Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROA C DRAE AMAlCCS U.S. Endurance Championship_Se_ri_es:_R_ou_n_d3--:.. - ~ Tom Douglas and Dale Quarterley gave The Human Race team its first win of the year at the New Hampshire International Speedway in New England. Dutchman Racing (I) finished second. completing 122 laps at Loudon. Human Race Team tops Loudon 3-Hour By Henny Ray Abrams LOUDON, NH,JUN1 5 efore the stan of th e 3-Hour EBC Bra kes Endurance Cha llenge, this m u ch was k nown about t h e Huma n Ra ce Team: Tommy Do ugl as had never been to ' New H a m psh ire Interna tional Speedway, nor did he get m uch practice. P lus, he'd be ridi ng the team ' s Yamaha -powered 1003c c Bim o ta wit h a broken bo ne in his righ t hand on a day when th e tempera ture and h u m idi ty nu m ber s bot h a p p roache d 85. So wh y was he th e lead rid er wh en th e green flag dropped a t 12:30 in th e afternoon? ..It was my decision ," Dale Quar ierl ey, Dougl as' veteran tea mma te said. " I th ought he co uld get o u t with abou t 20 o thers, hoo k up a nd learn. At th e o ther end (of th e first hour) he'd have B 18 to learn on' his own and cou ld lose 1015 seconds playing." When Dougl as handed off to Quarterley after the first ho u r, th e team was in eigh th. Qua n erley picked up the pace, la ppin g abo ut five seconds faster than Dougl as had and took over th e lead before the halfway point. The team led by ov er a minute whe n Do ugl as took over in the fina l ho ur. T he p lan was for Qilarterley to ride th e final 30 mi nutes, but team ma nager Dave Zupan decid ed to keep Do ugl as on a nd th e choice was a good one. T he Humans won th e GTO class, 'their first win of th e year, beat in g th e Dutchman Raci ng team of Mari o DuHamel a nd Robert Wrigh t by close to a m inute wh en th e race was red- flagged with j ust u nder 10 m inu tes to go. Du tch m a n Racing II 's Fabian Cortez and Richar d Moore finished third. Bo th Du tch m an teams rode Su zuki GSX R IIOOs. Fourth went to Christian Gardner a nd Danny Wal ker on the G o ld H ill Racing FZR IOOO Yam aha with T ea m R . E.S fift h best , th ei r S uzuki GSXRI IOO piloted by Britt T u rki ngto n , Crai g Gl eason, a n d J a so n . Pri dm ore. Because the race was red -flagged, th ere was no offi cia l margin of victory or average speed. The Humans a nd Dutchman Raci ng both completed 122 laps, Du tchman II a nd G old Hill 121 laps, a nd T eam R.E.S. 119 laps. T eam ing up to win th e GTU clas s were James Lesli e and Ow en Weichel on th e 1 Can Jam Yamaha FZR600. The Connecticut-based team led mos t of th e race after series leader T eam Toomer dropped ou t with engine tro u bles in the seco nd hour and easi ly beat North star GTU 's Scott Ruehle a nd Mike Moores with N2 Racin g th ird. T he top th ree GT U tea ms completed 119 la ps. Toomer still leads th e series with 37 points to 34 for No rthsta r. Myers & Pru ssia no, fourth today, is third with 28. In the GTO class, Dutchman Racing is ' tied wi th T ea m Mad Dog at 45 poi nts. Mad Do g fin ished seve nth today after lead ri der Ri ck Kirk had to p it o n th e 15th lap with a failed fron t master cylinder a nd lost five laps. T ied for third a t 30 points are Dutchman II. Gold Hill Racing, a nd Yam aha of J acksonville. Yamaha o f J acksonvill e's Kevin Rentzell led for nearl y 45 minutes before pullin g in wi th a brok en th ro ttl e ca ble. Rentzell and tea mmate Dean Mizdal fin ish ed 12th. It was a hot , humid a nd overcas t afternoon as 'the green flag dro p ped and the 20 GTO a nd 30 GT U tea ms headed out for three hours on the demanding 1.6-miIe Loudo n circu it. Yama ha o f J ack son vill e's Ren tzell led th e pack wit h Mad Dog 's Kirk o n h is tai l as th e pack sp read o u t beh ind th em . By th e 10th lap Kirk was in th e lead , Rentzell soo n returning th e favor as Dutchman II a nd I moved into th ird and fou rth ahea d o f Gold Hill's Da nny Walker a nd R . E.S.'s C rai g Gl ea son . Mad Dog 's Kirk pulled in o n th e 15th la p wi t h w ha t wa s initia lly thought to be a g lazed fro nt disk , but was ultim at ely fo u nd to be a fau lt y master cy li nde r. T he entire b rake sysiem was replaced a nd Mik e H a rth too k over, well down in the field . Roundin g the fin al co rner before th e stan straigh t near th e 45-m in u te mark , Rentzell 's Yam aha jumped o u t o f gea r a nd wh en he snap ped o pe n th e th rottle after it engaged , o ne o f th e ca bles broke. The team replaced both ca bles, though th ey wo uld finish th e race wi tho u t a ret u rn cable. . Du tchman II 's second rid er , Ri ch ard Moo re. too k o ver the lead briefl y before Quarterley, now in th e sadd le for th e H uman Race tea m, moved into first. T he diminutive Moo re said he was " plo wing th rough traffic," because th e bigger machine had so much power a nd momentum...It 's a fact of life with a n 11 00 on a tight trac k," he sai d. " Wi th his weight, he ge ts more tracti on o n the rea r wh en he accelerat es," Moore sai d of Quarterl ey, " a nd whi le I' m sliding, he's leaving a ni ce black line to impress me." ' The lead in the GTU class a lso cha nged just pa st th e first hour wh en T eam T oomer retired. Mik e Barn es was to ps in class and fifth overa ll wh en he no ticed th e cl u tch sta rt ing to sli p. H e bega n to bab y th e engi ne, but go ing _ into turn one it "j ust q u it," he sai d, while th ey held nea rly a o ne lap lead. 1 Ca n J a m 's O wen Weich el in herited the lead. A bl o wn e n g i ne on t h e fro nt straightaway just befo re the halfwa y ma rk caused a wavi ng yellow flag which race officia ls beli eved a n u m ber of team s ignored. A o ne- lap pen alty wa s assessed to 23 teams, th ough , u ltim atel y, i t wo u ld n' t a ffect t he ou tcorne of the race. The race co ntin ued for severa l laps while tra ck wo rkers spread oil -dry on th e tra ck, then tried to sweep it off, a nd , afterwa rds, a number of rid ers bel ieved th e ra ce sh ou ld ha ve been redflag ged while th e track was clea ned. But AMA/CCS boss Roger Edm ondson said th ey didn 't expec t it wo uld take tha t long to clean the tra ck, whic h was wh y th ey didn' t origi na lly stop it. " If it was a cl ub race, we wo uld ha ve sto pped it," he sa id. At th e halfway point th e Humans led Dutchman w i th Dutchm an II seco nd a hea d o f G old Hill , 1 Can J am ; th e to p GTU team , and T eam R.E.S. Keystone Ra cing was seventh overa ll af ter th e team lost th ree-quarters of a lap a t the sta rt wh en so meo ne failed to tu rn th e pe tcoc k on. . Tea m G o od T i mes Accessor ies, wh ich had ru n as high as seco nd. was forced to drop o u t after 60 laps when a n o il vent tube spewed ho t o il all over th e electrical wires a nd sh u t it down. J eff Herzog had just ta ken o ver th e .rid ing chores. The second half of th e race provided little cha nge a nd no su rp rises. The order of th e top team s in th e GTO cla ss d idn 't cha nge, a lthough th e rid ers did. T ommy Dougl as took back over th e Human bik e from Quarterl ey wh o was g lad to gi ve u p th e co n tro ls. "This track wears me o u t," Quarter ley said, after givi ng th e team over a minute lead . " I kept th e tim es in th e high ' 19,. low 20,. I was n't push in g it or ta king chances. We p lan ned 45 minute stints, but 1 chose to go a n ho ur-lO." T he Human Race tea m was decla red th e win ner wh en Team Mad Dog 's R ick Kirk cras he d whil e tryin g a foolish passing maneuv er in a downhill right with just under 10 minutes to go . T rying to pl ow hi s way through slower riders, Kirk cras he d, separa ting his righ t sho u lder a nd brin ging o u t the red fla g th a t wo u ld end th e race . Dutc h m an R a cin g ' s Ma r i o DuHam el had ridd en th e fir st hour, Robert Wri ght th e middle hour, a nd DuHam el was back ou t with 58 min utes to go . Wright sai d th at with th e heat, th e " track's a lot of work. T he re 's no real break . We have a stoc k motor a nd it 's a little down o n power. Dave (Sch losser, team man a ger ) wanted us to keep going a nd th at's wh at we did ," Wri ght sai d. Their o nly problem was a sliced tir e th ey had to cha nge in th e fir st hour. ..It cos t us a little under a lap.... he sai d. Sti ll, DuHamel would bring home th e Am erican Suzuki!Ara i/Red Lin e O il entry seco nd. Third from midpoint to th e end was Dutchman II. Fab ian Co rtez rode th e first 62 minutes, Ri chard Moore th e middle stin i, with Co rtez back ou t atthe end. " T o wa rd the end o f m y sti nt 1 was h a vin g tro u ble d ownsh iftin g into seco nd gear," Moore sa id. adding his only o ther problem was "a lot o f traffi c. In the seco nd ho ur everyone 's in their groove a nd it goes somewha t smoo the r." Fourth-placed Gold H ill Racing had a ch ange of stra tegy la te in the race, accordi ng to team manager a nd rid er J o h n Ho p perstad. T he team decided to let Da n n y Wa lker ride the

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