenson/ Jo hn W ilkening) Mediumwt , Prod. Yam FJ 600, 206 laps; 4 . Team Hammer (Russ Paulkl Doug Toland) Prototype, Suz GS1 150. 203 laps; 5. Team Bill the Cot (Ed Key/ Bob Patto n/Gordon Lu nde /Avery In nislTom Fitzgerald) M ed iumwt Superbike, Kaw KZ650, 203 lops; 6. M agnuson Racing (Chuck Ma gnusson / Ken Davis) Mediumwt. Superb ike. K~ w Ninj a 8OOR. 20 3 laps: 7. Racin g Ottawa. Medlumwt Prod. Yam RZ500. 2011aps; B. Team Pan (M ike Studecska /John Eiden burger) Heavywt Prod . Yom FZ750. 199 lops; 9. Cycle Speed Racing (Bob Evans /Jeff McM ill an) Lig htwt Superbike. Yam RZ3S0. 199 laps; 10. Local M oti on Racing (Dave Fulkerson/Kim Papernic/ George Grassl Ughtwt Prod. Yam RZ350, 197 laps.

• Cover