Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.:,:- \yEO roSeries' :: E" : Round 1:Road Atlan R APD'· AC:,:;' A R R ta Team Suzuki Endurance won Its second successive race In 1994, keeping Its perfect record Intact. • As usual, the race 'was won by Team Suzuki Endurance, though they admitted they weren't the fastest bike on the 2.52mile Road Atlanta circuit. That honor went to Glenn Szarek, the lone rider employed by Virginia Breeze Racing for the two hours, six minutes of actual competition. That the team used only one rider caused some carping by a rival team owner, though it was allowable under WERA rules. What wasn't debatable was Szarek's performance. Szarek led eve ry lap , over all three segments, only to be taken out by a fuel pump failure on,the team's Yamaha FZR1000within 10 minutes of the checkered flag while holding close to a 14-secand lead. Team Suzuki Endurance inherited the lead and Michael Martin took the checkered flag for the team's 94th WERA endurance victory, though he acknowledged that the day wasn 't his. "Basically, I said to m yself tha t I couldn't catch this dude," Martin said, referring to Szarek. "I said I'd bring this baby home and get us a second-place finish. I came over the brow and saw this waving yellow. I just thought I'd slow down then I saw the Virginia Breeze bike. I wen t by and thought he was going to get going again. I thought maybe it was temporary thing . Today, honestly, he was quicker than we were ." That was small consolation to Szarek, who spent several minutes after the race on his p it bike with his head slumped down in his arms as friends tried to cansole him. "It's a tough one to swallow, but we'll go on to the next race," Szarek said. "As soon as I came out of turn seven and started rolling, it cut off. I didn't know if it was the tether switch, or if it went on reserve. I started pushing, and halfway up the cavity the truck came and took it. It's kind of tough to be that close to winning our first one." After a lengthy scoring delay, Northwest Honda Racing was credited with second place overall, with Gordon Miller doing all of the riding on the team's Honda CBR900 and finishing better than a lap down on the winners. Another lap behind in third overall, but first in Heavyweight Production, came Team Pearls Suzuki with Da r ryl Saylor, Reuben Frankenfield, and Frank Wilson sharing the saddle of the Suzuki GSXR750. Sec, and in Heavyweight Prod uctio n, and fourth overall, was Ka wasa ki ZX7Requipped Light Speed II. Team Suzuki Endurance gave most of the seat time to Martin, though Tray Batey rode the m iddle sti n t. The pa ir completed 82 laps and 209.16 miles of the 12-turn track. Because of the red flags, no average speed was given. The race began on a bright and beautiful Georgia afternoon, the sun shining as the 50-rider field too k to th e tortuous Road Atlanta circuit. Szarek, Martin, and Cycle Motion Racing/Prudential Securities' Dave Deveau set the early pace, the trio lapping the tail-enders by the fifth lap . With traffic congestion increasing, Szarek was able to cut thro ugh it and pull out a seven-second ad vantage by the 10th lap. By the time the first red flag flew at the 45-minu te mark, Szarek held close to a 17-second lead over Ma rt in a nd Deveau . Darryl Saylor was fourth on the Pear ls Suzuki, the last rider on the lead lap. A three-rider pile-up in turn seven had caused the first stoppage. No one was hurt, though there was so me trashed machinery and oil on the track. Many of the tearns changed tires with Cycle Motion Racing/ Prudential Securities having to change clutch pl ates and springs. "Right after the 10th lap I could feel it slipping a little bit," Deveau said. "I had rad io communication with the team and they told me that I had 30 seco nds on fourth place and to save it. I was hoping for a red flag and got it." After a 3O-minute delay the race began again, the riders gridded not by their finishing positions in the first leg , but as they were at the start of the race. Those starting spots were earned at the previous WERA endurance race in Talladega. Szarek again got the holeshot; th is time he was pursued by Deveau, Gordon Miller of Northwest H on d a Racing, Reuben Frankenfield of Team Pe a rls Suzuki, and Batey on the Suzuki Endurance GSXR. And again it was Szarek disappearing from the field. He had eight seconds in hand by the third lap, with Batey moving into second after Deveau ran off the track on the second lap. "Going into tum six I caught a false neu tral and went straight downhill into the woods," Deveau said . Dep end ing mostly on traffi c, Szarek was able to turn lap times in the mid 1:26s an d easily left the field behind. By the time the second red flag came out, after about 32 minutes of racing, Szarek's lead on Batey was ab out 20 seconds, with Mille r thi rd, Deveau back up to fourth and Frankenfield fifth. The second delay was brought abou t by a five-rider crash on the exit of tum six. Again no one was hurt, but the delay dragged on for over an hour as the track was made safe, thou gh another red flag was minutes away. On the third lap of the third start, the Recycle-Hud son Valley Suzuki 600 blew an engine on the front straight, spew ing oil on the racing line and bringing the swift appearance of another red flag. Szarek was again in the lead when the race was stopped for the third time and growing tired the routine. "It was kind of annoying to build up a 20-25 second lead and then get the red flag," Szarek said. "1was kind of wonderin g if I cou ld keep it up with the restarts." The final green flag was waved with 45 min utes to go. Szarek was again in the lead and riding all the way, to the annoyance of Team Suzuki Endurance team captain John Ulrich. "We stuck to the rider rotation the whole race," Ulrich said during an interview over the track public address system. "The othe r team ran one guy th e whole race and that's sort of a gray area in the rule book." Buford Scott, team captain for Virginia Breeze, said the team was well within the rules. Scott pointed out that the rulebook says that a rider can't run for more than two hours seated on the motorcycle, and that the down time d idn 't count against the rider's allotment. Plus, if a rider rides for two hours, he needs to be off the bike for' 30 minutes before riding aga in . Because of all the red flags, the team was dearly within the rules, as was Northwest . Honda Racing which employed' a similar strategy . "If this was a club racing, and I was racing myself, I could see that," Scott said of Ulrich's obje cti on. "Bu t I'm a team manager and my goal is for the team to d o the best it can." Martin w as back on Team Su z u k i Endurance for the final sprint, and again chasing Szarek, bu t to no avai l. The Baltimore-based Szarek pulled awa y at th e rate of almost a second a lap, w ith Martin leaving third-placed Cycle Motion Racing / Prudential Securities behind. Their chances for a podium finish ended on the fourth lap of the final re-start when se cond ri der Joe Brett Williams was 'b13ck-flagged and brought in to check for an oil leak. Willia ms misunderstood the official the first time he came in and had to be b rought back to the pit lane again to make su re there was no problem. The de lay cost the team eight minutes and dropped th em to an eventual seventh place finish. Team manager Landers Sevier said that it was a simple matter of overfilling the engine during the final break. He said tha t the motor surged , send ing the overflow up into the tail section and into the exhaust pipe. . With 15 minutes to go, Szarek held about a 14-second lead with Martin better than 30 seconds in front of Northwest Honda 's Mill er , with Light Speed II's Woody Deatherage third in fr ont of Arclight Racing. Soon afterward, everything changed. First, Szarek came to a stop when his fuel pump failed with about 10 minutes to go, handing the lead to Martin. "I honestly couldn't believe it when I saw the bike stopped," Martin said. He took the lead with better than a one-lap cushion and breezed home. Northwest Honda Racing would come second, but Light Speed would lose third wh en Deatherage had to pit for a splash of gas with about three minutes to go. Arclight would have been in po sition to take advan tage, but they, too, had gas problems running out on the front straight with about four minutes remain ing. "We miscalculated by two minutes," Arclight's Chuck Warren said. "We have a reserve capacity that's good for two laps, but we added significant horsepower. It cost us eigh t positions." They finished 12th overall. . Team Pearls Suzuki moved up to third, with Light Speed II's Deatherage finishing fourth and Red Ho t Racing finishing fifth . "The Virg inia Breeze bik e was running good. Szarek was better than us today," said Team Suzuki Endurance 's Tray Batey, who rode the middle stint. "John (Ulrich) told me he didn't want to see me toss the bike around. Mike (Martin) is th e st ronger rider on this race track." , Northwest Racing's Gordon Miller did all the riding on the second-place bike and said that all of the red flags allowed him to fine tune the suspension. "Each time I got a little fas ter, " Miller said, adding that he did all of the riding for two reasons: The first was that he was a little faster than te a m m a te Ronnie Lunsford , and the second was that his other teammate, Gregg Abbott, was getting married. Reuben Frankenfield, who rode the middle section for Team Pearls Suzuki, was wary of how the team 's 750 would fa re against the unlimited bikes, but found them to be competitive. "At th is track I thought we'd get killed, " Frankenfield said. "Gary Evans, of Performance by Gary, worked on the suspension all day Saturday and worked on jetting today." CN Road Atlanta Braselto n, Georg ia Results: April 23, 1994 O VERALL: 1. Team Suz uki End u ra nce (Suz); 2. No rth wes t Ho nd a Racing (Ho n); 3. Team Pearls Suzuki (Suz); 4, Light Speed II (Kaw); 5, Red Ho t Racing; 6, Team TSBA (Ka w); 7. Cycle Motion Racing (Ho n); B. Co mpe titive Edge Racing (Suz); 9. Brian Gibbs Racing (Ho n); 10, Cycle Nuts 'n Bolts (5uz); 11. TKO Racing (Kaw); 12. Arclight Raci ng (Ho n); 13. Royal Racing (Hon ); 14, Can-Am Racing (Suz); 15. R.A, Racing (5uz); 16. Pure Sports Racing (Hon); 17. 5tray Bullet Racing (Hon); 18 . Nicholson ' s Ann Arbo r (Ho n); 19. AMS Racing (yam); 20. Team Powe rbar Suzuki (Suz ). TIme: 4 hours Disbnce: 83 laps, 209.16 mil es. Margin of victo ry: nl a du e to red flag. Average speed: n/ a du e to red flag.

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