Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Kerker/SBS National Endurance Series: Round 4 e - The Human Race Team's Rick Kirk (2) led Team Suzuki Endurance's Britt Turkington (I ) for the first hour, but Team Suzuki still beat HRT by two laps. Local team Renfrow/Littlejohn Ra cing fielded Doug Renfrow (sh own) and Steve Littlejohn aboard a Suzuki GSXRIIOO, and wound up third overall. Team Suzuki makes it four in arow at Seattle By Russ Cazier Photos by Andrew Crain and Cazier KENT, WA, MAY 1 9 r 22 eam Suzuki Endurance too k the lead in the second ho ur of the six ho ur WE RA Ker ker / SB S National End urance Series race at Seatt le In ternat io na l Raceway and never relinqui sh ed it, finishing two laps ahead of the seco nd pl ace H u man Race Team. Team Suzuki 's co m bi natio n of professionalism in the pits and speed and smooth ness o n the trac k by team riders Mik e Sm ith and Kurt Hall , joined today by T exan Britt Turkin gton, has paid off with a perfect record of four wins in fou r races. With this latest win giv ing them a 40-point lead in the series standings over HRT , Team Suzuki ap pears to be well o n its way to a sixth WERA Nat ional Enduran ce title. In winning the race, Team Suzuki com p leted 237 laps of the 2.25-mile road course a t an average speed of 88.866 mph. A potential disaster was narrowly avoided , however, as th e team's Keith Perr y-tuned Valvoline Suzuki GSXRIIOO pulled into the pits at the en d of the race compl etely out of gas. Kurt Hall described th e Seattle race track: " It's an excellent track with just abo ut everythi ng you'd want - a sharp do wn hill , a lon g straigh t, h ig h-speed sweepers and a tric ky chicane. T here are a lso some bumpy spots whi ch mak e you very pa rt icu lar about your lines in .certain places." . The Hu man Race Team's And y Fenwick and newly-sign ed Texan Rick Kirk were marvels of consistency, but they were a heartb eat off the pace o n the race track and the HRT Yama ha FZR I000 finished second for the. third tim e in the still -young season, The sta rt of the race saw T eam Muzzy Kawasaki 's Scott Ru ssell j ump to a n early and cominand ing lead , turnin g near-recor d lap tim es in th e I:26-27 range on h is fuel-inj ected ZX7 superbi ke. T eam Mad Dog 's Paul Bray ran second o n an FZRlOOO with T eam Suzuki and HRT dicing for thi rd. On la p 18, Russell wa s slo wed bri efly by an off-track excursio n to avoid a downed rid er in the long, turn two sweeper, and th en comp leted just o ne more lap before retiring with a malfunctioning fuel pump . Meanwhile, Bray had dropped o ut o n lap 17,exp lai n ing later that he was mainly working on sort ing out the bike. With th e early attritio n of T eams Action Suzuki Racing's David Harman and Mar c Lautzenhiser finished fourth overall to come out on top of a close Heavyweight Production class battle. Kawasak i and Mad Dog, Suzuki and HRT stayed nose-to-tail with several lead changes in the first hour. At the end of hour one, HRT 's Kirk crossed the start/finis h line o ne scant second in the lead. Du ring the second ho ur, Suzuki's Hall bega n to edge away from his former HRT tea mmate, Fenwick. By the second pit stop, Hall had stretched Team Suzu ki 's advantage to two laps, whi ch they would hol d to the finish, T he Seattl e-based L ynnwoo d Yamah a team or Dale Fra nk lin, Bruce L in d and Stuart Hutch in s stayed wit hi n stri ki ng di stance of the leaders aboard their FZRl O O, and were runO n in g j ust one lap down at the end of hour one. T hey held third pl ace until the fourth hour, when they cras hed o ut of the race. Third pl ace then fell to ano ther Seattle-ba sed team , Ren frow /Li ttl ejo hn Racing, with local riders Dou g Renf ro w and Steve Littlejohn aboard a GSXR l IO . O Some of the most competitive raci ng was seen in the H eavyweight Productio n class, wit h fourt h th rough eighth p laces overa ll filled by the basically street-lega l machines. At the endof the first hour, five teams were on the same lap ; by the end of the fourth hour, th e Action Suzu ki Racin g GS XR l lO of O David Harm an a nd Marc La utzen hiser had a one -second lead over Ro yale Ra cing's Doug H en ry, Terry Bailey and Jim East, with CLASS Ra cing's Avery Stewart and J ason Prid more runni ng third, a mere 34 seconds in arrea rs. With the to p three H eavyweight Production teams finishing on the same lap, scoring was confused, and followi ng protests by the top teams Action Suzuki was cred ited with fourth overa ll and the class win. Ro yal e wo und u p fifth overall and second in cl ass o n th ei r G SXRIIOO , wh il e CLASS Ra cing took sixth overall and third in class on their GSXR750. Less than a minute behind ca me Motorcycles Unlimi ted's Mik e Krynock , Don Can et a nd David Deveau , seven th overall and fourth in cla ss o n ano ther GSXRlIOO. Big City Ra cing's T ed Lumpkin, Alex White and Chris Young rode their Yamaha FZR600 to an impressive ninth overall and first in the Mediumweight Superbike division. Other class ' winners were Team Ha waii 's Ed Sor bo, Bruce Mill er and Morgan Seim o n a H onda CBR600 in Mediumweight Production; and T eam Pasta Marin 's Greg Petrovi c and Eric Elvin on an FZR400, wh o ben efitted from T acom a Yam a ha Racin g 's engin e goi ng sour in the fourth hour to claim the Ligh tweight class win, H uman Race T eam captain Dave Zupan made a telling' point: " We and just abo ut everyo ne else are experiencing handling problems , and I've been st uck to figure it OUI. I realized: ho wever, that it's just because we're goi ng faster . Our lap times at Talladega, for exam p le, were down two seconds a lap from last year. " T h e qua lity of m ach in er y a nd preparation was agai n demons tra ted by th e fact that of 48 entries, 37 were'"' still officia lly tu rn ing laps at th e end of six hou rs. Addi tio nally , several bikes th at had cras hed or qu it were ret urned to the p its by tru ck and were coa xed back in to sha pe and were back ' on track, ente rtaini ng their riders if not im proving thei r stand ings . eN Results 0 1A: 1. T eam SULUki Endura nce (SUl ); 2. The H um an Race Team (Yam ); 3. Renf ro w/ L ittlejoh n Racin g (SUl.): 4. Act ion Suzuk i Racin g (Suz); 5. • Ro yale Racin g (Suz); 6. C LASS Racing (Suz); 7. Motor Cycl es U n li m ited (SUI ); 8. TBA Racin g (Suz); 9. Big Ci ty Ra ci ng (Yam) ; 9. 10. Insulate In d ustri es! B&:J 101'1 (Ka w): I I. T eam Sledge (SUl ); 12, T eam Ha wa ii (H on ); U . Goo dfello w Mo toraports (Yam);. 14. T eam Pa sta Ma rin (Yam ); l5. Three Men and ! a Bike (Yam); 16. Brot her's H onda (H o n): 17. T eam Lips (Yam); 18. T eam Salvage (Hon) ; 19. Cycle Racer (Hen ): 20. SB Raci ng (Hon ): 21. Mo to Sport Bench Racing (Yam); 22. Lynnwood Yam aha Raci ng (Yam); 23. H iper Soa r (Yam); 24. Suspe ns ion byJa ke, (SUl); 25. Dama ge, Inc. (SUl ); 26. Gerber Racing (Suz): 27. American Spi ri t Ra cin g (Ya m ); 28. M&R Ra ci n g (Ya m): 29. A ur ora Suzuki (S u z); 30 ~ Raceredg e (Yam); 31. T eam Clean (Yam ); 32. T eam Fossil {Ka w ): 33. C-N·S Racin g (Yam ); 34. T eam ' Cook 'n ' Suzuk i (SUl ); 3, . RKN Racin g (Yam); 36. Tacoma Yamaha Racing (Yam ): 37. T eam Hawaii T oo (Ho n ): 38. T apper Racin g (Yam ); 39. T eam Contact (SUl); 40. Gr een Extreme II (Ka w ); 4'1. Big Pig Raci ng (S uz); 42. Mountain High (Hon); 43. T eam Uno (SUI ); 44. Marvin Braun Raci ng (Vam ); 45. Vision Quest Raci ng (Suz): 46. T eam Kawasaki (Ka w ): 47. T eam Mad Dog (Yam); 48. The Performan ce Lab (Yam) . H IW S/ BK: I. T eam Suzuki End ura nce (Suz); 2. Th e H um an Ra ce Team ( Va m ); 3. Ren fro w/ Li ttl ejoh n Raci ng (Suz ); 4. In sul at e In du stries/B &J In tern ati o nal (Ka w) : 5. Team Sledge (SUl). H IW PROD: 1. Action Suz uki Racin g (SUI); 2. Ro ya le Racing (SUl) ; 3. CLASS Racing (SUl); 4. Mo to rcycles Unlim ited (SUI); 5. T BA Racing (SUI). M /W S/RK: I. Big City Ra c in g (Ya m ); 2. Goodfellow Mot or spo rt s (Ya m ): 3. T ea m Lips (Yam); 4. Cycle Racer (H o n); 5. SB Racin g (Ho n). ' M/W PROD: 1. Tea m Haw a ii (He n ): 2. Broth er's H on da (Ho n): 3. Suspe nsio n by Jake (Suz); 4. Team Clean (Yam ): 5. Team Ha waii Too (Hon). LIW: 1. Tea m Pasta Marin (Yam); 2. T h ree Men and a Bike (Yam) ; 3. Hi per Soa r (Ya m ): 4. Tacoma Ya ma ha Racin g (Yam): 5. Marvin Brau n Racing (Ya m ), WERA ENDU RANCE SERIES POINT STANDINGS: I. T eam Suzuk i Enduran ce (386.27); 2. The H uman Race T ea m (335.08): 3. Royal e Racing (258,22); 4. Action Suzu ki Racing (256.21); 5. T BA Racing (253.98); 6. American Sp int Raci ng (203.70); 7. Mid-Sou th Raci ng ( 161.2 1); 8. RKN Racin g (154.58); 9. CLASS Racing (151.33); 10. Voig ht Bros. Ra cin g (147.41); I I. Big City Ra cin g (143,91); 12. Team Uno (141.05); 13. Team L ips (139.88); 14. Team Sledge ( 138.49); 15. Team Ha wa ii (134.24).

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