Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 8:·Brainerd International Raceway AMAICCS 750cc S upersport Series I Merkel - finally! I (Left) Mike Smith (68) leads his teammate Mike Hale (23) on the open ing lap of the 600cc Supersport final. Jam ie James (11) follows. (Below) Fred Merkel (27) won his firstever 750cc Supersport final; here he leads Britt Turkington (1) and Gerald Rothman J r. (5) By Paul Carruthers Photo by George Roberts BRAINERD, MN, JULY 30 wo things became clear at Brainerd Interna tional Raceway: the race for the 750cc Supe rsport Championship is far fro m over, and Fred Merkel can win on DOT-approved street tires. The Muzzy Kawasaki rider wo n his firs t-ever AMA /CCS Supersport race for his first-ever career win on tread ed DOT tires. It was also Merkel's fi rs t sp rint race victory sin.ce he won ~ ro~d of the Italian Superbike Championship at Misano in 1992. The Californian ended up topping Yoshimura Suzuki's Tom Kipp by 7.559 seconds, though it was mu ch closer than that until Kipp 's GSXR750 started sputteri n g with ignition p r obl em s. Th ird p lace went to Kin ko's Yama ha's J ~son Pridmore after two off-track excursions prevented h im fr o m m a kin g th in g s much closer at the front. And w here was championship lead er Britt Turkington? The Yoshimura Suzuki rider had crashed in oil on Friday and suffered an injured left ha nd to go wi th the inju red right hand from h is Mi d Ohio crash. Still, the Texan managed to finish eighth - b ut his championship lead over Kipp was now virtually no nexisten t. Wit h two ro u nds re mainin g, Kipp no w trails Tu rk in gt on by two points, 249-247 . Pr idmore is third with 231, w hile Gerald Rothman Jr. and James Randolph round out the top five in .the standings with 204 and 189, respectively. The battle for fourth place in the race went to Te am Suzu ki Sp ort' s Aaron Yates over Kawasaki-mounted Rothman [r ., Kinko's Thomas Wilson and Team Suzuki Sport's Mark McDaniel. Filling the top 10 behind Turkington were local rider Steve Johnson and Sport Rider magazine feature editor Lance Holst. The race began with Kipp grabbing the holeshot from Team Suzuki Sport's James Randolph, but the tall Californian was in front of the Yoshimura rider by the time they exited the final com er on to the front straightaway. Turkington held down th ird, with Merkel fou rth, Rothman fifth, Pridm ore s ix t h a nd McDaniel seventh. Randolph's lead lasted for two more laps before Kipp took over at the front. Merkel, the fastest man in qualifying, had slipped back to sixth . "The gu ys wi th more po wer could pass you before the first comer," Merkel said. " Yo u just ha ve to be extremely patient here. I just waited, a~d ~aited:.." Merkel continued to walt, with Pridmore being much less patien t. The Califo rni a n came through to th ird on the second la p and he started g a ini n g ground on the front-running duo, bringing Merkel with him. On the ninth lap the fron t fou r were locked tog ether, with Kip p still leading Randolph, Pridmore and Merkel. On the 10th lap, everything changed at the front when Randolph ' s clutch blew up in tum two, locking up his rear whee l and spewing oil on the race track. The Team Suzuki Sport-backed rider crashed unhurt, ending his best race to date at a National. "It locked up and spilled the oil out," Randolph said. "I'm okay. I just slid in th e grass for a long time. I'm really bummed. I knew I was going to crash T an d I had to throw it down. That bik e really handles good, maybe better.than th e rest. I d idn't want to mess It up bec ause they're never th e sa me af ter that. I'll ha ve to get it fixed because I'm racing next weekend at Sears Poin t (in northe rn California). Now I' ve got to drive cross-country b y m yself to get back." When Rand o lp h ' s m o tor blew, Merkel was on the inside, and Pridmore w as s t uck on t h e o u tsi de - with no where to go . "He was right in front of me," Pridmore said later. "His motor went and I barely missed his rear tire. I had to go right through w hat I thought ~as oil. I thought I was going to crash... Halfway through tha t race I tho ught I was going to win, no problem. Four laps from the end I ran off aga in becau se I thought I was catching them. I guess I was try ing too hard. I'm so frustrated right no w, but at least it wasn't the two Yosh bikes that beat me. We got some points back on Britt" The rac e for the win was no w onl y between tw o rid ers - Kipp and Merkel. Merkel took the lead for the first time on the 12th lap and he was never head ed again. On the 14th,lap, Ki~p was f~r~ed to start nursing the Suzuki to the finish line with it sp u tterin g down the front straight. "I'm happy, " Kipp said. "The bike finis hed and we were able to pull back some po ints. We 're two points behind and there's two races left - that's fantastic. Randolph was rid ing really good, reall y hard." Merkel cruised in for the victory . "Finally," Merkel said. "When Randolph bl e w his engine I went und er Jason and it was jus t me to catch Tom (Kip p). We were down on speed , b u t that's the way it's been all season. Turkington was upset, but ma inl y because the re was no red flag thrown w hen Rand olph dropped oil in turn t wo: " I' m jus t glad to fi nish in th e points," the Texan sai d. "Yes terd ay, I didn ' t th in k I wa s go ing to r id e . I slowed down after th e crash, I can' t believe there was no red flag. It's unbelievable. Th ere was an eighth of a mile of oil through tum tw o and no red ~ag. I couldn' t hang with those gu ys - I Just d idn' t have the stren gth in my ha nd . Eleven points 'or two po ints, it d oes~' t matter. I've jus t got to go to Sears Point and ride hard." l:N H Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results : J uly 30, 1994 7SOccSUPERSPORT FINA L: 1. Fred Merkel (!

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