Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126928
... iLl ..0 o .... u o The yance & Hines team cele~ratesits Win in the WERA/EBC endurance race at Willow Springs Raceway; Vance & Hines set a new 24-hour mIleage record in the race. of 2085 miles in the 24-Hour West at Willow Springs Race- Team Hoe's Curtis Adams. Ray Adams. Fred Eiker, Billy Fennessy and Steve Cardillo rode a stock Yamaha FZ750 to second overall. WERA/EBC National Endurance Road Race Series: Round J.J. 24-Hour West win and record to' . Vance & Hines team By Ron Maclain ROSAMOND, CA, SEPT. 13-14 The Vance & Hines Motorcycle Center Sl:lzuki GSXR750 ridden by Dennis Smith, RIchard Moore, Mitch Boehm, Nick Ienatsch Dave Zirkle and Jamie Lewis trounced th~ competition en route to setting I a new 24-hour mileag-e record way. The new record eclipsed the previous mark of 2025 miles set by Team Hammer here in 1984. The winning bike, tuned by former Cycle Tech crew chief Bill Foster, was equipped with a Vance & Hines Competition Only exhaust system, 33mm Mikuni flat-slide carbs, GSXRI 100 wheels, a seven-gallon fuel tank, and ran on both Michel in slicks and Michelin Hi-Spans. The only problems the Vance &: Hines team encountered were a blown fuse that left them in the dark as faras the bike's tach was concerned, and a front slick tire that blistered during the fifth hour. The latter problem prompted the team to switch to a grooved front tire for the remainder of the race. "We put together a perfect 24-hour race," said team member Ienatsch. "We ran in lhe one minute, 35 to 40-second range all the way.' The Vance & Hines team led for all but one-half hour of the event, racking up 834 laps on the2.5 mile course at an avera~e speed of 86.9 mph. Finishing second overall and first in the Heavyweight ProduClion class was Matzinger Racing/Adams Back· hoe/Long Beach Yamaha/Poway Motorcycles/Dun lop·sponsored Team Hoe. Team members Curtis Adams, Ray Adams, Fred Eiker, Billy Fennessy and Steve Cardillo rode a stock Yamaha FZ750 shod with Dunlop RS street tires 2008 miles, setting a new record in lheir class, and were 24 laps ahead of the third pla~e finishers, Big Guys Racing who took second in the Heavyweight Superbike class with their Kawasaki. Team Hoe was 61 laps ahead of the Heavyweight Production class runner-up, SuzukI-mounted Team Scorpion. The race began under sunny and blustery condilions at noon on Saturday, with Moore taking the Vance & Hines Suzuki to an early lead. He blazed to a 92.5 mph average speed the first hour. At that point the only bike on the same lap was the Suzuki GSXRIIOO of Team March of Dimes Racing, with Brian Brinkman at the helm. Both bikes pitted at the end of the first hour for fuel and a rider change. The Vance & Hines team sent Zirkle back into the. lead after a 30-second pit stop, while March of Dimes Racing got AMA Formula Two champ Don Greene on the track after a 44second stop. Greene immediately began to whittle away at the Vance & Hines lead, finally taking over the from spot at the one and three-quarter hour mark. Greene had stretched his lead to 15 seconds when Team Zapp's Kawasaki GPz550 crashed in turn three 10 minutes later, bringing out the red flag and sending everyone to the pits. After the track was cleared and the race resumed, Vance & Hines took over the lead and never looked back, gaining a two-lap advantage over March of Dimes Racing by the three· hour mark. The johnson & Wood Racing Yamaha FZ750 moved into contention at that point and they were on the same Jap as second place March of Dimes. By this time the wind had become a factor as it sporadica Ily blew dirt and sand over the track. This condition was worse in turn twO and the wideopen turn eight, where it would push the full-faired bikes off their lines. Team March of Dimes, so named because they had solicited pledges for every hour they completed to benefit the charity, saw their race come to an end at 4:23 p.m. While riding four laps down on the leader, john Litsey had a gust of wind pick up the. front end of the team's GSXRIIOO as he was going full tilt through turn eight, resulting in a lows ide crash which broke the frame. Meanwhile, Yamaha FZ750-mount· ed Teart;! 2 with john Harle, Burke Steed, Chuck Waychoff, Terry de los Santos, Tom Hayner and Rick Mitchell riding had mounted a furious cQarge to the front. After having finished the first hour in the top 10, they were bumped 1.0 13th place after being penalized a lap for improper refueling procedure. Subsequently they charged to fourLh overall at the fourhour mark on Iy to crash out of contention in turn eight with a broken crankshaft. Team 2's misfonune was Red Eagle Racing's gain as team riders Ed Ragle, Kent Thomas and AI Salvo were able. to augment their effort with riders Waychoff and Steed who were left without a ride with the demise of Team 2's bike. Red Eagle Racing came hom 21st at the one-hour mark to eighth posi· tion after five hours on their Yamaha FZ600, and went on to finish first in the Mediumweight Superbike class and sixth overall with 760 laps com· pleted. With sunlight rapidly dwindling, the pits came alive with frantic activity. Missouri-based Tour de Force Racing, which had been running in the top 10 all day with a Yamaha FZ750, blew a head gasket. With an impressive display of teamwork, they pulled the damaged motor and reo placed it with a spare in the span of an hour. By the time they got back into the race they had dropped to' 17th, but hard riding throughout the night and the next day brought them back up to 10th overall at the finish. Scott johnson, Keith West, Bob Reinen, Ben Williams and Nigel Gale kept johnson & Wood Racing in the hunt, 12 laps back .of the leading Vance & Hines team, well into the ninth hour. However, Team Hoe's (Continued to page 28)