Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 9: Sears Point International Raceway · AMAlCCS M iddleweightTeam Challenge Bowman first and second By Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG.20 oto Uberty's Jamie Bowman did somethi ng no one could ever remember accomplishing before: he finished both firs t and second in the AMA /CCS Mid dl eweight Team Ch allenge , doing it on a pair of Moto Uberty Hondas on a wa rm afternoon at Sears Point Internati onal Raceway . Because of an injury to team manager Dou g Carmichael, the continued absence of Takahi to Mori, and the need to gain ground on cha m pio nsh ip lead ers AGV Sport Group, Bowma n was forced to do doubl e duty . He rode the first leg on the Mo to Liber ty / Na nkai, teamin g with Masahiro Iizuka, then, after a five minute rest, took over the Moto Uberty/Honda from new recruit Owen Weichel and rode tha t Honda CBR600to the win. "We just brou ght the '16' bike (Moto Uberty/ Nankai) to stick it inbetween us and AGV Spo rts Group and get as many points as possi ble inbetween," Bowm an sai d , and the strategy p aid off. Though AGV Sports Grou p finished third, Scott Zampach moving into the spo t wi th fifteen minutes to go mthe one-hour event, they were over 28-second s behind th e second-place bike. With one race to go at Road Atlanta, the AGV Sports Group lead is a mere six p o in ts, 255-249, over th e d ef end in g N ationa l Ch a mpions, Moto Lib erty / Honda. Bowm an a n d We ich el, w ho was asked at 10:00 a.rn. on race morning to join the team, completed 33 laps of the 2.45-m ile tra ck at an av erage speed of 80.756 mph. Bowman, on the number one Honda, crosse d the line 18.836 sees. in front Iizuka on the "16" Honda that he rod e first. Fourth , in a firs t time p ai ri ng, wa s Pete r Wensloff and Stephen Hansen on the Team Hansen Ya ma ha FZ R600 . Wensloff, w h o led the race nea r th e halfway point and was the faster of the two riders, said he didn't know Hansen when the weekend began . " I just met the gu y yesterday. It's h is bike," Wensloff said after the team finished a lap d own on the leaders. Team Red Baron's Steve Teschke and Stu Morrison finished fifth on a Honda CBR600 in front of Amherst Motorsports Brian Kohl and Billy Graef. A sparse field of 16 middleweight machines took the green flag at about 4:30 on Saturday afternoon, with Brad Hazen jumping into the lead on the Northwest Racin g Honda in fro n t of AGV Sports Gro up's Shawn Higbee, Moto Liber ty / H onda 's Weichel, and Mo to Liberty / Nankai's Bowman. The Moto Lib er ty bikes would change places on the second lap. Hazen began to pull away un til the sixth lap wh en he crashed in tum three , h andin g th e lea d to Moto Liber ty / Nankai's Bowman with Weichel second, 'H igbe e third, and Team. H ansen ' s We nsl off fou rth in fro nt of Team Red Bar on's Teschke. They wo uld finish the race that way about 50 minutes later, but there would be some action in between, The Moto Uberty bikes hooked up on the 11th lap , abou t a thi rd of the way through the race, with Weichel speeding M (Above) Cellfornlan Sco tt Gray teamed with New Eng lande r Dale Quarterley to give Team Mirage the win In the Unlimited Team Challenge at Sears Point. (Left) Moto L1bertylHonda (1) took the win In the Middleweight Team Challe nge , beating Moto L1berty/Nankal (16). Jamie Bowman actually rode both bikes . ha wk Racin g Yamaha of Brian Koh l and lead rid er Shawn Higbee. cv Sears Point International Race way Sonoma, California Resu lts: August 21, 199 4 .... rJl ;:l CO ;:l -e 14 By the end of the race, Nobles had close to 40 seconds on Erion Racin g's Pegram, but he'd been unable to close on Gray. "The bike started sliding around and I was holding on too tight and ma kin g too m any m istakes," Nobles sa id . " It d id n ' t work ou t the way we w an ted it to. A Kawasaki wo n the Kaw asa ki-sponsored even t. We're pleased wit h that, we jus t w ish it was the other way around." Pegram bro ught the Erion Ra cin g bike home third, just as he was told to do . "I just rode pretty eas y. I was told to go out there and finish third . Ride fas t enou gh to keep the guys behind me," Pegram said. "I w asn' t going to cat ch Muzzy. I didn't want to throw the thing away." As for the team retaining their number one plate , Pegram sai d : "When it was time earlier in the season to win ra ce s, we prov ed w e can win races . Now we wa nt t o win th e cha mpion ship." Emde caught up to Salaverria wi th abou t tw o minutes to go, chasing him to the flag an d almost to Pegram . Third through fifth was covered by less than four seconds, Pegram in front of Dutchman' s Sal a ve rri a and Do min a tor ' s Emde. A lap down came the Ke y stone/ Northstar bike wi th Nick Felli finishin g up in sixth, a spot better than the Black- UN LI M ITE D T EAM CH A L· LENG E: 1. Team Mirage (Kaw); 2. Team Kawasa ki / Muzzy (Kaw); 3. Erion Racin g (Ho n); 4. Dutchman Racing (Yam) ; 5. Dominator (5uz); 6. Key stone/Norths tar (Ya m); 7. Bla ckhawk Racing (Ya m) ; 8 . Spo ratl and of Laramie (Ya m ); 9 . Cycle Riders (Ka w) ; 10. Fas tli ne MCM / Su zu ki (5uz ); 11. Tea m Be yo nd (Kaw); 12. And ers on / Dyna mic Racing (Yam); 13. Circling Do g Ra cin g (5 uz); 14. Tea m Racelaw (Hon); 15. Cali fo rnia Kawasa ki (Ka w) ; 16. Team Suz u ki (16); 17. Keyston e/Northstar II (Yam): 18. Stev ens Racing (Suz); 19. Frits Gees Racin g (H-D); 20. Harley -David so n ( H ~D ) ; 21. Two Hu sky Racing (Kaw). . Time: 1 hour. 22.776 sec. Dis t~ nce: 34 la ps, 75.6 miles. Avera ge s peed: 84.466 mph. MMgi n of victory: 16.802 sees . UNLIMITED T EAM CHA LLENG E C'SH IP PO INT STANDINGS (After 9 of 10 ro unds): 1. Erion Racing (289) ; 2. Tea m Kawasaki / M uzzy (278); 3. Fastline MCM / Su zuki (258) ; 4. Dutch man Racin g (23B); S. Blackha wk Racing (210); 6. (TIE) Sp ortsland of Larami e Raci ng /Key stone No rthstar (187); 8 . Ande rson Dy na mic Racin g (161 ); 9. Team America (153); 10. Fas tline MCM /Suzu ki II (116); 11. H .!. Racing (103); 12. ream Racelaw (102); 13. NEw Tech Racin g (61); 14. Cheetah Racin g (56); 15. Dom ina to r (54); 16. Circli ng Dog Racing (48) ; 17. (TIE) Tea m Yoshimura /HarleyDav idson (46 ); 19 . (TIE) Team Mira ge / K.W .S . Mot orsports (45). Upcoming Rounds: Rnd 10 • Braselton, Georgia, September 18

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