Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA Circle Bell Pro Tw insSeries: R ound4 ROAD RACE James wins, Cortez lo s se By Bria n Ca tterson Phot o by Werner Fri tz ELKHART LAKE, \\1 JULYI ea ti ng everyo ne by a wide marg in ca n so me ti mes be embarrass ing, but beating yo u rself is always so - a nd th e Fast By Ferra cci Du cat i cre w ha d it both wa ys a t Road America. Just as he had done in th e previous th ree races o f th e Pro Twins Seri es, Jamie J ames rode hi s Yok ohama-sh od FBF Du cati to an o ve rw he l m i ng victory in th e G PI port ion of th e dualclass race, tasting th e cha m pag ne, er, a p p le cide r in the Road Am eri ca win ner 's circle first a fter posting a near ly 30-second margi n of victory. BUI part two o f the usual FBF onetwo ,p u nch ca me up sh ort today as Jam es ' teammate Fabi an Cort ez b rought his three-race GP2 -class ~ winning strea k to a halt when a bolt backed out of hi s Duca ri 750 Sport's shift linkage, end ing hi s race, Cortez' downfall o n lap seven of th e 0 1O-la p affair gav e th e win to Robert Cr iff irh s o n th e Metz e le r-shod , RaceCo-prepared , T ranskonrin ental Irarned Mot o Guu i - hi s seco nd ca reer win , ha vin g won a t Da ytona last year. As in th e last few races, J a mes led virtua lly from start to fin ish , turn in g co nservative (fo r him ) lap ti mes in th e 2:23 -ra nge whil e stea d i ly pull in g away . In a virt ua l repla y of th e last ro und o f th e series a t Loudon , New Hampsh ire, th e top-three fi nishe rs ' were identical . J am es was pursu ed by the o ther "Ja mes ," former class cham p - J imm y Adamo o n th e Gi aCaM o lO Du cati, wi th Kevin Eri on o n th e T wo nBro thers Raci ng Honda Hawk fini shing third aft er third-place runner Dal e Quarterl ey cras hed. ~, The finish in g order moves Adamo in to a tie for seco nd wit h Erion in the " series poi n t standings, with J am es ;llong gone in first . ;.I Adam o, a lon g -tim e Mich e lin.so lllracled rid er, switche d to Du n lo p ~ tires thi s weekend, a nd found that he liked th e cha nge: "T hey 're different, They slide ou t a lot furth er (tha n th e - Michel ins ) before they hook u p, but ' they work well in ge tting these bi kes (t he e ig h t-va lve Du car is) o rr th e corne rs." Quarterley was reunited with th e Ducati 851 he rod e last yea r, now owned by Bollenbach En gineering, and th e bik e proved troublesome. The New Englander ra n third for much of th e race, but fell in what he believed was o il in turn five on la p eigh t. The bi ke was pl agued by clutch problem s " which forced Quarterl ey to downshift the torquey twin without th e benefit of the clu tch , p roducing so me drama tic rea r wh eel skids. Quarterley al so said that th e rear shoc k sett ing was way o rr du e 10 lack o f practi ce, a nd that he co u ld feel so me liquid o n hi s left' boot. "I shou ld have j ust heaved it in there. Then it wou ld hav e just lowsided me in stead o f hi gh -siding," Quarterl ey said in refere nce to the • slippery co rn er. Erion was clos ing on Quarterley a t a pace o f nearl y two seconds per lap, but doubted tha t he pr essured Qua rrerley int o cra shing: " Da le' s mo tor must have been going," Erion guessed A'a fterwa rds. Lik e Quarterl ey, he su speeled tha t th ere was o il down in th ai corner. Indeed , th e sched u led start of th e B foll owing 600cc S upersport race was del ayed whi le corne rwo rkers a ttended to track mainten ance, As for th e Two Bro s. H o n d a ' s showing - a rguably its best to date, having " bea ten" Quarterl ey's Du ca ri - tuner Mik e Vela sco sai d, " We' ve sti ll go t five seco nds o f homework 10 do. " Erion's best laps were in th e 1:29 10 I:30-ra nge . Red m on d , Was h in g to ns Rand y Shemwell cru ised to a lo nely fourth place overa ll, so me d istance ahead o f th e batt le for fifth between the two e ld er statesma n o f ro ad racing Ro u g h S toc k Raci ng 's 'D r. David Kieffer a nd AMOL Precisio n 's Kurt Liebmann - both over 50 yea rs of age. Li ebmann chased Kieffer unti l th e fin a l la p wh en Kieffer mad e one too few downshifts going into turn five a nd Li ebmann sn uc k past. Behind th e two Du cati riders ca me Gri££iths, wh o 'd inherited th e GP2 lead from Co rtez. Former clas s cha mp Doug Brauneck had tested Griffiths' Moro Guzzi during Saturday's end ura nce race, a nd when h is fin al com ment was " Yo u cou ld n' t pay me 10 ride th a t." Griffith s kn ew th ey had to do so me th ing 10 improve th e handling. T uner Manfred H echt then had w hat G riffit hs ca lled "a b ra in stor m ,' a nd th e su bseq u e n t rear s us pe nsio n c ha nges mad e th e bi ke a ha nd ler Su nda y. "Sorry 10 give it 10 you lik e th ai , Bob ," Co rtez told Griffiths lat er. " I don' t thin k I could ha ve ca ug h t yo u," ad m itted Griffiths. Despite hi s DNF, Cortez con tin ues to ho ld a co mfo rta b le lead in th e ser ies point standi ngs . At the finis h, Griffit hs held a h uge adv a n ta ge o ve r second p lace Pe te J ohnson on hi s "Two OUI o f Three Bro th ers" H on da Hawk, J ohnson h av in g triumph ed o ve r pri vat eer Du cati rid er Craig Sh ambaugh in th eir "turn fiv e braking co n test" w hen Shamba ugh overs hot th e corner, takin g to the esca pe road. Cal iforn ia Kawasak i EX500 rid er Cu rt Kimble raced with Sh ambaugh ea rly o n, but faded to fini sh fourth a head o f Minnesota Duca ti rid er Scott Will iams. Kimbl e cu rre n tly lies second in GP2 points, Not ably ab sent from th e pr oceedings was Dr. J ohn Wittner 's MOIO Guzzi , wh ich had been crated up for sh ipme nt to Ital y for a n Internationa l Battle o f th e Twi ns race a t Monza , ( 'N Resul ts G P ) FINAL: 1. jamie jumes (Due ); 2. j a mes Adamo (Due): 3. Kevin Erion j Hcu ): 1. Ran d )' Shemwell (Due ): -S. Kurt Liebm a nn (Due]: 6. Da vid Kieffer (Due ); 7. Brian Fren ch (Duc); 8. Ala n H ip pensteal (Ya rn): 9. Ely Schi ess (Ho n): 10. Dal r QU;l rI (' r1(")' (Dud; I I. w a her Sa kowski (Il uc). Time: 24 mi n.• 1~ .I.l)O!'ot"'('. Dista ncr : 10 la ps. 40 mi les A "aar;;~ SP«d: 99.095 mph ~ ar~in o( Victory : 28.740 sec. GP2 FINA L: 1. Ru bert G riffiths (M-G ); 2. Peter j ohnse n (lion )'; 3. C: ra i~ Sh ambau gh (D ud : 'I. C Url Kimble (Ka w); 5. Srou William !> (Due]: 6. JU!'isi Ha u tauiemi (OU(:): 7. Mik t' Tihc'rio (M-C); 8. D'IVi o Ka rren (BMW): 9. Kevin Maha n na (Ho n ); 10. Frank ShcK-klt"y (Due); I I. Kenuc·th Paulson (H · D): 12. Fab ian C. rlt'1 (Dut·). O G I' I POJ ~T STAN DI ~GS: I. J am i. J a m"" (M O); 2. (TI E) Kevin Erion lJam t'!> A d ;'111l0 (.1. ): .1. DOtlK 1 Bruunerk (27); 5. David Kieffer (26); 6. (T IE) Pa hlo Rt'a l/ Ala n H ippe nstea l/ Kurt Lie bmann (20): 9. (T I E) D;'IIt' Q ua rterlew'Randy Renf ro w ( 16). GP:! POI NT STA~D1~GS: I. Fab ian (" ., (63); .orl 2. (T I E) C ur l Kimble/Ro ber t GriHilhs (41 ); 4. Crail( Shambaugh ( ~9 ) ; S. Fra nk Shocklt'y (35); 6. Pe ter joh uso n (2«J): 7. Milc' T ibt'Tio (2 1): 8. · (TIf. ) Pa ul Kr llyi J u )si Ha u tani em i ( 18); 10. Kevin Stas ny ( 17). J amie J am es turned in another effortless performance to win his fourth straight P ro T wins GPI fina l at Road Am erica. James lead s the point standings by 35 points. Nigel Gale (I) leads Tripp No bles (2) and Matthew Winnacker (91) during th e U.S . Twin Sports final. Ga le took adva ntage of No bles' inferior brak es to win . AM /CCS U.S. Twin Sports Series: A Round 5 Gale for the third time By Bri an Catterson Phot o by W erner Fri tz ELKHARTLAKE, \\'1, JULY I a rt els H arley-Davidson 's Ni gel Gal e took yet another step toward retaining hi s U.S. Tw in Sport number o ne pl at e wi th a win in the fifth round o f th e 883 Sportster ser ies held just up the road from the Milwaukee, Wiscon sin, factory a t Road America. Gale di ced back and fo rth wi th Ra nd y T exter in Sunday's fi na l u ntil the d irt tracker flicked it a way in turn eig h t on la p five o f the six-la p event. Tex ter pic ked it back u p to fin ish 10th in th e l l -ri der field , no ted vintage H arl ey racer Pat Moroney having been cred ited with 11 th pl ace after retiring wi th a so u r engine. G a le a nd T ex ter were pursued by rooki e Expert Tripp Nobl es, wh o 'd co me from a th ird-row sta n o n hi s " ne w" bik e - a 1986 883. Nob les pi cked up th e bik e from The Motor- B cycle Sh op in Macon, Georgia , aft er falling o u t with h is prior spo nsor. The new bik e was hast ily p repa red a t th e track with th e help o f Mark M organ a nd George Fitts, but th e lack of a du al Iront di sc b rak e setu p hun him in th e sto p p ing departmen t. Th ird pl ace wen t 10 David Kloster man from nearby Sheboygan . Wiscon sin , after a battle with Will Roeder a nd Mat th ew W inn ack e r. Klo st erm an th anked h is wife Linda for wa tchi ng th e kids while he wo rked o n hi s bik e. Gal e's win - h is third of th e season - g ives him a hea lthy 13-point lead in th e ser ies point sta nd ings o ver Nobles, 85-72. f~ Resul ts U.S. TW/ SPRT FINA L: I. Nigd C OI k : 2. Andrew Nob les 111 : 2. Da vid Klo su-rm a u : 4, Wi ll Roe der : 5, Matthew winnarker: 6, Tom Clrpll<'; 7. DarH·1J J.ono: 8. ~l ark Mc'C' : 9. Jon Stauff e-r: 10. Ra nd y .all I'e xte-r : I I. P,Il Mnro nt')'. ' T ime r 16 m in.• 52.470 M"(". Di stance. 6 1 l p 'i. :N m ilt" ;' .. Avrray:r S~ : 85.~3 6 m ph Marg an o ( Viewr y: 9. I50 M'C us. TW/ SPRT POI~T STAN DI;>;GS: I. NiK_1 Ga le' (X5);2. And re ~lJb lt'll II I (72): 3. Rand y Texte r (·t5 ); 4. Will Roed e-r (30); .1). J);'Ifft"1I Jon n (27): 6. Pill Mor cnlt"'), (26): 7. ~ ta llht· ,,· Wino;'1( ker ( 2~ ); 8, Sh a w n Hi gbee-(21); 9. Ra ndy Kirn t·c ( 19): 10. Breu ()(n MhuI" cI 6 ).

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