Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Kerker/SBS WERA National Endnrance Series: Round 7 e ,- - - - - - - - = -- - ------, Tatsuro Ara ta (2) put th e Human Race Team ahead of RKN Racing (12), Cycle Racer (121) and Team Suzuki (I) early in the six hour. Hall N' Still Racing (5) holds off American Spirit Racing (51); Hall N' Still had its best race of th e season to finish third overall. I Team Suzuki Endurance continued its winning ways in Kansas, completing 405 miles in the race depite a red-flag condition which lasted 40 minutes. went into overd rive to ge t the ' bike read y for th e start. Durin g th e open ing laps. the las t tu rn heading o u t to the fro nt straigh t seem ed to be ge tt ing slic k. T eam Sch aw nee Cycle P laza a nd Raw Racin g cra shed in turn 14 in sepa ra te acci dents a t a tim e when Ra w was lead ing th e L ightweigh t class by 30 seco nd s. Rider Bo b San dy had th e Ra w Yama ha FZR400 into th e pi ts q uick ly, bu t the team wo uld ha ve to co me from beh ind if they were to win th eir class. T ea m l ronm an was among th e top ru nn ers ea rl y in the race . but they too d um ped their Suzuk i a nd were fo rced to pi t fo r a new steering rlampner a nd shi ft lever. Ara ta ca ugh t a nd passed H all a t a bo ut th e '3 0-m i n u te m a rk as he circu la ted a t sp rint- ra ce pace. A co u p le of mi nu tes after Ara ta took the lead, Ro ya le Racing th rew a rod , spew ing o il o n the track tha t soo n claimed Bart Racing. T ha t brou ght o u t th e red flag , sto p p ing th e race. As th e track crew clean ed up the oil, Royale was read ying their back-up bik e. " We' ll lose the origi nal 13 laps we ran, " Royale's Dou g H en ry said. "That puts us ou t of contention for our class win , but we can sti ll gain po in ts." T he race clock co nt in ued to ru n for 40 mi n ut es un der red flag cond itio ns a nd , j ust a fter th e o ne ho ur ma rk, th e race was resta rted. Aga in it was Tea m Suzu ki running to th e fro nt, th is ti me wi th Sm ith ha ndl in g the rid in g cho res. H all was still recover in g from a F-USA crash a t Sea tt le a nd sa id he felt a little fa tigu ed. Sm ith was ru n n ing co nsiste nt 1:52 la p times wh ile in front, a nd Arat a was ag ain on the HRT bik e and grad ua lly ga in ing o n th e Georgia rid er. \Vhi le Smi th seemed to be slidi ng the rear tir e on co rne r exits, Ara ta was tracking smoothlv, Big Ci ty Racin g 's T ed Lum pkin cras hed a t the hour a nd a half mar k . but was able to lim p the bike back into th e p its. Big C ity got their Yam ah a FZR600 back in th e race, lat er wor king their wa y back to 36th overa ll , 10th in the l\l ed iu mw eigh t Superhike cla ss. Ano ther tea m that wasn ' t so fort una te was Actio n Suzu ki. T he Ge orgiabased tea m had pi cked so u th eastern regi on fastman J eff Pa te. Pat e was doing well for th e team, keeping th e Action Suzu ki well in th e top 10, bu t TeamSuzuki beats Heartland heat By Larry Lawrence TOPEK K A, S,JULYi r ea m Suzuki rid ers Mik e Sm ith. Kurt H all a nd Britt Turk ington overcame near 100-degree tempera tures a nd an ear ly cha lle nge from the Huma n Race T eam to win thei r sixth \VERA Nati ona l Endurance of th e yea r. S u zu ki co m p le ted 405 mi les durin g i he si x hour, o f wh ich 40 minu tes was run u nd er red-fl agged co nditio ns. Boulder Yam aha Racing ' s J ohn H o p perstad a nd Ch ris tian G ardn er fin ished second in th eir first \VER A Na tional End urance event. Jim Still , Bru ce Bald us a nd Mich ael Mart in rod e th e H a ll N' Still Suzu ki to its best fin ish of th e seaso n to fini sh thi rd. The Human Race T eam pi cked u p J a pa nese sensa tio n Ta tsuro Arat a for thi s race, a nd Arat a was doing an ad m ira ble job o f leading th e race, before crash ing d urin g th e seco nd hour. T he H u ma n Race T eam crew worked feveri shly to get th e bike back in th e race, a nd th ey ended u p 23rd overa ll. It was a lrea dy gettin g ho t as th e g reen flag dropped to start th e six-ho u r event. T ea m Su zuki 's H all took the ea rl y lead followed by th e Humans, Hall N' Still . T eam Uno, America n Sp irit Racin g a nd T BA Raci ng. T he H u ma n Race T ea m was lu cky to even mak e th e sta rt as Steve Rodd en had cra she d th e HRT Ya ma ha in the la tter stages of th e morn in g pr actice sessio n. Pa rts were flyin g everywhe re in th e Human Race pi ts, as the crew hi s lack o f end u rance raci ng ex perience sho wed as worn ti res proved to be his undoing as he cras hed in turn 10, end ing the team 's day. I J ust before th e end o f the seco nd hou r, Ara ta aga in put th e Hu man Race. ent ry int o th e lead . U n fort u na tel y, for th e Human s the lead was a short -lived o ne. Arat a too k a n o u tside lin e in a n effort to pass slo wer traffic com ing o u t o f tu rn six, lost tra ction and crashe d. Sm ith was righ t o n Ara ta 's tail wh en th e in ciden t o ccu rr ed : " I hit him (Ara ta ) pr etty hard , 1 a lmost jum ped him ," Sm i th sa id . " I d id n ' t ha ve a nyw he re to go. I co uld tell th a t he was bei ng too agg ressive in traffi c." Ara ta was exa m ined by trackside medical perso n nel a nd was re leased " H e dis loca ted hi s th u mb, a nd h urt h is head a litt le bit, b ut 1 th in k he will be o ka y for th e Formula USA rac tomorrow ," said Ara ta's mentor Sa m Ya mash ita. By the end o f the seco nd hour Tea m Su zu ki was lead in g wi th 39 laps. The on ly o ther team o n the sa me la p was Vision Q uest Racing, a team tha t was formed poolsid e a t a hot el the ni gh t before the race. J eff H agen , Ro bert Wrigh t a nd Ma rk McDan iel figured they wo u ld ha ve a good s h o t a t win ni ng their class , plu s it wou ld be good p racti ce for th e sp rint ra ces th e next day. Ano th er team en tering th e endura nce fo r practice was J D Racin g. J oe Pitt ma n a nd Dave Devea u figured th ey wo u ld go o u t a nd lea rn the tra ck , bu t wh en the th e team began to see how well th ey were doing, they op ted to ra ce th e e n tire e ve n t. JD Racin g wa s ru n ni ng thi rd a t the two- hour mark, holding o ff a tight ly-bunch ed group of fo u r ot her team s runni ng o n lap 38. J D had to change bra ke pads duri ng th e race, wh ich d ro pped th em to sevent h by the fini sh. Quick pi t sto ps a nd fast ridi ng p u t T ea m Suzu ki two la ps int o the lead at th e ha lf-wa y po int in the race. JD Racing wassti ll in seco nd, while H all N' Sti ll mo ved int o third place. Cycl e Racer was do ing a n a ma zing job o n th eir Yam a ha FZR600. Rod H ollan d, Dean Mizda l a nd Ca l Ra y. horn III ha d p u t the little Ya ma ha a ll the wa y up to fo urth overa ll. The o nly o ther Mediu m weigh t bike ru nning in th e to p 10 was T ea m H a waii, wh o was ru n ning 10th . RK N Racing had th eir

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