Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ R RACE WERA VansonIPM National Endurance Series: Roulid 11 DAD ~ The restart portion of the 24-Hours West rolls off the start line at Willow Springs International Raceway. Team Motorcyclist Magazine wins Willow 24-Hours By Brent Plummer Photos by Kinney Jones and Plummer ROSAMOND, CA, SEPT. 12-13 any months ago, Team Motorcyclist Magazine started out as a simple idea: the plan was for some good fun, and the arena was the Willow Springs 24-Hours West. But the original no-pressure concept quickly went awry - serious bragging rights were there for the taking by the team that could not only win the 24 Hours West, but also defeat Team Suzuki Endurance, the most successful team in endurance racing history. This is why American Honda supplied the Randy Renfrow-led Team Motorcyclist with a CBR900, and there was a strong CLASS Racing Kawasaki effort that included factory contracted riders Thomas Stevens and Tripp Nobles. And, of course, Team Suzuki was present in nearly full force. But after a third lap crash that almost permanently sidelined the Motorcyclist effort and cost the team nearly 30 minutes in the pits to repair the damage, the Honda-mounted team proved itself clearly superior this day; Team Motorcyclist defeated Team Suzuki Endurance by five laps to take the overall and Heavyweight Superbike class victo~ies. Team Pasta Marin Racing was third overall, 12 laps in arrears. Riders Nick Ienatsch, Lance Holst, Renfrow, Andy Milton, Kent Kuntisugu, M 6 and Robbie Petersen, who trashed on the third lap, breaking his collarbone and sternum, of Team Motorcyclist Magazine completed 866 laps on the 2.5mile Willow Springs circuit, for a total of 2165 miles at an average speed of 90.2 mph, including time lost for two brief red flags in the opening four hours. Team Suzuki Endurance still holds the mileage record at 2215 miles at an average speed of 92.3 mph, a record set at the same event, one year ago, And Team Suzuki Endurance was lucky to have even finished second. In the opening hours, a rocker arm snapped in the stock top end of the team's GSXRllOO motor. Fortunately, the separated piece did not get tangled in and seize the motor (with a bad crash the likely result), but did mandate an hour-long pit stop to change cylinder heads. One of the two red flags cut the time lost down to a about 50 minutes of racing time, which dropped them to the bottom of the Heavyweight Superbike title chase in the third hour and proved to be too much of a gap to make up;· especially since they were missing night specialist Wes Cooley, who was recently involved in a car accident that left him literally broken up (but still healthy), and definitely unable to ride. Lee Shierts, freed from contractual obligations with the defunct Motosport Racing team effort finally got his wish to race with Team Suzuki Endurance, and came aboard to handle night chores along with team mainstay Kurt Hall but was suffering a "big case of the pitch-it paranoia" and was a few seconds off the pace. Riders Hall, Michael Martin and Chuck Graves handled most of the riding chores and drew frO:ql. 13 laps behind eventual winners Team Motorcyclist in the third hour to a scant three laps in the 20th hour, but they couldn't close the final gap and had to settle for second. The Kawasaki-mounted CLASS Racing effort faired even worse. A suspected front brake mounting pin failure caused a wreck in the practice sessions preceding Saturday's start in the high speed turn eight/nine area. The bike emerged scratched and dented but mostly complete. Thomas Stevens did not escape so easily, though, as he broke a collarbone in the incident. The Kawasaki ZX7R was quickly repaired and sent out for some additional practice; and the" A" motor promptly seized. It seems there was a small hole punched in the radiator through which all of the water boiled out, letting the motor rapidly overheat. The ZX7R's motor was replaced with a slightly more aged one, and the team made the start only to have a nighttime cold tire crash by Nobles mangle the bike beyond repair. Jason Pridmore, Richard Moore, Ken Greene, Mel Moore, Brian Catterson and the rest of the team packed up early aRd finished second to last on the final scoring sheets. Nobles walked away from the incident. And while Team Suzuki Endurance, Motorcyclist and CLASS Racing were all floundering in their respective ways, it was wildcard Team Pasta Marin (TPM) that was the surprise of the day - the team led the entire f~eld for more than 17 hours. The Petrovic brothers, Greg and Nick - the founding owners of TPM - were present to show the world that they could run with the best (on someone else's bike!) and most importantly,. do it with style. So, towards that end, the team arrived in matching red TPM work suits and had revived the racing careers of the legendary Dave Aldana, Cal Rayborn III. and David Emde to pilot their Art Chambers-owned and financed Suzuki GSXRllOO, along with Willow Springs fast guy Kenny Kopecky. And for much of this lengthy endurance race, TPM seemed to have the win all but wrapped up, but they, too, ran into difficulties. A minor crash cost them four laps in the middle of the night, a seized rear brake caliper another four laps early Sunday morning, but it was tire difficulties that truly cost TPM a sure victory - other racers reported being struck in the helmet by chunks of rubber flying off TPM's rear Daytonaspec Michelins, which never seemed to work well all race, mandating time-consuming unscheduled pit stops to change rear tires, and sapping both confidence and speed from the riders. California Sportbike Racing I, a Middleweight Product,ion Honda CBR600-F2-mounted team, overcame an off-track excursion and finished an amazing fourth overall, 49 laps down from Motorcyclist. Of the riders listed for the team, including Willie Burr, Bruce. Tebo, Stu Morrison, Nide Nakazawa, Steve Rushford and Tim Van Name, it was Burr who put in the most impressive effort; when he was aboard the team's Honda CBR600. Burr lapped all the 600cc teams three or four times. It was Burr who rode the last stint for California Sportbike Racing I, and secured fourth overall, first in Middleweight Production. "We broke a crank," said -Force Racing's Ron Crum, "It threw a rod out of the &ide of the motor, and that "" our 24-Hour for 1992." Force fRn spr .-\ behind TPM for '1 few hours i. tJ-. • '"e aboard thf'ir recently con\ 'r,cuHeavyweig t Superbi1

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