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/126963
,. _ ..._- «i j ~ .,,,. Team Suzuki (1) leads Fuba r Racing (75), Genesis Racing (63) and Team Texas (2 9 6 ) at Blackhawk; Team Suzuki took the win . Team Gamma's Suzuki finished fourth overall and second in the Heavyweight Superbike class. WERA/EBC Brakes Nat;~nal Endurance Series: Round 4 Team Suzuki wins Blackhawk Endurance By Larry Lawrence S. BELOI T , IL. MAY 9-10 T eam Suzuki took, their second N a tio n al E ndurance w in of the 1987 season, by running a q uick bu t smooth pace on their factory -backed Su zu ki G SXRI IOO, Mi ke Harth a n d Peter Ca rroll led all bu t two la p s of the race, cov - I eri ng 199 laps (358.2 miles) in 'ap p ro xima tely four an d a half hou rs of raci ng; two separa te red flags'delayed th e racing for a n ho ur and a half. , Genes is Racing p u t in their finest performance of the year ; riders Ken Welt y, Mark H eiser and T ony DeSimone rode the tea m's Yam a h a FZRIOO to second place wit h 197 O laps . J us t 16 seco nds beh ind Genesis was the Human Race Team on a Yamaha FZR 750. T he Hu man Race Team re mai ns the series lea der after ' four rounds. H arth is mak in g a tradition out o f leading the opening laps and it was no different a t Blackha wk. Team Suzuki's GS XR rocketed off the lin e first foll owed by Kurt H all on the ' H um an Race Yama ha a nd Fubar Racing 's Suzuki. ' Doug Pol en entered the race as ' T ea m Texas on his GSXR IIOO. Pol en wasn 't out to win the raC61 he just wa n ted to get track time to test , tire com pounds a nd set his mach ine u p for the foll owi ng day's continge ncy p a yi n g p r oductio n races. Team Texas made hi s p resence felt earl y by taki ng over the lead on the six th la p . Polen pu lled o u t of the race soon afterwards, but he came out again la ter in th e rac e and broke his own track record he set last year , getti ng down to a o ne-minu te, 13seco nd lap time. As Team Su zuk i held a steady lead on the field , severa l class battles were a lready heati ng up. Todd Po index ter was lea d ing the Med iu m wei gh t Production cla ss early aboard the PDQ Racin g Ya maha FZ600 u ntil Gen e Burch am 'chased him down a nd took th e lead on th e Dreyer Raci ng CBX600 Hurrican e by the fourth lap . In th e L igh tweigh t clas s, Probst Broth ers Racing (Ya ma ha RZ350) stayed on the rear whee l of FBI Racing (Kawasaki EX500 ) in the earl y stages of the race. At th e end of the first hour four teams were on the lead -la p. T eam Su zuki led followed by Human Race, Fubar Racing a nd T ea m Gamma , who switch ed from a GSXR750 to a G SXRllOO for the rest o f th e season. . A quick check on lap tim es at the one -hour, 30-mi n u te mark, revea led tha t the Hum an Race Team and Fubar Ra cing were the fastest teams a t th at point tu rning low 1:19s. Ca rroll was a bit o ff the Pace, turn in g mid 1:21s o n the Team Suzuki machine. Car roll com plai ned ' th at th e muscles in hi s forea rms fatigued early for cing him to slow . the pace: ' As th e race was clos ing in on th e two-h our mar k, a four-bike pileup and the resulting oi l spill th at caused three ot her machines to go down in the following la ps, brough t ou t the red flag. Severa l of th e top ru n ni ng tea ms wen t d ow n i n tu r n o ne, incl udi ng Medium weight Produ ctio n lea d er Team To ntory and Lightweight lead er FBI. Most of the bik es sustained minor dam age and were a ble to reenter the race . T he one exceptio n was th e H arley-Davidsonsponsored T eam Next Door I; the Next -Door foundation is a social