Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

engine, which later burned a valve and put the team out in the last hour. Kayo Racing a n d Team CIA tangled in the second hour and both machines crashed. Both teams were ab le to make repairs and reenter the contest. Kayo sto rmed back and eventually finished fifth overall. CIA fini shed 18th overall and fourth in the Lightweight clas s. By the h alfw a y p oint , T eam Suzuki had worked up to seco nd, four laps behind Solmax and only nine seconds ahea d of Human Ra ce. The dr ive was short-lived, how ever. The team needed to make yet another brake ch ange, putting it four laps behind Human Race by th e next hour: The Human Race Team hoped to run with Sol ma x at Grattan , bu t a wrong choice of an exhaust cam cos t the big Yama ha some to p speed. The rest of the race was picture perfect for Sol max . Both riders completed their stints without a hit ch. H aving only two riders fo r th e eigh t-ho ur race was no t a problem for the team. ''I' m running a pace that I cou ld .ru n all day," Russell said. " john and ~ ar e in good shape. No problem." The rea l marathon man for Solmax was tuner Vic Fasola. Fasola put in 52 straight hours on the Solmax ma chines. Canadian women Toni Sharpless and Kathleen Coburn were using the Grattan race as a warm-up for th e ' Suzuka Eight-Hour in japan. They ran in the top 10 before pulling in to look at the ir FZR 's motor after a missed shift. Early-leading Team Hard Core dropped off th e leaderboard after having the case that holds the shift lever fatigue and break. " It 's really disgusting having all of these stran~e things go wrong on the bike, " said Dave Miller, team owner and mechanic. "We can run with team s like Suzuki and Solmax if our bike would ever stay together. " ~ The Lightweight class race went down to the last hour with T err or Racing battling Red Stripe Ra cing. The Michigan-based Terror Racing went on to win after Red Stripe crashed. Another Michigan team, Royale Racing, easily won the Mediumweight Production cla ss, riding th e Ni cholson Enterprise/Dunl opSolmax /Tsubaki /Sho ei /EBC / Works Performance Katana 600. Doug Henry and T erry Bailey rode flaw lessly, and th e Royale Suzuki needed no tir e or brak e changes. Sol max took th e. checkered fl ag after eight hours of racing, winning their third end ura nce race of th e season. "We're in th e driver's seat righ t now but it 's a long season and th e 24-Hour race can make or break you ," said a cautiously optimistic Cindy Bow en a fte r her team' s win. • ~ Results a lA: 1. Sclmex Racing USA (Suzl; 2. Hum an Raca Team (Yam); 3 . Team Suzuki (Suz); 4 . •Racerback (Kaw); 5. Kayo Racing (Yam); 6. Badger Racing (ya m); 7 . Jim W ill iams Racin g (Suz); B. Royale Racin g (Suz); 9. Northern Racing (Yam); 10 . PDQ Racin g (Suz). ,_ HIW S/BK: 1. Human Race Team (Yam); 2. Team Suzuki (Suz); 3. Racerback (Kaw); 4. Kayo Racing (Yam); 5. Badger Racing (Yam). HIW PROD: 1. Sclmax Racing USA ISuz); 2. Nort hern Racing (Yam ); 3. TBA (Suz). 4 . Team Obscene (Suz); 5. Team Job bie ISuz). M IW S/SK: 1. Jim Williams Racing (Suz); 2. PDQ Racing (Suzl; 3. Warp Drive Racing (Hon); 4 . Hornblower Racing (Han); 5. Team Nad Racing (Yam). MIW PROD: 1. Royale Racing (Suzl; 2. Act ion Suzuki Racing (Suz); 3. Mu le Team (Suz); 4. Team M SSR (Suz); 5. Team Go (Yam ). U W : 1. Terr or Racin g (Yam ); 2. CIA (Yam); 3. Team Reliable (yam); 4. Schm ang ee Bros. (Yaml; 5. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam). c/« POINT STANDINGS: 1. Sclm ex Racing USA (524 .37); 2. Team Suzuki Endurance 1430.56 ): 3. Hum an Race Team (401 .40); 4 . Fifty One Fifty (388 .54); 5. Royale Racing (382.77): 6. Hardcore Racing (368 .02); 7. Kayo Racing (366.7 1) 8. PDQ Racing 1275.19); 9. J im W illiam s Racing (27 4.93); 10. CIA (243.791 00 00 O"'l ,....; George Bryce rode his big Suzuki to defeat Dave Schultz in the Pro Stock f inal at the Sunshine Nationals. IDBA National Championship Drag Race Series: Round 4 . Bryce nips Schultz at Sunshine Nationals By Nina Henderson NORWALK, OH, JUNE 10-12 Thanks to an ultra-fast reaction time at the lights, George Bryce wo n th e Sunshine Nationals Pro Stock final over Dave Schultz, wh o clocked a quicker and faster run. Schultz was the faster man , . once underway, but Bryce hit the light first and earned his . . . thud National event WIn out . of four ent ries. Schultz earned the points for highest Pro Stock top sp~ed and quickest 'ET ?f ~he meet. HISbroken hands were sti ll i n caststh e result of falling off a ladder in April. In Funny Bike competition, Keith Lynn captured the top honors and in Pro Comp actio n , Dwi ght Seldon won the da y. In the Pro Stock sem i-fina ls, Bryce took o n Keith G ray. Bryce left th e line first with a .484 reactio n tim e. Gray foll owed with a .543. Bryce did so me quick stepping and beat Gray for th e win with a tim e of 8.316/ 158.17. Semi -f in als a lso saw Sch u l tz aga ins t Benny Men s. Men s had a quick reaction of .515 compared to Sch ultz's. 721. Bu t Sch u ltz seems to ru n fas ter whe n he takes hi s time. H e passed Mens and won with an 8.121/163.34. Wh en lin ing up for the final, Schu ltz was in th e wron g gear so he. kill ed it and refired. Wh en he looked up, he saw Bryce's staging lights o n . and almost went into a panic. Ready o ~ the line a n d pre-staged, h e discovered It had onl y been Greg Cope directing Bryce to s ta~e. Ca lm ing do wn and tak ing th eir time, both staged. Bryce hi t his best light of the event. H e saw it and left .I ?I seconds late.r. B.ryce kept.the lead with Sch u ltz mppmg a t hIS heels. Bryce crossed the finish first with an 8.380/ 157.05. Schultz crossed at 8.232/1 62.75 for the runner-up title. Bryce and Schultz now stand far ahead of th e 1988 Pro Stock field , hol ding most of th e points between them. In th e Fu nny Bike class, Bobby Baker took th e top qualifying spot in ro und on e with a 7.23, bettered it in round two, and held th e lead. Of th e 14 bik es entered, on ly Rusty Quesenb erry and T.]. Hofmeister went in the 190s. Hofmesiter h it a 199.56 in the second ro u nd of qualifyin g and a 193.13 in th e pr actice rou nd. Quesenberry's scoreboard flashed a 190.68 in th e third round of qual ifying anda 191.49 during th e practice round. Fi fth -q ual ified H ofmeister took on fast-man Bobby Baker. But whe n th e tree went down, on ly Hofmeister left, on his slowest full pass of th e event - a 7.433/1 82.19. Baker had backed away com pletel y by.the time H ofmeiste r had finished the ru n . A 50-cents p in that holds th e clu tch basket toge th er cost him the' run. . Round two saw Hofmeister agains t Steve Tracy, and Kei th Lynn aga ins t Quesenberry. H o fmeister and L ynn are ro okies com pared to th e res t of th e field. H ofmeister hadn 't made it to the semis all year. H e said he was not pushing for 200+ - just pushing to win it. Lynn was the true underdog, having entered two races out of four and qualifying at only one. ' . Hofmeister clocked a reaction of . .527 - slow compared to Tracy's .503. However, it wasn't enough of a lead to win. Quesenberry was not himself aga inst Lynn. H e clocked a .678 rea ction rime, compared to the .516 of Lynn, who won the pass with a 7.224/181.82. . That put Lynn in th e final with ' Hofmeister. H ofmeister left second, only about a 10th after Lynn, but enoug h to cost him th e win. Hofmei ster fin ish ed runner-up with a 7.280 /192.72 . L ynn wo n with a 7.222/179.64. L ynn now ho lds th e eigh th spot in poin ts. In Pro Comp ac tio n, Dwight Seldon was th e points .leader with two wins in a ro w and th e man to beat. Ther e were o n ly two men Seldon had to worry a bo u t on th e way to the win a t the Sunshine Nationals. - jim Cooper and Tony Lang. . Getting to th at win was no p iece of cake for Seldon. First he had to face Cooper o n hi s BG /NO Kosman Kawasaki in th e semi s. . Seldon left fir st on the pass, clocking a .520 to Cooper's .578. No human eye cou ld distinguish whi ch bik e crossed the finish line first. Seldon to ok th e win a n d tha t advanced him to the fin al. Lang earned hi s way into the fin al with some good lu ck. j ohn Sands h ad difficulty keeping th e bike sta rted and decided a loss was better th an ca using costly dam age to th e ni tro-burning H onda. H e had taken some excelle nt passes and qualified first. Lang too k an easy run , clocking a 17.283/66.08 and saving th e gusto for the final. In th e th e final run between Lang and Seld on , Lang zipped the tree with a .444 reaction time. Seldo n left with o .505 reactio n. a But Seldon made up the di fference and won the pass with a .7.792/ 170.45 - his quickest co mpetitio n ru n of th e even t. Lang clocked his slowest competi tion run, taking the runnerup title with an 8.115/163.34. • 29

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