Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 4: Laguna Seea As usual, Scott Zampach (1) and Shawn Higbee (2) led the way In the HarleyDavidson TwinSports even t. Higbee edged Zampach for a narrow win. ... .-:-t OJ .[ 12 hills eas t of Monterey, it was Kipp who was pressuring Turkington. The Yoshimura duo instantly opened a gap back to the trailing group that consisted of Pridmore , Rothman, fastqualifier.Randolph and Merkel. The first to exit was Mark Mcfraniel. the Santa Rosa , California , rider crashing his Suzuki GXR750 in tum two on the third lap. Although it was im me d ia tely evident, Turkington 's race stra tegy would change on the fifth lap in tum 10. As he ran it thr ough the fast righ t-hander just behind Kipp, th e Texan saw his ri val Rothman's Kawas ak i wadd ed agai nst the ha y bales at th e exit of the comer. The New Eng lande r had cras he d a lap earlier as he attempted to move through the group racing for third. " It seems that the front went," a disappointed Rothman said later. "It happened real quick . 1 was making up some good ground there (in tum 10), so 1 was pushing it. 1 just got to the hay bales. 1 had my feet planted in the d irt; 1 was lucky. The bike hi t real hard. We were struggling a little bit with the 750. 1 just wanted to ride as hard as I could and get some points - that plan d idn 't work." Turkington la ter admitted that the need to win somewhat diminished wit h Rothman's d e m ise : "I h ate to tak e ad vantage like that ," the defending class champion said. "But a points lead is a points lead and a championship is a championship - and that's how they' re won." Jus t as it appeared that the top two Yoshimura bikes were settling in to a com for ta ble one-two finish , Merkel picked up the pace - passing Randolph in the turn one-two transition on the sixth lap before getting Pridmore a lap later. Once he was free and clear of the others, the Stockton, California, rider s tarted to make an impression on the lead that the Suzuki duo had built. What began as a four-second lead qu ickly dwindled; 2.8 seconds on lap 11, 1.4 seconds on lap 13 . O n th e 14 th goround, Merkel stuffed his way u nd er Tu rkington in tu rn 10 and went af ter Kipp, who had made a break in tra ffic. Al though Me r kel wou ld close a t times, Kipp managed to get the best of the lapped riders to hold Merke l off by 2.368 seconds at the finish line. "It' s been so damn long," Kipp said with a smile as he arrived at the postrace press conference. "I dug down deep; it was a long time coming. Last year I was on crutches (Kipp had suffered a broken leg in the Superb ike N ational at Charlotte) . God had the bigges t part in me getting back on top. And I 'v e got the h a r d e s t- w o rking crew in ra cing. We test ed here at the end of March and 1 knew it wo ul d be tou gh between us (Kip p and Tu rkin gton). 1 have no complaints; I' m very happy." In obvio us pain, Merkel seemed conten t with his strong second-place ride, only a few hours after his qu alifying cra sh in tum four: "The prob lem wa s that the crash destroyed that mo torcycle," Merke l said. " It br oke the last exhaust that 1 felt comfortable w ith, and it hurt my foot. 1 reall y wanted to win this one; I guess 1 wanted to win too bad in qualifying. 1 wanted to p ut a good time up there, but it bit me. I got a terrible start and 1 got stuffed up a couple of times in traffic." Randolph's fourth-p lace finish matched his season best, and the Santa Rosa, California, resident was pleased with his effort : "I got a bad start and 1 did my best," he said. "He (Prid more) was real hard to ge t by. He made it a real good race . At th e halfway mark 1 realized 1 had to get by, so 1 forced the issue. 1could see Merkel getting away...I . fin ished Top Expert, so that's pretty good." (N Laguna Seea Raceway Monterey, California Resu lts: May 21, 1994 7SO<:c SUPERSPORT FIN AL: 1. Tom Kipp (Suz); 2. Fred Mer ke l (Kaw); 3. Britt Tur kington (Suz ); 4. Jam es Randolph (Suz): 5. Jason Pridmor e (Yam); 6. Ch uck Graves (Suz ); 7. Donald Jacks (Suz); 8. Th om as Wilson (Ya m); 9. Jim Leslie (Kaw); 10. Aaron Ya tes (Suz ); 11. Andy Milton (Yam); 12 Aaron Lanningham (Kaw); 13. Anthony Lupo (Suz ); 14. Michael Smith (Suz ); l S. Owen Weichel (Hon ); 16. Lance Ho lst (Ka w); 17. Timoth y Blasquez (Suz); 18. Mike Krynock (Kaw) ; 19. Jim Leste r (Yam); 20. Dean Mizdal (Yam); 21. Oavid Roy (Kaw ); 22 Hlk aru Miyagi (Hon); 23. Lee Brown (Hon); 24. Lome Banks (Kaw); 25. Alan Schwen (Hon ): 26. Tom Aquino (Suz ); 27. Mark Miller (Kaw); 28. John Jacob (Yam); ~. Brett Metzger (Han); 30. Sean Sweeney (Suz); 31. Robert Wright (Ka w) ; 32. Oa x Snow (Suz); 33. Troy Burstyk (Hon); 34. Ma tthew Brown (Hon); 35. Shawn Roberti (Yam): 36 . Gerald Ro th ma n Jr. (Kaw); 37 . Ma rk McDani el (Suz); 38. Brad Stephens (Suz) . T ime: 34 min., 21.525 sec. \ Dist.. ncr: 22 laps. 48.708 miles. A ver..gr Speed. 85.058 mph. M..rgi n of Vict ory: 2 368 sec . 750c c SUPERSPO RT C' S HIP POINT ST AN DINGS (After 4 of 10 rou nds): 1. Britt Turkington (132/2 win s); 2. Jason Pridm ore (116); 3. Tom Ki pp (110/1 w in); 4. James Randolph (107); S. Gera ld Rothman Jr. (97/1); 6. Fr ed Merkel (90); 7. Th oma s Wilson (73); 8. Dean Mizdall (59); 9. Jacqu es Gu enette Jr. (58); 10. Aaron Lann1ngham (57); 11. fTIE} David Roy / Ma rk McDaniel (48); 13. (T IE) Aaron Yates /Shawn Rob e rt i (44); lS . An thon y Lupo (40); 16. Robert Wri ght (39); 17. Ow en Weichel (37); 18. fTIE) Andy Milton /Mike Krynock (36); 20. Lance H olst (33). Upcoming Rounds Round 5: Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - June 12 Round 6: Loudon, New Hampshire - June 19 A AlC SHarley-DavidsonTwinSport Series M C Round 4: Laguna Seca R y acewa Higbee oller Zampachina squeaker By Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY,CA, MAY 22 he Shawn and Scott Show came to Laguna Seca Raceway for the fourth round of the Harley-Davidson Twin Sport Series and didn' t d isappoint, though they had an extra performer th is time. Teammates in endurance racing, the H-D 883-mounted pair of Scott Zampach and Shawn Higbee were joined by Aaron Yates and the trio traded the lead constantly, with the differenc e a slight .067 seconds in Higbee' s favor at the end of the 12-lap, 26.4 mile race. "Now that's racing," Tilley's H-D's Zampach said after coming up ju st s hor t. "This is the best fun you could have." The win, Higbee's second in a row after Zampach won the first two races, leaves them tied on po ints at 134 after four of 11 races. " I stayed up la s t nigh t u nt il 11:00 p. m. p utting new valves in so 1 coul d keep u p wit h Scott. That migh t be the T reason 1won today," Bartel's H-D's Higbee said. Higbee was the first across the line to start the fina l lap; Zampach wasin his shadow with Yates third. Zampach was able to make his way to the front in tum four . Higbee took the lead back going up to tum six, with Zampach reclaiming it goin g into turn 11 as Yates made a d es p e r a te move fo r the lead . The Moroney's H-D rider crashed, re mounting to finish fifth. For Higbee'and Zampach it was a d rag race to the finish, with Higbee triumphant by a wheel. Third place wen t to dirt tracker Matt Wait, rid ing for Mitchell's Modesto HD, the seve nteen-year-old well in front of Hansen Motorcycles' Billy Graef. A fo ur-rider train for six th crossed the stri pe with Low Coun try H-D's Chu ck Blackm on in fron t of R.c. Cycles' Robert Cu nnin g ton, Hal's H -D's Andy Fenwick, w ho was riding with a b rok en right foot, and H-D of Citr us Heights' Donnie Greene. . A field of 23 took to the track at the start of th e twelve-lap race. Zam pach took th e lead immediately in fro n t of Higbee, w ith Cunnington an early third , in front of Yates an d Wait. By the second lap, there was already a gap between the top two and the rest, and it would grow to over two seconds before it began to shrink past the mid way ma rk. On the seventh lap it was obvious that Yates was closing, and on the next lap he was up to second in front of Higbee, though Higbe e took it right back. On the ninth lap , Yates went into the lead on the brakes in to turn 11, but Zampach motored by him go ing over the hill and in to turn two. Wait, w ho appeared to ha ve the fastest 883, took the lead going up the hill into tum six, with Zampach taking it back before the end of the lap and holding it across the line. With two laps to go, Zampach wa s out front. Wait was second, but Higbee took the spot and then moved past Zampach on the run up to the Corkscrew. Across the line the final time Higbee led, Zampach was second;and Yates a constant third. The race would come down to a final drag race from tum 11 to the flagman, and Higbee wa s the winner. Zampach tucked in to second, w ith Wa it a surprised third after Yates slid out within sigh t of th e flag . He was able to re mount, bu t not befo re Graef sped past. Blackmon had moved steadily forward to take sixth, passing Cunnington on the 10th lap to set the top nine places. (N Laguna Sees Raceway Monterey, Cailfornla Resu lts: May 22, 1994 H-D TWIN SPO RT FINA L: 1. Shawn Higbee; 2. Scott Zampach; 3. Mat t Wait; 4. Billy Graef; 5. Aaron Ya tes ; 6. Chuck Blackmon; 7. Robert Cunnington ; 8. An dy Fen wic k; 9. Don Gr eene; 10. Ben Bost rom ; 11. Shawn McNary; 12. Bria n Koh l; 13. Nigel Gale; 14. Matthew Gu idera ; 15. Walt OoJ"SCh; 16. Eric Bostrom; 17. Rick Hu tchins; 18. Dan iel Kuttner; 19. Jeff Hard ing; 20. Pete Demas; 21. Jim Whi ta ker; 22. Ronald McGill; 23. Joe Winston. TIme: 20 minutes. 37.242 seconds. Distance: 12 laps. 26.4 miles .' Average speed: 77.305 mph. M arg in of victory: JJ67 second s. AMA/CCS H-D T WIN SPO RTS C'SHIPS SERIES POINT ST ANDI NG S (After 4 of 10 rou n ds), 1. fTIE) Sha wn Higbee/Scott Zampach (134 /2 wins); 3. And y Fenwick (113); 4. Matt Wait (102); 5. Billy Graef (97); 6. Shown McNary (83); 7. Don Greene (78); 8. fTIE) Robert Cunnington /Chuck Blackmo n (70); 10. Jim Whitaker (65). Upcoming Rounds Round 5: Elkhart take, Wisconsin - June 12 Round 6: Loudon, N.H. - June 19

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