Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE AMAICCS HP4 600cc Su ers ort Series: Final round ~ Brill Turkington (28) leads eventual winner Jason Pridmore (43) in 750cc Supersporl. Britt Tu rkingt on (28) led the 600cc field early ~ver Miguel DuHamel (17). Miguel DuHamel (17) went on to win the 600cc final, his seventh win of the series. DuHamel goes out in st Ie By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG. 29 UZZy Kaw asaki ' s Mi gu el DuHam el won his se ven th 600cc Supersp o rt ra ce in 10 s ta r ts tod a y a t Sea r s Point Inte rnat ion al Raceway, fu r t her e m p h asizi ng h is superio rity in w hat is AMA road racing's mo st d eb a ted cl ass. A l r ea d y crowned cha mpion for a second tim e a t th e las t rou nd in Mid -Oh i o, DuHa me l only increased h is reputation as the very best in the 600cc class by w hi p ping th e field on a race trac k he'd never see n prior to this we ekend. Se co nd place on th e d emand in g Sears Point circu it went to th e everimprov ing Ger ald Rothman Jr. on th e Yoshimura Suzuki, thou gh so me 1.853 seconds behind a celebrati ng DuHamel at the finish, .Rothm an was the bes t of th e res t . Well, except fo r Ca mel Ho nda's Rand y Renfrow . The veteran race r fro m Virginia seemingly had secon d pla ce wr apped up until h itting the tire wall in tum one wit h his shoulder M 10 onl y two laps from th e end, dropping him all the way back to eig h th a t the finish. Third place went to Class Racing's Jason Pridmore, end in g a s uccessfu l weekend for the Californ ian after winning the 750cc Supersport class the da y befor e. Canad ia n St eve Crevier finishe d fourth on ano ther Kawasaki, his firs t non -top thr ee finish of the season. Fifth pl ace w ent to Camel H onda's Mike Smith after he got th e best of a race-lon g battle w ith Jam es Ran do lph and his Suzuki GSXR600. The ch a m p io ns hip . e nds w it h DuHamel 's 335 points some 60 po in ts cl ear of Yo sh imura Su zuki 's Britt Turking ton, who finished ninth on the day. Ren frow was abl e to hold on to third in the sta ndings wit h 268 poi n ts, ea rning the $5000 H P4 O il bonus for b e in g th e top fin ishing user of the p roduct in the series . Crevier ended the season in fo urth p lace with 244 p oints, fi ve clear of Rothman' s 239 points. Th e ra ce began in typical 600cc Supersport fash ion - eight or nine bikes in s n ake li ke procession, s w a p pi n g pl aces all a ro u nd the 2.52 -mile race track . The fi rs t lap was led b y fa sts ta r te r Turkington, a lead he would hold un til the fourth lap. At that point DuHam el took ov er and began to pull away. Wh il e DuHamel g o t clear at the fro n t, Tu rking to n started a gradual fade that even tu ally pushed him all the way back to a di sappointing ninth. Du Ham el 's lead w as one second after five laps, two seconds after eigh t laps, and over four seconds by the 13th lap. That lea d was over Renfrow, who had also fough t h is w ay clear of the pursu ing pac k. The Ca mel Ho nd a rider was well clear of the chasing field, but th at would come unraveled tw o laps from the end . "I made a mistake," he admitted. "I cut a li ttle tig ht in o n e and hit my sho ulde r. I thought for sure I was hu rt bad, bu t it was okay and I could finis h th e race." Renfrow had hi s left sho ulder st rapped after the race and was in considerable pain. Renfrow's d emise saw a three-way s tr u gg le to in he ri t h is position. Rothman [r ., Prid mo re and Cre vier a ll w an ted it, bu t it was Rothman wh o go t it, resulting in h is firs t-ever trip to a 600cc Supers po r t w inn e r ' s circle. Pridmore en ded up th ird with Crevier fourth. Smi th led Rando lp h across the line for fifth place. " I've bee n sho otin g for th is all yea r, " sai d Rothman, wh o als o wrap ped up the AMA/CCS Top Expert Cha m pi o nsh ip to add to the si milar title he'd won a day earlier in th e 750cc Superspo rt class . "It's a dr eam come true. I can't be any more hap py." Pri d mo re was also pleased, despite losin g o u t to his good friend on the final lap : "It's been a great weekend," he sai d . "It's too bad Jerry (Rothma n) and I a re su ch good fri ends because there was no ramming out there. It was good clean racing. This is my first 600 podium and I'm jus t tickled." For DuHamel, the race p u t an exclama tion point on a n already outstanding season: "It's the way I wanted to d o it," he said. "That's the proper way to wi n it. I wasn't go ing to just go and cruise a round . I wan ted to show everyone tha t I' m the faste st and that's why I'm the champion. My '94 plans a ren't decided yet , but I'm ple ased to go out and wi n for Kaw asaki and the Muzzy crew." CN Results 600cc SS FIN AL: 1. Miguel Du Hamel (Kaw): 2. Gerald Roth ma n Jr. (Su z); 3. Jaso n Prid more (Kaw ); 4. Stev e Crevie r (Kaw) ; 5. Mike Smith (Ho n): 6. Jam es Rand olph (S uz); 7 . Aaron Ya tes (H on ); 8. Randy Renfrow (Ho n) : 9. Britt Turkington (Suz ); 10. Owen Weichel (Han ): II. Tommy Lynch (H an ): 12. Mar k McDani el (Suz); 13. Hikaro Miyagi (Ha n): 14. Thomas Montan o (Han); 15. Rob ert Wrigh t (Suz); J6. David Sta nton (Suz); 17. Oon Canet (Suz); 18. Mike Mu rph y (Su z); 19. Bria n Pa rriott (Han) : 20. Brad Ste p he ns (Suz); 21. Kev in Holman (Suz); 22.. Lee Brown (Hon); 23. Jamie Bow ma n (Yam); 24. Mike Hemel (Suz); 25. Da ve Roger s (Ho n); 26 . Mik e Vella (Suz); 27. Pe te De mas (Ka w ); 28 . Ja mes Le s lie (Ho n ); 29. Kiy o Watanabe (Ho n). lime: 34 min ., 1.466 sec. Distance: 19 laps. 47.88 miles. Average Speed: 83.763 mph Margin of Vict ory: 1.853 sec. FINAL 600cc SS C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Afler 10 of 10 round II): 1. Migu el Du Ham el (335{7 win s); 2. Bri tt Turkin gt on (275/ 1); 3. Randy Renfrow (268); 4. Ste ve C re vie r (244); 5. Ge rald Rothman Jr . (239); 6. Mike Smith (231{ 2); 7. Jason Pridmore (197); 8. Owen Wei chel (18 8) ; 9. T ommy Lyn ch (1 82); 10. Mark McDani el (178); 11. Jam es Ra nd olph (139); 12. Aa ron Yates (110) : 13 . To m Kipp (lOS); 14. Mike Mu rphy (104); 15. Jamie Bowman (95); 16. Robert Meister (94); 17. James Leslie (92); 18. (TIE) Rob in Holida y I Thomas Stevens (75); 20. Thomas Mon tano (59). AMAlCCS 750cc Supersport Series: Final round Pridmore w ins, Turk takes title By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG. 28 aso n Pridm ore had some thi ng to prove. Britt Turkington had a championship to win . Both accomplished their goals in th e fin al round of th e 750cc Supersport Series at Sears Point Internati onal Racewa y. Hell-bent on attracting the attention of an AMA Superbike team for the 1994 season, Pr idmore went out and won his second s uccessive 750cc Supersport final, easily beating his Class Racing teammate Fritz Kling by 3.213 seconds on his Jake Van Vleettuned Kawasaki as the team celebrated its final race with its second 1-2 finish in a row. Turkington, meanwhile, rode what he called the slowes t race of hi s life in order to sa fel y sec u re h is fi r s t AMA /CCS Championsh ip on h is Yosh imura Suzuki. Turk ington cruised around to fin ish a lowly 12th, but it was good eno ugh to ea rn him the championship, Suzuki's fi rst since Jamie James won on a Suzuki in 1989. Third p lace went to Sears Po int local Da vid D e veau on hi s Art Chambers-bac ked Suzuki GSXR750 w ith Yosh imura Suzuki' s Ge ral d Rothman Jr. and Team Suzu ki Spo rt's Mark McDanie l fi lling the to p fi ve pl aces . Fo r Rothm an Jr. th e fourthplace finish was eno ugh to lock up the J

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