Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Overall .w inner Dutchman Racing's Jeff Heino (3) leads GTU w inner Te~m N'o Drugs (1 4 ) during the Firebird Raceway 500 kilometer endurance race. National Champion Team Lockhart's Da le Quarterley (1 ) laps sixth overall South Florida Rac ing (8) on his way to a second place overall finish. AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge: Round 1 Dutchman ,flies at Firebird Raceway By Brian Catterson CHANDLER, AZ, FEB. 13 . , Dutch m an Racing's Kevin Ren tzell an d J eff H eino h eld off the race-lon g ch allenges of Team Lockhar t's Dale Q uarterley and Doug Brauneck to win the first round of the 1012 race AMA/ CCS N ati onal Endurance Challenge held at " . Firebird Interna tional Race, way. Third place fell to Kayo Ra cing's Tommy Sloan and Donni e Row e, who bea t out Team T arga members Dan Chivington and Larry Shorts. Hyper-Cycle's James Domay and Carry Andrew were also a facto r throughout th e 500 ki lometer even t, but DN F whi le running second just 11 laps from the finish. The GTU class was won by bro th ers Kirk and Jeff H oeppner of T eam No Drugs (formerly T eam EMHO), After losing an official pro test posted because the team thought it had won, second place fell to th e Roswell H onda entry of Cam Roose and Mike Smith. T eam Billy and th e Boingers finished third with locals Thomas Eatman and Thomas Dahl doing the riding on the ir Honda CB600 Hurricane. , AMA Pro Twins Nation al Ch ampi on Brauneck j umped into th e lead at the start on the Team Lockhart Suzuki GSXRIIOO, and was chased by Rentzell, Sloan, Chivington, and local hotshoe Danny Walker on th e Wizard Racing Suzuki 1100. Grasp Racing's Peter Carr oll, a former member of WE RA National Endurance Championship-winning T eam Hammer, led the start of the GTU division on a Suzuki 600 Katana. No Dr u gs held second initially, but rider Kirk H oepp ner used the superior acceleration of the team's Honda Hurricane to pass Carroll on the fro nt straight during th e second lap.. Chivington put the Targa / Castrol-sponsored Kawasaki ZX-IO into third place; just before th e pace ' car came ou t d ue to oi l on th e co urse on lap six. The decision to use a pa ce car in th is year 's series was made in order to avoid red flag s, wh ich cause long delays tha t detract from specta tor an d , ultimatel y, tel evision interest. Like NASCA R au tom obile racing, laps run under .the yellow flag are counte d th e same as laps run under th e green. . The field re-grouped single-file beh ind the pace car (a co nvert ible Pontiac Sunbird dr iven by a sm iling AMA/CCS Director Roger Edmo ndson ) wi th th e re-start taking place on lap I I . Once aga i n , Braun eck powered into th e lead follo wed by Ren tzell. This time, however, they were stal ked by H yp er- Cycl e ' s Domay, who had started on the last row of the GTO gri d. In his first appearance at the Arizona faci lity, Domay q uickly worked his way in to ' the lead, extending his ad van tage and circulating below the previous lap' record (1:09.69 set by Rentzell during last year's race). Five laps later, Ren tzell passed Domay through dense tra ffic in the tower turn and proceeded to break his own record, turning an official I:08.3 at 84.33 miles per hour. Domay returned th e favor, leading the way from lap 41 to 44, before Rentzell again resumed the lead. Rentzell was credited wi th the new track record , but unofficia l stop watches recorded Domay turning a high I:07 on lap 40. Kayo Racing was the first of the leading teams to pit, co ming in for gas and a rider change on lap 43; this despite the fact that their Yamaha FZRIOOO carries an additional gallon of fuel where the airbox used to be, and is fitted with a second , reserve up behind the steering hea d: D. I. D.lY okomaha/GS Batteries/ Ara il Sp ectra / Ya m a h a Mo tor Corporation-sponsored Kayo, formerly Genesis Racing, is th e only team planning to co mpete in bo th th e AMA and WERA National Endurance Series. (T here ar e only four conflicting dates in th e schedules ). Rowe took over the controls from Sloan and returned to the action in fifth place, Brauneck pitted on lap 53 and handed off to AMA GTO Champion Quarterl ey, Brauneck complained that du e to th e rising air temperature, the bik e was running excessively ric h on th e bottom and " was coming off the corners lik e a 600." Nevertheless, Quarterl ey pu t th e Lo ckh ar t!AGV/ Mi ch elin /Suzuki / P erform ance Mach ine/PBI-sp onsored ma chine back on to the lead lap by passing Dutchman 's H ein o into turn one o n lap 71. , Domay p itted on lap 58, hobbled , off th e bik e and colla psed into a lawn ' chairrhis leg, injured a t Laguna Seca las t year, wou ld not support hi s

• Cover