Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128633
WERA National Endurance Seri e s 24 Hour of W ill o w S p ri n gs PH OT OS BY BR IA N J. te am th at was reti ring wit h 70 m inutes remaining in the race wou ld fa ll only from second to third in the final standings , and at the en d still be I I laps up o n fou rth overa ll. Vesra h team ow ne r and ra ce r Mark Junge ra n his tea m 's efforts from the pi ts wit h h is foot in a cas t due to injuries suffe red in a fa ll at Pocono. Jun g e pr ob abl y h a s as m uc h e n d u ra nce ex pe rie nce a s a n y team owner ac tive in the series toda y and he put that experience to full effect to win what turned ou t to be a brutal 23 hour battle with Attack Racin g . Durin g those 23 hours , Jung e pretty m uc h ign o red his c om pet it io n a nd ran his team's race to a prepared pla n . Vesr ah Racing ' s GS X-R750 h ad been m od ified more for enduranc e than for an y other typ e of p erfor man c e adva nta g e . Ju ng e kn ew that the tri c k to winn ing a 24-h our ra c e wa s s imply to be on th e track do ing laps, not in the pits or the c rash truc k. Th e Ve sr ah Su zu ki h a d an e n la rg e d fuel t ank th at a llowed th e bike to be on tra c k for a n h our a nd 30 minute s , bu t Junge limited each rid e r 's s t in t to I : 15 , t o av o id t ha t risky las t 15 m inutes wh en riders are fa t ig ued an d prone to mak in g m istakes . Three weeks wer e s pent ma king qu ick -c hange p a rt s for the bik e such a s a c aptive re ar-b ra ke caliper and inc o rpor a ting the re ar a xle nut into the sw inga rm .. To q uicken front whee l c hanges , th e bike was run without a fe nder, faci litating pivoting N ELSON ROSAMOND, CA, SEPT. 16-17 o m e t im e s e ndu ra n ce race s are won by th e team that only b lew one e ngi ne , crashed on ly onc e, a nd only ha d o ne p it fire . Somet imes e ndu rance ra c e s are wo n by the fastest. In this, the second yea r of th e reinc a rnat ion of th e 24 hours a t Willow Sprin g s , t he ra c e was wo n b y th e fa s t es t. Vesr ah Ra c in g , runnin g a 2000 Suzuk i GSX -R750 , had na ry a pro ble m during the en tire race. Th e y not onl y won , but al so finishe d with 884 laps , just two s hy of th e all -time distan ce re c o rd - des p ite an hour p lus red -flag e a rly in th e rac e . Finishing s econd ove rall a nd se c ond in the He avywe igh t Sup erbik e class , a ls o on a Suzuki and als o run ning Pirelli tires , was series regul ars Arclight Suzuki, a full 29 la ps behind th e leading bik e . Third overa ll, and in tha t same c las s , was th e Dun lop mounted Yam aha RI effort of Atta ck Rac ing , a t e a m th at had bee n in a ' c aptivat ing , tight di ce for the lea d for nearly 23 hours befor e giving in to a ch ron ica lly overheatin g e ngine . The Attack Raci ng RI ca ug ht a roc k in t he rad ia t or s o m e ti m e d u ri ng t h e early m ornin g hours of th e event and, al though the team quickly fixe d the pr oble m , the bike 's te m pera tur e ju st wou ldn't stabilize again . The pace that Att a c k a nd Vesrah had been runn ing s howed itself fully wh en it be ca me appare nt t hat t h e S 16 OCTOBER 4, 2000' c u e I e n e vv s Night-time pit -st ops and racing are what 24-Hour races are all about - a true test of team chemistry and stamina. Arclight Suzuki finished second overall after the Attack Yamaha retired w ith overheating problems. t he calipe rs out of th e way rathe r tha n removing them . Th e s e c ha ng es d idn't provide for s even-s ec ond wheel c ha nges like th e fa ctor y te ams , but, b y savi ng a g o od $1 0 ,0 0 0 , Jun g e was still a ble to cha nge the rubber on both e nds of the bike at a consiste nt 29 seconds. He knew th at wa s all he woul d ne ed. Mak ing th e riding lo o k ea sy for Ve s r a h rac in g w er e ex pe rie nce d e nd u ra nce riders , Glenn Szarek , Dav e McG rath , J oe Pru ssi a no , a nd s pri nt guy s Dave Rose , J ohn J a c obi , and Ch ris Ulr ich . Alth ough Ul rich did c om p la in a bo ut th e bik e ha ving too man y s t roke s , he st ill ma na ged t o become the firs t sec ond -g en er ation rider to sha re in winning the 24 Hours of Willow Springs , joi ni ng his fa th er J ohn who shar ed in the winning effort a long time a go . Last yea r, o ne o r tw o o f the fast te a ms ra n stunningly q uic k I -mi nute 27 -second lap t imes d ur ing th e nigh t, bu t t h is yea r th at kind of time was almost a ve ra ge . In the da rk of night, Sza re k and Arclight rider Brian Parriot ra n mid - l :2 5s. Was it the tires? Was it the fact that this year th e track had set up temporary lig hting h e re a n d t h e re around the c ircui t ? Do th e s e guys not know fea r? Th e race o rig inally s ettled into a three -way b attl e for th e le a d t ha t included Arclight Suzuki a lso. Ea rly in the night , th ough , the Arclig ht tea m's re a ll y t r ic k arc-light-t yp e $700 he ad light failed , fo rc in g the team to rei ns ta ll a conve ntio nal' head lig ht and los e a rou nd 20 la ps in the process , fa lling fro m s ec ond to s ixth overall. Nor m ally th is sort of problem could be m a de up for over the follow ing 16 hou rs of a 24 -ho ur ra c e , but Vesrah and Attack pressu red e a c h other into continuing on at .a bruta l pace and if one of them didn 't have a problem , th e re wou ld be no ca tc hing the lead . Arc liqht did fai rly qu ick ly find th emselve s back in th ird ov erall , but th e re the y stay e d until t he last h our wh e n Atta c k's pro b le m g av e the m second . Another drama Arclight exper ienced in th e nig ht wa s ina dv e rtently mounting a front rim with a bent rotor that onl y showed itself after rider Chri s Hughes reac hed tu rn one a fter ex iting th e pits . A s tartled Hughes made his way around th e track and returne d to th e pits , but after stopping and q uic kly pumping th e le v er b a c k u p he ass umed eve rything was fine and took off toward turn o ne aga in . He wa s ba ck at the en d of that la p for a new wh eel. Becau s e of the team 's th ird place over a ll finis h at Willow , Arclight wrapped up th e 2000 WERA Nati on a l Endurance Series Champions h ip. T he b at t le for Med iumweig h t S uperbike was just as hotly co ntested as the o vera ll battle , a n d it finally went to Te am Mission Yamaha afte r the va liant effort of th e - a lso Ya ma ha- mounted - Pa ramoun t Ra cing gu ys ca me nea rly to an e nd. For mo st of the ra c e , Te a m Mission trailed Pa ram ount by a few lap s, n e ver los ing sig ht of them . Paramount, a t times , found th emse lves a ll the way up into third over all a nd runn ing consistently in the top five throu ghou t all bu t the last two hours of the ra ce. The te am's first tr oubles ca me in the midd le of th e night when thei r piggyback shock dump ed its oi l. T e am o wne r Trent Thomp s on and c rew qu ickl y so lve d that problem, and the te am fell only to sixt h o ve ra ll. Bu t in th e 23rd hour , while running fourth ove ra ll and leading the MS class , the Paramount bike d ropp ed a v alv e and th ey had to c ha nge e ngines, g iving the cla ss ·win to th e Mission gu ys. Th e Missi on Yam aha guys had t hei r o wn probl ems t o o ve rc o me, startin g with a tir e th a t cam e a p a rt Saturday aft e rnoon , early in the race. The y los t anoth er n ine laps at dusk whe n the ir lighting fa iled to light and a n ho ur a fter tha t t he y h a d to ta pe glow st icks to th e ba c k of th eir bike in pla ce of their burned -o ut taill ight. En du re th e y did , and th is ti me th e team , m a de up of Yama ha e mployees - a c oup le of whom are Fo rm ula 40 ride rs - did one better tha n th e ir se c on d -in -c1ass finis h of last year.