Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

TBA Racing finished third overall and first in Heavyweight Production on a virtually stock Suzuki GSXR 1100. They're now seventh in points. The Zoomin' Humans suffered through a 46-minute pit stop to repair the damage caused by a seventh-hour crash, but recovered to win. odd pit stop varying that lead by a lap here and again. HRT elected to go with a new compound Metzeler tire that was air-freighted to them, according to Zupan; while Suzuki elected to go with th eir proven Dunlops. . The cat-and-mouse game of the front leaders continued until late in the seventh hour. .when Yoder came whistling up the front strai~htaway and into a pack of slower riders. " I came up on the slower guys in turn two and rolled off th e gas and touched the brake to allow them in. I lost the front end when the tire washed out. We got into darkness . and it just happened. I ran out of track with nowhere to go. We lost about 45 minutes in the pits repairing the damage," said Yoder. The hour ended with Suzuki on top 317 to 307 laps; the full impact was felt in the eighth hour with a 34-lap bulge. Suzuki crew members were businesslike in their view of the situation with one member saying, "We understand what's happening to them because we blew up at Willow; but that's racing. " With HRT out of the picture Royale Racing came into focus . The always consistent team's Tsubaki/ Du n I 0 p iE B C / P FR /Wor ks Perfomance-backed Yamaha FZR600 and riders Terry Bailey, Jimmy East and Doug Henry have been one of the best organized teams in the series. At one point in the 13th hour they had closed the gap to nine laps and were preparing for any trouble by getting a spare transmission ready . ("FZR600s have been known to chew them," said Henry.) He was right. Just after sunrise a transmission spacer went south and the team had to pull the motor. Ironically, Henry was riding when the transmission locked up forcing him from the track. TBA was the beneficiary of Royale's 30-lap loss as they sprung to a consistent third-place standing. Royale 's race and Suzuki 's lead would come to a grinding halt a few minutes past 9:00 a.m., while Suzuki was leading HRT by 15 laps. Suzuki's Bray was supposed to be cruising around the track and maintaining a fairly conservative pace when he collided with Royale 's Henry, sending both down in turn three. The crash sent the Suzuki bike to the pits for roughly 27 minutes and Henry to the hospital with shoulder/arm damage. It also sent the Humans out front by hour's end, and they led by three laps, 824-821. Throughout the night Hall had been burning the darkness with 90minute stints at 1:15 lap timestequal to normal times of daylight racing. His co n si ste ncy prompted one Suzuki spokesman to say, "We didn't expect Hall to run 90 minutes of ISs. He made the closing rate too high for our tastes. " A few hours after sunrise Hall climbed aboard th e machine again and promptly took the bike deep into the unofficial 13-second bracket wi th occasional bursts into the high 12s. Once HRT was out front they remained there for good. Tribou and Morrissey had kept pace at night with Fenwick and ' Hall burning it up. Fenwick showed up at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and without practice quickly dialed in a 1:15 pace. Suzuki utilized Atwell and Turkington at night to maintain their conservative edge , despite all efforts to increase the pace by HRT. "Most of the time when we don't screw up we'll win," said a Suzuki spokesman, in obvious reference to Bray's crash. A very serious Hall deadpanned later: "This gives us momentum. We're going to go out to Willow and roll the dice with a fast motor (as opposed to th e relatively mild state of tune they employed here) and see if we can set the record. We always have this one in th e bank." Overshadowed by all th is was TBA's effort, using their Sunoco/ TsubakilKeystone . Suzukisponsored 1988 GSXRl100 to sit in the second, third or fourth slot. Rider Ned Hart was making his debut ride on the 1100 aft er switching from th e 600 Katana of last year. The team ran Metzelers front and rear for th e sake of longevity. "We had as perfect a race as you could have . We went 16 hours before we made tire or brake changes. Victory has to go to Ward Cook (owner/ ca p tain). The track was fine at . night and there was traction everywhere but during the day it was slick (tar strips had been laid to seal some cracking)." Hart also made some interesting observations on the big bike. "On the big motorcycle you have to keep the ' power dialed on. It keeps th e chassis loaded to the ground and it absorbsthe bumps." He also thanked Kurt Hall for helping him pick lines during Saturday practice. TBA is on a rising 'no te with a fifth in Atlanta, fourth at Grattan arid third at Nelson. Team Machine's 600 Honda took Mediumweight Superbike honors after bein II th overall and third in Canadian Kathleen Coburn (aboard bike) helped RKN Racing finish seventh overall and first in the Lightweight class on a Yamaha FZR400. class behind CIA and Team America but held fast forthe entire 24 hours after those two teams di sintergrated early in th e ra ce. The bike featured tons of homemade parts by sponsor Randolph Machine, and featured an entire quick-release front end. The team could swap brakes, wheels, tires, even brake lines and fluid with th e trick setup . Their nighttime pa ce averaged 1:18s to :19s. Rider Brian White took an excursion in turn two when two riders collided; and th e team also had to add lights and dial them in, Going stock was a problem for Team Gateway's Cycleworks/Lockhart/ AG V-supported Suzuki GSXRI100 when the shock di ed. " T he shock was spent before th e race even started and no replacement was to be found. Jay Denham got off after seven 'la ps and said he co uldn' t ride this thing. We knew it was gone, so we just rode and it hurt us in every turn and beat th e heck ou t of us ," said Mark Heiser. The team tore up four. rear and two front Michelin DOT rad ials due to its poor road handling. We're Human Too added class win number seven to their impressive list on their Arai/Fox/Metzeler/HRT/ Widman Suzuki Katana GSX600. Riders Jim Still, Bruce Baldus, Bob Von Nessen and Randy ' Gaddey turned in 1009 laps, 16 more than class runner-up Royale Racing II, The team ran as high as sixth overall before slowing th e pace. The team's Metzeler Comp K tires . lasted 15 hours and were swapped for good measure because the team had a large lead. RKN Racing's RKN /Barber Oi l/ Yamaha of Knox ville/Buzz's Cyclesponsored FZR400 ca p tu red th e Lightweight class w ith a stoc k motor, Fox shock, Dunlop tir es and . two very slick riders in th e form of Fabian Cortez and Kathleen Cob urn . Cortez averaged 1:17.9 for the en tire 24 hours and Coburn 1:20.7. T he team's front tire ch un ked in the 16th hour 'and th ey swapped th e rear in th e 20th. They were 23 laps up a t the tim e. Owner/Cap tain Ron and Robert Nut thanked WERA, EBC and Yamaha and were extremel y proud of sur passing th e old 2000mile mark. It was th eir first 24-hour race and only their sixth endurance race togeth er. - Results a /A: 1. Human Race Team (Yam); 2. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz): 3. TBA (Suz); 4. Team Machine (Han); 5. Team Gateway (Suz); 6. We 're Human Too (Suz); 7. RKN Racing (Yam); B. RKBMW (BMW) ; 9. Royale Racing II (Suz); 10 . Raw Racing (yam); 11. Heschimura Racing (Hon); 12. Coon Island Racing (Yam); 13. Team Squirrel Bait (Yam); 14. E&H Racing /Solmax (Suz); 15 . Cycle Speed Racing (Yam); 16 . CIA (Yam); 17. No Turtles Racing (Yam); 18. Capital Cities Racing (Yam); 19. Credit Card Racing (Suz); 20 . Team America (Yam). HIW S/BK: 1. Human Race Team (Yam); 2. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz). . H/W PROD: 1. TBA (Suz); 2. Team Gateway (Suz); 3. RK·8MW (BMW); 4. E&H Racing /Solmax (Suz); 5. Credi t Card Racing (Suz). MIW S/8K: . 1. Team Machine (Han); 2. CIA (Yam); 3. Team America (Yam); 4. Royale Racing (Yam); 5. Charm City Racin9 (Yam). M /W PROD, 1. We're Human Too (Suz); 2. Royale Racing II (Suz); 3. Coon Island Racing (Yam); 4. Honda of Niles Racing (Han). LlW: 1. RKN Racing (Yam); 2. Raw Racing (Yam); 3. Heschimura Racing (Han); 4. Team Squirrel Bait (Yam); 5. Cycle Speed Racing (Yam). POINT STANDINGS a /A: 1. Human Race Team (834 .14); 2. Team Suzuki (776.86); 3. Team America (609 .95); 4 . Royale Racing (604.48); 5. We're Human Too (591 .60); 6. Royale II (544.44); 7. TBA (530.50); 8. Team Gateway Racing (503.02); 9. RKN Racing (501.99); 10. Raw Racin (494 .39). 15

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