Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle Tune co-owner Dennis Smith led the six-man winning team. Cycle Tech's John Kocinski (left) holeshot Team Hamme r 's D oug Tol and (1 ) but soon fo und himself in second place. When Hammer crashed ou t , To la nd switched to Cy cle Tune Racing . (Below) Crossroads Rac ing changes w heels as the sun comes up . WERA/Wiseco Nat ional Endurance Champ-ionship- Series: Round 10 Toland drives Cycle Tune to 24-hour win By John Ulrich . ROSAMO ND , CA, SE PT. 7-8 Cycle Tune Racing survived an early crash and came from far behind to win the WERA 24-Hours West at Willow Springs Raceway on an essentially-stock Yamaha FZ750, coveri n g 20 17.5 mi les in wh a t started ou t as the fastest-paced 24-ho u r ra ce in Am erica n h istory. T eam Performance Mach ine.a nd th eir Kawa sa ki N inja 900 cras he d la te in th e race bu t held o n to fin ish seco nd , with Cro ssroa ds Racing's stock FJ 600 Yamaha from Victor ia, Texas third. Reign in g Champ ions and 1984 24·· H o urs ·West· w i n ners~Tea m H ammer set th e open ing pa ce wi th one -m in ute, 3 1-seco n d la p ti mes (fu ll y seve n seco nds a la p faster than the ope ni ng p ace last yea r) an d led th e firs t th ree hou rs before crash ing; Ham mer even tually cra shed th ree times in two days, sen t two riders to th e hospita l a nd retired with stru ctura l mo to rcycle damage. WERA Na tional End u ra nce Series po ints leaders Cycle Tech Racin g threw a chai n whi le runni ng a dose seco nd d u rin g th e third hour, came back to a 20-lap lead , th en re tired with a broken co n n ectin g rod a nd des troyed en g ine during th e 17th ho ur. Of 16 tea ms starting in th e disa p poin tingly-slim field. o n ly one did n' t cra sh o r enco u n te r major m echan ical p rob lems du r in g th e dra ma-lade n event. Ri d in g with Cycle T u nc co -owner Denn is Smith (h is partner is T erry New by ) o n th e winning m ot orcycle were Nick Ianat sch , Ma lcolm Hill , Kevin Clark , Lan ce Woll en' and T eam Hammer's DougTol and ; ;"ho joined Cycle T u ne as an alternat e rider a fter T ea m Hammer retired . Tea m Performa nce Machine's Ninj a was rid den by Ca rry Andrew, sid ecar racers Pat Dunn and Bill Davidson , Eric Va n Mart er , Sco t! S tre h lo w a n d Ri ch ard Moore. Crossroads Racing 's p ilots incl u ded Pa t Will iam s, Ken Morga n , Sco t! Bern al , Brian Flores and David Donald. Tola nd was th e Man of th e Day (a nd n igh t) a t Will ow, riding 90 min u tes for T ea m Hammer a t th e start of th e race an d ridi ng seven o f th efinal 18 hou rs o f th e ra ce fo r Cycle Tun c. Tola nd turned 1:3l s on Tea m Ha mmer 's Mori waki-Irarn ed GSI1 50 Suzu ki, th en came back to turn low I :32s o n Cycle Tune's FZ750 d urin g dayligh t a n d j ust ni ck into th e I:32s duri ng th e ni gh t. T o land 's hours o f ridin g Cycle Tunc's FZ750 (w h ich is stock excep t for a n a ftermarket exhaust system , a front slic k and suspens io n mod ifications) in cluded four hours a t n ight a nd dragged th e team back into co ntent io n follow ing their ea rly-ra ce crash . Toland sta rte d for T ea m H am m er (co -riders R uss Pau lk , T im O ' Kennedy, Dave Sch losser, J oh n Ulrich a n d a lte rna te Kevin Mona han ) on a bike ha sti ly p at ch ed together fo llowin g a crash in Frida y afternoon p ra ctice; a co u nte rsha ft bea ri ng had seized as a lterna te-r ider Dave Sa do ws ki ent ered turn one ; th e rear wh eel loc ked a nd Sad ow ski cra shed. He broke bo th feet. In sha rp co ntras t, Bill Foster and hi s Cycle Tech Racing had a n unevent fu l Frida y pr actice, encou nte ring no problems wi th th eir G SXR750 Suzu ki, as usua l. Jo in in g Cycle T ech 's roster of Dave Aldana , John Kocin ski , J oey Osowski a nd Dave Zirkl e was local ace Ea rl Rol o ff. _ Kocinsk iju m ped -into the lead off th e start a nd led th e first severa l laps, with Tola nd seco nd and Sm ith th ird . On th e third la p Toland sa iled pa st Ko cin ski , wh o pull ed in be h in d T o land, th e two run n in g arou n d the track nose-to-tai l a n d o ften side -byside a t I:33s; Kocinski pa ssed Tola nd ent eri ng tu rn one o n th e fifth lap; Tola nd di d the same to Kocin ski o n the si xth lap and pi cked u p the pace. Kocin ski got sideways exiting turn three, trying to stay wi th Tola nd , and by th e eig h th lap Toland was into th e 1:31s and using a lready-la p ped traf fic to leave Koci nski beh ind. At the end o f a n hour Toland was 50 seco nds a head o f Koci ns ki a nd had lap ped third-pl ace .Sm ith. By the time Ro lo ff took over from Kocinski and go t on th e tra ck, Toland had bu ilt Hamm er' s lead to one lap a n d 25 seconds. Tha t was dow n to o ne m inute. 15 seco nds a fter Toland pitted a n d a pit ma rshall delay ed Pa u lk's dep arture due to traffi c in th e pi ts; Rol off worked down Pa ul k 's lead to less th an 30 seco n ds before handin g the Cycle Tech bike over to Osowski . O sowski h ad j ust tak en o ver a t two hours, 30 minutes wh en th e cha in o n th e Cycle T ech 's bik e broke ente r ing turn o ne; O so wski push ed th e bi ke in to th e pi ts and Foster d isco vered th at the bro ken chai n had bent th e clu tch pushrod: Cycle T ech's crew would h ave to m a ke a new rod o u t o f a sh ift lin kage si nce they had no spa res . Mean whi le, Cycle Tunc' s Malcolm Hill had go tte n side ways over o ffca m ber turn six a nd cras h ed; rep airs took a bo u t 30 m inutes. All of which left Paulk , a t th e end o f th e third h our, 13 lap s ahead of no w-eigh th -p lace Cycle Tech Racin g a nd seven laps ahea d o f the nowsecond-place J ohnson and Woods Mo torcycle Salvage Racin g Kawa saki G Pz750 (ridden by Scott J ohnson, Gary T atsumi , Ken n y Kopecky. Chris Crowel l a nd Bo b Rein en ) and th e n o w- th ird -pl a ce modi fied FJ 600 Yamah a of the Sa nta Ba rbara Riders End ura nce T eam (ridden by Marty Sharpe, Tom Sha rp, Ro n Sha rp, Fred Ei ker a n d Chuck Pace); J ohnson an d Woods a nd Sa nta Ba rbara Riders were o n th e sa me lap. Pau lk go t th e pi t board to co me in for gas a nd rider cha nge, a nd n ever came a ro u nd ; h e crashed ex iting tu rn two , breaking hi s collarbo ne a n d severel y da maging Tea m Ham mer's Su zuki. By th at time T eam Perform an ce Ma chine wa s in fourth p lace, fou r laps behi nd J o hn son a n d Wood s an d Sa nta Ba rba ra R iders; in th e first hou r Perform ance Machi ne, Santa Ba rbara Riders, Thornto n Racin g's RZ350, G ro u p 86 Racin g 's Ninj a 900R a nd Johnson a nd Woo ds swapped positi ons before thei r p it sto ps started . l ' ., I • " • J' • . , Co

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