Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WERA NAnONAL ENDURANCE SERIES .tl9: Texas World Speedway (Left) The eighthour endurance race restarts,after a tete-eeee red flag. Team Suzuki Endurance (1 ) runs next t o Nielsen Racing (57), while Arcilght Racing (2), Northwest Honda Racing (39) and Ihe re st g ive chase. Team Suzu ki took the win yet again. (Below) Winner Team SUZUki Endurance Is flan ked by second· place Arclight Racing and thirdplace Nielsen Racing. By Aaron Mintz Photos by David J. Lee COLLEGE STATION ,TX, SEPT. 18 eam Su zuki Endurance ba gged it s 127th victory, further accen tua ting it s total dom inatio n of th e WERA National End urance Series . In 96-degree heat, u nd er a bright Texas sun, TSE' s biggest trouble came from lapped riders, and , in the en d , it made no difference. " It was frus trating and stress ful dealing with the slower rid er s," TSE rid er Gran t Lopez said . "The layou t of the tr ack ha s turns th re e throug h seven bunched together , and the backm ar kers took erra tic lin es th rou gh th at sec tio n a nd yo u ha d to be extra-careful goi ng through there." Seco nd pl ace we nt to Arclight Racing, but the team had to come back from an ext ra- long pit stop that sa w them a la p d own until the seventh- ho ur red flag restart. Ni elsen Racin g ran in sec ond for six hours bu t could n' t match the p ower of the Arclight Racing Suzu ki 600cc su per bike wi th it s supers port machine, and fell to third place. TKO Racing finished fourth, but not before d icing and s lici ng its wa y forwa rd fro m way b a ck in 24th pl a ce . Northw est Honda br ought its steroidpowered Honda CBR900RR to d o battle wi th TSE in the Heavyweight class, but cras he d, ultimately able to work back into fifth. The sun wa sn't the o nly thing hot in Texas, as TSE go t a formidable cha llenge from var ious tea ms early o n during the eig ht-ho ur end u rance race. Tray Bat ey started ou t first for TSE and went right to w ork, turning lap tim es in th e 1:12 ti me bra ck et. H owe ver, Batey ' s pit board co n firmed w ha t a qui ck glance over hi s s ho uld er w ould have s ho wn him: TKO Racing 's Nielsen Racing and Arclight Racing in hot pu rsuit. TKO Racin g ' s Chad Bynum is n o strange r to Texas World Speedway and proved it as he tracked Batey arou nd the 1.8-mile road course . Bynum qu ickly moved into second place when he draft' ed by Nielsen Racing's Mark Junge and Arcli ght Ra ci ng ' s Jo e Prussi a no 111. Bynum was now leading th e fight for second place as the pack tried to hang with Batey's pace. T t-. ' 0\ 0\ ...... 00 ... .0 o .... (I) o 54 "At the beginning, TKO and some of th e o ther fas t teams kept a really good pace, which kept me moti vating around th e track until w e ca me in to s o m e lapped traffic," 'Batey sa id . "I was a little su r prised, co ns idering I wa s turn ing 1:12s, w hich is m oving aro und th ere pr ett y go od . Those guys d id real good tod ay and kep t me bu sy." TKO Racing ran in second during the first hour until an igni tion coil we nt bad and took th e team o ut, dropping laps be h ind while the crew r ep a ir e d the motorcycle in the pits. "Rig h t a fte r I excha nged the bi ke with Dean Hayes, he ca me b ack in," Bynum said . " It turned out to be a bad coil. We fixed it and lost a few laps, but we'll be back." As TKO Racing d ropped away from the pa ck. Arcl ight Raci ng mo ved into second pl ace, with Nielsen Ra cing a close third . From o u t from no where , Texas-based ETR/Honda Town Racing wa s on th e move, w orkin g its way up fr om the ba ck of the g rid to drop in behind Niel sen Ra cing a n d r un in fourth, and e ve n taking third when Ardight Radng botched its first pi t stop. However, ETR/Honda Town Racing's fame would only be temporary, as one of the bikes overcooked during the third hour and had to co me int o th e pits to cool down. O ttis Lance , a ve tera n of Pro AMA racin g, sa id the probl em lay in two different areas. "Whe n the team realized tha t we had a cha nce to win the 'CMRA End ur an ce Series' aspect of the race, they.went berserk," Lance said . "First of all, th ey went and totally cha nged th e geo metry of the mac hine, which didn't give us rid ers enoug h time to test it. Secondly, th ey decided to run race fuel in the bike dur- ing an en du rance race . Anyone who races knows that you don 't put race fuel in an end u rance bike. This is probabl y w hy the bike is overhea ting . But what would 1 know? I just bu ild th e mot ors and ha ve over nine yea rs of Pro Racing experience." ETR fell back a n d fi ni shed eig h th overall as a result o f it s mechanica l problem s. Northwest Honda is a Texas-based end urance pr ogram which mostl y runs in the reg ional CMRA Endurance Series, but whe n the CATKN and VTERA com bin e, it is s lo tted in with TSE in th e Heav yw eight Superbi ke class. NH is well-fund ed team with excellent rid ers, and qui ckly moved from the rear to second place, behind TSE. However, Gor- a don Miller cras hed the N H Honda during the first hour and the team slipped to 29th place, too far back to compete at TSE's level , but not far enough to put them off the box . "We got into a good g roove and 1 was trying different lin es because th e footpegs were dragging," Miller said. "I found out that the peg twisted around as it was grounding o u t and w hen I w ent d own o n the pe g again, it had twisted enough that it was no lon ger able to fold up a s you dragged o n it . This lifted the rear wheel a nd I went d own." . NH tena ciously fou ght its way back to fourth place and looked as though it mi ght pos sibly take third but, during th e fourth hou r, the y fell upon ano ther mechanical failure when a bolt broke in th e foo tpeg. The crew had to retap the ex is ti ng hol e and put another bo lt in , a nd th e time s pen t d oing thi s finall y took them out of contentio n. NH d idn 't quit, though, and worked its wa y back to fifth pla ce to finish six laps down to Niel sen Racin g in third place. As teams cha lle nged th e fron t-ru nners and fell backward , se veral teams went forwar d . Ardight su ffered a prolonged pit stop early in the race and fell a lap d own to N ielsen Racin g. During th e n ext six hours , Arcli ght s lo w l y wo rked its way back onto th e sa me lap as Nielsen Radng. Then came the break Ardight Racing need ed : a red flag. The red fl ag came o u t a fter a rid er wen t d o wn a n d h is bi ke lay d an gerou sl y close to the racer line. AI th e restar t, Ardight jumped out behind TSE a n d r ecaptured secon d place from Nie lsen Racing "I kn ew 1 had to put my head down and go hard, " Prussia no said . " I put d o wn th e ha mme r and the Metze ler slicks h eld grip as I ran awa y fr om Nie lsen Rad ng." Ardig ht Racin g took second p lace, but m ost importantly, it se cured the Middlew eight Superbike-class champions hip as a result. . On the other side, Darryl Saylor was on the N ielsen Racing Suzuki and had a di fferen t strategy. "We' re Iry ing to sew up th e 600cc Supe rsport cha m pio nship," Saylor said. "I didn't want to be a dinkus and throw th e bike d own tryin g to make th e bo x when we could w r a p up th e se aso n early." Saylor didn't challenge Arclight, but at the sa me time was also six lap s up on TKO Ra cin g, a nd h e wa s und er no th reat of losing pl ace if he jusl cru ised around - and that is whal he did , captu ring the Middleweight cha mpionship for N ielsen Racing. TKO Racing finished fourth, bu t not before repairing a broken coil that set th em back three laps ea rly in the race . Dean Ha ye s and Bynum put forth a tr emendous e ffo r t a nd worked th ei r way back to fou rth place, also dinching the Hea vyweight Supersport cha mp ionship in the process. "We both r od e o u r hearts o u t, " H a y es sa id. " H o we ve r, I am really happy to have w on the Heavyweight Supersport class for TKO Racing and Metzeler tires . It makes all of our effort worth it."

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