Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ • m (.0 00 O"l ~ ~ ~ .... V ~ 8 V ;> 0 Z New Haven Suzuki finished fourth overall. turning in 71 laps as did the top three finishers. They lost tfrtrd five laps from the end of the race. Austin. Texas-based Paul Smith Racing finished first in the GTU class. 17th overall. They turned in 66 laps and took the GTU lead on lap 57. to ride with my face shield above the bubble to see," Phillips said later. Sunset and Jam-Up continued their back and forth race for theGTU lead with Paul Smith Racing running in third. By lap 17 Team Texas had closed the gap on Taylor Roadracing and got by for one lap before Brauneck went back in front. Two laps later, despite the visibility problem, Phillips had moved Team Lockhart back into third. Brauneck held the lead until lap 23 when the field began their scheduled pit stops and Team Lockhart took the lead. By lap 25 it was Lockhart, Taylor, New Haven, Miami Vice, Team Texas, Super Team, Escargot Racing, High Tech Racing, Cycle Pro and Eagle Racing in the top 10 spots. Team Sunset continued to lead the hot GTU battle as Jam-Up began to develop engine problems. "The motor's blowing oil through the rings in the second cylinder and causing us to pit for oil before we come in for gas. ft's causing us to lose a lot of time," said Row,e., Running in third on the same lap with the GTU leaders was Paul Smith Racing. Taylor Roadracing began having problems on lap 26 while running second. Three laps later they pitted to replace the battery. "It started breaking up, so we pitted and changed the battery, but we had to come back in three laps later to change the ignition & Bolts/Kerker/Wiesco/Shoei-backed Out & Out Racing Yamaha FZ600 box," said Taylor's Dave Schlosser. Lockhart held the lead over Team Texas until lap 36 when the Texas went in front to stay. Moving into second at that point was Super Team with New Haven Suzuki in third, Lockhart dropping to fo'urth, and Escargot continuing to run a consistent fifth. The problems Taylor Roadracing had encountered dropped them to seventh. Super Team's stab at the front ended when Lance Jones crashed on lap 41 while running second. On lap 48, Team Texas was increasing their lead and Escargot Racing briefly took ove,r second ahead of Lockhart, New Haven and Cycle Pro, who seemed to have cured their earlier problems. "We're on the move again and getting back down to 2:05s," said Cycle Pro tuner Vic Fasola. Team Sunset continued to hold the GTU lead with Paul Smith Racing getting around the ailing Jam-Up entry to run second. Although Sunset had the GTU lead, they were beginning to suffer from a suspected bent valve they'd suffered earlier in the race. Then, on lap 57, Sunset pitted with a split water hose and the stop cost them 15 min utes, the leaa, and most probably the GTU win. On e the repairs were completed the bike wouldn't fire and the sun had set on unset. Paul Smith now had theGTU lead for good and the Dunlop/Cycle Nuts ridden by Marc Lautzenhiser and Rick Burnett had locked into second. As the race entered the final laps, Team Texas romped in front with Lockhart a secure second. Although New Haven Suzuki was running third, Taylor Roadracing was on the move. With Brauneck at the controls of the team's Suzuki, they moved from seventh to sixth on lap 58 and into fifth place three laps later. By lap 64 Brauneck was in fourth and closing in on New Haven at the rate of three seconds per lap. Five laps later Brauneck had Taylor in third where they'd stay until the checkered flag. The battle for positions in GTU continued right up to the last lap when the Norwegian Carribean Lines II entry ridden by Ron Cole, Kevin Blais and Terry Dietz passed the Front Row FZ600 just before the checkered flag to take third. At the flag it was Team Texas, Lockart, Taylor Roadracing, New Haven Suzuki and Miami Vice taking the top five overall spots. "Man, you couldn't make a lap out there today without having to go around 20 people," said Team Texas' Lance. "The wind really made things tough on us." Larry Shorts of runner-up Team Lockhart said, 'The wind wa really bad; it was hard to keep the bike on the banking." Phillips, Shorts' teammate on the series titre winning U.S. Suzuki/Dunlop/ND/Shoei/Cam-2/Performance Machine G XRIIOO, said, "It was like riding blind out there (referring to the visibility problem), but as long as I stayed with another rider I could see. We treated Daytona as if it were just another race. We already had the series locked up and didn't want to have a lot of pressure put on us. Except for the oil problem, the bike ran flawlessly." "We had some fuel problems at the start and had to play catch-up," said Paul Smith of the GTU champs. "It was a tough race. None of these guys will let you have it too easy." Team Lockhart grabbed five wins and a second on their way to the series championship. Finishing second in the series was New Haven Suzuki, with third going to Taylor Roadracing and fourth to the Johnson & Woods entry of Nigel Gale and Scott Johnson. Fifth on the year was Cobare Racing's Roy Hare and Kath• leen Coburn. Results OVERALL: 1. TeamTex8s(SuZ); 2. Team Lockhart (Suz); 3. Taylor Roedracing (Suz); 4. New Haven Suzuki (Suz); 5. Miami Vice (Suz); 6. Eagle Racing (Yam); 7. Norwegian Caribbeln Lines I (Yam); 8. Norwegian caribbean Lines III (Suzl; 9. Head Racing (Vam); 10. SuperT.am(Vam); 11. W.SI Florida Racing (Hon); 12. Never Ready Racing (SUl); 13. Sha· nuff Racing (Yam); 14. Northstar Rcing (Yam); 15. Schwing Roadracing (Yam); 16. Team Sanibel (Suz); 17. (1ST GTU) Paul Smith Racing (Yam); 18. (2ND GTUI Out & Out Racing (Yam); 19. Sunbusters (Suz); 20. (3RD GTU) Norwegian Caribbean Lines II (Vam). 13

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