Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·WRA E Continued from page JJ zell would turn the bike o ver to his co-riders Al Bertagnoli and Kirk Reu ille, Deals Gap would tak e over th e cla ss lead . At th e end it was the balance o £ th e Deals Ga p team th at preva iled over Ren tzell a nd fri ends. Deal s Gap won th e Li ghtweight cla ss by two laps in th eir fir st race as a team. The weat her co ntin ued to wo rsen durin g th e fourth hour but th e a ttri tion was light. T ha t in itself was a n acco mp lish me nt si nce a t ti mes rid ers had to ride al most bl ind i£ th ey found th emselves behi nd th e spray o f o the r ma chines. The Tea m USSR rid ers seem ed to thrive in th e rain y co nd itions a nd moved up int o th e top-five overa ll. fir st in cla ss by th e end of th e fourth hour. Nine minutes into the fifth hou r , th e T eam Betty Yamaha FZRIOOO ridden by Russ Bigley and Toni Sharpless, h ydroplaned and cras hed on th e front straigh taw ay. Big ley wa sn 't seri ousl y hurt, but th e machine dumped a 101 o£ o il and ga s o n to th e wet trac k. The red £lag was thrown and th e race sto p ped. . WERA o fficia ls a tte m p ted to clea r. the spi ll but the rain was hed it rig h t back o n to th e raci ng surface. It was d et erm in ed th at rac i ng wo uld be delayed u nti l th e fin al hour so th a t the o il a nd gas spill co u ld was h away. Un for tu na tely, rain co ntin ued to fall stead ily, co mp letely flooding th e tu rn seven a rea . T he race was ca lled compl ete by officials at the five-hou r mark. Tea m Suzuk i co m p leted 151 la ps en route to th e learn's 50th end ura nce victory. It was a di sappointing fin ish for th e Humans, wh o showed th ey co u ld run a t a wi n ni ng pace in th e first half o f th e race . Team Un o was happy with th eir third-place finis h: " This was th e first time o n a race bike for me in two years. T o get back to it in the ra in was a real ex pe r ie nce," quipped fo r m er WERA sp rint cha mp io n Ewer th . " I think we did a pretty good job o £ keeping with the th ree top Superbi ke teams wh o a ll ran rai n tires," sai d a happy Dave Raber of Am erican Spirit. ASR loo k fourth overall, six laps down o n the w inners, and was first in th e H eavyweight Prod ucti on class . Team US·SR overca me the ea rly cha rge o f RKN Racin g to win the Med iumweight Su perbike class a nd fini sh fifth o vera ll, n in e laps in arrears. C\' Resul ts 0 / A: I. Team Suzuki En dura nce (SUl) ; 2. TI 1C" H uma n Race Tea m (Yam); S. T ra m U no (SUI); ... Ameri can Spi rit (Ya m ); 5. Team USSR (Ya m): 6. Deal s C a l' Raci n g (Vam) ; 7. RKN Racing (Yam]: 8-.Team Mach ine ( Ya m~ 9. Raw Racin g (Yam): 10. TMTO Raci ng « Ya m ): 11. Aerie • Suzuki Racing r (SU1); 12. T BA Racin g (SU1): 13. Honda 01 Nil es Ra cing {Ho n ]: 11. Ro yal e Ra cin g (SU1): 15. Do h (H a n); 16. RK BMW (BMW); 17. Lone Star Ra ci n g (SU1); 18. H a WN sun Raci n g (SU1): 19. SAS Ra ci n g (Ya m); 20. Voight Bros. Racing (Ya rn): 21. Twister . Exp ress II (Yam); 22. Cham pio n Honda (Suz); 23. R

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