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ROAD RACE WERA NATIONAL ENDURANCE SERIES By Aaron Mintz Photos by Andy Chadwell (Left) Team Suzuki Endurance (1) won again in WERA endurance action. (Above) Joseph Prusslano III also had a good day, winning the Formula II Expert class and finishing second in 11 OOcc Superstock at Road Atlanta. BRASELTON, GA, MAY 10 eam .valvoline Suzuki Endurance showed up at Road Atlanta tooking to chalk up its 21st victory in a row in WERA National Endurance Serie~ racing. First they had to overcome five red flags and a large-than-normal turnout of Pro-class entries. When aU was said and done, however, Team Suzuki had put three laps on the rest of the field in the sixhour race to earn that 21st straight win. The endurance race on the fast and hilly Road Atlanta course was dictated by five race-stopping red flags that continuously forced the race to be restarted. The red flags greatly affected the teams and the race turned into a dash for cash with 11 teams competing for the other two podium spots. "Great pit stops contributed to keeping uS up laps on the rest of the field," team leader Tray Batey said. "Each time prior to a red flag we would build up a 40-second lead, and the restart would put us back with the rest of the field. So the pit stops today really helped. Keith Perry and the rest of the guys did a great job." The final restart of the race saw Grant Lopez on the Valvoline Suzuki Endurance GSXRll000 and veteran David Sadowski battling it out in aggressive fashion "Everything went real smooth, traffic was hectic at first, but it cleared out," Lopez said. "Our strategy for the last 30 minutes was to stay consistent and smooth. I don't know what Sadowski was doing trying to race me, so I had to work harder than I expected dicing with him. But the Valvoline Suzuki is powerful and I got away from him." Rob Palernieri, the owner of the Canton Racing team, explained: "It was borderline on fuel until the last red flag. Sadowski remounted the bike for the finish. It may have appeared that Sadowski was hot-dogging it, but we were trying to gain second place and the money. 'We felt that Sadowski had a chance and the end result was fourth but we went into the final 30 minutes in eighth place and we honestly had a chance in the last dash for the cash." Second place in the race went to TKO Racing with Dean Hayes putting on a brilliant display of hard and consistent riding throughout the six hours. Every time Hayes or John Branch would bring their bike up to the front, the red flag would come out and they'd have to start all over again. "The last red flag hurt us," Hayes said. "During the last flag we started our pit stop and had to stop because of the new red-flag rule. No one can work on their bikes during the red flags. At the final restart I had to start from pit road. First we had to finish our pit stop and then go work my way back through the entire field. Fortunately, the Suzuki was performing excellently and the Metzeler tires stuck and held me in there to finish second overalJ." Hayes and Branch's consistent laps in the 1:28 bracket contributed to their WERA Sprints Lantz stars By Aaron Mintz Photo by Andy Chadwell BRASELTON, GA, MAY 10-11 T staying near the top r\!gardless of the flags Third place went to the powerful Arelight Racing out of California with team owner and engine builder Chuck Warren putting together a fast Suzuki GSXR600 that even passed the 750s on the mile-long back stretch. This was the best result thus far in the season for Arclight after Joe Prussiano IH crashed the team's bike in opening laps of the first round of the series at Talledaga. "We started in the second wave and were hurt by the first red flag since it fell under the first hour," Prussiano said. "This meant we had to regrid back in the second wave all over again. It took away our second-overall position. The power of the new Suzuki and the Metzeler tires are great for endurance racing and stick for a long time arid this is what helped us catch back up to the front." The local Canton Racing Team finished fourth on their Suzuki GSXR750 with Sadowski and Sean Dillon at the helm. "The reason behind Sadowski riding for us is that he helped us set up the suspension and make adjustments to the bike," Palimeri said. "The round of NASB was canceled, so he's looking at this weekend as track time." "That's right, 1 helped them with the bike last night and decided then that I would go ahead and get in some time on the bike and try and help them too," Sadowski added. "It was a fun ride. I went out there and got around (Tray) Batey in turn four and led for a few laps. I knew that Batey's' bike had more power, and I knew he would get back around me - but I did lead a few laps for the guys." Fifth place went to Scott Harwell and Russell Masecar on the Suzuki GSXRll00 they had purchased from ·Team Suzuki Endurance at the end of last season. "Everything worked according to plan," Harwell said. "We wanted to go two hours on fuel and rack up as maJ;ly laps as possible. The red flags hurt our strategy, but Russell and I put our heads down and tried to conserve the tires and run consistently. Our strategy this weekend worked very well." The red flags also hurt teams which were never able to recover. Team 20/20, with Mike Ciccotto and Keith Wilson, ran in second for most of the race until the petcock valve on their fuel tank started to leak This cost them two laps and took them out of the top five. eilson Racing was another top-running team with veteran riders David Saylor and Mark Junge taking saddle time. They ran up front all race long, bu t weren't able to make the podium in the last 30 minutes of the race. J.unge expressed the possibility of a scoring error. cs Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: May 11, 1997 O/A: 1. Team Suzuki Endura,nce (Suz); 2. TKO Racing (Suz); 3. Arcl.ight Suzuki (Suz); 4. Canton Racing Endurance (Sux); 5. Tapeworks Racing (Suz); 6. Tapeworks Racing III (Suz); 7. Team 20/20 (Kaw); 8. Nielsen Racing Suzuki (Suz); 9. Team Sharkskinz RaCing (Yam); 10. KWS Motorsports/Team Suzuki (Suz); 11. Tapeworks Racing 11 (Suz); 12. Triple R Racing (Suz); 13. SBRISemoff Brothers Racing (Yam); 14. Team Fast Foward (Suz); 15. Fi.restorm Racing (Suz). WERA NAT'L ENDURANCE SERIES C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS (A Her 2 of 10 rounds): 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (221.4.7/2 wins); 2. TKO Racing (200.2); 3. Tapeworks Racing (169,69); 4. Canton Racing Endurance (167.3); 5. Neilsen Racing Suzuki (154.69); 6. Team Fast Forward (155.82); 7. Tapeworks Racing II (145.31); 8. Team Sh",kskinz Racing (142.92); 9. Arclight Suzuki (142.87); 10.. SBR/Semoff Brothers Racing (l36.5S). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Hallet, Oklahoma, May 24 Round 4 - East 51. Louis, Illinois, June 14 he second round of the WERA ational Series went into the history books under clear skies with temperatures in the lower '80s - and with local rider Brian Lantz showing everyone that he truly knows his way around the 2.512-mile course. Lantz won the ultra-competitive 600cc Supersport class with a come-from-behind victory and capped off his success with second place in the Formula IT race. Joe Prussiano III was the first round's big winner on his Suzuki GSXRs, but this weekend a victory had to be taken .with a DNF. Josh Hayes, one of the VaJvoline Suzuki-supported riders, hadn't tasted victory in a long time and was able to win the 1100cc class. In 600cc Supersport, Hayes found himself in the grass alongside Prussiano III in turn Seven of the 600cc Formula IT race. The 600cc Expert Superstock elass is always exciting and this one was no exception. Local Mark Reed and Joey Gilland jumped out in front on their Kawasaki ZX-6 with Mark Junge, Lantz and Grant Lopez in tow. Gilliand found .himself in the dirt early in the race when turn seven gobbled him up as it ended' up doing to so many others throughout the weekend. Billy Eisenacher quickly worked.his way through the field on his Yamaha and took over third early in the race. The run to the front proved a bit hard on his tires and by the end of the race he'd backpedaled his way to sixth place. As all of this action was going on, Mike Ciccotto was working through the field from a second-wave start. On the final go-around, it was Reed, Junge and Lantz fighting for the lead with Reed getting stuffed by the other two on the back side of the track. As those two worked on Reed, Ciccotto took advantage of the draft and passed all three of them on the back stretch. As Ciccotto charged down the back straightaway on tile last lap, Lantz pulled around Junge and Reed. Unfortunately for Ciccotto he was disqualified for illegal brake rotors and Lantz took the victory. "On the last lap, I caught up to Junge and Reed going into six," Lantz said._