Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

, a B ~ 00 00 O"l . ....... [j ..0 o ..., u o Team Lockhart's Dale Quarterley and Doug Brauneck won the threehour endurance race, but were protested by second-place Hyper-Cycle. AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance . Challenge Series: Round 9 Lockhart shops for title at Sears By Brian Catterson Photo by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, ocr. I Team Lockhar t's Doug Brauneck and Dale Quarterley set a bl istering pace at Sears Point In ternational Raceway to win Sat urday's three-hour endurance race and move a step closer to repeating as AMA/CCS Endurance Cham. Th d d 79 57 pions. e . uo av~rage .' mph on then hybnd SUZUkI - 10 a 1988 GSXR750J fram e with an 1100cc engine - completing 96 laps of the 2.523-mil e, 12-turn road cour se . set in the heart of Napa Valley win e country. Lockhart had to tame their ultrapotent 1100 for the tight and twisty Sears Point layout, while ' other teams, like second-placed HyperCycle, opted for less powerful machinery. Carry Andrew and James Domay finished 10.8 seconds behind the winners, leading atvarious stages of the race on a Suzuki GSXR750J, despite losing their exhaust tailpipe during a pit stop. Andrews decided to use the 750 instead of his usual 1100 for two reasons _ it was easier to ride and he hadn 't been able to rebuild his 1100 following the September 17-18 WERA 24-Hour West at southern California's Willow Springs Raceway. . ., The race for first didn tend ?n the track, however, as Andrew f~led a pro~est aga inst Lockhart. for. Illegal engine .cases. Andrew mamtams that the Keith Perry-prepared Lockhar t machine uses cases from an 1I00cc Suzuki, and that AMAlCCS rules dictate that the stock comeonents !1lust be used. Lockhart's bike was ImJ?O.unded :tfter the race, and A~A officials Bill Boyce and KeVIn Cameron were seen wandering the spectator motorcycle parking lot "ga theri ng evidence." A decision was made , and Andrew's protest was over-ruled, but Andrew has 'ap pealed, and an appeals board will m~t later this month to decide the ultimate out~o.me. If the decision stands, Lockhart will have an insurmountable points lead going into the final round of the series at Daytona, October 29, assuring themselves of the championship. Lockhart now leads the point standings over Dutchman Racing (sixth at this race), 121 to 107, while Hyper-C ycle is thi rd with 96. The baule for,th i.rd saw t.w~ teams go t~ the wmf;ler s circle clairning the placing, but in the end It was Kress Racing's Malcol!ll.Hill and .Richar~ Arnaiz on the injured Phil Kress Yam~ha FZ~IOOO~.ho were awarded the show pOSltl?n ., The oth~r te:tm , Team Wyommg s Dr. David . Kieffer an.d John Ashmead, .actually finished fifth on the Gem CIty Bone ~md, Jomt .Honda RC-30. RS Rae1!1g: s Cu~us Adams. and Jeff Stern fml~hed ~If~ on their 7~Occ Suz!1ki . JI!ll Wtlhams Racing s local n~ers DaVId Deveau and Mark ~cDamels w(;m the G~'class on their Wheels: mith Ractng-prepa~ed Su.z~kl GSX600F Katana, crossing the fin ish line nearly one minute ahead of second place Team No Drugs. No Drugs brothers Kirk and Jeff Hoeppner were especially impressive considering they were riding a Tom Houseworth-tuned Yamaha FZR400 against a field composed largely of 600cc machines. "It 's ligh t, It goes fast, it gets great fuel economy and Yamaha pays money, " said Kirk, who was nursin~ a bruised body as a result of a Fnday practice crash. He 'd fallen in tum II when the chain broke and the rear wheel locked up. The bike 's Marvic wheel exploded, and the team had to have another one machined overnight. No Drugs . is sponsored by Rossmore Real ty, McGraw Insurance, Jelly Belly , Michelin, AGV, Kerker, Spectre, Dynojet, Fox and RK. Third in the GTU class was Autobahn Society, consisting of Captain Jesse Burgher, David Reed and Garry Griffith on a Honda CBR600 Hurricane. They're sponsored by Harth Racing and ' Sloan Cycle. The start saw Dutchman Racing's Kevin Rentzelllead the 28-bike GTO field into tum one; Autobahn Society led the 18-bike GTU start. Quarterley wasted no time, and soon put the . Lockhart bike up front. David Sadowski, riding the injured Randy Renfrow's Vance & Hines Superbike, had entered the endurance race for extra practice, and soon had the Team Renfrow Racing Suzuki into the lead. Sadowski set a blistering pace, but the endurance racers were wise to his plan and let him go. On lap three, Sadowski pitted, handing the lead back to Lock hart, bu t one lap later the Suzuki 11 00 of Power Sports, ridden by Scott Cavness and Peter Carroll, passed Quar. terley for the lead. The lead then shuffled back and forth until lap 20, when Power Sports pitted for fuel and a rider cha nge. Two laps later, their race ended with a tum 10cras h. Scott Russell (substituting for the absent Dan Chivington) was running third on the Team Targa Kawasaki ZX-IO, but he was' passed by Hyper-Cycle's Andrew and Kress Racin~'s Amaiz. Team Wyomin~ II held sixth, with Dutchman Racing falling back to seventh, High Tech eighth and RS Racing ninth. Dutchman was trying an '88 GSXR750 front end on their 1100, and experiencing handling difficulties. Originally, they 'd set the suspension up to work with soft tires, but when the sun came out they decided to go with the harder rompound Michelins. Ren tzell's wrists also hurt him, undoubtedly a result of the many crashes he 's experienced this season. Rentzell was joined this weekend by 250cc Grand Prix ace Steve Crevier, substitiuting for regular rider Jeff Heino, who was back East racing at Loudon. Dutchman had ·tried to get Gary Goodfellow to ride for them, but Goodfellow wasn 't int erested and recommended Crevier . T he 23-year-old Canadian rode well in his' first-ever endurance race, but had to pit when the shift lever linkage broke at the spline: He was seen trying to shift by hand as he passed the pits on the previous laps . Arnaiz pitted for fuel on lap 22, with Hill taking over the nding duties. Arnaiz said that the bike was "sliding all over the place," but enjoyed his outing at Sears Point the first track where he ever road raced. Kress Racing is sponsored by RK, Kushitani, Spectro, Grizzly PcrCormance and Michelin/K'R'T. Hyper-Cycle pitted on lap 27, losing their muffler in the process and being passed for second place by Targa and Wyoming. Lockhart now led, with Wyoming II fifth , then Kress, Dutchman and Power Sports. High Tech and RS Racing trailed a lap down. High Tech pitted on lap 31. The GTU class at this point had . Jim Williams leading (12th overall), with Autobahn Society and No . Dru gs all on the same lap, one behind the leaders. Targa's race came to an early end on lap 37 whenRussell crashed in tum four , breaking his right knee cap. At the time, he was running just 1.38 seconds behind Lockhart. On lap 47, Hyper-Cycle passed Lockhart for the lead, but a mere 10 laps later, Lockhart retoo k the lead when Hyper-Cycle pitted. Autobahn Society (lOth overall) temporarily slipped past Jim Williams for the GTU lead , while No Drugs ran third in class. Team Wyoming II 's Ricky Orlando and Pete Johnson had worked up to fifth place , but Johnson went down hard at the exit of tum 6A on lap 60. He was uninjured, but would sit out of Sunday's racing program. . High Tech Racing's Larry Jeurick and Eric Moe were up to seventh place . but they pitted with a flat rear tire. The tire was changed in under 55 seconds, but a tum two crash put a halt to their -charge. The crew rep laced a broken gearshift lever in the pits, but they were unable to replace the broken footpeg. They eventually finished 11th o On lap 78, the leaderboard shuffled again as Kress took the lead, passing both Lockhart and HyperCycle while they pitted. Hyper-Cycle and Lock hart soon go t by Kress when they pitted on lap 83. "We were trying to stay at I:52s," said Quarterley. "You can do :49s, but you have to fight the bike. :52s is about what it wants to do." Quarterley turned Lockhart's fastest lap; a 1:49.78. While the top three all ran on the lead lap, RS Racing and Team Wyoming ran fourth and fifth, a lap down. Dutchman held sixth another lap down. Jim Williams was up to _seventh, again ahead 'of Autobahn Society, with No Drugs third in the GTU class; all three teams were on lap 78. Jim Williams took advantage of their healty lead, ducking into the pits for a late-lap gas-and-go. " We miscalculated our fuel mileage," said Williams, " Bu t we had a big lead so we made a quick stop." Their ontrack performance had been flaw less, but their pit work was hampered by · a malfunctioning fuel dump can that spilt two gallons of gas on bike and rider. The Hoeppmer brothers passed Autobahn Society near the end to take second in the GTU class. On the last lap, Vitesse Raci n ~'s Carole Le Gall crashed her Jim · Williams-sponsored FZR400 in tum seven. She was transported by helicopter to Qu een of the Valley Hospital where it was reported she suffered a broken femur, With the shadows growing long, Lockhart took the checkered flag at 6:15 p.m. Domay collided with the Team Tahoe Kawasaki 600 Ninja on the cool-off lap, and both riders went down uninjured; Domay showed up in the winner's circle on a Honda Trail 70. "This is a hard track "to ride for a long time ," said Brauncck in the winner's circle. "T he suspension wasn .t set up perfect. " " Usually we have a problem where the suspension gets soft, " added Quarterley. "Today, we started hard and it stiffened up; you figure it out, '. Results GTO: 1. Team L.oc:lthart (Suz~ 2. Hyper.Cycle ISuz); 3. Kress Racing (Yam); 4. RS Racing (Suz); 5. Team Wyoming (Hon); 6. Dutchman Racing ISuz); 7. Lewis LeathersiSuicycle Racing (Suz); 8. Team Mad Dog (Suz); 9. Team Gibsonial Englert Racing (Yam); f D. K.C. Racing (l

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