Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

way to get around Lopez on the last lap to claim the third and final spot on the rostrum. "I couldn't have caught Stanton, and Hacking clearly had the fastest bike," obles said. Hacking was pleased with his lastlap maneuvering: "Lopez went outside some lappers and I went inside to set up the draft," he said. Stanton, who made a jetting change after Saturday's heat race, was delighted with the win, giving praise to his tuner Chris Wyles. '1 think 1 ran my fastest time on the last lap, about a 1:25," Stanton said. Mark Miller won the 750Cc Suzuki Cup final. Miller also finished second behind Tripp Nobles In the Formula One class. 750cc FINAL Miller made up for a starting-line error and pulled ,Qut a decisive win in the Suzuki Cup 750 race at the WERA Grand National Finals. Miller, who has gridded for some 70 races this year, survived a starting line wheelie which put him back in fourth place on the opening lap as the field roared through turl} three. Mark McDaniel led the huge field on the first lap followed closely by Grant Lopez, Joseph Prussiano ill and Miller. Miller began his march to the front by moving past Prus iano and into third on the very next lap. Lap three saw him take over second from Lopez, but the toughest was yet to come as Miller set his sights on McDaniel and the leaa. "I had some doubt whether 1 could catch him," Miller explained later. McDaniel held stubbornly to the lead, but by lap six he had succumbed to the pressure as Miller managed to get around the Ebsco Media rider and into the lead. McDaniel didn't go quietly, though, as he kept the pressure on until the very end. "1 knew if 1 made a mistake, he'd be right on me," Miller said. When asked what it was that gave him the edge, Miller replied: "Running the endurance race on Friday helped me sort out the bike and the track." After fighting his way through the challengers, Miller opened a lead and finished 2.82 seconds ahead of secondplaced McDaniel. Lopez followed in third. . "1 caught (Mark) McDaniel at the end, but lost time on a lapped rider," Lopez said. Hacking also moved past Prussiano on the sixth lap to take over fourth by the end of the race, making the top five finishing order: Miller, McDaniel, Lopez, Hacking and James Randolph, with Prussia no dropping back to an eventual seventh-place finish. (N Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results:~ober13,1996 150« SUZUKI CUP: 1. Mark Miller; 2. Mark McDaniel; 3. Grant Lopez; 4. Jamie Hacking; S. James Randolph. 1100(.( SUZUKI CUP: 1. David Stanton; 2. Jamie Hacking; 3. Tripp Nobl..; 4. G'ant Lopez; 5. TnlY Batey. llOOcc SUPERSTOCK EX, 1. TnlY Batey (Suz); 2. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 3. Grant Lopez (Suz); 4. Joe PNSSiano ill (Suz);S. Kenneth Krebs (Suz). 600cc PROD NOV: 1. Chris Normand (Kaw); 2. Luke Yarbrough (Hon): 3. Chris Caylo, (Hon); 4. Cole Regal (Hon): 5. ee"ld Hughes (Han). 600cc SUPERSTOCK EX: 1. M.,k Reed (Kaw): 2. Reuben F"okenfield (Kaw); 3. Phil SchiUing (Yam): 4. Chad Steven Bynum (Kaw); 5. William Lindsay (Kaw) 750<:<: PROD. NOV: 1. Roger Bell (Suz): 2. Luke Yarbrough (Hon); 3. Chris Normand (Kaw): 4. Curry Justice (Suz); 5. A.J. Cates (Suz). 750cc SUPERSTOCK EX, 1. Grant Lopez (Suz); 2. Jamie Hilcking (Suz): 3. Joseph Prussin.no m (Suz): 4. Kenneth K,ebs (Suz); 5. Joshma Hay.. (Suz). FORMULA ONE EX: 1. T,ay Batey (Suz); 2. Grant Lopez (Suz); 3. Tripp Nobles (Kaw); 4,. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 5. John Jacobi (Suz). M!W GP: 1. Gilleland (Kaw): 2. Drew Lincoln (Hon); 3. Mkhae Conlon Jr. (Hon); 4. William Himmelsbach (Yam); S. Phil SchiIUng (Han). 125cc GP: 1. Chris Ulrich (Hon); 2. Chris Pyles (Hon); 3. John Ulrich (Hon); 4. Doug Scronce (Hon); 5. Steve Heilman (Hon). FINAL 600cc S/STK P,PINT STANDINGS: 1. Milee Reed (139); 2. Ma,k Reed'(129); 3. Joey Gilleland (121); 4. Stoney Land... (75~ 5. Reuben F,ankenfield (72) ]oer FINAL 750cc S/STK POINT STANDINGS: 1. G"nt Lopez (160); 2. Joe PNSSiano III (127); 3. Jamie Hacking (94~ 4. (TIE) John B,anch/John Jacobi (82) FINAL 1100cc S/STK POINT STANDINGS: 1. Joe Prussiano JJJ (132); 2. Jamie Hacking (118); 3. Grant Lopez (114); 4. Joshua Hay.. (99); 5. Brian Lantz (90). FINAL 600cc PROD NOV POINT STANDINGS, 1. Luke Yarbrough (162); 2. Gregory White (J40); 3. Chris ormand (71); 4. Craig Randell (60); 5. Brian Healea (S7). FINAL 750cc PROD NOV POINT STANDINGS: 1. Luke Yarl,,'Ough (153); 2. Gregory White (112); 3. Roger Bell (102); 4. Chet SymeclO (72); S. Chris Normand (67) FINAL M1DDLWElGHT GP POINT STANDINGS: I. Joey Gilleland (136); 2. Stoney Land... (109); 3. Greg Meye.. (88); 4. William Himmelsbach (63); S. Reuben Fn>nkenJ;eld (62). FORMULA ONE FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. G"nt Lopez (134); 2. John Jacobi (126); 3. Dean Hayes (66); 4. Joshua Hayes (65~ 5. Jamie Hacking (62) FINAL 12Scc GP POINT STANDINGS: 1. John Ulrich (139); 2. Chris Ulrich (138); 3. Rolando Quintero (115); 4. Paul Black (97~ 5. Doug Scronce (75). WERA National Endurance Series Final Round: Road Atlanta Guess who? By Aaron Mintz BRASELTON, CA, OCT. 12 lthough Team Suzuki Endurance didn't record a perfect season in 1996, they ended it in impeccable fashion by winning their 119th race during the four-hour endurance race at WERA Grand National Final, held at Road Atlanta. It was Team Suzuki Endurance all the way in Heavyweight Superbike with Dave Stanton and Tray Batey riding the monstrous Suzuki GSXRllOO to a smooth and easy victory. Dat's Racing traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Atlanta in order to challenge Team Suzuki Endurance, but a red flag stopped the scheduled four-hour race some 30 minutes early and Dat's found themselves in second place. The Heavyweight Superstock class was won by Arclight Racing, which earned not only the victory but also the National Championship. Chris Hughes and Joe Prussiano III both agreed that, "the season wrote the perfect script: after 50 hours of endurance racing the season came down to a four-second difference between first place and second place." Joey Gilliand and John Jacobi ran the TKO Race Suzuki Team Too bike into second place which secured second place in the overall standings for the team - the closest points race finish in A the hi tory of WERA endurance racing. Third place in the race went to the TKO Race Team Suzuki (another TKO entry for the season) with the team also finishing third in the Heavyweight point standings. In the Middleweight Superbike class it was Screaming Howie Racing taking the win on their worked-over Honda CBR06OO. The Texas-based Plano Honda finished a lap down to Screaming Howie Racing, but worked their way through the field all race long to finally finish second. Third place went to Team Ten Forty, a squad which has run strong all season in the Middleweight Superbike class. The Middleweight Superstock class also offered some close racing. SBR - out of York, Pennsylvania, won the race and put a lap on Triple R Racing by race's end. Triple R Racing finished second, but won the series points battle in Middleweight Superstock. Third place went to Team Fury, another team which has run consistently hard all season. The Team Suzuki Endurance team has performed flawlessly nearly all season long with their seemingly indestructible combination of riders - Batey and Stanton. This one was no different. At the beginning of the race, Stanton boarded the steroid-breathing Suzuki 1100 and took it right to the front, building a lead on Bell's Suzuki and Dat's Racing. Stanton's first hour on the bike was smooth as he turned lap times in the 1:27 category. "Everything is fine so far," Stanton said. "[ was in a pack of three riders going down the front straight, as the two bikes in front of me split. 1 was left locking up the rear brake and cutting between the downed rider and his bike. The only way for me to avoid the collision was to ride between one of the bikes and its riders; they were sliding." Stanton missed the accident; however, the wreck caused a red flag which allowed teams to come in and pit. After the red flag, Batey took the over the controls of the Team Suzuki Endurance bike for the restart. "I had no problems except an overflow bottle from the fuel tarJk became loose and was bouncing around the . handlebars," Batey said. "1 was concerned that we would get black flagged from the loose bottle, so 1 tore it loose and carried it in my hand for a couple of laps. Then I threw it to a comer worker. As the race was red flagged for the second time, 1 stopped by the comer worker and picked up the bottle and we put it back on during the red flag." Second place went to Dat's Racing, whose strategy shifted in the race to capitalizing on the rep' flags. Every time that the Suzuki Endurance team built a substantial lead, Dat's racing would regain the lost time with the red flags. "We started on the 17th row and on each red flag we closed up the gap on the Valvoline Suzuki team," Dax Snow said. "The red flags definitely helped Dat's Racing, but the last red flag, which ended the race with 28 minutes left, hurt any chance we had of winning." Third place overall went to TeamTriad I/Tapeworks, who has had a consistent season in the ValvoJine Suzukidominated Heavyweight Superb ike class. Team Triad I/Tapeworks was piloted by Lee Acree and Terry Evans. During this race, there was a heated battle between the Triad 1 team and BHR. "The bike ·is running good," Acre said during the race. "We've been dicing it out with Team BHR. We have a stock motor, but we're able to draft the BHR bike down the back straight." Unfortunately for team BHR, they were part of the three-bike crash in turn five which cut the race short. Even thou~ BHR was part of the race-ending craSh, they finished fourth in class behind Triad I/Tapeworks. Fifth place went to Bell's Suzuki which has got to have been one of the most improved teams of the season. "The bike had brake problems from a morning practice crash," tuner Geoffrey Wilson said. "We've had to ride the bike the entire race with it shaking so violently under braking that you can't see straight. This definitely affected our lap times." All Bell's Suzuki wanted to do was finish the race to receive the necessary points to lock down third overall in the Heavyweight Superbike points chase. (N Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Resutts:~ober12,1996 OVERALL: 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz): 2. Oats Racing (Suz); 3. Arclight Racing (Sux); 4. TKO Rayce Team Suzuki Too (Suz); 5. Team' Triad I/Tapewo,ks (Suz), 6. BHR Racing (Yam); 7. Screaming Howie Racing (Hon); 8. SBR (Yam): 9. Plano Honda Endurance (Hon); 10. Triple R Rncing (Kaw); 11. Team Ten 40 Racing (Hon): 12. Team Fury (600); 13. Cycle Speed Racing (Hon); 14. Team Bells Suzuki (Suz); 15. Performance Motorsports (Hon); 16. KWS Motorsports (Suz); 17. Lone Star Racing (Kaw); 18. Team Zen Racing (Hon); 19. Thunder Racing (Kaw); 20. Army of Darkness (Yam). .. FINAL OVERALL C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (1011.82); 2. Arclight Racing (861.94); 3. TKO Rayce Team Suzuki Too (818.62); 4. Triple R Radng (645.69); 5. TKO Rayce Team Suzuki (631.66); 6. Team Ten 40 Racing (58S.74); 7. Team Bells Suzuki (587.75); 8. Cycle Speed Racing (584.98); 9. Team Triad I/Tapeworks (565.26); 10. Performance Moto,"ports Racing (563.34). \0 0\ 0\ ,....; o (1') l-< (l) .g .... U o 17

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