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/126983
The 24~Hour West endurance road race start at Willow Springs: Genesis Racing (69) gets the j um p on Team H ~e (710) and Hyper-Cycle (51 ). " Team Vance &. Hines' Steve Cardillo puts the Suzuki GSXR750 through its paces on the way to v ictory. WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Series: Round 10 Vance & Hines does it again in Willow 24-Hour By Brian Catterson Photos By Beve.rly Gossman ROSAMOND, CA, SEPT- 5-6 For the second consecutive year, Team Vance & H in es won the WE RA 24-Hour West Endurance race at Willow Springs International Raceway, again'setting a new di stance reco rd. T eam riders Dennis Smith Steve Cardillo . ' ' N~ck Ien atsch, Peter. Car,roll, Mitch Boehm, DavldZukle 16 and Ri ch ard Moore averaged 89.8 mph on th eir Suzuki GSXR750 to co mp lete 862 laps of th e 2.5-mile circuit, for a total of2 155 miles. This . betters their 1986 mark of 2085 miles. T eam Hy per-C ycle turned in a co me-fra m -be h i n d se cond place fini sh after dicin g for the lead with T eam Suzuki early on, then suffering through a flat tire and a blown motor. Despite losing 36 laps while replaci ng the engine, team members Carry Andrew, J eff H erzog , James Do may, a nd Sco tt Russell wor ked th eir way back u p to fin ish 15 la p s down a t the fin ish. Gen esi s Racing fin ish ed th ird overa ll , fir st in th e H eavyweigh t. Production class , after swapping th e lead with Van ce & Hines thro ugh out the ni ght. Brak e probl ems led to a cras h, but riders Ken Welty , Mark H eiser, T ony DaSimone, Jim T ribou , Kevin R entzel l , a nd Mik e Murphy brought it hom e 17 laps behind second place H yper-Cycle. Defending se r ies c ha m p io ns T eam Suzuki had a mis erable weekend. Two-time AMA Superbike Champion Wes Cooley made ' his return to National Ch ampionship racing, joining Ru ss Paulk, Thomas Stevens , a nd Jeff J ames on the team 's potent Suzuki GSXRllOO. Although they led from th e start, problem s with th e motor a nd th e quick-ch ange fro nt wh eel set u p forced them o u t of the race. Twenty-nine teams lined up for the sta rt, which go t underwa y at 1:06 p.m. Saturday. T eam Suzuki's Stevens got th e holesh ot , followed by H yper-Cycle, Gen esis, H oe, Vance & Hines, K&D, Lightning Express, McMoon, Underdog, a nd Jim William s Racin g. By th e thi rd lap, T eam H oe had put their Suzu ki GSXRI 100 past the Yamaha FZRIOOO of Genesis Racing for thi rd place. Jim Will ia ms Racing put on a strong sho wing by running in the to p 10 o n a Honda CB600 H u rri ca n e. T h e team o f R.A.T.S. (Riders' Adva nced Train in~ School ) in stru ctor s, wi th Kevin En on aboard, had their BMW KI O O ou t of the top 10, but th ey wo uld not be held back for long. Stevens, who fin ished second in poin ts to Doug Po len in th e in au gural AMA Su pe rsport Series, turned 1:32 lap tim es, and was into lapped ri ders by the fifth circui t; im pressive, co n sider i n g h e'd nev er been to Will ow Springs before Friday . About Stevens, team ca ptain J ohn Ulric h commented, " H e's 21-year s-old and the next Kevin Schwantz. ". The first casualty of th e race came on lap 12, when the Bartel's HarleyDavidson 1200 was pushed back to the pits with a broken camshaft. AMA Pro Twins rid er Tom Sharp took advantage of the race 's first DNF, seizing the opportunity to ride th e team's o ther ent ry - a Kawasaki EX500. At th e 45-m in u te mark, Stevens put a lap o n last yea r's winners, Van ce & H in es, by rid in g around the o uts ide of fifth placed Moore in fast, righ t-ha nd , tu rn nine. Mom ent s lat er he la pped T eam Hoe, the n Genesis R acin g down th e ba ckstre tc h between tu rns six a nd seven. At th is poi nt , H yp e r -Cycl e' s S uzu ki GSXRII O was the onl y ot her bike O o n the lead lap, trai ling T eam Su zuki by 18 seconds . Nearin g the end of the first ho ur, th e Team Suzu ki ent ry started spu ttering low on fuel. T hey pitted a few laps lat er; th e fir st of the lead ers to do so. AMA Pro Twins racer Russell Paulk took over the riding duties. Shoei /Mich elin /Kal-G ard /Mitchell Wheel-sponsored H yper-Cycle momentaril y assumed -the lead, but relinquished it when they pitted som e 10 minutes later. Genesis, too, came in for fuel, sending out rider T ony DeSim one. Team Vance & Hines was running a virtually stock Suzuki GSXR750, with the excep tion of a pipe and jet kit , and was getting th e best mi leage of th e 'Heavyweight machines. Carroll took over the con trols when they pitted, some 20 minutes lat er. Vance & Hines T eam Captain Dennis Sm ith said th at th eir stra tegy wa s to " le t th e r abbits run , " alt hough he was in itially surprised a t just , how fast T eam Suzuki and H yp er-Cycl e were going. H e relied o n safe. co nsistent riding and good fuel "econo my in th e hope that the race wo u ld come around to th em at th e end. Team Suzuki had another pl an. as Ulrich explai ned. " You've go t to understand. go ing into thi s race. we didn 't have to be here. T he y o nly cou nt yo ur best nine finis hes ou t of 15; th is is our 10th race. Knowing th a t, we wen t into this race wan tin g to go a bo ut 2250 mi les, so we brought a mo tor th a t was a littl e bit ho tter th an norm al. " During the second hour , threetim e AMA Su perbike Champion Reg Pr idmore had th e R.A.T.S. BMW up to eighth overa ll. H e handed the bike back to Kevin Eri on to start the th ird hour. At abo u t th is time. T eam Silverstar was spo tted pushing their Suzuki GSXR750 back from turn nine. out of gas . They would return to action sh ortly.