Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eR RACE DAD e AMAICCS HP4 600cc Su ers ort Series: Round 3 AMAICCS Me Supersport Series: Round 3 Turkington leads Suzuki sweep " 00 N By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 18 oshimura Suzuki's Britt Turkington led home an all-Suzuki GSXR750 top three at Laguna Seca Raceway as the class domination shown a season ago by Kawasaki se.ems to have been neutralized by the new Suzuki. Turkington and his Scot Link-tuned GSXR600 beat Team Suzuki Sport's Mark McDaniel by 7.231 seconds, though it was much closer for the majority of the race. Team Valvoline Suzuki .Kurt Hall finished third, stuffing under Muzzy Kawasaki's Takahiro Schwa in the final comer to ensure the all-Suzuki winner's circle. Valvoline Suzuki's David Stanton, Team Suzuki Sport's Robert Wright, Yoshimura Suzuki's Gerald Rothman Jr, Del Amo Kawasaki's Dean Mizdal, College Bike Shop's Fritz Kling and Castrol Canada's Chuck Downie rounded out the top 10 finishers. The win, Turkington's second straight in the 750cc Supersport class, gives the Texan a lead of 19 points over Schwa in the championship point standings, 100-81. Rothman (78), Jason Pridmore (70), who crashed at Laguna and McDaniel (60) round out the top five in the championship. Turkington immediately grabbed the lead at the start of the 22-lap race and he instantly pulled out a lead on the group struggling over second place. Initially, that group was led by Pridmore, but soon it was McDaniel and Chuck Graves giving chase with the most consistency. Pridmore would end up crashing the Class Safety Schools-backed Kawasaki on the 16th lap, banging his knee but otherwise escaping unscathed. By this time Phoenix winner Dave Sadowski was already out of the race. The Georgian crashed on the warm-up lap in tum three and followed that with a first-lap get-off in tum four. On the] lth lap, McDaniel and Graves closed in on the back of Turkington, the Texan having lost the advantage he'd earlier built. Graves, though, would run off the track and nearly crash on the 14th lap in tum three and would follow that up with a definite crash in the same spot a lap later, knocking him out of the race. Now it was a two-man race for the win. On the 20th lap, however, McDaniel ran wide in tum 11 - and the race was over. McDaniel recovered to finish second. But the battle for third was far from over. Schwa led Hall, with both riders faring well in their first-ever races at Laguna Seca, as the pair entered tum 11, but Hall barged his way past to take the final spot in the winner's circle. Stanton £illed the top five. "I saw a lot of people come and go," said Hall, who rode a Scotty Beachtuned Suzuki GSXR600. "They'd come by and crash, come by and crash. Schwa made a mistake down there and I took it." McDaniel, another Laguna Seca firsttimer, complained of a misfire in his Suzuki: "It started popping, so I backed off a click or two and took it easy. I just wanted to try and make it home. I'm just lucky to be here." "I hate it when they're close," Turkington said. "I chose a rain shield Y The last comer of the 600cc Supersporl final saw Britt Turkington (28) dive up the inside of Miguel DuHamel (17) to take the win. By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 18. uzzy Kawasaki's Miguel DuHamel learned a painful lesson during the 600cc Supersport final at Laguna Seca Raceway - if you give Britt Turkington room to pass, he'll take it. After 22 laps and 48.7 miles it all came down to the final corner on the final lap. DuHamel pushed the Kawasaki under Turkington and the Suzuki in turn ]0, but left the door open on the inside to tum 11. Turkington took it and DuHamel had no room to retaliate. Turkington by a scant .084-0f-a-second. End of story. But there's more. Steve Crevier was just as close in third place on his Weld Rite Kawasaki after an impressive comefrom-behind effort. Fourth place went to defending series champion Tom Kipp on the Camel Commonwealth Honda, just ahead of Two Brothers Racing's Tommy Lynch. Camel's Randy Renfrow had a rather lonely ride to sixth place ahead of ultra-impressive newcomer Mike Hale in a on~ff ride on the third Camel Commonwealth Honda. Team Suzuki Sport's Mark McDaniel, Castrol Canada's Chuck Downie and Valvoline Suzuki's David Stanton rounded out the top ]0 finishers. The victory was Turkington's first in the 600cc class this season, and it brought him to within seven points of two-time winner DuHamel in the series standings, 102-95. Renfrow sits in third place with 79 points, four clear of his teammate Kipp, with Lynch and Gerald Rothman Jr., 12th at Laguna, tied for fifth with 69 points each. The race got underway with Lynch leading the fray into turn one and two. DuHamel was tucked in behind with Kipp next and then Turkington. By the end of the first lap those four had already worked themselves clear of a group consisting of Crevier, Jason Pridmore, Rothman, McDaniel, Kurt M 10 Hall, Downie and the slow-starting Renfrow. Hale was 14th. "It was a really bad start - everyone cheated," Renfrow said later. He didn't quit, though, and carried on to eventually outdistance the pack for a lonely sixth-place finish. DuHamel took over from Lynch on the second lap with an inside move in turn 10 and Kipp followed suit. The man on the move was Crevier as he fought hard to push the Kawasaki up to the rear of the lead group. DuHamel then opened a small gap and it looked as though he would make a break from the pack. Pridmore dropped out of action on the fourth lap when the transmission on his Kawasaki locked up in the Corkscrew. Turkington moved into second on the fifth lap and suddenly DuHamel's lead was history. Crevier's run at the front was delayed by an off-track excursion in turn six - but he would be back. By the 11 th lap the lead five were in heavy traffic and by the 18th lap the lead five had broken up and now there were only three at the front. DuHamel, Turkington and Crevier. Turkington took the lead on the 17th lap and he held that lead until tum 10 on the final lap. DuHamel ran the Kawasaki up the inside, but left that little gap open on the inside of turn] 1. Turkington didn't hesitate. Crevier, meanwhile, could only watch. "I didn't have enough motor to even stay in their draft," Crevier said from the winner's circle. "What are you going to do but give up. Without a doubt I was the fastest guy on the race track today." By this point, dirt tracker and Harley TwinSport ace Hale had finished his impressive charge to seventh, holding off McDaniel in the closing laps in his debut ride on the Camel Honda. "This thing is 50/50," a disappointed DuHamel said. "The bike did its job, but I didn't do mine. That was our race to win. I'm very disappointed." Turkington remained modest in victory: "He (DuHamel) seemed to be quicker in nine and I could get him in 10. He surprised me by passing in 10, but there was room to stuff him in 11. He ran it in as deep as he could, but I went in just as deep only on the inside." "I'm never happy about third," Crevier said. "My bike is no way near the fastest. I have to take the credit. We had no midrange, but I ran the best race that I could. (Tommy) Lynch was blocking me really good and I got run off at the top of the hill. Overall, I'm very proud of what I did with what I had." m Results 600el: 55 FINAL: 1. Britt Turkington (Suz); 2. M;gu.1 DuHamel (l

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