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~ ROA DRACE WERA Vanson/PM NationalEndurance Series: Round I ~ , - - - -- - - - - - - - - . , T eam America' s Michael Barnes. Danny Roberts and Andy Deatherage fini shed second overall. six laps behind Team Suzuki Endurance in the six-hour race. Team Suzuki Endurance won its 73rd endurance race with a victory at Roebling Road. Force Racing (3) finished third overall and first Heavyweight Pr oduction ; Royale Racing (54) won the Mediumweight Superbike class and finished nin th overall . - Tearn Suzuki starts season with abang Photos by Tamm y Schroder FAULKVJLLE, GA M 14 , AR. new racing season brings renewed hopes of victory for championship contend ers, especially when the defendi ng series cha mp ion has amassed some 72 career victories. Make that 73, A 26 and dash some of those early season hopes because T eam Suzu ki Endurance has started the season in similar fashion to seasons past, with a ru naway victory in the opening rou nd. T he 2. I-m ile Roebl ing Road Raceway in th e so u th east corner of Georgi a was the si te for Tea m Su zuk i's la test wi n, as Kurt H all a nd Mich ael Martin co m bine d to cover 233 la ps for a to tal di stan ce of 489.3 m iles in the six-hour race. Second p lace o vera ll and seco nd in the H ea vyw eigh t Superbi ke class went to T eam Am eri ca with Michael Barnes, Da nny Robert s an d And y Death era g e h an dl in g the te am ' s ri di ng c ho res . T he Su zu ki GSX RIIOO-mou nted team finish ed six la ps behind T eam Suzuki in th e red-flag-interrupted ra ce. Force Ra cing put th eir Yamaha FZR 1000 into the winner 's ci rcle with a third place finish. Ro n Crum, Rick Pa g n ia n o a n d Ma r k McDanie l' s effo rts a lso earned th e tea m th e class vic to ry in H eavyweigh t Pr oduction . Force finis hed eig h t laps beh ind Team Suzu ki End urance. Moto Sport Racin g's Peter Ch ristensen , Craig Steven and Lee Shi erts com pleted 224 laps to fini sh third in H eavyweight Superbike and fo urth overall on their Suzuki GSXR I IOO with Roswell Racing's David Harman and Craig Renck finis hi ng fifth overall. Ro ya le Racing wo n th e Mediumweight Superb ik e class o n th eir H on da CBR6 00 while Twin Swine Dudes to p pe d the Med iumweigh t P rod uction ran ks o n a H onda. Team Suzu ki's victory was wo rt h 123.93 points, and they lead Tea m Am eri ca by 16.26 poi nts wit h 12 ro~n d s remai n i ng i n the l 3-ra ce serres. The factory backed-Suzuki effor t led from the sta rt, a nd encountered o n ly sm all problems en route to th e victory . H all was aboard the Val volinel Arai/ Dun lo p / SBS/ Emgol Fo x/ H elimo t / S u n s t a r / T s u b a k i l Ker ker l Dyn ojet / Pow er Mist-backed Tea m Suzuki entry when the flag dropped a t I I:34 a.rn., and he prom ptly cli cked off a o ne- min u te, l7. 38-seco nd lap to esta blish a lead o n th e fiel d. The vete ran th en backed off to run lap tim es in the 1:18/1 :19 range. Th e tea m pitted after a n hour and 10 mi n ut es, o n the 52nd lap , but ..in into sligh t prob lems with th e quickfill system , and also in removing the rea r-ax le sa fety clip. Still , Michael Martin eme rged from th e p its after on Iy 53 seconds wi th a new rear Dunl op tire a nd a full tank of fuel. . Sho rtly after Martin took over at th e helm of T eam Suzuki, th ough, the red -flag ca me o u t, bringing with it a 25-m inu te delay. T he team used the delay to so r t o ut th e problems, replacing the qu ick- fill fittin g o n th e gas ta n k and turning up th e pressure o n the air gu n n itr ogen bottle to further tighten th e rear ax le nu t. Martin rode u ntil th e sched uled seco nd pit stop , o n lap 11 0. whe n he ca me back in fo r mor e fu el an d a no the r rear ti re; th is s to p wa s so mewha t quicker at 37. 10 seconds. Roebl in g Road 's coa rse su rface was ca using the fie ld to ha ve ti re wear prob lem s and the n umber one team wa s no exception . Team Suzuki used a softer Dun lo p 640 because the harder 770 didn 't gi ve th e Suzu ki eno ugh g ri p, but th ey paid th e pe na lty with a tire cha nge at eac h and ever y sto p . A seco nd red-fl ag was th rown o u t o n the l38th lap, endi ng H all 's sti n t. Sixteen m in ut es lat er th e gree n waved again with Martin rid ing the Suzu ki. At the four-hour mark. T eam Suzuki led T eam Ame rica by three laps with Mot o Sport fourt h , Force fifth and Swi ne six th . Moto Spo rt jumped up to third durin g the fourth hour with For ce Ra cing taking over fourth plac e as Mot ion Systems dr opped back to fifth . By the end of the race, though , Force would contin ue their run to the front by passing Moto Spo rt to finish third. Moto Sport held o n to fourth wit h Ro sw ell Ra cing fin ish in g fifth overa ll. CN Resu lts OVERALL: 1. T eam Suzuki Endurance (Suz); 2. T eam Ame rica (Suz); 3. For ce Ra cin g (Yam): 4. Mot o Sport Raci ng (SUI); 5. Roswell Racin g (Suz); 6. Mo tion Systems (Ka w) : 7. Team Swine Du des (Hon): 8. R.A. Racing (Suz); 9. Royale Racing (Hon ); 10. T eam Sava nnah (Yam ); I I. Knee-On Racing {Ka w): 12. Northern Boys Racing (H o n ); 13. Ardight Racin g 1I (Hon); 14. T KO Racing (Yam); 15. Tagg T eam Racing (Hon): 16. 129 Race T eam (Ya m); 17. C&M Racing (Yam ): 18. Three Amigos Racin g (Yam ): 19. VOA Racing (Ya m): 20. Fon Washington Racing (Yam). Distance: 6 Hours. Average Speedr N / A d ue to red nags. Margin o(Vietory: 6 laps. HIW S/IlK: 1. Team Suzu ki (SUl ); 2. Team America (Suz); 3. Mo to Sport Racin g (Suz); 4. Roswell Racing (SUl); 5. R.A. Racing (Sua). M /W S/ BK: 1. Royale Racing (Ho n ); 2. T eam Savan na h (Yam); 3. T KO Racing (Yam ); 4. Tagg T eam Racing (Hon ); 5. 129 Racing (Ya m). H IW PR.OD: 1. Fo ra: Ra cing (Yam ): 2. Mot ion Systems. Raci ng (Ka w ): 3. And erson/jardine Raci ng (Suz); 4. Progress ive Ra cin g (SUI ); 5. Force Racin g 1I (Yam). MIW PR.OD : I. Team Swi ne Dudes (Han); 2. Northern Boys Ra cing (H a n); 3. Arch ght Racin g 1I (H on ); 4. T eam NOS (Ho n). .

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