Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

In a race fraught with retirements, Team Gibsonia /Englert Racing 's Bob Englert and John Choate rode co nsistently to f inish second on a Yamaha. AMA .National Superbike Champion Jamie James led on the Keystone Racing Suzuki before pitting due to mechanical difficulties. Dutchman II (7) f oll ows D utchma n Racing (2), Johnso n & Wo od (5 2) and Hyper-Cycle (1) early in the race . AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge Road Race Series: Round 9 Dutchman II wins second straight in Alabama By Cindy Bowen TAL LADEGA, AI.. OCT. 15 The Dutchman R acin g II team of Dale Q uarterl ey and Tom Kipp savored the sweet taste of victory for the second straight time wi th their win i n round ni ne of the AMA/CCS EBC Brak es Endurance Chall en ge Series at T al " lad ega Sllpcrsp~cdwa y , T h e S u z uk I G SX R I 100- 8 moun ted du o com p leted 82 laps o f rhe lo u r-m ile co m bina tion in field / ova l roa d course d uri ng the th reeho ur event 10 clai m victory by. two laps over the seco nd-place Ya ma ha FZRI O Oof T eam G ihso nia /E nglen O Ra cin g 's Bo b Eng lert a nd J ohn Choate. K&N Racin g 's Sam a nd Ph il McDon al d finis hed third overa ll o n a Yama.ha ~ZR600, p u ui ng a .GT l : class bik e III th e overa ll w m ne r s circle for the first time th is yea r. As th e 32-b ikt' field received th e green flag , it was Keystone Racin g' s Jamit' j um es wh o j u m ped o u t 10 a n early lead. Keystone had recru ited J a m es to share th e ridi ng with Mark . H e iser , a nd th e Ai\lA Natio nal Superbike Champ io n lost no lim e in pu t i iu g t he tea m ' s Suzuki GS X R II 00 up fro nt. J a mes tu rn ed 2:07 lap tim es whi le co nsistent ly pu lling aw ay from th e field. Mean whil e, th e Iirst five laps o f Ihe even t saw severa l tea ms d ice for seco n d pl a ce , i ncl u d ing Carry Andrew o n th e n umber on e H yper Cycle GSX RI IOO, Quarter ley on the Dutchman Racing II ent ry a nd Rich Arnaiz on the T eam Mot or Spor t Yamaha FZRIOOO . Th e c h a l le ng i ng , h ig h 11Orsepower. high -han ked track too k irs 1011 ea rl y o n severa l top-runn in g teams. Two of th e firs t tea ms to su ffer prob lems were th ose in co n ten tio n tor th e GTU class cha m p io ns h ip. Ju st H laps into th e even t, Rosw ell H ond a 's SIeve Math ew s h ad th e chai n break o n hi s Yamah a FZR600, a nd he opted to sit o u t th e rem ainder o f th e race. T eam Toome r, cu rren tly 36 points ahead of Roswell Honda and lead in g th e GTU class poi nt sta ndi ng s, then blew a m o to r 19 laps into the race wit h J on Rob ert s o n board. With both teams fail in g to sco re PC)i IllS, T oomer wrapped up Ihe 1989 GTl cla ss t it le, T h ir tv m in ut es into th e event , Arna izpu r th e Mot or Sport Yam aha int o seco nd p lace a hea d o f Quarterley, bUI the Yam aha ran OUI of gas in th e c h ica n e. Th e cras h tru ck brou ght the. bike and rider back to th e pits, a nd whil e th ey were th ere th t' team chose to in sta ll a new rear lire. Arn ai z' teammat e. Phi l Kress. I hen took over th e ridi ng dut ies a nd re-en tered I he race three laps down lro m the leader. Keystone Racin g. Bu t just six laps into hi s sti n t, Kress su ffered a blown rear tire while going down th e front straight a t 168 mph , sca rin g himself sill y and ending the day for Tea m Motor Sport. The tire fai lure was th e seco nd of th e year for th e Yamaha-backed effort (Arna iz had o ne fai l on him at th e Da ytona season open er ), a nd according to T eam Manager Mal co lm Hill , Mich elin ha s pr omised to deliver a tir e des ig ne d specifica lly for ' h ig h -ba n ked tra cks in time for th e Da ytona sea so n fin al e. Kevin Rentz ell had put th e Dutchm an Racing 1 ent ry into fourth place behind H yper-Cycle, a nd a tte m p ted 10 pass Andrews severa l times. " Co m ing into th e tri-ova l, Carry did some dirt y sq ueezin g, " said Rentzell , " He bumped m e three times go ing into (tu rn) o ne and sq uee zed me o u t and I hit th e grass. Two laps la ter, 1 went deeper in to turn two , got by h im a nd kept goi ng." Andrews then crashed ha rd in tu rn seven, co m p le tely des troyi ng th e bike. " I was tryi ng to sta y in Rentz el l' s dr aft. I wa nt ed to get by a slow er rider o n 'a 600 before the last set o f esses," And rews sta led, " He (the 600 rider) refused 10 ac knowledge th at I wa s the re a nd he ra n rig h t ove r m y front w heel. I d id a ll th e br ak in g 1 co u ld and still ra n into him. " Just pr io r 10 th e co m p letio n o f the fi rst ho u r; Remzell ra n o ut o f fuel o n th e backstraigh t. He p ushed the bike in to the p its just as Dutch man II ca me in for thei r schedu led p it sto p. Si nce Du tchman II was runn in g second behi nd Keystone, T eam Mana ger Dave Sch losser a nd crew u sed th e q u ic k- fill 10 refu el the Dut ch m an II bik e, a nd refu eled th e Dut chman I bike by hand . Kipp took ove r th e co ntrols o n Dutchman II while Donald J ack s went o u t on th e Dutchman I bik e. James pitted th e Keystone bike for refu elin g , but his teammat e wasn't ready, so he went ba ck o u t, still in th e lead. But just a few laps lat er , J am es p ined agai n. T he b ike seemed to be ru n ni ng o n th ree cylinde rs. After losin g 10-15 m inutes in th e p its. th e crew d isco vered th at a ca rburetor needl e had fall en o u t. After repairing this. H eiser went out, but th ey had relinquish ed th e lead 10 Dutchman II. T he halfway point o f th e race saw severa l more learns have probl ems, beginning · with Fastline Racing's J eff Stern, who pi ned with electrica l problem s wh ile running eig h th. Ro ug h Stoc k Racin g 's Rueben McMuner had m oved th e team 's H onda RC30 into fifth p osition before Doug Brauneck took over th e rein s. But Brauneck slowed on th e front stra ig ht. " I though t it was vapor- loc king,"

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