Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127160
The Human Race Team 's Kurt Hall and A ndy Fenwic k beat defending champions Team Suzuki to win the f inal race and t he champio nship. . . . and continued when the bo lts securing t he rear sprocket sheared and the problem was m isdiagnosed as a slipping clut ch . . Team Suzuki's troubles started with a discharged battery which stranded Mike Harth out on the course ... WERA Tsubaki/GS Battery Endurance Road Race Series: Final Round Humans crowned! By Brian Catterson Photos by Tom Grant and Catterson BRASELT O N, GA , NOV. 4 The Human Race T ea m 's Kurt H all and Andy Fe nwick rode their Dave Zu p anp rep ared, " Zu p er tu n ed" Yam aha FZR 1000 to a convin cin g w in in . the 15th round of the Western/ Eas tern Roadrac- 4 er s' Associa tio n (\VE R A) I End ura nce Road Race Seri es, a six-hour race he ld mostl y in pouring rai n at Road Atlanta. In the . lo w Springs" echo ing through their process, th ey defeated 1987 seri es pits, (T he Humans led most of th e cham pio ns T eam Suzuki Endurance WE RA 24-Hour West, only to be side line d with me ch an ical problem s and cli nched the 1988 cha mpion- : lat e in th e race.) This weekend they ship. com p leted 199 laps o f Road Atlanta Coming into th e final rac e, th e Zoomin' Human s led th e overa ll without th e use o f seco nd gear. point stand ings by 23 points o ver Despite fighting back vali antl y, Team Suzu ki. La st year , th e Humans closi ng from eigh t laps beh ind to just missed the ir first overall cha m pio nsix , Team Su zuki was halted by ship by a mere I.l points, but did a no the r pit SLOp lat e in the race to ta ke th e 1987 H eavyweight Producrepair sus pec ted clutch problem s, tion class titl e. This year, running The bike was pushed behind th e pi t in the H eavyweight Superbike divwall a nd th e clutch dismantled no ision , th ey logged six wins, five less than three ti mes befo re they dis covered th e rea l cu lprit - the rear second p laces a nd one third. The Humans were well-prepared, havin g sp roc ket bo lts had sh eared from the p rac ticed pit sto ps and tire cha nges hub. Realizing th eir cha nces were a nd ge ll ing down into th e 37-second gone, th ey sent o u t backup rid er J eff ran ge in sp ite of th eir lack o f quickAtw ell in th e closing stages of the cha nge hardwar e. They were helped race. The defending cham ps needed in th e pits by so me time- riders Ben to win this race to reclaim the title, Martinez and Tim Morrissey. but ca me up sh ort a nd will ca rry th e T eam Suzuki 's shot at th e title number two plate next season. ended in th e fir st hour wh en rider Ka yo Ra ci ng 's Do n n ie Ro we , Mike Harth came to a sto p o u t on Tommy Sloan and J eff Dean rod e th e co ur se a nd had to be driven back a corrsisteru race to finish second on to the pi ts in th e cras h truck. Crew their Yamaha FZR lOOO, run ning for ch ief Bu tch LaCroix swapped bat th e lea d wi th the Hum an s a nd teri es, but suspected that th e trouble Su zu ki early o n a nd then holdin g was a faul ty star ter relay. T he team second fo r th e entire race di stan ce had left the starter motor in pl ace, af ter Suzu ki struck trouble. "A nother hoping to get o ut of the pits quickly, one of those bridesmaid races," sai d . Ka yo Team Capta in Ken Welty, a nd it seemed that th e p la n had summing up the team 's win less ba ckfired on th em . seaso n, Kayo is sponsored by Kayo J amie James rep laced Harth on Corp " D.LD , Yo koham a, GS Ba tth e T eam Suzuki ma ch in e, a tery, Arai, Spectro, So lar T ool and GSX R750J with a GSX RIIOO Die, White Bros. a nd Racing Rad ios. engi ne, a nd returned LO th e pits " I hate LO lose o n paper," said befor e too long, coasting. The team had forgotten to refuel while they Kayo cre w chief Bee J oh nson in were cha ng ing the ba ttery, a nd wh en referenc e to th eir fou rt h-place overall James reac hed down LO swi tch to in the poi nts chase. " Bu t here it is, reserve, hediscovered th at he'd been Solmax has been o u t for three rac es ru n ning o n reserve the who le time. ana we still can ' t catch them." Team Suzuki Cap tain J oh n Ulrich Sol m ax R a ci n g U SA fin is hed app ra ised his team's sit uation aft er third overa ll in the title chas e and the early stops: "Now we have to first in the H ea vyweight Production co u nt o n the Hum a n s scre wi ng cla ss though they hadn ' t competed up . . . which they usuall y don ' t." in over a mo n th. " Wh en Scott The Humans tried hard LO contain (R usse ll) got hurt (at Sears Point, the ir ent h usiasm after hearing of OCLOber I ), we di d n' t hav e good Suzuki' s troubles, with cha nts of en ough rid ers to ta ke a sho t at second " Remem ber what happen ed a t Wil place, a nd we were pretty far ah ead