Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v i ,R ADRACE·, USA series Round 2: Road Atlanta O uels Sunoco Race F Formula minutes of the hour. Darryl Saylor carne in jus t af ter the hour mark and Ma rk Ju nge joine d th e fray w ith a fu ll tan k and a new rear tire. Junge maintained the advantage into the thi rd hour w he n Reuben Frankenfield ho pped on at about the 2:20 mark, the team fitting new tires fron t and rear th is tim e and Fra nkenfield taking it to the red flag . Then it woul d come d o wn t o t he sprint, Wilso n aga inst Miller, and Miller had an inkling of the course of events earl y in the ga me. "They had a lot mor e po we r d ow n the back stra igh t. If ] was d rafting hi m, ] cou ld stay with him ," Miller said. Then they hit the backrnarkers a nd the race Team Suzu kJ Endurance (1) won the second round of the series at Road Atlanta, topp ing Team Pearls Suzuki (2) in the four-hou r event. (Right) Takahito Mori (412)and Matsahiro Iizuka (161) were 1·2 in the 12Scc Grand Prix class. wou ld have taken considerably lon ger than revert ing to th e original gri d and wo u ld most likely have cut into the final 30 minut es, which wou ld have mad e the race offically over. The rul es sta te that a race cannot be res ta rted with less than 30 minutes to run. "Because of the latenes s of th e day, th ere sim p ly was not eno ug h time to regrid an d do the race," race director Jim Sublet said . Th e gridwork d idn't affect the lead team at a ll. Wit h b etter tha n a lap in hand , Stanton could ha ve cruised home at a very comforta ble pa ce. But ins tead he went for it an d wo n the 23-lap rac e wi thin the race. "I go t a p r etty good s ta r t o n the restar t and then waited for my tires to warm up," Sta n to n sa id. "I w a tched Gordon (Miller) and Frank (Wilson) go at it." Their team s had b een g oing a t it si nce th e en d o f the first hour, which th ey fini sh ed in seco n d a n d thi rd , though the No rthwest bik e was officially d own o ne lap after Gordon Miller' s opening shift, sim p ly because he pitted to give way to Greg Abbo tt in the final 'B rieflv·.:~::. . . Brake failure'cost ihe R A.·Rading team of. Canadians TIm Ruhl and Ian McKinstray a , . ' ~ .. .. chance to be in the top,three of the HeavyOhio Superbike Racing's Dan Wade crashed ,weight Supe rstock class. Twenty" minutes ' into a tire barrier.while entering the' pits near before the red flaii came out the team had to .the end of the 'first hour. According to crew' ,change the e~tirEi brake system. "It's taster to member Rich Dombeck, Wade, who was in change the wtiole system than just the pads 'seventh place: broke his jaw in two places' : in the Supeistock class ; M cKinstray.said. '"I and may have lost some teeth, in addition to rode it.till I finished J:IlY stint.'It Cest us two needing numerous .stiches. He was to return laps. We were sixth overall and .secon d in toIndiana for further surger)' and is expected : class. We ended .upninth overall and fourth' ·to be 'out for six weeks. II there was anYthing ,in class." , . . fortunate about the incident, ft was that he 'crashed 'directly in -front .of the a mbulance , ' Arclight Racing, which had run in the ~op five, corps and 'was 'a ble to receive immediate ' ~as force~ out of the race wh~n a main bear-. 'treatment. After exte nsfve repair'work, the , · Ing fall.ed In,the fi rst hour. Chos Hughes was . onboa rd the Suzu ki GSXR1 100R when he team was able to finish in 30th place: , · ' . -. .noticed the engine tightening up. "It wouldn't Another oi the trent-runners who crashed' " pull fuli rpm down the back straight and downea rly was Pure Sports Racirig 'sGIE;nn ,. the front. 'T he 'engine slowed down likethe Szarek: Szarek , who 'was third oveiall and ' brakes were .0n.,The· AII-Amerrcan blk, was e tlrstin .the Heavywelqnt.Supe rstock class , ' running real good. I think ,it would've finished crashed in turn five when ihe s teering ' orr the podium," : Hughes sa id. 'Pete Martins damper on his Honda CBR900RR locked up went out on the tea m's s pa re: effectively .onthe 23rd lap. Sza rek shattered his 'right ' startlnq the racealmost an hour in arrears, ' ankle and two pins were surgically ·installe d. · 'and finis hed 50th overall, but fourth In the ·He also'suffered broken -right wriSt"and dis- Heavyweight Supe.rbike.class. located right shouider., a Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: May20, 1995 PERFO RMANCE MACH IN E/GOODRID GE FO UR-HO U R EN D URAN C E: 1. Team Su zu ki Endurance (Su z ); 2. Team Pearls Suzu ki (5uz); 3. Northwest Honda Racin g (Ho n); 4. Airport Racing (Kawk S. HP Mot orsports (Ka w): 6. Canton Racing (Kaw ); 7. Image Raring (Yam); 8, Can ·Am Raring (Suz); 9. R.A. Racin g (Y am); 10. Nich olson's Ann Arbo r (Ka w); 11. Te am TSBA (Kaw) : 12. Th e Am or e Rayce Team (Ho n): 13. T.K.O. (Ka w): 14. Eag le Ind ustries Racin g (5u z ); 15. Reign Sta nn Racin g (Hen): 16. The Rayce Team (Hon) ; 17. Excel Racing (Yam); 18. H&H Racing (5uz) ; 19. Royale Racing (Ho n); 20. Atlanta Sportbike Racing (Yam); 21. BK Racing (Ho n); 22. Fast Gas Racin g (Hon ); 23. Ca nton Racin g Endurance (5 uz) ; 24. Team Triad Racin g (Hon ); 25. Mctorbreath Racin g (Hen ): 26. Mothr a Racing (Kaw): 27. Sharp Racing (Hen): 28. R&D Racing (Kaw); 29. And erson/Iardine Racing (Yam); 30. Ohio Super bike Racing (Suz); 31. The Rayce Team Too (H e n): 32. Tapewcrks Racin g (H en): 33. Team Flying Co lo rs (Ya m ); 34 . Ve lo ci ty Ra cin g (Yam); 35. Recip rocation Racing IH on): ,36. Damn Yankees (Ho n); 37. Team Gam ma (Kaw): 38. 0 &0 Racin g (Hen): 39. Buckeye Racing (He n): 40. Ameri can Harl ey-Davidson (Bue): 41. Blazing Saddl e Racing (H en): 42. Stone Age Racing (Hen): 43. Penn Stat e (Hon); 44. Team Six One Six (Yam); 45. Probst Brothers Racing (Kaw): 46. Team Unknown (Yam); 47. TMTS Racing (Hen ): 48. Team Pilot (Ho n): 49. Backmarker RT (H on): 50. Arcligh t Racing (Suz); 51. Team jacka lope (Hen) : 52. BHR Raring (Yam); 53. Fire ha w k Motorsports Racing (Ho n): 54. Team Ten 40 Racing (Hon ): 55. Pu re Sp or ts Raci ng (Hon); 56. Team Desmo r-rn. Ti me: 3 hrs.• 58:40 min . Distance: 148 1aps. 372.96 miles. Margin of victory: On e lap . PERFORMAN CE MACHI NE/G OODRID GE NAT'L ENDU RANCE SE RIES POI NT H EAV YWEI G HT SUPERBIK'ESTANDINGS: 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (230.38 / 2 w ins ); 2. Team Pearls Suz u ki (209 .41); 3. Nort hwest Honda Racing (193.44); 4. Arc ligh t Racing 079.12); 5. Team Triad Racing (89); 5. Rays Electric (82.04). HEAVYWEIGHT SUPERSTOCK STANDINGS, I. Airport Racing (228,73); 2, R.A. Racing 0 % .76); 3. O mAm Racing 0 %.47); 4. Image Racing 084.49); 5. Ohio Superbike Raring 069,t5>. M ID DLE WE IG HT SU PE RBIKE ST ANDING S, I. Royale Racing 095.29); 2. The Rayce Team Too 0 71.84); 3. The Am or e Rayce Team 067.53); 4. Recip rocation Rarin g (167.1); 5. Sharp Racing 01 6.22>. MIDDLEWEIG HT SUPERSTOCK ST ANDINGS , I. Canton Racing (201. 79); 2. Ni ch ol son' s Ann Ar bor (201.22); 3. TKO. (200.72); 4. Team TSBA 0 69,71); 5. The Rayce Team 0 64.82). Mota Liberty 1 25ccGrand P rix Mota Libertyfo all r By Henny Ray Abrams BRASELTON, GA, MAY21 he Moto Liberty 125cc Grand Prix co u ld easily h av e p a ss e d for a Japan ese National race. Moto liberty's Masahir o Iiz u ka and Takah ito M ori ba ng ed fai r i ngs for t en la p s, s miled afterward , and procl aim ed the race fun and safe. Mori said the racing was just like that in Japan, "except there are many more bikes ." At Road Atlanta, they had the race to themsel ves, except for the infrequent in terven tion of Road racing World's nation al cham pion Chri s Rogers . Only w hen Mori ' s le ather s were caught on Iizuka' s lef t handlebar was th er e any concern . That didn't see m to slo w him down much and Mori went on to take the victory over lizu ka by a scant 0.09 seco nd. Mo ri rod e a '9 4 Honda RSl25 with lizuka aboa rd the '95 model. , Each of the riders had their stre ngt hs: Iiz uka's was the run down th e esses, th rough turn six, and to the Goo dyear Brid ge , M ori' s th e m ore dram a ti c entrance to tum one. Almos t every lap Iizu ka w oul d lea d o n t o the fro n t stra igh t, on ly to get d raft-passed by Mori en tering turn one, the tw o ride rs occ u p yi ng the sa me part of th e tra ck more than once. "To crash here is stu pid," Mori said . "I hit him, he hit m e, bu t we d id n' t crash. At last I wil l give him room and he will giv e me room to race." T hird p la ce went to Ro a d r a ci n g Wo r ld' s n atio nal ch a m pio n Chris Rogers, the Yam aha-mounted rid er run) n ing with the leaders on a n d off for much of the mid -part of the race, backing off at the end. I T was virtually d ecided. "He go t throu gh traffic rea l clean and one of th e g uys balked me and he pulled out. O nce ] lost the draft, he put some dis tance on us." "We ha d m otor o n th em, " Wil son said. "Dave (Sta n to n) a nd ] ran with each othe r to get to No rt hwest. I think I went by them on the bac k straight. We went thro ug h the hairpin, over the kn oll toget her, an d I blew by him ." Fou rth for most all of the day was the Kawasaki ZX7R of Airport Racin g. The top-finishing He av yweight Superst ock b ik e was a lap d own to thi rd a t t he halfway mark, and two laps do wn at the end, but Airport's Ken Melville wa s still . tw o lap s be tt er th a n th e fi fth - p laced Ka wasa ki ZX6 o f HP Motorspor ts ' La n ny A llen , the b est o f th e M id dlew eight Superstocks . Allen had taken over fifth, along with the class lea d from Ca nton Racing, on the 14th lap of the restart . "He slow ed up for a lapper going in to tu rn thr ee an d ] too k them both," Allen said. Allen had teamed with Dea n Hayes, but end ed up riding ab ou t two hou rs , 45 minutes of the four-hour eve nt. a

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