Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Third place finisher Second City Racing (13) leads eventual winner Hyper-Cycle in the Road America 500. High Tech Racing's Larry Jeurink and Eric Moe f inished second beh ind Hyper-Cycle; both teams completed 78 laps at Road America. AMA/MotoWorid US Endurance Series: Round 3 H~r·C~ele wins BOlidAmeriell50o By Randy Marrs ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 2-3 " R i g ht now I'm jus t too ex cited to rem em ber everyth in g," Carry Andrew said after H yper-Cycle's surprise win in the Road America 500. "I'm sure wh en the exci tement 8 wears off, I'll remember all that hap pe ned later. The I havingwas aw esome, but Itrack motor was trouble getting the dialed in. I hav en 't ra ced here since 1981 an d Jeff (Herzog) has n ever been here." Andrews a nd H erzog ro de th ei r Shoei/ Mic he lin / O' NeaIlKaI-Gard/ Mi tche ll Wh eels/Del Amo Suzu kisponsored GSXR750 to a close win after ea rly race leaders Kayo Racin g dropped o u t with 13 laps left; Kayo 's oi l cooler was punctured. ' T he fir st six bikes across th e fini sh lin e were Suzu ki GSXRs and a ll were on th e lead lap, with on ly a minute and 40 seco nds sep ara ting first from sixth after 500 ki lometers. Andrews a nd H erzog co vered 78 laps in three hours and 34 minutes foll ow ed by , Larry Juerink and Eri c Moe of High T ech Racing. Third place went to Second City Racing. Taking their seco nd GTU win o f th e year and the first for th e Honda CB 600 Hurricanes in National end urance ra cing competition was th e Kayo Racin!? entry of Tommy Sloan and Donme Rowe. GTU was an all Hurricane sweep with Stillwater Racing finishing a lap behind Kayo and the Team Wiseco team taking third. Kayo fin ished the race with 77 la ps, o ne lap down to the front running GTO teams. Fifty-six teams were on hand for th e th ird round of the series and Saturday morning's practice sessions were run under co ld and windy co nditio ns, which kept tires from heating up p roperl y and produced several ea rly -mo rnin g crashes. Brake pad wear, al wa ys a problem at Road Am erica 's hi gh-speed, four-mile, 14tu rn road co u rse (the biggest in North America ) would prove a major factor in the race for most of th e front running teams; many fini shed the ra ce with n o pad material left. The overall 1986 AMA/US Endurance Champions Team Lockhart featured severa l important changes in th e m ake-up of th eir team. John Ash mead, wh o was sched u led to ride in this yea r' s effort with Larry Shorts, was injured in the Transatlantic Match Race Series, forcing him to mi ss this round p lus the next one at Road At lanta. Team captain Wendell Phillips added Dal e Q uarterl y for Road Am eri ca and any other ro u nds tha t Ashmead mi sses. Rid in g on Dunlops in '86, Lockhart h as made the switch to Miche lins fo r th e 198 7 seaso n du e to Ashmead's co n tract with th e co m pany. Mak in g his re tu rn to th e en durance rac in g ci rcu it was Lynn Mi ller. Mill er has been o u t for th e p ast nine m onths a fter injuring himself in a cra sh a t Mid-Ohio; Mi ller will rid e for the GRH Racing tea m with Hilton Von Stade n and Bob Ramsbottom for a few rounds until he. is physically ready to return to Lockhart. " I feel good rig ht now ," Miller said. " It (arm a nd shou lder) still h urts so mew ha t, but it 's rea lly good to be bac k." H yper-Cycl e earned the pol e for the start of the race but it was the Ka yo Corpora tion -owned, Yo ko' h a m a Tires / D. I. D.lGS Ba tt ery/ Da iro/Kerker/ Cycle P erfo rm an cespo nso red S uz uki G SXR I I 00 o f Dean Swims a nd Kevin Rentiell m oving in to th e lead by th e time th e , field hit turn two. 'Lyin g second ove ra ll was th e Lockhart Racing/US Suzu ki/ AGV H elmets/Performance Ma chin e /RK / Cam-2 /K al-G ardspo nsore d S u zu k i G SXRIIOO of Shorts a nd Q uarterl y. Th ird was h eld b y the Du tchm an Ra cing Suzu ki o f Dave Sch losse r a nd Doug Brauneck with Miami-Vice Racing's Suzu ki o f Thomas Steve ns a nd Steve T edl er running fourth. High T ech Racing 's Larry Juerink and Eric Moe h eld fifth on th ei r Suzuki GSXR II 00 . T eam Gibsonia/ Englert's Yamaha FZRIOOO was th e first non-Suzuki in th e top 10, in ' eigh th place. Bob Beasl ey a nd Tom Kipp held down first in th e GTU class on the Tea m W i seco Pi s ton s ' H onda CBR600 Hurricane, foll ow ed by th e L ofg ren R a c in g Hu rri can e a n d T om m y Sloan a nd Do nnie Row e on th e Kayo Racing Hurricane. By lap two , with th e field p ickin g up the pace as the tires began to hea t a nd stick, th e Lockhart entry began to experience severe h andling problems, dr opping th e team off th e hot p ace Rentzell was already beginning to set. Sh orts began to drop back as Brauneck moved the D utchman Ra cing/Penn zoil l O-Minute O i l Change/M ichel in / Sh o e ilD .I.D.I PB I/Yo shimura -sponsored Suzuki GSXRIIOO into seco nd place. Lockhart co ntin ued to fall back with a badly ch a tte rin g front en d. ," We don't think th e steering head bearings have sea ted en ou gh," Lockhart's J eff Carpenter sa id. " It's the typical n ew bike b lues. On the second or third lap ' it started wobbling a nd just got worse." By la p five, Rentzell began to extend his lead on Du tchma n and th e field whi le Brau n eck in turn had a good lead on third-placed MiamiVice. The field was already begi n ning to sp read OUi over Road America's long cou rse wit h the High Tech R a ci n g /Co n ser Coach /Michelini Am 'Soi l/Refiable Cycl e-sponsored Su zuki holding a slim lead on the Second City Racing entry, H yperCycle and Miller on th e move with th e GRH Racing Suzuki, wo rki n g into seven th. The Kayo Racing Honda moved into th e GTU class lead followed closely by Scott Wi lliams and Ian Ni cholson on the Lofgren Racing entry, T eam Wiseco, Paul Sm ith Racing's Yamaha FZ600, EHMO Racin g and J a m -U p Racin g. Brauneck began to close slightly o n Kayo as the front runners began to lap slower traffic. The standings continued to cha n ge as Miller moved the Guinn- Ramsbonom/Walt Shaeffer Tires-sponsored Suzuki GSXRIIOO

• Cover