Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·..ROAD RACE .' . AMA S uperTw Championship Series . ins Round 1: Daytona InternationalSpeedway Winner Scott Zampach (2) leads Dave Estok (92) and Billy Graef (5) early in the SuperTwins race. Estok and Graef ended up se cond and third, respectively. By Henny Ray Abrams DA¥rONABEACH,FL, MAR 12 ecause they're so evenly matched, the most crucial stretch of Daytona International Speedway for the Harley-Davidson 883 SuperTwins is the run from the Chicane to the checkered flag on the final lap . Come out of the chicane in first place and you 're likely to end up second, or worse, the victim of the draft. In the 1995 version of the race, Tilley's HD's veteran Scott Zampach changed the rules. Making a mad da sh through the chicane, the three-time class champion built up enough of a margin to deny his many pursuers the chance to steal his thunder. And, in th e process, repeated his win from a year ago. "I knew I had one chan ce and that was to run through the chicane faster than I ever had and that's basically what 1 did ," Zampach said aft er beating defending nati onal ch ampion Shawn H igb ee by 0.236 seconds. "I didn't really even slow down for it. 1 went into the chicane and hit the first bump and felt like I was doing the supercross out here yesterday. But I kep t the thing fro m tank-slapping into the wall and 1brought it home." Wh at mad e Zampach' s w in mo re imp ressive was that he'd been thrown to the groun d by h is H-D VRI000 during the Superbike race - about an hour earlier .in the da y - and had suffered a mild concussion, along with a sore neck and upper back. . After finishi ng second, Bartels' H-D's Higbee admitted he need ed to learn a little more abou t the draft. "I shou ld 've been righ t on the tail of Scott (Za rnpach) exi ting th e ch icane," Higbee said . "He's just really good at getting out there and opening up a margin. 1 definitely need some mo re ex perience here to beat Scot t. But I'm looking forward to the rest of the season - we'll get into some very technical tracks and hopefully I'll shin e there." . Higbee had a very sligh t ed ge on the battle for third, which wasn 't sorted out until after the Victory Lane ceremonies. Team HMC /Hansen Racing' s Billy Graef w as originally credited with the final podium spot, bu t the finishing order was B later amended and Bart els' H-D 's Ben Bostrom was moved up to third, Woody Kyle Racing's Dave Estok; of Daytona Beach, was given fourth, an d Graef dropped to fifth. "(Dave) Estok and I tried to argu e and they said 'You' ll have to wai t for the final resu lts: 1 said, ' I can't wait or I'll miss the podium:" Bostrom, who felt certain he finished third , said . "I gu ess it was that close. They didn't know quite for sure who w as th ird . 1 guess it's me:' Gra ef said befo re being taken down. Merrill Vanderslice, the AMA's Pro fessional Competition Director, explained that the scoring discrepancy arose when the group of four riders came toward the start / finish line, crisscrossing to avoid being drafted . "They fan ned out and came close to the scorekeepers at the line. They mistakenly interpreted third as number five, but it wasn't: ' Vanderslice said . However , the confusion wa sn 't over yet. Later on, after the top finishing bikes were torn down for tech inspection, both Higbees and Bostrom 's bikes were found to have illegal modification s and wer e subsequently disqualifi ed out of the final . results. As a result, Estok officially ended up second, Billy Graff th ird, Matt Wait fourth and And y Fenwick fifth. Za m pa ch complet ed the seven -lap, 24.92-mile race in 15 minutes, 33.812 seconds, at an average speed of 96.071 mph. The Daytona victory was Zarn pach's 23rd in H-D Twi ns competition, givi ng him more wins in anyone class than any other rider in AMA history. The win also gives him the lead after the first rou nd of the Su pe rTw ins cha mpions hi p with 35 p oint s, three bett er tha n Estok. Graff is third wi th 30. . Because of a red-flag delay in the 600cc Su perspo rt final, the first event on Sunday morning, the SuperTwins race, originall y s che d uled to run secon d, w as bumped to run after the Superbikes, making it the final race of Speed Week. Historically, this is the most competitive race o f th e w eekend and th at' s th e way it shaped up early this yea r. The field of 51 ride rs strung out at the start, and it wasn 'tlon g befor e a lea d group of e igh t rid ers b egan to break away . As alwa ys, Higbee and Zampa ch we re at th e fron t of it, along w ith Es to k, Low Co un ty H -D' s Ch uck Blackmon, Ben Bostrom, Billy Graef, 'a n d Hal ' s H-D's Andy Fenwick. By the th ird lap, Higbee an d Zampach we re in a dead heat at the s ta rt / fini sh line, Zampach ou tbraking his rival to take the l ead into tum one, Estok up to third in front of Greaf and Bostrom. The quintet wa s putting some ground on another battle, this one for sixth, with Mitchell 's Modesto H-D's Matt Wait, riding with a broken left collarbone, at the front of it. Wait exp lained tha t he'd su ffered the injury during the Gra nd Na tional Cham pionsh ip seasonopening Day tona Short Track on Saturd ay night and had wrapped it with an Ace bandage for the road race. Higbee took the lead back in the in ternational Horseshoe d ropping Zampach back a spo t, but any and all lead changes were temporary and any of five rid er s could find their way to the front. "I wo rked the hardest 1 possibly could through the infield and chicane, and I'd think I'd break out a little bit of a lead:' Zampach said . "And then, coming up to the tri-oval, all of a sudden I'd get bumrushed by five or six bikes . It was getting . pretty old, actually! I'm getting good drives, I'm braking later than ever, I've got to be running times comparable to quali fying or better, and I just can't get away from these gu ys . It wa s real tough out there. We wer e pushing these things so hard , we were all putting it in some pretty serious slides : ' Chu ck Blackmon retired on the fourth lap with a broken gas tank and when the halfway flags flew at the end of the lap it was Zarnpach and Higbee going side by s ide across th e lin e, Graef an d Ben Bostrom were just behind, with the quarte t en tering turn one four abreast and Estok at the rear of the pack. Higbee came throu gh the first horsesho e in first with Bostrom second and Zampach third, but in the West End H or seshoe, Zampach we nt up the ins ide of Bostrom into second and the pack ran up on the banking an d down the backstretch. Higb ee was in the lead ente ring the chicane, an d, when Zarnpach tried to outbrake him, he, himself, was passed on the brakes by Bostrom for second place. The race to the stripe this time was led by Higbee, thou gh all five rid er s were nearly side by side, officially Estok was se co nd in front of Bost om, Graef, and Zampach. Bostrom took his tum at the front on the sixth lap, movi ng there in the Interna- tion al Horseshoe, more shuffling through the infield, no one asserting himself. Taking the white flag, the riders came three wid e across the line, though all five were well withi n a second of each other, and noth ing m u ch mattered u nt il th e final ru n down the backstretch and out of the chicane. Zampach moved from third to second on the back straight and into th e lea d going int o the chicane. Es tok u sed a late-b ra kin g ma ne uver to take over second, with Higbee third, followed by Graef and Bostrom. Zampach made a clean sweep through the chicane and flat outra n the rest to the line to take his second win in a row. "I was a little nerv ous going into the last race: ' as a result of h is Superbike crash, Zam pach said. "I was going to go for it in the chicane and either crash or get . it:' .Despite finis hing second, Higbee felt tha t "as alw ays, it was an excellent race. Scott (Zampach) pulled it out again. But this is only the first race in a long season. I'm just hap py to be up here on the podium. The draft here is everything. I've just got to learn how to play it a little bit better, I guess: ' he ad ded . The battle for third was a near -pho to finish, an d, though Bostrom was sure he was thi rd , he th ou ght h e shou ld have don e better. Part of .the problem w?s that his gearing was off. "I carne off turn four and drafted past Shawn (Higbee) and (David) Estok. But it was too ea rly and the thing was coming out of the frame, it was scream in g so hard," Bostrom said, adding that he knew from the start of the race that he was unde rgeared . " Afte r the first lap 1 th ou gh t the th ing was go ing to come apart:' Estok and Graef followed closely in fourth and fifth, wi th Matt Wait staying ahead of Andy Fenwick to take sixth, even after his broken collarbone popped out on the fourth lap. Wait started the race with his left shoulder heavily taped and wrapped in an Ace bandage, bu t it wasn't eno ugh. . "I threw it into the chicane and, when you straighten up for the short straight, 1 could feel the tendons and stuff grinding. It" felt like it was popping out of its socket," Wait said after the race, his arm in a sling and brace. "Last night I doubted I'd ride today. I didn' t come to Daytona to specta te . Basically, I wanted to come away with points." l:\" Da~onalnternationalSpeedway Da~ona Beach, Florida Results (revised): March12 SUPERTWINS (A ft e r 1 of 8 ro u n d s ): 1. Sco tl Za m pach; 2. Dave Estok ; 3. Billy Graef; 4. Matt Wai t; 5. An dy Fen wic k; 6. Eric Bostrom; 7. Peter Salmon; 8. Jeff Ek lu n d ; 9. Jim Les lie ; 10. Matthew Gu id e ra; 11. Jay Sp rings teen ; 12. Michel AmaIn c; 13. Steve Blackburn; 14. Rand y Te xt er; 15. Eri c La cruze ; 16. Jo h n A llen; 17. Franco is De bicrre; 18. Brian Koh l; 19. Wayn e Cla rks 20. Owen Weichel; 21. Darvin Loyd; 22. Yvon DuHamel; 23. Mario DuHamel; 24. Roge r Reiman; 25. Michael Friberg; 26. Tim Le : 27. Jim Whi taker; 28. Alan Eadie; 29. Jose ph e Winston 111; 30 . Brian Bodin e; 31. Frank Stroma n; 32. Rob ert Buffin g to n ; 33 . Jerr y Ca scie ro: 34. Sha wn Blackburn; 35. Darren Conrad: 36. Alain H irth; 37. Jon Stauffer; 38. De vin Batt ley; 39. Keiji Kamakito ; 40. Ken Sera kas; 41. Ru ssell Barrow; 42. Cil d as Ca radeo 43. C huc k Blackmon; 44 . Roger Hen dri cks; 45. Joh n Pa ce; 46. Bria n Gibb s; 47 . Pat Lamb; 48. Rich ie Mo rris ; 49. Em m an ue l Mau bon. Time: 15 minute , 33.812 SL nds. s 'CO Distance: 7 la ps . 24.92 mil es . Average speed : 96.071 mph. Margin of victory: 0.236 seconds. SUPERTWINS CHAMPIONSH IP POINT STAND· INGS (Afte r 1 of 8 ro unds): 1. Sco tt Zampach (35/1 win); 2. Dave Estok (32); 3. Billy Graef (30); 4. Mat Wa it (28); 5. A ndy Fen wick (26); 6. Eric Bostro m (25); 7. Peter Salmon (24); 8. Jeff Eklu nd (23); 9. jim Les lie (22); 10. Matt hew Gu idera (21); 11. Jay Sp rings tee n (20); 12. Michel Am alri c (19); 13. Steve Blackburn (18); 14. Rand y Texte r (17); 15. Eric Lacru ze (16 ); 16 . John A lle n (15 ); 17. Franco is Debie rre (14); 18. Brian Kohl (13); 19. Wa yn e Clark (12); 20. Owen Weich el (11); 21. Darvin Loyd (10); 22. Yvon DuHamel (9); 23. Mario DuHamel (8); 24. Roger Reima n (7 ); 25 . Mich ael Fri berg (6); 26 . Tim Lee (5); 27 . Jim Whita ker (4); 28. Alan Ead ie (3); "19. Ioese ph Wins ton ill (2); 30. Bria n Bod ine (J). Upcoming rounds: Round 2 - Pomona. CA. April 2 Round 3 - Monterey, CA, April 30

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