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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127679
th e gremlins hit. Team Mirage's Dale
Quarterley also ran into problems late in
th e race as the bolts came ou t of the
chain drive cover on h is Kawasaki,
spewing oil on to his boots. Thoug h the
New Engla nde r was forced to slow from
his battle with Magee and Kipp, he did
manage to nurse the bike to a 15th place
finish.
The festivities got rolling under part. Iy cloudy skies in Min nesota's land of
10,000 lakes with Corser showing right
away tha t despite his injuries he was not
to be forgotten. The Aussie led into the
ne ar flat-out turn one (the site of his
frightful Friday get-off) and he kept that
lead for the first four laps. On the opening go -arou n d he led his teammate
Picotte, the fast-starting Kipp, Sm ith,
DuHamel, Ja mes, Edwards, Cre vier ,
Merkel and Quarterley into tu m nine wi th 10 ride rs in the lead pack.
The crowd warmed up to the sight of
DuHamel jumping into second plac e on
the following la p, b u t he was p ushed
back to fourth by Picotte and Smith on
lap four . Corser at this point went from
first to fifth , and it would have been
easy to begin writing him off because of
his sore hand.
On the fifth lap the crowd went berze rk w he n Du H ame l took over a t the
front of the pack. He led Smith, Jam es
(who was starting his charge), Picotte,
the pa tient Edwards, Corser, Me r kel,
Crevier and Sohwa. Kipp, mean while,
had beg u n hi s run backward s until
falli ng in to th e grasp o f Magee and
Quarterley.
At this poin t, DuHam el ha d his head
down as he attemp ted to do what none
had done before him - establish a breakawa y. On the seventh lap he led by .68of-a -second, and by .75-of-a-second as
they exited tum eight But, in tum nine
it all went wrong. The Harley came in
fast , the rear wheel locked and
DuHamel had no choice but to pick it
up and head for the gras s on the outside
of the race track.
"The rea r e nd just locked up ,"
DuHamel said later. "I gave it a shot of
throttle, bu t it d idn't take . It felt like it
went to first gear."
DuHamel d idn't miss a beat in manhandling the bike back on track at the
rear of the freigh t train, but it seemed
that his run with the leaders might be
over. With the VRlOOO so me 10 mp h
down through the radar traps in qualifying, there was no wa y DuHamel could
come back without the lead d r a ft.
Wrong. Instead of trailing the Ducatis to
th e front , DuHam el simply jumped in
behind the Kaw asakis of So hwa a nd
Crevier.
"Goi ng from n inth back to se co nd
took me a long time," DuHamel said. "I
got up wi th Tiger (Sohwa) and Crevier,
bu t they'd slow me down in the comers.
I wanted to yell at them, 'hey, just stay
behind me and I'll get you up there.'
Finally, Soh w a helped me a bit and I
drafted by before tum two ."
"He was charging hard, n Corser said
of DuHa mel. " And he was p u lling
away, but then he went off in nine and I
knew he was definitely trying too hard .
That thing goes fast around comers."
Wit h the Harl ey at the back o f the
group, the lead was inherited by Smith,
wh o was giving Honda fans something
to cheer about after a long bout of RC45
inep titu de . The Honda's run at the front
d idn't la s t long, though, as Corser
climbed back to the front, leading Smith,
Picotte, James, Edward s, Crevier, Sohwa
and DuHamel.
That too, changed quick ly. On the
following lap it was Picotte at the fron t
It was also on this lap that Merkel went
missing.
"We really don't know what happened," the former Wor ld and National
Cham pion said. "It could be a spark
plug. It went on three cylinders, ran hot
and then died. Hey, it's either diamonds
or coal."
Th en on the 12th of 21 laps, James
boldly took th e lead in turn nine. The
Vance & Hines Yamaha rider d o ve
under Corser in tum nine at a speed that
seemed likely to result in a run-off - ou t
James simply flopped the Yamaha on its
side and jumped righ t back on the throttle.
James held th at lead for three more
laps before Corser took over on lap 16.
Jamie James (2) lead Troy Corser (19),
Pascal Picotte (21), Colin Edwards U(45),
Mike Smith (68), Miguel DuHamel (17) and
Takahlro Sohwa (41) du ring their epic dice
at the front of the superblke pack.
lead er said after his first ride on Sunday. "We p ut the pad on
the gas tank to try an d take a bit (of weight) off my right hand.
1'111 Just going to wait an d see. Who knows what can happe n?
My main goal is to Iinish tod ay because this is slowing me a little bit. I'm no t going to let it worry me. I'll do the best I can and
see how it ends up."
Edwards, meanwhile , main tained the momentum he's started to build since qualifying on pole position an d winning his
first-ever AMA Na tion al at Mi d -Ohio just two weeks ag o.
Ed wards needed the final session after struggling to find the
correct setup on Friday. To make ma tters wo rse, the you ng
h e wea ther in ce n tral
Texan blew a motor alm ost uppn arrival at Brainer d InternaMinneso ta can" b e
tional Racewa y. The effort on"Saturday was a brave one as ridqui rky. It ca n rai n one
ers we re uns ure of the weather as they approached thebacks ide
m inute and be s unny the
of the three-mile track each an d every lap
next. And vice versa. During
"We've be en doing so much setting up," Edwards sai d.
the second qualifying session
"We've been changing this an d tha t. I never had a chan ce to go
on Saturda y afte rnoon th e
out and put some good laps in. I came in and told Mitch that I
weather did its thing, but not
was ridi ng like a wuss. The n I went back out, got in (Kevin)
b efore Colin Edward s II
Magee's draft an d did a perfect lap . He was just the perfect d is(rig ht) was able to snatch
tance ahead of me and I got by him right before turn one. I
.pple pos ition from a d efensethink we can keep this setu p for Sears Poin t and on.
less Tr oy Corser in the sesEdwards' teammate Jamie James would sit on the front row
sion's onl y d ry minutes.
next to Edwards and Corser, with the elder sta tesm an of superWith Corser res ting in a hospital bed after undergoing hand bike racing just pleased that so meone besides COEser had
surgery on Friday night following his high-speed crash in tum earned the point that goes with winning pole positio n; Jam es
one, Edwards had little competition when it came to beating the clocked a 1:40.699 in the first session, but was some f our secm,coining rain OIlSaturday afternoon. Th.eTexan and his Mitch, onds slowerIn Saturday's iffy weather con d ition!;.' Muzzy
Leonard-tuned Vance & Hines Yamaha and the Harley-David- Kawasaki's Fied. Merkel completed the front row .with his lap of
son VR1000 of Miguel DUHamel were the only riders in the top 1:41.116. Merkel , too, was slower on Saturday.
10 to better their Friday practice times.
Although DuHamel's front-row qualifying position on the
Edwards clocked a one-minute, 4O.32D-second lap (107.656 Harley-Davidson at Mid-Ohio was imp ressive, his fifth-spot
mph) on Saturday afternoon .to ju m p in front of Corser's position at Brainerd was probably more so, given the high1:40.610. Corser did his lap prior to step ping off the Ducati at speed nature of the circu it and its near one-mile front straightover 160 mp h in Brainerd's infamous tum one.
away. The French Canadian-was the o ther rider besides
"I hit a false neutral," the Australian explained on Sunday Edwards who was able to wick it up on Saturday afternoon,
m orning. "I wasn't prepared to throw it down a gear at that and he ultimately turned in a 1:41.172to qua lify fifth.
speed. It hit neu tral and accelerated through the com er. I ended
"It ' s difficult to find out if we ha ve mo re top speed, n
up getting out in the loose stuff and it folded the front. That DuHamel said. "It seems to be running free-er on top. Yesterwas what 1 was hoping for because it was better than a high- day we weresti ll 10 mph down, but there's potential in that
side. Myhand caught under the handlebar because I tried to bike. It's reanycoming along. I did a 44.1 on my first f1Jll lap
stop .th'ebike from de,;troying itself. I felt my hand there and corning out of pit lane. Then I did a 44.3 and then I hit tile paint
p Uiloo it out, but it was a bit late.
"" coming out of a comer and it really went sideways.