Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Team Moto Uberty (1) ended up winning th e Middleweight Team Chall enge fo r Its third win of the season. Rod Borsche ) from Appelton - ba ttled each o the r for Wisconsin b r ag g in g rights. Just before the manda tory ri der change/pit, Ba rn es felt some chatter from the rear. It had been a point of discussion in the Erion pits prior to the race as to w hat compoun d Bridgestone slick the tea m w ould m ount for the race. Pegram and Ba rn es had used a softcompound slick for practice and liked the traction offered, b u t once the sun hea ted the track surface they wondered if the slick would last for an entire hour of ab use. A med ium-com pou nd slick would be mounted on the rear wheel, and even tha t wou ld no t last. Lynch ran close to Sohwa and looked very relaxed at the controls of the Fastline 1 machine. Suddenly he started losing pressure from the front brake lever , as m a s te r cy li n d e r problem s had allow ed air into the s ystem . Lynch clicked back a no tch and tried to remedy the problem with the brakes. The problem would not be fixed until the rid er cha nge. Once the Fastline crew threw some tools at the brakes and Guenette grabbed the clip-ens, Fastline MCM was back in bu siness. Wanting to get a look at the rear tire, Barnes pitted and screamed to Pegram, " Larry! Larry! It's chattering a little from the rear. Do you want to swa p rubber?" Pegram looked to the crew and they sta red back, Kevin Erion leaping for the air imp act. "No, I' ll ride it," answered Pegram, mounting the bike and launching back into the race. Sohwa pitted for a fuel-o n ly stop w ith Nobles leaping on the ZX9 and fighting for the lead once the Fastline teams pitted fo r r ider sw ap s . When ever y t h in g s hould ha ve been going smoothl y and all riders forming their stra tegies for strong finishes, Pegram, chasing Nobles, foun d himself forced off the track by a slower rider and out of the race for the lead just a few lap s after pi tti n g. The tire went off and nea rl y shook Pegram from the sadd le amidst a rid e-off in tum six, forcing him to take a strange line and al m os t co lli de w ith anoth er machin e. Pe g r am ke pt th e CBR900RR up and running, joining th e.. pack again in fifth place. But the power in the world could not save the Honda tea m now as he was well back from the leaders. Guenette ripped past fo r the lead with Dutchman rider Scott Gra y, James Rand olph on the Fastline II ma chine and Nobles a ll fighting to overta ke him. Randolph laid down some fast laps and created a very small advantage. After a few moments of thought while stretching the throttle cables along the front s tra ig h t, Nobles decided to run him down rather than settle for points. With 15 minutes remaining, Nobles was only a few se conds behind Randolp h . In striking co n tr as t to other Muzzy projects, the Kawasaki seemed down on pow er to the Su z uki a nd Honda com petitors. Nobles agreed saying: "We're down quite a bit in terms of power; [ can draft them but cannot pass an d they can draft and pass me at will. But Rob has that thing handling like it's on rails; it just hammers from tum one to tum five and in the carousel. That's our advantage." Carbon brakes and an Ohlins front end aided the chassis, th e Muzzy team just getting them fit ted to the ZX9R in time for Elkhart. After dicing for three laps, Nobles and Randolph d ecided to see who actually ha d w hat. Coming out of the last turn running up the hill to the front straight, bo th drove hard from the last comer and separated from one another, screaming up the hill a nd onto the straight side by side. Pushing their own air, the two seemed to be qu ite close, and it was onl y on the exit to tum one that. Randolph took the lead. Nobles would have it back again as the pair screamed into tum five a few momen ts later. Further back in the pack, Keystone / Northstar racer Gary Lenzmier crashed in the gravel through tum six, unhurt. Nobles would hold a very slim margin to the flag after encountering a small problem getting around th e Fastline / MCM machine as Fastline II slowed to allow Fastline I to ca tch an d pass them . Nobles explained tha t he had plenty of re spect for Randolph: "He's p re tt y big but I tell you what, he's gonna be a pla yer pretty soon. I ha d a heck of time getting around him a couple of times ." Nobles and the number 17 Kawasaki crossed the finish line with the win , giving the Muzzy team the points lead they held after at Daytona. "We're shoo ting for the ch amp ionship , so the w in is important. I'm really happy to be back ra cing in America with Rob, " No bles said . CN Road Ame ric a Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Results : June 12, 1994 U NLlM[TED TE A M CH A LL EN G E: 1. Te a m Kaw asa ki/Muzzy (Ka w); 2. Fastli ne MCM/Suzuki I (Suz); 3. Fastline MCM/ Suzu ld 11 (Suz); 4. Dutchma n Racing (Yam); 5. Erion Racing (Hon): '6. Team America (Hon ); 7. Blackhaw k Racing (Yam); 8. Sportsland of Laramie (Yam); 9. Lomba rd /Specter Racing (Kaw); [0. Fox Valley Racin g (Suz); 11. Eau Claire Cycle (yam); [2. . Te a m Engleha rdIJer ry's Kid s Racing (Suz) ; 13. Dinosau r Racing (Suz); 14. Big Dog Racing (Suz); 15. Begot ka Racing (Suz ); 16. Last Min u te (Suz ); 17. An d AI Racin g (Suz) ; 18. Tea m Bud (Suz); 19 . Cheetah Racing (Suz) ; 20. F&F Racin g (Suz); 21. KCS Racin g (Suz) ; 22. Keyst one /Nor th st ar (Yam); 23. Circling Dog Racin g (Suz); 24. Anderson /Dynamic Racing (Yam); 25. Jacks' Racing (Suz); 26 . 1&: Raci ng (Kaw ); 27. Tea m 5 Yoshim ura (Suz); 28. Frits Goes Racing (H-D ); 29. Dominator.(Suz); 30. Stevens Racing (Suz); 31. Vance &: Hines I (Yam); 32. Ha rley-Davidson (H-D ); 33. Blais Cycle (Kaw); 34. Ferraro (Due) . Tim e: 59 min., 52.640 sec. Di5l.ance 25 laps . 100 miles. Average Speed; 100.205 mp h. Margin of Victory: 4.308 sec. U NLl M [T ED TEAM CHALLEN G E C ' SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 5 of 11 ro und s): 1. Team Kawa sak i/ M uz z y(158 /2 w in s); 2. Fas t li ne MC M /Suzuki (156); 3. Eri o n Raci ng (154/2 w ins); 4. . Dutchm an Racin g (143/ 1 win ); 5. Blackhawk Racing (1 17) : 6. Spor ts land of La ra mie Radng (16); 7. Key s tone /Nor ths ta r (92); 8. Team Am erica (91); 9. And erson Dyna mic Racing (90); 10. H.I. Racing (7S); 11. New Tec h Raci ng (61); 12. Te am Race law (47); 13. Northw est Racin g (44); 14. Te a m Bud (36); [5. (TIE) Team Yoshi mu ra / Cir clingDog Racing/Fastli ne MCM Suzuki n (30). . Upcoming rounds Round 6 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 19 Round 7 - Lexington, Ohio, July 17 A CS Middle MAlC weight Team Challenge Mota Liberty on track . By Dean Adam s Photo by George Roberts ELKHARTLAKE, WI, JUNE II / 010 Uberty is a small motorcycle d ealersh ip jus t outside of _ Dallas, Texas, that through the hard work o f Ja panese fin ancier Sam Yamashita and h is o ffi ce m anag er Audrey Menarick ha s become quite a force in road racing in America. The Moto Liberty win at Road America showed that although rivals and sponsors may come and go in the Middl eweight Team Challenge Series, Moto Uberty remains a force to be reckoned with. The Mo to Libe r ty riders - Michael Barnes and Japanese terro r Takah ito Mori - dominated the second half of the race after a red flag interrup ted the onehour even t. North west Racing finished second an d Jam Plan Racing ended up third. With Moto U berty 's team transp ort er broken down in St. Lo u is , Missouri, Barn es installed the GTU engine in a street-bike chassis - whi le on the side of the road no less - and rode the bike for eight hours to Road America. "And I am very grateful to the local authorities for their u nd ers tand ing," said Barnes with a w ry smile. Seems he was stopped for excee d ing the posted speed limit on at least two occasions and afte r explaining his situ ation to police, he was allowed to continue. The race sta rted with fairly ominous skies covering the grid. Moto U berty, on the pole, sat besid e AGV Racing. It was the AG V tea m who g rabbe d t he holesh ot , w ith not ed twi ns rid er Kiyo Watan abe moving in behin d him on the Honda 750 twin. Watanabe had crashed hard in pr actice for the race, bu t the fall did not seem to hinder his initial cha rge. Barnes didn't wa it long to flex his riding prowess; he m oved to the fro nt with Jamie Bowma n and the Team Techn ology Honda F2 just behind. One of th e more in teresting teams racing at Road America was the [icarilla Apa che Racing team wit h rid er s Rad Gra ves, Roy David and Roy Nichelson being sponsored by the [icarilla Apa che tr ibe, itse lf. They, too , wo u ld run up fro n t w ith AGV, Moto Liber ty a nd Watanabe. Aft e r seven la p s, Bowman had a slight lead and he stretched that by a second an d a half when AGV and J&5 Racing tou ched in tu m four, with J&S coming ou t on the losing end of tha t al tercati on. Barnes began to ru n down Bowman at this point, and after 20 min- M utes he had passed him an d sta rted to pull awa y. Bowm an gav e chase, bu t when the pair came up on American Ayers rider Todd Harrington, pro blems ensued. Harrington, a lap behind, raced with the pa ir and held off Barnes for several lap s. "Todd helped me out unintentio nally by racing with Jamie (Bowman) and letting me get away," Barnes said. "He apo logized to us for the mistake later so it's no p roblem." The great lead Barnes had worked so hard for was all for naught. On the 10th lap, Tea m Watanabe rider Lee Shierts crashe d in turn five and the race was stopped. Sh ierts was transported to a local hos pi tal and was later released . The manda tory ride r cha nge wo uld not happen for most teams as they had changed rid ers d uring the sho rt break and the grid reform ed in their original positions - much to the displeasure of Canad ian Owen Weichel of Jam Plan, w ho had made a fantastic charge to the front from row seven. Moto Uberty rider Mori took over for Barnes and wasted little time in moving the n umber one machine to the front. Northwest Racing - with Dean Mizdal at the controls - closed to within just a few lengths of Mori, but couldn't pass him. Suddenly Jam Plan made its wa y into second . Jim Leslie also tried to run Mori down on the white fla g lap - and he almost pulled it off. Moto Liberty 's margin of victory was a scant .168-0f-a-second. Team AGV led the points race coming in to the fifth round of the series at Road Am erica, bu t Shawn H igbee crashed on the last lap, dropping th e team to 25th in the final finishing order. But, they still lead the seri es standings by seven points over Northwest Racing, third today, 133-126. Moto Liberty jumps to third in the standings with 116 points. "That was a borrowed stree t motor from a Moto Liber ty cus to me r and it wasn't reall y that st rong," Barnes said. "We were about equal with Bowman in terms of power - maybe a little more on top with the carbs tha t' we're using. I'm happy that Mori could just get on and hammer from the restart . Tha t's his job, and he does it well." D; Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisco nsin Result s: June 12, 1994 MIDD LEWE[G HT T EAM CH ALLENGE: 1. Moto Ube rty/Honda (Hon); 2. Jam Plan (Hon); 3. Northwest Raci ng (H on) ; 4. Tea m Tec hnology (Ho n) ; 5. MCC (Due); 6. Tr i-Mid Racing (Hon) ; 7. Prod umax Racing (Hon ); 8. Amherst Motorspo rts (Hon); 9. Westfield / M LR Racing (Ho n) ; 10. -I&:6 Ra cin g (Ho n) ; 11. Anderson /Dynamic Racing (Yam); 12. wisconsin Cycle Sa lv age (Ya m) ; 13. Roa d Toad Racing (Ho n); 14. Maximum Velocity Racing (Yam); 15. Farra r Racin g (Hon); 16. Poor Boys Racing (Hon); 17. Team Prod umax (Suz); 18. Bla is Cycle (Ho n); 19. Racero (H· D); 20. NSD Racing (Suz ); 21. Brothers (Hon); 22. Eva Twin Racing (H-D); 23. MD Racin g (Kaw); 24. Tea m Ironwo rks (Ya m); 25. AGV Spo rts Grou p (Ho n); 26. Tei R Racing (Due); 27. Jica rill a Apa che Ra ce Tea m (Ho n ); 28. American Flyers (Ho n); 29. NSD 1I (Yam); 30. Kiyo Wata na be Raci ng (H o n); 31. Team ZlI (H -D); 32. ).5. Racing (H on); 33. MOIO Libe rty / Nanka i (Ho n); 34. TGR Racin g (Ka w). Time: one hou r, 57.422 sec. Dislance: 16 la 64 miles. r.' Averag e Spee : 62.995 mph . . Mugin of Victory: .168 sec. MIDDLEWEIGHT C'SHIP PO INT STANDING S {After 5 o[ 11 ro undsl: 1. AGV Sport (133/1 w in ); 2. No rth west Racin g (126/1 win); 3. Molo Uberty Honda (116/ 3 wins ); 4. Jicarill a Ap ache Race Team (102); 5. Amherst Motorsport (tOO) 6. Kiyo Wata na be Racing ; (88); 7. Hyv ae/ New Tech Cycle (73); 8. Team Red Baron (71); 9. H 1 Racing 2 (62); 10. Tea m Technology (58); 11. ).5. Racin g (55); 12. Evo Twin Racing (31); 13. Westfi eld M LR Racing (36); 14. Ja m Plan (32); 15. Lov ela nd Moto rspo rts H onda (30). Upcoming rounds Round 6 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 19 Round 7 - Lexington, Ohio, July 17

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