Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Kerker/SIS National Endurance Series: Round 3 ~ The H uman Race Team suffered through mech.fnic~1 problems ear ly in the race and. an off-track excursion later on, but still recovered to finish third overall. . ~ ., Team Suzuki Endurance's Mike Smith raises h is Iist as he .receives the checkered nag to win th e Willow Springs Six-Hour; the win was the team's third straigh t. " Team Suzuki sets sail By Bria n Catterson ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 28 n windy wea the r more sui table for yac h ting tha n motorcycl e roa d racing, Tea m Suzu ki Endurance's Mik e Sm ith a nd Kurt H all defeated th e co m pe titio n a t Willow Springs Int ernati ona l Racewa y to maintain th eir undefeated sta tus ' in th e three-race-old WERA . Kerk erl SBS Na tio na l End urance Series. T he defen ding series cha mps led from start to finish o n th eir Keith Pe rr y-tun ed , Dunl op -sh od Su zuki GS X R I lOO, s u rviv ing the g usti ng wind a nd blow in g desert sand to wi n th e ra ce by eig h t laps over similarl ym ounted Mid-South Racing rid er s Dou g Mcin tosh and T rip p Nobles. Tea m Suzu ki 's perpetual rival s The Human Ra ce T eam, with regular rid er Andy Fenw ick joined by new team mat e Barry Burke, finish ed third o n their Da ve Zupan -tun ed Yam ah a FZRlOOO aft er ea rl y bouts with m ech anical problem s a nd a la te offtrack excursion. The wind was gusting so badly in Will ow Sp rings' turns eig h t a nd nine (the fastest parts o f th e tra ck ) that co rne rwo rkers ' displayed a standing yell ow n ag to warn riders wh en th e wind pi cked up. At times, it was im possible to see the back straigh t from th e pits, a nd th e rid ers were I 22 un ab le to see th rou gh th e co rne rs. Tea m Suzuki's H all led from th e wa ve o f th e green flag, with hi s ini tia l co m pe ti tio n co m i ng from T roy So re nse n o n t he Tea m U no GSXR lIOO. j eff H agan ran th ird on hi s F-USA Suzuki, but he was o n ly usin g th e race for p rac tice a nd pulled into th e p its o n lap 24. Burk e circu lated in fourth. T he second-wave sta rt for th e Medi um weight a nd Light weight classes saw Yam ah a rid ers Kurt H ep pe of Ben ch Ra cin g a nd Dav id Deveau o f Ca z Racing/ Superbrace d ici ng for th e ear ly lead , but Caz/ Superbrace's FZR6 00 m otor (ho used in . a n a l u m in u m FZR400 cha ssis) exp ired o n la p 31. By th e end o f th e fir st hour. Tea m Suzu ki's H all had la pped th e en ti re field. H all was foll o wed by U no, j ohnson & Wood and Mediumweigh t Su pe rbike cla ss lead ers Ben ch Racin g, all on th e sa me lap, with H eavyweight Production class lead ers jay Denham, Dal e Kieffer and David Rab er o n th e ex-H RT Ameri can Sp iri t FZR lOOO a n add itio na l lap down. Mid -South 's Mcin to sh was partnered for th e fir st time by four-time 1989 W ERA Novi ce Ch ampi on Nobl es, wh o was su bstit u ting for th eir mutual friend Frank lin Knight , and CLASS Racing's J aso n Pridmore and Avery Stewart finished firth overall to top the Heavyweight Production class. The duo completed the race on one,set'o( tires. ... ridi ng o n slicks for th e first time; th e d uo ra n sevent h a t th e end of hour on e. Holding down eig h th spo t wa s th e Tea m Sled ge GSXR750 o f Chuck G raves, Tony Atwater and SCOII Cl eff, with th e.GSXR IIOO of Royal e Racing's Doug H einy. Terry Bailey a nd jim East nimh, and th e GSXR750 o f CLASS Racing's Avery Stewart and j ason Pridmore (so n o f three-lime AMA Superb ike Ch ampion Reg Pridmore) 10th. Team H aw aii 's Bru ce Mill er and Mor gan Seim ran in 13th pl ace overall o n t hei r Honda CBR 600 , havin g a lready esta blishe d th e Medi umweigh t Production clas s lead th at th ey wou ld ho ld till th e fin ish , T he Humans were alread y in trou - ble. Burke pitted o n lap 10 with a brok en sh ift lever pi vot sha ft, a nd the n aga in a few minutes lat er with an 'o u to f-ba la nce from wh eel. " I looked ~ t the (rom' tir e, but a ll I 'cou ld see was a little sp ot where th e tread sort of zig-zagged," T eam Captain Dave Zupan said. At th e o ne-ho u r ' mark, H RT was li sted in 24th place. Tea m Sledge mov ed into th e H eavyweight Production lead during th e seco nd hour wh en Am eri can Spirit experience d tir e troubl es. According to Denha m , th e team ch u n ked a bi as-pl y Dunlo p K591 rear a nd replaced it with a Du nl op Sportrnax rad ial. H o wever, Denham 's tea m ma te Kieffer cou ld n 't come to terms with th e radia l, so th ey sw itche d back to a bias-pl y. T he team lost add itio na l time in th e pits wh en they real ized that th e sp roc ket on th eir s pa re w heel wa s th e wr on g si ze, requirin g a cha nge; they a lso had to add wa ter to th e radi at or. Dunlop tir e tech n ica n jim Allen sai d tha t th ere was indeed a p rob lem wi th the K591s, but o nly in the l80mm wid ths for 5.5-i nc h rims. Allen said th e fai lu res were ca used by the excess ive side loads pl aced on the tir es by Will ow Spr ings ' lon g, fast rig h t-ha nd turns two a nd eig h t. All en sa id Will o w Spri ngs is to ug he r on ti res than a nyw here else in th e wo rld. T he th ird hou r marked th e end for Ben ch Racing, as th e team retired with mech an ical problems . T he bik e had been overheating from th e sta rt, a nd it even tua lly go t too hot a nd pok ed arod through th e cases. Their el im in ation moved th e Big . City Racing FZR600 o f Ted Lumpkin , Alex White a nd Ch ris Young in to th e Med iumweight Su pe rbi ke lead. U p to thi s poim, T eam U no ' s So re nse n a n d hi s teammate Mik e H arth had run seco nd overa ll, but So rense n cras hed o u t o f th e race ea rly in th e third hour. It was du ring th e fourth hou r th at Burke got into turn one a little hot , ru n ning o ff the track a nd taking quite so me time to get going. " I lost the br akes," sa id Burke, adding that the forks were too soft and he was ha ving to "ease th e brakes o n, " At that point, the Humans were just 48 seco nds o u t of second place, but Burke's erro r cos t th em two and a half laps a nd dropped th em to seven th, Ameri can Spirit regained the Hea~ vyweig hi Production lead during the fourth hour, but hour five would again see CLASS R ac i n g ba ck o n top. Denham then ended Am erican Spirit's ra ce by crashing in turn nine with less th an a half-hour remaining in th e race. Big City Racing co nt in ued to lead th e Mediumweight Superbike class, but RKN Racing's Bill y Eisenacher and Rob ert Nutt had put th eir FZR600 o n th e sa me lap, a nd were hungry for th e cl a ss win , H owe ver, William "Tokey" Beck and Ken Reyn olds on th e T eam L ips FZR600 were clos ing in even faster , and during th e fifth hour passed both teams to tak e th e class lead a nd th e even tual win. R KN event ua lly broke. Tea m Suzuki cruised to a n easy win , stretch ing th eir lead from on e lap in hours o ne and two , to four in hour three, six in hour four, a nd th e fin al eigh t-la p mar gin through hours five a nd six. " T h is was th e smoothes t race ever for me," said Sm ith, noting th at both he a nd ex- tea m ma te Pau l Bray had cras hed durin g last year 's race, Aside from the wind, which H all said "takes a lot o u t o f you ," Hall 's biggest p roblem was hi s new lea th ers, wh o se kn ee puck s hurt hi s knees. Tea m Su zu ki End ura nce is spo nsored by Val voline, Dunlop, SBS, EMGO, Vance & Hines, Arai, Bates, Ts ubaki a nd Su nsta r. Foll owing T eam Suzuki was th e co ns istent Mid-South Racing a nd th e co mi ng- fro m- beh ind H RT , th e second a nd th ird -p lace teams running on th e sa me lap in th e end. Mid-S outh was having transmission p roblem s late in th e race . T he top three H eav yw ei ght Superbike-class teams were foll ow ed by Team Lips, first in th e Mediumwei ght Superbike class a nd fourth o vera ll on th eir mere 600; th e tea m co m p le ted th e ra ce o n o ne set o f Dunlop K591s. The H eavyweight Production class . battle went down to th e wire, and

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