Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Serie s reg ulars Army of Darkness blew up their engine early in the nig ht and ne ve r had a ch ance after tha t to ch a llen ge for their class lead. Fin ishing secon d in the Mediumwe ight Superbike class be twee n Mission a nd Pa ra mount , the poi nts battle between Army and Pa ramount for the cha m p ions hip is too close to call. Half-A -Bu s a and a ll u g ly . These gu ys met ea ch other on line , which is m o re than yo u p r obabl y want to know, and compete d on an SV650 as t he so le entry in t he Lightwe igh t S upe rbike class . De sp ite the heat and othe r d ifficu lties , th e te am ne ver onc e lost the class lea d, finis h ing a c red ible 13th o ve ra ll o n the bike with th e ug li est m od if ie d ga s t ank si nc e Roya le Racing. It loo ked like a giant chewed- on e rase r. An d it wa s pa inted the wrong co lo r. If you m us t know , you c a n f in d t h e s e g uys at svride r.com. Ebs c o S uzuki ran two bikes in the Heavy weight Supe rs to ck c lass an d s pe nt lots o f mo ney on foo d , g ia nt inflat ab le be er bottles , RVs , ligh ting , lo ts of team s h irts, fo od , a nd othe r stuff hav ing to do with partying . But the te a m d id have ta le nte d riders a nd c rewm e m bers a nd , in s p ite of the d istra ction s , t hey won th e He a vywe igh t S u pe rs toc k c las s a nd fin ish e d fift h overa ll. Th o se guys ' s econd bike ran un der th e e bs c osu zuk i.com n a m e a nd its riders in c lud e d t he ed ito rs o f Sp or t Rid er Mag a zin e a n d th e tw o Brit ish jo urnal ists John "S onic" Cantile , a nd the infa mou s J im i Miller. All five Englis h majo rs kept t hei r heads d ow n a nd bro ught the ir b ike home second in class a nd seventh ove ra ll, holdi ng high the flag of moto-journalism . In tot a l, the ra ce saw two red flag s , one late in the sec ond hour and the other m idwa y through the ninth hour. The first re d flag took the lo n g e s t because dow ned rid er Pau l James had to transported in the s ole a mbu lance at the tra ck after ta king a high side fligh t from the SoCal Buell Dealers bike in turn four and be ing un able to re member why he had tw o first na mes . The second red flag came out after Hawaiian Ale x Lee un cha ra cteristica lly fell off th e goshift.com Yamaha in tu rn e ight, in the da rk . Remark ably, Lee on ly broke a finge r. That's not righ t. I mean a toe. Happily , rid e r Lee 's p light did help h is tea m win the Willow Springs posted $1000 aw ard for the t eam t hat overcame the most mechan ica l prob le m s to a ctua lly finish th e race . After Lee' s second unchara cteristic crash d uring the race, th e bike 's frame was cracked and kind of scary to ride so the te am didn't ride much again un til the final hou r of the race . La st year the SoCal Bue ll guys finis hed the ra c e with the sam e eng ine they s tarted on , but th is year the b ike h ad a nu m be r of prob lems and fa iled to fini s h. T h e p a rt tha t ca used the (Above) Joe Prussiano hel ped le a d t he Ve sra h Ra c ing Suzuki to victory. Prusslano has had plenty of 24-Hour experience this year - fin is hing 19th overall in the 24 Hours of Lemans In France in April. (Right) Attack Racing gave Vesrah a run for their money until the 23rd hour, when an overheating problem ended their race prematurely. ca ta stro ph ic failur e was not a Buell or H- D p art b ut a sp ar k p lu g who se p o rc e la in b ro k e , h u n g o pe n a n exha ust va lve, a nd yo u ca n gu e s s the rest. 'T he Fa stra c k/Te m e cula Ya m a ha te a m s ho wed why e nd urance ex perience is more va luable tha n th e loc a l adv an t age b y cras h ing th e ir bi k e thr ee tim e s in the ra ce before the s un eve n set. Th e y a lso crashe d t w ic e during practice so, after Satu rday 's thre e a dd itiona l pavement bo un cings, the team we n t home. I th ink they c a m e ba ck S unday and got their bike , bu t I'm not sure. Willow Springs International Raceway Rosamond, Ca lifornia Results: September 17, 2000 WERA NAnONAL ENDURANCE . OVERALL: 1. Vesrah Racing, (S uz) ; 2 . Arclight Suzuki , (Suz); 3 . Atta ck Raci ng, (Ya m) ; 4 . T ea m Mi ssion Yama ha , (Yam); 5 , Ebsco Suzuki. (Suz); 6. Army of Darkness. (Suz) ; 7 . eb sco su zukl .com, (Suz); 8 . J£,J Racing, ( Kaw); 9. T eam Pennzoil, (Suz): 10 . Crago Racing, (Yam); 11. mote -heaven.corn. (Yam); 12. Paramount Racing . (SUl): 13. Hal f-A - Buse . (SUl) : 14.50/5 0 Radng, (Yam) ; 15. Neighbor of the Beast. (Suz); 16. ONSET . ( He n): 17 . Team HM R. ( He n): 18 . racersu pply.co m . (Suz); 19 . goshift.com, (Yam ); 20 . SoCal Buell Dealers, (S ue) ; 2 1. San Diego HarleyDavidson, (S ue) ; 22. Fastrack /Temeculah ( Yam), (Yam). Distance: 88 4 Laps, 2,2 10 miles. Margin of victory: 29 laps HEAVYWEIGHT 5U PERBIKE:l . Vesrah Racing, (SUI) ; 2. Arclight Suzuki. (SUI ): 3. Atta ck Racing, ( Yam) ; 4. C rago Ra cing , (Ya m ) : 5. Fast rack /Temec uleh (Yam) . Dista nce: 884 Laps, 2,2 t 0 miles. Margin of victory: 29 laps MIDDLEWEIGHT SUPERBIKE; 1. Team Mission Yam aha. ( Yam) ; 2 . Army of Dar kness, (Suz ); 3. Paramount Racing, (Suz); 4 . ONSET , (Hon); 5 . SoCat Buell Dealers, (Sue). Distance: 828 Laps, 2,07 0 miles. Margin of victory: 9 laps LIGHTWEIGHT SU PERBIKE : 1. Half-A tBu sa, (SUl) . Distance: 777 Laps, 1,94 2.5 miles. HEAVY WEIGHT SUPERSPORT: 1. Ebsco Suzuki, (SUI ); 2. ebscos uzu kt.co m . (SUI) ; 3 . J ('J Racing, ( Kaw); 4 . Team Pennzotl. (Suz): 5. 50 /5 0 Racing, (Yam); 6 . racersupply.com . (Suz). Distance: 824 Laps, 2,060 miles. Margin of victory: 7 laps MIDD L EWE I GHT SU PER SPO RT : 1. m o t oheaven.cern. (Yam ); 2. Neighbor of the Beast, (Suz); 3. Team HMR, (Han); 4. goshift.com, (Yam ); 5. San Diego Harley-Davidson, (Bue). Distance: 78 9 Laps. 1,97 2.5 miles. Margin of victory: 52 laps (Above l Team M ission Yamaha f inished fou rth overall , and fi rst in M iddlewe igh t Superbike, co mpleti ng 828 laps. (Bel owl Ke nt Kunitsugu and his team of m ot o-j oum alists finis hed seventh overall , an d se cond in th e Heavywei ght Supe rs port c lass. cu e I e n e ..., so • OCTOBER 4 ,2000 17

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