VOL. 52 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 25, 2015 P35
real reason for our success."
Those racing machines
included Hannah's 1979 YZ250
OW40, Burgett's AMA MX
500cc National Championshp-
winning YZ465 OW41, Lawson's
1986 Yamaha YZR500 OW81
GP road racer, and Rainey's
1990 YZR500 OWC1 GP bike.
One of the highlights of the
event was when Hannah joined
his long-time friend McCarty
on the stage and shared a
few stories from the past that
had everyone in attendance
hunched over laughing. But all
of the riders had their moment
on the stage and all of them
shared interesting, but mostly
humorous, stories from their
racing days.
Kit Palmer
GMT94 STRIKE GOLD IN GERMANY
R
eigning World Endurance Champions, Ya-
maha GMT94, have moved to within 13 points
of series leaders Suzuki Endur-
ance Racing Team (SERT) by
taking a hard fought victory in the
Oschersleben 8 Hour in Germany
on August 23.
GTM94 and SERT constantly
swapped the lead across the first
seven hours of the event, with GMT
eventually getting the win to make it
two in a row for the Yamaha YZF-R1 after the factory
team of Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Katsuyu-
ki Nakasuga took victory in the Suzuka 8 Hour.
"It's extraordinary we ended the race so close
to our rivals," said GMT94's Kenny Foray. "It was
a really intense race. At the last handover, I kept
checking the panel SERT was holding out for
Anthony Delhalle, who was on circuit, and I stayed
totally focused."
SERT was disappointed not to take victory in
such a close encounter, but they remain philo-
sophical with the championship lead still theirs.
"We know the GMT94 bike is very fast on the
circuit and we're fast in the pits, so it all evens out;
the safety car interventions put us at a disadvan-
tage," said SERT's Vincent Philippe. "But we put
up a good fight, we never let up. And considering
all the crashes and mechanical problems many of
the teams had to face, we can only be satisfied
with the result, not least because we're still top of
the championship standings."
Third went to the Monster Energy Yamaha
Austria Racing Team with riders Broc Parkes, Iván
Silva and Sheridan Morais.
The next round of the World Endurance Cham-
pionship will be the world famous Bol d'Or, which
returns to the Paul Ricard circuit for the first time
in many years on September 19-20.
Rennie Scaysbrook
GMT94 riders
David Checa
(left), Mathieu
Gines (center)
and Kenny Foray
(right) celebrate
on the German
podium.
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
YAMAHA
RACING
Bob Hannah's works YZ250 OW40 was
one of the four race bikes on display.
