Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE AMAlCCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge: Round 7 ~". " The first part of the race was like a sprint with Fastline/MCM (25), Dutchman Racing (hidden) and Gold Hill (3) doing battle. Moto Liberty/Nankai 28 ~ed the GTU battle before having to pit for new brakes.. Racing's Fabian Cortez just past the two-hour mark in third. But Cortez's day would end with less than half an hour to go when the transmission began to lock up. "It started knocking and got louder. Then it didn't want to shift," Cortez said. . With less than 10 minutes to go, Barnes came in for a quick splash-andgo, just to be sure. "We were really cUlling it close on gas at the end of the hour," Barnes said, but aside from that there were no problems and the team had their third win of the year. "I knew when. I got on that I had to hammer it.." Barnes said. "I knew they were 99 seconds ahead. I was going all out to catch them." Barnes said there were two keys to their winning. The first was that because' their Honda CBR900 is about 70 pounds lighter than the heavier Suzukis and Yamahas it was easier on their EBC Kevlar brake pads. "We've still got enough brakes for a couple hours endurance," Barnes said. And, second, "I knew they had to do an extra gas stop," Barnes said. Clarke brought the Gold Hill bike home second, the Canadian getting the ride on the FZR1000 when Phil Kless decided not to make the trip. "It was a monster through the turns, but it made it up on the straights," Clarke said. The. best part was his se"COnd shift when he hooked up with Fasdine/MCM's Heino. "We were just trading, swapping and ·chopping. Whenever we were in lapped traffic he'd take the advantage." "We were trying to save the tires and brakes and do everything without changing," John Jacob said of the Northstar Racing Yamaha FZR1000. "The brakes were nonexistent at the end, but we were there. I completely lost the brakes. I had to pump it about five times coming into the comer. It was a scary ride the last half hour. I nursed it as best I could." Bob Sandy, the middle rider on the fourth-place Northwest Racing_ team, between Titian Bue and Mike Karm, said they were forced to make extra pit stops because they don't have an oversized gas tank. Northwest's brakes lasted, partially, Sandy believed, because he uses a lot of rear brake. The team finished a lap hack. Eric Moe rooe the first and third shifts and team owner Jan Svensson the second and fourth on the fifthplaced Team Magic Yamaha FZRlOOO. The team took over fifth with about 25 minutes to go, using their horsepower advantage to motor past N2 Racing. If their motor had lasted, there was no question who would have won the GTU class: Team Toomer. But running a 600 as hard as they were, the engine expired just past the half-hour point and that's when the race began anew. Mota Liberty/Nankai's Danny. Walker moved into the lead in front of Dr. Bob Meister on the American Flyers' Honda CBR600. Himmelsbach Racing was an early third in front of IRC Racing and Hornblower Racing's Weichel. . At the one hour mark Todd Harrington took over for Meister and Doug Carmichael went in for Walker. Bill Hornblower took over his bike, relieving Owen WeicheL "As long as the brakes don't go away we'll be okay," Walker said prophetically. "The tranny's about shot. We had the good transmission in the other motor, but not enough parts to swap. Sam (Yamashita, team owner) tried to speed me up to catch Toomer, but at that pace, 600s don't last that long." IRC dropped out of contention with a tum five crash near the hallway point . moving Hornblower Racing into third behind Mota Liberty/Nankai and American Flyers, about eight_seconds out of the lead. "This is the motor from Brainerd that was re-done," Meister said of the fresh engine in the American Flyers bike. "I think he (Walker's) got more 'mid-range and we've got more top speed. Three hours is a long race. This last hour should be interesting." Meister got back on at the 1:45 mark, Jon Cornwell took over just past the two hour mark for Hornblower with Walker on the Mota Liberty/Nankai bike after a brake change that would change the order of the top three. "There's no way they would have made it," Mota Liberty/Nankai's Doug Carmichael said after dismounting. "Going into tum two and down the hill and the end of the straightaway they're bad, but at two and three they're the worst." The team had broken in a new motor in practice and hadn't got the bike working properly. "The bumps going into the Carousel in the back are bad. You flick it in the comer and the rear end jumps out." Meister was in the lead with haH an hour to go, but the bike was developing a misfire that Harrington was immediately aware of when he got back on with about 20 minutes' to go, the bike sounding off-key. The win went to Hornblower, his first in 20 years of racing. "It's a great day. I've been waiting a long time for this. I've been doing the EBC series for eight years and this is the highest I've been on the podium and it's great. Dr.Bob was pressing us when we came out of the pits," to start the final hour. "I had my hotshoe (Cornwell) on at the end for the run to the flag." Walke:t brought the Mota Li}:)erty/ Nankai bike second, the only other team on the same lap as Hornblower, with Pablo Real and Stephen Hansen moving into third in the' final halfhour of the race, finishing a lap down. American Flyers was credited with fourth, another lap down. O'f Results GTO: I. Team America (Hon); 2. Gold Hill Racing (Yam); 3. Northstar Racing (Yam); 4. Northwest Racing (Suz); 5. Team Magic (Yam); 6. N2 Racing (Hon); 7. Fastline/MCM Racing (Suz); 8. Mid Cities Motorsports (Suz); 9. Lucky Dog Racing (Suz); 10. Team OTS/Southwest Motors: ports (Hon); I I. Lombard Suzuki Suz); 12. Team Ironworks (Suz); 13. ABM Racing (Suz); 14. Keystone Racing (Suz); 15. M.C.C. (Duc); 16. Team Genesis (Suz); 17. Dutchman Racing (Suz); 18. S. O. M. Racing (Suz); 19. Team Mirage (Kaw); 20. Renfrow Racing (Hon); 21. Raceco (M-G); 22. Class Racing (Kaw); 23. Best Racing (Yam); 24. Sadowski Racing (Suz); 25. Team Yamaha Endurance of Jacksonville (Yam); 26. Team Vance 8c Hines (Yam). Time: 3 hours. 18 minutes. 3.66 seconds Distance: 72 laps. 288 miles Average speed: 95.837 mph Margin of victory: 59.759 seconds. GTO C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. Fastline/ MCM Racing (121); 2. Team America (118); 3. Dutchman Racing (82); 4. (Tie) Gold Hill Racing/ Keystone Racing (55); 6. N2 Racing (47); 7. Team Magic (46); 8. Team Yamaha Endurance (43); 9. Northwest Racing (41); 10. Class Racing (39); II. Northstar Racing (26); 12. (Tie) Mid-Cities MotorsportslTeam OTS/Southwest Motorsports (23); 14. Lucky Dog Racing (21); 15. Dutchman Racing II (20); 16. Kawasaki Racing Team #1 (15); 17. Kawasaki Muuy #2 (II); 18. Gold Hill Racing II (10); 19. Riverside Kawasaki II (9); 20. (Tie) Graphic Racing/K.W.S. Mot!>rsports (8). GTU: I. Hornblower Racing (Hon); 2. Moto Liberty/Nankai (Hon); 3. Team Hansen (Yam); 4. American Flyers (Hon); 5. Team Decadence (Hon); 6. Himmelsbach Endurance (Hon); 7. Super B Racing (Hon); 8. Island Boys Racing (Hon); 9. McCall Racing (Hon); 10. Mid-Cities Motorsports #2 fHon); I I. Team Daytona (Yam); 12. Big Dog Racing (Yam); 13. Evans Racing (Hon); 14. Team Cycle Sport (Yam); 15. Moto Liberty 11 (Hon); 16. AGV Sport (Hon); 17. Team B.O.O.H. Racing (Hon); 18. l'AZ Racing (Hon); 19. Full Lean Racing (Hon); -20. IRC Racing (Yam);21. Team Velocity Racing (Yam); 22. Faster Foster Racing (Hon); 23. AGV Sport 2 (Hon); 24. Team Tundra (Yam); 25. Team Toaster (Kaw); 26. Team Toomer (Yam); 27. MTP (Yam); 28. Team Holiday (Hon); 29. TB.R.Endurance (Hon); 30. No Fear Factory Team (Yam). GTU C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. Moto Liberty/Nankai (104); 2. Hornblower Racing (65); 3. TB.R.Endurance (62); 4. Team Toomer (57); 5. IRC Racing (52); 6. New Tech' Racing (47); 7. American Flyers (45); 8. AGV Sport (39); 9. Team Holiday (38); 10. Island Boys Racing (35); 11. Himmelsbach Endurance (34); 12. Team Tundra (25); 13. Honda-Suzuki World Racing (19); 14. Beast Racing (17); 15. (Tie) Super BRacing/McCall RacinglTeam N.O.S. (16); 18. (Tie) Team Hansen/ Team Scream (15); 20. Poor Boys (13).

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