Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Daytona International Speedway • (Above) Donald Pepin Jr. (372) and Jerry Lawson (157) do battle in the Amateur Heavyweight Superbike class. (Left) Michae l Barnes wheelies en route to winning the Expert Middleweight Superbike class. well sw ap ped places on the fin al lap, then swa pped back with Croly Jr. se con d and Sidwell third, well in fron t of his brother Sean Sid well and Kevin Jeffrey. "I' m not su re what to say:' the su rprised Law son said in Victory Lane. "I haven't won too many races. My brother Chris an d all my fam ily and everyo ne who sponsors me deserves a than ks. I'm pretty happy. It's a good way to start race week. We'll be ba ck tomorrow (Saturday ) hi two mo re races. We' ve got to change th e clu tch on th e bi ke. It was slipping the entire race." The problem was corrected by Satu rday's races and Law son was qu ickly ou t in front again on the Yama ha FZR750 in the Amateu r Hea vyweight Supersport. It was Pepin Jr. and Sid well giving chase aga in w ith Sea n Sidwell just off the pace of the lead grou p. Th e second-lap order was shuffled by a d raft-pass swapfes t endi ng the lap as th e top three broke clea r . Sid well ended up in front for the third lap and starting the fou rth , with Lawson nearly spilling in tum one while tryi ng to take the lead . By now the leaders were better than seven seconds clear of fourth with Brett Ch ampagn e of Solar Tech Motorsports now in fron t of the PMH Group Kawasaki of Sean Sidwell. On the fifth lap, Pepin Jr. see med to pu ll aw ay in the infield which prompted Law son to lat er say: "At one p oin t, I thou gh t he wou ld be go ne." On the same lap Sidwell snuck un der Lawson in the West End Horseshoe for second rSid well lost second whe n Law son we n t aro und the top of him off of NASCA R Tum Two heading down the back straig ht, the n regain ed it enter ing the chicane. . Meanwhile, Pep in [r., in only his secon d vis it to Dayt ona, co u ldn 't bre ak away an d was go bb led up by his pursu ers on the sixth lap with Law son taking the lead up onto the banking; Pepi n Jr . d ropp ed t o se co n d with Sidwell third. Norma lly, you don 't want to lead the final lap, but th at ' s wh at Lawson did , an d he ma de it stick all the way to the chec ke rs. Sidwell; who had moved into the second on the fina l lap, wasn't as lu cky with Pe p in Jr . s li ngshotting past on the final lap. Abo ut 11 seconds back ca rne Sea n Sidw ell , w i th Bre t t Cha m pagne a close fifth . " I th in k th e wind was better for u s tod ay, " Law son sa id . "Th e bi ke w as stronger on the back straight." It wou ld onl y take until the second lap of the Ama teur He avyweight Superbike for the trio to again hook u p, this time wi th Laws on again in front, Pepin Jr. second, and Sid well corning u p from the fourth row to move in to third. But, unlike the o the r ra ce s, th is on e w as mor e processi onal u n til th e fina l tw o laps. That's when Sidwell made his wa y in front of Lawson, holdin g the spot into ' the final lap, only to slow late in the lap and cede to Lawson and Pepin [r ., who crosse d the line in first and second . Third was we ll behind, with Brutune Racing's Steve Tub ic running alon e after takin g the spot from Brett Cham pa gne on th e fi fth lap . H e'd b e better th an eight seconds adrift at the flag and comfor tab ly in fro nt of Ch ampagne. Despi te fini sh ing a close second, Pepin Jr. wa s pumped. "T ha t was fa st as h ell. I lo ve th is track," he sa id . . The th reesome tha t domin ated 600cc act ion first met early in Friday's Amat eur Solo GTU class. By the second lap, David Rose was in fron t wi th Graham Kimb le back in fourth, but on the move. So mu ch of a mo ve th at h e' d be o u t fro nt on the thi rd lap with Rose d ropping to second, then to fou rth after runnin g w id e in the Internati on al H orseshoe . O n the fift h la p Kimb le w a s the lead er, Rose back in front for the sixth, Kimble again for the seventh, then Darren Hartung in a move up from third, led the eigh th, ninth and 10th la ps . It wasn' t un til the 11th lap that Rose was a ble to m ove b y in the In te rn ati o nal Hor sesh oe, thou gh only momen tarily. The las t tw o la ps were a blu r of lead cha nges and Kimble lost any chan ce at a wi n w hen he n early ca rne off in th e infield on the 12th lap. . Rose was in the lead on lap 13, but he lo oked to be down on po w er on th e banki ng and Ha rtu ng wa s on hi s tail and took the lead on the fina l lap . Har tun g used the top of the track; Rose tried th e d ra ft, th en ran low, bu t carne up .430-of-a-second sho rt at the flag. "It was tou gh . I got in hot coming off of tum five on to the chicane. I had an early apex beca use of traffic ," Hartung said after his only win of the weekend. "T hose guys were tou gh . It was g rea t competition." About 2.5 seconds back was Kimb le, then a substantial ga p to Steve Wenner and Jim Har aldson , the pair engaged in their own war for mu ch of the race. Rose go t his revenge in his first try on Sat u rday afternoon in the Amateur . Mid dlewei gh t GP, th e first of 13 CCS races . Jettin g u p from th e th ird row, Ros e took over the le ad on the sh o rt straight lead ing up to the kink, then ran wide on the exit of the kink, kicking u p dust, bu t n ot losing gro u nd . His lea d was challenged on the second lap wi th Jim Ha ral dson tak ing the lead heading for the chicane; then both of the m were passed when Josef Bren ner d raf ted up fro m third to ta ke th e le a d as t hey ' entere d the chica ne . . The order was Brenner , Rose, Haraldson a t the stripe end ing the secon d lap, with a ga p to Steve Wenner and Joe Ha y e s, w ho w ere in a fa ir fi ght fo r fourth. ' It was n't un til the fina l lap that Rose was able to ·get in front again, takin g adva n tage o f a slowing Josef Brenner. O nce at th e fro n t, h e quick ly pu lled away an d nailed down his second win convincingly. "I'Il take a win an y way I can ge t it," Rose said. "I lost tou ch w it h th e lead d raft and figured I was stuck wit h second . Then Josef Brenner began to slow and I passed him at the finish line as we s ta rte d th e fina l lap. I put my he a d down and cha rged from there." Wen ner emerged over Hayes in the b attl e for fourth with Bob La p u s n a k mo ving into sixth on the fina l lap. In the Amateur Middl eweight Super.sp ort race, Rose mad e his po in t early . Corning off of NAS CA R Tu rn Two on the firs t lap, Rose, who s tarted on the fourth row, draft ed in to the lead with Kimble coming with him, then spee d ing by on the ru n to the chicane. Back an d fort h it went fo r th e first half of the race; Kimble in front of Rose and Darren Hartung to start the fourth la p; Rose m ak in g a bold move to th e lead by going under Kimble ent ering the West End Horsesh oe. Kimbl e retook the lead at th e e n d o f th e b a ck s traigh t, before making a crucial mist ake. "Th e #921 m a chi n e carne by o n ce an d he go t in ho t int o the chicane and had to go wide for the right-han de r and 1 wen t undern eath h im an d th at ' s th e last I saw of him," Rose sa id . Rose led the fifth and sixth laps, then es tab lished an uneasy cushion on the final lap . . " I d idn't kn ow if he (Kim ble) w as there or not," Rose said . "I th ou gh t he might h ave been drafting corning off the e a s t b ank in g so 1 wa s d o in g a li t tle weaving, but I had no idea how far ba ck he was. I jus t go t ou t front and cru ised and waited for so mebody to come by."

• Cover