Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

with HRT, H all 'N' Still completing the top three. Rain began falling in the first hou r with strong warnings that it wou ld come in earnest la ter in the night, The first quarter of the race showed little that wasn 't expected. Suzuki, HRT and Hall ' H ' Still were comfortabl y settled in th e top spots with a smattering of other teams jockeying for positions. American sprin ts ran well for a coupleof hours before dropping out. TBA Racing was running especially strong in the earl y hours until it crashed just into the-sixth hour with Don Fieldon aboard. " Rai n sta rted in the carousel - real hard - and I rode into it," said Fieldon. " A bik e went down just behind me when I hit a bump and went out ." The next crash happened within minutes when TBA Team rider Dave Bissett rode off the outside of the carousel because he had no vision at all due to heavy rain. TBA lost no laps because the race was red flagged immediately due to heavy rains at 6:41.33 into the race. For the next two and a half hours the race was put on hold because the rain was pouring so hard the riders couldn't see. The front stra igh t had also flooded near the start tower and was exceedingly dangerous. WERA offi cials in conj unctio n with track management en listed the aid of a local fire depa rtment in tryi ng to pump the flooded area to allow th e race to conti nue. T he efforts were good and the race was restarted at 9:09 .on th e race clock. Suzuki had Hall on for the restart bu t HRT was mi ssin g fro m the grid a nd s till in it s pit. The eventual problem was diagnosed as a faulty rela y to th e h eadlight. Th en th e -ign ition went sour and it had to be dou sed with WD-40 to get it running. Hall ' N' Still Racing clocked in at 294 laps in the 10th hour, four laps behind HRT and 12 off of Suzuki's pace . RK BMW made its only endurance race of the year on a KIOORS and had 288 laps. RK riders' Keith Wakefield, Rob Kiviat and Brad Morrison were having problems with the track's irregularities despite running a custom Fox Shock with adjustable length and a finely-tuned progressive rebound damping. RK continued to stay competitive until an 18-minute pit stop just near the 21 and a half hour mark spelled trouble in the form of a broken universal joint. " We pulled the rear drive off and found all kinds of metal," said Rob Kiviat, Heschimura Racing's Keith Marshall had been prepping the CBR400 for two months and it clearly showed. Just before the red flag they had lapped th e next team in their class. The team sta yed competitive in th e wet on the small-bore bike, but eventually when the track dried later on Sunday the horsepower disadvanta~e showed. Minor excitement was generated in the 17th hour when Smith threw the earn Suzuki machine away in turn 13, a right-hand hairpin, after he tarted to place too much thought on the pit board and HRT gaining ound. At the time they were ahead y 14 laps and due to the crash they ost three. At the hour's end they were p by 10 laps, 570 to 560. HRT's Ray Yoder later threw it way in turn three, and what HRT had een given they returned. Hall ' N' Still displayed inten se calm nder press ure by rebounding from a ash which wasted all of the bod york, headligh t and fairing pi us 20 aps after a Baldus crash. "T he Suzuki people really helped ut and got us back on the track to (L.R) Team Suzuki's Mike Smith, Don Caner, Britt Turkington and Wes Cooley celebrate with The Human Race Team, compete with Ro yale Racing," Jim Still said. Later in the race Still told his riders to just relax and not fall aga in. " Ra in caused us a lot of gri ef. It ca used us to use three riders a nd conseq ue nt ly dra ined th em du e to lack of rest," he said: Mean wh il e R o yale R a cin g wa s giv ing' up as much asphalt as it was ga ining becaus e of a faulty alternator early in the race, a bad battery early Sunday mornin g which resulted in a push in fro m turn 13 all the way down pi t ro w to th e last pit, and a cras h a t ro ug h ly the 19th hou r with Bailey aboard after he lost concentratio n in turn 12. Repa irs in cluded a ham mering of the exha ust back to shape and the headl ights. The crash dropped th e team from fourth to fifth but more impo rta nt ly allowed Hall ' N' Still breathing room to pull ahea d and maintain its pace. Very late in the race the Heschirnura camp was gleeful that it was raining since th e racing lines became very wet and they could hold the Honda almost wide open all around the track. Rider Chris Ross said, " It' s raining and in the wet the small bike can make a difference. In the rain the big bikes actually got in our way. " The team never fell, never broke anything, used one set of tires and used traffic in the wet corners to gain and keep val uable seco nds. At th e end T eam Suzuki joined a very select group that are four-time winners of the Nelson Ledges 24-Hour and single winners of Willow 24-Hour for a total of five overall 24 hour wins. Team Half-Fast Light riders , George Coll ins, Tom Morgan , Dan Gedeon started slow on their Yamaha FZR400 and quietly worked their wa y up from 17th in hour one to event ually fini sh eighth overall by carding a consistent, trouble-free race in th e shadows of Herchimura and th e big teams . But the team was working in unison with the local Muscular Dystrophy chapter to set a fund raising event for handicapped persons. Pledges were gathered for each mile or a flat rate was pledged. They also sold T-shirts and spent time at local events. The team has collected roughly $1200-$ 1500 according to George Collins, team owner. All money will be presented at the Jerry Lewis telethon later this year. ' (;N Results 0 / A: 1. Team Suzu ki End urance (Suz); 2. T he Hu man Race Team (Yam); 3. Hall 'N' Still Racing (Suz); 4. Heschi mu ra Racing (Hon): 5. Royale Racing (Suz): 6. TBA Racing (Suz); 7. Hon da of Niles (Ho n); 8. T eam Half Fast Light (Yam ); 9. Raw Racing (Yam): 10. CLASS Racing (Suz); I I. Tea m Machine (Yam ); 12. Mid So uth Racin g (Yam); 13. RK BMW (BMW): 14. Valley Cycle Racin g (Hon): 15. Nationals Fiberglass (Yam ): 16. RKN Racing (Yam); 17. Swim' Dudes (Suz); 18. Vo ight Bros Heschimura Racing's Chris Ross, Bill Wilke, Steve Pinkley and Keith Marshall finished fourth overall on a Honda CB-I to top the Lightweight class by 17 laps, Royale's Doug Henry, Terry Bailey and Jim East didn't let the fact that they had just three riders get in the way of their second place in Heavyweight Production. Racing (Yam): 19. Coon Island Racing (Yam): 20. Sam Speed Racing (Yam): 21. T eam Osaurus Racin g (Yam); 22. Deals Gap Racin g (Yam); 23. Moti on Systems Racing (Ho n): 24. HOI Pursuit (Yam ): 25. SOB Racing (Hon); 26. Hall Fast Racing (Suz); 27. Twister Express (Yam); 28. Cycle S~ Racin g (Yam): 29. Action Suzuki Racing (SUI); 30. American Spir it Racin g (Yam ); 31. Common T rash (Yam): 32. Peter Penn Ha1l Racing; 33. .Credit Card Racin g (Suz): 34. No Turtles Racing (Yam). WERA NATIONAL END URANCE SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Team Suzuki End urance (850.95); 2. The Hu man Race T eam (755.59): 3. Royale Racing (610.48): 4. TBA Racing (576.81); 5. CLASS Racing (497.86); 6. Hall 'N' Still (455.79); 7. Actio n Su zuki Racin g (448.13); 8. RKN Racin g (408.93): 9. Mid-Sou th Racing (391.61); 10. America n Spiril(391.50); I I. Honda of Niles (357.48): 12. Deals G ap Ra cing (345.45); 13. Voigh t Bros. Racing (343.81): 14. T eam ~ach i ne ( 3 3 1. 26) : 15. Raw Racin g (328.20). 23

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