Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

co 00 0") Team Rac:erbeck (99) finished third overall on a Ninja SOOR; Kevin Rentnil (48) and Jam Up's Recing had problems, finished 24th, Teem Hammer (11) leeds Team Pro-Motor (144), M&M "acing (23), High-Tech Racing (915) and 801ma. Recing (3) off the starting grid. M&M Racing's Ben Martinez and Bob France (23) took their Yamaha FZ750 to second overall; here they lap ELV Racing. WERA/EBC National Endurance Road Radng Series: Round 4 Team Hammer hot at St. Louis By Larry Lawrence GRANITE CITY, IL, MAY 31-JUNE I Team Hammer won round four and took over the WERA/EBC National Endurance Series points lead at St. Louis International Raceway. Hammer riders Doug Toland, Pat Hernon and Dave Sadowski piloted the Vance & Hines/ Arai/Emgo/Bel- Ray/Dunlopsponsored Suzuki GSXR II 00 18 to cover 171 laps in the red-Hagshortened event, originally scheduled for six hours. Second place went to Toronto, Canada-based MBeM Racing's Ben Martinez and Bob France, who finished with 168 laps on their Ontario Honda-backed Yamaha FZ750 tuned by Rick Andrews. Finishing third, on the same lap as MBeM, was Team Racerback, riders Ken Payton, Steele Kennedy and Phillip Patterson on their Kawasaki of Central Arkansas Ninja 600R. It was the highest finish of the season for Kawasaki in the WERA series which has been dominated by Suzukis and Yamahas. The Human Race Team, which led overall series points coming into St. Louis, finished 13th overall after losing time due to a crash on the Lake Co. Cycle/Wolf Racing Products/ EBC Brakes-sponsored Yamaha FZ600. Winner of the last twO rounds, Eatherly Road Racing, didn't show for the endurance round even though racer Dean Swims drove up from Atlanta under the impression that he was to have shared riding duties with Dave Schlosser. "I don't know what happened," Swims said. "I talked to Dave (Schlosser) Friday morning and everything was go. Then I get here and find out they're not going to be here. I really don't want to speculate as to what happened." Swims was able to pick up a ride from Team Gamma, which finished 16th overall. The starLsaw 53 teams lined up for the six-hour event hosted by the Midwest Cafe Racers Assn. and as the green nag dropped, it was Toland on the Hammer Suzuki taking the early lead he has in every endurance race so far this year. As usual at SLIR, the heat and humidity were high .. The speeds were also high as Toland stretched out the lead over Larry Jeurink on the HighTech Racing Yamaha FZ750. High-Tech was making their first appearance since the first round at Indianapolis where they finished second behind Hammer. Kevin Renrzell broke his collarbone two weeks before St. Louis at the Sears Point Camel Pro event. Rentzell remarkably had moved the Jam-Up's Racing Yamaha FZ600into third behind High-Tech. Rentzell rode with heavy bracing around his shoulders. Other teams near the front of the pack early included Human Race, Team Racerback, Tour DeForce, MBeM Racing and Horn Bros. But45 minutes into the race HighTech's excellent ride came toa crashing halt when Jeurink went down on a high-speed section of the track. Jeurink later recalled the incident. "I was coming up on a slower rider and wasn't sure whath ne he was going to take, I got on the brakes, hit a bump and was launched into the air." Jeurink came out of the crash okay, but the same couldn't be said for the HighTech FZ750, which was put out of commission. Jeurink's crash was to be the first of many at SLIR. Victims of crashes during the day included Out Be Out Racing, Horn Bros. H.R.T., Cycle Speed Racing and K8cL Racing. One rider speculated on the high attrition rate at SLIR. "There're a lot of guys out there going faster than their experience warrants. This track can bite you if you don't treat it with great respect." As the race progressed the running order stayed pretty consistent with Hammer out front, Jam Up's in second followed by MBeM Racing, Fast Company II, Team Racerback, Team Wanker, Team St. Louis, Weekend Racing, Fubar and Team Samurai rounding out the top 10 at the three-hour mark. At the fourhour mark a crash in turn one brought out the red flag. Oil was all over the turn and the clean-up and regridding took nearly an hour. Just before the red flag Team Hammer had lost some ground due to an intermillent misfiring problem. The crew changed carbs but that didn't cure the problem. Then the electronic black box was swapped but still the problem persisted. The team even changed the tank vent before finally discovering the problem was due to cracked porcelain on one of the spark plugs. Hammer never lost the lead, even though MBeM Racing got within one lap. At the restart of the race, Jam Up's Renrzell led one lap before being overtaken by Hammer. Jam-Up'swas about to experience some problems of their own. Renrzell had pushed the FZ600 so hard through the turns trying to keep pace with the larger machines that the back tire blistered and tread started separating from the carcass. The tire problem, along with a five-lap penalty imposed for irregularities on the team's scoring sheet, knocked Jam-Up's out of contention and the team ended up in 24th place. ear the end Hammer had things well in hand with Toland running I:36 lap times, but severa] positions were still being hotly contested. Team St. Louis riders Dan Hayes, Gaines Desloge and Bob Marquardt had worked their way up to third place by the fifth hour on their Continental Tires FJ600. Team Racerback got by St. Louis in the last hour and held on to third. John Bowles was making his move in the fifth hour on Fast Company II's FZ600. Bowles didn't have enough to catch up, and Fast Company II took fifth. Team Wanker powered to a sixth place' finish on an ancient, II96cc Honda CB750F-based superbike. The old Honda looked like a bus compared to the new generation sportbikes. With the victory Hammer took a slim two point lead over Human Race Team in the WERA/EBC series. The series moves to Talladega GPR on June 21. Kurt Hall and Ralph Johnston Jr. were the big winners in Sun~y's WERA Regional Sprints. Hall continued his domination of the Honda Interceptor Series in WERA North/ Central region. Hall ran away with that race as well as the C Superbike and the C Production races, and took home $700 from Honda for his win in the 500 Interceptor race. Ralph Johnston Jr. took $800 for winning the A and B Production races on his Yamaha FZ750. "I made a few changes to the bike and they really made the difference," said a happy Johnston. Johnston,like Hall, won both his races by large margins. The B Superbike race turned out to be an exciting contest. Suzuki-mounted Mark Tanner took an early lead followed very closely by Tim Morrissey, Boonie Knott and Dave Schmidt. Two laps from the finish Tanner lost control coming upon a lapped rider and high-sided. Morrissey and KnOll diced with Morrissey holding a slight advantage. Schmidt was still in contention but had dropped back about 10 bikelengths from the leaders. At the checkered it was Morrissey winning with KnOll just a few feet back, followed by Schmidt. •

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