Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WERA NATIONAL ENDURANCE SERIES rMemphis Motorsports Park , In By Aaron Mintz Photos by Andy Chadwell MIlLINGTON, lN, SEPT. 6 ea m Su zuki Endura nc e ca me back h om what lead rid er Tray Batey ca lled a " sp ode" cras h in the first hour to steal th e victory from Ardight Racing at the four-hour Mem- T 24 phis Motorspo rts Park endu rance race . Batey leaped away to the lead early in the race, lapping traffic on the fifth lap, but caught his knee o n a hay bale and was tom from his m achine nea r the end o f the first hour. Ardigh t Racing w as there to inh erit first place when Bat ey went down, but surrendered the lea d and the win to TSE with 20 minutes left in the race. And althoug h Ardight Racing was forced to settle for second place, the team was still a lap up on the nearest co mpetit ion, second- hour crashe r s Nie lsen Racing. Team Ten 40 and Tapewor ks Racing rounded out the top five, in tha t order. Tapeworks III fin ishe d six th as roo kie p ro se nsa tion Luk e Ya rbro ugh accom modated the team's lim ited pit resources and kept its Suzuki nea r the front of the field. Tray Batey start ed the four-hour race (Top ) Tea m Suzuki End u rance bo unced bac k from a crash t o ta ke the WERA National Endu rance win at Memphis Motors ports Par k. Here. the team bike is seen wi ndshieldless after the fi rst -hour crash. (Above) Arclight racing led the endura nce race after Team Suzuki cras hed out. b ut ultimately IInlshed second after TSE ran them down In th e last hour. aboard the GSXRllOO and started lappin g riders by the fifth circuit. As Batey checked ou t from th e rest of th e field, they tenaciously pursued him at a sprint pace, only to smell his ex haust fu mes . Since endurance racing is aga ins t the dock, it is critical to jump out to a fast pace an d try to pu t time and laps on the rest of the field . Du ring the early stages of an en d u rance race, Batey executes this strategy wi th the precision of a surgeon. Dean Ha yes of T KO Racing went righ t to the front of the first chase pack a nd turned b lis tering lap ti mes. Ju st w h en it looked like th in gs mi g ht be goi ng the team's way, Hayes pulled into the pits prem atu rely. "Forty m in ut es be fore the race, we discovered oil d ripping from an Oil-galley plug," team own er Steve Doolin said . "We JB-Weld ed the galley plug, but the JB Weld didn't set up in time. By lap th ree, oil was gushing out and we brough t Dea n in. He went back out on the backup bike, but it took us out for the most part," Arclig ht Racin g' s [oe Pru ssiano 1II quickly swoo ped up secon d p lace, with Nie lsen Racing's Mark Junge right on his tail. Behind them by abo ut 10 bike lengths, the second chase pack aggressively jockeyed for posi tion. Leading the way was Team Ten 40, with Tapeworks Racing ill ho t on its tail. TBA Racing's end u rance ve ter a n Lann y Allen w a s r ap id ly approa ching th e chase pack. Alle n ' s Suzu ki 1100 had too man y ponies on Ten 40' s Honda 600 and Tapeworks' Suzuki 600, and he flew by on the front straightaway to move into fourth. Semoff Brother' s Racing and Te xas Yama ha Racin g were four bike lengths back and in hot pursuit of Team Ten 40. and Ta peworks 111 Racing. Jeff Atwell was aboard the Semoff Brothers Yamaha 1000 an d he could n' t shake Kelly Moody o n th e Texas Yam aha Racing Yamaha 1000. "I saw he had more power than me on th e straight," Moody said. "1 cou ld reel him in entering tum one and rid e .h is rear throu gh the com ers, but he 'd jU'1 get away again on the str aight. " As th ese two fo ugh t o n e ano the r, they d osed the gap on Team Ten 40 and Tapewnrks m Racing. A s the first hou r w a s co m ing to a dose, riders w ere settli ng into positio n. T hen, race leade r Ba te y su dden ly dipped a hay bale in turn nine an d was tom from his motorcycle, "My crashing like a sp od e w a s unfortu nate fo r th e tea m:' Ba tey sa id . " 1 th ough t 1 h ad enough room from the hay bales, but my knee hit one and it stripped me from the bike. Luckily , it hap pened right be fo re pit-in and I got righ t into the p its. Keith Pe rry, Chris We idl a n d Kell y fle w arou nd the bike a nd go t it rea d y fo r Grant (Lopez) ." Ardight w as th ere to capi talize o n th eir m is fo r tu ne an d m oved in to the lead . Prussian o was in command of the Ardigh t Suzuki when TSE crashed and he immediately picked up the pace to work on his newly acquired lead. "1 sa w TSE on pit road early:' Pro ssia no said, "I p ut m y he ad down and tried to work on the lead because 1 knew the y wo uld be back in it eventually." Team Suzuki End urance worked quickly on the bike, and although it only to ok four minutes to ready the GSXR, Grant Lopez re-entered the race on the TSE m ach ine with a three-lap deficit. When Lopez re-entered the track on the windshieldless Suzuki, Nielsen Racing's Junge settled in righ t behind Lopez, realizi ng that he shou ld try to ge t around him before he su rren dered any laps to TSE. As the two challenged each other's nerves, l un ge overcooked the entrance to tu m one an d low -sided his Suzuki. " I sa w 1 h ad a little m o re o n th e en tra nce and wen t in too h ot," Junge said. "I tried to saw it but the front just cut loose . There is minor damage and we only lost 40 (seconds) to Ardight. " Darryl Saylor jumped on the injured Nielsen Suzuk i an d went out on a banzai-riding campaign, ju m pi ng rum ble s tri ps and wheelying as he s p li t two slowe r riders. "It was jus t one o f th ose th in gs, " Saylor said. " After yea rs of en d urance experience, if the b ike will ron. you're never out of it. I just went out there and tried to ron as hard as 1could." Saylor wa s successful in rec ov ering valua ble time, an d worked Nielsen Racing back into third before th e conclusion of the second hour. The third hour of racing was stopped only eigh t minutes after it began. w hen Rastafarian Racing' s Kawasaki ca ugh t fire and burned its wa y down the front stra ig h taw ay after r id er Sco tt Bro w n crashed. "It wa s like th is, m an," Brown said . "Lanny Allen lost the rear, chopped the throttle, an d 1 was too close and asspacked his Suzuki. 1 went down and the bike caug ht fire." Wh en th e ra ce w as re started, th ere were o nly 24 m inutes rem ain ing and TSE was still a lap down . With his knuckles gro und down to th e tend on s, . Ba tey got ba ck on th e Su zu k i a n d launched like a rocket at the start, an d q uickl y go bb led up e ve ryo ne b u t Ardight in the first lap . A few lap s later, Batey sw ooped d own like a hawk and picked off his prey, putting TSE in first place. Chris H ugh es of Ardight Racing rode hard but the com paratively und erpowered GSXR600 was n o m a tch for TSE's 1100. "I tried to ron as hard as I could, but the Valvoline bike is very p owerful," Hughes said . "We tried to keep the lead, but traffic was tou gh and you lose valuable tim e ge ttin g through it." '" Memphis Motorsporls Park Millington, Tennessee Results: september 6, 1997 (ROUnd8 of 10) OIA: 1. Team Suzuki End u ra~ (Suz); 2. Ardight RAcing (Suz.).; 3. NieL"Inl RM:ing (Suz); 4. T~.m Trn 40 on); 5. Ta pPWod..!I Racing (Suz); 6. Tap_lorb R.cing CH m (Suz); 7. SBRIStmoff Brothen Racing (Yam ); 8. Arm) ' of Darkne:!6 (Suz); 9. T~ Yamaha Racing Team (Yam); 10. MR Rati ng (Suz); 11. Cycle Speed Racin g (Suz): 12. Tea m Shark,kinz Racing (Yam) ; 13. Th u nd e r R.lrin g (Suzl; 14. BcU', Suzuki lSuz ); 15.11lA R.xin g lSuz); 16. 1(Suz ); 17. Boswell Racing (Suz); 18. Fires torm Racing (Suz) : 19. Ca nton Racing (Suz ); 20. &1O-Crotch Rodet Hond a of Houston Racing (Hon). WERA NATI ONAL ENDURANCE OlAMPJONSHIP SERIES PO INT 5TASDIS G S (After 8 of r n ro un d.l: 1. Team Suz uki Endurance (819.99); 2. Ardight Suzu ki (731.8);: 3. Nit.-lo;om 4ing Suzuli (7(17 .63); 4. Tap"""" "'~" Racing (635 .73); 5. TKO Racing (597.81); 6. Team Ten '40 • (512.16) ; 7. Tapl"w orh Ra ci ng 11 (505.3); 8 . Tr-am S h .u k ", ~ i n z Racin g (485 .36) ; 9. Ar my of Dark n... n : (475.54 ); 10. Team Fast Forward (471.98); 11. Team Fury (~.53); J2. Cyd... Spe... Racing (453.66); 13. Roswel l d Racin g (443 .79) ; 14. Th u nder Racing (425 .39 ); 15. M R Racin g (381.85); lb. Tepewcrks Racing III (353.9 10); 17. Tea m Chicag o (345.39); HI, Firestorm Racing (324.41); 19. SBRISemoff Brothers Racing (307,03). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - CollegeStation, Texas, septembe 20 r Round , 0 • Braselton, Georgia. October ' 0 WERA Nationa S l printSeries R ound8:M emphisMotorsports Park Lo~z ~o[Jbles By Aaro n Mintz Photos by Andy Chadwell .rx SEPT. 7 mgo Valvoline Suzuki rider Grant Lopez pu t on a fine display of riding as he motored to a pair of wins at Memphis Motorsports Park, topping both the 1100 Su persport class and the Michelin 750« Supersport class . Mark Ju nge has proven his talent by lead ing the ul tra-com petitive 600cc Supersport class, and he chalked up another victory h ere at r o un d ei g h t. De sp i te h a vin g w rapped up the Form u la Two charnpi~IILLL"GTO, E

• Cover