Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

By the end of the next full lap he ha d o v er a o ne -second lead whic h h e increased to the end. "He gave me a great challenge and taught m e a new w a y aroun d Sears Point," Sadowski said of Rayborn. "He no t on ly le a r n ed from me, I learned from him, too," Rayborn said: "I was trying so hard . I was just trying to kee p it on two wheels and get it in to the winner' 5 circle." The race for thi rd came down to the last lap, Lynch takin g the lea d in tu rn seven, Barn es taking it right back. Lynch sa ved his final cha rge for the .fina l corner, d ivin g under Barnes on the brakes, onl y to ge t thrown from the sad dle as he accelerated on exit. Barn es got the better drive and the fina l spot on the podium. " I knew he was waiting for the last lap and waiting for me to make a mistake," Barn es sa id . "In the las t corner I overshot it on th e brakes, but I go t a good drive from way back. Like Tommy sai d to me af ter th e race, I ne eded it more than he did . 'H e was ju st sitting (."'" there wai ting for the end ." Res ults GTO: 1. Team Lallelle Racing (Hon ); 2. Tea m Pasta Marin Racing (5uz) ; 3. Fastl ine /MCM Suzuki (5uz); 4. Two Brothers Racing (Ho n); 5. Team America (Hon); 6. Keystone/Northsta r (Yam ); 7. FastJine/MCM Suzuki II (5u z); 8. Team TyO.10 " 2 (H o n); 9. Blackhawk Racing (Ya m) ; 10. Du tchman Racing (Yam); 11. Team Magic (Ya m) ; 12. Dream Team (Ho n) ; 13. Team Two Husky Racing (Kaw); 14. Team Racel aw (H on ); 15. California Sportbike Racing (Yam ); 16. Circling Dog Racing (502) ; 17. Team Flym a (5uz); 18. St ev en s Racing (5uz); 19. Team Mirage (Kaw); 20. Team Rash (Suz) . Ti mer 1 hour, 30:13.520 minutes Distance 50 laps, 126 miles M,ngin of victory: 2.856 seconds Ave rage speed: 83.125 m p h GTO C'SHIP POINT STAN DIN GS (After 11 o f 12 ro u nd , ): 1. Tw o Brothers Racing (357 /5 wins); 2. Fastli ne / MC M Suzuki (322 /1 ); 3. Dutchman Racing ('ZT7/2); 4. Tea m America (260/ 1); 5. Blackhawk Racing (253); 6. Keystone/Northstar (236); 7. Tea m Magic (206); 8. N 2 Racing (172); 9. Te am Rac e law (85); 10. Actio n Machin es I (82); 11. Full rui Mot orsports (78); 12. Team Yamaha Endurance (74); 13. Begotka Racing (70); 14. K. w.s. Moto rspo rts (68); IS . T.P.M Racing (60); 16. Fea rn Suzuki Endu rance II (55); 17. (TIE) OA R.lcing/Vance &: H ines n (52); 19. (11E) Tea m Mirage / Whi te Fire Racing (49). AMAIC E CBrakes Endurance Challenge CS B Series: Round 11 MotoL 'I iber N ankailong gone atSears Point By Henny Ray Abrams r SONOMA, CA, AUG. 28 aking ov er the lead just past the halfway ma rk of the 6O-minu te GTU Endurance Ch a ll en ge, Moto Liberty/Nankai' s Takahito Mori quickened the pace and disappeared, winning by ov er 41 seconds on his first v isit to Sears Point Internati on al Raceway. The victory, the team's fourth, moved the Texas-based team into th e lead in th e GTU champioriship with jus t one round remaining in the series. Mori teamed wi th Doug Carmichael. the Texan still on the mend from a br oken wrist and willing to give up the controls of the team 's Suzuki GSXR600 at the earliest juncture. Ca rmichae l pitted while in the lead on the 14th lap, temporarily dropping them to second until the second-placed team, Fastline/MCM Suzuki II, p itted several lap s later. Mori's lead was up to 20 seconds with about 25 m inutes to g o and he wasn' t slowing down. He would co mplete 33 lap s (83 .16 miles) of the 2.52-mile track at an average speed of 81.940 mph and would win by 41.926 seconds. 4&6 Racing recovered from a stopand-go penalty to finish s econd, Jonathan Cornwell teaming with fellow Canadian Owen Weichel. The penalty, for not we aring the p rop er armband at the start of the race, was assessed at the end of the sixth lap. The red (first rider) armband was fitted whe n he pulled in. But since the stop took about 20 seconds, a n d th ey finis h e d n ea rl y tw ice that behind the winner, it doesn't appear to have affected the ou tcome of the race. The team tha t Cornwell passed to finish second, Fastline/MCM Suzuki, was third, Craig Glea s o n and Ja mes Randolph about six seconds back despite having to use a spare engine in their Suzuki GSXR600. Northwest Racing recovered from an early sp ill to fin ish fou rth. Lead rider Dean Mizdal crashed in turn seven just before he was supposed to p it. But the dama g e w as minimal a n d Andy Fenwick rode the team's Honda CBR600 to the en d, finis hing w ell in front of American Flyers Mike Murphy w ho 'd teamed with Tod d Harrington. With jus t the Daytona AMA /CCS race remaining, Moto Liberty /Nankai's lead in the GTU champion ship is a single point, 304 poin ts to 4&6 Racing's 303. Northwest Racing is third with 245. Despite a heavily-b and aged wrist, Carmichael ju m ped in to the lea d on a hot a n d w ind y Saturd a y afterno on. Weichel was an early second with James Randolph third and Mizdal fou rth. On the n ext lap th e order sh u ffled behind the lead er with Randolph takin g over seco nd , Mizdal third, and Weichel fourth. Weichel was up to third on the next lap, holding it until he was forced in for the armband penalty. "We were stand ing on the front line and I noticed that I d idn't have my armband. I asked the AMA official what to do and h e said to go . The same guy pulled us in," Weichel said. "Every race so me thing ha ppens. " The penalty dropped the team ba ck to fifth as Al Salaverria put the JC Racing TZR250 Yamaha into fourth, just behind Mizdal, though not for long. Salav er ria was into third on the eigh th lap an d up to second wh en Carmichael pitted on the thirteenth lap . "My wr ist is so-so," Carmichael said, "I can go fast: It' s just a ma tter of how lon g . It w as sta rt ing to giv e o u t. I moti on ed to the team tha t I wa n ted to come in. I'm still learning the track bigtime. It' s technical. I was taking it easy and building up to it." A lap later and Sala verria 's day was over when the engine on his JC Racing Yamaha seized in turn five. "It a lmost s p i t me off," said Salaverria , w ho had been teamed with Donnie Greene. " It s ta r ted s lo w in g down a little bit and then it locked. [ was off the side of the bike and I caught my thigh on the footpeg. It was dragging me alongside the bike. I came from last on the grid and to work that hard and have that happen.:" On the 15th lap Randolph had close to 12 seconds on Mori, Mizd a l in his wake wi th Weichel a close fourth. Just past the halfway mark Cornwell took over for Weichel, the team briefly in fourth , the n third when Mi zdal fell before pitting. "We were having trouble w it h th e front end the last few ra ces," Mizdal said. "We upped the pace thr ee seconds from practice and I got into tum seven a litt le t oo h o t. I lost the fr on t end . Noth ing happened to the b ike. It 's not that bad considering. I made on e comple te lap and then came in. I really scre wed up." Mizda l came in a t ab out the 34minute mark, Andy Fenwick in the saddle to the end . Craig Gleason replaced James Randolph on the same lap, though Randolph was hoping to stay out longer . Team LaBelle's Dave Sadowski takes over from Joe Brett Williams at Sears Poin t, Molo Liberty/N an kai (38) won GTU race and moved into the lead in th e cham pionship. "We were goi ng to stay ou t a lit tle ' longer," Randolph said. "It was hot out there and I sta rted burning my foot on the exha us t pipe." The race to the finish was then on, all the rider changes complete and abo ut 25 minu tes rem ain ing . Mo ri was in a very strong position at the front, a position he wou ld s t re n g th e n . P ulling a w ay at almost a second a lap he gave the team th eir fou r th win of the year a nd .bo lstered thei r cha mpionship hopes. "I go t in one big slide and it twea ked the wrist," Carmichael sai d when asked if the team had any problems. "I go t into a big slide in turn three and touched the cases down." O ne of th e reasons that Cornwell couldn't make an impact on the leaders 'was a transmission problem which he discovered as soon as he got on the 4&6 . Racing Honda. "Owen was compla ining that it wa s jumping ou t of gear," Cornwell said. "As soon as I got on it the trans mission went out. I los t fou r th and second . I could on ly use thi rd . I had to by second into first an d fourth is rea l han dy here. "We couldn't have caug ht them . It's really unfor tunate we ha d tha t arm band thing at the beginnin g. It loo ks like it's g oi n g to b e a race fo r th e championship," Cornwell said . Weichel agreed. "Daytona 's the big one . We're goi ng to giv e them a run for their money." Gle ason brough t the Fastline / MCM Suzuki home third, abou t 5.7 seconds behin d Cornwell. After the troub le they had in p ractice, and his lack of experience at the circuit , he was happy to finish on the pod ium. "We broke our good motor in practice," sai d Gle ason, who was raci ng at Sears Poin t for the first time. "We're just happy to get up here. " Abou t 40 seconds beh ind Gleason, Fen w ic k rode the Northwest Ra ci ng Honda into fourth , well in front of American Flyers Mike Murphy, the last rider to fin ish on the sa me lap as the C\ leaders. Results CTU: 1. Mo to Liberty/ Na n ka i (5uz) ; 2. 4&6 Racing (Hon); 3. Fastline / MC M Suzuki n (Suz); 4. No rthwest Racing (Ho n); S. Am erican Flyers (lion); 6. AGV Spo rt Gro up (Hon); 7. Motorcycl e Unlimited (Hon); 8. Py loric s Racing (Hon) ; 9 . Keystone/No rt hs tar II (5 uz ); 10. Tea mOean (Han); l1.l.aurel & Hardy Racing (Kaw); 12. Low Co un try H- D (II -D); 13. Team lITO (Ho n); 14. jC Raci ng II (Yam) ; 15. Tea m Reno (Ho n); 16. Tw o Parts Guys Racin g (Yam); 17. Mich ael Da na Racing (Yam); 18. Ca li fo r n ia Sportbike Raci ng (Ya m); 19. So u thwes t Mo to rsports (Yam ); 20. Ie Raci ng (Yam); 21. Tea m Han sen Iva m). Ti me: 1 h o ur, 24.618 m inu tes D ista nce : 33 laps , 83.16 mi les Margin of vicl oty: .41.926 sees . Ave rage speed: 81.940 m ph . G TU C'S HI P POINT STA N DINGS (A1' e r 11 o f 12 rounds): 1. Mot o Liberty/Nan k a! II (304/4 wins); 2. 4&6 Racing (303/ 2 ); 3. No rthwest Racing (245); 4. American Flyers (236/1); 5. Keystone/Northstar 11 (230); 6. AG V Spor t (225) ; 7. So u thw es t Mot orsports (217/3); 6. Fas tline/ MC M Suzuki II (215); 9. Raceco (126) ; 10. Xtreem Pe rfo rma nce Racing (114); 11. Himm elsbach En du ra nce (93); 12. Team Ha ns e n (89) ; 13. Mo to Uberty/Suzuki (84); 14. Ho nda-Suz uki World Racin g (71); 15. (TIE ) Te a m Norway /Team Toaste r (70); 17. (TIE) AGV Sports Group II/Moto rcycl es Unlimited (67); 19. Apa che Ra cing (62); 20 . (TIE) Se m o ff Brothers Racin g / Yamaha o f leesburg (58). . 37

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