Throwback Thursday: Le Mans Start at Elkhart Lake (1996)
Larry Lawrence | November 10, 2016
Photo by Henny Ray Abrams
To get a good start in the old Performance Machines Superteams Series, you not only had to have a fast motorcycle, but a quick pair of legs as well. Those races began with a Le Mans start, which could sometimes be a challenge for motorcycle road racers who were often dealing with one injury or another.
In this photo from Road America in June of 1996, you see riders (left to right) Doug Polen, Doug Toland, Gerald Rothman, Jr., Daniel Bailey and Dale Kieffer running for their waiting machines. Polen looks to be doing pretty well in spite of having lost a big toe in a crash a couple of years earlier. In fact, he and teammate Dale Quarterley went on to win the race on the EBSCO Industries Suzuki.
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