Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Second place in the Heavyweight SuperStock race was the Hayabusa mounted eBSCO Suzuki Corona team. Stock race was mo re than enough to w rap u p the class cham pionshi p a nd earn fifth in the overall stand ings. Army of Darkn ess had already wo n the Mediurnweight Su perbike class a t the last event, and Tea m Chicago had also put t he finis hi ng touches o n th e Med iumweight Su perStock class at th e 24hour race in California. _ Road Atlanta Braselton , Georgia Results: October 8, 1999 O IA : 1. Ard ight Suz u ki (Suz) : 2. Scm off Brothers Racin g (Ya m); 3. SBR 11 (Yam); 4. EBSCO Suzu ki COTOO,' (5 uz); 5. D &D Racing (5 u7.); 6. Penn St.HI;' ( Kaw): 7. Flr es tor m Racin g (Suz): 8. Ca r lyle Raci ng (Yam); 9. Cycle Speed (Yam); 10. Team Xtrc mc 2 (Suz) . P IREL LI HtW SU PE R BI KE: 1. A rcl ig ht S uz u ki (5u7.o); 2. Sol-muff Hrotlu-rs Racing (Ya rn l: 3. C y cle Speed (V.l m) ; 4. Army o f Darkness (SuT.). II/ W SU PERS T OCK: 1. SBR II {Yam) , 2. EBSCO Suz uki Corona (Suz) : 3. D&D Raci ng (Suz) : 4. Penn Stolte (Kaw): 5. Ca rly le Raci ng (Yam) . M/W SUPER BI KE: 1. Firestorm Racin g (Suz): 2. Knee Draggers (5u7.o); 3. Cl int on C ycles (Suz); 4. u ·.l ninK Li7•ard (K.1W); 5. Tapcworks Racing (Suz ). Mil\' SU I'E RSTOCK: 1. Tea m Xtremc 2 (5u7.o); 2. Pa ramo u nt Racin g (Yam) ; 3. Tea m Xtre me ISuz: 4. Rapid Transit (Hen): 5. Tcam Chicago (Y.lm~. WERA National C llenge Series ha Round1 0:Road A a tl nta race of th e yea r, h eld a t th e W ERA Grand I a tional Finals a t Road Atlanta. A lt ho ugh SBR w ra p ped up th e 1999 WERA Na tio na l Endura nce Cham pions hi p a t the previous Willow Springs 24-Hour event, they dec ided to field two tea ms a t the Road Atla nta final. Tea m regu lars Glenn Szarek and Scott Brown ro de th e nu m be r-on e-pla ted Yamaha YZF R-I to second overa ll, and in the Pirell i Hea vyw ei g ht Superbike class; while reign ing Form ula USA Champion Mic ha el Barnes and Pau l Youngman rode the team's back-up bike to the win in the Heavyweight SuperStock class an d third overall. Taki ng the win in the Hea vyweight Su perbike class and the overall at Road A tla n ta was Arclig h t Suzu ki Racing, w ith Tra y Batey and Lee Acree aboard the team's Suz uk i GSX-R 750 Superbike, A fte r ba ttli ng m ys teriou s mechan ical gremli ~,s for the majority of the year, the Arcligh t team was glad to end the sea so n on a high not e with a n excelle nt wi n, lead ing fro m sta rt to finish. Coming off a grea t performa nce a t the grueling 24-Hour race helped Arclight Suzuki to leap from fou rth in overall poi nts to second coming in to this last round, just barely edging out the delightfully quirky Army of Darkness for the runner-up spot. Army of Darkness, never ones to rest on their laurels, pu t a plan in to motion to try and wre nch the number-two p late away from th e A rclig h t e ffo rt. Tea m O wner Sam Fleming opted to ins tall his Daytona 200 spec GSX-R 750 motor into the team s we ll-sor ted Suzuki GSX-R 600 racer in an effort to bea t the Arclight en try on the track and in the final points s ta ndi ngs. To hedge his bet , Fleming also so licited renown ed fas t guy Mar k Jun ge to help wit h the riding cho res on the powerful hyb rid bike. Along w it h the new-found power of the AOD bike came some pecu liar handling problem s that the team turned to Max McAllister of Tra xxion Dyna mics to so lve, which he d id , by ins ta lling a new rea r shock minu tes before the start of the race. At th e s ta r t o f the la st W ERA ,..: End uran ce ra ce o f th e mille nn iu m , N Jun ge rocketed the Michelin-shod SuzuQl .0 ki into th e lead from th e fr on t ro w . o (j Jun ge cou ld only hold off the cha rging o Batey on the Pirelli -equ ipped Ar cligh t 12 GSX-R 750 Su perbike for one lap befo re ~ givi ng up th e lead . Ju nge held dow n second bet w een Arcl ight Suzuki and Semoff Brothers Racing for several laps before BR's Szarek, who was coming to grips with a bad vibration, motored by on the back straig ht. Thirty minu tes into the four-hou r race, while holding down a comfortab le third place, Junge was shown the "meatball" flag di recting him to come into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty. Junge pu lled into the pits to confer wit h the WERA officials about the nature of the problem . In the rush to get the bike ready for the race, Junge forgot to sign the team 's entry form and was told that he was not allowed on the track u ntil he signed it. So, right there on pit road , in full lea thers and sitting o n th e rnceb ike, Ju nge- was ha nd ed a pen and an en try form and was made to sign befo re bei ng able to re turn to the race track. Whil e in th e pit s, Army of Darkness pe rfor med on e of their flaw- . less pit stops and returned Junge to the ra ce tw o laps d o w n to th e le a d e rs , w hich basica lly e nded their hopes of ea rning the po ints needed to surpass Arcligh t Suzuki for second in the championship. During AOO's clerical problems, SBR II was making their way through the field to take over the vacated third spo t and firs t in the Heavyweight SuperStock cla ' S, wit h Barnes aboard . Anot her team on the move from the bac k of the pack was the Corona Extra-s po nso red EBSCO Suzuki Hayab usa 1300 with Ma rk McDaniels and Ca l Rayborn doing the riding. The big Suzuki moved up to fifth overall and second in the Heavyweight SuperStock class by the end of the first hour. Amazingly, Junge, on the Anny of Da rkness special. man aged to claw his way back to the fou rth overall position as the first hour came to a close only one lap be hind SBR 11 in th ird. Sufferi ng w it h a vibrat ion from .t he fron t ti re, Sza rek los t touch w ith Ar clight Suzuki and end ed the first hour over a minute behind. Arclig ht rid er Batey was comfo rtably turning 1:29 la p times to pull awav from the field. Tapewo rks Racin g had ye t a not he r ru n of bad luck in the form of a blown head gasket that sidelined them 45 minutes int o the race. Tapeworks cas ua lly cha nged mot or s in thei r ra ceb ike and took to the track, jus t befo re the end of the second hour, in last place to try and sa lvage so me points in this fina l race. Semo ff Brot hers cu t into Arclig h t's lead a t the end of the second hour af ter a n unsched uled tire change removed the offending Dun lop slic k . The ga p between Arclight and SBR was only 38 seconds at the halfway point of the race. The Heavyweigh t SuperStock ent ries of SBR 11 and EBSCO Suzuki we re three laps behind the leadi ng duo, bu t only nine seconds apart on the track, for first and second in the ir class. Just t hree more seconds back was th e Armv of Darkness Heavyweight Superbike entry to round out the top five, third in class. With only 30 minutes remaining in the four- hour race, Iunge, riding his second stint, brough t the AOD bik e in w ith serious mec hanical wo es. Tea m ow ne r Flemin g co m men te d, " It was totally un expected . We ha ve never finished the race here a t the G ra nd Na tiona l Finals, in fact, we've started calling this race the 'WJ;RA DNF.'" Local Heavyweight SuperStock team from Dawsonville, Georg ia, 0 &0 Racing, took over the fifth-ove rall pos ition after the Army of Darkness reti rement. 0&0 have had a string of Heavyweight SuperStock victo ries s ince the th ir d round of the series tha t ended d uring the Willow 2000 24- Hour ra ce. They wou ld wrap up the class championship w it h a to p-fi ve finish at the Roa d Atlanta 4-Hour. Wh en the fina l chec kered flag flew, ending the WERA Na tio nal End ura nce Series for 1999, Arclight Suz uki had put . in a flaw less effort to win the last race of the season ove rall. Second overall in the Road Atlanta rae" and the Pirelli Heavyweigh t Superbike class was Se moff Brothers Raci ng . SB R II ea rned th e Heavyw eigh t SuperStock class wi n and rou nd ed ou t the overall podium. Second in the Hea vyw eigh t Su pers toc k class a n d fo u rt h overa ll w a s th e EBSCO Hayabusa 1300, four lap s a hea d of the 0&0 Racing entry in fifth overa ll, . A rcl ig h t Su zuki won t h e WERA Na tiona l Endurance Cham pions hip for the second year in a row , and the Pirelli Hea vyw eight Su per-bi ke cla ss in th e process. With the win' at the final event, th e Lafayette, Ca lifo rn ia- based team , Semoff Brothers Racing, ea rned seco nd in the overall, and in the Pirelli Heav yweight Su pe rbike class. 0&0 Racin g' s third place in the Heav yweight Su pe r- immelsbiJch schuuls the kids. By Dre w Lincol n BRASELTON, GA, OCT. 10 ichael Himmelsbach, the tw otime WERA 125cc Gra nd Prix Na tio na l Cha mpio n, beat out severa l you ng rising stars in the sport of motorcycl e gra nd pri x road racin g to ea rn the in au gural Gr and Pri x Rid er s Associa tion (GPRA ) Na tiona l Cham p ion ship. Himmelsbach bested the likes of 15-year-old p henoms Jason DiSal vo, Ben Spies and Jason Peters, Vicky JacksonBell , and west coast teen age sensa tion Haw k Mazzotta in the two-leg cha mpionship format. DiSalvo and Himmelsbach won one leg each, but Himmelsbach came away wit h the champio nship bv virtue of his better finis h in the secon d leg. Leg one of the GPRA 125cc GP was ru n under threatening skies, and had to be s to p ped on the seven th lap of 10 when a cloud burst se nt fou r of the 38 riders tum b ling , incl udi ng race lea der Himmelsbach, who had just passed DiSalvo for the lead . Scoring backed up one lap to credit DiSalvo wit h the win, Himmelsbach wit h a gracio us seco nd p lace, and Spies wit h a ha rd-fought third on his bac k-up bike . Leg tw o sta rted under dreadful cond ition s, wit h heavy rai ns and sta nd ing wa ter a ll arou nd the tra ck . Himmelsbach had the mo st expe rience ridin g in the wet cond itions, and it s howed righ t fro m the start. Himmelsbach and Spies jumped out in front of the field to lead from the d ro p of the green flag. Spies, fr es h fr o m a to p - th re e fin is h in t he 600cc Suz u ki C u p ra ce, w a s ha v ing trouble ge tting accus to med to the sma ller bike but valian tly passed for the lead twic e on the first lap. Himmelsbach put his head down and began to pull away fro m his pursu ers. DiSal vo first found his w ay past Ma zzotta , the n Sp ies, to try to keep Himmelsbach in sig ht. Maz- M

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