Towards the end of the 1991 WERA National Endurance Championship racing season Team Suzuki Endurance, with riders Kurt Hall and Michael Martin, continued their blitzkrieg through the series by taking a record 11th victory in the series, despite battling an oil leak late in the race. The only serious challenge came from within the Valvoline Suzuki camp. Test Ace Racing, formed out of the Valvoline Suzuki stable with two-time AMA Superbike Champion Wes Cooley and 19-year-old youngster Stevie Patterson hailing from Motown, finished second. Cooley and Patterson rode another of the Keith Perry built Suzuki’s and finished one lap down to the winners. Incidentally, those who were there will remember that summer in Indiana came to a screeching halt the night before the race. After a week of sunny, mid-80 degree weather, a front moved through the area early Saturday morning, and temperatures during the race barely got above 40 degrees, under windy and mostly cloudy skies. Many riders were dressing with heavy sweatshirts under their racing leathers.

Team Suzuki Endurance racer Kurt Hall leads Team Ace Racing’s Wes Cooley through the carousel at Indianapolis Raceway Park in October of 1991 during a WERA National Endurance race. The teams, both running under the Valvoline Suzuki tent, finished first and second. Note the nearly identical riding position of both riders with about the only difference being Hall holding his head more level as the bike is pitched over. (Larry Lawrence photo)