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eROAD RACE
AMA Harley-Davidson Twin Se_orts_S_en_' R_OUD_d_2_ _-W-ith-th-e -inH-ale-tak-eso-ver-the
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Texan dirt tracker Mike Hale was a happy man after winning his first Harley-Davidson TwinSports race at Daytona.
Jeff Heino (23) leads Chuck Blackmon (3) in their battle for second place. -
Hale takes first
Twin Sports win
by Henny Ray Abrams
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR 7
aking use of some valuable
advice offered by his injured
teamlI\ate Nigel Gale, Bartels'
Harley-David.£oA:.s~ikeHall:- won
his first Harley-Davidson Twin Sports
race, taking over the lead when race-
M
28
leader Scott Zampach crashed his
Tilley's H-D 883 going onto the high
banks of Daytona on the final lap. The
pair, who'd run nose-to-tail, were
well clear of the five-rider battle for
third and Hale, who'd qualified on
the pole, cruised to his first ever road
race win.
The race was also the second round of
the Continental Tire 883 National
Championship Series, a series comprised
of five dirt track and five road race
rounds.
"1 sat down with Nigel (Gale) before
the race and he told me what to expect
from Scott Zampach," Hale said, taking
the advice from Zampach's longtime
rival to heart. "1 was right there when
Zampach went down.
"1 struggled on the dirt tracks for the
last couple of nights, but we ran good
here and qualified on the pole. I had
something to look forward to," the 20year-old Texan said. "1 wanted to win at
Daytona really bad and start the year off
right."
Gale watched the race from the
Bartels' H-D pits after having been
released from the hospital the night
before. He'd been there since
Wednesday when he crashed during
qualifying.
"I've got a dislocated shoulder that
they put back in. I've also got some bone
chips in there. I've also broke bones in
my lower right leg, down near the
ankle," Gale said. "1 don't know how
long I'll be out. 1 want to be at the next
race. It will depend on what my doctors
back home see when they look at the Xrays."
Low Country H-D's Chuck Blackmon
got the best of the drafting battle to finish second, barely ahead of Moroney's
H-D's Jeff Heino, with Shawn Higbee a
close fourth and Jay Springsteen just
behind in fifth.
Zampach picked his machine up and
finished eighth.
Hale won the seven-lap, 25-mile race
in a new record time of 15 minutes,
45.367 seconds at an average speed of
94.896 mph. His margin of victory was
12.303 seconds.
series lead with 63 points, Higbee moves
into second with 60, and defending
champion Zampach is third with 53.
The win eaml!d Hale $3000 from the
$15,000 purse, with $2000 going to
Blackmon, and $1250 going to Heino.
Hale led the 60-rider field off the
start, Zampach sticking to him with
Springsteen, Warrs Harley-Davidson of
England's Francis Williamson fourth,
and Blackmon fifth.
Across the line the first time Zampach
was out front and he and Hale were able
to inch away from the field. Blackmon,
who was leading the fight for third, got
into a big slide exiting the International
Horseshoe on the second lap, causing
the riders behind to hesitate just enough
to let the leaders make a fast getaway.
Zampach led Hale the entire way, the
pair opening up almost a nine second
edge by the fourth of seven laps. The
race went down to the final lap,
Zampach tossing away his chances less
than a minute from the end.
"It looked like the front wheel might
have tucked under when he was braking
for the final infield tum," Hale said.
With a clear track ahead, Hale sailed
to the easy win leaving the battles to be
decided behind him.
The entire race the order was shuffling in the race for what was third until
Zampach fell. Blackmon, Heino,
Springsteen, and Richard Koehler all
held the spot behind Hale, the runner-up
spot up for grabs right to the finish line.
Coming out of the chicane the final
time Springsteen was second. Then the
drafting began and by the time he got to
the line he was back to fifth, though he
nearly got Blackmon back after
Blackmon had used his draft to move
into second.
"It kind of reminded me of mile racing," Springsteen said afterwards. "It
was like a drafting war out there.
Everybody was zigging and zagging. On
the last lap 1 was second out of the chicane and they come around me. 1 fell
back in line on the banking and 1
thought I could get them."
"The race was bascially my second
practice session of race week," Heino
said. "The team has worked on dirt track
machinery, vintage bikes, everything.
We had a motor seize in qualifying after
I had gotten 13th fastest time. While the
others were running practice sessions
and working on race setup, we were
rebuilding the engine. I don't know how
we finished second, but we did.
I:N
Results
H~D Twin Sports: 1. Mike Hale; 2. Chuck
Blackmon; 3. Jeff Heino; 4. Shawn Higbee; 5. Jay
Springsteen; 6. Richard Koehler; 7. Ian Cobby; 8. Scott
Zampach; 9. Ricky Graham; 10. Francis Williamson; 11.
Jason Fletcher; 12. John Long; 13. Shawn McNa'}'; 14.
Yvon DuHamol; 15. Salll Gray; 16. Danny Roberts; 17.
Thomas l.