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/126956
Fubar Racing (75) leads Solmax (5). Darotune Racing (3) and Human Race (2); the Human Race Team won the Heavyweight Production class. Mediumweight winner Charm City Racing (772) passes Fubar Racing; Charm City beat J/T Racing and R&W Racing for the class win. WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Series: Round 1 • Team Suzuki wins Road Atlanta Sixhour endurance By Larry Lawrence FAULKVILLE, GA, MAR. 28-29 The defending National Champions started the 1987 season where they left off last year - on top. Starting at this year's Roebling Road opening round, Team Hammer became known as Team Suzuki following the teams . . ' slgmng of a two-year contract with U.S. Suzuki. Another change is the addition of rider Mike ·th· nd H th h t ed ar .' w 0 earn up WI seco ,year nder Pete Carroll on the team;s GSXRllOO to hold off a tough challenge from Dutchman Racing on another GSXRIIOO. Suzukis firtished one-two-three with Sanibel Racing taking the third spot on their GSXRllOO. The six-hour race began with Harth on the Team Suzuki GSXR opening up an immediate lead ove'r the rest of the field. Harth, who holds the track record at Roebling Road, was ~howing his dominanc.e early, ,1appmg back marker by the fifth lap. About six seconds behind Harth was Doug Brauneck on the Dutchman Suzuki, followed by Sanibel Racing, Fubar Racmg, Sol max Racmg, Team Dean and Myers Suzuki. Sam McDonald was riding in the top 10 on the A.R.T. Racing GSXRllOO when the machine rolled to a stop on lap six. The A.R.T. Racing crew was able to correct the problem and re-enter the race, but all chances for a top finish were gone. Braunetk was running consistent low one-minu'te, 20-second lap times and he gradually began making up ground on Harth. About 10 minutes uno the race, Brauneck drew even with and then passed Harth putting the Pennzoil 10-Minute Oil Change/Shoei/ Yoshimura GSXRllOO into the lead for the first time. Dutcman's Brauneck began pulling away from Harth, who seem~ to be having problems under braking. Harth later said that the front end was chattering very badly and he couldn't ride the bike ailywhere near its capabilities. Invader Racing's day came to an early end as a crash put the team's GSXRllOO out of commission 40 minutes into the contest. At the end of the first hour, Dutchman Racing held a IS-second advantage over Team Suzuki with both teams completing 44 laps. The Human Race Team had moved up . into third place on their Marushin Helmets/Fox Racing/Metzeler/ Motul Oil-backed Yamaha FZR750. The "Zoomin' Humans" had added Ben Martinez (formerly of M8cM Racing) to the team of Andy Fenwick and Kurt Hall. Sol max Racing, on another FZR750, held down fourth place, and with Terry Bailey the only returning rider, the team had bolstered the roster with some of the southeast's best riders including Scott ~ussell, Doug Whelan and Mark Schledorn. Rounding out the" top five after one hour was Sanibel Racing with Mark McQuade and Thomas Stevens turning in 42 laps. Dutchman didn't lose much, if any, when ,team member Larry Shorts took over the controls. Shorts maintained the lead over Team Suzuki's Carroll during the second hour. Stevens pushed the Sanibel Suzuki into third place during the second hour, gelling past Sol max and Human Race. Meanwhile, several good battles were being fought back in the pack. Team Gamma on a GSXR750 and Team Intrepid from Canada on a Yamaha FZ750 diced back and forth until Gamma took the lead for good in the fourth hour. Team Suzuki, Dutchman Racing and Sanibel Racing were without a doubt the fastest teams on the track. Each one of them turned in 1:21 lap times while the top teams in the rest of the field ran 1:24 and 1:25 times on their best laps. Team Suzuki stayed within striking distance of Dutchman and by the fourth hour took back the lead thanks to flawless pit stops. Now it was Dutchman's tum to play catch up, but with Dave Schlosser at the controls the team lost a lap to Team Suzuki. And with one hour to go, Suzuki held a one-lap lead over Dutchman. By the fifth hour the only team that had even a remote chance of catching the leading duo was Sanibel Racing, who was four laps out of first place. The exciting battle for first place in Heavyweight Production was far from over, however, Solmax and Human Race were running in a virtual dead heat going into the last hour; a strange twist of fate would decide the outcome in the final hour. The new Kawasaki EX500 was making a successful debut as Team FBI (Fast Boys from Illinois), with John Copeland and Chuck Mathis at the controls, easily won the Lightweight class, finishing 28 laps ahead of second-placed Team Stone's Yamaha FZ350. Just after the fifth hour mark the race was red-flagged when one ambulance broke and the other