Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The GTU pack at Phoenix is led by Hornblower Racing (5), Northwest Racing (15) and the team that eventually took the victory, Southwest Motorsports (85). examined and released from the track medical center. "I went into the first turn running pretty much the same line I had and lost traction in the rear," Lenzmeier said. "When it rehooks, you gain altitude." The team was credited with 12th in the GTOclass. Following the red flag, most teams pitted to re-fuel and change tires. The race was re-gridded according to the original starting grid and restarted just before the two-hour mark. Lynch would go the distance for Two Brothers, Yoder would ride the Dutchman bike, and Zampach would start for Fastline/ MCM. Yoder took the early lead, with Lynch second and Zampach third, but severallaps down. Team Magic, another couple laps down, was fourth, with Blackhawk fifth, and Team America up to sixth. On the eighth lap of the restart, with 41 minutes to go, Lynch passed Yoder in tu rn 11. Bu t Yoder returned the favor about 20 minutes later on the 123rd lap overall. Then, two laps from the end, Lynch drafted past Yoder on the front straight and took the lead into turn one. Yoder challenged, but came up just short and Lynch took the checkered flag the winner. Teammate Kirk had nothing but praise for his new teammate. "It was a Tommy Lynch show today after my big crash this morning," Kirk said. "I was pretty sore with my bumps and bruises and didn't spend as much time on the bike-as I wanted to." "Ray kept us in there," teammate Kress said following the Dutchman runner-up fmish. "I would've liked to have had a first-place finish, but just being here and this being the first race of the season, I'm very happy with the finish." "It was an amazing hour and 10 minutes," Yoder said. "None of us was really holding back. It had me on the edge of my seat. The Suzuki's bigger and heavier and harder to handle. It's so heavy I blistered both my hands." Like Yoder, Barnes, who rode a Honda CBR900 last year, was getting used to the heavier Fastline/MCM Suzuki. "I raced against it all last year. This thing's a mon ter. It has mega-horsepower and it's super-fast," Barnes said. "The next two rounds are at Daytona so we should be OK." . The GTU class was led off the start by Moto Liberty/Suzuki, jhe team building up a 22 second lead when disaster struck near the hour-fifteen minute Fastline Racing's Scott Zampach brings the bike in for a tire change. Two Brothers Racing (21) completed 144 laps to beat Dutchman Racing (3). mark with Doug Carmichael in the saddle. "I got taken out by a back.tilarker in turn two," the Texan said. "He was in front of me, heard me coming, and stood his bike straight up. The crash cracked our engine cases." Northwest Racing was the GTU leader at the halfway mark, Southwest Motorsports second on the TZR250. Southwest's Danny Walker said that the Yamaha needed more development, but was quite competitive as is. "Southwest Motorsports speeded it up a little bit. But it has quite a ways to go. The motor in it had quite a few miles on it. The crank has about 10 hours on it," Walker said. . Chris Taylor had ridden the first leg WIth mstructlOns from crew chief Dave Harold to take it easy, but was still second to Andy Fenwick who was leading on the Northwest Racing Honda. The red flag came out soon after the halfway point with Southwest changing a rear tire during the break and giving the machine to Walker to ride to the end. The battle would be between Walker and Cornwell. "I wanted to get out front and stay there. There was no indication of what the scoring was," Cornwell said. " I was just trying to keep a quick pace and keep us in the hunt. I didn't exactly know if we were in the lead or not, but my job was to get us to the front." "I knew Cornwell was going to go fast and I had to stay ahead of him. Midway through the final hour I overcooked the tires and I had to slow up to save them. That's when he caught me. "I just let him set the pace, and it was real interesting following him in traffic. He was cutting through pretty well, but then he got stuck and I got past. I just sprinted to the end. If the tire was going to blow, I was just going to let it blow," Walker said. "I had to chase Danny when he passed me," Cornwell said. "We didn't know if we were in the lead or a lap down or on the same lap. It turned out he had just untapped himself." Walker's tire held and the Texan, who last year was part of the GTU championship-winning Moto Liberty/Nankai team, had his first win of the year. "Danny was much better through the bowl. I could keep up with him through most of the infield. He was riding real good," Cornwell said. CN Results eTO: 1. Two Brothers Racing (Hon); 2. Dutchman Racing (Suz); 3. Fastline/MCM Suzuki (Suz); 4.. Team Magic (Yam); 5. Blackhawk Radng (Yam); 6. Team America (Hon); 7. Team Racelaw (Hon); 8. Sportsland of Laramie Racing (Hon); 9. Team Fossil Endurance (!

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