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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127589
eROAD RACE AMAlCCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge--eS _:R _d9 _er_ies _oun ~ FasUineIMCM Suzuki (1), Two Brothers Racing (21), and Dutchman Racing (3) battle for the GTO win at Brainerd International Raceway. Team America finished fourth overall and fourth in the GTO class at Brainerd; Team America is fourth in the c'ship po int standings. Two Brothers again at Brainerd By Dean Adams Ph o tos b y George Roberts BRAINERD, MN,JULY 31 w o Bro thers Ra cin g co- o w n e r Kev in Erion s to o d beside the te am 's transporter on Saturda y afternoon and he couldn't s top from grinni ng. With good reason . Two Brothers Ra ci n g had just won their third co nsecutive AMA /CCS Endurance Ch allen ge race of the season - thi s one co ming at Bra inerd International Raceway. T 42 "This is exactly w h at we d esig ne d the bike to do, to go th ree hours ve ry quickly and with rea sonable gas mileage on two pit stops with a rea r tire bein g cha nged each time we pitted," Erion explained. "All of the other .GTO teams have to make three stop s and it would take a heck of a rider to ou t-ride a pitstop advantage. I planned many of the races to go this way in 1993, but beca use of tire problems or red flags it just hasn 't worked out - until now." The Anaheim, Ca lifornia-based Two Brothers Racing team now lea d s th e cha m p ion s h ip by 34 po ints, 294-160, over Fastline/MCM Suzuki, w ho finished third tod ay. Second pl a ce at Br a in erd International Raceway wen t to former class champions Du tchm an Racing, who _ finishe d some 15 seconds be l.md Two Br o th e rs . Th e Suzuki GC \RI 100 of Fastline / MCM Suz uki fell off the pace m id wa y in the rac e b ut s tayed in the hunt to finish third . The Mo t r ty / Ia n ka i Su z uk i tea m took H) ' • -nors in the GTU class wit h Fa stl ir > ;-::vt Suzuki II and 4&6 n them across the stri pe. Racing fall Fastlinc's GTO Su zu ki GSXR ll OO sta rted s trong, lea di ng the pack down th e one-mi le lon g front s t ra ig ht a t Brainerd only to be pa sse d on the ent rance o f t u rn one by Dut chman Racing. By the third lap the Fas tlin e Suzu ki , p iloted by Sco tl Za mp a ch , Du tchman Racing's Yamaha and the Tw o Brothers Racing Honda CBR900RR, ridden by To m my Lynch, had b ro ken off from the others and led fourth pla ce by a huge margin. Mot a Liberty, meanwh ile, took over the lead in the GTU division on lap three -' a lead th ey wou ld no t rel inquish for much of th e en ti re race, The Suz u kimounted team of Doug Carmichael. Mike ' Ha rth and TaK ti to Mori simply had too much for the competition on this day . Tea m m a n"ge r Audrey Menarick said that the cha mp ionsh ip itself is their goal again in 1993: "We w ere looking at the long range go.11 of retainin g the GTU cha mpions hip and the wi n was somewha t unexpec ted but we'r e just elated!" Fast line / MCM II was the only other bike on the lead lap wi th Mot a Liberty at the flag. _ The top th ree GTO teams conti n ued to battl e for first place, tu rning lap times in th e one-m inute , 47 -second ra n ge, nearl y as fa s t as the cu t-throa t 750cc Supersport riders would go for 16 laps a few hours later . Fastline, with a s mall lead, entered the pit s firs t on lap 26 w ith Dutchm an Racing following sui t a lap la ter. Zampa ch h and e d t h e Su zu k i off to Michael Barne s, an d repo rted no problems wi th the GSXRIl OO. Cooli ng p roblem s ha ve been p laguing the West Hills, California team for so me time , bu t those problems were cu red by Fast line team owner Jeff Stem. "The Fastline bike will run righ t at a m oderate 68 degrees no w, s o I th in k thos e pro b le m s a re behind u s, " Za m pach said. The machine appeared very fast, and was unofficially clocked at 178 mph on the straight, and with the Z-ma n at the contro ls did lap times in the 1:44 range. Mike Barnes took over at their first scheduled pit stop and re-entered the race with the lead group. Lynch and the Two Brothers bike pitted 15 minutes later with Sport Rider ma gazine ed itor Nick lenatsch taking hi s turn on the CBR900. Barnes passed lena tsch for the lead and a three-way duel b ega n wi th Dutchman Racin g ' s Ra y Yoder a nd Christian Gardner pop ping into the lead intermitten tly. Fastlin e 's co m p e titiv e edge w a s ripped from the ir grasp soon aft er that as the Suzuki's tire su ffered a valve stem failur e of some sor t going into tum one and the b ike got very out of shape . The tir e was fla t by turn three and Barnes nursed it around to the pits for an unscheduled s to p on la p 43. lenatsch regained the le a d ju st a s Barnes reentered the track a half a lap down. At the halfw ay poin t in the race, Two Brothers led Dutchman Racing wit h . Fastline a clo se th ird . Team Am erica and Keystone br ough t up the rear of the top five GTO bikes; while Mota Liberty, after momen tarily giving up the lead to Fastline/MCM II during a pit stop, continu ed to pull away from all the GTU mach ines an d some of the GTO bikes as well. Harth was fortunate to keep the Mota Liberty bike on two wheels after enco untering a poo l of oil in tum one.