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Scot t Breeden rides t he Joe Brothers Racing VF750F towards victory at
Grattan; it was the f irst 1 985 National Endura nce Series win f o r a Honda .
WERA/Wiseco National Champi~nship
Endurance Ro a d Race Series: Round 13
Grattan gold to Joe
Brothers Racing
By Larry Lawrence
GRATTAN , MI , O CT . 12-13
T h e dream o f win n in g a N a tiona l Endurance race came true for the L ansing, Michiganbased Joe Bro th ers R acin g en try w h en the
College Bike Shop/SM I-sponsored team
co nsisting of Scott Breeden a n d
Fritz Kling took their H o nda
750 Intercep tor to th e wi n in
th e WE RA Six- Hour a t G ra ttan Raceway. At th e fin ish , th e j oe
Bro th ers Racin g ent ry was a sli m 2.3
seconds a he ad o f th e seco n d-p laced
Filth y Five Canad a team , with third
go ing to th e Sp eed Boys en try , w ho
finis hed two laps dow n o n th e leaders.
T h e j oe Broth ers tea m co m p leted
188 laps (376 m iles) o n th e tri cky 2.0m ile co u rse. Th e firsl lWOa n d a h a lf
h ou rs was r un in the rain , wh ich
becam e a n im port an t fa ctor in th e
la ter stages o f the race.
Th e j oe Broth ers ent ry accom plish ed what o n ly tw o o the r reams
have been a ble 10 do in th e series: beat
th e " big thr ee" team s co ns isting o f
Cycle Tech Raci ng , Speed Boys and
defending Nat ional Cha mpio ns T eam
H a m mer. T he Cycle Tune tea m brok e
th e stra ng le ho ld a t th e Will ow
Sp rings 24-Hou r a nd Cycle Perfor m ance ea rned their w in in th e Roebl in g Road ro u nd.
Wilh Cvc le Tech a nd T eam H am mer skipp ing th e rou nd, th e Speed
Boys tea m, co nsisti ng o f La rry Burk holder , Mark H eiser a n d Bob Frank ,
was th e def i ni te favo ri te, and durin g
th e first tw o hou rs o f th e race rh ev
lived u p to ex pecta tions by running
qu ickl y in th e ra i n a board th eir Pa rts
U n Iirnited/ Metzele r-ba cked Yam a ha
FZ750 a n d h olding o ff th e Suzuki
GSX R 750-mounted Filth y Five team ,
co ns isting of Can adia n Mike Gri ffi th s a nd Gra tta n aces Ed Key a nd
-Bria n Ber ney.
By the ha lfway ma rk in th e race,
th e track bega n to dry OUl, a t wh ich
point th e Filth y Five ent ry got by th ..
Speed Boys rea m and sa id .good-bye
to th e tu ne o f a two-la p lea d.
As the tra ck co nti n ued 10 d ry o u t,
tea m s ru n ning rain tir es bega n to
slo w th ei r p ace as their tir es sta rted to
over h ea t. T he Filth y Five ream as~
well as th e Speed Boys ent ry p itted to
ch a nge tires, whi le th e joe Bro th ers
Ra ci ng tea m kep t circu la ting the
trac k a nd inh erit ed th e lead.
H eading in to th e la st hour, th e
Filth y Fiv e ent ry ca ugh t a nd passed
rh e j oe Bro th ers team , but th e Speed
Bo ys ent ry was a no the r two laps ba ck
due 10 a crash a nd th e team 's un famil iarit y with th e co urse.
T he Filth v Fi ve tea m mad e a fin a l
pi t sto p wiih G riffit h s taki ng th e
co n trols. Dur in g th e stop, Breeden
kept cra n ki ng a nd p us h ed th e j oe
Bro th ers en try a h ead 10 a 28-seco nd
lea d a n d held it there, ho p i ng th a t
th eir fuel wo uld ho ldou t - m..a n ing
th e ta nk wo u ld ha ve to last nearl y
two h o ur s.
W ith on! v 15 mi n u tes left on th e
clock , th e j oe Brothers crew felt the
28-second cus h io n over the Filt hy
Five en try wa s eno ug h and th ey told
Breed en to slo w a bi t. Th e p la n
nearl y backfired . h ow ever, as Gr iffiths gai ned time on every lap aboard
the Filth y Five mount.
Breeden never reali zed how close
Griffiths was until he looked over h is
sho u lder com ing o u t of th e first turn:
G riffiths was literall y breathin g down
hi s neck.
" I turned around and he (G riffi ths)
was right on me," said Breeden . " I
decid ed it was tim e to wick it up an d
lu ckil y th is old 'dinosau r' had enough
left in it 10 hold of f th e GSXR 750."
At the fi n ish , it was th e j oe Brothers Raci ng ent ry th e winn er by just
2.3 seco nd s over th e Filth v Five tea m ,
with the Speed Bo ys team two la ps
down in third a fter a ga lla nt effort 10
com e back in the fina l hour.
Results
EN D UR A N C E
OVERALL: 1. J oe Brothers Raci ng (Ho n); 2. Filt h y
Five Canad a (Suz); 3. Spe ed Boys (Yam ); 4 . M &M
Rac ing (Yam l; 5. Horn Brot hers Racin g (Yam); 6 .
Royale Racing (Yam l; 7 . Gen eric Raci ng (Yam); 8 .
D& H Raci ng (Yam) ; 9 . J B Racin g (Yam); 10 . Raci n g
Ottawa (Yam) .
H/ W SUP ERBIKE: 1. Jo e Broth ers Raci ng (Ho n):
2. Filt hy Five Can ada (Su z); 3. Speed Boys (Yam).
H/W PROD : 1. M &M Racin g (Yam); 2 . Tea m O.T.
[Suz ].
M /W SUP ERBIKE: 1. D& H Racing (Yaml: 2. Rac ing Ott awa (Yam); 3 . Team Fit z (Han).
M /W PROD: 1. Horn Brot h er s Raci ng (Yam);' 2.
Royale Racin g (Yam); 3 . Generic Raci ng (Yam) .
U W SU PERBIKE: 1. W et & Cold (Kawl: 2. Team
Bu zzard IHon); 3. Cycl e Speed Racin g (Yam I.
U W PROD ; 1. J .B. Racing (Suz); 2 . Dexter Pick n ey (Yam); 3. Buckeye Racing (Yam) .
PROTOTYPE: 1. Lebo ne Racing (Hon): 2. W eldo
Bike.
0
Z
Suzuki Motor Company's Kenji Shimizu defended the high-power GSXR1 100 as the model was introduced at the rec ent Paris motorcycle show.
The case for
horse~o wer: '
Guys just wanna
go fast
By Chris Myers
Suzuki made a big deal abo ut the top speed
capabilities of the GSXRIIOO at th e recent
P aris motorcycle show a n d weren 't a bit
embarrassed tha t th e bike bl asts a bloody
grea t h ole in th e French IOQ
bhp power limit. Their philoso p hy is to g ive th e cu sto mers
wh a t they wa n t, power limits
or n o power li mi ts, says Ken j i Sh imizu , Suzuki 's export boss.
If a ll th e custome r wa nts is p ow er,
th en th at's wh at h e'll ge t, says Sh im izu . " I recogn ize th at man y m o torcycl ists ha ve a dre a m - to go faster.
W e try to h el p rh ern w it h t h a t
d rea m , 10 g ive them the motorcycles
they want," h e adds.
And giving the cus tomer wha t h e
wants is a phi losophy that Shimizu
intends 10 pursue even harder. T h ey
want 10 develop stronger marketi ng
research li nks and find o ut just exactly
wh at we a ll want. And, li ke th e man
says, if a ll we want is power , th en
th at 's what we'll gel.
But of co u rse, much of th e attracti on o f th e repl i-racer th em e is wha t
th e japan ese ca ll "i ma ge ." And
" ima ge" is someth ing Sh imizu kn ow s
a ll a bo u t: " I norice th at man y rid ers
are interested in the repli-racer con cep t," he sa ys, " an d Suzuki's image is
th e GSX R replica - th is is th e theme
we wi ll co n tin ue.
" It 's ver y im portant for u s to kn ow
wha t th e customer wa nts, so th at we
ca n ma ke the righ t ma rk et in g decisio ns ." .
BUI Shimizu is at pai ns to point
o u t tha t repli-racers may no t be everyone 's cu p o f lea : " na tu rally we wi ll
de velop machines for th e ave rage
rider, to m ak e ma chines th at are easier to rid e: '
And he uses th is a rg u rnen t 10 defend
the l 65-mph G SX RI 100. " T h is m ach ine devel o p s a wid er spread o f
power," h e says , "the refo re it is a n
easier m achi ne to rid e."
. In h is bui ld -up to th e a n nou nceme nt of Suzuki's p la n, Shimizu pointed to rising p roduc tion costs a nd a
sh rin kin g world mark et as th e chi ef
prob lems h e had to ta ckle. One of th e
pivota l poi nts of the five-yea r p lan is
Suzuki's strengtheni ng o f links wi th
Europe wh ere over th e last few yea rs
their sa les have slumped drastically.
T hi ngs reached a head in France last
year wh en Su zuki's mark et share ac tu a lly slu m pe d to littl e more than that
o f mo ped m a kers Peu geo t. To ge t th e
si tua tion u nd er co nt ro l Suzu ki took
co ntrol of th ei r su bsi diaries in Germany, It al y and Fra nce . And th in gs
seem to be impro vi ng a lrea dy in
Fra nce; so far th is year the ir market
sha re is more th an twi ce wh at i t was
in 1984.
BUI Shi mizu says th ere's no need
for such a ta keover in England: " We're
h app y wit h th e p erform an ce o f
H ero n ," h e says, " We had 10 la ke
contro l in th ese o the r market s . . .
sha ll we say , because we were not
happy wi th th e man agem ent:'
Shim izu a lready thinks that this
European adventure co u ld well mean
specialization in over 250cc ma chines:
" In j apan it is th e 250cc a n d under
market th at is important," he sa ys:
"BUI sp ecia lizing in o ver 250cc ma ch i ne s could be what is req u ired fo r
Europe," h e adds.
Bu t despi te th e overall sta re of the
world motorcycle market, Shimizu
says th at ma ki ng mo torcycles is sti ll
good bu siness. An d desp ite th eir success wi th car production - rnan ufaclure of ca rs fo r th e U.S.A. has been
bl am ed for la te delivery o f bikes th is
yea r - there's no quest ion of Suzu ki
switc h ing fro m bikes to ca rs co m p letel y. Bikes ma y be more ex pe ns ive
to develop, part icularly so since new
mach ines are co ns tan tly in dem and,
but th ere's an important tech n ical
sp in -off.
" Man y of th e ideas we develo p for
bik es a re u seful for ca rs;" he says .
" T h e lWO go together: it wo u ld be
crazy 10 sto p bike manufacture." •
27
