Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE WERA Grand NationaIFinal ~ o ~ c-r .... v .D. S v ;> o Z Kurt Hall (60), Britt Turkington (28), David Deveau (131) and the rest of the pack during Suzuki Cup racing at Road Adanta. The WERA Grand National Finals were dominated by Novice Colin Edwards n. Edwards th fast Texan enew By Larry Lawren ce 14 BRASELTON, GA, OCT. 31 ·NOV 3 . exas ' ha s produ ced some pretty fast ro ad rac ers over the years. Kev in Schwantz, Bub ba Shobert an d Doug Pol en , to name a few. And T we ca n ' t forget a c,* p le of guys wh o groomed the ir ea rly raci ng skills in the Lone Star Sta te, n amel y Freddie Spen cer and J o hn Koci n sk i. Co li n Edwards II h as a long way to go if h e ever hopes to co me cl ose to th e fa me of the aforementioned rid ers, bu t he' s we ll o n his way . Edwards shattered th e W ER A reco rd by wi n n ing a ll eight of the N o vice classes h e entered at th e Metzel er /W ER A Grand Na tio na l Final a t Road Atl an ta. Th at broke the fo rmer record held by Adam Smith, 'wh o won six Novice ti tles i n 1985. Befo re a record G NF wee kend attend an ce of 18, 264 , n ea rly 50 0 riders ra ced for 41 Natio na l sp ri nt a n d en d ura nc e titl es i n WERA ' s ann ual year-en d ga the ri n g. This seemed to be th e, yea r of reco rds a t th e GNF. In add itio n to Edw ard s ' recor d, th er e was the cro wn in g of the firs t wo man to ever wi n a Nationa l m o torcycl e road racing ch a m p io n sh ip - in th e sa me ra ce WE RA crowne d i ts yo u ngest ever cham p io n . , Can adi a n Ma riann e Fraser ro de a H onda R S I 25 to vi ctory in th e Form ul a Three Expert cl ass to go down in h isto ry as the fir st woma n motorcycle road racin g cha m p io n. At th e sa me ti me Fras er ro de h er way to the record books, 14-year-ol d Tom my H ayden beca me WER A's yo u ngest ch a m p io n after winnin g th e Novice Form u la T h ree Ch ampi onship. Ha yd en , who tips th e sca les at 65 po u nds, ma y a lso be the lig h test cha mpi o n ever; th us th e n ickname, " Flyin' Fl ea. " Ov ershadow ed b y E dwa r ds ' acco m p lish men ts was the p er formance in the Expert ra n ks by WERA veteran Kurt Ha ll. H all , w ho works fu ll -time for WERA , won tWO m o re ' WE RA Nati onal spri nt tit les as well as sh are ' th e en d uranc e cham pio n sh ip a s a ri de r for Team Suz u ki. In add ition, H all a lso wo n th e II00cc Suzuki Cup Nationa l fi nal for th e seco nd straigh t year , p u tt ing to rest the ru mors th at his sprin t ra ci ng abil ity was o n a downward sp ira l. T homas W ilson pull ed of the rare feat o f winni n g WE RA No vice ti tles one year, then co m in g ba ck th e nex t year a n d winn in g Expert ti tl es. T h e Oh i o rid er looke d i m p ressive th rougho ut h is roo ki e Expert seaso n, and ca p pe d off th e yea r with t i tles in Fo rmul a Open a n d A Superb ik e. L ocal rider Franklin Knight co n tin ue d th e tradition of WERA cha m pion s from the state of Geo rgia . Kn ight , of Law ren cevill e, won both th e B Superbike a nd C Su pe r bi ke N a ti onal Ch ampi onshi p s o n h is Honda CBR600. Ed wa rds fi rs t ser ved n otice th at h e may be an up a nd co m in g rid er when h e co n vin ci ng ly won the fir st Met zeler Future Stars race at Road ' Atlanta back in March. H e then went on to win again a t Willow Springs in round tWO, but missed th e rest of the series races. Edwards was confident, co mi n g into Road Atlanta. " I think I should be able to win all eight ra ces, " Edwards predicted before the weekend, fre sh off a n record-breaking p erformance in th e AMA/CCS final at Daytona where he won fiv e Nov ice titles. Edwards biggest threat ca me from wild-riding Brett H arrelson . Besides being the brother of Woody Harrel son, the star o f television's Cheers, Brett wa s making a n ame for himself as one o f th e most aggressive Novi ce rid ers in WERA. Harrelson's " go for broke" riding had ended up with frequent visits to th e p av emen t. In the first meeting between the two on Thursday , Harrels on and Edwards raced together in the Metzeler B Production Novi ce ra ce. On th e third lap, Harrelson cra she d in turn seven which left Edwards alo ne to win th e race. T he two met aga in a bou t a half hour later in th e Met zel er A P roducti o n ra ce a n d thi s time H arrelson , riding a Suzu ki GS X R 750, led Edward s . With tWO lap s to go, h o wever , H arrelson cras he d ag ai n , thi s ti m e in turn f iv e . Aga in, Edwa rds wen t o n to a n ea sy wi n . Wh en qu est ioned o n hi s cras he s, Harrel son sa id th a t he would not dwell o n th ose a n d wou ld instead co ncentra te o n hi s upcom in g races. On Saturday, Ed wa rds went o n to ' wi n yet a nother ra ce in C Su p erb ik e No vice, H arrel son stuc k to h is wo rd a n d finish ed secon d in that race. In the Ex pert ra n ks , Hall an d Tom Wilson wer e th e top stor ies. After crash i ng in tw o ea rly rou n ds of th e Fo r m ula US A Series, Hall tempora ri ly q uit ra ci n g i n th e series. T he n he ca me back a nd didn ' t do , very well in th e series o n hi s return. . Th e talk i n th e paddoc k was th at hi s da ys as a top sp ri n t ra cer were n u m bered . H all, h owever, p roved th a t he sti II ha s w hat it tak es to win sp rint races a t Road Atl an ta . H all first won the Dunlop A Superstock champio n sh i p in co n vi nci n g fashion , ra ising a few eye bro ws. H e th en went on to win th e Suz u ki GSXRIIOO Nationa l Cup race by o ver five seco nds aga ins t a tal ent-Iadened field. And h e didn't stop th er e. H all becam e o n ly th e second four-stroke rider of th e year to win a Formul a USA race, nipping Ri ch Ol iver in the fir st leg. Hall wrapped up a n outstanding GNF with a h ai rraising win o ver Dave Deveau in th e Dunl o p B Super stock fin al. H a ll tr ail ed Deveau co ming u p to th e Nissan Bridge o n th e fi nal la p, but Devea u ra n wide o n the tu rn a t the top of the h ill giving Hall th e break he needed . Hall stuffed h is

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