Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Aaron Yates (19), Shawn Higbee (2) and Scott zampach (1) stayed this close throughout the Harley-Davidson TwinSport final; Yates took his first win In the class. (Below) FastllneJMCM Suzuki (2) holds off Erion Racing (1) in the' Unlimited Team Challenge at New Hampshire International Speedway. " Aaron d eserves a win," Bartel' s HD's H igbe e said . The New Yorker finished one spo t in front of championship r iva l Scott Zamp ach , wh o had .his Tilley 's H-D m ount in fro n t for more than ha lf the race, before being passed in ra pid succession by Yates and Higbee. "I p robably could have pushed harder and maybe closed the re at the end," Zampach said, "but I felt it was better to be safe and finish third . Ir s the champions hip - not the wins - that count." With a trio of firsts and a trio of seconds, H igb ee s ta nds atop the p o int standings wi th 201 afte r six of 10 races. Zampach has 178, nin e better than Hal's H- D's Andy Fenwick, who finished fifth behi nd Brian 's Harley-Davi dson's Ron McGill. Yates completed 16 laps (25.4 miles) aro und the l.6-mile cou rse in 22 minut es, 29.441 seconds at an average speed of 68.295 mph. His margin of vic tory was 0.608 seconds, wit h Hig bee closing in at the end. The ord er was 1-2-3 off the start, with d efending champion Zam pach leading Hi gbee and Hal's H-D's Fenwick, and Gary Stas fourth in front of Yates. Yates was up to fourth on the second la p, though the lea d trio began to pull away and the order wo uld cha ng e on the third lap. Higbee wen t under Zampach in tum one, though Zam pach was bac k in fron t going onto the banking to en d the lap . As the trio contes ted the lead; Yates began to move up , catching up to Fenwick going into tum one on the fifth lap and passing him a lap later. Zampach and Higbee were tryin g to make a break, but Yates caugh t them on the eighth lap as the lead trio opened up a 3.4-seco nd cushion on Fenw ick, who in tum had more than that on the battle for fifth being waged by McGill, Barge's H-D's Eric Bostrom, and Hansen H-D's Billy Graef. Ending the eighth lap, at the halfw ay mark, Yates was by Higbee going onto the banking, with Higbee back by on the straight. Yates took the spot on the outsid e going into turn one, and set out for Zampach. Zampach sta yed in front, then Ya tes came b y in a le ft-band er. with Zampach quickl y taking it back. !l was n't until the 12th lap that Yates passed Zampach for good, making the move heading up th e hill o ut of turn fo u r a n d onto the ol d sec tion o f th e cou rse. Higbee was past by the end of the lap and the top three were set. Yates took the win, Higbee was second, and Zampach was about three seconds back in third. "I needed to beat (Scott) Zampach, so I pushed just hard enough to do that," Higbee said. Hampshire International Speedway a t an average speed of 73.018 mph. With three wins in si x rac es, Erion Raci ng moves p as t Fastline/MCM Suz uki and Muzzy Kawasaki to take the top spot in the championship table with 189 points, one more than Fastline and five mo re than Muzzy. Dutchman Racing is fourth w ith 171. The blisterin g heat of Saturday abat ed somewha t on Sunday, making it easier on the riders, though just barely. The pack of 23 teams was led into tum one by Merkel. Pegram was second ahead of Tom Kipp, testing his Yoshimura Suzuki Superbike for the race later in the da y. Th e battle, tho ugh artificial, w as between Merkel and Kipp, wi th Merkel in fro n t most of the time and staying there until 20 min ut es in , when Kip p pitted. By then Jacques Guenette Jr. had pa rked himself in second, some distance In the end it was Scott Zam pach and Jacques Guenette Jr . 32.696 seco n d s behind Barnes, with James Randolph fini shing off on the sec o nd Fastlinel MCM bike for Tommy Lynch. " I cou ld ne ver do that as a second rider," sai d Jeff Stern, Fastline /MCM Suzuki's team manager, and occasional racer. "He's (Rand olp h ) here to learn ab out it. He's going somewhere with this thing." Dutchman Racing -finished fo u rth, w ith Scott Gray ru nn ing ea rly before Glenn Szarek took over and ran alone m uch of the second ha lf. The Muz zy team finished fifth, a lap down, Sohwa having teamed wi th Fred Merkel, w ho was pressed in to acti on when Tripp Nob les fell in p ractice, breaking his left collarbone and injuring his left foot. Barnes and Peg ra m co m ple te d 46 la ps (73.6 miles) of th e 1.6-mile New beh ind th e lea ders, w ith Lync h being hounded by Pegram. "To m my (Lynch) a nd Jac ques (Gue ne tte [r.) were going real fast and I wanted to ha ng w ith them," Pegram said. "I knew when Michael (Barnes) took over he'd catch them." "I tried to say with Fred (Merkel), bu t I couldn' t quite do it," Guenette said. "I kept a steady pace and gave it to Scott." Dutchman's Gray was all by himself in fou rth with Team America's Michael Kr a ft getting h ea t from Keys to nel Northstar's John Jacob. A few min utes later the first of the pit stops began, with Szarek replacing Gray and Merkel handing off to Sohwa, the team completing a speedy pit stop since they didn't need to take on fuel. Sohwa went out still in the lead, with Guenette dosing and yet to pit. Pegram was next in; Barn es was on and ou t in little time, but back to fourth. Fourth place wa s decided on the 14th lap, wi th McGill passing Fenwick in the old track section, then pulling away to a nearl y five-second margin at the finish . Bostrom was si xth, Graef seventh, and Matt Wait all alone in eighth on the Mitchell 's Mod esto H-D bike. CI NewHampshire International Speedway Loudon, NewHampshire Results : June 19, 1994 (Round 6 of 11) H·D TWI N SPOR T S FINAL: 1. Aaron Yate s: 2. Shawn Higbee ; 3. Scott Zampach; 4. Ronald MrC iII; 5. Andy Fenwick; 6. Eric Bostrom; 7. Billy Graef; 8. Matt Wait; 9. Gary Stas ; 10. Brian Kohl; 11. Ch uck Blackmon; 12. Shawn McNa ry ; 13. Eric Lacruzer 14. Ma tt hew Guidera; 15. Yvon DuHam el; 16. Joseph Santa Maria; 17. Jim Whita ker; 18. Roy David Nicholson; 19. Tony Montenegro; 20. Jeff Harding; 21. Jim Leslie. Ti m~ 22 min; 29.441 sec. D istan ce: 16 laps. 25.6 miles . A ver~ge Speed: 68.295 mph. M.ugin of Victory: 0.608 .5eCS. H· D TWI N SPO RT C'S HI P POINT STANDINCS (After 6 of 11 rou nda): 1. Shawn Higbee (201); 2. Scott Za mpac h (178); 3. Andy Fenwick (169); 4. Billy Craef (153); 5. (T IE) Matt Wai t /Shawn McNary (125) ; 7. Ch uck Blackmon (115); S. Rona ld MrC iII (114); 9. Aaron Yates (102); 10. Brian Kohl (97); 11. Jim Wh ital= (88); 12. Do n Greene (78); 13. Matthew Gu id era (75 ); 14. Robe rt Cunningto n (70); 15. Eric Bostrom (66); 16. Ben Bostrom (59); 17. Rick Hutchins (57); 18. Joe Wins ton (52); 19. Dick Koehler (45); 20. Dean Mizdal (44). Upcoming Rounds: Round7 - Lexington, Ohio, July 17 Round B. Brainerd, M innesota, July31 AMAICCS EBC Brakes Unlimited T Challenge eam Erion lucks in By Henny Ray Abrams LOUOON, NH. JUNE 19 ea m Kawasa ki Mu zzy' s Takahiro Sohwa was well on his way to giving his team their second win in a row in the EBC Brakes Unlimited Team Challenge series, when a problem arose with about six minutes to go in the onehour race. The Muzz y Kawasaki ZX-7R sp ru ng an oil leak, coating the seat, tank and handleb ars, m a kin g it hard fo r Sohwa to han g on and slowing him dramatica lly. Wh at was a IS-second lead q uickly evaporated and he was soon passed on th e fron t straig h taw a y by Michael Barnes aboard the Erion Racing Honda CBR9 00. Barnes, taking over from Larry Pegram, seized the moment and sped awa y to w in by more than 30 second s, a nd in d oin g so moved th e defending Nat ional Cham pions to the top of the championship chart. "As soon as I saw the green Kawasa ki I had a big smile on my face," Barnes said. "Then it was plus-6, pl us-8, plus -l0 and I brough t it home." The intervals were over the second place tea m , Fastline / MCM Suzuki II, which was signalled to back off an d let the lead Fastline /MCM Su zuki team pass by on the last lap, which they did . T 15

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