Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE WERA Vanson/PM Endurance Series: Round 3 ~ T eam Suzuki Endurance won again, this time at Willow Springs International Raceway. T eam Swine Dudes (11)finished fourth overall and first in Mediumweight Production. A trick for Team Suzuki at Willow Springs hat By Brent Plummer ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 4 h ree races, three wins. Team Suzuki End urance has won - no , they have dominated - the opening trio of WERA endurance races, including the latest four-hour race held in conjunction with the opening WERA Pro Series round at Willow Springs International Raceway. Luck wason the side of Team Suzu ki - ridden by aces Kurt Hall . and Micha el Martin - at Willow Springs, because at the one hour and 20 minute mark, Team Moto Sport was leading Team Suzuki by a lap wh en they ran out of gas in turn six of the nine-turn course. In the end, though," Team Suzuki had comp leted 153 laps for 382.5 miles and a third straight win. But it may have been different if Moto Sport hadn't run out of fuel. Gopp Werks had speedily made a 7.25gallon fuel tank for Moto Sport piloted at Willow by Lee Sh ierts, Peter Christensen, and Craig Stevens - in the da ys preceding the race, and the sou th ern California-based team had calc ulated that th ey cou ld run 'exactly to the hour and 20 minute mark on a tankful. Unfortunatel y, at almost exactly 80 minutes into th e race, the Mota Sport bike was rounding turn six with Shierts pi loting it. " T he bike bogged a couple of times, and I kn ew it was out of gas," Shierts said , after push ing the bike back to the pits. " I even pulled th e choke in, but it was dead ." MOlO Sport even tua lly finished third overall, and th ird in H eavyweight Superbike. . On that same lap , right after Martin cruised by the faltering Shierts on the Team Suzuki Enduran ce entry, Mar tin , too, ran out of gas. Fortunately for the Suzuk i team , their GSXR ran dry in turn nine, the last corner before the front straight and the pits. So Martin, "began pu sh ing the bike as fast as I cou ld. When I got lO pit lane, Kyle Martin - Chuck Graves' mechan ic - came down and started pu shing. By that time, I was so tired, I hopped on the bike and rode the rest of the way in." T 16 While these two teams were floundering with dry petcocks out on the track, the Team Suzuki Endurance II bike was happily cru ising out fro n t. The second team bik e was ri dden by Wes Cooley and Chuck Graves, and was an effort funded by Jason Swist, who wanted to test hi s patented ACE automatic cl utch o n th e pow erful endurance bike. "The thing works grea t, n o t a problem." Cooley said of th e clutch aft er Team Suzuki II fini shed second overall behind the number o ne team . The shock of the weekend came from the Swine Dudes/Pear ls team , wh o finished an amazing fourth overall on their Middl eweigh t Produ cti on CBR600F2. The team ended up first in class, just three laps behind Mo to Sport, a nd seven down o n Team Suzuki Endurance. Mak in g the effort even more impressive is that th e team is ba sed o ut of upstate New York, and the riders weren't regular racers at Willow Springs. With new rid er T on y Barchetti and team veteran Jim Roth handling the riding chores, th e team was a bit ap prehens ive abo u t racing at Will ow becau se, according to team captai n Peter J on es, " Willow is kn own as a horsepower tra ck, but I don ' t think it is. All the way through (turn s) eigh t and nine, the bigger bikes have to slow down , and through tu rn two. Wh en T eam Suzuki Enduran ce would go by, we would be followin g them for a few laps." Fifth overall went to H eavyweight Production class winners' Force Ra cing, wh o fini shed on the same lap as th e Swines. The team's fina l-hour cha rge to catch th e Swines was hampered by the fact th at they ran the entire race o n o ne set of Dunlop tires, which, af ter four hours on Will o w's abras ive tarmac, were qui te worn . Sixth overall, two la ps in arrears to Fo rce raci ng, was Midd lewei gh t Superbike cl ass cham pion Orange Express, ridden by Miroshi Makaji ma and Patrick Murray. T he Oranges held off a tough cha lle nge by the highly- favored Van ce a nd Hines team wh ich was ridden by Will ow Springs Motor cycle Club number one and two p late holders And y Milt on and Richie T horup. . At the star t of the race, Team Suzuki End ura nce's Martin fired off the line into the lead, while Swine Dudes/ Pearl s ride r Roth did the same at the start of the secon d, Middl ewei ght wave (WERA has eli minated Ligh tweight for 1992). . Meanwhile, Vance and H ines was flound eri ng o n the grid wi th a loose rear axle nut that had let the wheel pop sideways in th e swingarm when the clutch was dumped. At the end of the first lap, Martin seemed to be opening up a gap o n the pack, but then Shierts and Cooley bro ke free from the group of slower ride rs and reeled him in . Meanwhile, the Swi nes - and the Stu Morrison/ J im Cox -ridden Middleweight Superbike Red Baron team - 'were knifing throug h the heavyweight pack. By the fourth lap, Red Baron and th e Swi nes were up to seventh and eig h th overa ll, respec tively. On th e sixth la p, Coo ley dove underneath teammate Martin through turn five for the lead , and Shierts drew near on th e Moto Sport bike. A lap lat er the three front-runners wer e alrea dy i n to h ea vy traffic. Initially, Martin looked to be able to get thro ug h th e backm arker s th e fastest, bu t Shie rts - perhaps because of hi s extensive experience at Willow - soon emerged as the traffi c king, and took the lead fro m Mart in ; with Cooley close behind. At the one-ho ur ma rk , Moto Sport was credited wi th 39 laps, one up on T eam Suzuki Endurance teams one and two, who follo wed in th at ord er. Red Baron was fourth overa ll but retired soon af ter the one-hour mark . Force held fift h, Swines were close beh ind and Arcl ig ht Racing, who la ter suffered a horrific turn -n ine cras h to end thei r day , in seventh. T wenty minutes later Team Suzuki Endurance was winning the ensu ing footrace back to the pits by about five minutes, regaining the lap lost to Mota Sport. T eam Suzuki One readjus ted the suspension at tha t stop, encountered no mor e problems, and went on to win ahead of Suzuki II. Moto Sp ort ran into more probl ems wh en th ey tried to go the ent ire race o n one set of Michelin slicks: In the th ird hour, wh ile cha llengi ng for the lead , their rear tire wore through to the cords and came apart in turn nine. The front did the sam e in the final hour, ruining any hopes for an upset win and relegating th em to third overall. The Swines had no such problems in runnin g their OEM Dunlops, and benefited from the ben evolent Arclight Racing team , wh o helped th e shorthanded Swines take fourth overall with speedy ph sto ps. Force Ra cing, Orange Express, Van ce and Hines, Top Flight, Team Belchfire, and Vitesse Racing fin ished fifth through 10th, respectively. Cl'I Resul ts OVE RALL: l. Team Suzu ki Endurance (Suz); 2. Team Suzuki End urance II (SUl): 3. Mot o Spo rt (SUI) ; 1. Team Swi ne Dudes/Pearl s (H on) ; 5. Force Raci ng (Yam ); 6. O range Express (Yam); 7. Vance and Hines (Yam); 8. T op Flicht (Ka w); 9. Team Belchfi re (Yam); 10. Viiesse Ra cing (Yam ); II. Covi ng ton Ra cin g (Suz); 12. Ard ight Racing n (Hen): U . Team Terrific (H on); 11. CA Spor tbike Racin g (Suz): 15. H i Hopes (Hon); 16. Tye- Dog Racin g (Hon); 17. Flying Do ts (Hon); 18. Amo re Racin g (Ho n); 19: T eam Ho peless (Suz); 20. Arc1ight Ra cing (Hon ). Time: -4 Hours Distance; 153 Laps. 382.5 mi les. Aveng< Speed s 95.6 mph. Margin or Victory: 1 lap . H /W SB: l. T ea m Suzuki End ura nce; 2. T eam Suzuk i End ura nce II; 5. Mow Sport; 4. Co ving to n Racing; 5. Team Ho peless. HIW PROD: I. Force Ra cin g: 2. Top Fli gh t; 3. M8cRRacin g: 4. Lighting Old. MIW 5B: l. Ora nge Express; 2. Vance &: Hines; 5. T ea m Belch fire; 4. CA Spo rtbike Ra cing; 5. Flying Dot s. M/W P ROD: l. T eam Swine Dudes / Pearls; 2. Vitesse Racing; 3. Arcl igh t Racing II; 4. Te am Terr ific; 5. H i Ho pes. C"SH IP POINT .STANDINGS: I. T eam Suzuki End ura nce (357.43): 2. MOIO Sport Racing (266.54); 3. Force Racin g (252.95); 4. Team Swine Dudes/ Pear ls (235.40); 5. Roswell Racing (162.11): 6. Moti on Systems ( 156.81); 7. Royal Raci ng (148.68); 8. F8cS Raci ng (148.63): 9. C8cM Racin g (145.34): 10. TKO Ra cing (144.56).

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