Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Jeff (2 2 1) f inished th ird; Bowman Kincaid took ninth. Team Lockhart (1) led Dutchman Racing (3) , High Tech Racing (19) and Team Wyoming (113) at the start, Team Lockhart' s Larry Shorts (1) and Team Wyoming's Ricky Orlando (1 1 3) battled f or second place early in the Sears Point 500 AMAjMotoWorld U.S. Endurance Road Race Series: Round 11 Team Lockhart locks up Sears Point 500 By Farren Williams Photos by Mike & Dennis Scully/Flyin' Past Photos SONOMA, CA, AUG. 29 Dale Quarterley an d Larry Shorts, ridin g a Team Lockha rt Suzuki GSXRI I00 , completed 114 laps , a distance of 287 m iles, to win the acciden t-shortened four-houri 500 kilometer endurance road race held on the 2.52-mile road course at Sears Point International Raceway. The victory 24 · marked the California-based team's sixth win of th e 1987 season, their third wi n in a row, a nd th eir third consecu tive victory at Sears Poi nt. The on ly motorcycle to finish on the same la p as T eam Lockhart was H igh T ec h R a cin g' s Suz';lki GSXR IIOO, ridden by Larry j eunnk an d Da nny Coe. T eam j eff riders J eff Rhea u m e a nd j eff Gterm pi loted their Suzuki GSX R750 to third overa ll , third GTO , by fini shing I II laps. I n the fier cel y-contested GTU di vision, th e Honda CB600 Hurricane -m ounted EMHO Ra~i n g Team (J eff Hoeppn er a n d Kirk H oe p pner) took a close victory over Team Uno's Yamaha FZR600 , ridden by Graham Clark, Troy Soren son and Adam Smith. T eam Del ta Finishing's Mark McDaniels, David Devea y a nd Mike j ohnson, claimed third aboard a nother Honda CB600 Hurricane. T he top three teams in GTU fin ished 110 laps, wh ile Team Kayo Racin g GTU (T om m y Sloan a nd Donnie Ro we ) took fou rth aboard a Hurr icane with 108 la ps com p lete. Wit h three races remaining in th e 14-ra ce series, a GTU team, Kayo Racing , leads the overall standings with 4314 points. Du tch man Raci ng is seco nd with 4203; High Tech Racing is listed third with 4199; Asphalt Avia tors (a no-show at Sears point) has fourth with 4174; and Lockhart ro u nds o u t th e top five with 4079 poi nts . - T he race was sche d ule d for 124 la ps, but was stop ped on lap 11 4 wh en Haresports ri der Chri s Hughes went down in tu rn 10, su ffering a bro ke n cl a vicl e a n d co ncussion . Hughes was tran sported by a m bulance to So noma Vall ey H ospi tal and h el d for o bse rva tion. Wi th time ru n ni ng o u t a nd on ly a few laps to go , officia ls ca lled th e eve n t co m p lete. T he 39-bi ke field powered off th e starti ng grid at 3:40 p.m .; with the addi tio n of Scott Gray a nd Doug Pol en, who were testin g tires and other co m po nen ts on their 750cc S uperbikes prior to th e AMA Natio na l Road Race, h eld at Sears . Point the next day. Pol en was in the lead at the end of th e first la p, paci ng Team Lockhart, T eam Wyomi ng , Pen nsylvani a 's Dutchman Racing , H igh T ech Ra cin g , Li gh tnin g Express a n d Bow m an Kin ca id. Pol en p u lled off on la p three, h is first test sessio n co mplete, lea vin g Lockhart in front. In GTU, Delt a Fin ish ing led th e first go- arou n d, fo llowed by Pau l Smi th Racing , Ten nessee's Kayo Raci ng , Team U no an d T eam Big Drea m. By the l O- rninute mark , Dutch m an Ra ci n g 's Dou g Braun eck h ad work ed h is GSX R II 00 arou n d Shorts, who. wa s aboard Lockha rt's b ig Su zuk i, wh ile Ricky Orlando had sett led T eam Wyoming 's S u zu k i GS XR 750 into third. Orlando wa s fi lli ng in for Tea m Wyoming 's Da vid Kieffer, who wa s inju red during a Su perbi ke heat race ea rlie r in th e day. T h e IO-minu te mark saw a fierce battle for first in th e G T U di vision be twee n 1986 Na tio na l champs Pau l S mi th Racing of Aus tin, T exas, a nd Ca lifo rnia 's Team Sunset, w hich finished seco nd overa ll, first GT U , at the 1986 Sears Point race. Delta Finish ing was runnin g a close th ird. The field reached th e 20-lap ma rk 40 mi nutes into th e race wi th Dutchma n 's Brauneck leadin g an d Team Wyoming 's Orlando holding a slim edge o n L o ckhart ' s S ho rts. Mich igan -based H ig h T ech Racing was runn in g fourth, follow ed by th e Tea m H yper -Cycle Suzu ki . T eam Delt a Finishi ng went from third to firs t in GTU wh en th e Pa ul Smith Racing Yamaha went down in tu rn two o n la p 20 a nd Team Sunset made a schedu led p it stop. The sh u££1ing moved Kayo Ra cing into seco n d and Georgia 's Team U no into third. Loc kha rt m ad e o ne o f th e fastest pit stops of th e day on la p 25 when Shorts h anded over to Quarterley; th e rider a n d fu el cha nge to ok 8.5 seconds. Dutchman Racing sti ll held the edge with 40 laps complet e, an hour and 15 minutes into the race . T he U .S . S u zu ki/AG V/ Ca m -2/ Ka l GardiSini salo/ R K Chain/ Kosman/ P erf o rm a n ce Ma chine/Michel in sponsored Lockha rt Suzuki held a co m fo rta b le seco n d after Tea m Wyoming m ad e an unsch eduled pit sto p. H igh T ech Racing was running th ird, a head of two California squads, T ea m j eff a nd Bowman Kin ca id. On lap 53, th e sp rea d bet ween first pl ace Dutchman Raci ng and second p lace Lockhart was less th an six seco n ds, a nd T eam Lockhart was closing th e gap, turning lap tim es in th e one minute, 53-seco nd range. L ockhart 's Quarterl ey p assed th e Du tchman Suzu ki in turn 12 o n lap 56 to tak e th e lead. The duo was follow ed by High-Tech a nd T eam j eff. Qua rterl ey reported la ter tha t he a nd Shorts were h aving " no problems with th e bik e," wh ich was eq u ip ped wi th special wh eel s designed to del iver im proved brake cooling. Ka yo Racing a nd T eam Su nset were two bike leng th s apart and fighting for the lead in th e hotlyco n tested GTU battle. At th e mi dw ay point (62 laps) Kayo held th e edge o n Su nset whi le Delta Finishi n g, M i ch e I i n / S p e ctr o / P i n e a p p l e H onda/PBI-sponsored EMH O and T eam U no gave ch ase. Dutchman Racing 's Kevin Clark hit th e wa ll in turn eig h t o n la p 66 while running seco nd overa ll. En glishman Clark , wh o was unhurt, a tte m p ted to restart th e Dutchman Su zu ki, but th e engine wo u ld n ' t fire, " It was on ly m y third lap," Clark said . :'1 started to settle down into m y n orm al pace and o nto m y n ormal lines. I went in to th e turn a t normal speed a nd th e front en d washed away. There's a short runoff th ere and tile bike bounced into th e tires and.hay bal es and bounced ove r th e barrier. I tri ed to ge t it started agai n, but th e crash ripped the carbs off an d the . engine sucked in so me dirt. " When Clark went down , two and h alf h ours into the event, 27 o f th e 41 m ot orcycles th at h ad started th e race were s ti ll in th e ru n n in g. Lock hart ha d a bi g edge on H yperCycle, which led th e Conser. Coach / Reliabl e Cycle/ AmsoillMi chel inspo nso re d Hi gh T ech Suzu ki. Ro unding o u t th e top 10 were Team j eff, Kayo Racing (firs t G T U ), Big Guy R a ce , Team U no (seco n d GTU ), Del ta Finishing (th ird G T U ), T eam Si lver Star a nd EMH O racin g (fou rt h GTU ). T eam Su nset dropped o u t of th e G T U battle short ly afterward, on lap 78, wi th reported engine problems. T eam Lockha rt took a lon g p it a

• Cover