Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE e AMAlCCS 600 and 750cc Supersport Series: Round 4/4 down , and clipped th e rear o f Mizdal ' Del Amo ZXiR. Both went skittering o ff int o th mud su rrou nding turn o ne, a nd Class Racing 's J ason Pridm ore ass umed seco nd until he a lso DNF with a broken mot or with 17 o f 20 laps com p leted. Garren 's Kawasak i rid er Bob-San dy, bru ised a nd battered fro m a vicio us end urance -ra ce h igh-side, ra n a sma rt , co ns er va tive race to finis h second overa ll. " I started the vear with a new mech a n ic, a nd it didn 't work ou t a DN F at Da ytona and La gu na, and no co nfidence a t Ch arl otte. And now , 1 ca n 't beli eve we're here (in second pl ace). Th is is th e hi gh est I' ve ever fin ish ed ," said a happy Sa ndy in the winner 's circle. Underd og Randy Renfro w put in an a mazi ng ly fast ride a boa rd h is (relativel y) sma ll Two Brothers Honda CB R600 to ea rn third , a position he was very happy with. " I d idn' t ex pec t 10 win, " Renfrow expla ined after the race. " (Because) it 's a stock bi ke - on e th at we. built in two day s a t Two Brothers, a nd (the ZX7R Kaw asaki s) just went faster." Gerald Rothman took fourth over a ll, a nd in do in g so, he accu mu lated eno ugh points to hol d down both the overa ll series a nd Top Expert points lead. H e leads Ru ssell , 45-40. Tripp Nobl es, who bro ke a n an kle while rnoroc ro ssing near his home in Georgia p rior to T exas, is hanging on to thi rd wit h 32 points. Ren fro w and Steve Crevier , wh o was com pe ting in a Canadi an Nati onal , round o u t the top fiv e with 32 a n d 28 p o int s , respe ctivel y. At th e sta rt o f the race, Mizda l launch ed from the ou tside o f the front row 10 lead second fastes t qualifier Renfro w, a nd Kling, through th e first turn , Steven s followed in fourth, with R ussell so mew he re towards th e rear o f the top 10. Kling a nd Mizdal opened up aslight lead on Renfrow a nd the rest of the pa ck , a nd fought for th e front spot until Ru ssell fell and th e red flag popped ou t. At the restart, Ren fro w nailed a n amazing ho lesho t, with Mizda l, Kling, and Stevens hunch ed clos ely beh ind. Kling outbrak ed Renfrow in the lefthand turn three for th e lead , and Steven s quickly followed su it. Mizda l had a harder time of it, and waited until the seco nd lap to o u tbra ke Renfrow in turn three. The th ree ZX7R 'm o u nt ed riders banled fiercel y for th e lead until the Kling/Mizdal fiasco . With hi s main competiti on gone, Stevens walked away from the field to finish over eig h t seconds ahead of Sandy, with Renfrow not far behind in third. Ro th ma n sta yed ahead of Louis Saccoccio for fourth. Larry Lock lear, Bru ce Baldus, John Choate, Chuck Down ie, and Mark Black rounded out th e top 10. Former Nati onal MX Champion Kent Howerton finished 12th in his National -level road racing debut. 0 ~ o ,.....; Rick Kirk (21) began his successful day of racing with a win in 600cc Supersport; Mike Smith ~68) an d the pack give chase. The first 750cc Supersport start saw Dean Mizdal (47) and Ran dy Renfrow (76) lead the way; the win, though , wen t to Thomas Stevens (1l2) over Bob San dy (9). up to th e back of th e Turki ngton/ Smit h scra p. Traffic played a major ro le in th e closing stages o f th e race a nd it was Kipp wh o ended up getting th e best o f it. The three stayed close to th e fi nis h, bu t it was Kipp wh o took th e run ner-up spo t beh ind Kirk . " We 've been fin ishing seco nd a ll year long," Kipp said. " We' re looking fo r a wi n, but we ca n live with second because we need the points. I go t o ff to a lazy start a nd was wa y back in fo urth for a long tim e, but I stuc k wit h it, co nce nt ra ted a nd ca ug h t back up." chwarzbac h eventuall y pulled clea r o f th e Renfrow, Lesl ie a nd Lock lea r di ce go ing on behi nd him to finish fifth. 0 Resul ts Kirk's the rain master in Texas By P aul Carr u th ers COLLEGESTA TION, TX, MAY31 wo Brothers Racing's Rick Kirk had never ra ced in th e rain prior to today's 600cc Supersport fina l at T exa s World Speedway. Let's just say, he's a fast learner. The Claremore, Oklahoma, rider repeated th e success he captured her e last year by again winning th e 600cc Supersport final. This tim e he pulled it o ff via a dominating display of wetweather rid ing, pulling away to beat Camel Honda 's Tom Kipp by 7.221 seconds aft er averaging 78.303 mph on th e sa tu ra ted 1.8-mile race track. Third place ' went to Yoshimura Suzuki's Brin Turkington , th e Texan aga in putting in a solid ride to put the n ew Suzuk i GSX R600 in the winner 's circl e for a second time. Camel Honda's Mike Smith finished fourth with Vance & Hines Yam aha 's Larry Schwarzbach returning from injury to finish fifth . The top Expert finish er was James Les lie on th e Harry's Machine Shop-backed H o nda CBR600. Kirk 's win also tig h tened the championship so mewha t as he moved to within seven points of Kipp, 64-57. Smith is currently third in th e title chase with 53, leading Steve Crevier and Randy Renfrow who ho ld down fourth and fifth with 50 and 46 points, . respectively. T 8 The race began under threatening skies a nd on a sa turated race track with Turkington getting th e early advan tage over Kirk and Sm ith. Those three quickl y pulled clear as Kipp had hi s hand s full keepin g T ex an Larry Locklear in chec k. Thin gs sta yed the sa me up front with Turkington lead in g Kirk a nd Sm ith with a small ga p bac k to Kipp a nd Locklear. Then ca me a pack that included ' R a n dy Renfrow , G erald Rothman , Jr., Schwarzbach , Lesl ie a n d Br ett Harrel son. H arrelson , though , was the first to mak e an ea rly exit as he crash ed o u t of th e ra ce o n th e fourth lap in turn three. Kirk took the lead for rh rst time on th e front straight to sta rt th e fifth lap. Two laps lat er , a nd Kirk a nd hi s Bridgestone-shod H onda was beginning to stretch th e ad vantage over th e fight between Turkingt on and Smith. " T he diff erence was being in the lead," Kirk said lat er. " Whe n 1 was clos e to Turkington I got a lo t o f dirty spray. I caught up a nd felt co m forta ble with th e conditio ns. It was much easier leading th an it was tryin g to follow . If you got off line you were tak in g yo ur life in yo ur own hands. I was learning every lap out th ere." On th e 10th la p, Kip p jo in ed in on the struggle for second pl ace, pulling 6O(kcSS FI~A L: I. Rid Kirk (H o n); 2. T om Kip p ( Ho n]: 3. Brill Turkin gton (SUI ); 4. Mil t" Smith (H o n): 5. La rr y Schwa rzba ch (Yam ); 6. Ran dy Ren fro w (H o n ): T, j ames Lealie ( Ho n ); 8. La rry Loc klear (H o n) : 9. Ch uc k Downie (l i on) ; 10. Oera ld Ro thman . Jr . (Ho n); II. Robin Ho lltda v (B o n); 12. Thoma!'> Di nardo (Ho n ); 13. David Ada ug (Ha n ); H : Peter Mart ins (SU1); 15. Mark Black (Ha ll): 16. Joh n C hoa te (Ho n): 17. Gordon Mil ler (Ha n): 18. Jo hn j acob (Yam ): 19. Do ug Sim mons (lio n ); 20, John Whi te (Han ): 21. j osep h Prussiun o (Hon ): 22. ' Ric k Si lver (Han ); 23, Breit Harr elson (Ho n). Timr :.27 mi n. 35. HH sec. Distance: 20 lap s. 36 mi les. Avera g e Speed: 78.303 mph. Margin of Victory: 7.221 !>C."C. 600

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