Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

leading," Shierts said. " Whe n I came o n to th e back straight, it was sliding and wh eelyin g, and I m issed seco nd gear two times - because from slidin g, m y feet weren 't really so lid on th e pegs - a nd C huck (Graves) passed me for the lead. I kn ew righ t th en th at it was going to be a to ugh race, because Chuck reall y wanted to beat me." But Graves had made the wrong tire choice for the second leg, picki ng a soft-co mpound Dun lo p while everyone else was using the hard mix. Although he had the early lead, Gra ves cooked the tire by the thi rd lap, a nd faded to event ually fin ish fourth. Even before G raves had bo iled h is fro nt tir e, Martin had dove und er for .the lead in turn o ne, a t th e beg in ni ng .o f th e seco nd lap. It took Sh ierts four laps to pass th e slo wing Cr aves, a nd Jacks o ne mo re '- a t whi ch time, h e also m o ved I arou nd Shi erts for seco nd, a nd bega n closing o n tea mma te Ma rt in . On the seventh lap, J acks took th e I lead with a bold pass around Mart in in turn on e. At that point, Mart in deci ded to ha ng on Jacks' ta il u ntil the fina l la p , and mak e hi s move for the lea d at tha t tim e. Bu t it was not to be. Martin go t stuc k behind a lappe r lo ng enough to fad e two bike lengths behind J acks, a nd it was more than he co uld make u p on that final lap . And so Jacks wo n the final race, which handed him th e overall win. Shierts finished third, behind Martin , with Graves and Joe P ittm an rounding o u t th e top five; Mathews and th e Du cati finished sixth. Air T ech Fo rmu la II The last time Bruce Baldus raced a t Road Atlanta he cras hed four times on d ust about every type of motorcycle , a va i lable. Things were different today. Ver y diffe rent. Baldus had what he ca lled " the fastest bike out there" and deftly used , it to control the 250cc class a nd earn a co m ma nd ing 10-second win over seco nd place finisher, and defending Formula II champion, Donnie Greene. Baldu s' co m pe titio n was tou gh . R ookie sens ation Colin Edw ards and Honda rider R ick Kirk were both lexcep tio na lly fast here, but 20 laps around the gr ueling, bumpy Road ' Atl a nta track can take its toll on eq uip m en t - a nd th at's wh at ca used Kirk and Edwards to DNF late in th e .ra ce wh ile running in th e top three. Both exp ired on th e 18th la p. .. Ku rt H all had been dicing with Greene (a nd Edwards ) throughou t the even t, bu t came u p short at th e finish -Iine, H a ll was having some motor deve lopment gliches this weekend. " I knew I wou ldn't be abl e to draft (G reene), a nd was hop in g to use some traffic to my advantage o n the last lap, but (G reene) go t arou nd them rea lly well, and it wasn 't even an issue," H all sa id after sett ling for third , a nd th e 15 rcha rnp io nsh ip poi nts th a t ca me wit h it. As a resu lt o f h is wi n in the o pe n ing ro u nd a t Willow Sprin gs Intern a tio nal Raceway, a nd h is second-pl ace finish today, Donnie Green e leads th e poin ts rc hase o ver Baldu s, 37-30. H a ll is now third wi th 28 points. Ri ch Oliver , wh o [ wa s secon d in the ch a m p io n sh i p . comi ng in to Road Atla n ta , d id n 't , co m p et e h er e, a lt ho ugh th e 199 1 I Form u la USA Champio n was o ffered . a ri de next to Ed wards o n th e Southwes t Mo torsports Ya m ah a . O l iv er , rtho ugh , still hol ds down fou rt h in th e aseries wit h 17 points. At the start o f the race, Edwards got the hol esh ot , bu t it did n 't last. " Ba ld us passed me o n th e back stra ig h t with 7 mph, if not more," th e The battle for the F-USA win went to the wire between Mich ael Ma rtin (96) and Donald Jacks (59); J acks took the win . yo u ng T exan , wh o was riding wit h two pain fully swo llen knees fro m a practice cras h, said. Edwards wo uld o u tb ra ke Baldus u nder th e Nissan Brid ge to rega in the lead. Co me th e third la p , Edwards was sti ll struggling with a hastily repaired mach ine that wou ld not even pu ll sixth gear when Baldus took over. " I got a good drive o u t o f seven, and passed h im somewhere over th e crest of the hill beyond turn eig h t, th en I put m y head down, and bl asted a way. " Baldus said . Baldus th en set a consist ent, low 1:29 seco nd pace to pull aw a y fro m th e fight for second. Edwards seemed to be in con tro l of that battle for th e first half of th e race , but his bike was steadily boiling all o f th e water out of th e radia tor. H e start ed to slo w, a nd eventually had to pull off on th e inside o f turn o ne. It was Kirk , who was forcefull y £l icking hi s bike around th e bumpy track, wh o fir st as sum ed secon d p lace fr om Edw ards. Kirk had blown a transmission in Friday 's practi ce, just bar ely go t th e bike com p leted Sunday mornin g, a nd had to sta n from th e 18th ro w. " In a different co u n ty!" H e said. " I co u ldn ' t even see th e fl ag." But Kirk quickly bl asted th rough the field, a nd by th e 12th lap , had ca ug h t a nd passed a surprised H all. " I read th at he (Kirk) was having so me problem s with top speed, but man, he went by me so dog gon e fast on th e back straight," Hall sai d. H a ll was left astounded as Kir k quickly dispatched bo th he a nd Greene for second on th e next lap, a nd set his sig hts on Bal d us. Bu t Baldus would hav e none o f it , and kep t the lea d at about eig h t seco nds . And th en Kirk's mo tor seized near the back straight, his day over. And so th e race ended with Bald us uncontested in the lead, followed by Greene and H al l. Will ia m Himmelsbac h rod e a lonely race to fin ish fourth , with Brad Sawyer fift h after he got the best o f j a mi e Bowma n , who crashed in turn o ne o n la p eight. Dunlop Supersto ck Severe criticis m greeted the arr ival o f th e new Suzu ki GSX R600, b ut whe n the new bik e' s deb u t W ERA race weekend was over, Suzuki riders H a ll a nd J acks sur passed a slew o f H onda an d Ya maha riders to sit atop the win ner 's circle in first and seco nd, respecti vel y. The C Superstoc k race was the first o f th e weekend, and at the Ilag, H all Bru ce Baldus (46) domina ted th e F-II ra ce; here he leads Colin Edwards (45). j u m ped immed iat ely o u t into th e lead. By th e end o f th e fir st lap, he and his GSXR600 had opene d a sizeabl e lead o ver seco nd p lace rid er Bal dus. But j acks was on th e move, a nd soon bumped Baldus back to third overa ll - wh ere he would event uall y finish behind th e two T eam Suzuki riders. J oe Pru ssia no and Billy Eisenacher rou nded out th e top five in th e 34-bike field. jacks was back for the A Superstock ra ce, in wh ich he dominated from start to fi n ish to def eat T ray Bat ey b y sligh tly over two seconds. T om Wilson muscled hi s CBR900 into third overall, with Stev ie Pa tterso n a nd Bill y Eise nacher not far behind in fourth a nd fifth, respective ly. Oregon , O hio 's Tom Wil son cap ' tu red th e win in th e final event o f th e weekend , B Superstock, J ac ks, th e hea vy favori te, bowed o ut after o n ly th ree la p s with motor diHi cult y, lea vi n g W il son to ru n v irt ua lly u nch allanged to bea t Greg Abb ott by ove r six seconds. Ma rk McD aniel , Stevie Patterso n, and Je ff Pa te filled the top five. ClI Results f -USA: I. Do na ld Jacks (Sw): 2. Michael Martin (Sw); 3. Lee Shierts {Suz): 1. Ch uck C raves (Sw); 5. Step hen 1\1athews (Due); 6. Joe Pillman (Ya m ); 7. Mar k Ch in (Ya m); 8. 8 iJ1 H immelsba ch (Ya m ); 9. Ma t Macheca (SUl); 10. J im Bonner (Ya m); I I. Charles Saney (Ya m); 12. J()(, Bret t William s (Ho n ); 13. S tevie Pa tterso n (Suz): 11. William Beesch (Suz); 15. J ay Bartlow (Sw). F-II: 1. Bru ce Bald us (Ya m); 2. Don Gree ne (Yam) ; 3. Kurt H an (Yam) ; 1. Bill H immelsba ch (Ya m); 5. Brad Sawyer (Yam ); 6. Michael Gra ves (Ya m); 7. Peter Weoslorr (Ya m ); 8. Mark Long (Yam) ; 9. Mar k Ocha rd (Yam) ; 10. Jim Bonner (Yam ); II. Jeff Pale (Hon); 12. Keith Code (Yam ); 13. Jason Paden (Ya m) ; 14. Mike H immelsbach (Ya m ); 15. Patr ick Ha rr is (Yam ). lIoo S/STK: 1. Donald J acks (Sw ); 2. T ray Baley (Su z); 3. Tom Wil wn (Suz); 4. Stevie Pat terson (Suz); 5. Bill y Eisenacher (Su z). 750 S/STK: 1. Tom Wi lson (S Ul ); 2. Gr eg Abbon (SUI ): 3. Mar k McDa n iel (Su z); 4. Stevie Pa tterso n (SUl ); 5. J ell Pale (SUl ). 600 S/ST K: I. Kurt Ha ll (SUl) ; 2. Donald Jacks (Suz); 3. Bru ce Baldus (Hon ); 4. J oe Prussia n o (H a n) ; 5. Bill y Eisenacher {H o n) . . f UTUR E STARS : I. Chris T aylor (Yam): 2. Brian Gibbs (H on); 3. Barry Ro m be ll a (H n n): 4. Patr ick Ludwig (H o n) ; 5. Charlie Bro wn (Han). f· USA CSHI P POtNT STAN DINGS: I. C h uck Graves (33); 2. Lee Shim. (32); 3. Do nald Ja cks (28); 1. Mich ael Martin (23); 5. Robe rt Mill er (15); 6. Mike H ar th (13): 7. (T IE) Bru ce Tebo/Stephen Ma thews ( I I); 9. (TIE ) J oe P u tma n / Ch ris D'A lu isio (10). f -II C S HI P POt NT ST AN DINGS: 1. Don Greene (37); 2. Bru ce Bald us (30); 3. Ku rt Hall (28): 1. Ri ch Oliver (17); 5. Co lin Edwards II (15); 6. Bill H immel sba ch (13); 7. Peter Wen slo rl (12); 8. (TI E) Ch ris D'Alu isio /Brad Sa wye r ( I I); 10. Michael Gra ves ( 10). 11

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