Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

with better than a 40-second cushion on Deatherage. Zampach was less than two seconds back. in third with Heino about six back in fourth, just ahead of Northwest's Bob Sandy. Mike Myers replaced Jim Sabin on the N2 bike just before the halfway point, the team holding onto fifth spot while the order in front of them changed. Gold Hill still led, but Heino was into second and about 20-seconds back, but 22 in front of a side-by-side duel involving Team American and Dutchman. Fritz Kling replaced Pridmore on the sixth-placed Class bike, Pridmore collapsing in the pits from ·exhaustion before being transported to the infield medical center. "I had the 750 SuperSport race (he finished second) and the endurance race right after it," Pridmore said. "It was a lot of work, especially the pace we ran in SuperSport and endurance. I felt myself getting tired about. the hour-IO mark. I said to myself I didn't know how long I could go. . "I've never been like that. I was completely dehydrated. They ended up giving' me some oxygen," Pridmore said, adding that it was the first time he'd ever been in an ambulance. By the two-hour mark only three bikes were on the lead lap; Gold Hill, with Gardner back on for Kress, Fastline/MCM, Lynch back out on a fresh tire and N2, Sabin saying he was able to make up time at the end of his stint as his fuel load went down. "I started out with seven gallons of fuel. We had poor ground clearance. I couldn't go any faster," Sabin said. "A lot of these guys are going to burn up their tires or blow their pit stop. Maybe we can catch them." Stroud was back on for Zampach after the team changed a rear tire, dropping them back to fourth ahead of Kling and Barnes, back out for Deatherage. "When I went out the back tire was pretty greasy," Zampach said. "And on about my fourth or fifth lap a 600 blew a motor in front of me and America." Deatherage had decided to start the race on a used tire, a purely financial decision which he regretted. "We should have put a new one on. It was stepping out way past the point of bringing it back," Deatherage said. About 11 minutes into the third hour, Gardner crashed the race-leading Gold Hill machine in the right-hand turn 10 after crossing the oval. The throttle which had troubled him earlier had stuck open, sending him into the hay bales. The lead went to Lynch, Myers second, Stroud third, his front brakes beginning to fade, Pridmore fourth, Barnes fifth, and Northwest's Sandy sixth. The plan for Fastline/MCM was to leave Lynch out to the end, unless the rain intensified. It picked up slightly at the 2:20 mark, but not enough to bring Lynch in, though he came down pit lane, though not pitting, about 20 . minutes later. He maintained the lead with half an hour to go, though he himself didn't know it. "They didn't give me 'Pol' for a little while," Lynch said. But he was in the lead with only N2 Racing and Dutchman on the lead lap, though Team America ,was about to unlap itself following its tire change. With less than 15 minutes to go, Barnes was pressing Sabin, passing them going into turn one for third place a lap later. As the race entered its final five laps, Barnes was up on Stroud, the two racing for second as if it was the first lap of the race, though Barnes wasn't sure if he was on the same lap as Stroud. "I didn't know where we were at the end of the race. We did a tire change and it took longer than we thought," Barnes said. "Ten minutes from the end I went from fourth to third to second. I didn't know who else was up ahead." It came down to a dash to the flag, Barnes getting the nod by half a bikelength. "The new tire was hooking up everywhere," Barnes said. "Jim Allen (of Dunlop) helped us with that one. I couldn't believe Woody was doing 20s and 21s with the first one." "The front brakes were good for about 15 minutes," Stroud said. "All of a sudden, in one lap, the lever was back to the bar. I ended up overshooting a few times." "I didn't know what the deal was going to be," Lynch said about his second stint. "I saw the Team America bike came into the pits. I ran with Barnes. Then on the next lap I saw plus-W, first place. As it worked out, I went as fast as I needed to." N2 Racing's Mike Myers brought the Honda CBR900 home fifth, a lap behind the top three, but one spot in front of Class Racing's Fritz Kling'. "I was a little bit whipped," Kling said after riding the 90-minute shift, partially from having to fight traffic. "There was a certain vintage bike out there that shouldn't have been on the same track." Northwest Racing finished a lap down in sixth. GTU Team Toomer's Jim Leslie got the jump on the GTU field, steadily making his way through the GTO field until he was in the top 10 on the ninth lap, the same lap that Moto Liberty/Nankai's Danny Walker moved into second. But on the 11th lap, Walker pulled off in turn 11 with a blown engine. "Our luck ran out," Walker said with a smile. By the 30-minute mark Leslie had moved up to ninth, putting five GTO bikes between himself and Lanie Cobb on the T.B.R.Endiuance entry and IRC Racing's Glenn Szarek. And by the one-hour mark, the team was up to eighth a lap in front of IRC and T.B.R. with American Flyers' Dr. Bob Meister lurking just outside of the top 10 overall and Hornblower Racing's Bill Hornblower running 15th overall, fifth in class. Most of the GTU bikes were going with only two gas stops, the first beginning just after the one-hour mark. Craig Gleason took over the Toomer bike for Leslie. William Himmelsbach Jr. replaced Laney Cobb on the T.B.R. entry, and Owen Weichel took the controls from Bill Hornblower. American Flyers' Meister was up to fourth and about to hand off to Todd Harrington. The team had dropped a valve in their good engine earlier and was racing with one borrowed from Harrington's AMC/CCS bike. Meister was one of the few that favored rain since they were down on horsepower. "I thought we could run at the front since this is more of a rider's track," Meister said. Halfway in and Toomer was cruising, a lap in front of T.B.R., another lap in front of Hornblower. American Flyers was up to fourth with Team N.O.S. up to fifth. But Toomer's Yamaha was already smoking, a presage of what would come later. "There was oil on my windshield," T.B.R. Racing (81) moved into second in the GTU championship with their win. said Harrington, who followed Toomer at one point. Leslie took back over just before the two-hour mark, still holding a lap lead. over T.B.R. which Gleason credited to Leslie. "Jim got out to a big lead. I was hoping to go for the overall lead, but the bike was running hot. I sat up to take it easy on the engine," Leslie said. Meister, like teammate Harrington, knew the Toomer bike was in trouble. "Toward the end, there was so much smoke I backed off when I was near them. I could taste the oil," he said. At the 2:20 mark, the AMA blackflagged the smoking Toomer bike. Leslie pitted and lost a few laps while a quart of oil was added and the AMA technical crew checked the oil smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe and breather tube. Leslie was back out at about 2:28, lasting another 10 minutes before pushing in from the last corner with a blown engine. "It was smoking, but it wasn't blowing oil out," team owner Bill Toomer said, adding that he had no problem with the AMA stopping them. "We were telling him to slow down and it just quit." The lead had gone to T.B.R. when Toomer was forced to pit, and Cobb was a lap ahead of Hornblower with half an hour to go. The Floridian maintained the lead and took the win a lap in front of Hornblower. "I just have to say thanks to William Himmelsbach. I came up here with nobody to ride with. Luckily his transmission went out and we put him on my team," Cobb said. "I first rode it this morning," Himmelsbach said. "I started out doing 24s and was doing 22s at the end. The shock is set up for him and he's heavier than I am." Hornblower Racing was second, two laps back, team owner Bill Hornblower thrilled with their second podium showing in two weeks and crediting Weichel with the team's success. "We have our own fast guy. I just truck around and try to hold position. This is a tough track. We're thrilled to be second," Hornblower said. Like Hornblower, American Flyers was in victory lane for the second consecutive week, though Meister was getting confusing pit signals that changed his end-of-race strategy. "I was in fifth or sixth at the beginning of the third hour. They gave me 'Plus-90' on my pit b()ard and I put it in the cruise mode because of the on and off rain. Then they gave me 'Minus-5, 4th place' and I made up five seconds in two laps and. was dicing with who I thought was in third. It turned out I was in third," Meister said, the team finishing two laps behind Hornblower, but a lap in front of Team N.O.S. Team Holiday made a steady climb through the field, from ninth after the first hour, to sixth at the two-hour mark, up to fifth in the end. Team owner Robin Holiday teamed with racing teacher Keith Code on a Honda CBR600, a bike that Code hadn't ridden before Loudon. Holiday rode the first and third hour, Code the second, the two turning in .similar lap times, Code enjoying cutting through backmarkers. "I was having a good time with the track. There were a bunch of guys I got to lap. There weren't many laps that didn't go by without traffic," Code said. tN Results GTO: 1. Fastline/MCM Racing (Suz); 2. Team America (Hon); 3. Dutchman Racing (Suz); 4. N2 Racing (Hon); 5. Class Racing (Kaw); 6. Northwest Racing (Suz); 7. Riverside Kawasaki II (Kaw); 8. Graphic Racing (Suz); 9. Steve Guinard Motorsports (Suz); 10. Team Magic (Yam); 11. Play Hard Racing (Suz); 12. Team Mudslide (Suz); 13. Keystone Racing (Suz); 14. Team Yamaha Endurance of Jacksonville (Yam); 15. Racers Edge (Yam); 16. Gold Hill Racing (Yam); 17. R.A. Racing (Suz); 18. Team Green Machine (Kaw); 19. Team Attitude (Suz). Time of race: 2:59:52.830 Margin ofvietory: 1:07.184 mins. WinneJ's average speed: 70.447 mph GTU: 1. T.B.R.Endurance (Hon); 2. Hornblower Racing (Hon); 3. American Flyers (Hon); 4. Team N.O.s. (Hon); 5. Team Holiday (Hon); 6. Motorsport Marketing (Hon); 7. Island Boys Racing (Hon); 8. Honda-Suzuki World Racing (Hon); 9. Unobtanium Racing (Hon); 10. AGV Sport (Hon); 11. Team Sharp (Hon); 12. Competition Cowlings (Suz); 13. WW Racing (Hon); 14. Team Socks (Yam); 15. BPR Racing (Hon); 16. Team Toomer (Yam); 17. OT Racing (Kaw); 18. Specials Racing (Yam); 19. Team Hansen (Yam); 20. Team Velocity Racing (Yam); 21. IRC Racing (Yam); 22. Team Charm (Yam); 23. Team Lester (Yam); 24. Reflexx Racing (Yam); 25. L&M Racing (Hon); 26. Moto Liberty/Nankai (Hon). G'rO C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Fastline/MCM Racing (112); 2. Team America (98); 3. Dutchman (82); 4. Keystone Racing (47); 5. Team Yamaha Endurance (43); 6. Class Racing (39); 7. Gold Hill Racing (38); 8. N2 Racing (37); 9. Team Magie (35); 10. Northwest Racing (34); 11. Dutchman Racing II (20); 12. Team OTS/Southwest (17); 13. (TIE)Mid Cities Motorsports/Kawasaki Racing Team #1 (15); 15. Lucky Dog Racing (14); 16. (TIE) Northstar Racing/Kawasaki Muzzy '2 (11); 18. Gold Hill Racing '2 (10); 19. Riverside Kawasaki II (9); 20. (TIE) Graphic Racing/KW.s.Motor Sports (8). GTU C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Moto Liberty/Nankai (87); 2. T.B.R.Endurance (62); 3. Team Toomer (57); 4. IRC Racing (52); 5. New Tech Racing (47); 6. Hornblower Racing (45); 7. AGV Sport (39); 8. Team Holiday (38); 9. American Flyers (32); 10. Island Boys Racing (27); 11. Team Tundra (25); 12. Himmelsbach Endurance (24); 13. Honda-Suzuki Racing World (19); 14. Beast Racing (17); 15. Team N.O.S. (16); 16. Team Scream (15); 17. Poor Boys Racing (13); 18. (TIE) Team All-American/Motorsport Marketing (10); 20. (TIE) Toreo Racing/Three Guys Racing/McCall Racing/Rising Star Racing (9).

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