Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROA DRACE AMA/CCS 600 and 750(( Su~m~_ort_Se_rie_s:_in_l_ro_ _d F a un ~ Larry Schwarzbach held off Miguel DuHamel early in the 600cc final , but the Canadian even tually took the victory.. Georgian Scott Russell won his ninth 750cc Supersport final in a row in Miami. DuHamel's show in Miami By H enny Ray Abrams MIAMI, FL, NOV. 10 o m mon wealth Honda's Miguel DuHamel, already crowned the champion in the 600 Supersport class, decided to make a show of the race in Miami. Running lap times two and three seconds slower than he'd qualified, the French Canadian played wi th Vance & Hines Larry Schwarzbach, even all owing him to lead a time or two , before taking th e point for th e run to the flag a few laps from the en d. Everyone, including Schwarzbac h, kn ew what was h appen in g , th ough DuHamel was loathe to admit it. Told he was lapping much slow er than h e'd . qualifi ed , the H ond a CBR600 F-2-mounted DuHam el said, " Was I?" bu t wi th little conviction. " I knew I was faster. I had abou t three or four o p tio ns on wh ere I could pass him at the end. I waited for th e most opport une spot. T he track was ni ce, but th ere was not a lot of run-off room. I wanted a clean pass." The official margin of victory, after the 17-la p , 25.5-m ile race, was 2.932 seconds. Du H am el averaged 69.694 mp h for th e 21 minu te, 57.190 second race, " He was looking for me to screw up and I did," Schwarzbach , who rode the Vance & Hines FZR600R Yam aha, said. " I hit the second ch icane with C 10 my shoulder a nd that di d it. It was definitely the clos est this yea r. He worked the back markers a little bett er than I did. " Rick Kirk wa s alone in th ird o n the Two Brothers Honda with T om Kipp also unchallenged in fou rth o n the Wiseco/ Atlantic Motor sports Group/ Bridgestone-entry with T ripp Nobles getting the best of a three-rider Tight for fourth on th e Atla nt ic Motor sports G r oup /Downs t a g i n g /Dunlop mount. The fin al series st a ndings rea d DuHamel 140, Kipp 112, Sch warzbach 87. Because of the nat ure of the stree t circu it and the road closu res involved, all of the raci ng had to be do ne o n the weekend, which p recluded heat races. Instead , the 600 Supers po rt rid ers were gridded by timed qualifyin g which DuHamel led, h is 1:18.805 over a second a nd a half faster tha n second fastest Schwarzbach . DuHamel was gone wit h th e flas h of the green ligh t, takin g Schw arzbach with him as the pair q u ickly separated from the 22-rider field. Early on, Schwarzbach lost the kn ee pa d off'the ri gh t leg of hi s leathers which slowed him sligh tly. . " I didn 't kn ow it until a lap la ter when I put my knee down. I was wondering why it was gr ipping so well ," the H ou stonian said. By the sixth lap, th ey held almost a seven-seco nd lead o n Kirk , with Kipp hot on his tail a nd a ga p to a fifth where a race- long fight was brewing among Nobl es, T wo Brothers Takanobu Koyama, a nd Commonwealth Ra cing's J ohn Choate. Schwarzbach was past on th e eigh th lap after DuHam el ran wide in turn three. " He wen t real wide, lost the front end, a nd wen t in the dirt," Schwar zbach said. " He saw me com ing and moved o ver to let me by. It was a rea l co urteous move." DuHam el kept th e pressure on for the next several laps, waiting for th e mi stake that would come three laps from the end. "Going through the ch ica ne he clipped the hay bales with his shoulder ," DuHamel said, and that was all he needed. Quickl y, he pulled aw ay for h is seventh seri es win of the seaso n . Schwarzbach was a co mfor table second with Kirk third in front of Kipp. " I kn ew me a nd Tom wer e about the same pace and I knew I had to pi ck it up for a sho t at the lead," Kirk said. " I oversho t a cou p le of turns, then I decid ed th ird was good. I finished third and I'm up on the podium. " Nobl es nipped Koyama a t the line for fifth , with Ch oate seventh. CN Resu lts 600 SS FINAL: I. Miguel DuHam el (Han ); 2. LaTT)' Sch wa rzbac h (Ya m); 2. Rick Kirk (Ho n ); 4. T om Kipp (Han) : 5. Tri p p Nobl es (Han ): 6. T akanobu Koyama (Hon ); 7. John Cho ate (Hen): 8. Dou g Carmichael (Han): 9. J am es Leslie (H a n ): 10. Roy Nicholso n (Hon) ; Il. Ru eben McMuner (Han) : 12. Michael Myers (H a n) : 13. Owen Weich el (Yam): 14. Lee Pounders (H a n ): 15. Stan Poll ock (Yam); 16. Rick Jackson (Yam); 17. Kevin Noon an (Ha n ); 18. Chris T emme (Ya m); 19. J ean Du be (Ha n ); 20. Andre w Wri gh t(Hon ): 21. Ron ald McGill (Han); 22. Je ll Perry (Han). Time: 2 1 m in., 57. 190 sec. Distance: 25.5 mil es. Average speed: 169.694 mph . Margin 01victo ry: 2.932 sec. FINAL 600cc SS C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. Mig uel DuHame l ( 140) 7 wins; 2. T om Kipp (1I 2); · 3. La rry Sch warzbach (87): 4. T rip p Nobles (75); 5. Jell Farmer (57) I win. Russell ends perfect season By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny R a y Abrams MIAMI, FL, NOV. to . N ine races, nine wins. Nine-forn ine. No matter what you call it, Scott Russell 's 750cc Supersport season wa s one of perfection. No mech anical fai lures, no crashes, ----,--_ _ nothing bu t victories - a feat that puts him in the record boo ks. . And he wra pped it all u p here in Miami in the same manner he started it all back in March in Daytona - with a win. In addi tio n , it was Ru ssell and Muzzy Kawasaki's second successive 750 cc Supers p ort Ch amp ionsh ip. Russell ended up a fu ll 56 points ahead man , Br itt of second-p lace Turkington. Russell completed the 20-lap, 30.2mi le race in 26 minutes, 21.513 seconds for a n average speed of 68.289 m ph, top pi n g the Atlanti c Motorsports G roup H onda CBR600 of Ohio 's T om Kipp by a scant 1.474 seconds. Third place went to the injured J eff H eino. The Floridian crashed during pract ice on Saturday morning, but came back to bravely ride to a third place finish on his Heino Bros. Racing Suzuki GSXR750. T op Expert Tripp Nobles fin ished fourth on his CBR600 a head of the Kawasaki ZX7 of Bob Sandy. Turkington, Jacques Guenette, Jr., rookie Colin Edwards, Takanobu Koyama and James Leslie rounded out . the top 10 finishers. The race got underway with Ru ssell .lead ing th e way and Kipp in tow. T he G eorgian ' s lead would g row and shrink throughout the race , with Kipp riding hard on the 600 in an effort to .stop Russell's str eak . . Third place was held first by Turkington, th en by Guenette and finally by Heino. The battle for fourth was then a four-way battle between Guenette, Turkington, Nobles and Sandy, before Guenette faded to an eventual seventh-place finish . Nobles held off Sandy and Turkington at th e finish line for fifth. A racelong battle between upstarts Koyama and Edwards went the distance with Edwards, in his first professional race, passing on the inside in the final corner to beat the young Japanese rider. : " First off, I'd like to thank Kawasaki," Russell said in the winner's circle. " And second off, I' d like to' thank Kawasaki. Tom (Kipp) tried . hard but he just d idn' t make it. (Mechanics) Gary (Medley) and Billy (Oliver) worked really hard all year; it feels great. . " I wasn't even sure I'd run this race beca use of how tight the Superbike cha mp ionship is," Russell added later. " Bu t I didn't do shit in the Superbike qualifying, so I figured I' d see if I could do anything right today." Kipp was a happy second on the underpowered 600: " Co m ing down Biscayne Bo ulevard I wo uld get o utaccelerated," he said. " Bu t I seemed to be able to make time everyw here else. I got through traffic really, really well." CN Resu lts 750 SS: I. Scott Ru ssell (Kaw); 2. T om Kipp (Han); 3. Jellrey H ein o (SUI); 4. T ri pp Nob les (SUI): 5. Bob Sandy (Kaw ): 6. Britt Turkington (Suz); 7. Jacques Guen ett e (Kaw): 8. Colin Ed wa rds (Hon); 9. T akan obu Koyama (Ha n ); 10. Jam es Leslie (SUl ): 11. Gerald Rothman (Ka w) ; 12. Ro y Nichol son (Han): 13. Louis Saccoccio (Kaw): 14. J am es Schaelet (SUI); 15. Andrew Deatherage (SUI); 16. Michael Myers (Han); 17. Chris Embler (Kaw): 18. Lee Pounders (Ho n) ; 19. T im QueUene (Suz); 20. Brett Ra y (SUI); 21. Don Ryan (SUI): 22. Ch arl es Crowther (SUI): 23. Ralph Herrer o (SUI): 24. Rick Jackson (Yam); 25. Jimmy Shelton (SUI): 26. Tom Christian (SUI): 27. Steve Guanche (SUI): 28. Andrew Wright (Han ); 29. Paul Fombrun (Suz); 30. Brian Kent . (Han ); 3L T itia n Bue (Suz); 32. Jean Dieri ckx (Suz); 33. Tam Soro h (Kaw); 34. Dean Mizdal (SUI). T ime: 26 m inu tes. 21.513 seconds. Distance: 2 mil es. Margin o( victory : 0:01.474. Average Speed: 68.289 mp h. 750 SS FINAL POINT ST4NDlNGS: I. Scott Rus sell (180) 9 win s; 2. Britt T urkington (124): 3. Ja cq ues G uenette (101); 4. Tripp Nobles (77): 5. Bob Sandy (73); 6. Jellrey Heino (69): 7. Titian Bue (60); 8.· Ja mes Schae fer (38); 9. Glenn Barry (35); 10. Andrew Deatherage (33); I I. Mike Morres (26); 12. Lo uis Saccocci o (25): 13. Gerald Rothman (23); 14. David Deveau (22); 15. Takanobu Koyama (20); 16. T odd Hoge (19); 17. J ell H enog (18); 18. Tom Kipp (17); 19. Steve Crevier (17); 20. J ason Pridmore (15).

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