Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

-- .ROAD lRACE :' Round 2:Pomona Fairplex ..A N.ationa Championship Road Race Series MA "I was getting pretty tired ou t there," ad mitted Deveaux. "I crashed earlier in th e day in the 750cc Supersport race, and my back and side were star ting to tight en up." McDani el set a tor rid pace and began to knock on Kling's back door. "The fro n t brakes star ted to fade, " said Kling. "Actually, it wa sn't so much the brakes, it was the lever - it kept coming in closer and closer to the bars. I figured that getting to the fini sh in ' one piece wa s more importa nt than risking a crash trying to hold on to second." McDaniel motored pa s t at the 50m inute mark, an d w ith th a t, th e top three pos itions were set. "I wa s pretty tired, an d I d id n' t know if I cou ld catch up," said McDan iel. "But I knew that Fritz wou ld be beat too; he also raced the 750cc Supersport race. I e n ded up pa ssi ng h im o n the b a ck straight. Ou r bike was a lot faster than theirs." Kling he ld on to finish thi rd , we ll ...... ..... l-; 0... ~ 12 at Daytona," said Pegram. "But we sho uld be able to spank 'em today." And sp ank 'em they d id. Barnes was miffed by Dutchman Racing's Nick Ien ats ch o n the Le Ma ns -s tyle s tart, bu t took con trol of the lead within one lap and quick ly estab lished a commanding lea d that th e tea m wo u ld never relinquish . Dutchman Racing h eld a firm grip on secon d througho ut most of the ra ce, but th e h a rd -ch a rg ing Cy cl e Motion Racin g team was ab le to n ip them for the runner-up position by the race' s end . In winning, Erion Racing gained two positi ons in the series point s tan d ings and now sits in fifth . Dutchman Racing, wi nn ers of the Dayt on a se ries opene r, main tains the lead wi th 65, three points better than Cycle Motion Racin g . Fastlin e Ra cin g an d Keysto ne / No rt hstar Racing - fou rth and six th, res pectively , at Pomona - hold down third and fourth with 60 an d 54. Erion Racing has 52. A full fie ld of 21 en tries filled th e gri d at the start of the 60-mi nu te race, and it was Iena tsch wh o had the fastest set of legs w hen th e s tar t signal w as given . len a tsch hopped a b o a r d the Du tchman Racing Yamaha FZR1000 and led Erion' s Barnes and Cycl e Mo tion Racing' s Dav id Deveaux thr ough th e first few turns and the trio immediately began to pull away from the rest. Mark Miller Racing, Anderson/Dynamic Racing and the Lee's Killer Bees team battled over fou rth. Bar nescharged hard down the back s t ra ig h ta way a n d wa s ab le to d iv e under lena tsch and steal the lead in tum seven on the ope ning lap . Once into the p o int po si tio n, Barne s put h is h e ad d ow n a nd me thodically ad ded to the team 's lead . . " Ev e ry th in g was s p o t-o n tod ay," said Barnes. "My right wrist was killing me, tho ug h. I b rok e it tw ice last ye ar, and it was re ally so re w he n I h ad to brake in left-handers. I just tried to get through the lap pers as efficiently as possible and hand off as big a lead as pos sible to Larry." Barnes pulled ou t a comma nd ing 23 seconds on the field by the time he pitted at the 36-minu te mark , and Pegram h a d m o re than enough ti me to ho p aboard and take to the track still in the lead . Pegram rod e smooth ly and ju st fast enough to maint ain the team 's control of the lead . "Michael handed me such a big lead, all I had to d o wa s go out and ride, " said Pegram. "I we n t fas t for th e fir st few la p s, ju s t to make su r e th at we (Above) Larry Pegram and Michael Barnes combined to give Erion Racing the victory in the SuperTeams race. (Right) Rodney Fee (32) passed Takahlto Mori (82) Inthe last tum to win the Inaugural round of the 125cc GP Series. ma in ta in ed ou r le ad , but I re ally eased up tow ard the end . There was no sense in tr yin g to go fas t and risk cras h ing whe n w e h a d s uch a b ig cushi on." While Barn es Pegra m a nd enjoyed relatively smooth sailing ou t fron t, th e ba ttIe behi nd th em for second wa s in tense. Af te r be ing p assed by Barnes o n the o pe ni ng la p, Ienat sch fou n d hi mself de mote d to th i rd on lap two w he n Devea ux also raced past. "I w ent a little w ide in tu rn seven and he went right und er me," said Ienatsch, who also compete s in the 250cc G P class. " Bei ng u se d to m y 250 , it always takes me a few laps to get going on the 1000. I'm used to a much tight erhandling chassis. The bike is defini tely a handful. There' s a lot of spee d and a lot of weig ht invol ved." It may have taken Ienatsch more than a "iew" laps to rea lly get going, but by the 2D-min ute mark the Sport Rider editor was flyin g. Deveau x had ma naged to pull out a four-second lead ov e r Ien atsch at one point, but that was red uced to nothi ng before the halfwa y point. lenatsch sneaked past Deveaux and took control of second on the 18th lap, then raced in to th e pits to h a nd off to his Dutchman teammate Fritz Kling. The pit stop allowed Cycle Motio n to mom entarily regain control of second, bu t when Deveau x pitted two lap s later to h and off to te a m m at e Ma rk McDaniel, they dropped back into third . McDaniel, h owever, took to th e track only milliseconds after Kling raced past p it row . Thou gh th e vi ctory clea rly belonged to Barnes and Pegra m, seco nd was still within reach for McDani el and Deveaux. ahea d of the fourt h-p laced Fastline Racing Kaw asaki of Jeff Stern a nd Britt Turk in gt on. Don Ca n et a n d H ik aru Miy agi team ed up to bring the Acti on Speed Racing entry hom e in fifth. Erion Ra cin g, Cycl e Mo ti on Ra cing and Dut chm an Racing were the only tea rns I'N to complete 40 laps. Pomona Falrplex Pomona, California Results: April 1, 1995 5UPE RTEA MS NA T IONA L: 1. Er io n Racing (Han); 2. Cycle Mot ion Rac ing (Suz); 3. Dut chm an Racing (Yam); 4. Fastl ine Racing (Kaw ); 5. Action Speed Racing (Ha n); 6. Keystone /Northstar Racing (Yam); 7. AMA 1 5 2 ccGrandPrix Series Fee makes history By Paul Carruthers Photo by Kinney Jones POMONA, CA, APR 1 f Team Kep la's Rod ney Fee and Moto Liberty's Takah ito Mori fought over a slice of history o n the ir Ho nda RSl 25s at the Pomo na Fairplex, With Fee ultimately going into the record books as th e w inner of the firs t AMA 125ccGrand Prix Na tional in history. Bu t it w a sn 't easy. Fee and Mo ri attacked each other throughout the 12lap race, with each taking a tum at leading the historic race. When push came to shove, however, it was Fee shooting past in the final comer to take the victory. Third pl a ce went Te am HMCHansen Racing's Billy Graef ahead of veteran Ca nadian Jon Cornwe ll on the Br amp t on Cy cl e / Hy d- Mech Saws H onda RS125 . Terr an ova Pai n ti ng's Geep Terranova fill ed th e top five as Ho ndas dominated the opening round of the series . The race b egan with Mori lea d ing Rand y Renfrow int o the first corner. Fee wa s third, follo we d closely by Graef, who would fade to finish a lonely thi rd. Fee d ived inside Renfrow in tum 11 on th e th ird lap to take ove r se con d place, and a lap later Renfrow was gone, cr as h in g out of th e ra ce in tu rn 10 . "Th ere w as a lot o f g ra vity and th en there w as no gravity," a smiling Ren frow said later. Tha t left the two up front to battle alo ne. Fee led lap s four and five, but a near -crash gave Mori a cushion on the s ix th la p . H e quickl y pull ed ba ck to within g ras p o f th e Ja p an ese rider' s Honda and he follow ed until the final comer on the final lap . " I screwed up one lap and almost hig h-Sided," Fee explained. "It took me a couple of laps to get going again. I was a little sca red aft er tha t, bu t I put my head d own and I tried extra hard on the last lap. It was a tough race." Mori was relat ively p leased with second pl ace : "I believe I cou ld win," he said . "But Rod ney too fast. My bike was faster, but he try braking ma neuver and passed me on braking." Despite be ing so me w h a t lonely in thi rd p lace, Gra ef wa s th rill ed a n d wo u ld be back fo r m or e: " I' rn really excited ," he sa id . "I' m going to do the whol e series and I'm really looking forwa rd to it." I'N F Pomona Falrplex Pomona, California Results: A JlriI1. 1995 Mark Miller Racin g (Kaw); 8. Oa ts Racing (Su z) ; 9. Black ha w k Ra ci ng (Ya m) ; 10. An d erson D ynam ic Racin g (Ya m) ; 11. Barnett Raci ng (H o n) ; 12. A to mic Raci ng (Suz); 13. TVR Ra cin g (Han); 14. Team Se rn a Suz uki (Suz); 15. Tea m Fossil Enduranc e (Suz ); 16. Team H ostile Aggr a vation Appa rel (H on); 17. Grand Prix A ppa rel (Yam ); 18. Hos tile Racing (Suz) ; ] 9. lee's Kill e r Bee s (S uz); 20 . H I Ra cing (Hon) ; 2 1. Mill er Gen uine Dra ft (Ke w) , Ti me: 60 min.• 28.408 sec . s D istance: 40 laps . 84 mile . Ma rgi n of victo ry: 2_~2 sec. Ave rage speed: 83.342 mph. SU PE RTE AMS CH AM PIO NS H IP SERI ES POINT ST ANDIN G S (Af te r 2 of 10 rou nd s): 1. Du tchman Ra cing (65/1 wi n); 2. Cy cle Motion Ra ci ng (62); 3. Fastline Racin g (60); 4. Keystone / No rthstar Racin g (54); 5. Erion Racing (52 /1); 6. Ma rk Miller Racing (49); 7. Oats Racing (37); 8. Gra nd Pri x Apparel SuperTeam (35) ; 9. A nderson/ Dy n a m ic Raci ng (34 ); 10. Miller Ge n u ine Draft Raci ng (33 ); 11. Ac tion Speed Racin g 'CS (27); 12. Peg asus Motorsports (25); 13. Lee's Killer Bt. (24); 14. Stant on Racing Industries / Blackhawk Racing (23); 16. Barnett Racing /Ba ttley Cycles (21); 18. Atomic Racing (20); 19. Speed-Dia l Racing /TVR Racing (19). 125 cc G RA N D PRI X: 1. Rodney Fe e (Hon) ; 2. Ta ka h ito M a ti (Ho n ); 3 . Bill y G ra ef (H o n ); 4. Jo n Cornwell (Ha n); 5. Ceep Terranova (Han); 6, Broce Lind (Yam); 7. Cra ig Avery (H an); 8. Kevin Mu rra y (H on); 9. Mike Mondo (H on); 10. Troy Ga ll oway (Hon) ; 11. Andre Castanea (H an); 12. Lee Par ks (Hon); 13. Wesley To tsu bo (Ha n ); 14. Jo hn Bow m an (H a n); 15. Todd Bowma n (H on ); 16. Ma ur ice Daroy (H a n); 17. Dav id Pare (Hon); 18. David Colbert (Hon); 19. Joji Tok umoto (Han ); 20. Roger Ha milton (Yd m ); 21. Gr aham Buc k (H on ); 22. W a rr en Du na w ay (Hon) ; 23 . Vic Sib ill a (Han) ; 24. Jos h ua Frazz ttt a (Ho n); 25. C h ris Rogers (Yam); 26. Randy Renfrow (Apr); 27. Billy Dalu (Ho n). T ime: 18 min ., 13.614 sec. Distance: 12 laps , 25.2 miles. Ave rage Speed: 82.954 mph. Margin of victory: 0.026 seco nds. AM A 12S ee GRAND P RIX C HA MP IO N SH I P STAND INGS: (After 1 of 9 ro unds) : 1. Rod ne y Fee (35/1 win ): 2. Ta kah lto Morl (32); 3. Billy Graef (30 ); 4. Jon Comwell (28); 5. Geep Terranova (26); 6. Bruce Lind (25); 7. Craig Avery (24); 8. Kevin Mu rray (23); 9. Mike Mondo (22); to. Troy Gal loway (21); 11. Andre Castanos (20); 12. Lee Parks (19); 13. We sley To ts ubo (18); 14. John Bowman (17); 15. Todd Bowman (16); 16. Maurice Daroy (15); 17. Davi d Pare (14); 18. Davod Colbe rt (13); 19. loji Tokumo to (12); 20. Roge r Ha mil ton (11). Upcoming Rounds: Round3 - Monterey, CA, April 30 Round 4 - Lexington, OH, June 4 Upcoming Rounds: Round3 - Monterey. CA, April 30 Round4 - Lexington, OH, June 4

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