Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA/CCS 600 &750cccc Supersport Series: Round 2/2 ROAD RACE ; ~ Smithstayspe rfect By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 26 f thi s cont inues, Mike Smith and h is Camel-backed Honda CBR600 F-2 will make a mockery of the 600cc Supersport Series, a class made popular by parity amongst the top racers. This one was anythi ng but close. It took Sm ith exactly half a lap to take the lead in th e fin al after posting the fastest q ua lifying time, and he was never headed again. Instead, he clicked off an impressive one-minute , 33.20second lap (faster than 750cc Supersport winner Scott Russell ) on the second of 16 lap s to establish a lead that's usu all y unheard o f in th is prod uction bik e-based class. In the end, he crossed the finish li ne 7.704 seconds ahead of hi s teammate Tom Kipp. Smith comp leted the 16 la ps in 25 minutes, 21.845 seconds at an average speed of 83.797 mph. Equall y as impressive as the ride p u t in by Smith was the maiden race p erformance o f th e 1992 Suzuki GSXR600. In the capa ble hands of T exa n Britt Turking ton , th e Yos hi m ura-bui lt new comer to the 600cc class fini shed third after getting the best of a battle with Two Bro thers Raci ng's Steve Crevier, on yet another Honda CBR600 F-2. Crevier's team mate Ri ck Kirk edged privateer Ran dy Renfrow and Danbury Cycle Ran ch 's James Leslie to complete th e top five. It was Kip p getti ng the jump on the field at the start, negotiat ing the flat ou t turn on e wit h the lead and ho lding that through th e double-apex second corn er. For th e others, tha t was a littl e more hectic. "All the people blew by me u p the hill," Smith exp lained. " I figured I'd ju st go in there and crash us all, but I saw Britt (T urkington ) rockin' and rollin ' an d I tho ught he was going to go down. I ended up rig ht behi nd (Ra ndy) Renfrow , but I immediately stu ffed h im - but very gen tleman-like." At th e end of the lap, though, it was Smi th , all alone. Kipp followed, but it wouldn't get any closer and Smith's first clear lap gave him a 2.5-second cushion. That would only grow and for all practical purposes the race for the lead was complete. Ditto for second place, for Kipp, too , was clear and his race wou ld also be a lonely on e. But the battle for third had some intrigue as Turkington was behind Crevier but ahead of a group that included Renfrow, Kirk, and Leslie. Crevier held off Turkington and th e new Suzuki until th e eigh th lap , before the Texan got pas t and started to gradually pull clear . Crevier th en had a gap over a battle th at would go th e distance between Kirk , Renfrow and Leslie, with a small gap back to Chuck Downie on the Velocity Racing-backed Honda CBR600. Colin Edwards II was aboard the second Vance & Hines Yamaha FZR600 for this race, and as it turns ou t it was th e only V&H en try because team regular Larry 'Sch wa rzb ach rebroke hi s co llarbone in a scary, h ighspeed collision on the fron t stra igh taway with Dale Kieffer, wh o broke his leg in the practice incident. Edwards started in the back of the pack but worked hi s way th rough to finish behind Downey in ninth pl ace. I Goodfellow Motorsports-backed Steve . McKissock rounded out the top 10 . finishers. " I ju st had to stay focused," Smith said. " I didn ' t want to miss a beat. I like to get as far aw ay from them as I can. I lost concen tration about threequarters of the way th rough when I star ted to back it down. Traffic was reall y good . T hey all held thei r lines and th ey seemed to pi ck it up (the pace) from practice." Turkington was impressed with the new Suzuki, tho ug h he said it lacked mid-range co m p ared to Crevier's Honda. "He's (Crevi er) a l ways tough ," Turkington said of h is battle with the Canadian. " H e's not afraid to swa p stickers. They (Yosh imura) did a goo d . job with the bike. I think those guys could get horsepower out of a fork or spoon. It 's down in certain areas, but I'm sur e we'll catch up. I'm rea l happ y . to put the 600 up there in its deb ut Mike Smith slides his Honda en route to the 600cc Supersport win at Laguna Seca. Tripp Nobles (3) led the 750ccSupersport race, but Scott Russell (1) eventually won. race." Smi th was happy, alt hough he's still ou t to beat hi s teammat e: " We'r e here and I'm happy," Kip p said. "They've been working hard. We were fourt h at Dayton a so we're getting better. I expect thi s class to be a bar-b an ger th e eN wh ole way." Results 600cc SUP ERSPO RT FINAL: I. Mike Smi th (H a n ); 2. T om Ki'p p (Hon): 3. Briu Turkington (SUl): 4. Steve Cre vier (Hon); 5. Rick Kirk (H o n); 6. R a nd y Renfrow (H o n ); 7. J a mes Lesli e (Ho n): 8. Ch uck Dow n ie (H on ); 9. Coli n Edwards II (Yam); 10. Steve McKissock (H on): II. O wen Weichel (Han); 12. J ohn Choat e (Ha n ); 13. Gerald Ro thman , J r. (H a n ); 14. David Adang (H a n ); 15. Robin Hollida y (H a n ). T im e: 25 min ., 21.845 sec. Dista nce: 16 1aps, ~ 5 .2 miles. Average SP«d: 83.797 mph . Ma r gin o( Vi ctory: 7.704 sec. 600cc SUPERSPORT PO INT STANDINGS: I. Mike Smith (40); 2. (TIE) Steve Crevier/Tom Kipp (30); 4. Ra ndy Ren frow (25); 5. Rick Kir k (22). Slowstart can't stop Russell By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams uzzy Kawasaki 's Scott Ru ssell finished the first lap of the 16lap 750cc Supersport rac e at Laguna Seca in 12th place, but it didn't stop the defending class cha mp ion from winning. It just mad e it a little more interesting. The Georgian who now calls Salinas, California, home, completed th e 16 laps in 25 minutes, 28.475 seconds at an average speed of 83.434 mph to beat hi s Muzzy Kawasak i teammat e Tripp Nobles by 2.157 seconds. Third place went to Canadian Michael T ayl or on th e Kawasaki Canada en tr y a s ZX7s £ill ed the winner's circle. T aylor's efforts earne d him th e Top Expert award for first year Expert class racers. It was the Toronto rider's second AMA race; he fin ished seventh in the series opener at Daytona in early March. _ Two Brothers Racing's Steve Crevier pUI his Honda CBR600 F2 into fourth pl ace after a battle with th e CLASS Kawasaki of Jason Pridmore. Crevier's teammate Ri ck Kir k ro de ano ther CBR600 to sixth p lace ahead of Fritz Kling a nd Rob ert Wrigh t. Randy Renfrow and Gerald Rothman, Jr. rou~ded out th e top 10 fini shers. M Crevier 's fo urt h place co mbine d with h is third place fini sh at Daytona, gi ves him th e cha mp ionship points lead with 28 po ints to Kling's 26. Russell is tied for fifth , eight points behind Crevier. The race go t underway without Da yt ona winner Mike Harth, the Georgian electing to skip this race to compete in an in ternational event in Malaysia, and it was Pridmore grabbing the ho leshot on his Kawasaki. Nobl es followed, leading Crevier. And Russell? "I ro lled it, launched it and let the clu tch go too quick," Russell sa id. " It was terribl e. T he n th ey were pinching me off going into two so I eased up and abo ut 50 of the m went by. He (No bles) got ou t the re, didn't he?" By th e seco nd lap, Russell had moved up to sevent h. A lap later he was fifth; on lap six he jumped up to third, and by the 10th lap he was on Nobl es' rear wheel. H e stayed there until two lap s from the finish before pa ssing the Macon , Georgia, rid er and pull in g away to a 2, l-second win. Nobles' race was rather uneventful, until Ru ssell started pressuring him from behind. The 1991 Top Expert Ch ampion took the lead in the Corkscrew on the ope n ing lap and stayed there until the 14th lap , Still, it was Nobles ' best -ever 750cc Supersport finish and he was extremely happy. " I kn ew it was just a matter of tim e before Scott ran me down , but I didn't look back. " The friendl y Georgian thanked Russell and his other teammate, Thomas Stevens , for helping him throughout the weekend. Wh ile Taylor 's race for th ird was rather lonely, Pridmore and Crevier battled throughout with Crevier gaining th e advantage late in th e race, despite giving up 150cc to the bigger CN Kawasaki. Resu lts 750cc SUPERSP ORT FINAL: I. Sco tt Ru ssell (Ka w ): 2. T ri p p Nob les (Kaw); 3. Michael T aylor (Kaw); 4. Ste ve Crevier (Ho n ); 5. Jason Pri dm or e (Ka w): 6. Rick Kirk (H a n); 7. Fritz Kling {Ka w) ; 8. Robert Wright (Suz); 9. Randy Renf row (H an ); 10. Gerald Rothman. J r. (Ka w) : 11. Louis Saccoccio (Ka w ): 12. Ow en Weichel (Raw); U. Chuck Do wni e (Ha n ); 14. J. Andrew Mih an (Han ): 15. Dean Mizdal {Ka w) : 16. Kye G un n (Yam ); 17. Steve McKi' sock (Ha n ); 18. David Stanton (Han ); 19. Gerg Abbo u (Ka w ): 20. David Adang (Ha n); 21. Bruce Baldu s (Suz); 22. James Randolp h (Suz); 23. Steve T eschke . (H a n ); 24. Rob in Hol ida y (Han) ; 25. Don Robe rts (Ra w ); 26. Andrew Dea therage (Suz); 27. David Fra ncis (Hon ); 28. Bruce Tebo (Suz); 29. Brian Blan gsted (Yam ); 30. J eflrey Rohn (Kaws): 31. Kirk Hill (H a n); 32. Lee Brown (Suz); 33. J ohn Iacobu cci (H a n ); 34. Aaro n Lanningha m (Suz); 35. Peter Sma ll (H a n ); 36. Thom a' Mon tan o (Ya m); 37. Rit ch ie Thorup (Yam); 38. Bill Will ems (Ka w) : 39. Jo hn ny Page (Kaw). Time: 25 min.• 28.475 sec. Distance: 16 laps. 55.2 mil es. Average SP«d: 83.434 mph. Margin o(Vietory : 2. 157 sec. 750cc SS C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. Steve Crevier (28); 2. Fritz Klin g (26); 3. Micha el Taylo r (24): 4. (TIE) See n R ussell/ Mike Harth (20); 6. Gerald Rothman , Jr. (19): 7. Tripp Nobles (17); 8. Loui s Saccoccio (15); 9. (TI E) Bruce Baldu s/jasen Pri dmore (I I). 11

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