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/126965
Team Lockhart averaged 93 .609 mph to w in the Road Atlantarace by 17 seconds over Kayo Rac ing . Kayo Rac ing's Kevin Rentzell. seen here. and Dean Swims diced w ith Team Lockhart t hro ughout the race. AMA/MotoWorld U.S. Endurance Series: Round 4 Team Lockhart tames Road Atlanta 500 By Randy Marrs BRASELTON,GA,MAYI6 The 1986 AMA/U .S. Endurance Series Ch a m p io n s Team Lockh art rode their competitio n in to th e gro un d at R o a d At lan ta a s the Lockha r t Ra cing/ U. S. Suzuki / AGV / Ca m -2/ Mich elin /RK/Ka l-Gard / Perfor. mance Mac~m.e-sp~nsored entry took their first WIn of the 1987 endura nce road racing season. Lynn Miller, who was making an earlier than expected return to the Lockhart Racing Team, and 1986 teammate Larry Shorts rode the I L.ockhart Suzuki to an 17.58-second vi ctory over second place Ka yo Racing, averaging 93.609 mph for three hours-28 minutes in the 500 kilometer event. Onl y Lockhart and Kayo finished on th e lead lap with both teams covering 124 laps. Continuing their string of consisten t top five fini sh es was third pl ace High-Tech Ra cing. The top six fini shers rode Suzuki GSXRs as th e make cont in ues its dominati on of U .S. en d u ra nce raci ng. Front Ro w Ra cin g's Greg .Go uld ino a nd Stuewart Eden field led a Yamaha sweep of the GTU cla ss, finis hing 13th overa ll with 113 laps o n an FZ600. Second pl ace Asphalt Avia tor s took second on a n FZ a nd th ird pla ce T eam Uno rode a Yamaha FJ600 ; both fini shed a lap down to Front Row . . The race which developed into a back-and-forth battle between Lo ckhart and Kayo Ra cin g's Kevin Rentzell a nd Dean Swims saw five lead cha nges betw een th e two teams in what turned out to be" an ironic cha ng e of events. In on e of th e two end ura nce rounds held a t Road Atlanta last year, Lockhart lost one of th e rounds to th en New H aven Suzu ki wh en th ey made a wrong call on fuel , taking one more pit stop than needed and costing th em th e race. This year, Kayo made th e wrong call as Lockhart turned the tables. A total of 53 teams, (28 GTO and 25 GTU ) took the green under clear skies and temperatures hovering in the low 90s. Rentzell, taking th e first stint on the Kayo Racing/ Yokohama/D.I.D/GS/ Daito/Spectro / Auto -Litre/Fox /Cyd e Performan ce-spon sored Su zu ki GSXR II 00, led Shorts into turn one. Shorts grabbed the lead from Kayo and led until lap two. Lockhart and Kayo hook ed up in a tight one-two d raft a nd pulled away from third pl ace Dutchman Racin g with Doug Brauneck tak ing th e start for the team . Fourth was th e Speed & Sport Cycle/Metzeler/ Air Brite-sponsored Suzuki GSXRI 100 of Thomas Steven s and SteveTedler on th e MiamiVice Ra cing entry, and holding fifth was H igh T ech R acing 's Larry Juerink a nd Eric Moe. By lap four, with Kayo and Lockhart mo tor ing away from th e field, ro und three winne rs H yp er-Cycle Racing moved a ro und H igh T ech to tak e over fifth . GTU was a close sc r a m b le betw een 1986 GT U Nat ional champs Paul Smith Racing, Front R ow Ra cing, T eam Samurai , Asphalt Aviators and T eam Un o. Early GTU race leaders, Kayo Racing GTU lost th eir lead whenthev sp un th e sproc ket off their H onda CB600 Hurri cane in turn three. " I went to gra b a handful of brak es a nd downshift wh en it happened. It spun th e sprock et off th e hub " explained Kayo's Donnie Rowe. " It's ' a real shame because we had a 25second lead on th e GTU field a t the time. Somebody o n th e erew rep laced the sproc ket and forgot to put the spacers back on causing it to spin off." The resulting charge to replace the sproc ket cos t the Kayo entry 30 minutes in th e pits. With Lockhart n ipping at Kayo's rear 'wheel, Rentz ell had th e gas on trying to stay in front of Sh orts. At one point as th e pair ca me under the Nissan bridge headed down through turn II, a fast downhill right hand turn, Rentzell bri efly, lost co nt ro l as the rear wh eel tri ed to come around. Rentz ell ga the red it in , kept it under cont ro l a nd maintained hi s sligh t lead o n Lockhart. By lap seven , as th e front two raced for th e lead, th e battle for third to sevent h was still a ny body's race. Miami-Vice Racing got arou nd the Dutchman Racing/PennzoillO Min ut e Oil Chan gelPB IIShoei / Yoshim u r a /D . I. D/M ich el in /WD for third. H yp er-Cycle was fifth , T eam Sanibel six th , High Tech dropping to seventh, with Never Read y Ra cing, Kayo II Racing and South Flo rida Racing rounding out th e top 10. Paul Smith and Donald J acks o n the Paul Smith Ra cing/ Kendall O i IlYokohama /RSC/ SuperTrapp /Cyd e R ider s/RKspo nsored Yamaha FZ600 con tin ued to lead Front RowRacin g. Dutchman a nd Miami-Vice continued to swa p third a nd ,fourth in th e early stages until lap 17 when Dutchman 's charge came to an end with a broken shift lever, moving Miami-Vice into a n uncontested third overall. Buddy Keller and Brad Smith on the Never Ready Racing/ Dunlop-sponsored Suzuki ' GSXR1100 worked th eir way into fourth with T eam Sanibel , H yper-Cycle, High T ech a nd Kayo II separa ted by no more th an 10 seconds. On lap 34, Kayo pitted, making what would be the big mistake that cost them the lead and event ually the race. Thinking it would take three stops for fuel to finish the race, they soo n realiied there was still three and a half gallons of fuel left in th e tank. The ensuing stop cost the team 37 seconds in the pits as the Lockhart entry flashed by to take the"lead.