Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Lync puts Fastline/McM back on track (left) FastJInelMCM Suzuki (2) leads the way in the Unlimited Team Challenge at . Daytona International Speedway. Fastllne ended up taklng the win,beating (below) DutchmanRacing (3). By Henny Ray Abra ms DAYfONA B EACH. FL, MAR. 6 m m y Lynch sw itched teams, switched bik es, and switched tire brands, bu t it didn't stop him from continu ing h is w inning ways in the AMA 's pr em ier end urance class, now known as th e EBC Bra kes Unlimited Team Challenge, on a brilliant sun-li t day at Daytona International Speedway. Lynch teamed w ith French Canadian Jacq ues Guenette Jr . to put the Fast line/MCM Suzuki GSXR1100 in the winner's circle in the team's debut in the new on e-hour format . Lynch had won the GTO title with Fastline/MCM in 1992 before moving to Two Brothers Racing and rep ea ting his winning ways last yea r. Now it's time to sta rt over and Lynch is rapidly acclimating himself. "I changed to Suzuki and it took a little time to adapt," Lynch said of the Fastline 1993 Suzuki 1100, which was fitted with updated parts. "We had very limited practi ce. It was good for me to ge t back on Dunlops. (Lynch used Bridgestone tires with Two Brothers last year.) We had a few carburetor problems - on the bankin g it was cutting out. I was cruising because of the carburetor problem:' He migh t ha ve been cru ising, bu t when he handed off to Guenette just past the halfway mark, Lynch had better than a one-minute lead and had lapped up to fifth place. Followin g a 12-second pit stop, Gu enett e Jr. took off and he, too, cruised to the end, building up a cushion of one-minute, 44.660-seconds after completing 30 laps of the 3:56-mile superspeedway. "Tomm y was already up front with a good adva n tage when I took over, so I just kept a nice, steady pace," Guenette said. "I'v e only been on the bike twice, so it gave me time to get myself set up with the bike." The second place team d idn't have the luxury of saddle time. Dutchman Racing rolled their show bike to the line, a mostly stock Yam aha FZRlOOO, after Dutchman's Ray Yo de r crashed their l1 end urance machine in practice, taking both the bike and himself out of the race. Miles Baldwin, who recently came out of retirement and will campaign a Dutchman 'Racing TZ250 in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix class, was drafted into service, joining Scott Gray. "It was thrust up on me rather suddenly with Ray's misfortune," Baldwin said after riding the first leg aboard the Dutchman bike. "It was kind of lik e World War I when they'd send a wave of so ld iers in, then when th ey were cut down they'd sen d in the next wave. It was the only bike I've ever been on that you have to fight on the banking, then gather yourself in the infield. It reminded me of Mosport with the horrible bumps. I went out this morning for two laps of practice and was hop elessly slow. Scott (Gray) dialed in the steering dam per and mad e it much better." The ride earned Baldwin a second sho t a t rid ing it on Frid ay, March 11, since Yoder isn't expected to be back. "Well have the good bike back and we expect to win." "He crashed coming out of the horseshoe," team owner Dave Schlosser said of Yoder. "His right hand is hurt and he ganked his head. We had to use d our supersport bike which has never been ra ced. The triple clamps we use fo r end urance are on the other bike. I have a guy making a new set as we speak. Baldwin had never raced that bike. It's our show bike. We slipped some slicks on it and filled it with gas:' Baldwin rode the first 11 laps, giving . up the controls at the earlies t possible time. The new one-hour format dicta tes that a rider change has to occur after the 20-minute mark and befo re the 40minut e mark. Gray took over the Dutchman Yamaha , stalking Ander son ' s Sa les & Se rvice/ Dyna mic Racin g (formerly Tea m Magic), and taking over second at the 34minute mark wh en Anderson / Dynamic's Eric Moe pitted to hand off to team . owner Jan Svensson. Dutchman Racing was the only team to finish on the same lap as Fastline/MCM Svensson was a sec ure third, a position made m or e s ecure when Paul Sloan, of th e fourth placed New Tech Ra cin g t e a m, crashed coming out of the infield late in th e race. Anderson's Sales & Service /Dynamic was third, a la p back afte r co m ple ti ng 29 laps. -rn probably co ntin ue for another 20 yea rs," Moe said, when asked about rumors that he was retiring. "With Eric's help, it worked out in the end. We got into one problem wit h the rear shock, but it was a minor one. Making it to the winner's circle is worth a whole lot of problems. I saw it sta rt to fade awa y on Eric. The bike wobbled and wandered on the banking." Fourth place wa s inherited by Cadman Racing, who made ']J laps with Jim Dickenson and Richard Croly Jr. ridin g, and fifth wen t to Cycle Accessories West Racing's Brad Jackson and James Eberhart, another lap behind. It is far too early to tell how well replacing the thr ee-hour format with a one-hour race w ill be received by the tearns. A one-hour format was tried at a handful of races last yea r. At Daytona there we re 19 Un limited Teams, well down on last year's GTO total of 34. The field was green-flagged shortly after 2:00 p .m . on a p ictu re-perfect afternoon . Jamie Bowman took the early lead on the RPM Mo to rs p o r ts Honda CBR900, though not for long. Lynch wo uld take the lead exiting the West End Horseshoe on the second lap and begin to inch away from the competition. Except for having to dodge a sea gu ll coming out of the International Ho rseshoe on the fifth lap, he had a troubl efree ride. His lead wa s nearly five seconds on the seventh lap and, lapping as quickly as a high 1:57 before settling into the mid to high l:58s, he was able to pull away at will, handing Guenette a comfortable cushion. "I was appreciating it," Lynch said. "We had a couple of small prob lems, but it was no big deal. We were fortunate to have the track time, because it's been pretty limited. We were hap py to have a little warm-up . We know what we have to do for next week." Give n such a margin to work wit h, Guenette was steady to the finish. "We spent most of the winter trying to make the bike lighter, more reliable and get rid of any possible bugs (so) that they d idn't surface a t the race track," team owner Jeff Stem said. "It seems to have pa id off today." Wh ile Fastline /MCM was pulling away, the battl e for second heated up . Bowman held th e s po t o n the RPM machine until an extended pit stop on the sixth lap dropped him out of contention. Moe took over second with New Tech's Kevin Noonan th ird and Dutchma n's Baldwin fourth . Baldwin passed Noonan on the eighth lap and began to pull away, riding for a few more laps before pitting. "I was pretty rusty; a lot of the flakes came off, although there's still a few persistent ones sticking to the old body," Baldwin said. When Gray went back out he was in fourth, a spot he held at the halfway mark. Not long afterwards the order changed when Noonan handed off to Sloan and Svensson took over for Moe. "I star ted ou t good, hanging with Tommy," said Moe, desp ite ha ving to wrestle the Yamaha made top-hea vy by the full, over-sized tank. " It makes it hard to start. The head was shaking the first five laps. It definitely handl es better once you get into it. About 20 minut es in we had a little oil leak on the left side. We just kept righ t on going. I just cru ised and gave it to Jan." Moe said that the team was now backed by Anderson's Sales & Service, a motorcycle dealership in the Detroit area. "They're supplying bikes and equip ment. This is la st year's Yamaha FZR1OO0. We'll be don e tomorro w with the new endurance bike. We have an OW01 SP chassis with a 1000 motor in it." With less than half an hour to go, it was Fastline/MCM, Dutchman, Anderson's Sales & Service/Dynamic, and

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