Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The Human Race Team's Kurt Hall led the team to its second win in a row, in a six-hou'r event held at Willow Springs International Raceway. ViteSS8 Racing's Carole LeGall, Don Canet and Mike Krynock won the Lightweight class at Willow, finishing eighth overall in the process. WERl/EIC Brakes National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 4 Humans make it two in' a row with Willow win By Paul Carruthers ROSAMOND, CA, MAY 6 The Human Race Team's Kurt Hall and Andy Fenwick overcame a crash on the 151st lap to give the. Yamaha FZRIOOO-mounted team its second consecutive s~ries win today in a six-hour perseverance test at Willow Springs Imerna. 1 tIOna Raceway. Hall and Fenwick com- 10 pleted 193 laps of the 2.5-mile, nineturn Willow Springs facility under scorching temperatures in the high desert of southern California. The . Fox/Metzeler/Arai/Kl.otz/Yama~asponsored duo turned m 482.5 mdes for an average speed of 80.416 mph in a race that included one red flag. . S~cond place overall went to the Simi Valley Cycles/Johnson 8c Wood. Salvage/Dunlop-sponsored BMR Motorsports team of Mike CosIer, Bruce Reimer .and Steve Ellmore. The 1986 Suzuki ~SXR750-m?unted team ended the SiX hours With 191 laps, finishing two laps behind the Humans and second in the Heavyweight Superbike class. Thir.d place over!lll went to Mark McDamels ~nd DaVid. Deveau on the 3-D Racmg Suzuki GSXR.IIOO. Fo~rth p.lace overall and fust MedJUmweight Superbike went to Team America's Yamalta FZR600 with Team Lips' Suzuki GSXR750 rounding out the top five. Pegasus Racing II (first in Mediumweight Production), O'Neil Racing, Vitesse Racing (first in Lightweight), Car Racing, and Precision Team Suzuki crashed out of the lead on the 151 at lap. Sport Racing made up the top 10 overall finishers. What of perennial top finisher Team Suzuki Endurance? The four-time National Champions were the first to go down in a six-team- crash, along with the Humans, that brought out the redflag on the 151st lap. Georgian Mike Smith was riding the team's 1989 Suzuki GSXRllOO Superbike when he crashed in oil in tum two, a thirdgear right-hander. "I gOt slam dunked - two points," Smi th said after his high-speed slide. "It (the oil) was right at the apex. I'm glad Andy (Fenwick) was six or seven seconds behind me - it gave me a chance to run. He came with four or five other guys." The left case of the Suzuki was ripped off, causing a few to point at Smith as the source of the turn two oil. In defense of the Willow Springs first-timer, however, was the fact that his crash resulted in a highside which may have caused the case damage. Either way the Team Suzuki Endurance effort was scrapped because as one team member put it: "The bike's destroyed and I know a destroyed bike when I see one." The Humans also suffered damage to their FZR I000, but were able to salvage a workable motorcycle. They benefitted greatly from Team Suzuki's departure, streaking to a two-lap lead and an ever-increasing point lead in defense of their National Championship. The six-hoUT event started close to 1l:45 a.m. with Team Suzuki's Paul Bray leading the 47-team field into Willow's turn one. Bray was followed closely by the Humans and 3D Racing. Bray would lead the first go-around before settling into a pace that he predicted would be "just this side of conservative." Bray later reported that he was bumped in turn one by Doug Toland, a long-time Willow Springs racer who was getting in some extra practice for the following day's Formula USA race, on the opening lap. Toland was officially entered in the race and came complete with a scorer and a crew, lacking only a teammate. Bray protested, but ended up dropping the issue. Toland's early torrid pace gave him the 6-hour lap record, breaking Russell Paulk's mark of 1:29.9 with a 1:29.4 early in the race. He would lead until pitting. The second wave of riders to attack tum one were led by Team America, followed closely by Car Racing and 3-D Racing Too. At the end of the first lap it was still Team Suzuki, followed by a fast- closing Toland (Team Powersports) and the Humans. Those three had already pulled clear from 3-D Racing and Team Hyper-Cycle (a team tossed together by Hyper-Cycle owner Carry Andrew, who was racing with the number one HyperCycle team in the AMA/CCS National at Road Atlanta). The first hour saw the pre-race favorites, the Humans and Team Suzuki run into problems. The Humans' Kurt HaU pitted early with a badly-chunking Metzeler rear slick. "It didn't work out," his teammate Fenwick said. "I think it staned to chunk or something. Maybe he didn't warm it up properly." The team lost a lap changing the rear tire, and they would finish the first hour in seventh place. Their's would be the first of the tire problems caused by hot conditions on a fast Willow Springs layout. Shortly thereafter Bray pulled the Team Suzuki entry into the pits for an unscheduled pit stop. Bray had the Suzuki back out before it was even stopped, however, when he realized his grave error. Bray had been given a "P-l, plus 30" pit signal to let him know he was indeed leading the race due to Toland's lack of teammate. He translated th~ pit board as meaning they wanted him in the pits on the following lap. The team still managed to lead the first hour by a lap over the second-placed team of 3-D Racing, who at this point in the race were having a relatively easy time of things. Team Suzuki would run into more difficulty just after the first hour mark as its Dunlop rear slick chunked, ala Human's Metze1ers. The chunked rear tire was discovered, however, as Smith was leaving the pits and it took the team several laps to get the message to the young -rider that he was supposed to pit. BMR held third at the end of the first hour with Precision Sport Racing fourth and Team HyperCycle fifth. Hyper-Cycle's 1988 Suzuki GSXRllOO was beginning to sputter, running on three cylinders before fading to two and eventually dropping the team of Curtis Adams and Chuck Magnusson out of the event after 63 laps. The 14th lap had seen Royale Racing's day come to an end with a crash in turn one. Team Pasta of Marin was next to go with a crash on the 19th lap. The first hour also saw Team America drop to 12th place after' spending some time in the pits after being black-flagged for a loose fairing. They would battle back up through the standings to bold sixth after hour two, eighth after hour three, seventh after hour four, sixth after hour five and fourth at the finish. The Humans were the first of the top teams to pit for a rider change, at the 35-minute mark. "We just want to try and stay fresh," Hall explained. We want to stay more aware. This track is unforgiving; you can't make a mistake and get away with it, so we'll try and stay fresh with rider changes every 36 minutes." Vitesse Racing's Carole LeGall, Don Canet and Mike Krynock had their Yamaha FZ400 in 10th overall and leading the Lightweight class. They would continue to do so for the remaining hours, finishing eighth overall on the little Yamaha. The second hour saw the Humans make up their lost lap on Team Suzuki as the two squads finished the first 120 minutes with 75 laps como. pleted. 3-D held third followed by BMR and 3-D Racing Too. At the completion of the third (Continued to page 19)

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