Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GR RACE AMNCCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge Series: Round 11 DAD ~ "Fritz and I were passing each other two, three, four times a lap," Zampach said after hand ing off to Michael Barnes. "We were pla ying a game. O ur bike is too heavy and has too much horsepower for this track. Frit z's bike is not as fast, but he's ab le to use all of his power. I'd ha ve to come in slower th en get ou t faster." Team America (4) and Team laBelle Racing (25) lead FastlineIMCM Racing (1) an d Two Brothers Racing (21) early in the GTO race. Tm ea LaBelle Racingsoarsin Snm oo a By Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG. 28 he first team across the finish line at Sears Poin t, a team that didn't exist a mon th ago, won the 90-mi nu te GTO race. The fourth tea m across th e finish line, a p airing crea ted by happenstance, won the GTO cham pionship. Journeyman and part-time broad caster Dave Sadowski teamed w it h local favori te Joe Brett William s to give Team Labelle Racin g their first victory in the AMA/CCS End ura nce Series an d he did it the ha rd way. After taking over from William s just pri or to the halfwa y mark, Sadowski dogged lead er Cal Rayborn II of Team Pasta Marin Racin g (T.P .M.), passin g him with less than 10 minutes to go a nd instantly p ulling out a comfortable edge. "I saw L-6 (six laps remaining) on my pit board and I p icked it up from there," said Sadowski, who first rode the Team Labelle Honda CBR900 at a WERA race earlier th is month a t Poco no . "I di d n 't make any mistakes. Rayb orn was very persistent in his approach. It's one ofthe T 36 smarter races rye ever run." Sadowski finished 2.856 seconds in front of Rayborn, who was teamed with local rider David Deveau, on the T.P.M. Racing Suz uki GSXRII0(l Team laBelle Racing completed 50 laps (126 miles) of the 2.52-mile track at an average speed of 83.125 mph. The pa ir finished more th a n 47 seconds in front of the third place finisher. . The ba ttle for thir d was also the battle for the champio nship, but Fastline/MCM Racing's Michael Barnes could no t delay the inevitable, despite hero ic efforts. Knowing that he had to fin ish just behind Barn es, Two Brothers Racing's Tommy Ly nch trai led th e d efend in g National Cha mpions for most of the sec- ond half of the race, trying to pass him in the fi nal corner, but coming up just sho rt. Still, th e National Champ ionship went to the Two Brothers Racing team of Lynch an d lead rider. N ick lenatsch, the du o tak in g th eir fir s t Nationa l ti t le aboard th e H ond a CBR900 known as "The Countermeasure." "We would like to have done be tter tod ay," Lynch sai d . "There was a little p ressure from the championship on us . It didn' t work out like we wanted it to. Earlier in the yea r that's what we set ou t to d o. Before we wanted to win races, but today we didn't want to do anything stupid ." "At Laguna Seca, I got the offer," said lenatsch, who was ask ed to join the team after Rick Kirk closed a car door on his hand and w as fo rced ou t of the April ro und at Laguna . "At the time it was a one-time ride, but they kept me on . We had p roble ms at Ch arlotte and Elkhart and then w e won them all. I think at Daytona (the last race of the season) it's going to be a lot looser. We' re going to set Tommy free." With the race at Dayton a remaining, Two Brothers holds an insurmountable lead in the series poi n t standi ngs w ith 357 points to Fastline /MCM Racing's 322. Though they could tie on points if Fastline/MCM won at Daytona and Two Brothers failed to finish, Tw o Brothers still ge ts the title because they've won more races than Fastline /MCM. Two Brothers also made h istory at Sears Point, becoming the first Ho nd aequipped team to win the GTO cha mpionship after seven years of Suzuki domination. . A record-setting hea t wave had settled over northern California, making the rid ers appeciate th e sh orte r, 90m inute form a t. A ligh t breez e also helped, though occasional gusts threat ened to blow riders off line in a few of the fast sweeping comers.. Team Am er ica's Fritz Klin g go t the ju mp on the 20- tea m fie ld , Fa stlin e / MCM Racing's Sco tt Zampach, Dutchman Racing 's Ra y Yoder J r., and Keystone/Northstar's John Jacob in pursuit with Team M irag e 's Dal e Quarterley, testing his superbike, qu ickly moving forwa rd . At the e n d o f th e s eco n d lap QuarterIey was in the lead , Klin g second, and Yoder third. Yoder tried going under Kling in tu rn one, tappin g h is front brake and losing the fron t end . He made ano ther comp lete lap before coming in for repairs. After losing over a lap, he went back ou t and the team w ou ld finish tenth. Meanwhile, Quarterley was p u llin g away, bu t no one care d, at least not the GTO regulars or the new comers who found themselves at the head of the class. On the fourt h lap David Deveau took over the lead, droppi ng Kling to second ahead of lenatsch, Willia m s, and Zampa ch . Quickly u p p ing the pace, Devea u pulled away, holding a four second edge just two laps later as the figh t for second became a four-rider affair . Williams was up to third on the fifth lap , and passed Kling a t the start-finish lin e to begin the eighth lap . He, too, would soon be gone, leaving the fight for third to Kling , Zarnpach, and lenatsch. Ieri a tsch w as holding back in fifth, wa tch ing the battle unfold in fron t of him and no t wanting to ge t involved. "Kling and Za mpach were having a fun race and I saw no sense passing those guys," lenatsch later said. Kling agreed: "Th ey were killing me in a straigh t line, bu t I was able to outbr ake them . That helps here, just ge tting out of the com ers." Williams, w ho had suffered a left colla rb one / shou lde r sepa ration seven weeks ago, was the first of the leaders to pit, givi ng way to Sadowski at the 41min ute mark. "It ju st hurts a li t tle in the righthanders and this is a right-hand track," Williams said. Though he's ridden for the team all year, he found the b ike a new experience, mostly due to tires. "The bi ke isn't as comfortable as I' ve dev eloped ' it in the past. Sado wski likes a different setup. I' m used to runnin g Mich elins and Dave is fu lly sponso red by Dunlop and I do n't have a tire contract. Our bike is 100 pounds lighter than the Suzuki so we can run softer tires and it doesn 't tire you ou t as much." The pit stop dropped th e team to fifth, but they'd soon move forward as the rest of the front-runners came in. Race leader T.P.M. Racing was in two laps later, the team cha nging a rear tire and putting Rayborn on with a 22~sec ond pit stop, and not relinquishing the lead, tho ugh it was diminished. "I didn' t think it would be this close," Deveau said. "We we re going to p ut it on the stands when I came in and decide if we needed a rear tire. But I yelled to p ut one on as soon as I came in. I thin k that's going to be the d ifference a t the end. We have a new tire and they don't." Two laps later Woody Deatherag e re placed Fr itz Kl in g on the Team America Honda CBR900 and Lynch was in the saddle for Ienatsch, A lap la ter Barnes too k over for Zampach and the race to the finish was on . With 28 laps complete, abo ut the 48minute mark, Rayborn was jus t in front of Sadowski, with Barnes alone several second back. Lynch was next in front of Deathera ge. Gary Lenzm eier was sixt h on the Keys tone/No rthstar bike having taken over for John Jacob. The team ran most of the race in sixth and wou ld finish there, two laps down on the winners. With 31 laps in the books two races had formed up: Sadowski on the Honda 900 chasing Rayborn II on the heavier Suzuki 1100 and, roug hly fifteen seconds ba ck, Ho n da-mou n ted Lync h now on Suz u ki- mou n ted Barnes. Dea therage was the only other rider on the lead lap, thou gh well back aboard another of the Honda CBR-900's. Sadowski made his first attack on the leader wi th a bold mo ve on the brakes goi ng u nder Rayborn in to the tu rn 11 horseshoe. But Rayborn answered back soon after an d clung tena ciously to the lead. With the hea t, and the pace of the leaders, ther e was some concern about tire wear, bu t T.P.M. Racing had made a cha nge and Sadowski ha d made the righ t choice. "We knew there was aharder tire, but I chose a medium one. A couple of times I'd go real hard and it was spi nn ing . Th en I relaxed and I co uld go faster," Sad ows ki said. Sadowski made another probe wi th about 15 minutes to go, getting by Rayborn going into turn three, Rayborn imm edia tely taking it back. But a few laps la te r Sadowski to ok th e lead for good, using the same outbraking maneuver in tum eleven that he'd used much earlier, only this time he made it stick.

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