Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team S uzuki's Mike Smith (le ft) and Paul Bray (right) took the WERA Endu ra nce Series Championsh ip with their second-p lace finish at Indy. T here was a 15-m inute d el a y during .the seco nd hour d ue to o il o n th e track. T eam Suzu ki now had a mi n u te-and-a- half lead o n HRT . bo th ha ving co m p le ted 56 la p s. wh ile Northsta r a nd Caz were bo th on lap 55. Withou t Klin g o n the bi ke, T eam OSB dropped to seventh in the overa ll sta ndi ngs . . TBA Ra cing crashed in the seco nd hour a nd dropped ba ck to 16th place a fter running in th e top five. The crash damage was minor but th e TEA crew co uld not find a tech in spector to chec k th e bike a nd team cap tain Ward Co ok made th e decisio n 10 let hi s ride r go back O UI. That decision lat er p roved 10 be cos tly as o fficia ls pe nalized TBA a lap for not bein g re-tech ed a fter a crash. Wes Coolev took o ver the co nt ro ls o f th e T eam Suzu ki bik e during th e third hour. T he Human Ra ce T eam was grad ua lly gainin g ground on Suzuki , a nd by the halfwa y point in the race they were o n ly 38 seconds behind. Northstar contin ued their solid ride, but a prob lem was starting to cro p up on th e team's big Yam aha , . as th e soft compound front tire - started going aw ay. The team continued on at a slo wer pa ce, deciding 10 try a nd avo id a tire cha nge. The Human Ra ce T eam took over th e lead in the fourth hour wh en Smith cra shed the T eam Suzuki bike. Repairs were made qui ckl y and Suzuki held onto second place. Northstar was unable to capitalize o n Team Suzuki 's mistake because of th eir worn-out front tire. The ba ttl e in the Li ghtweight class was intense during th e first half of th e race, but Raw Racing went on 10 an easy victory wh en rival RKN dropped o~t in the fourth hour. As the race wound down it was clear that T eam Suzuki wasn 't trying to catch up to HRT. They kn ew a co nserva tive ride to th e checkers would mean a top fin ish a nd the WERA Champion ship. The Human s co ntin ued to ride hard, hoping aga inst hope th at something would happen to T eam Suzuki. H all turned the fastest la ps of th e race, 1:4Is, during th e latter stages of th e even t. Northstar finally pi n ed 10 make a tire cha nge at th e end o f the fifth hou r, as th ey figured th ey had a big enough lead o n fourth pl ace Ca z Ra cing LO stay in third. What the crew didn 't figure o n was a stri p pe d bol t o n the brak e ca liper. The lo ng Royale II b ro ke We're Human Too's w inning streak w ith their win in the Med iumweight Prod uction c lass. Royale fin ished nin th overall. Raw Racing's Kevin Rentzell (9 0) leads Team WERA 's Brian Lantz (45 ) and Team America's Don Fielden. delay in gening that problem fixed cost Northstar a to p-th ree finish , and th ey ended up a disappointing fifth. Royal e Racing II fin all y beat We're Hum an Too in Mediumweight Producti on, somethin g th a t no one as been able to do a ll season. When asked how th ey go t beat , Human T oo's Jim Still repl ied , " T hey were just n at faster th an us today." Royale II had just rebu ilt the . m otor o n the ir Suzuki G SX 600 Katana, a nd fin ish ed nin th o vera ll. TBA Racing was co ming ba ck strong at th eir home tra ck a fter th e seco nd hour crash . At th e finish , th e team just mi ssed winning Heavyweight Production. The pen al ty a p pa rently cos t th em the win as they fin ished second, less than a la p behind the wi n ne r, E&H Racing. The honest race a t th e fini sh was the Medi u m weight Superbi ke d uel betwee n Caz Ra cing a nd T eam Am erica. Caz had stayed o n to p o f th at cla ss for most of the day, even though th e transmission in their Yamaha FZR600 rattled th e en tire way. Caner was the fastest rider on the team, but th e team 's st rategy didn 't have him o n th e bike for th e last stint. Instead, it was teammate Skip Gat rell (who was four to five seco nd s per lap slo wer th an Canet ) who rod e the final hour. Don Field en qu ickl y made up th e lap deficit, and with two laps left. Fielden put the T eam America Yamaha in the lead . Ameri ca crossed th e fin ish line eig h t seco nds a hea d o f Ca z. T he Human Race T eam won th e race by five laps over T eam Suzuki, but di sappointment was evident in th e dethroned champs' pits. HRT started th e season with less of a co m m i tment from Ya maha than th ey felt th ey shou ld have ha d , yet th ey still fough t Suzuki too th a nd nail for the cha m pio ns hip. On the o the r ha nd , a lot of cred it has to go to T ea m Suzu ki. The team was co mpletely reformed during th e off-season, a nd s ta rt ed out with you ng and relatively inexperienced (in end ura nce rac ing terms) riders, but they came through and beat the veterans o f th e Human Race T eam. Much of the cred it was directed to tu ner Keith Perry, who built bulletproof motors a n d brought n ew sta nda rds to motorcycle pit sLOpS. • Results O/A : l.The Human Race Team (Yam); 2. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz ); 3 . Team America (Yam ); 4 . Caz Racing (Yam) ; 5 . Northstar Racing (Yam ); 6. Team OSB (Vam); 7. Terror Racing (Yam); 8. E&H Racing/ Solma. (SUl); 9 . Royale II (SUl); 10. TBA Racing (SUl) . H/W S/ BK : 1. The Hu man Race Team (Yam ); 2. Team Suzuki Endura nce (Suz); 3. Northstar Raci ng (Yam) . H/ W PROD: 1. E&H Racing /Solm a. (SUl) ; 2. TBA Racin g (SUl ); 3. OAK Racin g (SUl) . MIW S/ BK: 1. Team America (Yam); 2. caz Racing (Vam); 3. Team OSB (Vam). . MIW PROD: 1. Royale Racing II (SUl); 2. W e'r e Human Too (SUl); 3. Tools ' R' Us (Hon). LIW: 1. Raw Racin g (Yam ); 2 . No Turtles (Yam ); 3. Cycle Speed Racing (Vam). POINT STANDINGS : 1. Team Suzuki Endura nce (10 26.16); 2. The Human Race Team (1000.39); 3. Royale Racing (783 .9 2); 4 . Team Amer ica (753.Bl ); 5. We 're Human Too (749.61 ). 11

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