Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. ::R ADR C llach~ National Endurance Series Round 5: Putnam Park , O A E·: . .... . .WERASUilocoJPerfOnnance : way out, they could not close the gap on the two Team Suzuki bikes. At the h alfway poin t in th e race, Te a m Suzuki led Team Suzuk i II b y nearly a full lap. Vir gin ia Breeze had d ropped to thr ee laps behind th e leaders: Arclight Racing was u p to fou rth overall, but they we re just about to lose third and fou rth gea r on the Hon da CBR900. Ohio Superbike Racing was d oing a grea t job moving up through the field on their Yamaha FZR600. Putnam regulars Dean Hayes and Lanny Allen were teamed up with fast first year expert Dan Bailey for Ohio Sup erbike, and ran fifth at the three-hour mark. Th e onl y other Mediumweight team in the top 10 was TKO Ra cing, which ran e ig h th . TKO was riding on a borrowed Honda after the team 's Kawasa ki ZX-6 blew up in practice. During the second ha lf of the rac e, "It was tough to charge out there," said Batey of the heavy traffic. "It seems like you would only see clear track every 15 or 20 minutes. I made some contact with some of the other racers out there. I didn't mean tei, but it was almost inevitable with over 40 teams out there." Ohio Superbike finished strong to win the Mediumweight Superbike class while ending up fourth overall. It was the team's second-best overall finish of the seaso n. Team Pearls won the Heavyweight Super stock class an d rounded out the top five overall. It was the thi rd class win in five starts for Pearls. During the second hour, th e Tea m Pea rls Suzuk i GSXR750 lost a cha in, dropping the team all th e way back to 21st overall. Riders Wilson and Reed charged all the way back to win the class despite also suffering a cracked header on the Suzuki later in the 'race. "We got a little help wh en Red Hot Racing crashed," said Team Pearls Captain Peter Jones. "Our riders did a great job turning 1:16s on Metzeler prod uction tires to allow us to get back in to the lead." Airport Racing' s Ken Me lville a nd Sco tt McFadden w on the Medi- Tea m Suzuki gradually pulled away from Team Suzuki II and they cruised to a two-lap margin of victory over the youngsters. Virginia Breeze kept pace with the leaders after the team's early problems and finished a solid third. Team Suzuki traveled 502.2 miles during six hours of racing. umweight Superstock class despite taking five pit stops. "This is a very lowbudget team, so we ran the same tires all day long. They were hooking up even at the end of the day, ". said Melville, pointing out a totally slick Dunlop tire which had once had tread. It was the first win ever for the first-year team . of guys beat youngpups By Larry Lawrence Mr. MERIDIAN, IN, JULY 9 he old and young of Team Suzuki Endurance had a very good day at Putnam Park Road Course. The -old guys, Team Suzuki's A-Team of Tray Batey, one day from turning 34, and Michael Martin, 35, won their fourth WERA National Endurance race of the season. The young guns, Team Suzuki's B-Team of Steve Patterson, 22, and David Stanton, 24, finished second, two laps behind the winning team. Both teams were riding Suzuki GSXR1100s. Third place overall at Putnam went to Virginia Breeze Racing, with riders Glen Szarek and Jeff A tw e ll rid ing the team 's Yamaha FZR1000. Team Suzuki Endurance's race-winning average of 83.70 mph was a new en durance record on the 1.8-mile Pu tnam Park circuit . The Putnam victory gives Team Su zuki Enduranc e an eve n more commanding lea d in the se ries s tandings with 520 points to 390 points for Team Pea rls Su zu ki, which finished fifth at Putnam. Virginia Breeze Racing is third in the standings with 368 points. The race a t Pu tnam Park was held und er -m ost ly cle a r skies and m id-80 d egree temperatures, near perfect cond itions for endurance racing. Virginia Breeze's Szarek led the oth er 41 teams aro und the first lap at the start of the race; Szarek has proven to be one o f the fastest r id ers o n the WERA endurance circu it this season, frequently givi ng his team early leads. Martin, on Team Suzuki Endurance, ran a close second in the early going. Cycle Motion Racing's Mark McDaniel and Frank Wilson of Team Pearls Suzuki battled over third. . Team Pearls found themselves with a rider shortage after two of their regular riders were injured sp rint racing. Pearls picked up Putnam fastman Eric Smith to fill the gap and he promptly went out and broke his collarbone in a practice crash. Former WERA Novice sensation Wilson and teammate Mike Reed would have to carry the load. . Less than 10 minutes into the race, Martin put Team Suzuki into the lead for the first time by making a pass on Szarek in tum five . A lap later it was T 30 (Above) Tray Batey led Team Suzuki Endurance (1) to victory In the six-hour race at Putnam Park. Batey also broke the lap record when he rode the bike to victory in the 1100cc Superstock class. (Right) Team Suzuk i II (11) fin ished second ove rall with David Stanton and Steve Patterson. Here they lead AMS Racing (60) end Anderson/Jardin Racing (19). (Below) Virginia Breeze Racing fi nished third In the endura nce race at Putna m Park. Sza rek back in front with some aggressive passes in traffic. Twenty minutes into the race, Virgi nia Bree ze had a scary moment. Szarek ran off the track at a high rate of sp eed in tum four, but he was able to get the bike under con trol and resume th e rac e. Virginia Breeze had lost the lead and would only hold it briefly one more time when Team Suz uki made its first pit stop . Szarek's run off was especia lly ominous since it was the exact tum whe re Jay Bartlow had crashed a Virginia Breeze Yamaha at the race here las t year. The crash left Bartlow pa ralyzed. At the end of the first hour, Team Suzuki led Virgi ni a Breeze by 15 secon ds. Tea m Suzuki II had wo r ke d throu gh traf fic and w as u p to th ird. H&H Racing and Team Pearls rounded out the top five. Early con tende r Cycle Motion had by this time dropped out with mechanical problems. The shift linkage on th e Virginia Breeze Yamaha broke early in the second hour, forcing the team to make an unscheduled pit stop. While making repairs, Virginia Breeze went down two laps to the leaders and, even though they had a smooth race the rest of the

• Cover