Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROADRACE AMA/CCS Yokohama600cc National Supersport Championship: Round 1 e Florida's Thomas Stevens narrowly nipped his teammate David Sadowski for second p lace in th e opening round of the 600cc Supersport Series at Daytona. Privateer Jeff Farmer used the .horsepower of his Yamaha FZR600 to win the race by a scant .680 of a second over the Vance &: Hines duo. Farmer winson track and in post-race protest By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams 20 DAITONABEACH, FL, MAR. II . p r ivateer J eff Fann er beat the high dollar, factory- backed Vance &: H ines Yamaha team o n th e race track and again in a post-race protest to win the op en in g round of th e 600cc Supersport Series at Dayton a International Speedway. No one expec ted anybody to be able to run with th e Steve J ohnso n-prepped Yamaha FZR600s·of Thomas Stevens a n d Da vid Sadowski, but Farmer proved ' them all wrong. The Florida resident actually showed up with a more potent Yamaha than the factory effort , and he used that poweradvan- tage to take th e win. The victory was made even sweeter for Farm er when Vance &: H ines prot ested his Greg Kvi tkauskas-tuned, K&P Racing Yamaha for what th ey felt was the use of ill egal fuel. AMA tests, how ever, ' sho wed th at Farmer was,indeed legal and the race win was his . ' 'I' m leg al ," Farmer said when questioned about th e pending pro test after his victory. "There's no reason in raci ng if you 're not legal. I hope I haven't offended the Vanc e & Hines gu ys by beating them; I'd like to be 'on their team. Racing is a lot of politics and I've offended some people thi s week. I had a Michelin contract so I had to find new tires for this race. I trie d everybody's tires and I ended up wit h Yokoharnas." T he move was a good one for Farme r as the Yokohamas proved to be good enough to beat the Dunlop-mounted Yamahas of Stevens and Sadowski, who finished second and third, respectivel y. Farmer's tire decision also ' pro ved to be lucrative as he earned $5550 in Yokohama contingency money. Fourth p lace in the 600cc Supersport final went to Kawasaki-mounted Michael Barnes. Yamaha-mounted David Leach rounded out the top five finishers . Farmer averaged 103.059 mph in the I S-lap , 100-kil ometer event. T he protest wasn't the on ly controversy following th e bi tter three-rid er battle that went the distance. On the _fina l lap, Stevens rea lized he cou ldn ' t beat the horsepower of Farmer an d elected to weave his way around the banking in an effort to . tak e second p lace ahea d of hi s teammate Sadow ski. The an ti-draft weaving by Stevens visi bly up set Sadowski and the Georgia resident voiced hi s disapproval with a rather tacky victory lane lecture. " I don 't like the conduct of some of the riders ou t there," Sado wski told the crowd estima ted at 30,000. "It's a draf ting kind of a speedway, but when you go to cu tting people off,' it gets dangerous, especia lly in a race that doesn't pay enough to take the guy s out to dinner." "(Jeff) Farmer had th e steam and I kn ew hi s bik e was really fast," Stevens said lat er. "I kn ew I had to be on him. I go t by Dave (Sado wski), bu t coming out of the chicane I knew I cou ldn' t get Farmer. So I used what I learned on the 250s and I go t second ou t of it. It' s a lon g year, 'so we'll just have to wait and see what happens." With thi s year's running of the 600cc Su persport event carryi n g internationa l sta tus, the first of two heat races go t underway with th e Muzzy R&D Kawasaki of Scott Ru ssell leadin g the way. H e led Sadowski, and Stevens int o the Intern at ion al Horseshoe for th e first tim e, but the two Yam ah a s q ui ckly blasted p ast the ZX600 as th e pack hit the banking for th e first time. At the end of th e first lap it was Steve ns leading Sad ow ski, Russell , Barnes, J acques Guen ette Jr. , and Farmer. By th e next go-arou nd, however, Farmer was up to second behind Sadowski with Stevens third, Themini preview of the fin al continued in th at manner to th e flag - with Farmer bea tin g Sadowski and Stevens. The second heat race saw a battle between Jon L. Roberts' Yam ah a and the H onda of Tom Kipp. The two took th e du el the distance with Roberts getting the nod at the flag . Kawas akimounted John Ashm ead finished third ahead of th e Yamahas of John Cond ron and Irel and' s David Lea ch. Kawasaki 's Doug Chandler finished sixth in the heat in what was his first ride on the new ZX600; he would elect, however, not to compete in 'the final in order to further concentrate hi s efforts on the Daytona 200. ' Florida 's Roberts, the second heat race winner, eli minated himself on th e warm-up lap of the 600cc final when he crashed at the International H orseshoe. When th e flag dropped a lap later, it .was again Russell w ith the holeshot. He was foll owed b y Sadowski, Farmer, Stevens, Kipp and Ashmead. Sadowski and Stevens managed to get clear of the rest, opening up a slight • advantage over Russell at the end of the firs t lap. By the comp letion of the second lap, Farmer, Kip p and Mike Harth had worked th eir way past Russell as th e Kawasaki pilot started feeli ng the ill effects of lack of hor sepower. A lap later, though, and Kipp was go ne. T he Honda rider crashed in the left-hander that leads to th e banking, ending his chances for a win. "I don't know what hap pened, " Kipp said. " I didn 't come into the turn that hot. The bike was work ing fantastic. Suddenly, it just slid out from under me. Maybe there was something on the track . I don't know." Kip p 's crash gave the top three riders . - Sadowski, Farmer and Steven s a break over the ot her challe ngers, a group ma de up of Harth, Barn es, Leach and Ru ssell. T he lead threesome con tinued to wage war in th e ba ttle of horsepower wi th Far mer seemi ngly having th e upper hand on the 33-degree banking of th e famed speedway. At the halfway m a r k i n th e IS- la p race, ' it was Sad owski leading Farmer and Steven s, bu t the lead was cha nging frequently each and every lap. Barnes, meanwhile, had pulled clear to wh at would end up being a rather lonel y f ourth. Russell was locked in a losing battle with Leach as th e Kaw asaki rider would slow considera bly in ,th e late st ages, even tua lly fi nishi n g 10th. Leach would hold on to fifth . . "I led the first lap through the in field and th en th ey blew me off once we got on the banking,' : Russell said later. "I hung in the draft as long as I could. Then, the engine began to overh eat. If that wasn't enough, I ran ou t of gas. The rest is histor y." Behind th em came a' battle betw een the two Yamahas of John H op perstad and J ohn Condron and the Kaw asaki of Ashmead. They would finish in that order. Farmer was cont inua lly leaving a hole up th e inside as th ey approached th e International Horseshoe and it was usually Sadowski wh o took advantage of it. Farmer, however, coul d regain the lead at will on th e banking, and that's how he ended up beating th e oth er two. The first foreign finisher was Ireland's Leach in fifth pl ace: "The level of competit ion and th e inten sit y of the racing am on g th e top rid ers is the same here as it is in Britain," he said. "I had a bit of a scare in your west horseshoe wh en I hit a spot of something and got th e bik e all out of shape. I lost wh at momentum I had with tha t. The bikes are so eq ual that where you have to mak e up time is under braking. I made a mistake on my tire choice; I should have gone with a softer compound for the rear." CN Results 600cc55: 1. Jer£ Fa rme r (Yam); 2. Thomas Stevens (Yam); 3. DaVId Sado wski (Yam); 4. Michael Barnes (Kaw); 5. David Leach (Yam); 6. J ohn Hop pers tad (Yam); 7. J ohn Condron (Yam); 8. J ohn Ashmead (Kaw); 9. Kevin Blai s (Kaw); 10. Sco tt Russell (Kaw); 11. Robbie Petersen (Yam); 12. J ohn Ch oate (Yam); 13. Mitch Boeh m (Hon); 14. Mark Pastir (Yam); 15. Mark He iser (Yam) ; 16. Pascal Picotte (Yam); 17. Joh n Co x (Yam); 18. Will iam Luke (Yam ); 19. Robert Wri gh t (Yam); 20. Bryan H an so n (Yam) ; 2 1. John Ramsay (H on ): 22. Robert Zerb istas (Yam) ; 23. Brian Weite (Yam); 24. Christian Gardner (Yam); 25. Mar k Crneier (Hon) ; 26. Sco tt Ru eh le (Yam) : '27. Michael Mckind1er (Yam) ; 28./ Pa trick Ha rris (Ya m); 29. Gus Christen sen (Ya m); 30. Kevin Lenzmeier (Yam); 31. J od y Chodkow ski (Yam) ; 32. Thomas Dinardo (Yarn ); 33. Brian Kent (Kaw); 34. Ken Staveski (Yam); ~5 . Morris Foo r (Yam ); 36. Mik e Leslie (Kaw); ~ 7. J am es Whi taker (Hon); 38. J am es Leslie (Hon); 39. Suzan ne Brightbill (Yam); 40. J oh n H acob (Yam) ; 4 1. Mike H arth (U NK); 42. Paul Sch wn ne r (Yam) ; 4~. Gary Lewis ( Ya m ); 44. Rob er t Wrublevski (Yam); 45. Tom Kip p (Hon); 46. Gary D'Aluisio (Kaw); 47. Craig Newforth (Yam) ; 48. Sh awn H igb ee (Hon); 49. J acques Guen ett e (Yam ); 50. Gary Sherrod (Yam); 51. Brock Diflart (Yam) ; 52. Titian Bue (Yam); 53. Bryan Bemisderfer (Yam); 54. Pat Moroney (Yam). Time: 37 min ., 18.41 sec. Margin of victory: .680 sec.' A.erage speed; 103.059 m ph.

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