Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ':j, ~ -. R AO AC O ·R E·. .,. . . . By Paul Carruthers Photos by George Roberts ,,,r . . . . . . Round 8: Brainerd International Raceway .AMA u.s. Supeibike National Championship series B RAINERD, MN.JULY 31 hen Colin Ed w a rd s II won his first-ever AMA Superbike National at Mid-Ohio a few weeks ago, some predicted that the 20- year-old would use the con fid en ce gained from the win as a stepping stone to domination. The faucet was open, so to spea k, and th ere was a lot m o r e to co me. Well, Edward s d id n' t wait long before recording his secon d career victory, this one coming on the ultra-fast Brainerd Inter nati onal Rac eway jus t tw o weeks later. The Texan won what may have bee n th e m os t exciting AMA Superbike ra ce in hi s tory, as he ca me ou t the bet ter of an eigh trider race to the flag. The outcome was in d oubt until the final laps with six ride rs having a rea listic chance of victory - but it was then tha t Edwa rds a n d th e Van ce & H ines Yama ha managed to kn ife their way through two lapped riders to gai n the .665- o f-se con d adv antage he took to the flag. And even then he bar ely mad e it as the transmi ssion on the Ya maha YZF750 failed in the final comer, forcing Edwards to run the cooloff lap in first gear, the bike struggling to make a very slow victory lap. In all th e re were 12 lead changes among six different ride rs - and tha t wa s only at the s tart / finish li ne. The re were a t least twice that else where on the thr ee-mile circui t. Edwards ended up beating the Fast By Ferracci Ducati of championship leader Troy Corser. For the Aus tralian it was a brave effort as he bounced back from being in the hospita l th e da y before, riding with six stitches in his rig ht ha nd as a result of a high-speed qualify ing crash in tu rn one on Friday. Instead of merely cruising aroun d, Corse r reached d own d ee p a nd rode hard, doing his best to ignore the pain from his hand to take his tum at the front on more than one occasion. In the end, he wa s the man who was dosest to Edwards at the finish line. Although his effort was n't rewarded with victory, it was sweet nonetheless, as he ~ was able to increase his lead over 0\ Jamie James by two mor e points 0\ with only two races remainin g, 234-218. ,...., Jam es and Vance & Hi nes Ya ma ha didn't go down wi thout a fight, though. The Louisiana n also led the race, and he was bitterly disappointed wit h his third place finish. One shouldn't have to ride that hard to finish third, he said after the shootout, and he was right. Still, that's what it takes in the hotly contested 1994 version of this championship series, and the majority of the 47,000 three-day crowd who witnessed it didn't go home dissatisfied. The fourth man in the lead tussle was perhaps again the da y's bigg est hero Miguel Du H ame l. Riding the everimp roving Ha rley-Da vid son VRI 000, the Fren ch Canad ian not only led the ra ce for three laps, but was really the only rider to make an attempt at pulling d ea r from his pursuers. His hard ridin g eventually led to an off-track excursion th at p ushed him a ll the wa y back to ninth. But he didn't give up . Using his high cornering speeds and late braking, Du Hame l battled bac k - and he only just missed ou t on beating Jame s fo r third p la ce. St ill , the Harley-David son VRl000 had finis hed four th in on ly it s eighth race. Impressive stu ff. "A few months a go it wou ld n' t sta rt, wo uld n't go two lap s, and he re we are com plaining abo u t no t finishing second," Du Ham el sai d at the conclusion of his wild ride. ''I'm very happy for the team and for the fans . It's a great thing to see." In additio n to D uHam e l, Har ley's Fritz Kling finis hed his second-s traigh t race on the VRl000, ending up in 13th place. Fifth place went to Mu zz y Kawasaki's Takahiro Sohwa. The Japanese st ar never led , bu t he was there throughout an d in the end held off the advances of Fast By Ferrucci Ducati's Pascal Picotte, a one-ti me leader of the ra ce, and the third M uzz y Kawasaki ridden by Steve Crevier. Pri vateer Brad Hazen had his best outing of the season to finish e ighth on th e European C ycl e Specialties Ducati 888, p ulling clear of a ba ttle for ninth w hich was won by Yoshimu ra Suzuki's Tom Kipp over the Sinokin' Joe's Honda o f Australian Ke vin Magee . Attrition in this one was fairly low as only three of the top 10 riders ran into problems. Mu zzy Kawasaki's Fred Merkel was the fi rst to go out, as he dro p p e d from the lead grou p on the ninth la p w it h electr ical problems; Smok in ' Joe 's Hond a ' s M ike Smith also dropped ou t when a hole in his exhaust pipe was further compounded by all the balan cing w eigh ts fa ll in g off his front w heel. It was a shame the Honda rider had problems because - on the same wee kend of the Honda RC45' s first victory coming in the Suzuka 8-Hou r in Japan - Smith actually had the bike at the fron t of the lead group and was a threat for victory un til Colin Edwards II wo n the second ~MA Superb lke National of his caree r at Brainerd Internati onal Raceway, only two weeks alter taking his first career vict ory at Mid-ohio .

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