Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

::R ADRA E·. O C . .. ... . . ', . :WERA SunocoJPerfOnnance Machine National Endurance Series By Scott M. Tall SHANNONVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA. SEPT. 24 he WERA National Endurance tour's sole tr ip outside the U.S. turned into a homeboy benefit as Canadian riders played a dominant role on Shannonville Motorsport Park's 15turn, 2.5-mile layout. Canadian Kawasaki's ace su perbike sp rin ters - Torontobased Michael Taylor and East Coa st Halifax native Don Munroe - teamed for the first time to pilot a hastily prepared 1993 Kawasaki ZX7R to a convincing two-lap victory in the six-hour event. Series regulars Ian McKinstray and Tim Ru hl turned their first "home track" start ever into success with the welltravelled R.A. Racing Suzuki GSXRllOO netting second, two laps clear of third overall H&H Racing. The Heavyweight Superstock winner H&H was using DOT Metzeler tires rather than the top two team's Dunlop slicks. H&H ' s ju st-rebuil t Yamaha FZR1000 was piloted by Chuck Neighoff and Canadian Twins Champ Da ve Klassen, the latter joining the team three races ago . Two regular season favorites were not in attendance at S.M.P., throwing the race wide open and adding an air of excitement to paddock activity. The Virginia Breeze /Yamaha squad was regrouping after a string of disappointing results to mount a focused late-sea-. son effort, while dominant Team Suzuki Endurance was also missing from action. The series leaders and current number one plate holders had already scored all the six-hour race success that the points system would accept, so Suzuki's historic lOOth victory will have to wait for another round. With two 1994 dates left on the schedule, Suzuki continues to lead the points chase by a wid e margin, 838.83637.73, over Team Pearls Suzuki. Pearls were the stars of the first half of the Shannonville round, with rookie Canadian Pro Frank Wilson putting his sprint knowledge to good use before a crash and transmission trouble dropped the team to 39th in the final results. Big winners in the po ints chase were R.A., who vaulted from eighth to sixth in the over all standings thanks to .their career-best run at the RACE-organized S.M.P. round. A full field of 50 bikes took part in the noon two-wave start, held under threatening skies that fortunately never delivered any rain. The Suzuki of Competitive Edge headed the first group into the turn one, while AMA Middleweight Team Challen ge regulars Mint Racing, with Jeff Williams of nearby Kingston, a t the controls, too k th e lead in wave two . The departure of the second ha lf o f the field was de layed w hen Canadian Ka w asa ki was p ulled o ff th e g r id because of a pool of fluid found under the bike after the warm-up lap . Taylor persuaded the grid staff that it was just an oyerfilling problem, and set off after the field . The recently crowned A.S.M. Superbike Champ opted to use his stored '93 Supersport mount rather than 0\ the planned 1994 Ninja 900 he pilots in ....-< Canada's Open Supersport division, and ~ the ZX7R was is Supersport trim except ....-< for wide wheel s, worn Dunlop slicks and Brembo brakes. OJ As Taylor cut through the pack, attention w as focu sed at the front, wh ere Wilson was swiftly pulling away from the fieldon Pearl 's Heavyweight SuperStock class GSXR. Forty minutes into the race, Wilson was 24 second s T s ""' 'B o 28 Round 9: Shannonville Motorsport Park Can~ansndeonhome (Lett) Competitive Edge (57) gets the edge at the start 01 the Canadian round ol theWERA NaUonalEndurance Series at Shannonvllle Moto rsport Park In Ontario . (Below) Team Canadian Kawasaki, here with Don Munroe in th e saddle, pass ing the Ohio Superbike Racing team entry, sco red the win. clear of a good dice for second between Yamaha Canada 's Neil Jenkin s in a guest r ide aboard Red Hot Racing's Yamaha VZF750 and McKinstray's R.A. entry. Taylor was up to fourth, over a minute behind the leader, chased by Competitive Edge. The sixth-placed Cycle Canada magazine project bike (W.W.III) Yamaha 'YZF6OO of Peter Wilson , soon to pit, was the only other runner on the lead lap . Many teams chose to stop at the onehour mark, including Taylor who dropped off the lead lap while warning Munroe of a deteriorating rear tire during a major gas spill. As Wilson continued to build hi s lead, Kawasa ki 600mounted TKO Racing crashed out of the Med iumwei ght Superbike lead (a nd sixth overall) with a big high-side exiling turn three. After a lengthy repair, the team returned to action, salvaging 29th, thanks to a late race charge. Wilson made a quick gas stop at the 1:07 mark, s tay ing aboard the Pearls entry and keeping his on-track lead by just over four seconds from McKinstra y, who had passed Jenkins just before the Red Hot YZF headed for the pits. Wilson continued to turn 1:53 lap times , the quickest on the track, as McKinstra y and Munroe ran in the 1:54 range. The outright track recor d at Sha nn on ville belongs to Pascal Picotte aboard th e FBF-Ducali at 1:45.3. Last of the leade rs to make his firs t stop was McKinstray, who handed off to bike-builder Ruhl after 85 minutes. "I really can't remember the track, It's been so long since I ran here, and nev er on an ything like this," explained the 1992 Canad ia n Ama te u r 600 National Champ. "1 got behind Neil's Yamaha, and that really helped. When I got comfortable with the pace, I picked it up a bit and got by, but Frank' s a no t he r story; he's really flyin'." Just before the two-hour mark, Pearl's made their second s top, with Wilson finally getting off to all ow copilot Darryl Saylor to take a turn . Although Saylor was worried about his potential pace, he quickly got into the groove, running laps in the 1:56 range, the team's target for his shift. Pearls held the lead w it h 62 la ps completed, the same number as secondplaced Canadian Kawa sa ki, while R.A. a n d Red Hot had covered 61 tours. H&H had moved to fifth just ahead of th e im p ressiv e Yamaha 600 of Ohio Sup erbik e's Chuck Warren, Tim Tillman and Pete Martins, both w ith 60 laps in tot al. Ohi o was the first team overall with no Canadians on their rider roster. Canadian Kawasaki's second stop was quick, although Munroe thought the rear lire should be changed. Taylor elected to ru n on e more hour on th e baked ru bber since they only had one suitable re pl ace me n t, even though he almost lost it exiting the final turn in his first lap back out. Red Hot lost time at the two-and-ahalf-hour mark with a long stop involving a tire change and spilled gas, and Oh io Superb ike ex pe rienc e d a sc a re with an off-track trip at the same time . Then McKinstray took hi s own cruise through the run-off, but Jenkins wasn't so lucky when he decked Red Hot's Yamaha in a big way exiting the fast turn-five sweeper. After pushing back to the pits for repairs, Jenkins admitted that "the new rear never felt quite right, maybe I pushed it too hard, too soon." On th e track, the race for fir st got exciting jus t before the three-hour mark, Pearl's Saylor just 2.8 seconds clear of third-placed McKinstray (a lap down), w ho had second -man Ta yl or glued to his tail. Then Taylor slowed and McKinstray passed Saylor to put R.A. back on the lead lap . But Taylor picked up the pace again, passing Saylor for the lead under braking for the tight Allen's Corner (named for the Dunlop tire guru Jim, a 1970's Canadian star) before pitting a lap later . As the comb in ed Competition Wheels/Pro Cycle crew quickly fitted a new medium-compound rear Dunlop slick to the Kawasaki, Taylor elaborated on his speed change. "Th e rear tire was reall y getting tired, we wore the depth ind icators off, bu t wha t held me up was switch ing to reserve! But I needed to ge t by those guys be fore I mad e our stop, I rea ll y wanted to demoralize Pearls." . Minutes after Ca nadian Kawasaki 's mid-race service, Pearls was in for a planned two-lire change, their longish 1:44 stopage gi ving Kawasaki a oneminute lead. In heavy traffic, Munroe was comfortably in the 1:53 range while Wilson turned 1:55.5 laps . Near the fourhour mark, Munroe was getting ready to put a lap on Wilson when the Pearls rider crashed in turn eight, returning to the pits for five minutes of repairs to the left side of the Suzu ki. Prior to the crash, marshals had mentioned a noisy gearbo x on the pink Pearls entry, and 15 m inutes after th e incident Wilson parked the bike with terminal shift trouble, ending an excellen t run. Pearls' departure ended a good fight

• Cover