Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROAD RACE AMA/CCSEIIC llrakes Endurance Challenge Series: Round 2 ~ Dutchman D's Donnie Greene (3) and Dutchman's Dale Q uarterley (behind) ran close during the first hour, but in the end it was Dutchman II with a decisive win. Super ' B' Racing (19) lopped the GTU class, than ks largely to the determ ined riding of Scott Zampach (shown). H ere, early leader Paul Bray (66) sets up for a pass. -u h e D tc mnunder fire at Road Atlanta By Bria n Catterson P h o tos by P a u l Carruthers and Catterson u tch m a n Ra cing II ' s Donn ie G reen e a nd Donal d J acks u pset their pseu do-teammat es Dut ch man Ra cing 's Dal e Quarterl ey and Tom Ki p p to wi n th e th ree- hour En du rance Cha llenge at Roa d Atlan ta. Though th e win was not the first for Dutchman II, it was th eir first wi thou t Quarterley in th e sad dle. In fact, this was th e first time th at Q ua rterley was not aboard th e winning end ura nce bik e si nce H yp er Cycle' s win inJune of 1989 at Brainerd , Minnesota. If you recall last year, Quart erl ey and Mike Harth had co llec ted th e title ea rly in th e seaso n for Dutchman Racing, with Quarterl ey then rep lacing J acks as Kipp's partner on th e Dutchman II tea m to help Tea m Captain Dave Schlosser secu re seco nd pl ace in th e point sta ndings as well. T his year, three-tim e AMA Formula Two Ch ampion Green e has joine d J acks o n th e Pau l Petrovi ch -captained Dutchman II sq ua d, wi th Quart erl ey a nd Kipp on th e o rigi nal Dutchman Racin g team. D 26 T ho ug h we 've grown accustomed to Dutch man 's dom in a nce in AMAlCCS endu ra nce rac ing, today th ey were threatened in a bi g way by newcomers Team Mad Dog, wit h riders Pa ul Bray a nd Michael Barnes o n a n o mnipotent Yama ha FZRIOOO. As a member of T eam Su zuki End u ra nce in '89, Bra y is th e defend in g \VERA Na tio na l En d urance Champion , whi le Ba rn es has p roven him self recently with top finish es and a win in Na tiona l Su persport competi tio n. Bra y rode for th e Human Race Team in th e fir st two ro u nds o f th is year 's WERA endurance series, but recentl y defected to th e Hank Dow- owned Team Mad Dog to contes t th e AMA Nati onal Supe rbike Ch ampion ship a boa rd a Yam aha FZR750RR aWOl su pe rbike, as well as th e AMAlCCS End u ra nce Chal len ge Series. Bra y dom in at ed the first hour o f th e thr ee-hour-long ra ce, ta ki ng th e lead o n the very first lap a nd a bso lu tely runn in g away with it. The U n ion Ci ty, Geo rg ia n , relied on h is local tra ck kn owledge, sliding both ends o f th e Du tchman Ra cing crewman Mike Patton covers his eyes after being splashe d in the face with gas du ring a refu eli ng stop, Fortunately, he was not serious ly hurt. b ik e in every co rner a n d turn ing blistering lap times in the I:30-range . (no t far o rr wh at th e su perbikes tu rned during th e Nati on al ). At th e 45-m inute mark Bra y had la pped th e entire fiel d; -hy th e tim e he pi tted jus t past th e end o f th e first hour, he had a fu ll lap plus 28 seconds on second-place Green e a nd th ird-pl ace Quarterley, Bra y's co m pe titio n was u na nimous in their o pi nion that th e Mad Dog bike wouldn ' t last: " It 's a long race. You han g in there for th e firs t two ho ur s and race in th e last 45 minutes," .sa id Du tchman II's Petro vich . " T he pace is way too fast; th ere's no way it'll last," said Keyston e Racin g captain George Fitts. As th ey p redicted, Team Mad Dog 's race ca me to a p rema tu re end o n Barnes' seco nd lap wh en th e bik e th rew a rod , promoting th e two Mich elinshod Dutchman Suzuki GSXRlloos to first a nd seco nd. "That Yamaha was gone! H e (Bra y) went by me on th e rear wh eel. I ha d no idea I was gett ing la p ped ," sa id Green e after hi s stin t. " I' m new a t this; I ca n' t get used to passin g th e slower traffi c, I co me up on so me of th e 600s so fast I ju st back o u t o f it. " G reene' s best lap time was a 1:30. Asked la ter why he was bei ng beat en by G reen e, th e usuall y d omin a n t Quarterl ey cited handling p robl em s. " T h is is th e same bi ke I rod e (a nd cra shed) in the Form ul a USA race at Will ow Spri ngs las t week, a nd with th e 40 m ph win ds th ere we d idn 't accomplish an ything, " Q ua rt erl ey said. " With the short pra ctice sessions here it d id n 't get any bett er. We gu essed a t so me changes, a nd if a ny thi ng it go t worse." T he Dut ch m an Racing ma ch in e sported inverted Kayab a forks, wh ile th e Dutchman II entry used tra d itio nal un its. Add in g 10 Dutchman Racing 's problem s were th eir unusu all y poor pi t sto ps. T eam stra tegy di ca tat ed that whi ch ever bike was leading would pi t first, a nd no soo ne r had Jacks replaced Green e in th e saddle than Quart erl ey pitted un expectedl y, O U l o f fuel. H is ea rly arriva l ca ugh t co- ride r Kip p o rrg ua rd. " I found m y helm et rea l quick , bu t th e strap wa s all twi sted up. It took me a few seco nds 10 untangl e it ," Kip p sai d. T he ir second sto p was beuer timewise, but crewma n " Ge nera l" Mi ke Patton had gas sp las hed in hi s face and had to be a tte nded to; th ough a n unpl ea sant experi en ce, no serio us harm was done. Also expe rie nci ng discomfort was J acks, wh o was poked in th e eye by a ticket ta ker o n Frid ay. J acks wore a pat ch for m ost of that da y, thus was o nly able 10 practi ce o nce before th e race. On Sa turday he said th e eye felt much bette r. Keyston e Racing had replaced thei r clutch just before th e sta rt , and newco mer Jay Denham (of WERA team Ameri can Spiri t fa me) found it too grabby, killing th e mot or a t th e start. T ea m ma te Kevin Rentzell al so stall ed th e bike while leaving th e pits, but b y the ha lfw ay poi nt th ey were up to th ird pl ace, a nd runnin g on th e lead lap. The team ra n on Yok ohamas, and would have 10 co ntend wi th a rear tire change and a last-m inute fuel stop before th e race was over. T eam T oomer T oo 's Gl en Barry and Mark Chin held fourth a t th e crossed flags, with T eam Fastline-MCM's J eff Stern and J eff R hea u me fifth , both one lap down; th e top five teams were a ll riding Suzuki GSXRlIOOs. The sta nd ings sta yed essentially th e sa me unti l 10 m inutes from th e end, wh en Fastiine-MCM's race ended with a broken cra n kshaft, dropping them to ninth p lace. "T hi s is th e firs t motor I' ve ever lost in a n end urance race," said Stern, who b u ilds th e team 's engines him self. Fastiine-M CM 's demise promoted th e newl y-formed team o f American Eagle Racin g to fifth pl ace a t the fi nish. Riding th e Su zuki GSXR750 were the la rger-than -life, three-time AMA Grand Nationa l Champio n Jay Springsteen and th e, well, large (6' 4") Mi ch igan Gra nd P rix Ser ies titlehol der Frit z Klin g. T he GTU ra n ks sa w a slim field of just 13 team s, wit h t he Fl or id a a tto rney-sponsored tea m of J ohn D. Rue Racing 's Paul Sch wem mer and Ri ck H erndon leading a t th e halfway poi nt o n a H onda CBR600. T eam T oomer 's J acques Guen ette a nd Jeff Far mer ra n seco nd, with Su per 'B' Racing 's Sco tt Zampach a nd Rick Breu er th ird , Just For Fun 's Larry Sho rts a nd J on Moore fourth and Thumper Broth ers' Wi lliam Cardell and J ohn Condron fift h; th e secondthrough fifth -place teams all riding Yam aha FZRliOOs. North st ar R acin g G T U ' s Mike Moor es had run as high as second in the GTU class early o n, but the team's Yam aha FZR600 blew a motor just three laps into Scott Ru ehle's first shift. T eam OTS' s Fr ank Klem enti; h, Cra ig Gleason a nd Rick Kirk had n as hi gh as fourth in class, and .were holding down six t h just past me

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