Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127583
eR RACE DAD e AMAlCCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge Series: Round 7 . Team Ame rica (4) leads FastiinelMCM Suzuki (1), Two Brothers Racing (21) and a ho st of others on th e opening lap of the GTO endu ran ce race at Loud on . Two Brothers Racing takes Loudon By Larry Bell Photos by G eo rge Rob e r ts "V Tommy Lynch led Two Brothers Racing to its second win of the season. Southwest Motorsports' Danny Walker and Chris Taylor (cen ter) won the GTU class. They are flanked by Hornblower Racing Oeftl and Moto LibertylN ankai (right). 20 LOUDON, NH, JUNE 19 ictory wa s a long tim e coming fo r us," sa id Two Brothe rs Racing's joyous captain Kevin Erion just moments after watching young Tomm y Lynch take the GTO class victory d u r ing e nd u ra nce action at New Hampshire International Sp eedway. Lynch paired with now full- time team mem ber Nick Ienatsch aboard the team's Honda CBR900 to record the team's second w in of the season, completing 52 laps of the 12-tum, 1.6-mile race track in the 9Q-min ute race. ·In av era gin g 55 .304 mph, Two Brothers Racing ended up topping the Suzuki GSXRllOO of Fastline /MCM Suzuki by 7.658 Seconds in the red-flag interrupted race. Scott Za mp ach and Jacques Guenette [r., in his debut ride for the team, combined to put FastIine in second place, a terrific rebound followin g its 15th-place finish at Road America a wee k earlier. (' This is the firs t r ace we s topped pushing water via an overheating problem which developed at Charlotte an d continued at Road America," team cap tain Jeff Stem said. "We even we nt to an air-cooled bike and broke the gearbox." Finishing third behind Fastline was Dutchma n Racing a nd its riders C hristian Gardner a n d Ra y Yoder. Dutchman appears to have most of its difficulties ironed ou t since its b rand sw itch from Suzuki to Yamaha and also having two new riders. To compound the situation, Yoder was making his first rid e since his practice crash at Road America and was still sore and sporting colorful bruises. . Two Brothers Racing's victory keeps them in the lead in th e ch ampionship poin t s tandi ngs over Fas tline / MC M Suzu ki, 224-198, w ith five races remaining. Dutchman Racing is third in the point standings with 189, just one point clear of Team America, who finished w ell out of contention at New Hampshire International Speed way. Fourth place at Lou do n we nt to the Yamaha FZR1000 of Blackhawk Racing. Tuner Brian Kohl kept busy all week as the team blew a motor at Road America and had to rebuild for Loudon. Kohl also had to sort through suspension problems in an abbrevia ted pr actice sess ion, ultimately reducing the fro n t heigh t and raising the rear in an attemp t to quicken . the steering of the Yamaha. The race was red-flagged on the 39th lap wh en a bike engine blew and oiled the t rack. The oil ca used Dutchman Racing to crash , and delayed the eve nt long enough to reduce it to a 2Q-minute sprint to the finish. Team America powered off the line first in the dash to the finish, followed by Fastline and Dutchman Racing . Dutchman soon took over with Two Brothers and Fastline in pursuit, bu t with 12 minu tes remaining Two Brothers started to asse rt their authority. In the end, they had cap tured the victory by 7.658 seconds over FasUineand Dutchman. Roun d in g o u t the to p five was the ' Metzger Motorsports team , in its debu t ride in the series; the Newi ng ton, Co n necticu t-based team consisted of Brett Roberts Metzger and Don Canet and they finished with 51 laps on their Suzuki GSXR1100. In GTU action the Yamaha 1ZR25O of Sou thwest Motorsp orts ridden by Chris Taylor a nd Danny Wa lke r rebounded fro m th eir 34th p lace fi nish at Road A merica to di ce with series leading Hornblower Racing and Mo to Uberty/Nankai II and eventually win by 16.476seconds in the one-hour race. Southwest Motorsports' Taylor started on a hard-eompound Dunlop 632 and as luck wou ld have it a red flag allowed the team to switch to a softer 628 rear tire. The team averaged 50.987 mph in completing 32 laps. Second place ended up going to Moto Liberty/Nankai II after starting from the seventh row of the grid. Riders Doug Carmichael and Takahi to Mori each assumed tha t the other had pre-entered the team . As it turns out, no one had preen tered, thus the poor starting position.