Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Suzuki's Mike Harth (above) and Thomas Stevens rode their GSXR 11 00 to victory at Rockingham. Ben M artinez helped pilot the Hu m an Race Team's FZR 1000 to second place at North Carolina Motor Speedway. WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Series:Round 9 Team Suzuki win~ Rockingham 6-Hour RO CKING H AM, NC , AUG 8 T eam Su zuki's Mike Harth and Thomas Stevens turned In a 3I3-lap, 469.5-mile p erformance on th eir Suzuki GSXR I IOO to wi n th e six-hour en du ra n ce road race 24 held on th e 1.5-mile North Caro lin a Motor Speedway I ro ad course. T eam Su zuki topped the second-placed H u m a n Ra ce T eam 's Yamaha FZRIOOO of Kurt H all, Ben Martinez and Andy Fenwick by four lap s. Third p lace overall and second in H eavyweigh t Production went to the Genesis Racing Yamaha FZR I000 of Tony DeSimone, J eff Dean a nd Ken Welty ; Genesis finished seven laps down on Tea m Suzuki. Fourth overall went to T eam Racerback's Kenny Payton a nd B.B. Montemayor on th eir Kawasa ki GPX750 with Team H ammer's (o n a spare Tea m Suzu ki mac hi ne ) J eff J ames a nd Ro n Ewerth ro und ing out the to p five o n a Su zuki GSXRI 100. The Middl wei ght P rodu cti on class win went to P DQ Racin g 's Yama ha FZ600 wit h Red Str i pe Racing finishi ng second on a no ther . Yam ah a FZ600. FBI took the wi n in th e Lig h twe ig h t class a n d a lso finished II th overa ll o n th eir Ka wa sa ki EX500 . FBI' s riva l, R oya le Racing, dropped out in the seco nd hour with mec hanical problems o n th eir Yamaha RZ350. Rain-X took th e Middleweight Superbike win. T eam Suz uki' s win tightened th e points chase con siderably as they moved within four points of Human Race T eam , 789-785. Gen esis holds do wn th ird in the points with 738 in th e champio nship in wh ich th e best ni ne of 15 fin ishes count. The Hu m a n s fin ish ed seco n d overa ll a nd won th eir seventh H eavyweight P rod uctio n class of the seaso n despi te having to borrow a n engine for th e Yam aha FZR IOO at O the I Ith hour. "On Thursday n ight we got a 1000 motor that som eo ne lent us," Da ve Zupan of the " Zoomi n" H uma ns said. " It came o ut of a near totalled FZR in a shop. We took it out of the frame , raced it and bro ug ht it back to the shop." T ir e wear was a problem for mos t teams a t Rockin gh am. Most of th e production teams were usin g a set of tires at the rat e of every three an d a half hours, d ue ma in ly to the heat. T ea m Suzuki went th rough one front a nd three rear Mich elins, du e to wh at T eam Captain J ohn U lrich lat er described as " a real abrasive tra ck su rface." Human Race Team was a nother team affected by tire wear. " We had an unexpected fro nt tire change with Ben (Ma rti ne z ridi ng," Zupan sai d. " Bu t we held it together and it went o kay. Because of th e heat we didn 't ride sti n ts as lo ng as we normally ' do (45 minutes in stead of th e cus tom ary hour and 10 to hour and 15 mi n u tes). We tried ice vests a t times also." A cras h ear ly in the race brought ou t the red flag a nd a 20 minute delay, but after that it was smooth sai ling except for th e hea t and tire wear problems. After the first hour there were seven tea ms o n th e lead lap: T ea m Suzuki, H u man Race T eam , Ra cerb ack , Gam ma, Solmax , HJE a nd Ge nesis. H our two saw Human wi th a o ne lap lead over Ge nesis a nd T eam Suzuki with 94 la ps to 93. T eam Suzuki was sufferi ng from a fuel bo iling situa tio n whe n th e level of gasoli ne got low in th e tan k, and were forced to make more pi t stops th a n usu al. By th e third ho ur, however, T eam Suzuki was in fron t to stay wi th a com forta ble, and growi ng, one lap lead ov er the H um an s, 149- 148. Ge nes is was dropp ing off the pace with 146 la ps, after en count ering tire wear problems. T h e rear Metzel er tire o n the Gen esis Yamaha ha d worn throug h to the cords with We l ty at the contro ls a nd his lo nger la p times sho wed the results. When Welty returned to th e tra ck wi th fres h rubber h is times dropped five-to-six seconds a la p, bu t it was too late to mak e a ru n at the now-do minat in g T ea m Suzuki a nd Human Race Team. By the fifth ho ur , Team Suzuki was five laps clear, 258-253, over th e Humans with Ge nesis hold in g down third with 249 laps. Team Suzuki cruised in for the easy wi n. O ne of the learn s to exit the race early was T ea m Sol max. According to tea m ow ner Ci ndy Bowen , the Suzu ki G SXRI lOO 's engine overheat ed and boiled over abo ut a n hour in to th e event . Then th e clu tch cover gas ket started lea kin g a nd rillher than risk blowing up more engines , the Sol max entry was retired. The team had just moved into third pl ace wh en th e situa tio n developed. "T he race was won in the pits," T eam Suzu ki's Ul rich sai d. "We had faster wh eel cha nges th an th e o ther guys ." • Results OVERALL: 1. Team Su zu ki (Suz l; 2. The Human Race Team (Yam); 3. Genesis Racin g (Yam); 4. Team Racerback (Kaw); 5. Team Hammer (Suz); 6. PDQ Racing (Yam); 7. Red Str ipe Racing (Yam); 8 . Oarotune Racing On awa (5 uz); 9 . Team 51uggo (Suz); , D. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam).

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