Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127672
the VR-1000 with the French Canadian running well inside the top 10. Thoug h tempera tur es dropped som ewhat after a sweltering two da ys of qualifying, it was still ho t and humid in New England for the start of the U.s . Superbike National. And it was James who led the 36 starters into tum five for the first time, with a freigh t train of riders in pursu it: Edwards, Merk el, Cor ser, Soh wa, Stevens, Picotte, Smith and DuHamel. Du Hamel' s charge only lasted for a lap. As the pack' exited tum 10 for the second time, the factory Harley-Davidso n rider quickly raised his hand. "I was trying to get out of the way," DuHamel said later, "My hand suddenly (Below) The race was won by Australian Troy Corser; It was the Fast By Ferraccl rider's th ird win of the season and It further extended . his lead In the championship po int standings, (Right) Mike Smith (68) had his best outing of the season, fi ni shi ng fourth on the Honda RC45. got cold - wet cold. Water was spraying on my hand from the radiator. I figured I'd go into the pits to see if we could fix it or something. We felt so good because we had qualified in the 15s (one-minute, 15-seconds) with race tires on. That was real comforting. I heard the others guys thought we were using only qualifying tires, so that's good. We were starting to scare somebody... I think a rock m ust have cracked the radiator." At the end of the second lap, Edwards took over at the front of the field as he worked by James. That lasted two laps before James came past again as Corser began his charge with a pass on Merkel. James still led as .the race reached the five-lap ma rk - with only two seconds covering the first eig ht riders. The lap times at this point were only in the 1:16range, with the top eight running in unison around the 1.6-mile layout. On the eighth lap it was again Edwards out Corser slows down to afaster I t only to.Ok Australian Troy Corser (right) two days to figure out how to go fast at New Hampshire International Speedway. In order to go fast, you've got to go slow. And he did just that as a heat wave brought oppressive temperatures to New England. "I foun had to go a bit slower to go a bit ~quicker," C after pc;>sting his record-setting time of one-mmu , 14.109-seconds for an average sPeed of 77.723 mph to earn his third pole position of the season. "The exit speed here is real important, so you've got to go in a bit slower. The pole position is worth an extra point, but I just went out in that session to get it set up to win the race tomorrow. That's what I want to do - win the race tomorrow. I didn't go out to get pole." Corser was at home on the tight, twisty and bumpy l.6-mile race track in New England as he cut his teeth on similar layouts in Australia. "They're comer, comer, comer tracks like this and they're a bit bumpy like this," 22year-old Corser explained. "Bike setup is a must. Coming in here, a lot of the gu ys were saying they d idn't like this track, but you've got to like it because you've got to race on it. It takes awhile to learn it." Much to the chagrin of hisfour-eylinder-ridingrivals, Corser said the extra 20 pounds the AMA added to theDucati V-twin maybe helping it here. "It makes it steer a little better," he said. "Arid itkeeps the front wheel on the ground. We tested tires from the .softest to the hardest. A lot will depend on the temperature tomorrow and how fast the pace will be run. I'm getting on the throttle fairly early. I think my comer and exit speed has picked up. I'm working on not getting the rear wheel spinning up as much." lf there were to be any problems, Corser predicted it would come from the bra~: "Forty laps Will be pretty hard on the brakes around here. Both Pascal (Picotte) and 1 had some problems with the brakes at Road America . We'll have to wait and see..." front, with Corser displacing James for second. Things started to settle in on the 10th lap as Corser took over the lead and . immediately upped the pace as they encountered traffic for the first time. On the 12th lap, the Australian clicked off a 1:15.08 lap and was suddenly 2.5 seconds ahead of Edwards, James, Merkel, Soh wa and Stevens; then a sma ll ga p back to Sm ith and Picot te, wi th Hale coming back from a slow start. On the 14th lap Corser's lead was up to 3.6 seconds, with James moving by Edwards. That lead was up to nearly five seconds on the 17th la p. At this point, Edwards ran into his bra ke problem for the first time and d rop ped back to sixth. "Going in to tum ' one I grabbed the front brake and it came back to the bar," Edwards explained later. "I pumped it once and overshot the comer. Then I was real tenta tive in turn three, but it seemed The second quickest of the superbike men at Loudon was Muzzy Kawasaki's Fred Merkel, the Californian recovering from the flu to post his quick lap of 1:14.713 in Friday's first time session. The 1985 Loudon Classic winner was making his return to a track that has undergone major changes since his last visit. Still, the former World Champion was able to get the Kawasaki around the race track just .604 off the pace set by Corser and the Ducati. While Corser and Merkel would still end up quicker, the man of the hour in qualifying was rookie Mike Hale. The Texan dirt tracker put the ancient Smokin' Joe's Camel Honda RC30 on the front row - in only his second career Superbike National. Though he's been on the podium in both Harley-Davidson 883 Twin Sport and 600cc Supersport racing, being on the front row in a Superbike National was the highlight of his infant road racing career. "I just put my head down," Hale said. "I knew 1 could go faster in that session. The s been working really hard; my mechanic Bob Weindorfand also my father Bob. was the first track I ever road raced on - on a Harley a cou ple of years back. We ged a lot to the bike: the front and rear suspension. We've made it so that I'm a lot ore comfortable on the bike. It was just a matter of getting some seat time. I'm really happy right now . The humidity is pretty bad; I'm just trying to stay cool. Tomorrow will be tough because 111 have the 600 race and then the Superbike race. I'm just going to go out and do my best and stay out of trouble." Hale's hands look like those of a boxer, with both taped to protect callouses. The rookie had been riding non-stop. "I've been putting in about 100 laps a day on this track - so many laps that I've got to tape over the blisters on my hands," he said. The front ro w wa s filled out by Vance &. Hines Yamaha 's Jamie James, the Louisianan - like Merkel - putting in his fast lap in Friday's first timed session. James turned in a 1:14.849 on his Yamaha VZF750. The front row featured four different brands of motorcycles - Ducati, Kawasaki, Honda and Yamaha. The second row of the grid was led by Vance &. Hiiies Yamaha's Colin Edwards II. The Texan turned in a 1:15.017 to lead a pack of eigh,triders who had also q\lalified in the 1:15 range. Muzzy Kawasaki'sTakahiro Sohwa was next at 1:15.071, just ahead of last week's winner Pascal Picotte and the Fast By FeriacciDUeati. Picotte crashed hard on Friday, destroying the bike on which he won at Laguna Seca and Road America, and he was forced to race his back-up bike at Loudon. Smokin' Joe's Racing's Kevin Magee was the eighth quickest rider at 1:15.125to complete row two. "I'm having fun again," Magee said. "Now we're just chasing lOths instead of seconds." There were 39 qualifiers for the 715t Loudon Camel Classic. ----- 9