Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- BROAD RACE AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge Series: Final round ~ • .... Q,) ,..0 S Q,) ;> o Z Larry Schwarzbach led Team Mad Dog to th e victory inthe fin al round of the AMA/CCS Endurance Series a t Da ytona. . TeamMagic (22) leads Dutchman Ra cing II and K&N Ra cing (32); Team Mag ic finished third overall and third in GTO, MdDog bitesat Day n a to a By H en n y Ra y Ab rams DAITONA BEACH, FL, ocr. 28 ea m Mad Dog's Mik e Ha r'th a nd La rry Sc h warz bach wo n th e 10th a nd final ro und o f th e AMA/CCS EB C Enduran ce Challenge at Da yto na Intern a tio nal Speedwa y, taking o ver the lead just past th e halfway po int in th e three-hour race a nd stretchi ng o u t a four-l ap margin o f victory. Four la ps after ' tak ing th e tea m's Yamaha FZR IOOO over from Sch wa rzbach on th e 44th la p, H a rt h chased down Tom Kip p o n the T eam SBS Brakes Suzuki GS XR I 100 a nd pu lled away as Kipp slowed with engine tro ub le before pulli ng out o n th e 65th lap. Team Mad Dog com p leted 84 laps on th e co mbi ned oval/infield road T 6 course, avera ging 104.464 mph a nd wi n ni ng by 8 minutes, 34. 10I seconds. Fa st l in e-M iCi M Ra cin g' s J eff R hea u me a nd J eff Ste rn p ut th eir Suzuki GSXR750 into second place, while J an Erik Svensson a nd Cra ig Shambaugh fini sh ed third o n th e T eam Magi c FZR 1000 Yamaha. " We k i nd of took Du tchman ' s strategy , ra n a co ns istent .race a nd wh upped 'em ," H a rth said in the win ner 's circle. " Wha tever it too k, we overca me it. I wa nt to wish Vic Fasol a (Mad Do g c re w c hi ef) a happ y birthday." The wi n , the tea m 's second of th e year, moved Mad Dog int o fo urth p lace for th e season beh i nd Dutchman , Du tch man II (10th today), and Keys- to ne Ra cing (si x t h tod a y ). Since Dut ch m an Racing had clinch ed th e tit le in the pr evi ous race, th ere was little interest in th e champio ns hi p . Not so in th e GTU class. In order for . orthstar GTU Racin g to take th e tit le, they had to wi n while T eam Toomer ha d to fai l toscore points a nd th at 's exact ly wh at happen ed, though it was in the fina l minutes o f th e race before th at beca me clear. No rthstar GTU kept their Yam aha FZR600 a t o r near the front for most of the race, ho lding th e lead at th e halfway po int befor e bein g passed by K&N Racing 's Phil McDon ald, al so o n a FZR600. Northstar was havi ng to co pe . with a transm ission th a t lost seco n d . g ea r ea rly o n, . ma ki ng i t d ifficult to get th rough th e in fiel d. Mea n while , Toome r's J eff Farmer ra n a u t o f gas in the chica ne on the 30th la p a nd had to push th e FZR600 fro m th ere, losing ab out six la ps in . th e pr ocess. Teammate J on Robert s went o u t for a few mo re la ps on ly to pull in with failing brak es a nd a n overhea ting engi ne. From then o n a ll th ey could do is si t a nd watch a nd th ey wou ldn' t like wha t they saw . First th e K&N Racing Yam aha p ut a rod through the case mov ing No rt hs tar up and the n I Can Jam's J a mes Leslie, lea ding Northstar with minutes to go , blew an engine, handing th e win a nd season titl e to Northstar. Second in GT U went to th e T eam America Ya mah a FZR600 pilot ed by Brian G ri sti ck and Frank Slaugh ter wi th J on D.Ru e Racing's Lee Pounders a n d P aul Schwemm er th ir d . Po unders rod e th e last two hours a nd fifteen minutes a lone alter Schwemmer crashed a t th e 45-m in u te mark, in juring h is shoulder. The race began just aft er 1:30 p.m. o n a warm a nd w indy aft ern oo n wi th th e GTO ri ders sent o ff in th e first wave foll owed by th e GTU riders. Da le Qua rteriey had the T eam SBS Bra kes ma chi ne in th e lead followed by' Team T o o m e r Too , Bo u ld e r Yama ha Raci ng's J o h n H opperstad , and Team Mad Dog 's Mik e H arth. Q uarterl ey was o n th e T eam SBS Brakes Suzuki GS XR I 100 becaus e th e Dutch ma n Racing ma chi ne had been cra shed by Dona ld J acks in the morning practice. They too k th e gas tank o ff th a t bike a nd put it o n th eir second bik e, o nly to have it quit twice in turn fo ur with w ha t th ey thought was electrical tro ub le, La ter , they would di scover th at it was a pi nche d breather tube. .f In a ny event, th ey were on th eir n u mber three machine a nd pulling away. By the 18th lap th ey had over a six-second lead with Mad Dog's Harth seco nd and Dan n y Wa lker th ird on th e Boulder Yamaha. Quarterley was slowed by tra ffic as th ey reached the 40-m in u te mark and Harth was a ble to close up a nd ta ke the lead. T hey swa pped back a nd fort h until th e 23rd lap wh en Quarteriey turned the bike over to Kip p and Schwarzbach took' over for Harth. J ust alter th e firs t hou r, Bo ulder Yamaha's chances for a win came to an end wh en they were forced into the pits with a brok en filam en t sen sor o n thei r Dynoj et fuel inj ectio n system.o il "We th in k it's the hot-wire air tG s a sensor unit," Bou lder's Walker said: . "We had the sa me problem at Ind y. It brea ks insta ntaneous ly. ' It broke co mi ng o ff th e back banking wit h J ohn riding. " T he bik e was returned to th e pi ts in th e back of a pi ck u p truck. The team would eventually finish 14th ." Kipp was turning lap times in ' th e 2:0 1 ra nge and p u lling away from Schwartzbach . On the 38th lap he held over a 16-second lead and was running flawlessly. The sa me co uld n 't be said for Mad Dog. " It wasn't revvi ng past I 1,000," H arth said. Quarterl ey co nfirmed: " I co u ld hea r hi m bo u nc ing it o ff the rev limiter. " . I Halfway throug h th e race it was stilf Tea m SBS leadin g Tea m Mad Dog with Northstar Racing th ird ahead of Sou th Flo rida Racin g a nd FastlineM.C.M . Racing. Kipp handed it back to Quanerl ey after a 50.4-second pit stop for ga s, o il, and a rear tir e on the 46th lap, showing Quarter ley ho w much rubber the front Michelin had pi cked u p. " There's . lots of rubber o u t th ere from th e NASCAR stuff," Kip p sai d. " When I went o u t the Mad Dog guys were goi ng o u t a nd I was consistently pu lli ng th em . I was doing 58s a nd 59s, As lo ng as we keep th e bike togeth er we've go t a pret ty good sh ot at it." Sch warz bac h , af ter handing off to Harth, sa id th a t th e machin e was "s ti ll

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