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/127218
Winner Mike Harth waves the checkered flag f rom the bed of Kurt Hall's new pickup; Hall won the Toyota truck for being the F-USA champion. Mike Harth passed Mike Sm ith. t hen held him off to win the final Formula USA race of t he year, WERA Toyota/Dunlop Formula USA National Road Race Series: Final round Harth gets revenge, Hall gets a truck at Road Atlanta By Brian Catterson BRASELTON . GA . NOV. 5' Riding a bike he described as a "$2000 j unkyard dog" , Georgian Mike H ar th got revenge after his loss in Friday 's endu ran ce race by defeating T eam Suzuki teammates Mike Smi th a nd P aul Bray in S rd: . r I o id of the . U I ay S I n r ur C I n a ~I gu ra I F o rm u la .U SA Natio na l Road Race Ser ies at Road At lanta . Harth ca me from a slo w sta rt. a nd first too k a sta b at th e lead o n lap four wh en h e went insi de Bra y, Smi th a nd ea dy leader Kun H all a t tilt: issan bri dge, Wh en th a t move di dn' t wo rk, H arth wai ted anot her la p befor e drafti ng pa st the Irio wh ile sa iling down th e lo ng ba ck strai g h tawa v. H e th en rode th e Mich elin shod whe els off h is Suzu ki o f Cor p us Chri sti GSX R II 00 a nd "da red th em to pass me back ." . Sm i th, ridi ng th e sa me Kei th Perrv-tu ned GSX R 1100 th a t he and Brayhad ridden 10 victory in Friday's six-ho u r end u ra nce race, fended off th e adva nces o f hi s teamma te un ti l he briefly crac ked under pressure o n la p II. " I bo bb led going up th e hill (a t th e exi t o f rig h t- ha nd turn o ne) and Pa ul (Bray) went past me," Smi th said. Bra y led Smit h unt il th e fina l lap , wh en Smi th draft ed p ast Bra y to reta ke th e positi on for good. Smi th , lik e Bra y, rode o n Dunl op tires, The lead tri o turned th e fa stest lap times o f th e week end in th e 1:28-range. " Mike (H art h) had th e best bike OUI th ere," Bra y sa id la ter, add in g t hat h is o w n P hi l Scott -t u ned GSX RI IOO was o vergea red , It loo k Yoshi m ura Suzuk i's Scott R ussell four la ps to b last th ro ugh a ll the slo we r traffic, and he then spent two additiona l lap s fo llowi ng hi s tea m m a te. Tomm y Lyn ch . " T o m my held me up a litt le," R ussell sa id. " He loo ked back a nd sa w m e . a n d af ter' th a t h e. was ru n n ing her in there as hard as he co u ld." , On ce past, R u ssell led th e way as t h e tw o teammates rod e th eir Mi chel in -sh od GSXR7 50 Superb ikes hard to r at rh and pass Ha ll , and claimed th e fou rt h a nd fifth positions , respectively. Bu t H a ll wasn 't worried; h is sixt h p lace fin ish on the M iche lin-shod, Dave Zupan-t u ned Yamaha FZRIOOO wa s good eno ug h to become the fir stever Formu la USA Natio nal Champion. For hi s efforts, H all won a 1990 T o yota p ickup truck. " T he se gu ys were hungry .. . 1 was hungry for a truck . 1 just wanted to mak e su re 1 fini sh ed in the top 10," H a ll sai d, add in g , " I've got to th ank WERA for putting o n a series th at a llowed me to wi n a prize like this; they 're rea lly rider-o riented ." R ussell closed o n th e leading tri o dramati call y , a n d th ough it a ppeared th at h e migh t be a ble to ca tch th em it was just too much to as k. " I wi sh th e race wa s 20 la ps inst ead of just 16," Russell said. 'Beh ind H a ll , GS XR IIOO-mou nt ed Do n Ca ner batt led wi th FZR I000mo unted J oe Pittman fo r th e entire race, wit h Can er claimi ng seventh posi tion a t the fin ish . Wes Cooley . ro de the Tea m H ammer G SXRllOO en d u rance bike to ninth p lace af ter di spo sing of Mi ch igan G ra nd Prix Champion Fritz Klin g and hi s own teamma te Britt Tu rk ington. " Ma n . it wore m eout," Harth said in th e winner's circle. " T h is day seem ed like a whole year." One rider wh o co u ld have provide d some fir ew orks was H all 's HR T teamm at e And y F enwi ck. Fenwick sa t o u t Frida y's end urance race with a broken co llarbo ne, but tri ed r id in g H RT 's Yam ah a FZR I 000 en d u ra nce bik e i n th e Formula USA race, o n ly 10 retire a fte r a few laps. Two so u the rn California F-USA co m pe ti to rs that co u ld also have been a factor were ab sent from Road Atlanta, Fifth Aven ue Seltzer Suzuki pi lot Chui:k Graves co u ldn ' t afford to make th e trip, and Barr y Bu rk e didn 't have eno u g h tim e to rebuild hi s Yama ha 's recent ly blo wn motor. e Resu lts F-USA: 1. Mike Hart h (SUl); 2. M ike Smith ISul); 3. Paul Bray ISul); 4. Scan Russell (SUl); 5. Tommy Lynch (Sull; 6. Kurt HaII IYam); 7. Don Canet ISUl ); 8. J oe Pin man (Yaml; 9, W es Cooley ISUl); 10 . Fritz Kling (Yam) ; 11. Bri tt Turk ing ton (Suz); 12 . Robert Wright (SUl); 13. Ray Yoder ISull; 14 . Doug Renfrow IYaml; 15. Jay Denham ISull. TIME: 23 mi n., 45.34 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 102.132 mph W ERA TOYOTA/DU NLOP F-USA SERIES FINAL . POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kurt Hall (450); 2. Paul Bray (3901; 3. M ike Smith 1 141 4 . Don Canet 12 ); 3 ; 42 5. M ike Harth (192); 6. Chuck Graves(166 ); 7. Barry Burke (1 12); 8 . And y Fenwick IB4); 9. Br itt Turkin gton (80); 10 . M arty M iller (721 11. Robert ; Wr ight (62); 12. Jay Denham (48); 13. Joe Pinm an (46); 14. (TIE)Cun is Adams/ Calvin Rayborn III (42 ).