Results from 1999:
 
 

4/17/99 - Talladega Gran Prix Raceway - 5th overall and 2nd in class

We were running in 2nd place when a false neutral sent us off the track and a into a little bit of a moto-cross excursion.  As we all know, moto-cross and roadracing do not mix.  We crashed.  We awaited our rider to return to assess the damage.  It wasn't real bad.  We wiped off the dirt and went back out.  The next lap, we had to come in to clean out the dirt from the brake lever.   We lost some laps in the pits, but, came back to 5th overall and 2nd in class.

5/8/99 - Gingerman Raceway - 1st overall and 1st in class!!!!

While the results of the 1st round weren't spectacular, we learned a lot and we were not at all disappointed in what happened.  One of the things we learned is that we have 2 spectacular riders in Glenn Szarek and Scott Brown.   A common trait among good riders is the ability to learn new tracks.  Neither Glenn nor Scott had been to Gingerman before this weekend.  Needless to say, they both picked it up rather quickly.  For this round, we were unsure how it was going to turn out - the weather forecasters were calling for rain on Saturday and we had no practice or set up time for rain riding.  To throw another factor into the mix, after 8 years with Michelin, we switched to Dunlop tires. About an hour and a half before the race, it started to rain lightly.  Then, about 40 minutes before the race, the sky opened up and soaked the raceway.  We started the race on Dunlop full rain tires.  They were phenomenal.  To sum it up, we had 2 laps on the entire field after 1 hour and 10 minutes of racing.  No one could come close to Glenn or Scott.  Both were running around the 1:43 - 1:46 range in the rain.  The lap record in the dry is a low 1:26.  Less than 20 seconds off lap record place in the rain!!!  3 1/2 hours into the race, the rain subsided and a dry line started to form.  We switched from full rains to 207 hard compound tires.  Again - phenomenal.  Both riders dropped to the 1:30 - 1:32 range on a slightly damp track.  We were now down to within 6 seconds of the lap record on hard compound DOT tires.  We kept up a good solid pace and, when the checkered flag flew, we had a 12 lap lead on the 2nd place team.  A flag-to-flag dominating victory.

6/12/99 - Roebling Road Raceway - 1st overall and 1st in class!!!!

During the 1998 season, Glenn Szarek was considered our lead rider and Paul Youngman played the support role.  Well, due to an illness, it was Glenn's turn to play the support role.  Glenn came down with the illness on Friday and his condition for Saturday was questionable.  He decided that he would be able to ride, but, it would be Scott Brown's turn to step up to the plate and run most of the race by himself.  As he did at Gingerman, Scott passed the test with flying colors.   Scott started the race for us and was running second behind Tray Batey on the Blue and Yellow machine of the 1998 season runner-up Arclight Suzuki.  After 1 hour and 25 minutes of great riding, Scott came in and handed the bike over to Glenn.  He only got 1 complete lap in when Neighbor Of The Beast, sister team of Army Of Darkness, had a mishap in the last corner which left the rider down at the entrance to the turn, and the bike, as if it had a mind of it's own, tracking it's way, without a rider, towards a chain link fence at a very high rate of speed.  When it is bike vs. fence, the bike usually wins, but, the fence gets a good shot in before it goes.  The bike blasted through the fence, but, the fence sent the bike tumbling resulting in a fire that was eventually put out by the track fire crew.  The incident brought out the red flag.  It would turn out to be a very interesting situation.  The race was restarted at the 1 hour 50 minute mark with us and Arclight on the same lap.  With 2 hours and 10 minutes to go, Arclight would need 2 pit stops to complete the race.  Thanks to our 7 gallon tank, we were going to be able to complete the race with just 1 more stop.   Arclight was running faster.  This was partially due to our rear tire never coming back to full capacity after cooling off during the red flag, but, would Arclight be going fast enough to make up the additional time it would take to do a splash-and-go pit stop?  This question will remain unanswered.  About 20 laps after the red flag, Arclight dropped out of competition with a broken cam chain.  We were now sitting with a 3 lap lead over 2nd place with 1 1/2 hours left in the race.   Shot rear tire and all, Glenn did a fantastic job of staying out to complete a 1 hour stint running excellent times, all things considered, and continuing to widen the gap over 2nd place.   Glenn then turned the bike over to Scott after we put on a fresh Dunlop slick on the rear.  Scott finished his stellar performance by maintaining a quick, but safe, pace and we ended up with a 5 lap victory over 2nd place Army of Darkness.  The victory put us in the series points lead and moved Army of Darkness into 2nd with Arclight in 3rd.  The next race will be June 26th at the Indy Cycle Jam at Indianapolis Raceway Park.  Keep checking back for photos from Roebling Road.

6/26/99  Indianapolis Raceway Park - 2nd Overall and 2nd in class

We came into the 4th round of the series, and the 2nd of 3 races in 6 weeks, with a decent lead in the overall and class point standings.  We had a good feeling about the race since both Glenn and Scott have run very good at Indy.   We didn't get a lot of practice on Thursday due to the rain, but, we were able to get a couple quality sessions in the afternoon.  We were a little concerned about Scott.  When we were in Savannah, Scott crashed (totaled) his R1 and messed up his thumb.  He had x-rays done and there were no breaks.  It was still a little sore, but, he was o.k. to ride.  By the way, congrats to Scott.  In between the race on the 12th and this weekend, he found time to fly to Hawaii and get married.   Glenn started the race.  As has been the norm, it was us and Arclight Suzuki taking off and leaving the field behind.  Tray Batey of Arclight was turning what turned out to be some of the fastest times of the race weekend.  No matter what he did, he wasn't able to get too far ahead of Glenn.  Tray then got caught up in something and ran off in turn 1.  For those of you who know Indy, turn 1 is no place you want to be running off.  It's such a fast turn, you could end up in the next county before you get stopped.  It is a very fast turn at the end of a 1/2 mile straight.  When Tray got back on the track, we had a 1 minute 20 second lead on them.   Glenn continued to run an awesome pace and we maintained a big lead.  Glenn then got tied up with another rider at the end of the front straight and joined the ranks of the riders who took off track excursions in turn 1.  He still had a little bit of a lead when he brought the bike in for fuel.  During the pit stop, we decided to put a new tire on for Scott.  When we removed the wheel, we found out that we were the latest victim of the notorious broken R1 cush drive. The tire change was longer than normal due to all the pieces heating up and expanding.  Scott went out and ran an excellent stint keeping Arclight in his sights at all times.  As Scott continued to click off quick laps, Arclight came in for fuel and send Tray back out.  Scott then came in and we sent Glenn back out.  The lead changed hands several times throughout the race and we had a slight lead on Arclight when the red flag came out with an hour and 40 minutes remaining.  When we took the bike off the rear stand to send Glenn back out to take the restart, we noticed a 2nd cush drive had cracked.  It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but, we sent Glenn out with the cracked cush drive.   We had to have him run about 5 laps so we could hit our fuel window.  We thought he would just take it easy, but, as has always been his style, he couldn't hold back.  He turned some quick laps and came in to pit.  When we went to change the wheel, everything was steaming hot from the added friction of the broken cush drive.     The chain was so hot, it began to melt the o rings.  The axle was bound in the wheel and it was a lengthy pit stop to do the tire change.  Glenn went back out and ran a torrid pace, but, it couldn't make up the the time we lost in the pits.   At the checkered flag, we ended up in 2nd place overall and 2nd in class.   With our 2nd place finish, we retained our 1st place standing in the overall and class points standings.  The next round is July 10 at Road Atlanta.

7/9/99  Road Atlanta - 1st overall and 1st in class!!!!

Fresh off our dissapointing 2nd place finish at Indianapolis due to breaking 2 cush drives, we were looking forward to redemption over Arclight Suzuki at the 6 hour WERA National Endurance event at Road Atlanta.  Based on our lap times during practice, we knew, assuming there we no mechanical problems, it was going to be a close race between us and Arclight. At the drop of the green flag, Glenn Szarek took off with Tray Batey of Arclight right behind him. At first we thought Tray was trying to intimidate him and force him into making a mistake. After 30 minutes of chasing, we realized that Tray wasn't messing with Glenn at all. After 52 minutes of racing, we had an 8 second lead on Arclight when we thought we caught a break. Glenn came by and Tray came coasting into the pits out of fuel. Our emotions went from high to low when the red flag came out stopping the race just as Arclight pulled into their pit stall. WERA Endurance rules state that on a red flag, all racing stops and all bikes that are on the track when the red flag comes out must take the green flag or be docked a lap. This prevents teams from gaining an advantage by eliminating the time lost pulling into the pits under green flag conditions. However, Arclight wasn't on the track when the red flag came out, so, they just did their normal pit stop and sent out Joe Prussiano when the green flag dropped. They were then 40 seconds behind us when they came back on the track. Glenn built a 1 minute lead when it was time to come in for fuel. We pulled off a 15 second stop and sent Scott Brown out to chase Prussiano of Arclight. With the time lost coming into the pits, Scott pulled out just in front of Joe, but, Joe had a few laps behind him and a fresh rear tire.  He caught and passed Scott. Scott continued to run a good pace considering the rear tire had already been on the bike over 2 hours and was starting to go away. He did a great job of maintaining the gap between him and Prussiano until Arclight had to come in for fuel and send out their 3rd rider of the day, Chris Hughes. After their stop, Scott began to pull away from Hughes and opened up a 40 secod lead.  The lead was diminished when another red flag came out. When the race resumed, Scott got off to an awesome start and pulled away from Hughes. Arclight then had to pit again and Batey was put back in the saddle in an effort to reduce the deficit. Scott ran out the remainder of the tank and brought the bike in to hand it off to Glenn. We sent Glenn out with a full tank of gas a fresh Dunlop slick on a mission to track down Batey. Glenn put his head down in search of Tray and caught/passed him 10 minutes into his stint. Glenn and Tray continued to run in a 2 bike tandem for 30 minutes. By our calculations, we and Arclight were going to be coming in for pit stops on the same lap with 1 hour and 45 minutes remaining in the race. Just as we were ready to start giving Glenn the signs to watch for the fuel light, he came around, but, Batey was not in sight. Glenn backed down his pace and continued to circulate. We got word that Arclight had a mechanical failure on the back side of the track. We didn't want to rely on rumors, so, we continued to keep Glenn circulating. We pulled Glenn in to hand the bike off to Scott with a full tank of fuel. At this point, Arclight was still strugling to repair the bike, but, they had lost 7 laps to us up to the point of our rider change and dropped out of the top 5. The 2nd place team was now 5 laps behind us. After we sent Scott out, we found out that Arclight broke another cam chain (the 2nd in 3 races) in their Suzuki 750 Superbike and their day was done.  We opened up a big lead on the rest of the field and put it in cruise control for the remainder of the race and came home with another victory with 2nd place 8 laps behind. With the victory, we increased our overall points lead in the series as well as the points lead in the heavyweight superbike class.  The next round will be on Saturday, July 31 at Summit Point Raceway.

7/31/99  Summit Point Raceway - 1st overall and 1st in class!!!!

They say 'the toughest races to win are the ones you are supposed to win'.  With Summit Point being SBR's home track, this was definitely a race we were supposed to win.   Glenn Szarek may have more miles around Summit Point than anyone else.  Scott Brown has only been to Summit twice before this event, but, he picked the track up quick and he has run some very fast times.  Prior to the race, there were rumors floating that Arclight was going to run a second bike and hire Tim Bemisderfer, Summit Point lap record holder, to ride.  Mechanical problems forced them to pull their 2nd entry and they only ran their primary bike.  At race time, the thermometer was hovering around the 95-100 degree mark with high humidity.  We were fortunate that we had experienced riders that could withstand long stints at a very fast pace.  When the green flag fell, Glenn nailed the start and had a 5 second lead after 1 lap.  After 5 laps, he had a 15 second lead and he was pulling away from the rest of the field.  His 5th lap was the fastest of the day - 1:18.1.  After he saw the gap on the pit board, he backed of the pace and tried to conserve fuel and tires.  Even his slow pace was quicker than any other team that was running.  Before the end of the 1st hour, we had a 1-lap lead on the remainder of the field.  A red flag flew at the 1 hour 9 minute mark and we were one of the only teams that had not pitted.  After 26 minutes of down time, Glenn went back out to finish off the enlarged 7 gallon tank.  He circulated for 10 minutes and built a nice cushion on the rest of the field.  In fact, after our 16 second fuel-only pit stop, Glenn had build enough of a lead the Scott was able to come back out in front of all other teams except 2.  He came up to speed very quickly and it didn't take him long to pass the 2 bikes that were 1 lap down but in front of him on the track.  Scott was flying.  His lap times came down and no one was able to run the same pace.  There were a few bikes that could hang for a little while, but, they were riding with all they had and, after we showed him he had a 2 lap lead, Scott was playing it safe and not taking any chances as he worked his way through the traffic (there were a season-high 41 bikes on the grid for this race).  After an hour and 10 minutes of riding, we brought Scott in.  We re-fueled, put on a fresh Dunlop rear slick, and sent Glenn out for the last hour.  He backed down his pace and there was still no one that was making up any time on us.  At the end of the race, we believe we had either 3 or 4 laps on the rest of the field.  There was some confusion with the scoring and the final results only showed us with a 2 lap victory.  We increased our points lead in the overall series and class points chase.  Round 7 will take place on Saturday, August 21, at Putnam Park in Indiana.

8/21/99  Putnam Park - 1st overall and 1st in class!!!!

3 wins in a row and 5 wins in 7 races this year. This race started out as most have this year - Glenn Szarek and Tray Batey from Arclight Suzuki left the pack at the drop of the green flag. They were both on record pace and they started lapping some of the slower teams after 5 laps. They continued on this torrid pace for 45 minutes with Glenn in the lead and Tray closely behind. Glenn got caught up in some back markers and that allowed Tray to sneak by. A few more close calls and we were suddenly 8 seconds behind. Glenn started to close the gap and it was time for Arclight to come in for a pit stop. They sent Lee Acree out in search of Glenn, but, Lee was unable to catch him. Lee maintained the gap as Glenn was trying to run out our 7 gallon tank. After an hour and 25 minutes, it was time to bring in Glenn and send Scott out. Arclight passed us while we were in the pits and Scott went out to chase Lee. Scott was running a good pace, but, was unable to catch Lee. Lee finished his stint and Tray got back on the Arclight bike with a full tank of gas and a fresh set of tires. We continued in this back and forth battle for about 3 hours until mechanical gremlins, once again, struck the Arclight bike. Rumor has it, the problem was determined to be a short in the kill switch. They lost a lot of time in the pits and next thing we know we had a 4 lap lead. As has been the case for the last couple of races, we stuck it in cruise control mode for the remainder of the race. Glenn and Scott rode a very methodical race at a brisk pace compared to the rest of the field.   We kept the riders fresh and kept up a pace that was good enough for a 5 lap victory. We are sitting on a 113 point lead with 3 races left in the season. Round 8 will be a 6-hour event at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday, September 4.

9/4/99  Memphis Motorsports Park - 3rd overall and 3rd in class

We came into this event knowing that we could pad our points lead with a good finish. We were expecting a good finish. Memphis is considered Scott Brown's home track and Glenn Szarek always goes good there. We knew from the lap times in the practice sessions that we would be running fast enough to run up front.  We had good practice sessions and we had the bike set up and working perfectly.  On the day of the race, we knew it was going to be rough since the forecasters were expecting 95 degrees, lots of sun and lots of humidity. At the drop of the green flag, it was, as has been the case all season, Glenn and Tray Batey from Arclight Suzuki pulling away from the field. Glenn led the way with Tray tucked in his draft with no intention of passing. After 50 minutes of nose to tail racing, Tray pulled in for a fuel stop and rider change. Glenn took advantage of the situation and increased our lead. We were ready for fuel after an hour and 10 minutes of racing and we built a 45 second lead. The lead gave us enough time to do the fuel stop and rider change and send Scott out with a 20 second lead. Scott was running an awesome pace and continued to pull away from the Arclight Suzuki.   Arclight's smaller fuel capacity forced them to come in again after 50 minutes of racing. Scott had the hammer down and opened up a lap and a half lead when we heard the announcer say that Scott crashed. We had conflicting damage reports as we were waiting for the bike. We had our work cut out for us. We had the following fixes to make: front brake lever, front brake reservoir, upper and lower bodywork, right side foot controls, rear tire change and lots of dirt removal. We made all the changes and sent Glenn back on the track after only 12 minutes. It would have been less, but, we had to hammer and chisel the exhaust pipe back together after a crack was found when we started the bike. We didn't know how much time we lost, but, we know we had to make up some time. We had a few things in our favor - there was still 4 1/2 hours of racing left and we had a good roster of riders. We had a few problems - we didn't know if the bike was going to be o.k. after such a violent hit, and we were unsure of Scott's condition. He banged his elbow and butt pretty good and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to ride. As Glenn went out, we found out the bike was o.k. as he caught and passed Arclight, who inherited the lead after Scott's get-off, on the front stretch. He continued on a heated pace passing bike after bike and making up laps quickly. We were scouring the pits for another rider but came up empty. Glenn, who is in excellent physical condition, motioned violently to us that he had to come in due to the excessive heat and humidity. We were in a difficult position.   Team owner Evan Semoff stepped up to the plate and threw a leg over the bike. Evan has many years of racing experience, but, he hasn't ridden under race conditions in almost 2 years. He went out and did a fantastic job. He did an excellent job by continuing to pass people and buy us time. Scott showed his guts and determination and decided he was o.k. to ride.  Evan came in after 20 minutes and we sent Scott back out with a full tank of fuel. Again, we were unsure of his condition as was he.  Well, after a few laps, it was apparent that he was o.k. He started turning laps that were quicker than the pace he was running before he crashed. The heat, as well as the physical and emotional strain, started to get to him. He courageously stayed on the track for an hour before he gave us the same violent motions that Glenn was giving us. We pulled him in and sent Glenn out for the final 1 hour and 10 minutes. We weren't really paying attention to the hourly results because we knew there wasn't much we could do. We just ran our own race and let the chips fall where they may. We checked the results after 5 hours of racing. In 3 1/2 hours, we managed to make up 6 laps on Arclight and 9 laps on the rest of the field. We worked our way back to 6th place overall with 2 other teams on the same lap but ahead of us. We started giving Glenn splits between us and the bikes ahead. Glenn responded and picked up the pace and kept picking off bikes. At the end of the race, we thought we only made it up to 4th place - 1 spot off the podium. We later found out they gave us erroneous information and we actually made it up to 3rd place overall. A podium finish after a violent crash. We were ecstatic.  This was as good as a win to us. This was endurance racing at it's best. We increased our points lead as 2nd place Army of Darkness had their own problems as a worn clutch caused them to lose approximately 10 laps in the first half hour. They worked their way back to 10th overall. The next event is the grueling 24-hour event at Willow Springs on September 24 and 25.

9/25/99  24-Hours of Willow - Willow Springs Raceway - 3rd overall and 3rd in class

There were probably many places that everyone on the team would rather have been than 3000 miles from home in the middle of the dessert for a 24 hour race. But with the chance to repeat as National Endurance Champions, SBR could not stay home. In addition to the 1999 season regulars - Scott Brown and Glenn Szarek - SBR brought in former season regular Paul Youngman and 1998 Formula USA Champion Michael Barnes to help with the 24 hours of riding duties. Of the 4 riders, the only ones with Willow Springs experience was Szarek and Barnes - only Szarek had 24-hour experience. However, it didn't take long for Brown and Youngman to come up to speed. During the daytime practice sessions, all riders were running a very respectable pace. The first scare of the weekend came during the end of the daytime practice on Friday when Szarek signalled the rear tire was going away. He came in for a tire change and it was discovered that the rear tire had chunked. For those who are familiar with Willow Springs, you will have to agree that you would not want to be going through turn 8 and 9 with a tire that had a big chunk taken out of the right side. Daytime practice continued along without any other incidents. Friday night practice was interesting. After many adjustments to the stock R1 headlight assembly, the riders were satisfied with the lighting configuration. Everyone seemed to adjust quite well to the nighttime racing. All riders were quickly up to speed and it was time to pack up for the night. Saturday morning practice went fine while final preparations were taking place for the race. The green flag dropped and Glenn led the field around the track across the start finish line to officially lead the first lap of the 24-hours of Willow. From that point on, Willow Springs regulars from Graves Motorsports and Attack Performance took the lead with SBR following in 3rd. The second scare of the weekend came when Michael Barnes brought the bike in during his first stint only to find yet another chunked rear tire. The race continued on until a red flag was thrown. It turns out that Army of Darkness rider Darryl Saylor was taken out and went into the wall between turns 3 and 4 feet first and had to be airlifted to the local hospital. At the time of this writing, Darryl is preparing for a flight to San Francisco to go under the knife. He will be in good hands with Dr. Ting at the controls. At the very least, he will have a Titanium rod installed in his Femur that was broken in 5 places. Our thoughts are with him for a full recovery. After racing resumed, the running order remained the same until Graves had some problems during a pit stop. This allowed Attack to take the lead. Graves made it back out in 2nd place behind Attack and ahead of SBR. This running order remained the same into the night time hours until Attack suffered transmission problems. They had to swap motors. Their race was not over, but, many teams would have to fail miserably for them to get back to a podium finish. This put SBR in 2nd with series regular Arclight Suzuki (without 1999 season regular Tray Batey) in 3rd. EBSCO Suzuki was in 4th on a Hyabusa. It was rumored that EBSCO spent $70,000 for just this event and that doesn't include the cost of the 2 bikes!!! This rumor may not have been totally accurate, but, they sure did spend a lot of money. The running order remained Graves - SBR - Arclight into the nighttime hours with Brown, Youngman, and Szarek handling most of the nighttime riding duties. Everyone was running great at night with the pace being about 3 seconds slower than during the day. Nighttime racing continued until about an hour before daylight, we heard an announcement that Scott crashed. It was a freak accident. A huge bug smashed into his face shield rendering him visionless. As he took his hand off the bar to wipe the bug clear, he ran off the track and highsided.  The crash truck rolled in and dropped off the injured rider and injured bike. Numerous repairs were made and the bike went back out on the track 25 minutes after the crash. Scott was taken to the hospital where x-rays showed a fracture to his right lower leg. He is currently in a walking splint and hoping to ride in 2 weeks at the GNF at Road Atlanta. After reentry, the running order was Graves, Arclight, EBSCO with SBR in 4th. Taking advantage of the 7+ gallon tank, SBR was able to make up time on the track and take fewer pit stops than EBSCO and quickly move back into the 3rd place position. As the hours wound down, the top 4 remained the same. Attack did a fantastic job by turning some of the quickest laps during the race to make it back to 5th overall with the Army of Darkness scratching and clawing their way back to 6th overall. In the end, it was Graves Motorsports on a Yamaha R1 taking the win, Arclight Suzuki taking 2nd on a GSXR 750, and SBR taking the final podium finish on a Yamaha R1. With the podium finish, SBR clinched the 1999 Overall WERA National Endurance Championship as well as the heavyweight superbike class championship. One race remains - a 4-hour event at the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta on October 8.

10/4/99  WERA Grand National Finals - Road Atlanta - 2nd overall and 2nd in class AND 3rd overall and 1st in class

1999 Overall and Heavyweight Superbike Class Champions!!!!!!!!

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