Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127371
eROA DRACE e AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round I Fast-starting Nick Ienatseh (24) leads defending class champion Doug Brauneck (I) and the rest of the International25Occ final off the line and into tum one. Switzerland's Eskil Suter (16) leads eventual winner Harald Eckl late in the race; Eckl beat Suter to the line. Eckl drafts to win By Henny Ray Abrams 14 DAYTONABEACH, FL, MAR. IO erm an Harald Eckl knew wh ere he wanted to be on th e last lap. H e kn ew he didn 't want to be G 'I leading the race and he kn ew he'd be better 0 [£ just a few bike lengths behind the leader, Swiss rider Eskil' Suter, wh en th ey exi ted the chicane, and that's exactly where he was. The Marushin Aprilia-mounted Eckl, who makes his home in what for decades before the recent reunification of Germany was called West Germany , pull ed o ut of his draft as they reached . the tri-oval and took the checkered flag just two bike lengths in front of the Marlboro-b acked Suter in the IS-lap, 103-kil ometer (54-mile) International Lightweight 250cc GP race. The win earned Eckl $5500 of the $30,000 purse, with runner-up Suter getting $3710, and third place finisher Nick lenatsch $2510. Since the race was red-flagged after five laps, and re-started for the final 13 laps, there was no o££icial margin of victory or time of race. "Eskil thought he could weave to . break my draft, " Eckl said, of his fellow Aprilia-rnourued rider, " but 1 knew this would not work." Although Californian Ienatsch, the Motorcyclist magazine editor on the Del Amo/Dunlop/Motorcyclist Yamaha finished third to the Aprilias, he was first among the Americans and, more importantly, he gained the most points toward the championship. " I got the maximum points and that's the bottom line," lenatseh said. " T hey (Eekl and Suter) are not running the series," he continued, and he seemed glad for it, "They ride real well. Their bikes are a little lighter, a little better on the brakes, a little faster. They're fast guys on fast bikes." Ienatsch had briefly stuck with the leaders before dropping back to a distance where he couldn't challenge the Europeans, but was untouchable from behind. Eckl, who'd taken delivery of his Aprilia just three weeks earlier, had tested at Jerez in Spain just prior to Daytona and was given a factory parts kit for th e Lightweight 250 GP. But he destroyed it in the first practice sessio n and ended up using standard parts, including a topy cylinder for the Aprilia V-twin that he borrowed from Suter. He said he co uld have used more power to fight a swirling and gusty wind that effected the .riders during qualifying and, even more so, during the race. "I could feel the engine down on power on the banking," Eckl said. "The corners are so slow in the infield that i t wasn't a problem. " Ienatsch said his 1991 TZ-250 Yamah a wouldn 't pull sixth gear on th e back stra ig h t because of the headwind, part of that was attributed to gearing. All of the riders had trouble with