Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Events Defending WERA National Endurance Champions Semoff Brothers Racing came to round th ree of the series and posted the ir s econd win in a row. WERA National Endurance,Round 3 .Two in a row for SBR By Drew Lin co ln Phot o by Andy Chadwell .SAV ANNAH, GA, JUNE 12 emoff Brothers Racing, the reigning WERA National End ura nce Ch amp ion s, won their second even t in a' row at the third ro und of the yo ung season. Th e team wo n th e Pire lli H ea vyweig h t Superbike class as well as th e overa ll at the four-hour even t, held at the 2.25-mil e, nin e-tu rn Roebling Road Racew ay, ou tside of Sava nnah, Georgia. The Roebling Road eve nt was a lastminute ad d ition to the sche d ule when the Atlanta Motor Speedway round had to be canceled d ue to a scheduling erro r. WERA fortunately alrea dy had a regional Sportsman race on the books and gave it a qu ick upgrad e to National status. The H ea vyweight Su perb ike class, spo nsored this year by Pirelli, has long been the premier di vision in the WERA N a tional Enduran ce Series, an d the majority of the overall series cha m p ions hav e co m pe te d in thi s cl ass . Sem o ff Brothers Racing (SBR) is one of the few tea ms in th e 25-year hist ory of WERA endura nce racing to have wo n the Series Cha m p io nship o n a Supers ta ck bi ke. Last year the team used the brand-new Yamaha YZF R-l to win th e H ea vy weight Superstock Cha mpionshi p alo ng with th e ov erall series titl e. Th is year they ar e racing the same motor cycle in the Superbike class. Going into the third round, Arclight Su zuki a nd SBR had sp lit w ins, with Arcligh t w inning th e op en er at Talladega and Semoff dominating in the rain at Ginge rman. The lead rid er for Arcligh t Su zuki, Tra y Batey, set a tor rid pa ce fro m the start of the four-hour event, leavin g the SBR R-l be hind at abou t a second per lap. By the close of the first hour of racing, Ar cligh t had co mp leted 47 laps to SBR's 46 laps, and Arclight's track positio n was a s ca n t fi ve s e co n d from putting SBR down a seco nd lap . Third and fourth on th e ra ce track were the fir s t. and second-p la ce teams in th e Mediumweight Sup erbike ca tego ry, Team Cl inton Cycles and Tapeworks Racing, res pectively. Clint on Cycles had just lapped the Tapeworks bik e before the first-hour res ults, putting their Suzuki GSX-R600 on the same lap as Semoff S Brot hers a t 46. Down in sixth position on the track, with 45 laps completed , was the first-placed Heavyweight Super Stock e n t ry of Team Extreme End urance, on a Suzuki GSX-R750 . In 11 th pl a ce o v era ll , fi rs t in Med iumweight Super Stock, was the Yamaha YZF-600 of Team Chicago, with 44 laps in the books. Endurance regulars Army of Darkness and newcomer s D a nd D Racing were less than two seconds apart on the race track and s tea d ily moving forwa rd through the field . Shortly into the second hour of the ra ce , A rc lig h t Suz uki brou ght th eir Suzuki su perbike into the pits for fuel, a rear-tire change and a rid er swa p, whil e Semoff Brothers, e m p loyi ng a huge, expanded fuel tank legal for Superbike entries, maintained the same' pace on the track , allowing them to regain the lap th ey had lost early on. Team Clinton Cycles departed the race 18 minu tes into , the seco nd hour, end ing their d ay pre.mat urely. Ta peworks Racin g inh er ited the Mediumweight Su perbi ke lead but soon came under serious pr essure from the slow-starting Army of Darkn ess. At th e close of th e second hour, only one seco nd separated these tw o on the track. D an d D Racing leap frogged in to thi rd overa ll , firs t in Hea vyw eig h t Super Stock class, lead ing a lO-bike pa ck all on the same lap of 74. Some 27 minu tes into the seco n d hour, th e red flag sto p ped the racing actio n in or der to let co rner w orke rs tend to a fall en rider w ho se rac e bi ke h ad caugh t fire . After a 20minute delay, raci ng resumed, help ing to keep the field tightly packed to finish the last 15 minutes of the seco nd ·hou r. Arclight and SBR had 77 laps each and were separa ted on the track by 16 secon d s. Al so ta king a d va n ta g e of the restart was Team Ma trix, getti ng th e lead in the Medi umweight Super Stock class on their Kawasaki ZX-6R as well as eigh th overall. Arclight Su zuki on ly m anaged to complete an other 10 circui ts of the track befor e th e ca m cha in on the normall y bulletproof Su zuki broke, ending th ei r day 11 minut es into the th ird h our. Arclight was looking for a stro ng result to make up for the catastrophic rain race they had experi en ced during the prior round, at Gingerman Racewa y in Michiga n. With the immediat e threat of th e factory-backed Suzuki squad ou t of the pic ture and a four -lap lead in hand ov er the se cond-in-class 1-800-CROTCHROCKET en try, the Semoff Brother team cou ld cruise for th e last h our and 45 minutes of the event. Steadily p rogressing through th e 23-bike field was the Heavyweigh t Super Stock leader, D and D Racing, who, with the demise of the Arclight Suz uki en try , moved in to secon d ov era lL Fourth overall and first in Mediumweight Su perbike wa s Army of Darkness, as they method ically marched up th e order, pu tting to good u se the years of endurance-racing experience that pays off in sit uations su ch as these. The co nstan tly changing lead in th e Mediumweight Super Stock class went to Rising Sun Racing at the close of the third hour, bu t a scoring error wa s later di scov ered, reinstat ing Team Matrix as the class leader. SBR maintained the s tea d y , quick pa ce th ey had run th e ent ire 'race to a d d on e more lap on th e fie ld at th e finis h, gi ving them a tota l of 168 laps. A r my of Darkn e s s br oug h t their Mich elin -sh od Su zuki G SX- R6 00 s u pe rbi ke home se cond ov erall a n d fir st in th e highly compe titive Med iumwei g ht Su perb ike clas s with 163 la ps at the finish. H olding on to th ird over a ll and seco n d in th e Pire ll i H ea vyw eight Su p erb ike catego ry for the last tw o hours of racing was the 1800-C ROTC H- ROC KET te am , on a S u z u k i GSX- R7 50 . Fi rs t in M ed iu mweigh t Su per Stock and fifth overa ll was Tea m Matrix, w ho, alon g with 1800-CROTCH -ROCKET, ha d 162 laps each. D a nd D Racing had a 12-second lead over Team Extreme End u ra nce at the en d of th is four-hour race, wi nn ing the He a vyw ei ght Super St ock cla ss, a n d th ey finished sixth a n d seve n th overa ll, respectivel y. eN Roeb ling Road Raceway Savannah, Georgia Results: June 12 (Round 3) Q /A; 1. Semoff Brothers Racin g (Yarn ): 2. Army of Da rk ness (Suz): 3. 1-800-C ROTCH -RO C KET (Suz) : 4. Tapewcrks Racing (5uz); 5. Tea m Matri x (Kaw ). HfW S /BK: L Sernoff Brot hers Ra cing (Ya m): 2. 18110-CR OTCH -RO CKET (Suz) : 3. Cy cle Spe ed Racing (Yam); 4. Arc1ight Su zuki Racing (5u7. . ) H /W S/S T K : 1. D a n d 0 Racin g (5u 7. ); 2. Team Ext rem e End ura nce (Suz ): 3. N ielse n Racin g (Suz ): 4. Pe nn Sta te (Kaw ): 5. Ca rlyle Racing (Yam) . M /W S / BK : 1. Arm y o f Darknes s IS uz): 2. Tape wor ks Racin g (Suz) : 3. Le anin g Liza rd Rac ing ( Kaw): 4 . Firesto rm Ra cing (5 uz); 5. Tea m C linton Cy cles (Suz) . M /W S/S T K: 1. Tea m Matri x (Kaw) : 2. Tea m Extre me 2 (5u7.); 3. Tea m Chicago (Ya m); 4. Rising Sun Rac ng (Suz): 5. Rapid Tran sit (He n). i District 37 Desert Racing Series,Rounds 19 &20 Chiapuzio, Krause melt rivals By Shaw n Drouin LUCERNE ,CA,JUNE 12-13 fter a th ree -week layoff, the yearlo ng Distr ict 37 Desert Ra ci n g se r ies retu rn ed to ac tio n a t th e A Cou gar Butte s ridin g a r ea, n ea r th e desert town of Lucerne, and the Racers Under The Son club hosted vet ano the r st ellar dual Europe a n scrambles eve n t tha t is known yea r a ft er y ea r a s th e "Melt Down." Cou rse A started a t Cougar Buttes and head ed toward And erson Dry Lake. After crossing the lak e bed , the ribbon took rid ers through so m e w hoops and th en to a checkp oi nt. · After goin g through the checkpoint, the cou rse went up a steep, rocky uphill. 'Several rid ers had problems cresting the top of the hill but still made it the rest of the wav to the finish . ' Team Green /P ro Ci rc uit /IMS / .Answer / Acerb is -b acked Dou g Ch iapuzio had no problems making it to the fin is h on Su nday . In fact, Chiapuzio took the checkered flag first d uring the Expert a nd Amateu r 200cc /250cc / Open / Four-Stroke race. "1 had a good ride," said Ch iapuz io, whose effort gave him first in the O pen Expert class. "I was second to the bomb a nd le d th e ra ce a ft e r passing Steve Hengeveld about a mile after the sta rt. Th e course was we ll-marked but started ge tting a little chewed from all of the races prior to mi ne. The course was laid out with d iffer en t types of terrai n. The ri d e w a s pretty fa s t fo r abo u t a mil e going across the dry lake bed . Then the co u rse took yo u through some pretty, tou gh uphills and downhills. Before the race, you think that the heat will affect the way y o u rid e , but on ce yo u get going, you don' t ev en think ab ou t the heat as long as y o u k eep drinking water." Paul Kr aus e, w ho is ba ck fro m a shoulder injury he suffered in February, finished second in class to you ng Chia pu zio. "I just go t a really, really bad start and I was the last one off the line, so I had to ride hard and slow ly p ick m y w ay throu g h th e du st ," sa id Kraus e, wh ose. Montclair Yamaha /MSR /FMF/ IMS-ba cke d YZ400 w ea rs the district's nu m ber-o ne p late . 'The bik e wa s per fect. I was just a little ner vous abo u t all the d eep sa nd and thou ght I would be ou tpowered on the 400. But th en I saw a dry la ke bed, which mad e it e asier to p as s. I fi gured on e m ore la p a n d I 'w ou ld pass Chia pu zio. I feel a lot better t od a y th an yes te r day. Th e h e a t a lm os t killed m e yes te rday . Today I roa d as ha rd as I co u ld fro m s ta rt to finish . I felt like a stiff piece of wood when I got off m y bike, but I feel pretty good now ." Even th ou gh thi n g s did n ot go Krause's way a n Sunday, he rod e well enough on Saturd ay to claim the Op en Exp ert-class wi n ahead of Ch ia p u zio. Team Green's Ste ve Hen geveld , Chiapuzio' s teammat e, was in the ru nning for Sund ay' s overall after skipping Saturday' s event. " I was first a t the end of the bomb and led overall for abo u t another fou r mi les w hen the cou rse op ened up and Chiap uz io passed me," sai d Hengeveld, the number-one 250cc Expert plate ho lder. " I had a good ride and fin ished fou rth overa lL The cou rse wa s marked well, especially for the last race of a twod ay event. The re were a lot of lines pretty burnt in. The cou rse was real silty but fun . The heat d idn't affect my ability to ride." Heng ev eld 's Te a m Gre en /MS R / Scott/IM5-backed KX250 may have on ly finished fourth overall, but it was good eno ug h for the 250cc Expert wi n. O n Sund a y, w hil e th e to p g u ns of. N deser t racing were battlin g it o u t on 3' Course B, so me other classes we re figh t- ~ ing the dust on Course A. 39

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