Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE AMA/CCS ERe Brakes Endurance Challenge: Round 3 e Du tchman Racin g's Mike Harth (1) leads Gold Hill Racin g's Ch ristian Gardner (3) an d eventual winner Team Ameri ca (9) at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Team T oomer (2) won the GTU class an d in the p rocess fin ished fifth overa ll. , . Team America wins accidentmarred Charlotte race By Brent Plummer Photos by G eorge R oberts 14 CONCORD, NC, MAY 2 eam America's Michael Barn es and Fritz Klin g combi ned to give H on da 's CBR900 RR its first-ever win in the AMA/ CCS EBC Endurance T Cha llenge Series a t Ch arl otte Motor Speed way, but a pall was cast over the event by the serious injuries su ffered by Dut chman Racin g's Mike Harth . With 20 minutes remaining in th e three-hour race , the Michelin ti re mounted on the front wheel of H ar th 's Suzuki blew, causing the Georgian to cra sh vio lently on the h igh-speed banking of the mile and one-half su perspeedway ova l. T he race was stopped and final scoring was reverted back to the last completed lap. Harth was listed in cri tica l/stab le co n dition wi th head injuries a n d possible fractures to bo nes in hi s face, sh oulder and finger. "The strength of h is helmet an d protective gear saved his life," said Dr. Dave Kieffer, who was on hand to compete in Su nday 's SuperTwins even t. At the point in th e race when Harth crashed, Barnes was in the lead on th e Team America Honda', and was given the win by default. Second place went to Fastl in e/MCM Racing - piloted here by both Tommy Lynch an d j eff H ein o - who finished on the same lap as T eam Ameri ca. H art h and his Du tchman teammate Scott Gray were credited with th ird overall since th e race was immediatel y halted when th e accident occurred, and no further laps were comp leted. After wi nning both th e Dayton a and Laguna Seca rounds, and finishing second here at Ch arl otte, j eff Stern's Fastlin e/MCM leads the champ ionsh ip chase by 10 po ints over Du tch man Racing, 57-47. With their win in round three, AG V/ Per m a tex -Lo ct i te/T su ba k il Cycl e Sport VA/ Co lema n Powersports/Street and Competiti on/ Capital Service/ Ma ier/ V&: H S ig ns/E BCbacked Team America has accu mula ted 44 poi nts , and jumps to third overall, displaci ng Gold Hill Racing - who DNF at Cha rlo tte, a nd finished 22nd overa ll, I Ith in GTO - down to fourth . GTU act ion saw Bill T oomer's selfnamed Team Toomer fin ish an ama zing fifth overall behind George Fitts' Keyston e Racin g. In doing so, Toomer wo n the GTU class for th e second straigh t race. jim Leslie, john Ch oate and Crai g Gl eason handled the ridi ng cho res for the Yam aha of j ackson vill e/ P o w er m ist /Dunlop / Syed / Sho ei / E BC /Mo tu l/ D&: D/ Ts u ba k il Zero Gravity/Wiseco/ WKR-backed T eam T oomer. ' Seco nd in GTU - and seventh overa ll was the Ba lt imore, Mary land-based IR C Ra cin g sq uad . Glen n Szarek pi loted IRC's Yamaha FZR600 for the entire race and ran into so me tire b lis tering p roblems 20 minutes before the red flag. H e was forced to slow on the bankin g to keep from spi n ni ng the bad rear tire " We still did pre tty good for a couple of privateers wit h no mon ey and a twoyear-old bike th at we've been trying to sell," said Szarek. IRC Racing and New T ech are tied for secon d in the poi nts chas e wi th 45 apiece, a scant two beh ind Moto Libert y/ Nankai (who ch un ked three Mich elin tires, lost too mu ch time cha nging whee ls, and finished 12th overa ll, sixth in class a t Ch arlotte), who lead wit h 47 poin ts. At the start of the race, Ch ristian G ardner laun ch ed th e Gold Hi ll Racing Yamaha FZRIOOO straight into th e lead. Mirage Racin g' s Dale Quarterley, Team Yamaha Enduran ce's Scotty Zam p a ch , T eam Am er ica , Du tchman I and Fastl ine/MCM followed closely. Gardner soo n blitzed to a 14-secon d lead, whi ch turned ou t to be all for naught. The race was red-flagged after 15 laps, with the exp lanation that the Northwest Racin g Suzuki GSXRllOO had spewed oi l all over the chicane. A lengthy clean-up was needed, and the team s promptly re-gri dded in their original pos itions. The restart saw Sado wski Racing's Dave Sadow ski come from th e back of the grid to assume the lead within one lap. Much to th e regular endurance team s' relief, Sadowski was only testing hi s Yoshimura Su perbike, and soon retired from the race. T eam T oomer had failed to preent er, and was for ced to sta rt from the rear of the secon d, GTU wave for both starts. Ri der jim Lesl ie leaped from that distant spot into fourth off the restart - beh ind Moto Li berty/Nan kai , IR C and New T ech. " I just wa nted to stay behind them to see their lines," J Leslie sai d. After only on e lap, Leslie becam e impati ent. " I pas sed one of th em going into the chicane, and two on the dri ve out for the lead ." From the n on , T oom er wo uld never relinq uish th e lead , while

• Cover