Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:ROA'O 'R ,'C ,,,'".:.: . . ,A E'" ~ AMAlCCS ChampiolishipR~dR~Series . Round 7: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course H·D TWIN SPO RTS FINA L: I. Scott Za mpa ch; 2. Ronald McGill; 3. Bria n Kohl ; 4. Bill y Graef; 5. Eric Bos trom ; 6. Shawn McNary; 7. Don Gree ne; 8. Dick Koehler; 9. Sha w n Higbee: 10. Chu ck Blackmon; I I. Steve BJackburn; 12. Jim Whitaker; 13. Jerry Casoero. 14. Eric Lacru ze; 15. Bira n Bod ine; 16. Matt Wait; 17. Matthe w Gui dera; 18. Jeft Hard ing; 19. Roy Dav id son, Nicho L T ime: 18 mins.; 46.229 sees. . D istmce 11 laps. 25 miJes. Averagr Speedr 84.388 mp h. M.argin o f Victo ry: (None due to disqualification of "'COI>d place rid er.I H· D TWIN SPORT C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Aftrr 8 of 11 ro unds ): 1Shawn Higbee (222); 2. Sco tt Zampach (213); 3. Billy C rae f (17'J); 4. And y Fen wi ck (169); S. Shawn McNary (149); 6. Ronald McC Ui (101-1); 7. Malt Wai t (139); 8. Chuck Blackmon (135); 9. Brian Kohl (125); 10. Jim Whitaker (106); II . Aaron Yales (102); 12. Don Greene (101); 13. Eric Bostrom (91); 14. Matthew Gu id era (88); 15. Robert Cu nnin gto n (70); 16. Dick Koehler (67); 17. Ben Bostro m (59); 18. Rick Hutchins (57); 19. J Harding (53); 20. Eric l.lauze (53~ eff UpcomingRounds: Round 9 - Brainerd, Minnesola, July 31 Round 10 - Sonoma. California, August 21 AMAICCS ESC Brakes Unfimited Team Challenge It's a gas By Henny Ray Abrams LEXINGTON,OH,jULY 16 he diffe ren ce came d ow n to gas. The second- an d third-place finishers in the Unlimited Team Challenge a t Mid- Ohi o needed to fu el up du ring their rid er cha nge. The winners didn't. And though they may hav e won withou t that ad vantage, it su re didn't hurt. . So, for the second race in a row, the win went to defending National Champions Erion Racing, with Larry Pegram an d Michael Barnes adding a few points to their champi onshi p-leading total. "I knew I jus t wanted to give Mike (Ba rnes) the bi ke in th e lead," sai d Pegram, who rode the Erion H onda CBR900 first. "I knew once we were in the lead on Muzzy we ha d to worry about the pit stop. I knew withou t gassing u p we had seven seconds on T 12 passing two, three times a lap," Zampach said in the winner's circle. " On the last lap, I got a good run out of the Keyhole an d broke deeper (into the right- hander at the end, a spot Higbee had used to pass much of the race). There was no way he was going to brake inside of me. All of a sudden an orange and black streak went inside of me w ith both tires smoking. There' s a point you can outbrake your opponents. Shawn was past that point." Zampach had better than 16 seconds on second at tha t point, but it didn't matter. Aaron Yates, who was second across the line, was d isqu ali fied fo r illegal engine mod ifications on his Moroney' s H-D 883. That m oved Bria n ' s H-D's Ronald McGill up to second. McGill had an eventful race, using up his front lire, and losing the front end at one point, and sliding along before making the save. McGill led a close pack ho me w ith Brian Kohl, less than two seconds back in third , aboard the H-D of Jamest own machin e. A similar margin back cam e H ansen H -D ' s Bill y Graef w ith Eri c Bostrom about a second behind aboard a Bartel's H-D bike. Zampach complet ed th e 9-lap, 25mile race in 18 minutes, 46.229 seconds, at an average speed of 84.388 mph. The win moved him to within 11 points of Higbee, 213-222, with four races remaining. Graef is third with 179. By the second lap Zampach was out front, Higbee second and McGill third. Though McGill woul d soo n be left beh ind. The battle would be out front with the pair swapping back an d forth. Higbee took the lead at the end of the back straight on the third lap with Zampach taking it back on the outside in tum two a fast left. Higbee stayed beh ind Zampach for a few laps , making a su ccessful charge at the end o f th e back straight, to re-take the lead. A short time later, Zam pach was able to overtake Higbee (again) with an outside pass down the hill in the back section of the course. By now it was the seventh lap. Yates had passed McGill and was alone in third. McGill, once a secure third, wa s now slowing after his fro n t-end scare and Graef also forged past, though just briefly. On the eigh th lap the pair sw apped the point a few times with Zampach leading the ninth until Higbee, again , used the right at the end of the back straight. On the 10th lap Zam pach took the lead go ing down the ba ck chu te, with H igbee getting a good d rive , bu t no t enough to make the pa ss, sav ing it for the final lap . In the same place that had worked so many times before, Higbee faltered and the race was Zampach's. Yales was alone in second, but wou ld be disqualified after the post-race teardown, elevating McGill, who had passed Graef on the last lap, to third. them ." The ma rgin of victory at the end of the 38-lap, 88.54 mile race was 9.176 seconds, more than a gas stop, thou gh not by much. Barnes and Pegra m averaged 91.798 mph in giving Erion Racin g its fourth win of the year. Second place went to Fastline/MCM Su z u ki' s To m my Lyn ch a nd Jacqu es . Guenette [r. , the Suzuki GS XRllOOmounted pair running in second almost th e en tire tim e, leading bri efly during Erion 's pit stop. The Muzzy Kawa saki team of Tripp Nob les and Takahiro Sohwa was third, w ith Nobles bogging off the start then using up the machine before handing it off to Sohwa. The Georgian, who was recently returning from surgery, sa id that he was losing too much time on the back straight and the back section of the 14-tum course. • Du tchman Racing's Andy Fen w ick an d Mike Harth finished fourth, with Fenwick ri d in g second with a fro nt brake problem that cost him any chance to make a run at the front. "I noticed it on the first lap and it got worse. I ha d to compensate," Fenwick said. The second Fast line /MCM Suzuki came fifth, as James Randolph teamed with Scott Zampach to finish in front of All Season s Racing' s Pat Hernon and Dave Sadowski. Hernon hadn't raced for eight years, since he and Sadowski were teammates abo a rd th e Tea m Hammer endurance bike. The team m igh t have finis hed high er , b ut was assessed a penalty since Sadowski stayed on th e bike past the 4O-minu te mark, the time at which the mand atory rider change must be completed. Sportslan d of Larami e's Brad Morehou se and Dan Turner were seventh, a lap d own , a nd in fro nt of Keystone / Norths tar 's [o hrt Jacob and Kevin Rentzell. . After seven of 11 races, Erion Racing leads Fastline/MCM Suzu ki, 224-220. Muzzy Kawasaki is third with 214 an d Du tchman Racing is fourt h with 199. It wasn't until the ninth lap of the one-hour event that it began to make any sense. That's when the leading superbike teams, who were usin g the race as a lest, pulled in and the lead er was the Erion Racing bike und er Pegram. Pegram had led from the sta rt, before being passed by the superbikes, and was now back in front. Harth was second on the Dutchman bike in front of Fas tline/ MCM' s 'Lynch, and the second Fastline/MCM bike of Zampach. By the 2G-minute mark, Pegram had about a two-secorid edge with the battle for second close. The first of the rider changes began just a few min utes later with Nobles stopping to gas up and give off to Sohwa on the 14th lap. A few lap s later Fenwick took ov er th e Dutch man rein s from Harth and immediately knew that the brakes were off. "We had br a ke problems with the master cylind er and with the lever cornin g back to the bar," Fenwick said. "Mike (Harth) got banged up and his hand requi res a lever that comes in a little more. Once I pulled on the brakes and I couldn't monitor or control it. It lakes a little of the fun out of it." ~ The halfway flags ca me and we nt with the leade r still ou t on the cou rse the Erion crew not bringing Pegram in until the 36-minute ma rk. By then th e lead over Lynch was about two seconds and Lynch would lake the lead, though just briefly, coming in just before the 40: min ute mark to fuel up and let Guenette lake over. "It's ma king a lit tle bit of a di fferenc e," Lyn ch sai d about havin g to gas up. "We might have to change our stra tegy a little bit and start way full on fuel " Sadowski, who was running in second at the time, d idn't come in until the 42-minute mark and the team was given a penalty. "I wanted to get the bike into the lead before I han ded it off to Hernon," Sadowski said. "I wanted to cross the stripe in the lead . It's an ego thing. When Pat got on they asked him how his family was, how his dog was, how his kids were, then they let him go." Sadowski figured they held him for 10 to 20 seconds. By then they were back to sixth place and Hernon's lap times would be about six seconds a lap slower than Sadowski's. .)

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