Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a 8 ~ ~ ~ l.!') N ..... V ..0. S Ho nd a -m o u nt e d 5 1:50 (563) wo n t he Mid d leweight P rod u c t io n clas s after battling early on w ith C ha rm C ity (7 7 2) 'a n d Team Sava n n a h (5 2 5). V > o Hig h Tech Racing ' s larry J uerink and Eric Moe took 's e c o nd overa ll at Road Atlanta. finish ing 222 la ps aboard thei r Suzuki GSXR 1100, Z J Sol max Racing (5 ) fin ished third overall. claiming the win in the Heavyweight Production division; Buckwheat Racing (726) fin ished 51 st. By th e halfwa y mark of th e ra ce, Dutchman look ed as stro ng as ever, com p letin g I 13 laps a t a n average spee d o f 94.1 mph. Sol max wa s holding down seco n d with I I I laps, while High-Tech sat in third with 110 laps. TheZoomi n' Humans were still in fourth , wh ile T eam Suzuki field fifth but was abou t to be passed by T eam G amma a n d Genes is Racin g. The Suzuki m achine was ge tt ing worse, bent valves were sus pec ted. J a y Denham a nd Cra ig Ren ck had th e 5 1:50 Racing Hurri cane up in to 15th -overa ll a nd fir st in Mediumweight Producti on cla ss with 103 laps. Chris Marton e's VIP Ra cing wa sn't far behi nd run n in g o n lap 102 o n th eir Hurri canes. T eam Western Sizzlin ' with Ken Harvey a nd Rob ert Bra dl a w from Kilgore, Texas, passed Tea m U no number two an d H ouse o f Wh eels to ta ke th e lead in th e Mediumwei ght Superbik e cl a ss. T eam We st ern Sizzlin' wa s h ot o rr a class cha m p ion sh ip end u ra nce season running in th e Centra l Roadracing Club Seri es. There was a lot o f acti on durin g th e fourth hour o f ra cing. Th e engine o n th e T eam Suzuki GSXR expired a nd lu ckil y for th e team Harth was ab le to coax the bike back int o th e 'p its. The crew was ready , a new engine was in stall ed in under 40 minutes, By th e time th e team got back on th e tra ck th ey had dropped to 36t h place. The team m ember s were now very co nce r ned , Human Race wa s still running stro ng a n d h ad a cha nce to win th e cha m p io nship u n less Suzuki cou ld fin ish ver y strong in the fina l h our and a h al f o f racing. G en esi s Ra cing h ad p ro b le ms during th e fourth hour whe n J eff Dean went down in a clo ud o f dust on turn six. " We think th at th e front tir e might have been cu t a nd lost pressure. It just went away from me all a t o nce ," sa id Dean wh o was unhurt in th e Crash . The G en esi s crew did some quick work in the pits and had th e team's Yamah.a FZR back o n th e tr a ck before los in g a n y p ositions. T eam G amma crashed a lso, with Donnie Bri g g s breakin g hi s co lla rbo ne . G amm a pra cti call y re b ui lt th e Suzuki in 20 minutes b u t th e team dropped a ll th e wa y from fift h pl ace down to 38th durin g th e repa irs. Eric Mo e and Larry Juerink rode th e High -Tech Suzuki co ns isten tly fast a ll day and during th e fourth haul' th ey p assed Sol max Ra ting to tak e over seco nd pl ace. By th e en d o f th.e fifth hour Dutchman held a th ree lap lead o n H igh-Tech , unless so me thi ng d ra sti c happened , Dutchm an would tak e home th e victory. VIP Racing was slo wly but surely ga in ing g ro u nd on Middleweight Production leader 5 1:50 Racing. By . h our five both teams wer e o n la p 171. FB I ran into maj or probl ems du rin g th e last hour, the team's Kawa saki EX500 locked into si xth gea r. Several of th e tig h t co rne rs became major obs tacles. Th e biggest p roblem wa s th e team 's last pit stop , The FBI crew had to g ive th e EX quite a push to ge t it underw ay. T error Racing's John Joseph and Del bert Busche J r. took adv antage of FBI's p roblem a nd passed FBI in th e clos ing laps to tak e th e Li gh tweight Will . " We had a lot of p robl em s th e first h alf of the year but the last two races went grea t for us," sa id Terror's Busch e. Terror Racing fin ish ed third in th e Li ghtweight series behind FBI a nd Ro yal e Ra cin g. Roch ester Roadracers h ad been The Human Race Team (2). shown here leading High Tech (68) and Solmax (5). collected fourth overall. but lost the title to Team Suzuki . running as hi gh as six th p lace before team rid er J eff J am es hit a slower rider co mi ng down th e long back straigh t a n d cras hed a t over 140 mph. " I was following J eff down th e hi ll and I saw h im try to go around a group o f rid ers. He ran orr th e tra ck a t th e bottom of th e hill (perha ps th e fastest sectio n of th e trac k) a nd th e bike ca ta p u lted 25 feet in th e a ir," said Kurt H all. J a mes was transp orted to th e hospi tal with a co n cussio n a nd co m p ressed vert eb rae. Th e R o ch est er Yam ah a was destroyed. In th e closing minu tes of th e race, Dutchman Racin g b rought in th e Suzuki for a quick ga s stop. Dave Schl osser said th at th e Du tchman Suzuki p robabl y co u ld have mad e it . to th e chec kered flag wi thout gas, but th ey just wanted to , " p lay it sa fe." At th e fin ish it was Du tchman with 224 laps, two laps a hea d o f High-Tech Racing. Sol max ca me in th ird with 22 1 laps, Human Race and M&M Ra ci ng, Drey er Racing, G en esis Rac in g, Speedy Wank er Boys, T eam Sluggo an d G ar land Suzu ki ro u n ded o u t th e top 10 teams. Tea m Western Sizzlin ' fini sh ed with 206 laps to win th e Mediumwe ig h t Productio n class even th ough the bolts o n their Hurrica ne front brak es came loo se duri ng th e race. In th e Med iumwei ght Producti on class 5 1:50 Racing h eld o ff VIP Racing for th e class win. " It's unbeli evable th a t we even m ad e th e race," sai d rider J a y Den h am. " We dro ve a ll ni gh t to ge t here a nd just made it to sign-i n. T he suspens io n was n't right a ll day but I guess it was good eno ugh. With the racin g o ver a nd th e win ne rs celebra ting a t th e win ner's circle, th e a tte n tion turn ed to th e sco ring to wer where race o fficia ls were tabulati ng th e final ov erall sta n dings. T eam Suzuki and The Human Race T eam members waited nervously for the o u tco me. Wh en '. WERA's Evelyn Pritz announced th at T eam Suzuki h ad won th e cha m p ions h ip by o ne a nd one-tenth p oint th e tow er eru p ted in emo tio n. Fo r T eam S u zu ki reli ef, for th e Humans, fru stration. One m ember o f Suzu ki su m me d it u p by sayi ng this series was, " too damn close." Human Race member Ben Martinez sa id tha t he wo u ld have rath er lost by I00 points tha n co m ing so close to winning it a ll. Spo ns o rs for Dutchman Racing in clude Pennzoil 10 Minute Oil Cha nge, Mich elin, Shoei, Yoshimur a , D.I.D , P .B.I. a nd ND spark p lugL • Results 0 / A TEAM : 1. Dutchman Racing (Suzl; 2 . Hi gh Tech Racing (Suz); 3 . Sol max Racing USA (Yam); 4 . Human Race Team (Yam); 5 . M&M Racing (Yam); 6 . Dreyer Racing ISuz); 7. Gen esis Raci ng (Yam); 8 . The SpeedyWanker Beys (Yaml ; 9 . Team Slugg o (Suz); 10 . Garland Suzuki (Suz). H/W S/BK : 1. Dutchman Racing (Suz); 2. High Tech Racing (Suz): 3. Hard Cor e I (Suz). , MIW S/ BK: 1. Team W est ern Siu lin "/ BMH (Ho n);2 . Hou se of W heel s " A " Team (Yam); 3 . Caz Racin g (Yam). H/W PROD: 1. Sol max Racing USA (Yam ); 2. Huma n Race Team (Yam ): 3 . M&M Racing (Yam) . M IW PROD: 1. 51 :50 (Hon l; 2. VIP Racing (Hon) ; 3 . Superb ike Factory (Hon) . U W : 1. Ter ror Racinq (Yam); 2. FBI Racing (Kaw); 3 . National's Fibe rglass Factor y Racing (Yam). FINA L POINT STANDING'S : 1. Team Su zuki (Suz) B99 .95 pts ; 2 . The Human Race Team (Yam ) B98.B5 ; 3 . Gene sis Raci ng (Yam) B85.4 2; 4 . Solmax Raci ng (Yam) 883 .45 ; 5. Team Gamm a (Suz ) 774.89. FINA L STANDINGS H/ W S/B K: 1. Team Suzu ki (Suz); 2. Team Gam ma (Suz); 3 . Team Racerb ack (Kaw). MIW S/B K: 1. Team Br eeze (Hon): 2. Caz Racing (Yam); 3 . Ji m Willia ms Racing . HIW PROD: 1. Human Race Team (Yam): 2. Genesis Rac ing (Yam); 3. Sol max Racing (Yam ), M / W PROD: 1. PDQ Racing (Yam); 2. Red Strrpe Racin g (Yam); 3 . Gat ewa y Racing (Kaw) . LIW: 1. FBI Racing (Kaw); 2. Royale Racing (Yam I; 3. Terr or Racing (Yarn] , 15

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