Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- the fading Walker. But on the last lap, Roberts and Scott collided in tum five and both went down. Roberts hit an em bankment on th e outside of the course at about 80 mph and he laid on the ground for about two minutes, then slowly stood up and refused an ambulance ride. Roberts and Scott then proceeded to argue with one another over who was at fault in the crash . For Scott, the crash was especially costly. He went from leading the series by 10 points over Greene, to trailing Greene by 10 points heading to Atlanta. Joe Cole inherited third after the Roberts/ Scott incident, and Michael Graves and Greg Esser rounded out the top five. In Dunlop Superstock action it was Bruce Bald us win ning in the closest race of the weekend, B Superstock. Bald us, Kurt Hall and Tripp Nob les q uickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. In the early laps Baldus and Hall swapped the lead back and forth whil e Nob les sat back and too k notes. Abou t m id-race Nobl es fin ally decided to try and see what it was like leading the race. From that point on all three riders shared the lead at various sections of the trac k. On e place th at Hall was having trouble was braking from the high -speed back stra ight goi ng into tum five. That was where both Baldus an d Nob les would get him every lap. On the final lap, Nobles tried to get Hall and Baldu s braki ng for tum five. But this time Hall wai ted late and moved up on the inside of Nobl es on the brakes. It was still anyone's race as the trio headed o nto the front straight for the last time. Hall and Nobles slipped out of the dra ft of Baldus just before the finis h line, but it was Baldus who took the checkered flag in first by less 'than half a bike length over Hall. Nobles fin ished a very close third. Earl ier in the day it was Nobles who beat Baldus in the C Superstock race. Nobles led about two seconds for most of the race. O n the final lap Baldus made a last ditch effort to pass the Macon, Georgia rider but came up sho rt. Micha el Martin had an easy tim e of it in the A Superstock race. The Texas rider bettered Hall by eight seconds and closed to within four points of Hall in the series po ints chase. In the Metzeler Future Stars Series, 16year-old Jamie Bowman of Tequesta, Florida, made a last lap pass on Laney Cobb to take the victory. Bowman star ted this summer racing a Yamaha YSRSO in mini road race events. Having grad uated to 600cc street mach ines only two months ago , Bowman showed a very competitive spirit, making up a huge gap that Cobb had built on the field early in the race. T eam Suzuki Endurance's Hall , Jacks and Martin rode their Valvoline Suzuki to yet ano ther victory, the team 's 7lst, in the four-hour exhibition endurance race a t Moroso. They won despite having to repla ce a cracked oil coo ler in the second hour of the race. Series rival Hall N' Still Racing's Bruce Baldus and Tripp Nobles ran the team's Suzuki in the Superbike class this week instead of the Prod uction class and logged a second place finish. The reason for the shift in classeswas the availability of Suzuk i contingency money in the Superbike class. T eam Cartoon was the surprise third place overall finisher. The riding chores were handled by two novice racers, T on y Barchetti and T im Bemisderfer, who had not previously competed in an endura nce race together. The exhibition race, which did not count in the series points, was very slim on entries (only 15 teams), and assumed a very laid-back attitude. The race started with local hero Team Suzuki Endurance's Jacks jump ing to an early lead whi le Hall N' Still 's Baldus and Team R.E.S. rider Glenn Barry were fighting it out for second. Barry, a longti me veteran of Moroso, soon forged ahead of Baldus and started in pursuit of Jacks. It wasn 't long before Barry had chased down Jacks and the two began a battl e for the lead. It really wasn't mu ch of a battle, though, since Jacks had been circul ating the track in the early going a full five seconds off the pace he was capable of. After having some fun racing with Barry for four or five laps , Jacks turned on the afterburners and blasted away from Barry. Not long after that, Baldus passed Barry to take over second. After 23 laps of racing Barry pulled in and R.E.S. retired from the race. The reality was that the team never intended to run the entire fou r hours anyway. After hearing about the small field the night before, R.E.S. captain Jake Van Vleet decided to enter his team for the Suzuki money. The R.E.S. Suzuki was still on the same tires that it had run at T ope ka weeks before. After the old tires began to slide a little too much, Barry pulled the bike int o the pits. After a tire change R.E.S. may have re-enter ed had it not started raining. As it was, it did rain and the _ team packed it in. With R.E.S. out of the picture, T eam Suzuki continued to pull away from second place Hall N' Stil l. By the end of the first hour, J acks had put a lap on the Baldu s and the Hall ' N Still Suzuki. The roo kie endurance team, Team Cartoon, was in third but already three la ps behind the leader. During the second ho ur Martin was at the contro ls for Team Suzuki and he started having trouble keeping his visor clear in the rain. "At first I was afraid to wipe it off with my gloves," said Martin. "Sometimes that will make it worse. I finall y did reach up and wipe it off and it smeared all over the place. I knew then that it wasn 't just water on my visor." Instead, it was a mix tur e of rain and oi l - the oil cooler on the big Suzuki had cracked. Martin pulled in and the crew went to work rep lacing the cooler. In the meantime, Hall N' Still , with Nobl es on th e bike, continued to circul ate. They didn't even have to change tires when the rains came since they were running DOTs. At the end of the second hour the leader board read: Hall N' Still Racing, 74 laps ; T eam Suzuki, 73 lap s. Team Cartoon was running third, within a lap of T eam Suzuki. It was a source of great joy in the Cartoon pit to know that they were dogging the seven-time WERA Champions, even though they knew the team was having mechanical problems, At the same time it mu st have been a great embarrassment for T eam Suzuki to be hounded by a couple of novices. Once the problems were sorted out for Team Suzuki, they showed the rooki es and Hall N' Still that it's not nice to mess with a wounded cham pion. During the course of the fina l two hours, the blue and white Suzuki was nothing but a blur to the other teams. At the fin ish it was Team Suzuki Endurance win ning its 10th race of the season by two laps over Hall N: Still Racing. T eam Cartoon did an admirable job, finishing two laps behind the runner-up team, but 10 laps up on the fourth placed Elin Racing. T eam Suzuki traveled 328.5 mil es in four hours, giving it a race average speed CN of 82.125 mph. Resu lts LEG t : I. Rich Ol iver (Ya m); 2. Robb ie Petersen Winner Don Greene (3) leads Danny Walker (Hll ) and a host of ot her F-I1 riders. Kenn y Roberts, Jr. (17) an d Allan Scott (44) collide and crash in their F-I1 battle. (From left to right) G ra ves, Oliver an d Petersen celebrate their F-USA performan ces. (Yam): 3. Don ald j acks (Su, ); 4. Ch uck Graves (SUl ): 5. Michael Martin (Suz); 6. Kurt Hall (Suz): 7. Mar k Chi n (Yam); 8. jdl Hein o (Yam ): 9. j obn Ash mead (Su, ): 10. Ri ck H erndon (SUl); II. Ch ip T errell (Yam): 1 2.1am~ Pennin gton (S UI); 13. Von Lignau Ru dolf (Suz): 14. Step hen DeCamp (Suz). Time: 15 min ., 59.37 sec. DUtancc 12 laps. 27 miles AV""g< S.,..d: t0 l.3 16 mph . Margin of Victory : 6.64 sec. LEG 2: I. Ri ch Oliver (Yam ); 2. Robbie Petersen (Yam ); 3. Chuckk Gra ves (Suz): 4. Don ald jacks (SUl ): 5. Mark Ch in (Yam) ; 6. Kurt H all (Su,): 7. j eff H eino (Yam) ; 8. Clip T erre ll (Ya m); 9. j ohn Ash mead (SUl); 10. Rick H erndon (SU2) II. j am es ; Pennington (Suz); 12. Von Lignau Rudolf {Su z); 13. Stephen DeCamp (SUl ): 14. Michael Martin (SUl ): 15. Ri ck Sha w (Yam). Time: 15 min ., 58. 16 sec. Distance: 12 laps, 27 mi les Avrrag< Speed : 101.444 mph. Margin or Victory: 7.52 sec. OVERALL: I. Rich O liver (Yam) ; 2. Robb ie Petersen (Yam); .5. Chuck Gr av es (Suz); 4. Dona ld J ack, (Sua): 5. Mark Ch in (Yam) ; 6. Kun Hall (Sue); 7. j ell Hein o (Ya m ): 8. j ohn As h mead (SUl) : 9. Ch ip Terrell (Ya m); 10. Mich ael Mar tin (SUl) : 12. Rick Herndon (SUl); 1.5. james Pennin gton (SUl): 14. Vo n Ligna u RudoH (SUl); 15. Step he n DeCamp. F-2: I. Don G reene (Yam ); 2. Danny Walker (Yam ); 3. j oe Co le (Ya m); 4. Micha el Graves (Ya m): 5. Greg Esser (Ya m); 6. john Fran ce (H e n ); 7. james Ron an (Yam ); 8. Per ry Melniu c (Ap r); 9. R ick Jackson (Yam ): 10. Andrew Young (Yam ); II. Edw ard Borowy (Hon ); 12. Ala n Scott (Ya m); 13. Kenn y Robert>(Ya m ); 14. AI Sa laverria (Apr): 15. Ken Pruitt (Ya m). Time 28 min.• 8.21 sec. Disuna: 20 laps. 45 miles AV""g< Sprcd: 95.959 mp h. Margin o(Victory: 3.21 sec. A S/STK: J. Mich ael Martin (SU2); 2. Kun Ha ll (Sw): 3. Tripp Nobles (SUl); 4. Bru ce Bal dus (SUl ); 5. David McGrath (SUl ). B S/STK: I. Bru ce Bald us (SUl ): 2. Kurt Hall (Suz): 3. Tripp Nobl es (SUl): 4. Dav id McG ra th (Su a): 5. R obert Zerb isias (SUl ). C S/STI(; I. T ripp Nobles (Hon ); 2. Bru ce Baldu s (Han ); .5. Ken Pruitt (Ya m); 4. J im Er icso n (Ya m ); 5. Bo we H erron (Yam). FUTURE STA RS: I. j amie Bowm an (H o n ): 2. Lancey Cobb (Hon) ; 3. T im Bem isd erf er (Yam ): 4. Anlhony Barchetti (Yam) ; 5. Dana Kyle (Ya m). ENDURANCE: I. Tea m Suzu ki (SUl): 2. Hall 'N Still (SUI ); .5. Cartoon Racing (SUl) ; 4. Elin Racing (Yam): 5. P3 Ra cing/New T ech (Suz). F·USA C'S H IP POI NT STANDINGS: I. Robbie Pet ersen (115) 3 wins; 2. Rich O liver (106) 3 w ins; 3. Chuck Graves (93): 4. Donald Jack, (Su a): 5. Michael Martin (65): 6. Kurt Hall (55): 7. Britt T ur king to n (48) ; 8. Brian Bernard (.59); 9. J oe Breu William s (21): 10. (T IE) Tom Kipp/jcll Gaynor (20) I win ; J I. (T IE) Stevie Patterson/Doug R enf row (18); 1.5 (TIE ) Wil1iam Himmels ba ch /Pascal Pi cone (17) ; . 15. Yves Brisson (15). F·2 C'SHIP PO INT STANDINGS: 1. Don Greene (87): 2. Allan Scott (77); 3. Kenny Ro bert>. j r. (64): 4. Brian Bernard (53): 5. Mich ael Gra ves (52): 6. Brad Sa wyer (46); 7. Chris D 'Al ui sio (41); 8. Nick Ien a rsch (37); 9. Dave Sjo b la m (34 ); 10. Willi am H immel bach (31); 11. Danny Wa lker (25 ): 12. Darrell Coo ney (20) ; 13. Steve Lombardo (17): 14. Michael H immelsbach (16); 15. (TIE) joe Co le/Mike Reed/Mike Sullivan! Matt Crane/Richard Nelson (15). 13

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