Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127214
Team S uzuki's Paul Bray (2 ) lead s The Human Race Team 's A nd y Fenwick (1) and TBA Racing 's Ned Hart (11 ) at Indi anapolis Raceway Park. The Humans won the race but lost t he t itle at Indy. Kurt Ha ll (shown here) turned the race's fastest laps. WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Road Race Series: Round 13 Humans win, Suzuki clinches title at Indy By Larry"Lawrence CLER MO NT, IN , OCT. 7 The Human Race T eam 's Kurt H all and Andy Fenwi ck -rode their Dave Zupan-tuned Yamaha to a third straight WERA /EBC Br akes Endurance Seri es vic tory at 10 Ind ia na po lis Raceway Park, but it wa s seco nd 'p lace T eam I Suzuki Endurance thatupstothlee th e show by wrapping 1989 WE RA Na tiona l Endurance Ch ampionship. Tea m Suzuki, whose 1989 effort is spo nsore d b y Suzuki /V a lvolin e/ Dunlop / Em go / Ara i/Tsubaki /Z 's / Su noco/S BS/ Va nce & Hines a nd Fox, o nly needed to finish fifth or bett er to de throne th e cu rre nt cha mpions, the Hum an s, a nd despite a cra sh d uring the fourth hour o f th e six-ho u r race, the team was able to do the jo b. T he 1989 titl e is th e fifth for Tea m Suzu ki (fo r me r ly nam ed T eam Hamm er ), a nd thi s is th e first tim e in th ree yea rs th at the seri es cham pionship will not be deci ded a t th e. Grand Nationa l Finals (the first week end o f Nov ember at Ro a d Atl anta ). If T eam Suzuki or th e Humans win at th e GNF, it will a lso he the first tim e in series history th at on ly two teams ha ve won every race. T hird pl ace o vera ll went to T eam Ameri ca, wh o rod e a Waldorf Auto Body/Bi effe/Kal-Gard/ Mota Sport/ Cycle Sporr/ Perrna rex/ Spo rtstownbacked Yam ah a FZR600 to first in th e Mediumweigh t Superbike class. It was th e third time thi s seaso n th at th e Fort Wa shing ton , Ma rylandbased team ha s made the winn er's ci rcle. At th e start o f th e race, Kurt Hall led th e 65-bike field into turn one on th e "Fox Racing/Metzeler/ Arai / Klot z/Yam aha-sp onsor ed FZR I000. Indv is th e Human 's favorite trac k, a nd' for good reason. HRT has at least won thei r class here every time since the team was formed in 1986. T hey a lso set a n Indy m ileage record . last yea r, covering 502.5 mil es en ro u te to victory. HRT's lead didn 't last long as a bad wh eel bearin g sent Hall into the pits 10 minutes in to th e race , in a replay o f their Will ow Springs 24Hour expe rience . After cha nging the wheel, th e Humans were back on track , a lap down to leading Tea m Suzuki , fo r which Mik e Smi th was riding the fir st sti nt. Paul Bray was sch eduled to sta rt , bu t was sma rt ing from a morning practice cras h. A couple o f top seri es co nte nders h ad p robl em s ea rly o n . Royal e Racing cras hed and lost six minutes repairing th e damage, but by th e end of th e first hour had claw ed their way ba ck into 45th place from dead last. J a y Den ha m had the T eam Gateway Suzuki in third pl ace before a main jet needle broke and d isa bled the bi ke; Gateway re-entered the ra ce la ter and finished 46th. Badger Raci ng ran in th e top five during the fir st hour, but lat er dropped down in the sta ndi ngs wh en th ey began burning up rear tir es on their Kawa saki ZX7. At th e end o f th e first hour, H RT was just a few seco nds behind Suzuki o n th e track, but ac tua lly a lap down. Hall unlapped his team short ly a fter the o ne- ho ur mark. Fritz Kling was ridi ng bri ll iantly o n the T eam OSB Yamaha FZR600. Kling, the newlycrowned Mic higa n Grand P r ix Ch a mp ion, had th e Ya mah a in th ird p lace at th e end of ho u r one. Northstar Racing , with John Jacob a t the co nt ro ls of the team 's Yamaha FZRIOOO, was 17 seconds behind OSB in fourth , a nd Don Canet, on the Caz Racing Yamaha FZR600 , rounded out the top five another II seconds back.