Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROAD RACE AMAlCCS HP4 600cc Su ers ort Series: Round 7 ~ Mike Smith cele brates his 600cc Supersport victory at his home race track. Randy Ren frow (3), Mike Smith (8) and Ste ve Crevier (4) were th is close for most of th e 600cc race; Miguel DuHame l also joined in, Taka hiro Sohwa won h is second straight 750cc Stipersport final, top ping Jason Pridmore and Bri tt Turkington, at Road Atlanta. r-----------·---- --. - -_.-_. _. • r - ,. --- . - ~~ ---~~-- By Paul Carruth e rs Photos by H e n n y Ray Abrams M 14 . . Hotlanta is ood to Smith B RASELTON, GA, JULY18 uch to the liking of the highly partisan crowd, Georgia's own Mike Smith got the better of Canada's Steve Crevier and Miguel DuHamel to win the 600cc Supersport final at Road Atlanta, the Camel Honda rid er just edging Crevier by a scant .O~f-a- . second after a stirring race-long battle. Smith's career s tar ted its climb toward stardom w it h il similar 600cc Supersports victory at Road Atlan ta in 1988. At that time the local kid rod e a Ro swell Honda to vi ct ory over le gend ary Supersports hero Doug Polen . This time the now established star of the Camel Honda team held off the serious pursuit of Canadian Crevie r on the Weldrite-backed Kawasaki ZX6 and the ---- -,- - cha rg ing DuHamel on the Muzzy Kawasaki. The win was Smith's second of th e season and second in a row , his last victory coming nearly a month ea rlier in the rain a t New Hampshire In te rn ational Speedway. The Canton, Georgia, native averaged 102.634 mph in completing th e 19-1ap race in 27 minutes, 59.447 seconds. With Crevier and DuHamel filling the top three, fourth place went to Smith's Camel Honda teammate Randy Renfrow. The result wasn't Renfrow 's best of the season, but it was his best ride of the year. The Virginian finished third in the wet at Loudon, but his fourth-place here was actually a better result becau se the little veteran ran with the fast guys, lead- ing at times and rid ing like he used to before his serious accident at the beginning of the 1991 season. Fifth place went to Cla ss Racing's Jason Pridmore, ahead of TBR Racing's Dave Estok, Yoshimura Suzuki's Gerald Rothm an Jr. and Britt Tu rkington, Two Brothers Racing's Tommy Lynch and HyD-Mech Saws' Owen Weichel DuHamel's third-place finish allowed him to keep a firm hold on the championship points lead. The French Canadian lead s the way with 230 points to Turkingto n's 196. Crevier, still searching for his first win of the series, is closing in with 186 points, ju st one clear of Renfrow 's 185 points. Sm ith's victory moves him into a tie for fifth place with Rothman as only three races remain in the lO-race series. As the pack emerged from the highspeed back straight and the famous d ip that leads to tum 11, it was the diminutive Renfrow leading the wa y with Smith, Pridmore, Rothman and Lynch in tow . Renfrow would continue to lead until the fourth lap. At that point, Smith took over with Crevier also moving by Renfrow. . It appeared as though the race win ner wo uld definitely emerge from tha t trio, as DuHamel was fifth, behind Prid more and some two seconds behind the leaders as the sixth lap was completed . O n the se venth lap, th ou gh , DuHamel moved by Prid more a nd started to close on the leaders. On the eighth lap , Crevier took over at the front with Smith and Renfrow still in his shadows. On the 11th lap, the feisty Canadian ha d opened up a onesecond lea d as they hit traffic for the first time in ea rne st . That lead became 1.2 seconds on the 12th lap as DuHamel sud d enly appeared right on Renfro w's tailpiece. Smith wasn' t givi ng up , thou gh, an d the inspired Georgian closed back in on Crevier as they circula ted as a pai r again on the 14 th lap . On the 15th la p, DuHamel got by Renfrow on the back straigh t and started to close in on the leade rs. Smith took over at the front with two la p s to go, squeezing past. C r ev ie r th rou gh the dip before the b rid ge that crosses tum 11. With a lap to go, Smith still led but DuHa mel suddenly loomed lar ge as the pair becam e a th reesom e. Despite some hectic action th rou gh the d ip on the fina l lap , Smith was ab le to hold on fo r vic to ry , just ahead of the two Can ad ians. "It's great, man," a ha ppy Smith said from the winner's circle. "That's for you guys. I d id n' t know if I could hold on there on the last lap . Thank God , I was able to." Crevie r wa s gracious in defeat, though he has to be tiring of his bridesma id role: "I led most of the race, but I just can't seem to get out of the com ers as good as these guys. Mike ran a grea t race , he kn ows his way around her e that's for sure." . After his poor start, DuHamel op ted for the safe way ou t "I was trying to be smooth and I had a hard time getting by Rothman and then a hard time w ith Renfrow," Du Ham el explained. "There was only one or two laps left when I finally caught up . I ended up on the outside of Steve (Crevier) and that wasn't a .very reassu ring position to be in. If there was one more lap I would have gone for the win, but I had a lot more to lose than to win. If it was for the championship, sure I would have gone for it. I just ran out of time to do it safely ." c. Results 600cc SS FINAL: 1. Mike Smith (H an) ; 2. Steve Crevier (Kaw ), 3. Migu el Du Hamel (Kaw); 4. Rand y Renfrow (Hon); 5. Jason Prid mo re (Ka w); 6. David Es tok (Hon); 7. Ge ral d Ro thm an Jr. (Su z); 8. Britt Turkington (Suz); 9. Tom m y Lynch (Hon); 10. Ow en weichel (Hon ); 11. Aa ron Y.... (Hon); 12. James Leslie (Hon); 13. Max Autry (Han); 14. Ja~ Bowman (Yam); 15. Mark McDaniel (Suz) ; 16. Robert Meis ter (Suz) ; 17. John Cla rke (Hon); 18. Ro n Ewerth (Ho n); 19. Lome Ban ks (Ho n) ; 20. Michael Leh n ing (Hon) ; 2 1. Ioa c Chaves (Hon ); 22. Steven Tlce (Hon) ; 23. Al MacMartin (Hon ); 24. Phil Schilling (Hon); 25. James Randol ph (Suz) ; 26. Miko Bums (Han); zr. Jell Cov ingto n (Kaw ), 28. Joe Wolfe (Ho n), 29. J'ck Duprees (502)' 30. Greg

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