Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

WERA National Endurance Series/National Challenge Series, Round 5 Mark Junge (57) topped both the 11OOcc and 750cc Superstock sprint clas ses at the WERA Indy Cycle Jam at Indianapolis Race way Park. By Cary Lurie File ph ot o by Andy Chadwell CLERMOlliT, IN, JUNE 27-28 BR/ s em off Bro thers Racing took the honors a t round five of the WERA Na tiona l Endurance Series, with r id e rs G le nn Szarek an d Pa u l Youngma n wi nn ing the battle of attrition after three of the early pacesetters crashed, each one whil e lead ing the fou rhour e ve n t. The vict o ry va u lt ed the York, Pennsylvania, team to the overall poi nts lead at the halfway point of th e 1998 season . This also marked the first v ic tory fo r Ya ma ha's ne w Rl in the WERA' Na tional Enduran ce Series. Ind ian apolis Raceway Park was th e sce ne for WERA 's eighth annual Ind y Cycle Jam, which featured three da ys of ra cing, inclu d ing Vintage, Sp ortsman, Na tion al Endurance and ationa l Sprint events. The 2.5-mil e, 15-tum dragstripa nchored road co u rse provided a test that man y of the teams and riders could not conquer. . Arclight Suzuki's GSX-R750-mounted Mark McDaniel jumped to the lead right from the sta rt and looked read y to do minate the field as the team has for much of the season. JAR Racing's Tim Bemisderfer was th e first to cha llenge by ta king the lead ea rly in the first hour. The Rlmou n ted rid er was soon p ressured by the newly formed Vesra h Racing Team, w ith Mark Junge o n a Suzu ki TLl 000R in its maiden voyage. JAR succu mbed to the pressure with a fall w hile passing a slowe r rid er, breaking the frame of the Yamaha and end ing its race. Junge had jetted to th e lead. a fte r sta rti ng on th e 19th ro w . U nc er tain a bo u t th e fue l milea ge of th e new m achine, th e Barringt on , Illin ois, rider p itt ed a t th e 50minute mark, handing the lead back to S 30 Arcligh t' s McDaniel. The fir st-hour results showed Arcli ght just ahead of Vesrah, with Team Fury's Kawasaki ZX6R in thi rd , just one lap d own. Vesrah ' s Darryl Saylor rega ined the lead when Arclight pitted in the second h our. Arclight's Chri s Hu ghes so o n no ticed tha t the han d ling of his Su zuki wa s deteriorating with every lap. Hughes repi tted to find tha t the rea r-axle nu t had loosened , and he rejoin ed the race a fter changing th e rear wh eel a nd refu eling th e mach ine. Saylor contin u ed to lead the field , putting Arclight Racing o ne lap down by th e halfway poi nt. SBR/Semoff Bro thers Racing push ed into third after a slow start and began its assault on the lead ers. Ves rah Racing's-hop e for a w in for the debut of its TLl 000R ended abru ptly as Saylor tipped ov er in turn 12 - th e "carousel" turn - and dropped tw o laps as a result. Arclight's McDaniel inheri ted the lead, but it proved to be sho rt-lived , as he collided with a s lower rider a nd crashed at the end of the back stra igh t. SBR/Semoff Brothers Racin g took the lead on its Michelin shod Rl and set sail for the victory . Firestorm Racing' s GSXR600-mount ed Chris Normand and Scott Brown worked their way through the field to take second by th e end of the thi rd ho u r. YZF Rl -mounted Team Dreaded was third . The fina l hou r showed that the to p three remained the same, but results can be deceivi ng . Fires torrn's Ch ris "O p ie" Cay lor proved once again tha t he can be the fastes t rid er on the tra ck. Cha rg ing th r ou g h th e ba ckm ar kers , Cay lo r regained the lost lap from the first hour a n d be gan a cha rge to w a r d le ad er SBR/Semoff Brothers Racing . SBR countered Firestorm's assa u lt wi th th e team 's top rid er, Szarek, w ho took charge in the final hour. Holdi ng Fire s t orm a t bay, SB R's Sza rek secu red the win. Fires torm finished ju st over one minu te back, wit h Team Dreaded 's Malt Winn aker a nd David Probst two laps back in third. The WERA ational Chall enge Series returned to action o n Sunda y to co nclude WERA's eighth annual Ind y Cycle Jam . Jun ge piloted his Vesrah-sponsored Su zuki TLl000R to victory in its debut in the W ERA 1100cc Superstock Series event. This marked the first win for the n ew machine in a prem ier a tio n a l series, all while beating Rl s, GSX-Rll 00s and 750s , and, of course, all the o the r machin es in the field. Series po ints leader McDani el of Arclight Suzuki took the ho leshot on his GSX-R750 in the WERA 1100cc Superstock race but was qu ickly overtaken by Ju nge in the "ca ro usel," turn 12. The V esrah rid er quickly established a pace on the nearly stock mac hine that left the fi eld behind . Turning high-l :37 lap tim es, Junge set sail, attempting to break a wa y ea rly . Va lvoli n e EMGO Suzu ki rid er Josh Hayes was th e o nly rid er to ma tch Jun ge's pace, an d then he bested him to ta ke th e lead . Miche lin-bac ked Hayes led for tw o lap s, until a bad bat terv slow ed the machine, allowing Jun ge to ~etake the lead . Hayes eventua lly finished four th. Marietta Mo torsports rider Billy Eisenac her on a Yamaha Rl slipped in to seco n d , with TLl OOOR-mount ed . Tray Batey in third by race's end. "This b ik e is sto ck exc ep t for s li po ns," sa id a sa tis fi ed Jun g e . "Jo s h (Hayes) was the only one to giv e me any trouble. He would pull me d own th e back s tra ig h t, but I could catch him everywhe re else. Even on the lon g front straight, the TLlOOOR got such a good drive off the last comer tha t I could pull hi s 1100 there. I was ama zed by how well the bike worked from comer to corner . It steers like my 600." Junge also looked to con tinue his battle for the Me tzeler 600cc Supers tack Se ries wit h r iv al s Va lvo li ne EMG O Suzuki's Hayes, both GSX-R600-m ounted, and cu rre nt points leader Kaw asaki o f Can to n's Bri an Lantz o n a ZX-6R Kawasa ki. Junge ju m ped to th e ea rly lead but Hayes g ra bbe d it going in to tu m one. The Gulfport, Mississippi, resident ran mid-l :38s to se t th e pa ce and was never challenged. Lantz held Junge at bay throu gh the long sweeping turns one through five whil e the Suz u ki rider co n tro lle d th e tighter, mo re- tec hnica l section s. This bat tle co nti n ue d for the e ntire ra ce . Th e Ka w a saki-m ounted Lantz mad e his fina l at tem pt in the parking-lot sec tio n of th e cou rse, th en held off Jun ge with a strong drive ou t ofturn 15 to take the ru nn er-u p position . Ves rah rider Junge proved to be in the thick of things once again with a victory in the Michelin 750cc Superstock event. Jung e p a s s ed second -pla ced Motorsports Su zuki-backed Brian Gibbs a n d s e t h is s ig h ts on p oints leader McDani e l of Arcl ight Suzuki. Junge passed McDaniel in the sweeping tum two to take the lead on lap three. A clear track allowed Jun ge to set 1:37 lap and fly unchallenged to victory. Gibbs experienced one of the scariest scenarios in racin g w he n McDaniel' s m a chine blew an en gine a nd co vered the en tire track wit h smo ke, engu lfing Gibbs at the entrance to the 130-mph turn on e. Blinded, Gibbs made the entrance on faith and safely exited the corne r, mai ntained the pace and fini shed seco nd . Th ird p lace w en t to Ha yes, who stuffed his fello~ Val volin e EM G O Su zuki te ammate Lope z for the position. The top 10 were 1;\ all Suzuki GSX-R750-mo un ted . times Indianapolis Raceway Park Clermont, Indiana .Results : June 27-28, 1998 (Round 5) Sa tu rday .I EN D U R O / A : 1. S BR/Semoff Br o ther.. Ra cing (Ya m); 2. Eires torm Racing (S ux ): 3 . Team Dreaded (Yam); 4. Team Fury (Ka\4'); 5. TKO Racing (502). 5und~y 1100 S/STK: I. Mar k Junge ($uz); 2. Billy Eisenac her (Yam); 3. Tray Batey lSu2); ~ . josh Heye, (5uz); 5. Scott Ca rpenter (Yam). . 600 PROD: L Charles Gai ney Jr. (Ho n); 2. Frederick Farzanega n (Ho n): 3. Cody Be ford (Ka ..... ); 4. Sco tt d Cardoer CKaw); 5. Berret t Brummett (Ho n). 600 S /STK : 1. Jo!>h H aye s (Suz); 2. Brian Lantz (Ka\4') 3. Mark Junge (SoJ: ); 4. Brian Gi~ (502); 5. Ty ; Howard (5o z). 125 G r : 1. Michael Himmel sbach (H a n ); 2. C hris Pyles (Ho nl, 3. Ryan Lan d ers (Ho e ): 4. Dou g Scro nce (Hon): 5. Joh n Hjrl m (Hun). 750 S/STK : 1. Mark Ju nge (5 uz);·2. Brian Gi bbs (S uz): 3. Josh. Ha ye s (Suz): 4. G ra nt Lopez (S uz): 5. Shannon Ball (5 02) . 750 PROD: 1. Cody Bedford (K.Jw); 2. Frederick Farzanegan (Hon): 3. Bn."I1t w hi tecottcn (H on): 4, Barrett Brummett (Ho n); 5. John Patterson (So2 ). F· 2: 1. Lee Acn-e (Yam) ; 2. Brian Lan tz (K.lw ); 3. David Rose (Suz); 4. Sco tt Bro wn (Suz ): 5. Ed Sorbo (Y am ). 600 S/B K:.1. lev Palm our (K.l\4') 2. Mitchell Phill ips ; (Hen): 3. Frank wiot (Hlln) ; 4. Cody Bedford ( Ka w ),~5. Steve Ca m pis anc (He n). • U HIW TW EX: 1. Tray Batey (Suz); 2. Luke Yarbrough (5uz) ; 3. Ma tt hew Win nackc. (Dud; 4. Stewart Aitken·r, Cade {l-ion): 5. Drew Lincoln (Hon). HIW rw NOV: 1. Miktc> Mashewske IHon): 2. Matt Ga lbre ath ISuz ): 3. Steve Baxter (Suz); 4. Jason 0 & "'0 (Hon); 5. Dan Charleson (H -D ). 750 Sl BK: 1. jep ralmour {Kaw ): 2. Brian Hott (SU7J; 3. Mitch ell Phillips (He n): 4. Matt Churpka (Ka \4'); 5. Fran k Wiot Il-lon). F· l : 1. Grant Lopez (Suz ); 2. Lee Acree (Yam): 3. Ma rk McDaniel IS uz ): 4. Scott Ca rpente r (Y am); 5. Richard Pacella (Suz).

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