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/127676
brake lever sta rted coming in a little bit, but once I adjusted it I carne right back on them," DuH amel said . "I just wa nte d to kee p pu tting the pressu re on th em, hoping they'd use up their tires. I think it w ould have worked. The bik e was going better and better. Then I saw the shifter dangling th ere. We got it fixed and I went back out just to show tha t we weren' t here to r un five fas t la ps . We had race tires on an d we were prepared to go the d istance. I went back out and my last four laps were in the 30s." Usua lly known for his lightening-fast starts, Edwards was a lowly 10th wh en the pack hit the end of the back straight for th e first time. He was eighth after ' one-full lap ; sixth after tw o laps; thi rd afte r three lap s; seco nd afte r five laps; and he took the lead for the first time on the sixth go-around. "I rolled, let out the clutch and it was li ke it wa nted to d ie," Edwards sai d later. "(Mike) Smith hi t my brake lever and ben t it further up, but I knew I was fine . I was keepin g th em in sigh t an d picking them off one at a time - or thr ee at a time ." Edwards' run at the front lasted for five laps, with Picotte re-taking the lead on lap 12. James, who ha d also started slowly, was up to seventh on lap thr ee; sixth on lap four ; fifth on lap eight and fou rth on lap 12. At tha t point, the orde r read: Picotte, Ed ward s, Corser, Jam es, DuHamel, Soh wa, Sm ith, Quarteriey, C revie r, Stevens, Ki p p . Then ca rne Doohan and Ha le, with Magee havin g already pitte d for the first time. James' season sud denly looked a little better on the 14th lap w hen Corser pulled to a stop. "There was no warning," Corser said. "It was running fairly st rong. I went to accelerate and it jus t lost all power. It wouldn't rev over 3000 rp m. There's a bit more pressure on me now . Unfortuna tely, we worked hard to 'get to where we are now. It's nobody's fault, it was just mechanical." ~ While the top three held a slight lead over the rest, Sohwa and Smi th "appeared to be close to joining the fray. Smith's cha nces ended with a crash in the Keyhole on the 17th lap . ~ "I chose the soft front, " Smith said . ;'It was a miscommuni cation. I thought ' it was fine. I didn't pi tch it in there any lharder tha n I had all race. I thought I I ha d a hard tire on; this one just greased · up and we nt away - see ya!" · After Sm ith's d emis e, things sta rted I lloosenin g up after the lead trio, wi th . . ' Sc h w a holding d o w n a comfortable "fou rth. Qua rteri ey was fift h, but was being cau ght by Crevie r, w ho ha d :'w orked his way past Stevens. "Qualifying went well; I did a 30.2 on . y race lire," St even s said la ter. " I Ithought everything was going good an d r~ was going to put it in the winner's circle. I got a decent start, fourth, and we were right there. I thought, 'okay, here · we go.' Then they started passing me on the ba ck s traight like I was tied to a . po le. We think it must have been jetting. When the hea t ca m e up, it just went backwa rds . It's just frustrating." Stevens ··would eventually end up sixth. James led one la p , the 21st, b ut ·Edward s was soon back in front as he sn uck by his tea mmate under br aking for tum seven a t the end of the long back stra ight. Saving his best for last, " Ed wa r d s p ut his hea d down and · clocked the fastest lap of the race on the Jlast go-around - a one-minute, 30.072's eco nd effort, w hich was h is 15th straight lap in the 1:30s, an d he crossed ~ the finish line 1.508 sec onds clear of -1ames. "Sixteen points is a man ageable num- ber," James said when told of the points gap to Corser . "I'd have been a lot happ ier if I was in the lead right now. I kno w I need to win a champ ionship really bad right now . I'm still at a de ficit because o f the technicality a t Ro ad America Games was docked a lap for passing under a waving yellow flag, dropping him from second to 17th in the finishing order) . I need some wins, but those are real hard to come by as you coul d see today. Our motorcycles both wo rked really well this weekend. Colin rode a flawless race and my hat's off to hi m . I'm really gla d he won his first race. Two Yarnahas a t the fron t feels really good. I had settled in and I wasn't going to try it (the pass in the final lap s). He was a lot more aggressive than I was - I w as in a position to have a lot of p o ints handed to me . Do n 't ge t m e wrong, I d idn 't give up, but I did it when I felt comfort able doing it. I needed to finish, and he rod e a heck of a race." James w as als o u sing an e n g ine w hi ch fea tu r ed a so m ewh a t pea k y p ow e rb and : " I went with the pea ky engine," he ex plai ne d. "It was trick y m id -corner, but I'm working w it h it because I think it'll be good for Brainerd (the next ro und of the series on July 31)." Edwards touched on the d ifferences between winning 250cc races and corning out on top in a Sup erbike National: " If you've got the 250 dialed in 80 pe rce n t, you ju s t g o out a nd rid e it and w in," he said. "If the superbike is dialed in 80% - you finis h sixth. Right off th e truck, the bike was great this weekend. We made a sp ring cha nge on the rea r and that was about it. "I don 't thin k I was pressured to win. I ha d so me g rea t races last yea r . I showed some people las t yea r an d this race kind of p roved it. With a pole and a win, yo u r confidence is bound to be good. It doubles. It's p re tty high right now, but we'll see." (Top) Jamie James finished second behind his teammate Edwards, and closed the gap to championship leader Troy Corser. (Above) Takahlro Sohwa closes in on Miguel DuHamel en route to his eventual third-place finish .