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/126990
Team Gamma's GSXR 1100, piloted mostly by Jeff Atwell. co llected its first WERA National endurance win of the year at Summit Point, Yamaha FZ600-mounted PDQ Rac ing f in ished eighth overall and took first place honors in the Middleweight Production class , Defending ' Heavyweight Production Cha mpions M&M Rac ing claimed the class w in aboard a Yamaha. f inishing thi rd overall, WERA/EBC Brakes National 'Endurance Road Race Series: Round J3 Team Gamma wins Summit Point Six-Hour By Cindy Bowen SUMMIT POINT, WV, ocr. 17 Marylan d-based Team Gam ma won their firs t overall WERA National Endu rance Series race at Sum mit Point, travelling 478 m iles on the slippery two-m ile road race course and beating second place Team Suzuki by two 1aps.. J ~ ff Atwe 11 did most 0 f the ri ding for Team Gamma 30 in the six-hour race with relief riding hand led by tea m captain Frank Slaughter on the Clinton Cycle/LocTi te /Kal-Gard / Diamond /U. S. Modeling & Design/Metzeler/Shoeisponsored Suzuki GSXRlIOO . At the start of th e race, Team Gamma's Atwell jumped out front to battle with Team Suzuki's Thomas Stevens, Sol max Racing USA's Scott RusseIl and M&M Racing's Kurt Hap. Five laps into th.e race Atwell pitted to replace a ~lTchp that came off the shifter,- losing severa l posi tions. Team Suzuki took the lead with Solmax's RusseIl in second. Genesis Racing's Mark H eiser crashed the Team 's . Yamaha FZR IOOO on the warm-up lap, bending the frame. Genesis sent out rider James Tribou on the team's backup FZR, still clad with worn out practice tires . Twenty-six minutes into th e race Tribou pitted to put fresh rubber 'on the bike, losing five minutes. At the comp letion of hour one, it was Team Suzuki in first , followed '. closely by Solmax Racing, Team Gamma and M&M Racing, all with 38 laps. All four teams were two laps up on fifth place, Late in the second hour, Sol max Racing's Terry Bailey passed T eam Suzuki 's Mike Harth for the lead, but Harth passed him back and turned th e wick up. Prior to the two-hour mark, T eam Gamma's Atwell passed both Sol max and Suzuki for a lead the y would not relinquish. The battle for the Middleweight Production class win started out between Heys er Cycle and PDQ Racing. The two swapped the lead for four hours until' Heyser Cycle dropped out after hour four. PDQ's Todd Poindexter, Steve Cline and John Bowles won the class on their Iron Pony/Metzeler /Shoei /TC Enterprises-backed Yamaha FZ600, and finished eighth overall. . Entering the third hour, Gamma had a one and one-half lap lead on M&M Racing, Team Suzuki and Solmax Racing USA. Genesis was making up for their earlier problems . and had moved up to fifth overall , . third in class. The battle for Heavyweigh t Production was close between 1986 Heavyweight Production Champion M&M Racing, and the 1985 Champion Sol max Racing USA, both on Yamaha FZRs. Sol max led M&M the first hour with M&M passing them in hour two. Sol max's Russell got back by in the third hour only to have the throttle stick on him while chasing Team Suzuki's Stevens, Russell pitted th e Sol max FZR and they lost 20 minutes replacing the carburetors and throttle cable, dropping back nine laps. M&M Racing went on to finish third overall, first in class, with 233 laps. Genesis Racing moved up to the number four spot, second in class , while Sol max Racing moved back up to round out the top five and finish third in class. Heavyweight P rod uctio n points leaders Human Race Team lost 20 minutes early in the race replacing the clutch and finishing 12th overa ll. The Lightweigh t class was won by Pen n Sta te Racing on their Penn State Cycles /Jack Clayton/Jim & Dolly Varnes-sponsored Yamaha RZ350. Riders David Smith and Daniel Pleif had been as high as an impressive sixth overall in the 50bike field after battling with series regulars Team FB I and Ro ya le Racing. Penn State ' eventually fin- ished ninth overaIl with 218 laps an d won their class by five laps over Royale Racing's Doug Henry and Jim East. Team Gamma continued the lead into the fourth hour when Team Suzuki moved onto the same lap with them, and started slowly closing the gap. The two teams fought for the win with Gamma pushing to stay in the lead and Team Suzuki working to catch them. In the final hour, Team Gamma kept Atwell on the bike and Team Suzuki sent out Stevens to finish up for them. With less than one-half hour remaining, Stevens was slowly puIling up on Team Gamma when he pitted for a quick shot of fuel. Upon exiting the pits, Stevens ran over something that punctured his tire causing it to slow ly go flat. With five minutes remaining in the race, Stevens pitted with a flat tire. Suzuki lost no time in changing the tire but there wasn't enough time left in the race for them to ,make it up. Team Gamma went on for the checkers, winning by two laps over Team Suzuki. Team Gamma's Randy Slaughter gave most of the credit to Atwell who rode over four hours of the race. This was Team Gamma's first overall win and they remain fifth overaIl in the series points standings. Team Suzuki has won seven of the 14 series races and they remain in the lead in the points standings. Sunday's Regional sprints were dominated by Experts Scott RusseIl (first time ever at Summit Point) and local rider Glenn Szarek. R usseIl won A Production and A Superbike and was only 1.5 seconds off the track record. Szarek won B Production and B Superbike, while Chuck Elst ner won all the Novice classes he entered on his Honda VFR750. • Results O/A : 'I. Team Gamma (Suz); 2. Team Suzuki (Suz); 3. M&M Racing (Yam); 4. Genesis Racing (Yam); 5. Sotmex Racing USA (Yam); 6. Team Rapid (Suz); 7. Darot u ne Racing (Su z): B. PDQ Racing (Yam); 9. Pen n Sta t e Racing (Yam); 10. G.W. Shade. (Yam ). HIW PROD: 1. M&M Racing (Yam); 2. Genesi. Racing (Yam); 3 . Solrna x Racing USA (Yam): 4 . Hu man Race Team (Yaml: 5. Team Slu g (Suz). H/ W S/BK:' 1. Team Gamma (Suz); 2. Team Suzuki (Suz): 3. Team Rapid (Suzl; 4. Darotu ne ( Racing (5uz); 5. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam). M IW PROD: 1. PDQ Racing (Yam); 2. Team Im pulse (Hon); 3 . Charm City Racing (Yam ): 4. Thu mp er Brot hers (Yam); 5. Gatew ay (Kaw) . MIW S/ BK: 1. GW. Sha de. (Yam): 2. Penn State Racing (Yam); 3. Dynamic Graphics (Hon); 4. Total Perf orma nce (Yam): 5. Gad Zooks (Suzl . UW: 1. Penn State Racing (Yam); 2. Royale Racing (Yam); 3. Terror Racing (yam); 4. Richmond Roadracer. (Yam): 5. Team FBI (Kaw) .