Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

That w as the race in a nutshell. " I found o u t some things, " Russell said after winning the race by 8.87 seco~ds over Nag,ai. "We ' re still workin g WIth the bike. I m not happy with some of the thi ngs we have. On ce Colin went ou t, I just put it on cr uise co ntro l. I thought I might have a problem , too." Zlock Racin g's Pinkstaff establishe d his spot by the fifth lap and ra n it to the end. ' "I tried to stick with those lead guys, but they were too fast," Pink staff ad mit ted . Behi nd hi m came the ba ttle between Moe and Weber with Moe in fron t until the 10th lap when Weber took over the sixth spo t. . " I had a heck of time hoo king it up," Moe sa id, after goi ng w ith a hard rear tire. " Every turn was slippery. I've go t to go through the tu rn s at 100 mph or I have trouble." Moe also said he'd have to make sus pe nsio n adjustments for the second leg. Weber's fir st race was the better of the tw o, pa ss in g Moe goi ng up on the banking. When he pulled in, he noti ced that h e h ad cracke d brak e rotors an d had ~o make a change for the second leg. EIghth place we nt to Micha el Barnes on the Erion Racing Honda 600, the first of the Middlew eigh ts, wi th David Stanton nin th on the Valvoline Suz uki 750, a n d Ch r is tia n Zwe dorn 10th on the Honda Austria CBR600F3. RACE TWO After the tire troubles of the first race a certain amoun t of caution was exe rcised in the second race, not only in tire choice, but also durin g the race. But if Russell was concerned, he didn't much show it. Thou gh Ed w ards got another jump on the field, Russell was out front by the fourth lap and edging away. By the midway point he had over a fou rsec on d cush io n wh ich h e seemed to stret0 at will, winning the mostl y proce ss lonal ra ce by over 17 secon ds . It do esn 't s o u n d ve ry exciti ng a n d it wasn't, but it wa s cli nical a nd it was im p ress ive. Still, Russell kn ow s that the real test will come whe n the fu ll fiel d sho ws up for Speed Week. "The big guns will com e in on Tues da y, so we'll see what happens. We'll be r e ady . T his Kaw a s aki tea m a n d the . Yamaha team knows the tires a lot better than the guys who ar en 't here, which will be goo d come Wed nesday." What he was also thinking abo ut was the Michelin-e quipped racers, Ducati's Carl Foga rty a n d Promo to r Ducati ' s Troy Corser. Edwa rds' position was at le as t as secure as Ru s s e ll ' s, th ou gh he was slowed ? y ha ving to go wit h a slightly hard er tire and he w as also doing equipment testing. "We tri ed a co u p le of thi ngs th at d i~n' t work," he said . "Every th ing is go mg good and we'll jus t go back to the drawing board and come up wit h a few new ideas. We tested a different pi pe a n d d id a few different th ing s a nd found ou t that they d idn' t work. We' ll do some w ork w ith th e transmission and fix it." He w as b etter th an 15 seco n ds in front of his teammate Nagai at the end, the Japanese rid er still ad apting to the machine and the track. "I'm feeling a little bit better, but I'm still learning: ' he said through an in terpreter. "It is starting to come, but I still need more track tim e to get the motor cycle set up w ith the su sp ension and things. I can' t keep sight of Scott Russell after tw o or three laps." The next rider in the p arade was Team Desmo's Da ve Sad owski, who (Left) John Kocins ki low-sides his Honda CBR600dur ing the first NASB race . The former 250cc World Champion wasn 't hurt and he used the second race as a test session. ran up in fourth before a cautiona ry pit sto p, then was back ou t to take fou rth a t th e e n d . Aft er h earing of th e tire troubl es in th e firs t le g , Sa dows ki decid ed to pit after ge tting an unea sy feeling out of the rear of the bik e. His crew s ai d the tire w a s fi ne a n d h e rejoined the hunt. " I thou ght I fe lt a littl e thump, thump, thump," Sadowski sai d . "There wasn't much tim e to ti re test. I went back out and reali zed it was the track. The circums tances in the first leg fueled my curiosity . Everyth ing was fine . We sacrificed a position ." . Next came R&R Racin g's John Ashmead, the former Dayton a 200 winner hookin g u p with Moe for mu ch of the race an d ge tting the be tter of him at the end . But ge tti ng there was more th an hal f the fu n . O n th e first la p he was behind Keith Pin kstaff, when Pinkst aff high-sided in th e Int ernat ion al Hor seshoe; "There"was shra p nel every where co m ing o u t, Ashm ead. sa id . And h e was 50 ya rds beh ind G ra ves wh en the Suzuki rider crashed in the chicane . "He just grabbed the brakes. It looked like he never let off." On the last la p, M oe w a s close eno ug h to chall en ge, but Ashmead used a trio of lapped rid ers as slingshots exiting the chica ne and wo n the race to the flag. Weber, who s pe n t the ea rly part of the race bedd ing in his new brakes, wa s seventh with Scott Zampach eight h and Barn es ninth. Mike Ha rth finished 10th. Zimpach was more pleased wit h the new Ha rley-David son VRl000 after fin ish ing the second race an d it gave him so me pe rspective. "We've only m a d e a few mi n or adj us tments. We' re lacking a litt le top speed : it ' s no t a Mu zzy Kawasaki by any means . But I think we're two-thirds of the way up the hill. I was anticipating a lon g climb," Zampach sa id . "A little more horsepower and a little mo re seat time and we'll be right there." Barnes sai d th a t racing th e Honda 600 aga ins t th e bigger bikes was " a b~ast. It r~minded me of racing the GTU bike against the GTO bikes in the old endu rance races." f-X Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Aorida Results: March 5, 1995 RAC E 1: ~ott Russell (Ka w) ; 2.. Yasutomo Nagai (Ya m); 3. Co h n Edwa rd s II (Yam ); 4. Ch uck G ra ves (Suz)f5. Keith Pinkstaff (Kaw); 6. Da mien weber (Duc) ; 7. Eric Moe (Kaw); 8. Mich ael Barn es (Hon) ; 9. Dav id Stanton (Suz~; 10. ~ristia~ Swedown; 11. Greg Gibso n (Yam); 12 Michael Fitzpatrick (Yam); 13. Anthony Lupo (Yarn); 14. Thorvald Sae by (Ka w ): 15 . Bill Zc a rlcy (Kaw); 16: An gelo N icho les (Ka w) ; 17. Ron McG ill (H D); 18. Mike Walsh (Yam); 19. Larry Pegram (Hon); 20. Brya n Bem isd erfer (Yam) . Time: 26 m in .• 56.040 sec. Di sunce: 15 laps . 53.4 m iles . Average Speed: 111.027 mph . Margin of Vidory: 8.870 sec. RACE 2: 1. Scott Russe ll (K.1.w ); 2. Co lin Edwards II (Yam ); 3. Yas ut om o Nagai (Yam ); 4. Da vid Sa do wski (Duc~; 5. Joh n Ash mead (Kaw ); 6. Eric Moe (Kaw); 7. D~ mla n Weber (D u e ); 8. Scott Za m pac h (H- D ); 9 . Michael Barnes (Hon) ; to. Mike Harth (H·O ); 11. David Sta nton (Suz); 12. Tod d Harring ton (Kaw); 13. Christian Zwedown; 14 . Th orvald Saeby (Ka w ); 15 . Paul Sc~we mml' r (Ho n); 16. ~en Melville (K.1.w); 17. Angelo N icho les (Kaw ); 18 . M ich a el Fit z pa trick (Ya m ); 19. Anthony Lu po (Yam); 20. Bill Zea rley (Kaw) . Time: 26 mi n.• 26.810 sec . Distance: 15 laps , 53.4 m ill'S. Average Sp e-ed : 113.072 mph. Ma rgin of Victory: 17.380 sec, NAS B C'SIIIP POINT STANDINGS (Afte r two ro unds): 1. Scott Russell (70 /2 wins); 2. (T IE ) Cohn Ed wa r ds . I/ Ya su to m o Naga i (6 2); 4. (T IE ) Er ic 1 Moe !Daml an Webe r (49); 6. Michael Bamtes (45); 7. Dav id Sta n to n (42) ; 8. C h ri s tia n Swedo r n (39 ); 9. Th orv ald Sac-by (34); 10. Mich a el Fitzpatrick (32); 11. Anthon y Lupo (30); 12. Angelo Nicho les (29); 13. (TIE) Dav id Sado ws ki/Chuck C ra ves (28); IS. Bill Zc a rley (27); 16. (TIE) John Asm ead /Keith Pinkstaff (26)' 18 Sco ll Za mpach (23); 19. Larry Pegram (22 ); 20. [rIE) Paul Schwemme r / Mike Harth (21). (Above) Scott Russell sprays the bubbly while Colin Edwards II and his teammate Yasutomo Nagai look on. :8 r·I-e fly.. . ·.. · · · • :: Team Mirage·s ·Dale NASB races took.late .expected to enter the Quarteriey, ,who was delivery on his Ferracci Ducat; and arrived on . . . Saturday afternoon, too'late to ~om p~te. . . Team Desm·o·s Dave ·Sadows ki was forced · out of the first race when a clip that holds his Twci of th~ customer VR-1000 ·H~rley-David' gastank cover on broke 011 and fell down to sons made lnauspicious .debuts in the openjam the throttle open as he was entering.the ing NASB leg: Both the Earl Small's H-D of chican~ on the.warmup lap. "Iwas going into Mike H~rth an~ ihe TIlley H~D of.Scott Zamthe chicane Wide open on the warmup tap .. pa.ch fe,:ed to flnl~h. "The engine d ied in the an d the re wer e SIX or s even guys go.ing . : hlC8ne, Harth sa id of hIS second-lap failure. . through there stretching their legs,"Sado wski · I was gOing to come In anyway because we sa ld.:"] went·through on ttie gas . Then I were having.a proble m withthe brakes." p ulled in the clutch and the thing was on the . Zampach made it to the third lap before his: rev limiter. for a few seconds." Sadow s ki bike stopped.vfh e engine just quit. No wam.stayed dc;>wn on the apron and went throuqh ' Ing; It was like somebody pulled the plug on the gears to return to the Pits. . . us, . he sa id. • .• Erion Racing's John Kocinski had a less MCBride·s Cycles Jeff Sneyd saw a ·promis-· tha n successful dey in the NASB rac e s . . Ing day go bad quick In his first ride aboard · ly. ~ . Kocinski entered the races to get track time . his Fe~rai:ci Ducat] BBB, he was forced to on the DOT-shod Honda CBR600F3, but he . park ,t Intum one withan 011 leak. .A.pparently, didn't get as much as he would have liked. . the clutch actuating rod .had been Installed .~ He cras hed in turn one at Friday's practice ~~;:ag~; ;~~Sl~g the ,ollthleak whl.le hie whas when the rear wheet locked up. "That's the . I pace .. n . e second eg e first time .in 22. years of rac ing I'v e ever. . ~raShed, unhurt, entenng t he fast lnfietd dog- · crashed like that," Kocinski.said on Saturday. ego He .finished sixth in the second heat. but his · T · · . . : . ...: . .. tlmeswere ir he career of Damian Weber gOt .8 boost . , '"' . . ~) Iap .rme s wer e in the 2:01 range : well oll . Russell'~ soacc .umes of 1.:57. In Sunday's " with the addition of ·LDM Tachnoloqies as a . 0\ .fIrst race, Kocinski again lost the back end in ' sponsor. LOM, which .s based in Troy, Michi, i ~ turn one, sliding for a while before cartwheel-: gan,.is a supplierof plastics to the automotive u) ing 011 the edge otthe track, unhurt.. In the · industry with sales of. $300 million last year. R.ick Nash, the company's CEO and a sport...... second leg he pitted on the third lap before bike enthusiast, watched Fort Lauderdale's ....s:: rejoining the race and finishing well down the Weber race me Fast by Fermcci Docati that ~ .fie ld. "Eve rything seemed all right by the ': Troy Corser rode to the AMA Superbike ~ end ; he said. Kocinski was plann ing on Championship last.year." Weber, who raced a ":::::' going to profess ional water skiing School the·: Kawasaki ZX -7 last year, said he will contest · ,.<:; early part of the week: · .. .. . . . . th.e entire AMA se ries this y.ear. . : . . .. 13

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