Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

---------------------------~~ '~,--- The J im Wi lliams Rac ing team pushed its Suzuki to as high as third place overall. The team captured the Mediumweight Superbike class. ' Scott Ru ssell of So lmax Racin g chases Team Suzuki 's Mike Harth . Th e pair set a blister ing pace in t he f irst laps of the eight-hour race. WERA TsubakijGS Battery National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 6 1 Solmax shines at Grattan Eight-Hour 1 By Larry Lawrence GRATTAN, MI,jULY 2 Sol~~x Racin g extended its points lead ii). the WERA Endurance Series by winnin g the Grattan Eight-Hour on the Suzuki/ Du n lop/ EBC/ AGV/ Kal-G ard/R K/ N G K/Van son-sponsored GSXR-1IOO. Scott Russell and John Eidenb erger ~o d e a £1 aw 1ess race, completing 309 lap s on th e Royale Racing 's Doug Henry (pi ctured here) and Terry Bailey rode t heir Su zu ki f lawlessly t o take t he Mediumweight Production class. Kayo Racing (3) and Badger Racing (8 8 7) pass Hornblower Rac ing (28) and Team Ya maha (71) w hile dicing for fifth overall . Kayo won out. 28 right around. I'm)ust glad I.dl~n't - crash. The onl y thm~ I was thinking of was gettmg the bike back to the crew. " With the unscheduled stop, Team p icturesque two-mile race co ur se. _ Suzuki lost nearly three laps. But by T he Yamaha-mounted Human Race the end of the first hour, It was still T eam rod e to a second-place finish in third place behind Sol max and with riders Kurt Hall, Tim Morrissey Human Race. and Ben Martinez. Their teammate , John Eidenberger hopped on the Andy Fenwick, sat ou t th is ' race, Solmax Suzuki and continued to reco vering from a freak accident in buildon the team 's lead in the second which his knee was injured. (H is van hour. T eam Suzuki had to make yet hit a deer and hi s race bik e cru shed another unscheduled pit stop during his leg while he was sleeping in the second hour. The problems this back.) T eam Suzuki's Mik e Harth time were worn front brake pads. and Jamie James fin ished a minuteThe team was using a different • and-a-half behind the Human Ra ce brake pad compound than usual and T eam after su ffering front brake they were weanng out after only two problems throughout th e eigh t-ho ur hours. event. " We're out of our normal brake The race began with T eam Suzu, pads. It looks like we're in for a lo ng ki 's Harth and Solmax Ra cing's day ," Suzuki's Jim Labine said. Russell running away from the 48The Jim Williams Racing team bike field and setting a bli stering . was doing a great job on its Suzuki pace. They ran severa l laps in the Katana 600, getting into third, place low I:28 ra nge a nd th e lap record, overall in the second hour. held by Fenwick, is 1:27.65. Shawn ' ''This isn 't even our fast motor," Nicol off was running in third o n th e sa i d Williams Raci n g ' s Dave Deveau. " O ur other motor started Hard Cor e Racing Suzuki, followed by the Human Ra ce T eam, Kayo making sOgle strange noises in Racing, T eam Yamaha and Badger practice Friday, This is the motor out Racing. of my production sprin t bike. " The Suzuki/Solmax battle went One Mediumweight Superbike on until Harth suddenly pulled off team, PDQ Racing, wasn 't letting on an access road and th en rode into Williams Racing get too far ahead. th e pits, going in the wrong direcThe PDQ team was also in the top . 10 overall with its Katana. T eam tion. Harth's mistake cost Team Suzuki a $250 fin e, levied by WERA. Indy was running with the other two The big Suzuki had a flat rear tire . leading Mediumweight Superbikes "The tire went flat on the front before rider Scott Breeden ran over straight, " H arth said. "I went into a downed machine in the bowl. The turn one and felt the back end slide tailpipe fell off and leaned out the

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