Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROAD RACE AMAlCCS EIIC Brakes Endurance Series: Round 2 I Californ ian T om my Lynch gives even tual winner Fastline/MCM Racing (25) the jump on the pa ck at Laguna Seca Raceway; Lynch teamed with Jeff Heino. By Henny R ay Abra ms "N M01'.'TEREY, CA, APR, 25 ice, guys fin ~sh secon,? and 20 we re not ni ce gu ys, Fastlin e/MCM Ra cin g 's J eff H ein o sa id o n th e L a g un a Seca pod iu m after teaming with Tommy Lynch o n a Suzuki GS XRllOO to tak e thei r second three -hour EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge in a row . "We came here to win. We won Daytona, Laguna, and we're go ing to Charlotte to wi n next week." T houg h th e race was three hours long, it ran like a sp rint, the various leaders never so comfortably out fro nt that they could relax and then a valiant charge at the fin ish by second-placed Go ld H ill Racing's Christ ian Ga rdner. T he Yamah a -moun ted tea m might have won , bu t were forced to com e in for a sp lash of gas with 20 minutes to go, losing precious seconds. After III laps of the 2.214-mi le Monterey circu it, Gold H ill came up just 3.223 seconds sho rt at the end . " Ano ther couple of laps and I might h a ve cha lle nge d ," Gol d H ill 's Ga rd ne r, who teamed with J o h n Hopperstad , sai d. "'I knew I had to make up some time and I was push ing the bike as hard as I could." Th ird, after the AMA sorted out a scor ing sna fu, was Dutch man Racing' s Andrew Stroud wit h Scott Gray subbing for the absent Mike Harth. The T eam Yamaha Enduran ce coup ling of Dr.Bob Meister and Scott Zampach was fourth and T eam America 's Woody Deatherage and Micha el Barn es put in the best sho wing of th e new Honda CBR900s with a fifth . Heino and Lynch averaged 81.751 m ph in comp leting 245.574 mil es in three hours, 22.054 seconds . With a perfect score, they head the GTO point standings wi th 40 po ints, eig ht better than Dutch man with Gol d Hill third a t 26. The GTU class was far less exciting, Team Too mer's Ya ma ha FZR600mounted trio of J ames Leslie, J oh n Choate, and Cra ig G leason finishi ng better tha n a lap in front of MOlO Liberty/ Na n kai's Danny Walker and Doug Carmichael ab oard a Honda CBR600. A lap furt her back was the New Tech Racing Kawasak i ZX6R with Canadian Mike Taylo r ridi ng two hours and bike-bui lder J o n Roberts taking the mi dd le sti nt. Mo ta Liberty/Nanka i lead s the championship with 37 to New T ech 's 30. IR C Racing, fifth toda y behind Hornblo wer Racing, is third with 28. T here is p robabl y n o t a more demandi ng track on the endurance sched u le th an Lagu na Seca. Con stantly on the brakes or on th e th rottle, there's no time to .rest and wrestling an 1100 aro und Laguna's I I turns for three hours proved to be more of a test th an man y were ready for, especia lly since most of the riders had never set a wh eel o n the track befo re. That, cou pled with lap tim es in the oneminute, 37-second ran ge and slower riders, mad e cu tting through tra ffic both a necessity and a constant cho re. Gardner took the earl y stint o n the Gold Hill Yamah a and quickly too k the lead with Dutchman 's Stro ud and Ameri ca's Barnes in pursu it. Yamah a Endurance's Zampach was an early fourth with Class Racing 's Jason Pridmo re six th on the ZXR -7 Kawasaki and Fabia n Cortez close by on the Keystone Racin g Suzuk i. By the 12th lap Team OT S/ SOUlhwest Motorsporr's Robbie Petersen was into ni nth o n ano ther of the new CBR900s an d before lon g they were into eigh th, wh er e th ey'd fin ish. Petersen teamed with Brett Harrelson. Rider cha nges began after abou t 45 min utes with Lynch taking over for H ei no , and H opperstad replacin g Gardner. With a cro wded field and short track, H eino found him self cons tantly in traffic, tho ug h he was able to make short work of it. "I'm just stuffing them everywhere," H ein o said . "I've got to a ttack every corner, every spot. Let them know I' m there. I can' t let one guy ho ld me up ." Heino said that he'd nearly cras hed early o n, but somehow saved it. " In turn II I hit the ins ide. I was under it and somehow pi cked it up . I crac ked the sh ield, " he said. Rid er changes continued up to and past th e first-hour mark, Fritz Kling on for Jason Pridmor e, Scott Gray for Andrew Stroud, and Dr. Bob Meister for Zampach. At the 40-lap mark, just over an hour in , Yamaha Endurance's Meister held the lead with America's Death erage in for Micha el Barnes. Frank Slaughter, America 's team ow ne r, sa id they'd received their H onda CBR900 just th ree weeks earlier. "'I p ut 90 miles of street riding on it," he sai d. The on ly modifications they made were a jettin g kit, exhaust p ipe , and a switch to 17in ch Performance Machi ne wheels front and rear; th e Honda comes stock with a l6- inch fron t. Slaug hter said they'd adapted an RC-30 shift linkage and that Fox Sh ox had helped them wi th their suspension . T hird jus t past the hour was Gold Hill's Hoppersta d with Class Racing fo urth ahead of Lynch , Dutchman 's Gray, and Keyston e Racing 's Fabi an Cortez, who was abl e to ride an hour and half because of an oversized tank on the Keysto ne Suzuki. Ly nch made h is move befor e the halfwa y mark, putti ng th e team in fro nt with Class R acin g 's Klin g second ahea d of Dut chman 's Gray and Gold Hill 's H opperstad. Hopperstad would on ly rid e for abo ut 40 minutes, giving Gardner extended duty in the saddle. "'We de cided to lean o n him," H opperstad sai d aft er hi s sh ift. " He really likes the track. H e's still learning it. Everybody is learning it. It 's hard to learn because of the elevati ons. It' s hard to find referenc e points. The only other tra ck this hard for me to lear n was Road Am eri ca. I was getting better, but I didn't im prove as mu ch as I wanted to." Class Ra cin g's Kling took over the lead ap proach ing the two- ho ur mark, but handed off to Pridmore givi ng the lead ba ck to Lynch who, was about 10 seconds in front as they completed the 74th lap. Gardner was just ano ther three seconds back, j ust in fro nt of Du tch man wi th Stroud back o n for the second ti me. America 's Barn es had taken over for Deatherage earlier and was running fifth with Zampach back in for Meister o n the Yamaha End urance bike. Ly nc h held o nto th e lead with Pridmore second as th e final ho ur wore do wn , bu t th e Class Kawasak i 750 was sta rt ing to tie u p. The engine was brand new wh en the race sta rted and wasn ' t pro perly broken in . The team added a quart of o il to keep it go ing, but they were forced o u t of the race wi th abo ut 20 minutes to go after' com p leting 96 laps. Stro ud was back o n for th e final hour; Brian Bern ard for Larry Shierts on the second Dutchman bik e, with the real drama coming with a little over 30 minutes to go. Gardner came in for a sp lash-andgo and was back out, with Lynch still! in th e lead. Abou t seven minutes later Lynch pitted to give Heino the sprint to the flag just as Gardner sped by. Heino didn 't lose the lead, though, and with II minutes to go had just over a seven -seco n d lead. A lap later Gardner _was able to knock a second

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