Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE m -. - AMAlCCS EBC Brakes E ndurance Challenge: Round I Defending National Champion Dutchman Racing (1) leads the pack into tum one for the start of the first round of the series. They are being chased by Team America (9). Lynch, Heino show the way at Daytona By Henny R a y Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, M I AR. obody paid mu ch a tte nt io n wh en . Kawa sa ki's Scott R ussell took th e lead in the ope n ing la ps of th e EBC Bra kes 3-Hour En durance Cha llen ge on th e h igh banks o f Daytona Int ern a tional Sp eedw ay afte r start ing o n th e II th ro w of the grid. And nobody was too surprised that, run n in g lap tim es six and seven seco nds faster tha n th e top endu ra nce team s, hi s teamma te Thomas Stevens , who he handed o rr to during the first hour, was able to lap th e field by th e 29th lap. "T hey'll p ull in ," they tho ug ht. After all, mos t o f th e factory superbike tea ms use the end ur a nce race as a n ex tend ed pr actice session. Bu t whe n they were still in th e lead with less th a n 10 mi n ut es to go, it look ed like th ey were for rea l. That is, u nti l Ru ssell ran ou t o f gas three la ps fro m th e end, han d in g th e win to first-time teamma tes Je ff H eino a nd To m my Ly nch o n th e J eff Stern prepared Fastli n e/M CM Ra cin g Suzuk i 1100. " Wha t a bummer to do th at three or fo ur la ps from the finish ," R ussell said. " We wa nt ed to wi n it , but it was n' t in the ca rd s." Because of th e lead th ey'd bu ilt up, th ey were still able to finis h fifth overa ll a nd fifth in class. " O u r stra tegy wo rked o u t perfect ly," a juhilant Ly nc h said in th e speedway 's Victo ry La ne. " 1 was able to go o u t fast in th e beginning, so we p u t a li ttl e d istan ce o n th em , a nd J eff was able to bring it home." Heino had been o u t of racing until last yea r's Loud on round where he returned with a second pl ace finis h to . Russell in th e 750cc Su pe rsport race, follow ed by a number o f to p three finishe s. Lynch lost hi s facto ry ride N 12 wi th th e Yoshim ur a Su zu ki team for this yea r, wh ic h he no ted in th e winner 's circle. " I' m hop in g to ge t a factory ride in '93," he said. The team completed 88 la ps o f th e 3.56-m ile road co u rse a t a n average spe ed of 103.566 mph on a b rill ia nt ly su n ny a nd warm Florida afternoo n. Second pl ace, o ne minute a nd 29. 10 seco nds back , went to th e Dutch ma n Racin g team o f Mi ke Harth a n d Da yton a first-tim er Brian Bernard, o f Auck la nd, New Zeal an d , a fte r a n unexpected front tire cha nge cos t them over a lap earl y in th e race. " We weren't set u p to do a fro n t ti re cha ng e, because we've never had a p rob lem with one ," tea m owner Dave Sch losser said. " We lost nearl y two m inu tes because we weren 't read y to do -it." Dutchman was th e on ly ot her team o n th e lead la p , fin ish in g seco nd behind Fas tline/ MC M on their Suzu ki 1100. Th ird, a lap down after a number o f ti re cha nges, was th e J apanese Kawasa ki tea m of Sh oi chi "T iger" Tsu ka mo to and T ak a hiro " Ch icken" Soh wa, both mak in g th eir Daytona debut, on a ZX7R tha t wi ll be race d in the su perbike cla ss. Like the other su perbi ke tea ms, KRT I, as th ey were ca lled. used the race as a lon g test sessio n for th e 200. " It was very lucky for us to do what we d id because we haven 't been here before," team manager Sta nley Takagai said. " Yesterday we o nly ha d a short time for pr act ice; today, three hours." . Both rid ers com pe ted in th e All J apan F-J Ser ies last year with So hw a finish in g th ird a nd T su ka mo to fifth . Tea m Ame rica fini sh ed fourth , with Woody Deatherage a nd Ray Yoder in t he sadd le o f . the yea r-o ld S u zuki GS XR 1100, o ne positi on bett er th a n R ussell a nd Stevens. Gol d Hill Racin g II, with Mark Ch in a nd Ri ck Shaw spli tt ing th e ridi ng on the team 's Yam ah a FZR IOOO, fini shed six th a head of sevent h overa ll a nd first GTU-class finish er Mo w Libert y/Nanka i. T he first-time pairing of former Go ld H ill Racer Dan n y Wa lker a nd Dou g Ca rm icha el rod e th e team 's Ho nda C BR600 to the GTU cla ss wi n after a fai rly smooth rid e. The du o was thi rd ea rly, before moving up when the ea rly lead ers began to falter. It was first Tea m Toomer wh o went o u t in the opening hour with a fried clu tch , then New Tech Racing suffered battery tro ubl e o n th eir ZXR-6 Kaw asa k i, forc ing rider s J on Ro bert s, Mich ael Barnes a nd Will iam Luke to ma ke u p for lost track time. . T hey wou ld fin ish third, o n the sa me lap as l RC Raci ng 's G lenn Szarek, Larry Golds te in, a nd Pau l You ng ma n o n a Yam aha FZR 600.. T he race was o ne o f a ttr itio n, with tir es o f a ll mak es suffering the ab use o f th e GT O bik es and insufficient testing ca using mor e p roblems. " Everyth ing 's go ing wrong," T eam Magi c's Erik Moe said after h is seco nd stint. " O n m y second rid e 1 ch u n ked a front o ne, three pi eces were mi ssin g from the left side. Our bik e is 80 po unds hea vier than my su perbike a nd makes 30 more hor sep ow er. It's j ust too mu ch (for th e tires)." It was too m uch for mo st tea m s. All th e top ones having to cha nge tir es, rear s a t least, at every sto p with o thers making unplann ed sto ps. More th an on e rider mentio ned Dave Sad ow ski 's horrific fro n t straig h t tir e fa ilure from th e fall end u ra nce race and th ey were qui ck to back o rr a t th e first sign of vibrat ion . " I was taking it easy , b u t I still bli stered th e front tire," Dutchman's H arth said. " T ha t's unu sua l." T he two -wave, GTO- GTU gri ds were green-Ilagged just after 12:45 p.m. a nd th e su perbikes im med iat ely lea p t to th e fro nt . The Ka wasaki team s were o ne and two with Co m mo n wea lt h H onda 's Mik e Smith a n ea rl y thi rd befor e th e first of many p it sto ps. Clea rly, Sm ith was test in g for the 200. The Kaw asak is were a lso, but th ey were a lso in it for th e win . " O u r p la n wh en we left home was to run th e race lik e th is, use it as a test a nd not necessar i ly fini sh ," Kawasa ki tea m o wne r Ro b Muzzy said. "We sa id we'd run a nd see how things were go ing. Well , they were go ing good , so we kept ra cing. " And racing a t a pace th at no on e co uld co me close to matchi ng. Aboard o ne o f .the su pe rbikes he' s entered in th e Daytona 200, a nd using end ura nce tir es, Ru ssell was running in th e low 54s, th en pi cked up th e pace and dropped into th e 53s. U no fficia lly , his two best stin t laps were a I:53.26 and a I:53.62. Steven s was sligh tly slo wer, th ough it wasn 't noticeab le o n th e tra ck. " We' re set u p pretty much th e sa me," R ussell sa id aft er his first stint . " I' m a little fast er , but we'r e cha ng ing things, practicing for the 200. Suspension is one thing. We're learning how it 's goi ng to act af ter it gets hot."

• Cover