Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) The Mlddlweight Team Challenge was won by Moto Li be rty II. (Right) FastlinelMCM Suzuki (1) leads FastlinelMCMII (66), Erion Racing (2), and Muzzy Kawasaki (17) in the Unlimited Team Challenge. (Below right) Thanks to a strong ride from Larry Pegram, Erion Racing won at Brainerd International Raceway. chief Tob y Cooksey was . After scra mbli ng to p ut toget h er tw o makeshift tea m s to fie ld t h eir p a ir of Hon da CBR600s, Cooksey co uld have kicked hi mse lf when all wa s sai d and d on e. While their championship d efendi ng "n u m ber-on e" Moto Liberty /Honda bike crossed the finish line fourth under the g u ida nce of Ron a ld McGi ll a nd Doug Carmich el, it w as th e te a m's "nu mbe r- two " Moto Liberty / Nan kai ma ch ine - p il ot ed by Japa n ese rider Mas ahiro Iizukaand Jamie Bowm an that captured the win . "Our usual number-one team riders a ren ' t here," ex p la ine d Coo ks ey. "T a ka h ito Mori had tr ouble ge t ting thro ugh customs in San Francisco and got se n t back to Japan, and Micha el Barnes is in German y racing for Ducati. lizuka and Carmichel are regu lars, but we had to recruit Bowman and McGill. We d idn't .ha ve much lime to practice and test, so I mad e the rider/bike choices by their lap times. They were throwntogether teams anyway, and I just d id wha t we thou ght was best. What's done is done." Holding control of the lead throughou t most o f th e 32-1ap ra ce wa s th e Brad Hazen /Dean Mizdal Northwes t Racing team. After establishing a .commanding lead aboard the team's Honda CBR600, Hazen handed off to Mizdal and wa tched helplessly as Team Moto Liberty 2 closed in for the kill in the latter stages of. the race. After losing it's exha ust canister four laps before the hand-off, the team's Honda delivered less -th an -p a r performance th at prevented Midzal from mainta ining his lead. Fin ishing th ir d and benefiting the most from the Moto Liberty team/rider mix up was the AGV Sports Group team of Scott Zam pach and Shawn Higbee. The usual Ha rley-Davidson TwinSports rivals paired to finish a secure third and fu rther extend their series point lead over Team Moto Liberty/Honda to 11, 225-214. Hazen jumped into the lead at the start of the 6O-minute contest aboard the Northwest Racing machine, and began to open an immediate lead over Jamie Bowman who, in addition to piloting the winning Moto Liberty / N ankai entry, started the race for Team Technology. Shadowing Bowman were Iizuka - aboard the Moto Liberty / Nan kai bike and AGV Spo rt Group's Zampach. McGill, meanwhile, had the Moto Liberty /Honda entry buried in the pa ck and sa t in 11th as they completed lap seven. " It was me , no t the bik e," sa id McGill . "I haven 't rid den a 600 - or a four cylinder bike for that matter - since '92. I figured I'd hang back and get used to the bike, but even those guys in the middle of the pack were takin g chances that I was n' t comfortable with." While Hazen continued to pull away, H I Racin g 2' s Dale Kieffer and Zam pach waged a continuous battle for second. Iizuka sat in fourt h, a few seconds back. An uncomfortab le McGill brought the Moto Liber ty /Honda in as soon as the mandatory 20 minutes had pa ssed, and glad ly handed off to Carmichael, who put his head down and hammered throughout the remaining 40 minutes . Carmichael took to the track 57-seconds behind the leading Northwest Racin g machine. Iizuka pull ed into the pits at the 3Dminute mark whil e running fourth , and Bowm an took to the saddle only minutes after handing the Team Technology entry off to Harley-D a vid son TwinSp orts Rookie of the Year Joe Winston III. Winston was unable to maintain the pace that Bowman had set, however, and he eventually dropped the team to 25th. Iizuka was pleased with his first-half ride, th e Japanese r ider managin g to say, "I happy. No much practice yesterday. No much practice tod ay. Bike was good." Hazen raced into the pits at the 35minute mark, and at the time enjoyed a 14-second lead. MidzaIl was on the bike quickly, and Northwest Racing maintained the lead. "The canister fell off abou t four laps before I handed the bike off, but other than that everything was fin e," said Hazen. "I was just riding conservative, maintaining our lead ." But Mizdal would be unable to do the same, as Bowman began to slowly, but surely, reel him in. With 10 minutes to go, Bowman had closed the gap and was able to see Mizdal as they raced down Brainerd 's mile-long front straight. "I knew that I was gaining, my lap times were pretty good, " said Bowman. . " But when I mad e visual contact with him I really got fired up and d rop ped the hammer." Bowman made the pas s for the lead in tum two on the 28th lap. "I couldn't get through tum two very well," admitted Mizdal. "I knew he was coming, but I was having a tough time with the bike. It would bog down low , then come on really hard in mid-eomer. I was trying to ad just my lin es, but it wasn't working very well." Once in to the top spot, Bowman pulled out a lead that would be comfortable by the race's end. Mizdal maintained second aboard the loud Northwest Racing machine, well ahead of Higbee, who fin ished a lonely third aboard the AGV Sports Group motorcycle. "We were having some carburetion p robl em s," sa id Higbee. "It got really bad at the end and I had to back off a bit. I had to short-shift the bike, because it would cut out if you revved it out." After jumping on the Moto liberty /Honda entry well behind the frontrunners; Carmichael made a credible charge through the field to nip H I Racing 2 for fourth in the closing stages of the race. "I just rod e m y ass off," said Carmichael. 01 Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results: July 30, 1994 A M AlC C S MIDDLEWEIGHT T EA M CHALLENGE: 1. Mot o Li be r ty / Nanka i (H on ); 2. No rth west Racing (Hon); 3. AGV Spo rt Gro up (H on); 4. Mo to Liberty/Honda (Ho n); 5. H I Racin g 2 (Hon); 6. Mint Racin g (Hon); 7. j .S. Racin g (Ho n ); 8. Tri-Mid Racing (Hon) ; 9. Produmax Racing (H on); 10. Poo r Boys Racing (H on); 11. Mid-C ities Mot orsports (Kaw); 12. SPH Racine; (Kaw) ; 13. Team Fisher Racing (Ha n); 14. Mid Amen ca Road Racig (Yam); 15. Kiya Watan abe Racin g (H on); 16. Fox Valley Racin g (Ho n); 17. Amhers t Motors po rts (Hon); 18. Farrar Racing (Han) ; 19. Team Racing Mototcycle New s (Ha n); 20. Team Knee Dra gon (Ho n); 21. NSD Racing (H on ); 22 Team Apathy (Yam); 23. Westfield /M LR Racing (Hon); 24. Road To p ad Raci n g (Ka w ); 25. Team Techn ology (Hon); 26. MD Racin g (Ka w ); 27. Recycle Racin g (Suz) ; 28. NSD n (Ya m); 29. Evo Twin Racin g (H-D); 30. Wee Boys Racing (Yam); 31. Team Hansen (Yam); 32. MCC Racing (Due ); 33. Tea m Mash er (Kaw ); 34. Jica rill a Apache Racin g (Ho n). Time: 59 minutes. 52.080 seco nds . Dist .. ncee 196 mil es. Average Speed: 96.212 mph. Mugin of victory: 4.152 seco nds. AMAlCCS MIDDLEWEIGHT TEAM CHALLENGE SERIES POINT STANDINGS (Aft er 9 of 11 rounds): 1. AGV Sport (225/ 2 w ins); 2. Mot a Liberty / Ho nd a (214 /5); 3. N o rthwes t Racing (190 /1); 4 . Amhe rt s Moto rsports (158); 5. Jicarilla Apache Race Team (141); 6. J5 . Racing (133); 7. Kiyo Watanabe Racing (132); 8. H I Raci ng 2 (88 ); 9 . Team Tech n ology (87 ); 10 . H yva c /New Tech Cycle (13); 10 . (TIE) Mint Racin g /Team Red Bar on (71); 12. Produmax Racing (67); 13. Moto Liberty/ Nanka i (60); 14. Tri Mid Racing (48); IS . Ja m Plan (42); 16. Racecc (41 ); 17. Evo Twin Ra cing (4 0); 18. Fa r ra r Racing (38); 19. Ande r son Dynamic Racing (33); 20. Hon da Suzuki World (31). Upcoming rounds: Round 9 - Sonoma, California, August 21 Round 10 - Braselton, Georgia, Sept. 16

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