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eROAD RACE e AMAICCS HP4 600cc Su~_ot- - -,S_e s:___ 8 r e ri_ Round_ ~ _ tIe: "It was pre tty safe. We were three or fou r abreast, but it was a gr eat, safe race. Tw o (turn tw o) w as a kick er; we were two or th ree abreast at 120-13 0 mph. Everybody left enough roo m and everybod y got through the comer." DuHame l had two p lans - ge t away at the start , or wait to th e b itter en d. Plan A did n' t work: "They would catch up in the draft, so my s tra tegy was to be firs t in the first corner on the last lap - it worked out good. With these things you eN never kn ow ." Results 6ooc( SS FIN AL: 1. Mig ue l DuH am el (Kaw); 2. Randy Renfrow (Hon): 3. Mike Smith (Ho n); 4. Jason Prid more (Kaw ); 5. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Suz); 6. Britt Turkington (Su z); 7. Owen Weichel (Hon); 8. Jam es Lesli e (H a n); 9 . Tommy Lyn ch (Ho n ); to. Mi karu Miyagi (H an ); 11. Jamie Bowman (Yam): 12. Jam es Rand olph (Suz) ; 13. Mark McDa niel (Suz); 14. Robert Meister (Suz): 15. Dave Rosno (Hon); 16. Chuck Muller D (Han); 17. Dougl as Farrar (Ha n); 18. Steve Johns on (Ho n): 19. Scott Rueh le (Hon) ; 20. Arden Friesen (Yam); 21. Chris topher Wicker (Ho n); 22. Mark Barlow (Yam); 23. Jam es Prince (Hen): 24. Randy Bro dy (Suz) ; 25. Chuck Korkowski (Hon); 26. Todd Rypka (Hon). T ime: 29 m in., 2.943 sec. Distance: 16 laps , 48 mil es. Avenge Speed: 99.010 mph. M~rgin of Vidory: 0.380 sec. 600ce SS C'SHIP POINT ST AN DI NG S (Alter 8 0110 Miguel DuHamel (17), Randy Renfrow (3), Mike Smith (8) and Jason Pridmore had an epic battle for the 600cc Supersport win. Britt Turkington (28) held off the Takahiro Sohwa (41) and Pridmore in 750cc SS action. D amel back o uH n trac Brainerd kat By Paul Carruthers Photos by George Roberts BRAINERD, MN, AUG. I ased on the last two rounds of the series it w ould h ave been easy to conclude that there was a flaw in the 600cc Supersport racing armor of Miguel DuHamel and his Muzzy Kawasaki. At Brainerd International Raceway today, DuHamel erased any of those doubts when he came out on top of a magnificant four - an d sometimes six-rider d uel. Coming off th ird and fo urth place finishes a t Road Altanta and Loudon, DuH amel and Kawasaki returned to their wi nni ng ways at Brainerd, earning their fifth victory in eight starts. But as is th e norm in 600cc Supersport ra cin g, nothing was easy. B 10 After 16 laps an d 48 miles of nose-tota il , fender-to-fender, knock-downdragged out action, it w as Camel Honda's Ran d y Ren frow co mi ng the dosest to DuHamel as only a scant .380of-a-second separated them at the finish - and Renfrow's teammate Mike Sm ith and Class Racing's Jason Pridmore we re just as dose in third and fourth. For Renfrow the race was a highlight to his season. The Virginian led the race at ti mes a nd was always a factor in reco rding his strongest fini sh since his com ebac k from injury. The second place finis h also vaulted him into position to secure secon d in the champ ionshi p point sta nd ings. The championship now appears to be DuHamel's to lose. The French Canadian leads the series with 265 po ints, 44 points cl ear of Yoshimura Suzuki's Britt Turkington, who finished sixth - his third lackluster (fo r h im) fin ish in a row. Renfrow is now o n ly fo ur p oints behi nd Turkington, and appears to have the momentum to carry himself to second in the standings. Smith and Steve Crevier, who didn't race at Brainerd because of racing commitments in Canada, are tied for fourth wi th 186 points. Fifth place in today's race we n t to the Yosh imura Suzuki of Gerald Rothman [r., the junior member of the team topping his teammate Turkington . Seventh place went to Canada's Owen Weichel, the 4&6 Racing-backed rider putting in a stirring rid e on his priva teer Ho nda to run with the lead pac k before fadi ng slightly. The Honda CBR600s of James Leslie, Tom my Ly n ch an d Hikaru Miyagi filled the top 10 positions. The b est race of th e day saw DuH am e l le adin g Ren fr o w , Smith, Prid more, Rothman, Lynch, Turkington, Ja mie Bow m a n and Weichel into the turn seven and eight esses for the first time. Smith would take a tu rn at leading the pack on the four th lap as six ride rs estab lished themselves at the front. Du Ha mel and Smith did most of the lea d ing, w it h Pridmore and Renfrow d ucking into the top spot here and there a lon g the \"{ay. On the eighth la p the lea d pa ck w as down to fo u r riders DuHa me l, Pridmore, Smith and Renfrow - as Rothman appeared to be losing touch. A lap later an d Smith and Prid mo re had opened a gap over DuHa mel, Renfrow, and a recha rged Rothman. The four a t the front were toget her again on the 11th lap w ith Smith leading his teamma te Renfrow. On the 13th lap, Renfr ow led; a la p later i t was DuHamel's turn; then Renfrow's again on th e 15th. DuHamel, though, took ove r head ing into turn three on the fina l lap and was able to ho ld it to the finish. Ren frow was also able to hold Smith behind him, w ith Pr idmore watching from dose proximity. A classic 600cc race . "I thought I had first, " Smith sai d later. "I tried to ma ke a last move but 1 was in the wrong gea r in the last comer. 1 wa s try ing to ma ke a p lan but at the end it was more jus t reacting." Renfrow commented on how safe the racing was - despite the heat of the bat- rounds ): 1. Mig ueJ DuHamel (265/ 5 w ins ); 2. Britt Tu rki ngton (221/1); 3. RAndy Renfrow (217); 4. (TIE) Mike Smith/ Steve Crevier (186/2); 6. Gerald Rothman Jr. (182); 7. Owen-w eichel (144); 8. Jason Pridm ore (141); 9. To mmy Lynch (140): 10. Mark McDa niel (138); 11. Tom Kipp (105); 12. James RAndolp h (94); 13. Ja mes Bowman (94); 14. Robert Meister (78); 15. Mike Murphy (77); 16. (TIE) Robin Ho liday /Thomas Stevens (75); 18. Aaron Yates (68); 19. James Leslie (65); 20. Dave Rosno (58). AMAlCCS 750cc Supersport Series:Round 8 Turkington pulls away By D ean Adams Photo by G eorge Roberts BRAINERD, MN, JULY31 rilt Turkin gt on won a great 750cc Supersport race over Takahiro "Tiger" Sohwa and Jason Pridmore at Brainerd International Raceway, and in do ing so len g thened his points lead over Sohwa. In several Supersport races th is season, Yoshimura Su z uki 's Turkington has proven himself fast and capable of winning, but has had difficulty knifing th ro u g h bac kmarkers . Backmarkers w eren 't th e ca s e at Brainerd a s Tu rkington cu t through lapped traffic on the last lap to take his fourth win of the season in the class . Class Racin g' s Pridmore se t the fastest time in pract ice and the race while running in the front for a time, but an underpowered Kawasaki he ld him to second place with Muzzy Kawasaki rider Taka hiro Sohwa finishing a close thir d. Turkington's margin of victory wa s .685-o f-a -s eco n d a t a n average speed of just over 100 mph. Pridmore beat Scott Russell a t this tra ck las t year to claim his first-ever 750cc Supersport victory . This year he stood in his garage area watching the rain come down w hile the call to qualify came. " Yeah, le t it rain l" he ' yelled. Prid mo re took ad vantage of a wet, bu t drying race track to qualify in the number one position with Yoshimura support rider Geral d Rothman seco n d fastest and Ray Yoder just behind them. Pridmore found him self d elighted wi th his first 750 Supersport pole ever. " I'm happy. I think we would have been rig h t in there in the d ry too . I was by myself for the who le session an d that's the way I li ke it w hen the grou nd is we t. Where were regulars like Turkington and So hwa? Sohwa was fif th fas tes t, Turkingt on sixth. B II