Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ H rley-DavidsonTwinS ortSeries:Roundll _a_ AMA /CCS Top Expert Cha mpionship in the 750cc class. Th e final po int standings have Turk in g ton ' s 311 topping M u z z y Ka w as a ki ' s Taka h iro So hwa , s ix t h today, who ended hi s firs t season of AM A racing with second place in the c h a m p io n s h ip wi th 29 2 p o ints . Rothman Jr. ended the ye a r with 253 poi n ts wi th Pri dm o r e' s 251 earni ng him fou rth overa ll in the cha m pio nship chase. Rot hman led ini tia lly, but qu ickly gave way to his teammat e and cha mpion-to-be Tu r kin g to n . Prid mo re was th ird, with Kling fourth and Deveau fi fth at th e en d of th e fi rs t lap. Turkington 's cru ise s tarted on the secon d la p as Pridmore s h o t pas t and in s tan tly pu lled awa y as th e Te xan started to tip- toe his way a ro un d th e 2.52-mile race trac k. Turkington's fade .was con stan t. :He we nt from seco nd to sixth in a lap . Then back to ninth, then I flth , th en 12th, a position he would finally feel comfo rtable with. " I w a s b e in g ex t r a ca u tio us ," Turking ton said lat er . " I don' t thin k I've eve r rid den so slow in my life. It was imp or tan t to Su z uki a nd to Yoshi mura to win the cham pio nship . I found a gap and made su re I stayed in the mid dl e of it. That gap wa s worth a lot of money to me." Prid mo re, m ean w hil e, m us t have though t h e wa s tea ching a C la s s Racin g School as he went abou t h is bu siness of annihilating the res t of the field . His ride appea red effortless and he was never headed. " It' s just awesome, " he said later . 'Tm h op in g for b ig ger and b etter things next yea r, but I ju st can't say e no ugh a bo u t Jake (Va n Vleet). It 's been a great two yea rs with him . Th is w as prob ab ly our las t ra ce tog ether and this is th e wa y to fin ish it ou t. I was rea lly determ ined today." Beh ind Pri d more the race for second was furious and it las ted for most of the 19-1ap ra ce. Kling vs . Deve au vs . Rothm an with McDani el th ro w n in fo r g o o d mea sure. It eve n tua lly ca me d own to th e hard-r iding Klin g ge tti ng the best of the man w ith the local knowled ge Deveau. The northern Californ ia rid er did, however, ma ke the winne r's circle after hold ing off Ro thman. McDani el was a lonel y fifth wi th Sohwa six th a fte r coming from way back after a poor sta rt. "I knew he (Kling) was right the re, " Dev eau sa id. "O n lap 10, I tho ugh t, 'Ma n, I'm not goi ng to make it: I ha d to se ttle for third. At the end I pulled it back a lit tle bit." The six-foot, fou r-inch Kling was second in what will likely be his last r ac e a boa rd a Class-spo nsore d Kawasaki. "It's a great fin ish for us," Kling said . "It wa s the las t time together for us as team mates: ' C\" Res ults 750cc S5 FINA L: 1. Jason Pridm or e (}Caw); 2. Fritz Kling ( Ka w) ; 3 . Dav id De veau (S u z) ; 4. Ge ral d Ro thm an Jr. (Su z); S. Mark McD ani el (Suz); 6. Taka h iro Soh wa (Kaw ): 7. Jam es Rando lph (Sux); 8. Dav id Stanton (Suz ); 9. Aaron Yates (Suz ); 10. Robert Wri gh t (S uz ); 11. An th ony te pa (Su z); 12 . Bri tt T u rkington (Su z); 14. Tim Blasquez (Sua): 15. Mike Krvnock (Kaw ); 16. Robert Terser (Suz); 17. Anthony Palme r (5u7. ; 18. Dave Ros no (Ho n); 19. Dean Mizdal ) (Kaw); 20. Lee Brow n (Ho n ); 21. Tho m as Montan o (Han); 22. Mike Vella (Han): 23. Ron Kent (Suz) ; 24. Brad Stephe ns (Suz) . T im e: 34 mi n .• 2.950 sec. D ista nce: 19 laps. 47.8 miles. Avera ge Sp eed : 83.702 mph. Ma rgin of Vi ctory: 3.213 sec . FIN AL 750cc SS C SHl I' I'OI NT ST ANDlN GS (Alter 10 of 10 ro u nd s): 1. Britt Tu rking to n (311/ 4 wins): 2. Taka hi ro So h wa (292/2) : 3 . Ge ral d Roth m an J r. (253/1) ,4. Jaso n Prid mor e (251/ 2); 5. Fri tz KUng (249); 6. Jam es Randol ph (213); 7. Ma rk McDani el (209); 8. Dea n Mizd al (158); 9. Aaron Yates (134); 10. Robert Meiste r (122); 11. Dav e Rosno (108); 12. Jam es Leslie . (97); 13 . Dav e Sad ow ski (B8/ 1) ; 14. Shawn Higbee (8 4) ; IS . Robert Wri g ht (80) : 16 . (T IE) D a vid Sta nton / Tim Blasquez (64); 18. Chuck Graves (60): 19. Lo r rie Banks (58 ); 20. (T IE) An thon y Lup o / Kurt Hall /Robin Holiday (56). RA O DRACE G ~ Scott Zampach (1) wo n his third H-D TwinSport Championsh ip; here he leads Shawn Higbee (5) and Andy Fenwick (6) . Zampach goes title shopping at Sears By Renny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG. 29 h r ee was Till e y ' s H-D Sco tt Zarnpach's luc ky nu mbe r a t Sears Point, his th ird cons ecutive win in th e Ha rley-Da vidso n 883 se r ies prope ll in g him to h is thi r d Ha rleyDav idso n Twin S p o rts N ational Ch ampion sh ip in a row . "Tha t wa s one of the toughest races I had all year," said Za rnpac h, who has won five of the 11 races. "Th ere was a lot of p ressure with the champio nship on the line. I sa w Shawn Higbee's bike ove r the re in the bales and thought tha t ma ybe I had en ou g h p o in ts for th echampionshi p. I just got ma rried last week an d this is a great way to start a new life toge the r:' Higbee had; indeed, led the race, dropping beh ind Zampach on the third lap before cras hing out in turn four on the fou rth lap. Since he was the only rid er wi th a mathematica l chance of catching Zampach, the championship was d ecided w he n Zampach crossed the finis h line, even thou gh there is one race rem a in in g at Day to na International Speed way in Octobe r. Th e nu m ber o ne p la te goes to Zampach wh o left Sea rs Point with 350 p o ints, 44 be tte r th a n Hig bee w ho secu red second in the ch ampionship . He was credi ted with a 14th-place finish. The 10-lap, 25.2-m ile race was compl et ed in 19 minutes, 7.260 seco nds at an ave rag e speed of 78.448 mph. At the fin ish line, Zampach had a cus hio n of 5 .697 sec o n d s on Hal ' s HarleyDavidson's Andy Fenw ick. In his AMA de bu t, R.C. Cycles' Robe rt Cu nnington fin ishe d third . The fir st a tte m p t at s tar ti ng the Twi n Spo rts race was red -flagge d when Chuck Black m on crashed in the firs t turn on th e openi ng la p . Black m on, T third in the cha mpio nship com ing into th is race, wa s u nab le to ma ke the res ta rt due to mach in e damage and his abse nce reduced the field to 15. Zampach go t the ju mp on the pack, but Higbee took over the lead go ing u p to the carousel a t tu rn seve n. Fenwick and loca l favorite Scott Gray follow ed, wi th Gray taking over third going into tu rn 11, a 180-degree righ t that lead s to th e st art-finish line. On the second lap the top four made a clean break, Zam pach taking the lead ou t o f turn two, H igbee second, with Fenwick back in fron t of Gray . Higbee was a t it again, ta king the lea d goi ng into tu rn seven, Zampach ta king it back on the brakes at the end of the backstra ight going into turn 11. But Hig bee wasn't done, trying Zampach on the inside of turn one, a bo ld maneu ver tha t leaves little room for error. The third lap ended wi th Zampach in the lead and , soon a ft erw a r d s, Hi gbee was t u m b li n g i nto th e h ay bales. With little del ay, Zampach built up a 10 bike length lead on Fenwick, who inheri ted second, as Gray moved in to thi rd . W e ll beh ind the lead e r s C u n ni ng to n was an unch all enge d fourth with Joe Wins ton fifth a nd Billy Grae f ho ld ing off Al Salaverria, in his first-ever 883 rid e, for sixth. At the halfw ay po int the race tightene d u p, less th an a seco nd covering first to th ird, bu t the order would soon change. Gray pitched aw ay third place in the carouse l on the sixth lap, mo ving Cun ning ton up to third and settin g the pod ium . Fen wick wa s able to s ta y with Za mpach until the very late stages, facing a defi cit of only a second w ith two laps to go . But th e "Z-Man " wic ked it up at the end and pull ed ou t nearl y a six-second cushi on. "My only s tro ng point was on th e brak es," Fenw ick sai d af te r finishing sec on d for th e fo u rt h race in a row . "Scott' s bike was quit e a bit fas ter than min e throu gh the esses, I d on 't know if it was the way hi s bike was se t up or the wa y I was ridi ng, but it really h ur t m e. I' ve al w a ys go t one little thin g hold ing me back. I was a one-ma n crew this weekend . Ma ybe if I ca me her e again. Scott's been he re before:' Fen w ick finis hed nearly 15 seco nds up on Cunnington , but tha t did n' t matter to the third-place finisher. "This is m y first Natio nal and I di d n' t th ink I could fin ish up here," the Haywood, Ca lifo rnia rid er sai d. " I was try ing m y harderst and ca me u p th rou gh the pack: ' H a nse n's H-D' s Gra ef p assed the Citrus He ights Harley of Salav erria just pas t the h a lfw ay mark a nd ma de it stick for fou rth place. Brian Kohl wa s sixth on the Blackhaw k Cy cle / Bartel's H-D . W in st on cras hed in turn tw o while battling wi th Salaverri a. l'X Results H-D TWINSI'ORTS: I. Sco tt Zampach; 2. An dy Fen w ick; 3. Rob er t C u nni ng to n; 4. Billy Gr.lef; 5. AI Salave rria; 6. Brian Kohl; 7. Ja mes Wh ita ke r; 8. Eric Lacru ze; 9 . Ric k H u tc h in s; 10. Daniel Kott ner; 11. George Elw ers; 12. Joseph Win."i on ; 13. Scott Gray; 14. t Sha wn H igbee ; 15. Matt Wait. Tim e: 19 m ins., 7.260 sees . Di stance: 10 la ps, 25.2 miles. Ave rage s pe ed : 78.448 mph . Margtn of victory: 5.697 Sf:"CS. H- O TW INSPORTS C S HII' STAN DINGS (Af te r 11 o f 12 round s) : 1. Scott Za m pach (350 /5 wins ); 2. Shaw n Higbee (306/1 ); 3. Scott Gray (220/1 ); 4. Ch uck Blackm on (205) ; 5. Richa rd Koehler (182); 6. And y Fenwick (178); 7. Billy G raef (177); 8. Jam es Whitak er (168); 9. Mike Hale (163); 10. Shawn McNa ry (161); 11. J O t" Win st o n (152 ); 12. James Leslie (128); 13. Jay Springs teen (121); 14. Ricky G ra ha m (108); 15. Brian Koh l (103); 16. Jeff Heino (10 1); 17. Jaso n Fletcher (86); 18. Brian Tillson (85); 19. (TIE) Robe rt Meis ter /Nigel Ga le (81). 11

• Cover