Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA VansonIPM Endurance Series: Round 11 ~ Donald Jacks led Team Suzuki Endurance to victory at Moroso Motorsports Park; they only won by a scant 19 seconds. Team Suzuki wins athriller By Brent Plummer WEST PAlM BEACH, FL, SEPT. 20 eam Suzuki Endurance was back in top form at Moroso Motorsports Park, winning an excitingly suspenseful race. Team Suzuki edged out early race leaders National Car Rental Racing (formerly N2 Racing) by a scant 19 seconds to claim the overall victory, 'A series of red flags prevented Team Suzuki Endurance from completing more than the 124 laps that they actually did around the 2.25-mile circuit, at an average speed of 69.75 mph. Team Suzuki probably couldn't have won without help from Donald Jacks. National Car Rental had brought in fast guy Michael Barnes from AMA Endurance squad Team America as their heavy-hitting ace - and Barnes did not disappoint; he stormed off to an early lead on the team's Honda CBR900, and looked set to run away with the race. "1 was keeping my lead short," said Barnes after the race. '~Hoping they wouldn't call up Donald cracks)." But Baines' ploy didn't work. Team Suzuki sent Jacks out with two and a half out of four hours remaining in hopes of exploiting his speed and home track advantage. Team Suzuki's plan worked. Jacks jumped on the bike and immediately began turning lap times unmatched by any in the race, and regained the lead for Team Suzuki. It was a le~d they didn't relinquish. T 18 Virginia Breeze Racing took third overall, and third in Heavyweight Superbike after a slew of minor problems. The team suspects that a bad radiator cap is what caused their first hour over-heating problem, forcing them to lose valuable time in the pits while prying the cap off, and collecting water to refill the system. The team lost more time replacing a slipping clutch - thought to be caused by the overheated motor - and benefitted from a late-race crash by OAK Racing's Dean Hayes, who was fighting for third overall at the time. "We had to stay ahead of Virginia Breeze," said Hayes. "We were both on the same lap. Their bike was a little faster, so I was trying to run exceptional lap times on old, worn out tires. I came into (tum) five (at the end of the backstraight) hard on the brakes, the front slid for a long ways - I held it up on my knee for as long as possible, but eventually went down," Hayes was unhurt, and the team was lucky to lose only third spot. They hung on to fourth overall, fourth in Heavyweight Superbike. Knee-On Racing took fifth overall, fifth in Heavyweight Superbike, edging out Middleweight Production class winn.ers - and the highest placing 600cc effort - Team Pearls by scant 25 seconds at the flag. And that was a position . Pearls was very happy with. "The important thing here was for a DAK (Racing) not to finish in the top three - which they didn't - because we are in a strong position to maintain third overall," said team manager Peter Jones. "Now, all we have to is finish in the top 15 at the final round to get third overall, which, I think, will be the first time a Mediumweight Production team has finished that high." . Indeed, Team Pearls is in a strong points position - with 786 points they are securely in third behind 1992 champions Team Suzuki Endurance (1192 points), and Force Racing (806). DAK Racing is fourth with 762, followed by Virginia Breeze Racing (751). Roswell Racing is a close sixth with 741 points. Second seeded Force Racing had their second ONF in a row (after the 24 Hours West,. where they blew a motor), with the culprit again being a blown engine. Force only completed 70 laps, ending up 19th overall in a field only totalling 21 teams. Progressive Racing earned sixth overall, first in Heavyweight Production. Roswell Racing, Team R&R Racing, and Psycho Racing rounded out the top 10. At the start of the race, Team Suzuki Endurance's Michael Martin jumped out to an early lead, and looked set to make this race yet another Suzuki Endurance runaway. But Barnes was having minor difficulties, and would soon make' his presence known. "The brake pads didn't quite seat· in," said Barnes. "But once I got around the first few guys, they bedded in, and I wicked it up." Within five laps, Barnes had made up the time lost to Martin, and began hassling him for the lead. Martin stayed in cruise mode, and was some 16 seconds back at the 40minute mark, when the first of,three red flags flew. Team Last Minute had oiled the track in turn two, causing Northern Boys Racing to run off the track, and the race was quickly halted. Team Suzuki changed rear tires, and suited up team captain Kurt Hall. National Car Rental who had doubled their tire budget in an effort to beat Team Suzuki Endurance were checking over their rubber, but had no intention of changing riders. Meanwhile, Virginia Breeze was prying off their radiator cap and trying not to get burnt by the steam exploding out (they succeeded), and Team Pearls was hurting with a new Metzeler bias front tire/radial rear combination that they were sure would work better than their mainStay pair of bias-plys. It didn't, and the team suffered. The race got underway, soon to be red-flagged again, before the end of the second hour. For the second restart, Team Suzuki got serious. They were sick of second place, and saddled Jacks up with a pair of fresh tires. National Car rental lined up in the wrong grid position,_and were soon under protest by OAK Racing. Team Suzuki, though, found a clause in the rulebook invalidating the protest, and pointed it out to National Car Rental, who escaped without penalty. Craig Gleason was soon on the National Car Rental bike, knowing that he had his work cut out for him against the fastest rider at Moroso - Jacks. "This was my first time here at Moroso," said Gleason after the race. "1 was still learning the track when I first went out because we missed most of practice repairing a cracked engine case." But once out, Gleason quickly adapted, and kept National Car Rental on the lead lap until he handed off to Barnes in the final hour. Soon after Barnes was on, the third and final red flag was thrown due to Northern Boys Racing blowing a motor at the start/finish line, and leaving a line of oil all the way to, and through, tum one. The droppings were .-eaned, and the clear track signal was given with 31 minutes remaining. The race got under way again with 20 minutes left. Jacks stormed away from the field, lapping all the way up to fifth place, and took the checkered, with Barnes not .far behind. ~ Results OVERALL:' 1. Team Suzulci Endurance (Suz); 2. National Car Rental (Hon); 3. Virginia Breeze Racing (Yam); 4. OAK Racing (Suz); 5. Knee-On Racing (Kaw); 6. Team Peads (Hon); 7. Progressive Racing (Suz); 8. Roswell Racing (Suz); 9. Team R&:R Racing (Suz); 10. Psycho Racing (Yam); 11. TKO Racing (Suz); 12. Royale Racing (Hon); 13. Competition Cycle Center (Hon); 14. H&:B Racing (Hon); 15. AndersonIJardine (Suz); 16. Rapid Fire Racing (Yam); 17. Northern Boys Racing . (Hon); 18. Addicted To Racing (Suz); 19. Force Racing (Yam); 20. Jet Harbor Racing (Yam); 21. Last Minute Racing (Suz). . HIW S/BK: 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz); 2. National Car Rental Racing (Hon); 3. Virginia' Breeze Racing (Yam); 4. OAK Racing (Suz); 5. Knee-On (Kaw); 6. Roswell Racing (Suz); 7. Addicted To Racing (Suz); 8. Force Racing (Yam); 9. Team Last Minute (Suz).• HIW PROD: 1. Progressive Racing (Suz); 2. Team R&:R Racing (Suz). MIW SlBK: 1. Psycho Racing (Yam); 2. TKO Racing (Suz); 3. Royale Racing (Hon); 4. Competition Cycle Center (Hon); 5. H&:B Racing (Hon); 6. Rapid Fire Racing (Yam); 7. Jet Harbor Racing (Yam). MIW PROD: 1. Team Pearls (Hon); 2. Northern Boys Racing (Yam) .WERA VANSONIPM NATIONAL ENDURANCE SERIES P01NT STANDINGS: 1. Team Suzuki Endurance (1192) 2. F~ ~~g (806); 3. Team Pearls (Hon); 4. OAK (Suz); 5. Vrrguua Breeze (751); 6. Roswell Racing (741); 7. Royale Racing (Suz); 8. Ardight Racing II (695); 9. Northern Boys Racing (656); 10. Arclight Racing (627).

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