Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ R RACE WERA VansonIPM Natonal Endurance Series: Round 5 DAD \ ~ Team Suzuki Endurance (1) kept their perfect record intact with yet another convincing win at Road Atlanta. Again,it's T Suzuki eam By Brent Plummer Photos by George Roberts BRASELTON,GA,MAYI7 he Ro ad Atlanta round of the Vanson/PM WERA Endurance Series came crashing to a halt with 45 minutes remaining when Cycle Moti on 's Honda RC30 severely overheated, spewing the contents of its radiator all over th e track . Wh en Motion . Systems ' Chris Hughes was forced across the water line, he immediately cra shed the team's new Honda, cracked th e motor and coa ted th e.track wi th a few quarts of oil. The race was quickl y red-flagged and sto pped. Final scoring reverted back to the las t com plete lap and at th at tim e, Team Suzuki Enduran ce ridden by Micha el Martin and Kurt Hall - was in comp lete control of th e race, holdin g an as to unding seven -la p lead over second pl ace, whi ch was credited to the water-sp ewin g Cycle Mot ion . T 12 The surp rise of the day was the Team Suzuki Endurance GSXR600, piloted here by Wes Cool ey and Donald J acks, who finished th ird overall, on the same lap as Cycle Moti on. Team Suzuki Enduran ce is already in firm control of th e cha mpio nshi p points ch ase, in ' both th e o verall rankings and the Heavyweight Superbik e class . They currently lead Moto Sport Racing (who are seco nd in H eav yweight Superb ike), 573-399. Heavyweight Production class leaders For ce Ra cing are right o n Mota Sport's heels with 391 overall po ints. For thi s ro u n d , T eam Yam a ha End urance mad e an appearance with the sa le intention of winn ing, and, more i m po rta nt ly , bea ting T ea m Suzu ki End urance, who have no t lost a race in over two years. The las t race T ea m Suzuki entered and did not win , at Willow Springs in April of 1989, was a result of a freak motor failure. Said Team Yam aha rider Soott lampach: " I've been reading about them ru nning away with every (end urance race). We are down some horsepower o n T eam Suzuki Endurance, but, hey, som ebod y's got to get out there and pu t some pressure on them." But on this day, it would not be Yam aha Endurance - or anyone else, fo r th at matter - who would pressure Tea m Suzuki. Yamaha Endurance usually' fields a trick OWO I chassisl FZRIOOO motor combination, but not today. The team had recently destroyed their po werful six speed "A " motor, and were left with last year 's old fivespeed which was used at Daytona this year', and has been sitting ever sin ce. The motor did not last long, not even th rough the earl y practi ce sessions. So the team decided to use lampac h 's OWO I superbike, which is basically a hopped-up sprint bike. Needless to say, it too exp ired, after less than two hours of endurance racing. Indeed, th e biggest ch allan ge to T eam Suzu ki Enduran ce came in th e middle of the second hour wh en a slower, lapped team forced th e big Suzuki off the track in turn five. Hall, wh o was rid ing at the time , thought, " O kay, her e we go, in the dirt. I kept the gas on, dirt tra cked it up th e hill , and back on the track." Hall and the bike were unscath ed. Second pla ce finish ers Cycl e Mot ion's race was anything but easy. This was a one-time deal for them , and J oe Brett Williams was brought in to join Landers Sevier on a predom inatel y stock H onda RC30. Williams " hadn ' t even ridden the bike before the start (of the end ura nce race). I guessed the setup, and rod e it." Williams quickly adapted, and put in some blistering lap times - as did Sevier - to quickly put th em up into second overall behind Team Suzuki.' That occurred in th e second hour, and Cycl e Mot ion would rema in th ere until th e end. ) But the most impressive ride was put in by Cooley and Jacks on the Team Suzuki Endurance GSXR600 machine.' After starting from th e second, Middleweight wave, the y' quickly knifed up through the field to capture third o ve ra ll, first in Middl eweight Superbike. " I got away from small bikes a long time ago," Cooley said. " I found that I need to carry. a little more corne ring speed; Because you can . I lik e it (the bike ). It always ran with everybody if no t by them. " DAK Racing had Steve Heilman an d Dean H ayes team ed for th is event, but they "didn't have it (their GSXR 750) running 15 min ut es befor e the race, and guessed on the setup." H eilm an ad ded, ..It was n 't rig h t, bu t it didn' t throw us off.," T he duo foug ht the ill han dling bike all af ternoon to finish fourth overall, third in He avyweight Superbi ke. Immedi atel y befor e th e red flag: Force Ra cing was locked in a close race with H eavyweight Producti on challengers Motion Systems. The two were separated by less tha n a second when Cycle Mot ion spi lled the water that caused Chris Hughes to dro p Moti on's CBR900 . ,., " I'm disappointed that had to end the ru n ," Hughes said. "I was parked behind th em , waitin g for them to p it (Force had o ne stop left, Motio n Systems did not). We had them . .. .. But, as For ce Racing's Ron Cru ni noted, ..It was a four-hour race that came down to one second, and wher~ you were at the red flag ." Force was ahead on the last com p leted lap, which is wh y they were credited with fifth overall, and Mot ion Systems got sixth. The two were first and second in H eavyweight Production, respe ctively. Seventh overall - first in Middl eweight Production - went to the amazing Team Pearls. ' • At the start of the race, Team Suzuki Endurance's Martin jumped out Iron ] and into a quick lead; Martin led by over a second and a half by the end of the initial lap. I Team Yam aha Endurance's lampach was in second, getting the feel for the track. . I At the end of the first hour, Team Suzuki had put Yamaha Endurance and Mota Sport Racing down a lap , and were two up on Motion Systems. After another 50 minutes, T eam Yamaha Endurance's motor self destru cted from the rigors of endurance racing, and Team Suzuki was left with no worries, and their fifth endurance win in as many races this season. 'CN I Results OVERALL: 1. T eam Su zu ki Enduran ce (SU ); 2. l Cycl e Mo tion (Suz); 3. Team Suzuk i Endurance . C SXR 600 (Suz); 4. OAK Ra cin g (SUl) ; 5. Force Racing (Yam) ; 6. Motion Systems Ra cing (Kaw); 7. Team Pearl s {Hon ): 8. Royale Racin ~ (He n): 9. Roswell Racing (5uz); 10. Knee-On Racing (Kaw).

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