Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

·_- ~ Kurt Hall rode the 1988 WERA Endurance Championship-winning Human Race Team Yamaha FZR1000 to the Memphis F-USA win. .... - So uthern Californian Barry Burke combined local track knowledge with a potent Yamaha FZR1 000 to win the F-USA National at Willow Springs. WERA Toyota/Dunlop F·USA Road Race Series: Round 6 Burke shows his hand at Willow Springs By Brian Catterson ROSAMOND, CA, SEPT. 10 Barry Burke used local track knowledge and a potent Jim Leonard/Steve J ohnson- prepared Yamaha FZRIOOO to 28 defeat Team Suzuki's Pa ul Bray and the Human Race Team's Kurt Hall in round six of the WERA Toyota! Dunlop Formula USA Series, and the second of the season to be held at Willow Springs International Raceway. The Agoura Hills, California, resident shadowed Hall and Bray at the start before roc keting into the lead by the second of 12 laps to claim an 8.5-second margin of victory, and his first Formula USA Na tional win. The F-USA feature was held not long after the completion of the grueling 24-hour endurance race, thus there were a number of riders who scratched. Among them was Richard Moore, who defeated the big-boreSuzuki of Chuck Graves to win a regional race here earlier this season on his Yamaha TZ250, and looked to be a possible underdog spoiler. But Moore complained that the track was too slick from the endurance race to take advantage of an y cornering advantage his machine possessed. Likewise Phil Kress, who planned to campaign his T eam Motor Sport Yamaha FZR750 Superbike, but withdrew after practice when he found he couldn 't run with the 1000cc-plus Superbikes of Burke, Bray, Hall , et aJ. Hall swooped around the outside of turn one to take the lead at the start, but his Dave Zupan-built Yamaha wasn 't quite right and he was quickly passed by Bray on the II00cc Suzuki. "This was the first time the bike wasn't running up to par, it was missing at high rpm ," Hall said la ter. . Bur ke began in fourt h place, but blew by first Graves, then Hall to take second. Burke then followed Bray until crossing the start/finish line to begin lap three, when he slipstreamed past to take the lead permanently. Graves passed Hall on the front straight and Bray in tum eight, and began applying pressure on Burke, but Burke's machine was a flyer, and he was never in any real danger. Graves ' race took a turn for the worse on lap 10 when it began to slow; one lap later, it ex pired in a huge cloud of smoke. "It's so disappointing; I feel like I just want to go home and cry, " Graves said in self-pity. That Graves started the race at all was a feat in itself, as one week before he was involved in an horrendous automobile accident which saw his truck, trailer and two race bikes destroyed. Graves showed up for open practice on Friday with stitches in his head and a hastily-prepared, cobby-looking Suzuki GSXR, but with the help of Greg Lundy, Steve Carpenter and Harold "Job Racing" Gross, the machine was resplendent . in Fifth Avenue Seltzer colors by Sunday morning. Mike H art h had held fifth place at the start, but his Suzuki gave u p on lap fou r and he coasted downhill across the dirt infield from turn five to the pits. Cal Rayborn chased Harth at the start on h is Suzuki, and looked to be the fastest rider on the track as he attempted to catch the leaders. However, they were too far gone, and Rayborn would have to sett le for fourth place at the stripe. Behind Raybo rn came Don Caner, whose GSXRlloo narrowly defeated that of Chuck Magnusson in a feverish battle to the finish lin e. Burke couldn't believe his pit board the last time he read it: " When I saw the 'P lus 8' on the last lap I thought ' Uh , uh, no way.' I hoped those guys (his pit crew ) were right because I backed way off on th e last lap," he said. Burke is sponsored by Yamaha Motor Corp., Kerker, 'Z' Leathers, Spectro, Arai, HTS Racing Fiberglass, Fox , ICRT Michelin, Barnett, Dyno-Jet , RK Chain and Dr. John's Frame Shop. Bray was hurting from a Saturday endurance race crash, but didn't think it affected his performance. "I'm just a little sore. The biggest thing was his (Hall's ) bike wasn't running - mine was running real good." Bray is helped by Team Hammer, Suzuki, Valvo line, Arai, Fox, Sunoco, Tsubaki and Dunlop. Curren t F-USA National points leader H all wasn' t too upset about his third-place finish, as he main tained his poi nts lead. " I can rela te to what Jamie James was doing this season, riding conservatively to take the championship," said Hall, who's sponsored by the Human Race Team, Miche lin , Fox, Arai and Megacycle Cams. Results 12- LAP F-USA : 1. Barry Burk '- (Yam); 2. Paul Bray (Suz); 3. Kurt Hall (Yam); 4 . Calvin Rayborn III (Suz); 5. Don Canet (Su.); 6. Chuck Magnusson (Su. ); 7. David Cama. iu s (Yam); B. Don Pinkus (Yam); 9. J oe Shelton (Yam). RACE TIM E: 17 mins.. 56 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 100.839 mph WERA TOYOTA/DUN LOP F·USA SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kurt Hall (324); 2. Paul Bray (246); 3. Chuck Grave s (166); 4 . M ike Smit h (164); 5. Don Can et (148); 6. Bar ry Burke (112); 7. Br itt Turki ngton (80); B. Marty M illor (72); 9. Robert Wrig ht (62); 10. 8r ian Br inkma n (52). WERA ToyoU/DunIop F·USA RINd Race Series: R0UIHI5 Hall powers to Memphis win By Larry Lawrence MEM PHIS, TN, SEPT. 3 Kurt HalI used the awesome power of his H u ma n Race Team /Michelin /Megacycle/ ArailKlotz/Fox -sponsored Yamaha FZR I000 to hold off a hardcharging Pa ul Bray on a Suzuki GSXRIIOO Superbike to take the Formula USA win, his third straight, atMemphis Motorsport Park. Bra y's Team Hammer teammate Mike Smith finished a distant thi rd on the Team Suzu ki Endurance machine. Hall averaged 93.07 mph on the fast L8-mile Memphis Motorsport Park road course. Top series contender. southern Ca lifornian Chuck Graves missed the Memphis round after being involved in a car crash on his way to the race. During the off-season, Dave Zupan had worked his mechanical magic on Hall's F-USA ride, the 1988 FZRIOOO on which HRT won last year 's end urance championship. The success of the Zupan/Hall F-USA collaboration is quite impressive, especially considering that many in road racing circles thought of the '88 model FZRlooo as a white elephant (t he ' 89 model suffers no such reputation ). But with Hall at the co n tr o ls, and Zupan doing the wren ching, the bike is probably the winningest machine in WERA competition. (Andy Fenwick recently broke the Blackhawk Farms Raceway lap record o n the bike.) Bray turned to tuner P h il Scott to build him a mac hine that wou ld compete with Hall's big Yamaha, and Scott p ut together a Suzuki GSXRl lOO Superbike for Bra y. Memphis wo uld be a good test for the new bi ke's horsepower. The long front straig h t would give them immediate proof if the GSXR could run with the H RT FZR. At the start it was Hall getting a good launch and leading the field into turn one. Surprisingly it wasn't Bray who followed H all in second, but rather Mike Smith riding a Team Suzuk i E ndurance GSXR II 00. Smith had a reason for going all out a t the beginning of the race: "I knew those guys had horsepower on me, the only chance I had was to ride aggressively right from the start. " The next lap Bray did get around his endurance teammate to ta ke over second. Bray's new machine did prove to be a ma tch for H all 's at top speed, as the two began pulling away from the rest of the field. Hall still had a slight advantage in coming out of the turns. The Yamaha proved to have just a bit more torque, and would squirt out of the turns quicker than the Suzuki. Smith was falling further behind the leaders but was secure in third. Texan Britt Turkington was locked . in a tough battle with Andy Fenwick for fourth. Hall gradually extended his lead to two and a half seconds. On the last couple of laps, Bray pulled o ut all the stops in an attempt to catch the leader. He almost pulled it off when Hall was slowed by some la p ped traffic on the last go-around. In the end, the margi n of victory for Hall was a scant .78 of a second. Smith cruised to an easy th ird . By the halfway point in the race, Fen- r wick had moved his Human Race Yamaha pas t Turkington's Team Suzuki Endurance GSXR 1100 and held fourth to the finish. Suzuki and Yamaha contingency monies were up for grabs at Memphis. Hall and Turkington were the big winners, each netting $1000 in co nt ingencies. Turkington's big win came in the C Superstock race against Mike Smith. Turkington, who is a reserve rider for Team Suzuki, went out to prove he could ride with Suzuki regular Smith. The duo swapped the lead back and forth many times before Turkington pulled out an ever-so-s light advantage in the final laps. The win netted Turkington $500 from Suzuki. In all, 22 riders won money from the generous factory programs. In addition to the factory cash, gift certificates from Action Honda, Cunningham Cycle World and Metzeler Tires made for a very profitable weekend for many racers. Results F-USA : 1. Kurt Hall (Yam); 2. Paul Bray (Su.); 3. Mike Smith (Su.); 4. An dy Fenwick (Yam); 5. Britt Turkington (Su.); 6. Don Canet (Su.); 7. Ja y Denh am (Su.); 8. Rick Delgado (Yam); 9. M ichael Mart in (Yam); 10. Robert W right (Su.). RACE TIM E: 13 mi n.• 55.49 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 93.10 mph A S/BK EX: 1. Kurt Hall (Yam); 2. Paul Bray (Su.); 3. Rick Delgado (Yam). A S/B K NOV: 1. Mark Crozier (Han); 2. Eric Wh it e ISuz); 3. Rob Roy Godw in (Yam). B S/BK EX: 1. Andy Fenwick (Yam); 2. Rick Delgado (Yam); 3. M ichael Mart in (Yam). B S/BK NOV: 1. Don Teylor (Yam); 2. Mark Cro. ier ( Hon~ 3. Eric White (Su.).

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