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/126931
A-Team House of Wheels Racing finished third overall. Team Hammer's Doug Toland and new team member Peter Carroll scored the team's sixth National win of the year. David Bearden •. David Reed and Rick Delgado took the Yamaha FZ750 of Reflected Light Racing to second overall. six laps down on the winner. WERA/E8C National Championship Endurance Road Race Series Team Hammer wins Texas World 8-Hour By Larry Lawrence COLLEGE STATION, TX, OCT. 4 Team Hammer's Doug Toland and Peter Carroll rode a flawless race en route to their victory at the Texas World 8-Hour which was hosted by the Central Road Racing Club. Team Hammer's Vance & Hines/ArailBel-Ray/Emgol N D/D un 1op Ie am 2/P er f or. mance MachIne-sponsored Suzuki GSXRIIOO finished six laps ahead of the Yamaha FZ750 of Ref1ected Light Racing. A-Team House of Wheels Racing's FZ600 was third. It was Team Hammer's sixth Nationa I Endurance victory of the year, and the second win in a row for the Ontario. California-based team. With the win, Hammer extended their points lead in the WERA/EBC se!ies. Solmax Racing holds a very shm lead over the Human Race Team for second in the series. Texas World Speedway's threemile, seven-turn race course features a high-banked oval. The track is very bumpy in sections and is said to have very unconventional racing lines. All of this combines to give the local teams a great advantage when it comes to going fast there. Texas was well represented at the endurance race. In fact ~5 of the 49 teams which started the race are based in Texas. The race was started in Le Mans sty Ie with the riders having a foot race to their waiting machines. Team Hammer's Doug Toland won the dash and was first OUL As the teams completed their first lap around the track it was still Team IHammer followed by Team Scream's GSXR750 and Team Snail's GSXR 1100. Pure Sport Racing, Cycle Speed Racing, M&M Racing, House of Wheels Racing and Reflected Ligh t rounded out the top teams in the early stages of the race. Team Snail used the power of their GSXR II 00 and soon made their way around the GSXR7500fTeam Scream to takeover second. Team Snail wasn't satisfied with second and by lap number five Team Snail passed Team Hammer to lake the lead. Hammer's Toland wasn't about to let a local hotshoe show him the way around the track and he quickly took back the lead. The two teams traded the' lead for nearly 45 minutes and then Team Snail made their first pit stop. At the end of the first hour Team Hammer had completed ~2Iaps. Second place Team Snail was on lap ~I as were five other teams. The Texas teams we're doing well at the end ofthe first hour, occupying six out of the tOP 10 positions. Lap limes for the top leams were running anywhere [rom I :56s {or Team Hamm I' lO 2:02 and 2:03s {or GK Cycles, lhe first hour's 10th place leam. By the second hour, Hammer had completed 60 laps and held a one-lap lead over Team Scream. House of Wheels Racing, with Mike Hirzing, Steve Plentel, Roger Boisjolie and Ottis Lance as riders, made a big jump in the second hour, moving their Pops Humble-tuned Yamaha FZ600 into fifth place overall. By the halfway point in the race, Team Hammer had completed 117 laps, and were three laps ahead of Team Scream. Team Snail had dropped to ~~rd place after Matt Maschmann crashed in the third hour. The team eventually re-entered the race but was never in contention. Many of the fast local teams that dominated early were losing ground to the series' regulars. Teams like Cycle Speed Racing, M&M Racing, Solmax Racing and Front Row Racing were proving that experience counts in endurance racing. Team Scream (Brian Graver, Mike Ryan and Craig Gleason) continued to hold on to second place even though they didn't appear to be a threat to Team Hammer's lead going into the sixth hour of competition. The fine ride by the Austin-based team came to an end five and a half hours into the race when Team Scream crashed. The red flag was bought out since both track ambulances were moving, and the delay was a blessing for many of the teams. Team Hammer was about to come in for repairs on a rear-set bracket when the red flag came out, and several teams changed tires during the break. Tire wear was a problem for many teams. The high-speed banked oval has a lot of bumps which cause tires to hop and spin. Team Hammer's front Dunlop slick was worn down to the cords by the fifth hour. Some of the smaller bikes didn't seem affected. The Human Race Team's FZ600 wore hard compound Metzeler slicks and they showed very little wear. The team had lost rider Robby Braunscheidel to injury the week before at Hallel. Tim Morrissey was still riding in pain from collarbone injuries which will need surgery. Morrissey rode bravely and along with Kurt Hall the team finished I~th, good enough to stay in third in the point standings. The race was restarted in single file and Solmax Racing's Terry Bailey jumped out in front, but Solmax was seven laps behind Team Hammer. David Bearden, David Reed and Rick Delgado kept churning along in second place on the Reflected Light Racing FZ750. Reflected Light had won a class victory at last year's B-Hour and the team looked strong enough to do it again. They were turning lap times faster than everyone but Hammer. As the race wound down, Team Hammer lapped Reflected Light again to extend their lead to six laps. Team Hammer's john Ulrich had nothing but praise for the team's newest addition, Peter Carroll, "This guy is the catch of the year. I never knew he was going to be this fast and consistent," said Ulrich. Lance was flying the last hour of the race on the House of Wheels FZ600, trying to catch Reflected Light, but the FZ600 gave up too much ground to the FZ750 on the banking and the team had to settle for third. Toronlo, Canada's Cycle Speed Racing, with Bob Evans and Glenn Whilsmith handling the riding chores, had their finest finish of the season at Texas World. Cycle Speed took fourth overall, first in Heavyweight Production. Another Torontobased team, M&M Racing, finished seventh overall and third 'in their class. Both Canadian teams rode Ontario Honda-Yamaha-sponsored FZ750s. Sol max followed up their first ational Endurance win ever at Hallet lhe previous week with a fifth overall, second in class. Team Captain Ronnie Bowen said last week's victory was a long time in lhe making and said his riders just seem to get {aster each week. Front Row Racing's Stuart Edenfield limped across the finish line for sixth overall, second in class after the team's FZ600 ran out of gas on the final lap and barely made it to the end. Team Hammer's numbers for the race were 214 laps, totaling 642 miles in about seven hours and 15 minutes of racing. _ Results ENDURANCE: ,. Team Hammer (suzl 214 laps: 2. Raflected Light Racing (Yam) 208; 3. A Taam House of Wheel. (YamI207; 4. Cvela spaad Racing (Yam) 207; 5. solmax Racing USA (Yam) 206: 6. Front Row .Racing (Yam) 203; 7. M&M Racing (Vam) 202; 8. Team 8MH (HonI201; 9. T.am M.tz(Yam) 201; 10. Darotune/Racino Ottawa (Yam). H/W PROD: ·1. Cvel. Speed Racing (Yam); 2. Solmax Racing USA (Yam); 3. M&M Racing (Yam). H/W 58: 1. Reflected Light Racing (Yam); 2: Oarotune/Racing Onawa (Yam'; 3. Pure Sport Rac· ing (Hon). M/W PROD: ,. T.am Metz (Yam); 2. T/P Raci"ll; 3. Runaways (Yam). M/W sB: 1. A Taam Hou.. of Wheels (Yaml; 2. From Row Racing (Yam); 3. Taam BMH (Hon). LIW PROD: ,. T.am Williams II (Yam); 2. Risky Businass (Kaw). VW sB: 1. Tum Ted (Hon); 2. Refic Racing (Yam); 3. Half Fa.t Racing (suz).