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/126974
to an end sh ortl y aft er Darren Stipp took th e co n tro ls and becam e an other vic tim o f th e freshly p aved course . " I do n' t kn ow what happened ," said Stipp. "All o f a sudden the front end went away, I just d idn 't have time to react." Sti pp Farms later reen tered the race a nd finished a disappointi ng 46th . Steven s too k over the controls for T eam Suzu ki in the second hou r and rode co nsistent one minute, 33 second laps to keep the team in the lead. Scott R ussell brought the Solmax Yamaha ZRI O O from eighth p lace O in the first hour, all the way up to second p lace by the end of the second hou r. Russell 's riding style could be described as high ly aggressive. The 22-year-ol d rider fro m Atlanta, Georgia, seemed to blatantly disregard the slippery track condi tions b ut got by wi th it, Several ti mes Russell would pass two and th ree riders o n the o u tside o f a turn , run o ff the track and be in the weeds a nd still never let off th e gas! So lmax 's drive for th e lead came to an end in th e third hour wh en T erry Bailey lo st co ntrol a nd went down. Bailey was quick ly back up a nd nursed th e machine back to the p its . Fu el somehow got o n the rear brak e and it caught o n fire in th e pi ts. So lm ax lost II m in u tes in the pits, or seven laps on the track. Grattan contin ue d a long string o f bad lu ck for So lmax Ra cing. Midway through the race , Team Suzu ki continued to maintain their two -lap lead o n the field. Genesis Racin g had moved into second, just a head of Team R acer ba ck. The H u man Race Team elected to ride their Yama ha FZR 750 at Grattan instead of their FZRIOOO, saying that the ligh ter 750 wo uld be easier to ha nd le on the twisty track. They were qu ietl y worki ng their way up through the field, going from sevent h after th e first hour to fo u rth overall by the end of th e th ird. K&L Racing was in fifth, followed by So lmax Racing, Dreyer Racing, T eam R CR, T eam Gamm a a nd Wood Racing. T he most hotl y contested class th is year has been th e Lightweigh t divisio n where T eam FBI and Royal e Ra cin g , last year's L igh tweigh t champs, are battling it o ut . At Gra ttan, Ro yal e held on to a slim lead over FBI th ro ughou t the first half of the race and wi th th e addition of _T ea m Lan ser 's Ya m a h a TZR250 coming on strong du ring th e seco nd ha lf of the race, the class again proved to be the mos t competitive. It was FBI wi n ning at G ra tta n desp ite team rider J ohnny Copeland cras h ing in th e last ho ur. Copela nd _ commented on his last hour woes, " I went do wn pretty easy and was able to keep th e engine run ning a nd we ended up .no t lo sin g too m uch ti me. T ha nk goodness for engine case guards." ;; Going into the last hour of th e contest, Team Suzuki sett led into cons isteni I :33s a nd I :34s, occasio nall y d ippin g down into the 1:31 . bracket when th ey had a clear track. Suzuki's run looked flawl ess but H arth a nd Stevens were actually having to work quite hard on th e r.big Suzuki. b " We wore down th e fron t brake pads by th e second hour. We changed the pads but the brake fluid was .coo ked and the brakes didn 't work ,well the rest of th e da y," said Suzuki tuner Jim Labine. I The Human Race Team was now t in seco nd a fter Genesis' T o ny DeSimone went down trying to pass a slower rider on the outside. Genesis los t about seven minutes before reentering the race in sixth place. Hard charging K&L got as high as third Team Breeze (917) won the Mediumweight Superbike class aboard their 500cc Honda Interceptor.- Team FBI (above) topped the Lightweight class aboard their Kawasaki. despite a crash by rider Johnny Copeland. pl ace befor e Fr itz Kling went" do wn a t a high rate o f spee d wi th 45 m inu tes to go. Klin g banged his head a nd was groggy, but showed up a t th e track Su nday to specta te. With K&L o u t Dreyer Racing was now in thi rd and had a very good cha nce of putting their Dreyer Yamaha/Yokohama T ire- sp onsor ed H onda 600 Hu rri can e Int o th e winner 's circle. The big bikes o f Genesis Racing and T eam Racerba ck were in hot pursuit, though, and wh en Dreyer 's Gene Burcham took over th e controls for the last hour he had a big chore in front of hiIl1. .' After six hours of ra cing T eam Suzuki crossed the finish line first with 222 laps. They covered 444 miles with a winning average of 74 mph. T he Huma n Race Team wo n the Heavyweig ht P roduction class and fin ish ed second overall, two lap s behin d Team Suzuki. Wh en asked if he was frustrated a t fin ishing second time and time again, team captai n Dae Zupan sai d, " If we were runn in g a Su perbike it wo uld be a 'd ifferent story, but since we're running Producti on we rea lize th at slicks, quick fill tanks and so o n are going to ge t us. We still are only eig ht or nine po ints o u t o f fir st, don't co u nt us o u t." Burcham rode hard in th e last hour and kept Dre yer Racing in third, the h ighest fini sh so far th is year for a 600cc machine. " I wasn 't su re how fa r from second we were in th e last hour, so I just rode th e wheels off th e bike hoping to gain a posit ion," sai d a tired but happy Bu rcham. With Team Suzuki's victory they move nine points ahead of the second p lace H uma n Race T eam . The next race on the EBC/WERA calendar is th e Jul y 25-26 24-Ho urs o f Nelson. • Results NAT'L ENDR: 1. Team Suzuki (Suz) Mike Harth • Thomas Stevens; 2 . Human Race Team (Yam) Kurt Hall. Ben Mart inez. Andy Fenwick; 3. Dreyer Yamaha Racing (Hon) Gene Burcham. Gary Jeffries. Scon lampach; 4 . Genesis Racing (Yam) Mark Heiser. Tony DeSimone. Ken Welty; 5. Solmax Racing USA (Vam) Terry Bailev, Scott Russell: 6. Team Racerback (Kaw) Ken Payton. B.B. Montemayor: 7. Team RCR (Vem) Mike Clemonts . David Grummen; i. Team Indv (Yam) Ned Hart . Dave Schmitt. Jamie James; 9. Wood Racing ~Suz) Jeff Wood. Shawn Nicoloff; 10. Team Gamma (Suzl Frank Slaughter. Donnie Briggs. Craig Gaver . HIW PROD: 1. Human Race Team (Vaml; 2. Genesis Racing (Yam); 3. Solmax Racing (Yam). MIW PROD: 1. Dreyer Vamaha Racing (Hon); 2. R&W Racing (Vaml; 3. PDa Racing (Vem). HIW S/BK: 1. Team Breeze (Hon); 2. 011 Road Recing (Vam); 3. Krol (Kawl. VW: 1. FBI (Kaw); 2. Royale Racing (Vam); 3. Team Lanser (Yam ).