Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 6: New Hampshire International Speedway M Ube rty Nankal (1)gotlhe early oto jump on the field In the M iddleweight Team Challenge and they held that lead to the finis h. 16 It wasn't un til the 36-minute mark tha t all of the top teams had pitted and the race to the flag was on. That was when Lynch gave way to Randolph, a few laps af te r Sco tt Zampach had taken over from Guenette. For the run to the check ers, Schwa was in fron t. Barnes was second with about three seconds on Randolph, who ha d about three on the second Fastline bike of Zampach. With 15 minutes to go the margins were increasing, then , less than 10 m inutes later, th e Muzzy Kawasaki got noticeab ly slower. " It d eveloped an oil lea k and got very slippery," team owner Rob Muzz y said . "There was oil on the handlebars, gas tank and seat. I'm surprised he could finish. I think he had some doubt about it the last three o r four laps." Muzzy wou ldn't say where the oil was leaking from, only that it was "high up" 'on the bike. Barnes saw the chance, took it, and raced to the winner's circle. "I was just riding accord ing to plan and that was to bring it home ," Barnes sa id. "When I passed Sohwa on the Kawasaki, I really began to pu sh hard ." Being back on top of the class was where team owner Kevin Erion wanted to be, but he admitted he knew the others weren' t about to give up . " Once yo u get it (the number-one plate) it' s like a target and everyone is out to get it," Erion said in victory lane. Randolp h had the seco nd Fastli ne bik e in second , but wa s im p lo re d, th rou gh ha nd signals fro m Stern, to allow the first Fastline bike pas t. He did so on the last lap, much to the delight of Zampach. "I have to thank James Randolph. He helped me out today," Zampach said, adding that controlling the ll00cc Suzuki on the tight bends of Loudon was a chore. "Riding 17D-horsepower bikes on a go-kart track is a lot of work." Th e team had richened up the jetting early in the weekend, making it stumble some on Sunday and causing them to scorch the rear tire. "We're trying to regain the champions hi p for Suzuki, and all the people that are behind us," team manager Stern said . "I know it's hard for the riders to back up and swallow their pride, but they're doing a good job." The last rider on the lead lap was Du tchman's Szarek in fourth . Sohwa was han ging on for fifth, with Woody Deatherage anchoring the Team America effort for a sixth-place finish. Seventh w ent to Sp or ts land of Laramie's Brad Morehouse and Dan Turner, jus t in front of the Blackhawk Racing team, with Shawn Higbee riding early and Brian Kohl bringing it home.a New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Resu lts : J une 19, 1994(Round 6 of 11) UNLI M ITE D T EAM CH ALLEN G E, I. Erion Ru ing (H a n); 2. Fa srl ine MCM / Suzuk i (S u z) ; 3. ); Fastlin e /MCM Suzuki 1J (SUZ 4. Dut chman Racing (Yam ); S. Team K.awas ak i /Muzzl..(Kaw); 6. Team America (Hon); 7. Sportsland o f ramie (Yam ); 8. Bla ckhawk Racing (Ya m ); 9 . Anderson /Dynam ic Racing (Yam); 10. Keystone/Northstar (Yam); 11. WCB Raci ng (Suz); 13. GT Racin g Raci ng (Hon) ; 12. D &< S Racin g (Kaw ); 15. S.A.S. (Suz) ; 16. (Ka w); Black &: Blue Racing (Ka w); 17. Tea m Privateers (Suz); 18. Tri-Ma r (Ka w ); 19. White Fire Racing (Han); 20. Blais C ycle (Ka w ); 21. Team Yoshi mu ra (Suz); 22. Jack ' s Racing (Suz); 23. J2 Racing (5uz) . Time: 1 hour, 28,675 sec . Distance-: 46la~, 73.6 miles. A ver..ge Speed: 73.018 mp h. Margin of Victory: 32.696 sees. UNLIMITED TEAM CHALLEN G E C'SHIP POINT STANDINCS (After 6 of 11 ro u" s): 1. Erion Racing nd (189/3 wins); 2. Faslline/ MCM Su zu ki (188); 3. Tea m Kawasaki Muzzy (184/ 2); 4. Dutchman Racing (171/1 ); 5. (TIE) Spo rts land of La ramie Racing /Black hawk Racing (140) ; 7. Team A me rica (116 ); 8. Key stone Northstar (113); 9. Anderson Dynamic Racing (112); 10. H .1. Racing (75); 11. Ne w Tec h Raci n g (6 1); 12. Fastline/MCM Suzuki U (60); 13. Team Racelaw (47); 14. Nonhwest Raang (44); 15. Team Yoshimu... (40); 16. Team Bud (36); 17. Circling ~ Racing (30); 18. Tea m Attack (29); 19. (TIE) Team Labelle/Dominat or (28). n. cc Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Lexington, Ohio, July17 Round 8 - Brainerd Minnesota, July 31 A MAlCCS Middleweight Team Challenge Liberty lor aU By Henny Ray Abra ms WUOON, NH, JUNE 18 oto Liberty / Honda, the defen ding Nat iona l Champion s, led nearly ever y lap of the Mid d lew eight Team Challenge, giving up the lead very briefly during their rider change, then scooting away to a persuasive win on a brutally hot afternoon at New Hampshire International Speedway. The team of Michael Barnes and Takahito Mori completed 44 laps of the 1.6-mile track at an average speed of 62.995 mph, and won by 21.81 1 seconds. Such is the nature of their feast-or- M fami ne sea son, that, despite w inning four of six races, they still stand third in the championship point standings. At the top of the list with 163 points is AGV Sport, third on the day with Scott Zampach and Shawn Higbee doing the riding. Second in the race and second in points is Northwest Racing, the recovering Andy Fenwick teaming with Dean Mizdal to move within five po in ts of the champ ionsh ip leaders. Mot o Libe r ty I Honda ha s 151 points. The top three teams of the day, and in the points, are Honda CBR600 mounted. The order at the end of the first lap w as Mot o Liberty IHonda (Barnes), Northwest Racing (Fenwick) and AGV Sport (Zampach). The order would be the same at the finish, but there would be some movement in betw een . Barnes was inching away, holding abo ut a 3.5-se co n d ed ge a t th e 15minu te mark. Local heroes Lundgren Motorsports Racing were second, with Jeff Perry doing the early stin t. Fenwick was about 4.5 seconds ba ck in third , then came David Estok on the Team Technology Hond a, in front of a trio that included Glenn Szarek of SBR-IRC Racing , Nick lenatsch ab oard the Raceco Moto-Guzzi 1150, and Zampach. The SBR-IRC Racing Yamaha FZR600 was two weeks old, according to Szarek, and its modifications were limited to an exhaust pipe, a jet kit, and a rear shock. "We ha d no time to p u ll the motor apart," said Szarek, who was here mostly to ride for Dutchman Racing in the Unlimited Team Challenge. "It's not as bad as I expected it to be. It jus t makes you ride harder." lenatsch was aboard the Raceco M-G as part of an article he wa s doing for Sport Rider, the magazine he edits , and an "E- ticke t Ride" soon turned into a run for the front. He moved up to fourth on the 16th lap an d would get up to third before handing off to team owner Ron McGill. "It's a thrill," lenatsch said after the hand-off. "It's something different. I'm so u sed to riding the GSXs and the CBRs. I think it would be better at a fast track like Road Atlanta . It's got plenty of motor." Raceco's rider change came on the same lap that Mori took over the Moto LibertyI Honda, at about the 33-minute mark, an d a few m inutes later Dean Mizdal replaced And y Fenw ick. All of the riders were suffering from the heat, Fenwick a little more so due to an injury suffered in a dirt bike accident. "I broke my ankle a month and a half ago and I haven 't been able to run or train, " Fenwick said. "I was conserving energy. " "The tr ack was co mi ng apa rt an d traffic's a mess. It always is here," Fenwick ad d ed . He sai d that he w as n ' t aware that the team was in the lead. "I don 't . pay attention until the last five minutes." Barnes said that because of the heat, " you jus t ha ve to work harder than us u al." He had to w ork even harder since the team was forced to use a stock motor. His cushion was elastic, shrinking then growing, mostly, Barnes said, due to traffic. "This track is so tight you can lose a lot of ground in one lap." When Fenwick pitted, Mori wen t into a lead he would never relinquish. At the end of the 27th lap he had close to seven seconds and would stretch it at nearl y a second a lap, lapping up through fifth place by the end of the one-hour event. Mori said on th e podium that the race was very hard ph ysically, but that he had a very fast teammate in Barnes and a very fast bike. Raceco's McGill pitted twice around the 4O-minute mark when he noticed a misfire. The first time he came in it was to tell the team to ge t a ne w battery ready, then the second time they were to change it. Instead, he went back out and the problem was suspected to be a hole in the exhaust header. The time lost in the pits dropped them to six th at the end. When McGill pitted it moved everyone up a notch, and Higbee found himsell in third. Just behind came the SBRIRC Racing bike, Evan 5emoff III now in the saddle, in front of Lundgren Motorsports' Eric Wood. The Kiyo Watanabe Racing Honda 750cc V-twin was gradually mov ing up, and would soon be in the top five . Watanabe had d one the early riding before giving way to Brad Hazen. It ap p eared th at th e Lundgren Motorsports Racing Yamaha was overheating, a big puff of smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe eve ry time Wood braked for tum one. Watanabe would get by late in the race and take fourth, with Lundgren finishing fifth in front of McGill's Raceeo Moto-Guzzi. "I can't thank these guys enough for working so hard this weekend," Barnes said after the team's fourth win . "When I wen t ou t there I saw the Moto-Guzzi go by me and I didn't know what was goi ng on ," Mizdal said. "I tried to keep up, but I was losing the front end. They told me that Moto liberty was long gone, so keep it up and finish second." Fenwick added that Mizdal had done most of the work on the bike, and that they'd gotten some help with their carburetion from Fastline/MCM Racing' s Jeff Stem. Higbee andZarnpach were third, an impressive feat considering that they're forced by budgetary constraints to use street tires. Zampach had run with lenatsch and Glenn Szarek ear ly, and was stic king with a plan tha t emphasizes consistency. "Play it conservative and run a consistent pace. Hopefully we can keep running strong," Zampach said. "Scott got us off to a good start. We ran a comfortable pac e. The track was tearing up a bit and I didn't want to take a chance," Higbee said. a New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Results: June 18, 1994 (Round 6 of 11) MIDDLEWEIGHT TEAM OIALLENGE: 1. Malo Uberty{H ond a (Hon); 2. Northwest Racing (Hon); 3. AGV Sports Group (Hon); 4. Kiyo Watanabe Racing (Hon) ; 5. Lun d gren Mo to rs ports Racing (Yam ); 6. Raceco (M-G); 7. J5. Racing (Hon); 8. Team Technology (Hon ); 9 . SBR-I RC Ra ci ng (Ya m) ; 10. Am h e rs t Motorsp orts (Hon); 11. Jicarilla Apache Race Team CHo 12. Aane RacingI (Hon); 13. WCB Racing (Hon); n); 14. One Way Racing (Hon); 15. Bikewcrx Raang (Hon); 16. Best Auto &< Cyele (Yam); 17. Hond.t-Suzuld World Racing (Ho n); 18. Amherst Mot ors port II (Ho n); 19. Team Socks (Yam ); 20. Light Speed U (Hon); 21. Jam Plan (Ho n); 22. Team Hammy (Yam); 23. Aane Raang (Due); 24. Tea m Green (Hon); 25. OP Racing (Hon ); 26. Anderson/Dynamic Racin g (Yam); 27. Recycle lUocin g (Suz); 28. Non Profi. Racing (Hon); 29. Hot Chili Racing (H o n); 30 . Evo Tw in Racing (H- D); 31. Blais Cycle (Han ); 32. Team Han sen (Ya m). TI me: 59 mins., 38.439 sees. Dista ncr. 44 laps , 70.4 miles. Average Speed, 62.995 mph. M.argin of Victory: 21.811 sees. M ID DLEWEIGHT C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 6 of 11 ro unds): 1. AGV Spo rt (163/1 win) ; 2. Northwest Racing (1S8/1 win); 3. Mot o Uberty Honda (151/4 wins) ; 4. Jica rill a Apa ch e Race Team (122); 5. Amherst Motorsport (121); 6. Kiyo Watanabe Racin g (116); 7. Team Technology (81); 8. ).S. Racing (79); 9. Hyvac/New Tech cycle (73); 10. Team Red Baron (71); 11. HI Racing 2 (62); 12. Jam Plan (42); 13. Raceco (41); 14. Eva Twin Racing (38); 15. Westfield MLR Racing (36); 16. Honda Suzu ki World Racing (31); 17. Loveland Motcrspcrts Honda (30); 18. (TIE) Team Plun ger/Team Houck Racing!Anderson Dynamic Racing (28). Upcoming rounds Round 7 - Lexington, Ohio, July16 Round8 - Brainerd, M innesota, July 30

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