Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:ROAD RACE oad Race Series:. FOInaI roun d: R dAtianta . .' :AMA/CCS Cham pionshipR oa Scott zampach (1), Aaron Yates (19) and Matt Wah (95) duke It out for the win In the Harley-Davidson Twi n Sports fi nal. Yates eventua lly got the decision In the red-fIagsho rtened race , with zampach second and Walt thi rd. The championship, h_ever, _ntto Shawn Higbee, who finished fourt h at Road Atlanta . 12 th em under the bridge and I cou ldn't p ass the m on the back straight. Fortunately, the red flag came out." None of the four riders who crashed were hurt. After carry ing the number-one plate for three years, Zampach was gracious in relinquishing it. " I' d really like to congratula te Shawn Higbee and Bill Bartels. 1 hope he can carry the pla te an d put in as many victories as I have ove r the years," Zampach said . The final points tally shows Higbee with 304, Zampach wi th 283, and Billy Graef - seventh today - with 260. The field of 26 H-D 883s took to the trac k for the l o-lap race, wi th ominous dark clouds threa tening, but no more. Fortunately, the racers were spared having to race on a wet race track. Yates, Zampach and Higbee got the jum p off the line with Wait soon movin g to the front and holding the spot at the end of the first lap . Zampach moved into second with an aggressive line down the hill into the final tum at the end of the lap, moving Low Country H-D's Chuck Blackmon back to thir d. Zampach took the lead on the next lap, Wait to second, the n, on lap three, Yates moved into thi rd. Another goaround and the top three ha d changed order - Zampach, Yates, Wait - and were making a break, holding a 3.23-second edge on fourth, Team Heller-Owen's Owen Weichel, when they took the crossed flags to mark the halfway point. Wait moved back to second to start the sixth lap, ending it back in third with Yates chasing Zampach, the three under a blanket. Yates would make his move to the front at the end of the seventh lap, taking an inside line under Zamp ach coming out from under the Goodyear Bridge. He crsosed the line just in front, Za mp ach second, and Wait third and that's how they would be scored. "Yates, Wait and myself were setting a fast pace," Zampach said. "Matt and 1 .clashed coming out of tum one and it tore my steering damper off and nearly threw me onto the ground." "There were some close calls on the last lap," Wait said. "Me and Zampach collided on the hill and scared each other to death." Higbee, who'd started badly and was at the tail end of the top 10 ending the first lap, moved slowly through the field after discovering that his gearing was off. "1 took off kind of slow. My gearing was kind of taller than 1 need ed. I could ta ke advan tage of high comer speeds, but when I got up with those guys their comer speeds were lower," Higbee said. Had Za m p ach won, H igbee would hav e had to finish 20th or better, an d he was well within that when the race was sto pped, having moved in to fourth on the seventh lap , jumping three spots in one lap. "1 was kind of disappointed to see the red flag come out. I'm just happy to win the championshi p:' he said. Brian ' s Ha rley- Da v id s on ' s Ron McGill was fifth, Fletcher's H-D's Shawn (~ McNary just behind in sixth. Road Atlanta Brasehon , Georgia Resuhs: se ptember 1B, 1994 H-OlWlN SPORTS FINAL: 1. Aaron Yates; 2. Scoll Za mp ach ; 3. Matt Wait ; -4. Shawn Higbee; S. Rona ld McGill; 6. Sha wn McNary; 7. Billy Graef; 8. Brian Kohl; 9. Chuck Blackmon; 10. Ben Bostrom; 11. Eric Bostrom; 12. Eric Ucruze; 13. Jeff Eklund; 14. Randy Texter; IS. lim Whibl=; 16. Matthew Guidera; 17. MK:hae1 F~ 18Je ff Harding; 19. JeIT}' Casciero; 20. Devin Balll ey ; 21. Don Greene; 22. Steve Blackburn; 23. Richie Moms; 24. Owen Wekhe~ 25. Robert Buffingt on: 26. joseph Santa Maria . TI me: No time d ue to red flag . Oistancr. 7 laps. 17.64 mi\es. Average IPft'd: None due to red flag. M.arg.in o( victory: None due to red fL1g. FINAL H·O lWIN SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (Alto, 10 of 10 even"~ I. Shawn Higbee (304 / 4 wi ns ); 2. Sco tt Za m pac h (283/3); 3. Billy G raef (260); 4. Ronald McGill (227); 5. Shawn McN. ry (218); 6. M.tt W.it (205); 7. Aaron Yat e s (204 /3) ; 8. Chuck Blackm on (203); 9. Brian Kohl (202); 10. And y Fenw ick (169); 11. mE) Don Greene/Eric Bostrom (160); 13. Jim Whitaker (134); 14. Matthew Guidera (121); 15. Eric Lacruze (95); 16. Joe Winston (87); 17. Ben Bostrom (80); 18. Jeff Hardlng (77); 19. Robert Cunnington (70); 20. Dick Koehler (68). AMAICCS MicIdIewe9It Team Challenge By Henny Ray Abrams BRASELTON, GA, SEPT 17 earn Mota Liberty/Honda came into the final race of the year with a I 10-point deficit to the championship-leading AGV Sports Group team. U they were to defend their crown - the last one ever earned, since the AMA is deleting this class next year - they would need to win wi th AGV finishing no better than sixth . To improve their odds, Moto Liberty entere d three Honda CBR600s hoping they would finish in front of the AGV Sports Group Honda. In the end itwas not the might of the three Moto Liberty team s that allowed them to defend their title, it was the failure of a valve stem on the rear wheel of the AGV Sports Group Honda in the red flag in terrupte d AMA / CCS Middle weight Team Challenge. On the thi rd lap of the res tart, with about 20 minutes to run in the one-hou r event, AGV Sports Group's Shawn Higbee rolled down pit lane with a flat rear tire, dismounted, and threw his arms up in the air in frustration. After valiantly fighting for the crown, and maintaining their spot near the top with a season's worth of consisten t finishes, their d ay was done and Takahito Mori , aboard the number-one Moto Liberty /Honda , began to edge aw ay on his way to a thoroughly dominating performance. He would win by close to 40 seconds, that beca use his second-place pursuer crashed in the final minutes. The wonderful battle for third then became the ba ttle for second and it was decided at the line with Terrell/Nakada Motorsports' James Bronson crossing the line a single bike len g th in fro n t of Jonathan Bolton on the Fast Boyz Toyz Suzuki. Bu t the Fast Boyz Toyz team wou ld be disqualified after refusin g to submit their Suzuki to a post-race teardown by AMA officials. It was believed they were using a GSXR-750motor. Their disqualification moved the J.5. Ra cing Honda to third with Sean Sweeney riding the second leg after Jim Lester opened the race. The Plano Honda Endurance pairing of Kelly Moody and Toby Grace captured fourth, one spot in front of the second Moto Uberty entry of Mori and Masahiro lizuka. Because of the red flag, which was caused by a blown engine 14 minutes into the event and caused a 23-minute delay, the . race became a 23-minute sprint. There would be no pit stops and the second leg riders would go the distance. Mori and teammate Jamie Bowman completed 24 laps of the 252-mile circuit on an overcast day. Because of the lengthy dela y, there wasn't an accurate average speed. Their official margin of victory was 39.246 seconds over Bronson, second on the Terrell /Nakada Motorsports bike from Chip Terrell Second much of the race .h a d belonged to Northwest Racing's Dean Mizdal. But a lack of communications with his crew late in the race prevented h im from knowing that he had about thirteen seconds on third pl ace and he cr ashed with just a few minutes to go , remounting to finish 14th. The final point tally has Moto liberty / Ho nda wi th 284, 25 better than AGV Sport. No rthwes t Racing was third with 223 points, despite finishing 13th. The race 'w as begun on an overcast Saturday afternoon und er threat en in g skies. Jamie Bowma n put the Moto U berty/Honda number one bike at the front of the 33-rider field in tum one of the sec- ond lap, Scott Zampach second on the AGV Sports Group bike with SBR-IRC Racing's Glenn Szarek third. But by the time the lap ended, Zampach was-in front of Szarek and Bowman an d the chase was on. Szarek took over into one on lap four, Zampach and Bowman following, then a slight gap to the Fast Boyz Toyz Suzuki under Jonathan Bolton who was in front of Northwest Racing 's Brad Hazen and the second Moto Liberty Honda of Takahito Mori. Zampach and Szarek battled for the lead, leaving Bowman alone in th ird until the race was red-flagged when an engine blew in the esses on the ninth lap, about 14 minutes into the race. The clean-up and re-grid would last about 23 minutes so that when the race was green-flagged th e seco nd tim e it would be for all the marbles. "Shawn's going to ride and I'm going to be nervous for half an hour," Zampach said. The Moto Liberty /Honda crew would mount a sli ck fro nt tire to go with the treaded rear . They'd run a treaded front at the start thinking it wo uld rain and the suspension w as n 't righ t. Mor i, d oin g doubl e duty, would be in the saddle for the d ash to the flag. Alread y, the third . Moto Liberty bike was out of the race with overheating problems. Mori led the restart from Dean Mizdal on the Northwest Racing's Honda, with Masahiro Iizuka th ird on the second Moto Liberty bike and AGV Sport s Group's Higbee fourth. On the third lap Higbee entered the pit lane wi th a flat rear tire, the p roduct of a broken valve stem . The team didn't have a spare nearby, and their day, and championship hopes, were over. Mori still had to finish and was rapidly pulling away. By the eighth lap of the restart he had better than 11 seconds on Mizdal wi th only the race for third providing any interest. Iizuk a, Sean Sweeney on the J.5. Racing bike , and Fas t Boyz Toyz's Bolton were contesting the spo t, though they would soon be joined by Terrell/Nakada Motorsports James Bronson. No thing much wo uld hap pen up front wi th Mori riding uncontested to the race and series win. Mori said the race was uneven tful, though he had to alter his line through the oil that was laid down in the esses . "1 didn't know if it was still slippery or good. 1 knew that we had to get the championship," Mori said. Mizdal had a firm grasp on second, better than twelve seconds in hand, though he didn't know it. "We miscommunicated. 1 didn't know how far ahead 1 was," Mizdal said. "1 stayed on it too long up the hill" Wicking it up in the final laps, Mizdal went off into the mud in tum three, then was prevented from rejoining the race by comer workers who were concerned with the mud on his Honda. Mizdal pleaded with them to let him go and they finally did, but not before he was well back. He would finish 13th. His error meant the battle behind him was for second and it would be Ter rell/Nakada's James Bronson holding off Fast Boyz Toyz's Johnathan Bolton at the line by about a bike length. "Lrode the first leg and d idn't have anything to do with the second part," Chip Terrell said . 'This is his (Bronson's) first time her e. U he had more than two lap s of pra ctice we would have won it." "1 kep t getti ng the insi de line in the last comer," James Bronson said after finishing second. "I made him go the long way around. He went the long way, but it wasn 't enough."

• Cover