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/126930
lo-< (1J ..0 o ..... u o Team Hammer's Peter Carroll and Doug Toland finished second, 40 seconds behind Solmax; Solmax passed Toland late in the race. Dwayne Palmerrides the Solmax Racing USA Yamaha FZ750 en route to the win in the Hallett Six-Hour Endurance Race in Oklahoma. Team Hammer takes the inside line as Hard to Beat Racing's FZ600 rides around the outside; Hard to Beat finished third. WERA/EBC National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 12 Solmax sweeps Hallett Six-Hour By Cindy Bowen HALLETT, OK, SEPT. 27 Solmax Racing USA rode their Yamaha FZ750 to their first overall victory ever in the WERA/EBC National Six-Hour Endurance Race at Oklahoma's Hallett Motor Racing' Circuit. Solma~ Racing's Terry Bailey and Dwayne Palmer . . turned 10 2.31 consl.ste~t laps on the 1.8 mile road CircuIt with 16 their Yamaha/EBC,iDunlop/Vener/ Cycle Man/Kal-Gard/Barnett/Progressive Suspension/Portco/Targasponsored Yamaha. Team captain Ronnie Bowen was extremely happy. "This has been a long time coming for us. We have a close team and have worked together for two years now. We couldn't have done it without anyone of our team membpn or ponsors." Team Hammer's DougTolanda.nd new team member Peter Carroll fmlshed second overall on the Vance Be Hines/Bel-Ray/Emgo/Dunlop/Performance Machine/Cam 2/Fox/NDbacked Suzuki GSXRlIOO, also with 231 laps. Team Hammer led for over four hours of the six-hour race with no unscheduled pit stops. Hard to Beat Racing with riders Sam .McDonald, B.B. Montemayor and Aflred Bernard finished third overall on their Yamaha FZ600. They led the first hour and stayed consistently in third for the remainder of the race. With the exception of two unscheduled pit stops to add oil and one minor crash, they had no problems. Cycle Speed Racing, sponsored by Ontario Honda-Yamaha, EBC and Dunlop Tires, raced their Yamaha FZ750 to fourth place with no problems. This moved them up one place in the overall point standings. The twisty track with plenty of elevation changes took its toll on several teams currently in the top 10 in the point standings. Tour de Force made only six laps before they blew the motor on their Yamaha FZ750. They had just completed the 24-Hour West at Willow Springs where they had to replace a blown motor during that race. Bad luck hit the Human Race Team, currently third overall in the series and leading the Middleweight Superbike class. During an early morning practice session, Robby Braunschiedel crashed hard on the team's Metzeler/EBC/Wolf Racingbacked Yamaha FZ600. Robby was flown to nearby Hillcrest Medical Center with a broken femur and thumb, leaving Tim Morrissey as the only team rider. The firsl hour of the race saw Hard to Beat Racing take an early lead with Montemayor at the helm. Montemayor pulled out in front of the field with several seconds lead. At the completion of hour number one, Hard to Beat had turned in 38laps. Behind them was Solmax Racing, Team Hammer and Key Vista, all on the same lap. Early in the second hour, Solmax briefl y took the lead after Hard to Beat's Mont<:mayor crashed in turn two. Team Hammer's Doug ToLand passed Solmax for the lead when Sol max pined for fuel. Fortunately, Montemayor's crash was minor and he had the Yamaha back on the track and in the pits with only one Lap lost. Sam McDonald took over the reins of the Hard to Beat Yamaha and he, Montemayor and Bernard rode the bike consistently in third throughout the rest of the race to take the Middleweight Production class win, just two Laps ilhead of Cycle Speed Racing's Bob Evans and Grant Foster, who finished fourth overall and second in Heavyweight Production on their Yamaha FZ750. At the end of the second hour, Team Hammer was leading with one lap up on Sol max Racing. Behind Solmax was Hard to Beat, Cycle Speed and Key Vista Racing. Hours three, four and five standings were a repeat of hour two with Team Hammer still in the lead. Solmax Racing USA stayed witbip one lap of Team Hammer throughout the entire race. Key Vista Racing's Jay Denham and Brent Schuster impressed many teams with a hard charge from the start. They had no problems the entire race but almost met misfortune in the fourth hour when Team Gamma's Carl Shankel ran over a turtle in turn one and crashed hard in front of them. Key Vista managed to stay on the track and go on to finish sixth overall and first in Middleweight Superbike. Out Be Out Racing's Greg Hansel and Jimmy East had a few problems with their Dunlop/EBC/Solmax Racing-sponsored 'Yamaha FZ600. Out Be Out made several unscheduled pit stops to add oil and to put their seat back on. Although Out Be O.ut finished ninth'overall and fourth in class, they still maintained their fourth overall position in the point standings and remain the leader in the Middleweight Production class. Theonly Lightweight Production class bike in the field was Royale Racing's Yamaha RZ350. Riders Douglas Henry and Joe Ardolano rode the small bike to an impressive finish oj Llth overall. Royale Racing is currently leading the Lightweight Production class point standings. At the start of the sixth hour, Solmax's Dwayne Palmer was only seconds behind new Team Hammer's Carroll when Palmer pined for their final fuel stop and rider change. Carroll completed that lap and then pitted for Hammer's final rider change. When the two teams got back on the track, Team Hammer's Toland led Solmax's Bailey by several seconds. Bailey piloted the Solmax FZ about one to three seconds per lap faster than Toland and eventually passed him for the lead with about SO minutes remaining in the race. Bailey stretched out the lead at about two seconds per Lap and took the checkered flag with a 40 second margin over runnerup Team Hammer. Solmax's Bailey was very excited about their victory. '\This is a hard track to learn, but I felt very com fortableon itoncel learnedil. Ijustbope we can continue our success at Texas World Speedway next weekend. Team captain Ronnie Bowen said, "Dunlop, EBC, and Vetter have been very supportive of us this year. I just hope we can give them a championship in return." • Results OVERALL: 1. Solmax Racing USA (Yam) 231 laps; 2, Team Hammer (Suz) 231; 3. Hard, to Beat Racing (Yam) 227; 4. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam) 224; 5. T·P Racing (Yam) 223; 6. Key Vista Racing (Yam) 222; 7. Darotuna/Racing Ottowa #1 (Yam) 222; 6. Richardson Racing (Yam)222; 9. Out & Out Racing (Yam) 220; 10. Rockwood Racing (YamI218. H/W PRO: 1. Solma. Racing USA (Yam); 2. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam); 3. Tre. Hombres (Kal. H/W 58: 1. Darotuna/Racing Ottawa (Yam); 2. Team Hunter; 3. Tour de Force (Yam). M/W PROD: 1. Hard to seat Racing (Yam); 2. T·P Racing (Yam); 3. Richardson Racing (Yam). . UW PROD: 1. Kay Vista Racing ('l'am); 2. Team Racarback (Kaw); 3. Mirror Imago Racing (Kaw). UW PROD: 1 Royala Racing (Yaml. PROTO: 1 Team Hammer (SUl).