Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

D utchman Racing's Kevin Rentzell (2 ) wheelies the team 's Suzuki at the start of the race , Dutchman won. Rentzell (2) leads second place finishers Rough Stock Rac ing (6) on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. AMAlCCS EBC . rakes Endurance Challenge B Series: Round 1 Dutchman scores at Daytona opener By Brian Catterson Photos courtesy of Daytona International Speedway DAYTONA BEACH, FL. , MAR . 5 • Dutchman Racing's Kevin Rentzell an d Dale Q uarterley overcam e tire p roblem s, traffic, an d th e h o t Florida sun to win the o pening ro u n d o f . th e AMA Na tional 12 Endurance Series at Daytona International Speedway. The I duo tallied 83 laps of th e 3.56Suzuki GSXRIIOO-mounted mile circuit at a n average speed of 98.390 mph, claiming a 72.58-second margin of victory. Finishing in second place and th e o nly other team o n the lead lap was the Honda RC30-m ounted Rou gh Stock Racing trio of Dr. Da vid Keiffer, John Ash mead and Ca nadian R ueben McMurter, wh o rod e a mistake-free race hampered on ly by a gas-and-go p it sto p in th e wani ng stages of the event, Third place , two laps back, went to Fastline Racing's two J effs, Stem and Rh eaume, wh o came from well do wn in th e field to repeat their Octob er 1988 fin ishing position on a Suzuki. The GT U divisio n (bikes under 6OOcc) was won by H onda CB600mo unted T eam Longevity's Kevin Blai s and Newton Heston . The team finis hed 10th overa ll. Du tchman's seaso n began on a less-tha n-resou nding note wh en a valve cover seal blew in pr actice, coa ting Rentzell with oil and leaving the team with pr ecious little practice time. Quarterley, although no new co mer to Suzuki ma chinery, was especiall y effected sin ce he was riding for Dutchman for the first time in what he referred to as a " o netime deal. " Wh y? " I want to concentrate on the Superbike (series) and on defending my Pro T wins Grand Prix Championship," said the lan ky redhead , who's slated to race Ducati 851-s in both champion ship classes. . Quarterl ey was in hi s fourth week of training in Florida and appeared both fit and eager. Fastl in e Racing also had problems in practice wh en th eir " hot" motor blew , forcin g them to fit a backup unit. As far into the race as halfway, Stem was predicting no better than a top-five finish , and was pl easantly surprised to find himself in th e winner's circle. Defending serie s champions H yper-Cycle were entered, but both of their regular riders, Ca rry Andrew and J am es Domay, we re ou t o f actio n. Domay will be - recoveri n g from leg surgery fo r another three months (tho ugh he was working on the pit crew) while Andrew was so ill that he didn 't even make the trip. Filling in were Kenny Kopeck y, who rod e two races for the team last year, and team newcomer Jeff Farmer. Ano the r rider who was absent from compe tition was Doug Brauneck who was left without a ride wh en Lockhart's Wendell Phillips decided not to contest this year's series. And like his ex-team mate Quarterley, Bra uneck was looking forward to concentrating on his o ther rides - Dr. John Wittner's Mo to-G u zzi an d Joh n Hasty's Yamaha TZ2 50. Ironicall y, the n umber on e and two tea ms in th e nat io n, HyperCycle and Dutch man , were forced to race th eir '88 ma ch in es when the y received th eir '89 GSXRII O s with O in suffi cient time to prepare th em for the season opener. Rentzell wh eelied th e powerfu l Dutchman machine in to the lead at the start of th e three-hour event, followed clo sely by Keystone Rac ing's R icky Orlando and H yperCycle's Farmer. _ The Keystone Ra cing effort , with riders Pete J ohnso n and Fabian Cortez joining Orlando, wou ld be short -lived as Cortez brought the GSXR II 00 in with suspected electrical troubles. Tuner Era ldo Ferracci replaced th e battery and the spar k plug caps over a number of pit stops before deciding that it was a fuel problem. He repl aced th e fuel filt er, but Orlando wo uld late r park the machine behind pit wall , saying that it was running on two cylinders and he didn't want to ruin the en/pne. Team Motor Sport's R Ich a rd Arnaiz quickl y worked his way up fro m his mid-pack sta rting position, and had the team 's '89 Yamaha FZR IOOO up to third pl ace by lap three. T eam Ohio led the ear ly goi ngs in the GTU di vision and were pursued by GTU champs Roswell Honda Racing, who are no w, iro nically, Yamaha-mounted. Hard-riding Arn ai z snatched th e lead on lap six, bu t sho rtly thereafter th e pace ca r was called o ut du e to oil on th e o u tside of turn five. The field circulated slowly for some three laps before being restarted in the infield betw een turns two and three. Rentzell aga in got th e jump on the field at the restart followed closel y by Arnaiz, but Arnaiz soon slowed as he began to look down at the rear of the bike. He brought it into the pits with a suspected flat tire. " I noticed the . bike bouncing-up and down, and I thought I had a fla t," Arnaiz said. When no damage could be ascertained, teammate Phil Kress jumped on the bike and rejoined the fray, but immediately brough t it back in for a tire cha nge. .Their rear Michelin 1226-compound radial slick was extremely blistered, a problem that would be repeated a few more tim es before the day was done. Shortly after the Team Motor Sport incident, H yper-Cycle pitted with Kopecky replacing Farmer, but no sooner had Kopecky gone out then he was back in the pits. His rear Michelin radial was shredded, with huge chunks of tread missing and exposed cord. The tire was quickly replaced and the bik e back in the race , but Farmer later ran out of gas in the infield. The crew was seen running-to hi s aid with a !¥is can , bu t Domay stopped them III their tracks since refueling on the track is a rules violation. " I didn 't want to start any more of that soap opera stuff," Domay said in reference to last year's protest-marred season. Farmer managed to restart the bike and make it back to th e pits, but he lost too much tim e and Hyper-Cycle would fin ish seventh. Dutchman pitted for the first time . still in th e lead, with Quarterley rep lacing Rentzell. And li ke Kopecky, Quarterley was soon back in the pi ts for a tire change - their rear Michelin was also blistering. T eam Captain Dave Schlosser learned his lesson at last October's race when a tire explosion ended his shot at the title. So when the team experienced tire trouble early in today's race, Schlosser resolved to

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