Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"Joe Kemper, the owner of the team, pu t up with us for two years and he deserves thi s win ," Mizdal said in th e winn er' s circle after the team breezed to their first win. Plagued by problems all year, everyth ing ca me together a t Lag u na Seca. Mizd al was first at the controls, running s teadily in second and thi rd as Moto Libe rty's Michael Barnes sped off in to the late afternoo n sunset. But the engine o n the Mot o Lib erty Hon d a would expire on the 20th lap, handing the lead to Mizd al, who woul d tu m the Northwes t Racing Honda over to Hazen a lap later. When Ha zen too k ov er, he wasn ' t awa re that Barnes had retired and thought .he was in second place. Haz en was fast into a duel with Erion Racing's se con d r ider, La rry Pegram, w ho he would pa ss on th e 33rd lap. Pe gram cr as hed on the next lap , but Hazen never looked back and sped on to the win , thinking he was second. "I thought we wer e still in seco nd p lace," Hazen said. "When I got on the bike, I thought we were in third place. I figured it out about halfw ay around the ~ool do w n lap wh en everyo ne was givmg me the thumbs-up and waving." Hazen and Mizda l completed 37 laps o f the l I-turn Monter ey circ uit a t a n avera ge s p ee d o f 81.21 3 mph. Th e y would win by 21.107 seconds with AGV Sports Group's Sha wn H igbee second afte r taking over for Scott Zampach. H.!. Racing 2's John Hilton and Dale Kieffer made their first visit to the winner's circle with a third place finish. The ir secon d -pla ce fi nis h allows AGV Spor t to pad their Middleweight Team Ch allen ge Cha mpio nship poin ts lead. With four races down and seven to go, Hi gbee and Zampa ch ha ve 127 points, 29 more than the [icarilla Apache Race Team, which was ninth tod ay with Rad Greaves and Roy David Nicholson doing th e r iding . No r th w est Raci ng moved into third, two.points back. It was a sunny and breezy afternoon that greeted the 29 MTC teams at Laguna Seca . Michae l Barnes go t the holeshot, but Mizd al led across the line at the ~nd of lap one w ith Barnes right th ere In seco nd a nd Erion Racin g ' s Jamie Bowm an third. Fourth was ZamP?ch in front of Watanabe Racing's Donme Greene, and J.S. Racing's Jim Lester. Barnes showed his hand on the third lap , takin g the lead ah ead of Bowm an , Mizda l, Za mpach , a nd Greene. He wo~ld lead a three-rider b reakaway, taking Bowman and Mizdal with him, as a second trio joined up to fight over fourth. Mizdal and Bowman were going at it, with Bowma n on the edge more than once and the riders making contact. "There was a lot of action," Mizdal said. "Bowm an ran off the track a couple of times. We touched when we were lea ned over a couple of times . I didn't want to be that close." By the seventh lap Barnes was starting to make his break, while Mizdal got by Bowman on the ninth lap and set out after Barnes. But Mizdal wo uldn't catch him, as Barnes quickly moved away from his pursuers. On the 10th lap he had better than a four-secon d lead, and by the halfway mark he had over 13 seconds on Mizd al. Zampach had moved into third just before the halfwa y mark, w ith Greene moving up to fou rth before wholesale rider changes began . Erion Racing was the first of the leaders to pit. While Pegram took the sea t from Bowman, th e team d ropped ba ck to fourth. Barnes wa s lead ing, but on the 20th lap a rod let go in the Moto Lib erty Honda engine and ended his day. A (Left) Erion Racing's Nick lenatsch and Larry Pegram teamed up to give the squad Its second victory of the season. (Below)The Middleweight Team Challenge was won by Northwest Racing (3). AGVSports Group (5) finished second. si milar fa te h ad befall en the team at Daytona. Green e a nd Mizd al came in on the same lap, wi th Kiyo Watanabe su bbing for Greene, and Brad Hazen on for Mizda!. Zampach came in at the 38-min ute mark, handing the H onda to H igb ee, wh o joined .the track in third place. With that, all the top team s were in it to the end. Pegram led on the 24t h la p, while Hazen sat insecond , Then Hazen took over the lead on the 27th lap, while Higbee rod e a constan t third. "He (Peg ram) was riding smooth. I was rid in g h ard er," Hazen sai d . " 1 missed a gear going into one com er and he caught me on my mistake. He was pretty good on the brakes. He was pretty good in the comers." The 31st lap was when Hazen missed a gear and went wide in turn 11, allowing Pegra m" back into the lead, though ~e .tried to take it back ag ain u p the insi de of tu rn two. The pair swapped bac k and forth, with Hazen taking the lead from Pegram exiting tum three on the 33rd lap . Th e next lap would be Pegra m's last, as the Erion Racing rider cras he d in turn four, the same spot in wh ich he'd cras hed during p ractice. With less than five m inutes to go , Hazen was in the lead with a 17-second cus hion on Zampach. The lead would grow and Hazen would bring th e Northwest Racing Honda into the winner's circle. After Zampach came H .!. Racing 2, about 36 seconds back in third, w ith Stu Morrison anchoring Team Red Ba ron 's fou rth-place effort after Ste ve Teschke had taken the first stint. Toys & Tru cks' Tomy Lamperti and Ja mes Ra ndo lp h finis hed fift h, with Kiyo Watana be Racing in sixth, the final team on the same lap as the winners. "We've been plagued with problems. This is the first time it went like clockwork," Mizda l said. "I build the engines and it's no thing b ut constant development. 4 & 6 Racing did the head and we finall y got the head right. They get all the credit for the fast engine." . "If we had to take second, it couldn't be to a better team," Zampach said . John Hilton, who rode the second leg for H.!. Racing 2, said he was surprised when he saw the top riders on the side of the track. " It looked good for us." But they might not have gotten there. "We had a litt le bit of a transmission pr ob lem, but got through that and plugged away," Dale Kieffer said. (:'\' Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Results : May 21 ~.:..:9 9~ , 1 :,: 4c:- • _ MID DLEWEIGHT T EA M CHALLE NGE: I. Northwest ,Racing (Ho n); 2. AGV Spo rts G ro up (Ho n); 3. H.l . Racmg 2 (Hon); 4. Team Red Baron (Hen): 5. Toy s « Truc ks (Suz); 6. Kiyo Wa tanabe Racing (Ho n); 7. Gra ha m T~rri~1 Road Racin g C & D (Hon) ; 8. 1.5 Racing . (Han); 9. Iicarllla Apache Race Team (Ha n); 10. He iler &:: Owen (H en); 11. G P Ra dng (Ka w) ; 12. Team Na pa Valley Endurance (Han); 13. Team Houck Racing (Ho n); 14. Amhe rst Motorsports (H on); 15. Antman Racing (Hon); 16. Dream Team [J (Ho n ); 17 . Erion Racing (Hon ); 18. Snow Palmer Racing (Hen); 19. Red Line Oil Endurance (Hen); 20. Team ZlI (H-D); 21. Seirra Spo rt (Yam ); 22. Team GP (Ya m ); 23 . Endeavour Ra cing (Yam); 24. Team Powerturbine Racing (Hen); 25. 4 &: 6 Racing (Yam); 26. Mote Liberty I Ho nda (Hen); 27. Eve Twi n Racing (H -D); 28. Anderson/Dynamic Ra cin g (Yam); 29. Team Hansen (Yam). Time: 1 hour 31.259 seconds. Distance: 37 laps. 81.4 miles . Average s peed: 81.213 mph. Margin of victory: 21.107 seconds. AMAlCCS M ID D LEWEIGHT TE AM C HA LLENGE SERIES POI NT ST ANDINGS (Afler 4 of 11 ro unds ): 1. AGV Sport (127); 2. Jicarill a Apache Race Team (98); 3. North~est Racing (96); 4. Kiyo Watanabe Racing (87); 5. Molo Liberty Honda (81); 6. Amherst Motorsport (77) ; 7. Hyva c/New Tech Cycle (73); 8. Team Rod Baron (71); 9. H .1. Racing 2 (62); 10. 1.5. Ra cing (55); 1L (TIE) Lovela nd Motorsports Honda / Team Technology (30); 13. (TIE) Eve Twin Racing/Team Plunger/ Tt'a m Ho uck Ra cing (28 ); 16. (TI E) End eavo r Racing /Toys &:: Trucks /TRB Racing (26); 19. mE) Mini Racing/Wolf Racing/Graham Terrill Road Racing (24). Upcoming Rounds Round 5 . Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin· June 12 Round 6 . Loudon, N.H. • June 19

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