Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE e WERA Power-MistIPM National Endurance Series: Round 6 Tray Batey (5) uses the HNS Racing Yamaha to hold off Team Suz uki Endurance II's Dave Stanton (34) at Grattan Raceway. Kurt Hall crosses the finish line to give Team Suzuki Endurance 11 the victory. Team Suzuki wins a dose one-at Grattan P hotos by Nick D evinck r 30 GRA1TAN, MI, JUNE 26 eam Suzuki Endurance had a plan going into the sixth round of the WERA National Endurance Series at Grattan Raceway - get a new rider accustomed to the team's powerful Suzuki GSXRll00, and allow an established rider time to heal his wounds. The plan was aimed at making certain of a successful outing at the gruelling Nelson Ledges 24-Hour the weekend following the Grattan race. As it turns out, the plan was execu ted to perfection. Newcomer Dave Stan ton not only adjusted to the big endurance mount, but also excelled in his outing, propelling the Team Suzuki Endurance II bike to victory. Stanton started the race with Chuck Graves, but ended it with Kurt Hall, who began the race on the team's number one bike with Stevie Patterson. In addition, team regular Michael Martin was able to take time o ff in an effort to rest and completely heal his broken collarbone for the 24hour. The team could also count on the fact tha t HNS Racing would give them a run for their money on the two-mile Grattan road course. After all, HNS had Michigan 's Fritz Kling on board the team's mighty Yamaha FZRIOOO. HNS di d n' t le t anybody down . Kling and teammate Tray Batey fought with Team Suzuki End urance for the duration, only to be robbed of near certain victory with a lengthy pit stop to replace badly worn front brakes. At th e completion of the six-hour race, Team Suzuki Endurance II had completed 239 laps for a total of 478 m iles - and HNS Racing was only 36 seco nd s behind . Team Suzuki End u ra nce II averaged 79.67 mph in winning the race. With HNS securing the runner-up spo t, third place went to Virginia Breeze Racing's Craig Caver, Charlie Safley and Glenn Szarek - the trio combining to comple te 237 laps. Fourth place overall w ent to the number one bike in the Team Su zuki Endurance arsenal, this one rid den ultimately by Patterson and Graves. Team 20 /20 Track N Tra il ro und ed ou t the top five finishers on thei r Kawasaki with Tom Grant, Bill Martin and Chuck Neighoff ending up some nine laps behind the winners. Th e first non-Heavyweight Superbike finisher was Indy Cycle N Ski in s ix th place overall and first Med iumweight Superbike; the team of Lanny Allen and Reuben Frankenfield completing 229 laps on their Honda CBR600F2. The Mediumweight and Heavyweight Production classes were won by Nicholson's Ann Arbor and Red Hot Racing, respectively. Team Suzuki Endurance continues to lead the championship point sta ndings with 658.94 points, 83.38 points clear of the ever-consistent HNS Racing team. 20/20 Track N Trail is third with 449.79 points heading into the all-important 24hour event at Nelson Ledges . The race started as predicted with the two fastest men doing battle on the two best teams in the series. Kling vs, Hall. HNS . Racing vs. Team Suzuki Endurance. Yamaha vs , Suzuki. It had all the ingredients of a race-long battle. Graves, m eanwhile, had st arted the Team Suzuki End urance II bike from the back of the second wav e an d was meticulously moving his way through the 49bike field. The Team Suzuki End u ra nce II charge began in earnest wh en newcomer Stanton took ov er. The Lafayette, California; resident started a somewhat surprising charge, picking his way through until eventually passing HNS's Batey and Team Suzuki Endurance's Patterson. . For the first two hours the results were consistent. HNS Racing completed 40 laps in hour one, and 40 more in hour two to lead Team Suzuki Endurance by three seconds after two hours of racing . Team Suzuki Endurance 11 slippeda lap behind after two hours, but still held down fou rth place. The third hour is when things suddenly changed up front. With Patterson on board the Team Suzuki Endurance bike developed a fuel leak, eventually causing him to run out of gas and forcing him to push the bike back to the pits. The time spent fixing the leak cost the team any real chance of victory, and they dropped all the way back to seventh place after three hours - four laps behind Team Suzuki Endurance 11, the new race leaders. With Team Suzuki Endurance losing four laps in the pits, it appeared that HNS had this one in the bag. It was not to be, however, as brake problems reared its ugly head, forcing HNS to pit. . The team lo st five minutes as they changed brake pads, and even an heroic charge at the end of the race couldn't make up the time lost. At the end of three hours they were back in third place, two laps adrift of Team Suzuki End urance 11. Following the demise of Team Suzuki Endurance's hopes for victory (due to the time lost in the pits because of the fuel problem), the team mad e the decision to team Hall with Stanton for the rest of the race on the second Team Suzuki entry. Hall had signed up for both bikes prior to the start of the event, making such a move legal. The move paid off, though Team Suzuki Endurance Il .was not without some late-race adversity. Stanton ran off the track and cra shed when his brake pads apparently glazed over, and the resulting damage forced the team to pit for repairs. The extra pit stop added some excitement as Klin g and Hall resumed their battle to the finish, with Team Suzuki Endurance II ending up just 36 seconds clear at the finish line. 0' Results OVERALL: 1. Team Suzu ki Enduranco II (Suz); 2H NS Racing (Yam ); 3. Virginia 8 reeze Racing (Yam); 4. Team Suzuki Endurancr (Suz); 5. Team 20/20 Track N Trail (!Caw); 6. Ind y Cycle N Ski !H on); 7. TKO Racing (Suz) ; 8. ArcHght R.1dng (H an); 9. Nichols on 's Ann Arbor (Han) ; 10. Rosw ell Racing (Suz); II . Red Hot Racing (Yam); 12. Royale Racing (Hon); 13. Team Pearls Suzuki (Suz); 14. 70 W. Mich;gan SOC (Suz ); 15. R.A. Racing (Suz). Ti me: 6 hours. Distance: 239 laps. 478 miles. A \'~r1Ig~ Speeds 79.67 mph. Mugin or Vidory: 36 sec. HIW SIBK: 1. Team Suzuld Endurance II (Suz); 2HNS Racing (Yam); 3. Virginia 8 reeze Racing (Yam); 4. Team Suzuki Endu rance (Suz); 5. Team 20/20 Track N 'Tra il (!Caw). M /W SIBK : I. Indy Cycle N Ski (Han); 2. TKO Racing (Suz); 3. Roswell Racinj; (Soz); 4. Roya le Racing (Hon); 5. Team Pearls Suzuki (Suz). HIW PROD: I. Red Hot Racing (Yam); 2. P ure Sports Racing (Han); 3. Can-Am Racing (Suz); 4. Eaglo Ind ustries Unlmtd. (Suz); 5. Pleas uredome Racing (Suz) . MIW PROD: 1. Nicholson's Ann Arbor (Hon); 2American Dream Racing (Yam) ; 3. Northern Boys Racing (Hon); 4. Light Speed Racing (Yam); 5. Hi Hopes (Hon ). • c-SHIP PO INT STANDINGS (Aft., 6 of 12 eve n"~ 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (658 .94) ; 2. HNS Racing (575.56); 3. '1D1'1D Track N Trail (449.79); 4. Team Pearls Suzuki (434.29); 5. Ardight Racing (433.56); 6. Virginia 8 reeze Racing (421.39); 7. Ind y Cycle N Ski (393.59); 8. Royal. Racing (389.94); 9. Ardight Racing Il (383.86); 10. Red Hot Racing (361.16).

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