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/126977
The Human Race Team turned in a record-setting ride to win the 24 Hours of Nelson Endurance Road Race. Solm~x Racing USA finished second overall at Nelson Ledges for the second consecutive year. WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Series: Round 8 . Humans win big at Nelson Ledges 24~"-ou~ By Larry Bell WARREN, OH, JULY 25-26 The Human Race Team took a quantum leap into the record books by carding a smooth, efficient and almost flawless race in taking the biggest overall win to date 18 in the series, the 19th Annual 24 Houts of Nelson at the I Nelson Ledges Road Course. Team riders Kurt Hall, Andy Fenwick, John Eidenberger, Ben Martinez and Tim Morrisey had the lead for two-thirds of the race on their Metzeler/Fox Racing USAI Mar u s h i n I Mot u 1- sup ported Yamaha FZRIOOO. The team churned out 1018 laps (2036 miles) on the two-mile course to.shatter the existing record by 18 laps. This was despite a brief delay of 40 minutes roughly 40 minutes into the event due to a lightening storm passing through the area. Solomax USA finished second overall - for the second year in a row - on a Yarnaha/Dunlop/EBC/Belll Ts u baki/Kal- Gard- sponsored Yamaha FZRlOOO. It's riders, Terry Bailey, Scott Russell, Mark Schledorn, Ronnie Bowen and Jamie James, turned in 1015 laps despite having to perform numerous tire changes. . Genesis Racing pinned its hopes on the new Yokohama radial and came away with a solid third overall, completing a Yamaha FZRIOOO sweep of th~ top thr~ places. Riders Kel Welty, Mark Hetser, Tony DeSimone, Larry Burkholder and Jim Tribou cranked out lOll laps on the Yamaha/Spectrol Arai/Kayol Yokohama-supported Yamaha. The top three came out of the Heavyweight Production ranks and all three bettered the existing lap record with almost sprint race lap times. Series point leader going into Nelson, Team Su,zuki, landed a fourth place finish with their SuzukilArail Bel-Ra yIKerkerIMichelin-backed . Suzuki GSXRllOO after surviving numerous problems, including a crash by rider Thomas Stevens. Russ Paulk, Jeff James, Mike Harth and Stevens completed 974 laps despite over an hour's worth of down time. PDQ Racing took the lone Medi· umweight into the top five ranks by finishing w~th 958 laps on a T-C Ent/Iron Pony-sponsored Yamaha FZ600. Riders Too Poindexter, John Bowles, Steve Cline, Mark Lautzenizer and Keith Wakefield nursed what they called a "junk motor that used a half-quart of oil per hour," to cap a Yamaha roll of four of the top five positions. In the winner's circle after the race, Human Race Team's Kurt Hall tried to sum up the experience of taking the win after falling short in .the previous try. "I want to thank Zupan (team captain) for great pit stops and Metzeler for the best all-around tire," he said. "For the second year in a row we won our class but this year we finished a little better," he joked in reference to last year's troubleprone fifth place finish. "We had zero maintence on the bike," Zupan said. He added that that they only changed tires arid brakes despite an early morning crash that cost them a steering damper. A physically and emotionally drained Terry Bailey of SoLmax USA. said, "We're really glad it's over. It's was a long' one. We had a lot of tire changes and it was almost like a 24. hour sprint race. The competition was the hardest I've ever seen." . Indeed" tire wear played.a large role in the outcome of the race. Human Race went with the Metzeler MEl Komp K and ME33 Komp K; .Solmax used the Dunlop 59l (n<;>ted as a sprint tire, according to te.am owner Bowen); Genesis went with the new Yokohama Radial. Human Race went through three fronts and three rears; Solmax parted company with "about five or six changes"; Genesis' Tribou said, "We ran out of the hard compounds so we had to use the soft ones and had to make an extra tire change. It probably cost us the overall. These are predictable ti~es." The top three teams finished only seven laps apart and frequently three or four teams were on the same lap. The 3:00 p.m. start had Genesis, Human and Suzuki sitting on the front row with storm clouds rolling in to threa ten the start. Suzuki's Russ. Paulk, with Michelin slicks, easily took the lead from the start and quickly began slicing through traffic with the others right behind. But about two-thirds into the hour, heavy rain and lightening moved through the area and track officials stopped the race fearing the riders would become lightening rods. Suzuki's switch to rain tires hit a snag 'with the wheel quick release that wOl.\ldn't .work properly with the new four-piston Lockheed brakes. Suzuki had switched from' Spondons to Lockheed on Friday when the Spondons blew away,