Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 7: Mid-Ohio S o Car Course p rts Out front, Barnes was turning up the wick and was better than nine seconds in fron t of Guene tte Jr. as the race passed the 45-minute ma rk. H e'd gotten some un expected help from a backmarker. "At first 1 knew we weren't too far behind," Guenette said . "I g o t o utsi de a way slower rider. At the last minute he lifted his bike and 1 went straight. 1 los t five seconds." That gave Barnes more than enough cushion and he ma intained the lead to the end and gave the team another trip to the winner's circle. "I've got to thank Larry for giving me tha t lead," Barn es said. " I did some 1:32s. 1 kn ew th e tires would hold up and we'd close out with a win. " " I was never go in g s u p e r hard ," Pegram said. "I pulled out a couple seconds on the fourth and fifth laps and just cruised." Even second-placed Guenette Jr. had to admit that the winners were invincible today. "The Erion Brothers bike went pretty good," he said. "Tommy had a good lead on third place so 1 just went hard and fast." After finis hing th ird Nobles said, " I thought 1 could catch them. It looked like 1 was making time." Then he added that he'd used up to o much bike for Sohwa to catch them. "The first three, we didn't need that. We needed to win the thing to get ba ck in to the ch a m pionship." Dutchman's Fenwick mot ored th ro ug h his brak e problems to fin ish fou rth in front of FastIine /MCM Suzuki II's James Rand olph. Hern on was sixth aboard th e All Season s Racing Honda CBR900. a MldoOhlo Sports Car Course lexington, Ohio Results: July 16 , 1994 U N LI M IT ED T EAM CHALLENGE: I. Er io n Racing (Hon); 2. Fastline/ MCM Suzuki (5uz ); 3. Tea m Kawa sak i/M uzzy (K.1w); 4. Dutchman Racin g (Ya m); 5. Fastline/ MC M Suz uk i II (Suz ); 6. AU Seasons Racing (H on ): 7. Sports la nd of Laramie Racin g (Ya m) ; 8. Key.tone /Norths tar (Yom); 9. Blackhawk Racing (Yom); 10. Team A me rica (Ho n); 11. And erson /Dynam ic Racin g (Ya m) ; 12. K.W .S. Mo to rs p orts (Hon) ; 13. Perimeter Performa nce (Ho n); 14. Team Recelaw (Kaw) ; 15. Farra r Racin g (Ho n); 16. C hee teh Racing (Suz ); 17. joe Schutt Racin g (Yam) ; 18. Team Misma tch (Suz); 19. Mac Tool Racin g (Ka w): 20. Crav es Motorspo rts (Suz); 21. Team Mirag e (Kaw); 22. Ha rley-Davidson (H- D); 23. Steve ns Racin g (Suz ); 24. Team Turk (Suz ); 25. Team Yoshimura (Suz). Time: 59 mins., 36.534 sees. Dist.nce: 38 laps, 88.54 mil es . AVl"fiIge Speed.: 91.798 mph.. MoIrgin of Victory: 9.176 sees. UN LI M ITE D TEAM CH AL LENGE C 'SHIP POI NT STANDINGS (Afte r 7 of 11 rou nds) : 1. Erion Racin g (224); 2. Fostline/MCM Suz uki (220); 3. Team Kaw asa ki Muzzy (214); 4. Du tchman Racing (199); S. Sportsland of Lora m ie Racing (164); 6. Blackhawk Racing (162); 7. Team Am eri ca (137); 8. Keystone Northstar (136 ); 9. An derson Dynamic Raci ne: (132); 10. Fastli ne /MCM Suzuki J1 (56); 11. H.l. Racin g (75) ; 12. Tea m Racela w (6-1); 13. New Tech Rocing(61); 14. Team Yoshimura (46); po IS. K.WS . MotDt> rts (45); 16. Northwest Racing (44); 17. Cheetah Racing (38); 18. Tea m Bud (36); 19. Circli ng Dog Rocing(30); 20. Tea m Attack (29). Opcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 31 Round 9 - Sonoma, California, August 21 AMAlC M CS iddleweightTeam Challenge Moto Libe~ laps the field By Henny Ray Abrams _LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 17 aybe it was because, for the first time, th e Middleweight Team Challen ge race was being run on Sunday, and th ey had a chance to show off, that the Moto Liberty I Ho nda crew deci ma ted the competition. More M likely it was because they're th e best team in the class and are nea rly uns toppable. Wha teve r th e reason, Mic hael Barnes and Takahito Mori la p ped th e entire field on a warm morning at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Cou rse, tak ing their fifth win in seven tries this year in a ra ce th at was comp letely devoid of drama. " It was the best bike that we fielded all year making our job easier," Barnes sa id , after taking the first rid ing shift. " Mori say s, 'Why should 1 sta rt if you give me a 2D-second lead?' " Th e lead was closer to 30 seconds than 20 when Barnes pitted just past the halfway mark in the one-hour event, and Mori would add a minute to the cushion. He did, however, get a little help from his pursuers. Northwest Racing, which had been invo lved in a close figh t for second through the entire first half of the race, was eliminated early in the second half when second ri d e r Andy Fenw ick crashed in his first lap on the bike; Fenwick suffered a broken ankle . That left sec ond to AGV Sports Group's Shawn Higbee, who soon handed off to Scott Zampach. Early in his shift Za m pach d iscovered that the shift linkage was broken and the shifter was coming back beyond the center line. He spent part of the race shifting with his hand and was only lapped on Mori's final tour of the circuit. Also on the last lap, J5. Racing's Sean Sweeney passed Laurentide's Marco Ferland to take third, their best finish since finishing second at Daytona in March. "We needed this and our sponsors needed this," lead rider Jim Lester said. " We had to prove Da ytona w as n' t a fluke ." After getting passed in the Carousel, within sight of the finish line, on the last lap, Laurentide held on for fourth in front of Ohi o Superbike Racing II's Dean Hayes and Daniel Bailey. Barn es and Mori completed 37 lap s (86.21 miles) of the 2.33-mile course at an average speed of 88.623 mph. Their margin of victory was one-minute, 42.875seconds. AGV Sports Group continues to prove that consistency and finish ing are the keys in endurance racing. Despite not having won since Daytona, and despite Moto Liberty IHonda 's five wins, AGV leads the cha mpionship by nine points, 195-186, after seven of 11 races . Northwest Racing is third with 158. It wasn't long into the one-hour event that Barnes made it clear that his team was the one to bea t. By the fourth lap the Honda CBR600-mounted Barnes had a two-second margin and it would rap idly expand. Though he hit traffic b y the sixth lap, Barnes wasn' t slowed and continued to pad his lead. By the time Mori to ok over at the 34-minute m a rk th e edge was over 30 seconds, and it wo uld gro w. The thin king behind putting Mori second was tha t he had a 2.5Occ GP race later in the da y, but that wasn't slowing him down and his and Barnes lap times were nearl y equal. The battle for second was a good one for the first half of the race. AGV Sports Group's Shawn Hig bee and Northwest Racing's Dean Mizdal swapped the spo t back and forth constantly. "On the backstraight they could pick up quite a lead ," Higbee said. "I wa s able to out brake him in the last tum. 1 was a little smoo ther and could make up time on the infield. My only hope was to try to get a few backmarkers between us. If 1 was in front he could draft by pretty early on the straig ht. " The spat went right down to the gas stop, with Mizd al ha nd ing off to Fen- (Above) FastlinelMCM Suzuki (2) finished second ahead of Team KawasakllMuzzy and Dutchman Racing (3). (Below) The Midd leweight Team Challenge was won by Moto U bertylH onda' s Michael Barnes and Takahlto Morl . wick and gassing up at the 33-minute mark. At the end of his first lap , Fenwick, who recently recovered from a broken foot, fell into a tire 'w all in tum 11, breaking his ankle and handing second to Higbee. Higbee gave way to Zampach at the 38-minute mark. Within a few laps Zampach came by the pits signaIling to his left footpeg. The team p repared to replace it, bu t Zampach never stopped. It turned ou t that it wa s the shift mechanism that was broken and was forcing Zampach to occasionally shift by hand. "The shi ft linkage, something ha ppened an d it kept com ing off cen te r," said Zampach after the race, showing a shifter poin ting s trai gh t u p . " Some downshifts 1 would do by hand, so me not at all. 1 was just babying it to the finish. 1 knew 1 could finish second and 1 couldn't catch Moto Liberty ." Desp ite his shifting p roblems, Zampach was never in d an ger of be ing caught and passed by the batt le for third. The J.S. Racing team, which had run the , first half of the race just outside the top fiv e, moved up to fifth with about 20 minutes to go. First they passed the Mint Racing team of Andrew Trevitt and Jeff Williams, then set out for Laurentide. With about seven minutes to go, Jeff Sweeney caught sight of Ma rco Ferland and pulled out all the slops. "The crew kepi me alerted the whole time," Sweeney said. "With three laps to go 1 was on the back stra ight and I knew he was there. On the last lap we pulled up on a lapped ride r and he went wide and 1put it un derneath him." a Mld-ohio Sports Car Course lexington, Ohio Results: July 17, 1994 MIDDLEWEIGHT TEAM CHALLENGE: 1. Molo Liberty/ Hondo (Hon); 2. AGV sports Gro up (H on) ; 3. j .S. Ra cing (Hon ); 4 . La urenrlde (Hon) ; S. Ohio Superbik.e Raci ng n (Yam ); 6. Moto liberty/ Na n ka i (Hon); 7. Recycle lUang (Suz) ; 8. Aonhem M'otonopor!S (Hon) ; 9. Mint Racing (Ho n); 10. Pr odumax Racing (Hon); 11. Tri -Mid Racing (Hon) ; 12. Jic. ri lla Apache a Race Team (Hon); 13. Ultra Wheel Racing (Suz ); 14. Amherst Moto rsport n (Hon); 15. Strea mlinr Raci ng (Hon ); 16. WestfieId/ MUl. Rocing(lion); 17. UghtSpeed II (Hon) ; 18. Honda / H-D of Prestonsburg (Hon ); 19. Lundgren Mot onoports Racin g (Yom); 20. Tea m Racing Mot orcv cle Works (Hon); 21. Psa lm Racing (Suz ); 22Farrar Rocing (Yom); 23. "IU"," IPSA Loquitor (Ho n); 24 . T eam Knee Dragon (H o n); 25. O h io Su perbike Racing (Yam); 25. Andenon/Dynomic Racing (Hon); "O. Team Reduc (Due); 28. Shoestring Racin g (Ya m); 29. Silbers tein R&D (Due); 30. Hot Chil i Racing (Hon) ; 31. Topgun Racing (Hon ); 32. Northwest Racing (Ho n); 33. Team Produmax: (Suz); 34. MCC Racing (Due); 35. Evo Tw in Racing (H-D). Ti me- 1 hour, 7.177 sees. Di stance: 37 lops. 86.21 miles. Avenge Speed: 88.623 mph . MoIrgin of Victory: 1:37.491 sees. MIDDLEWEIGHT C' SHIP POINT ST AN DI NG S: 1. AG V Sport (195); 2. Mo te Liber ty H ond a (186); 3. Northwest Racing (158); 4. Amherst Moto rsport (144); S. Jicarilla Apac h e Race Tea m (141); 6. Kiyo Wa tan abe Racing (116); 7. ).5. Racing (109); B. Tea m Tech nology (81); 9. Hyvac/ New Tech Cycle (73); 10. Tea m Red Boron (71); II. HI Ra cin g 2 (62) ; 12 . (TIE) Recycl e lUang/Westfield MIll. Racing (51); 14. Mint IUcing (46); 15. Produmax Racing (45); 16. Iam l'Ion (42); 17. Roceco (41); 18. Evo Twin Racing (38); 19. Anderson Dynomk IUcing (33); 20. Honda Suzuki World Racing (31). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 30 Round 9 - Sonoma, california, August 20 13

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