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RPM/Coca-Cola Endurance Series
RPM Spr int Ser ies
Rounds 4/ 4 : Texas World Speedway
By MARK
LOPEZ
J o hn Haner (9 7) survived a late-race
charge from Ottls Lance to take the B
Supertllke win at rou nd four of the
RPM Sprint Series In College Station ,
Texa s.
PHOTO S BY T RA RUMSOWER/
VELOCITY P HO T O G RA PHY
COll.EGESTATION, TX, JUNE 2·3
iddleweight Superbike team Bent
Ra cing won round four of th e
RPM /Co c a-Co la Texas Superb ik e
Endu ran c e Serie s at Texas World
Sp eedway on June 2, moving themselv es with in 31 points of Midd lewei ght
Sup erbike cham pi onship leaders Clubracer Dot Com. Heavyweight Sup erbik e favorites Crash Clinic suffered a
disastrous third-hour cra sh wh ile run ning first and handed the cl ass wi n to
H+H Motorsports. Cycle 1 Racing was
the Lightw eight Superbike w inner ,
ahead of Robin 's Roost.
At th e start of the four-hour race,
Bent Racing grabbed the early lead to
head th e fi el d on lap one . Heading
i n t o la p two , they were followed
cl o sely b y the GSX -R750R of Crash
Cl inic, H +H Motorsports , EK Motorsports and Martins Racing.
One la p later, Crash Clinic swept
into th e front spot, bu t Bent Racing
held tight to Crash Clinic 's tail section
and the two lead teams began pu lling
aw ay fr o m t h e fi eid . As the battl e
rag ed u p front, C hampion Ra cing
cras hed out of first in th e Ughtweight
Superbik e class while bending into th e
horseshoe . Th e team later discovered
th ey had fo rgott en to chec k th e tire
pressure and had run the fir st portion
of th e race on 11 psi . After th e team
repl aced the right rear set (footpeg),
adjusted th e tire pressure and rejoined
the race, they quickly found themse lv es caugh t up in a battle w ith
championship rivals Cycle 1 Racing
o n the number -352 machine. That
bat tl e moved them closer to Lightweight Superbike team Robin 's Roost,
and soon there was a three-way dogfight for the class lead that lasted unti l
the first round of pits stops.
At the two- hour mark, Crash Clinic
was in the lead, ahead of H+H Motor sports, ACE Racing and Cycle 1 Rac ing. EK Motorsports, who had run in
the top five earl y on , crashed out of
the race in the first hour.
J ust after the halfway mark , B ill
Lesur lo st control of the Crash Clinic
machine when the bike experienced
g e a r b ox p r o b l em s wh il e h e w a s
do w n sh i ft i n g for high - spe ed t urn
sev en. O n ce the tea m got the b ik e
bac k to the p it s, t hey w er e abl e to
rep air th e ri d er controls an d re-ent er
the race with in half an hour.
While Crash Clinic was in the pits ,
H+H Motorsports inherited the lead in
th e Heavyweight Superbike cl ass and
M
68
JULY I I , 2001 •
c
u
e
• e
lAbo ve) Bradley Champion (4 0)
w heelles h is RIc h m on d Suzu ki Yamaha
R6 throug h Texas Worid Speedway's
Infield while trying to fend off Ty
Stran ger-Thorsen (34) f or the second
spot In the C Superstock Expert race.
(Below right) At round f o u r of the
RPMlCoca-eoIa Endurance Series ,
Crash Clinic lofts the front wheel of
their GSX-R750R while running first
overall early In the f ou r -h ou r
endurance tesL The Heavyweight
Supertllke team crashed In the third
hour , finishin g 12th overall.
seemed to be on their wa y t o an easy
cl a ss vi c t o ry. Howe ver , an hou r
before the race ended , the team ' s
exhaust canister broke loose from its
mount and wedged itself betw een th e
tail section and the rear tire . The rider
was able to rip the can ister from the
machine while still on th e track, howeve r, an d speed o ff t o claim the ir
class win.
In the end , Bent Racing won the
overall ra ce. H +H Mo to rs p o r t s finished sec ond overa ll, ahead of ACE
Racing . Cycle 1 Racing took fourth
overa ll and first in the Lightwe igh t
Superbike class , and Rob in's Roost
rou nded out th e top fi ve overall .
ne"" .
T he next day, in round four of th e
RPM Sp r int S e r i e s , Pete Martins
grabbed the A Su perst oc k holeshot
on his new GSX-R 1OOOR. He was fol lowed off the line by John Haner and
Robert Dietric h. Haner passed for the
lea d on the fi rst lap heading into turn
three and left Martins beh ind to claim
a l o n ely sec o n d . Meanwhile , John
Ross Jr. came from fifth to pass Ty
Stranger-Thorsen and then Dietrich to
cla im third.
Greg Abbott took an easy win in
th e C Superstock race on his ICE
Moto rsports
GS X - R 6 0 0 R .
At the start ,
A bbott beat
Bradley Cham pion off t he
st a rt to head
t he f i eld i n t o
sweep ing tu rn
on e. A s Abbott
sp ed a w ay to
v ictory , Ch am pion
was
caught
by
S t r ange r Thorsen , mak ing for an ent ert ai ni ng battle fo r sec ond. Stranger-Thorsen was content to
shadow Champion for the entire race ,
seeming ly tryin g to pressure him in to
ma k ing a m istake. Finally, on the last
of the six l a p s, Stranger -Thorsen
mad e h is pass for second o n th e
ins ide of turn 10. However, he lost his
drive on the exit an d Champio n was
able to immediately h it back and
repass before they pow ered out of the
infiel d t o take t h e c hec ke re d fl ag.
Abbott took first, Champion was sec ond and Stranger-Thorsen was third.
De fending B Sup erbik e Champion
Ottis Lance grabbed the lead at the B
Sup erb ike start, over Ross and Haner .
Howev er, Lance wa s sma rt ing from a
torn rotat or cu ff in hi s right shoulder
and soon began falling back , passed
first by Ross and th en Ha ner. Lance
conserved his energ y and wa ited until
lap fiv e to ma k e a l ast -g asp try for
the win, pass ing Ross and closing the
considerable gap to Haner. Lance got
close enough to show Haner a wheel
wh il e sweep ing into tum nine on lap
six , but Haner was able to hang on for
the win , leaving La nce t o settle for
second , ahead of Ross.
Round 5 of the RPM Ser ies will be
held at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit
on July 15 .
Te.e. World Speedway
College Stotlon. Te...
Results: June Z·3. ZOOI lllound 4/41
Sa turda y/ Endura nce
O/ A: I. Bent Rocing (Suz ); 2. H.H Motorsports
(S U1); 3 . ACE Rocing ( Yom ); 4 . Cycle 1 Roci ng
).
(Suz); 5. Robin's Roost (SU1
L!W S/BK: I. Cycle 1 Rocing (Suz); 2 . Robin's
Roos t (Suz) ; 3. Teem Speedy Go nzales (Suz ); 4.
Cha mpion Recing (5 uz); 5 . Tea m Lean ( Ka w).
M/W S/BK: 1. Bent Rocing (Suz): 2. Club recer
dot com (Yom ): 3 . Got Speed1 (Han): 4 . Lazy Dog
Racing .
H/W S/ BK : 1. H.H Motorsports (Sur): 2. A CE
Rocing (Yom) : 3. Crash Clinic (Suz): 4. CoG Radng
(Yom): 5. Good Tunes Rocing (Hon) .
Sunday/ Sprint
F-I NOV: 1. Manny Poulis (Yom): 2. David Pugh
(Suz ): 3. Simo n Ho (Apr).
F ~] EX : 1. John Haner (Suz) ; 2. Pete Martin s
(Suz): 3. John Ross Jr. ( Suz) ; 4 . Robert Diet rich
(Suz); 5 . Ollis Leec e (Suz) .
F-2 N O V: 1. Tony Nguyen (SU1) ; 2. Richord
Brook s (Suz); 3. Chris Gollogher (Suz): 4 . J omes
Hopkins (Suz); 5. Dovid Branyon (Yom) .
F-2 EX: 1. Brodley Chompion (Suz): 2. Zachary
Lee ( Hen): 3. logan Young (Han) : 4. Chris Newhouse
(Han): 5. Poul Bordelon (Suz).
A S/ ST K EX : I . John Hone r (S U1) : 2. Pete
Martins (Suz) ; 3 . John Ro ss Jr. (SUI) ; 4 . Robert
Dietrich (Suz): 5. Ty Strong er·Tho