Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: P omona Fairplex By Donn Maeda Photos by Kinney Jones POMONA, CA, APR. 2 iv e year s ago, Mik e Hale won the Camel Challenge at the Sacr amento Mil e and to ok home a $10,000 check for his five-lap performance. Hale was a r ookie o n th e G r an d N ational Ch ampionship dirt track se r ies th en, and until this week end, he probrab ly would have told you th at winning that d ash for cas h was th e hi ghli ght of h is racing career. That th rill ha s been topped. Now, Hale find s himself a mem ber of the Smokin' Joe's Honda race team , and the likable Texan scored th e first 600cc Supersport Nati on al w in of hi s ca ree r with a m asterful p erformance a t th e Pomona Fairplex. With the exception of se ver a l Harley -Dav id s on Twi nsp o rt National wins, Hal e' had ye t to savor the sw ee t taste of victory on a road racer. N eedl e s s to say, Hale ' s win in the Supersport race whet his ap pe tite, built his confidence and gave him the extra boost he needed to return later in the day -an d score his first Superbike National win as well . A sneak preview of th ings to com e, if yo u will. But wbile Ha le's win in the 600cc Supersport race may have looked easy, it really wasn't - at first, that is. Team Kawasaki's Pascal Picotte led Hale early in the race and it looked as if the tw o would have a heated battle for the lead. "Pascal had some stro ng sec tio ns o f the track, and 1 had som e stro ng sections of the track," said H ale. " It was going to be a good race." Going to be, y es, had Picotte not crashed ou t of con tention on the seventh lap and left the door wide open for Hale and his Honda CBR 600F3. Upon Picotte's demise, Hale graciously accepted the lead and refused to sha re it with the rest. At the finish, he enjoyed a sixs e co n d lead over Ka w a sak i' s Steve Crevier. The colorf ul Cana dian d id all he could to match Hal e's pace, but in th e erid he would be forced to se ttle for second. Third went to Hale' s Smok in' Joe's tea m ma te Migu el DuH amel , but hi s position wasn't secured until the final 80 yard s. Erion Racing's Larry Pegram held down third in the closing stages of th e ra ce, but DuHamel' s experience outweighed Pegram' s yo u th and exuberance in the end . Pegram ch arge d in to the fina l tum too har d and lost his front end . All h e coul d do wa s w a tc h a s DuHamel avoided his downed machine an d raced on to the finish line in third. Hale and DuHa m el now sh a re the series po int lead, as both have a win and a th ird -pl ace finish to thier credit. Both riders h ave 65 points.. Crevie r is o nly five po ints behind the Honda duo, and sits third with 60. Pole sitter Hale w as outs ta rted b y Picotte a t th e beginning of the 23-l ap race, and the running order on lap one was: Picotte, Hale, DuHamel, Crev ier, Michael Ba rne s, Jam ie Bowman, Tho m a s Wilson and Takahito Mori. Pegram w as ninth. Hale and Picotte im mediately began to d ist an ce themselves from the rest of the field, and by lap five had already put 25 bike len gths between themselves and the duo of DuHa mel and Crevier. Crevi er h oun d ed Duhamel, bu t on lap s ix h e h ad a scary moment a n d momentarily lost touch with the French Can adi an. "There's so me cracks in the pa v ement in o ne o f the turn s," sai d Crevier. "There's stinkin' wa ter coming ou t of the cracks, and I hit it and flew off the track." Still, Crevier w as able to dig d eep, F .R AD A E·· O ·R C .600cc Supersport C hampionship series Sneak (Left) Pascal Picotte (112) led the 600cc Supers port final early, before cras hing out of the race. (Below) The man of the race was MikeHale (23). The Texan won his firsteve r AMA 600cc Supers port final, beating Steve Crevier (4) ac ross the line. and re el e d D uH amel back in wi th apparent ease. It was then - on lap eight - tha t the red flag brought the race to a halt . Dale Whelan's Honda CBR600F3 blew its gu ts out in tum se ven, dumping oil in the tum just before the back straigh t. Owen We iche l hit the oil and was sent to the ground instantaneously, bringing his day, and the race, to a ha lt. Duri ng the 20-m inute delay, most racers opted to fit their machines with new tires . "When yo u get the chance to put on new rubbe r, w hy not?" said Ha le. "W e nee d every advantage we can get. I saw the oil flags out just before the red flag came ou t. I gu ess I'll have to ju st ge t a feel for th e track on the sighti ng lap, and change lines if 1 ha ve to." Hale wouldn't have to cha nge lines. Though Picotte outstarted him again on th e restart, Hale w ou ld o nly have to p lay se cond fiddle for tw o m o re la ps. Entering the carousel tum on the second restarted lap, Picotte lost control of his .Kawasaki ZX6R and crashe d . "I case d-ou t on one of the bumps in the tu rn and los t the fro n t en d," said Pi cotte, w ho was u nhu rt in th e s p il l. "This track still need s som e wo rk:' Hale m o to red past Picotte a nd his machine as they slid off th e track, effectively ending the ra ce for first. "I was trying to pressure him, and 1 guess it wo rked," s a id Hale . " I was looking forward to a good battle, it's too bad Pascal had some bad luck : ' While Ha le rod e unchallenged, the action beh ind him was fast and furi ou s. DuHamel restarted the race in third, with Crevi er close behind . The two riders circled the track on ly inches apart befo re Crevier dived to th e in side of DuHamel in turn three and too k control of seco nd. With that, sec ond place wa s d etermin ed , as Crevier quickly p ulled clear of DuHamel. "Once I got into second, 1 looked and saw where Hale 'was," said Crevier. "I tried as hard as I could for a few laps, but 1 jus t could n't catch up . Once I realized that, 1 backed off a bit and se ttled for sec ond. Trying too ha rd on a tr ack like th is will se t you on yo ur ass:' After b e ing passed by Crev ie r, DuHamel was left to deal with a pack of hungry w olv es . Wilson, Bo wman and Peg ram all wa nted a piece of DuHamel, and it was Wilson who got it firs t. The Kin k o ' s Ka w a s a k i rider o utbraked DuHamel in tum se ven on th e 11 th lap , a n d like Crevier, immed iatel y o p e ned up a small lead. Pegram wa s ne xt to hound DuHamel. The dirt tracker had s u ffered a terribl e s t a r t initially, but was more fo r t u n a te when th e race was stopped and restarted. " I fe lt good , rea l goo d, " sai d Pe gram , w h ose Erion Honda was fitted with Dunlop tire s, rather th an th e te am' s u su al Brid gestones. " l 'rn a lot more confi den t on th e Dunlops:' , At te am s ponso r Bridges to ne's re q uest, P e gram ' s Honda CBR600F3 was also fitted with a se t of plain white body -panels, as the painted body work spo rts severa l Bridgestone logos . While Pegram cha sed after DuHamel, b oth rid ers su d den ly found th em s e l ve s bumped up a spo t when Wilson su dd enly s lo wed with gea rbox trou b le . Un able to race at full speed, Wilson held on to salvag e an even tual seventh -place finish . Pergam m ade h is move on lap 16, o utbraking DuHamel as they r a ce d d own the ba ck straigh t and in to turn se ven. But u nlike Crevier and Wil son had done, Pegram was unable to break free of DuHamel, and the tw o stayed linked togeth er u nti l the last lap . On the white-flag lap, Pegram began to look back repe atedly at DuHamel. "He kep t looking back over and over again," joked DuHamel. "I felt like wavin g an d saying, ' Yes, La rry, I' m still back here: Maybe he got a cramp in his neck or something?" As the y raced in to tum 10 for th e last tim e, Pegram deviated from his u su al wide line and ins tead opted to ride th e brakes har d an d pro tect th e insi de. "I k new th at h e wou ld try to go under me, so I we nt in real hard on th e brakes to block th e inside," said Pegram. "Th e front end just went ou t from under me wh en [ hit some little bumps in the comers." "I kn ew Larry was a dirt tracker, and t h a t h e 'd go lo w to b lo ck m e," s aid Dul-Iam el. "I was goi ng to go under him ~ in the last tum, but when I saw him go • low I decided to go hi gh . Then he fell ~ . and I we nt outside him as he cras hed: ' Fou rth went to a distant Turkington aboard his Endo H ig h Speed Gear backed Kawa sa ki , while Bowman, . Hikaru Miyagi an d Wilson rounde d ·out l~ the top seven. Pomona Fairplex Pomona, California Results: April 2, 1~5 HP4 600cc SUPE RSPO RT: 1. Mike Hale (H on ); 2. Steve-Cre vie r (Ka w); 3. Migu el DuHamel (Hon); 4. Britt Turkington (Ka w); 5. Jamie Bowman (H a n); 6. Hilr.aru Miyagi (Han); 7. Thomas Wilson (Kaw); 8. Rick Kirk (Han); 9. Takahito Marl (Ha n); to. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Hon); 1L Michael Barnes (Hon); 12. Jam es Randol ph (Kaw); 13. Todd Ha rrington (Kaw)j 14. Brian Parriott (Hon); IS. Dale Keiffer (Hon ~ 16. Robert Wright (Hon ~ 17. Michael Taylor (Kaw); 18. Shane Turpin (Kaw); 19. J. ..... - J-< 0.. ~ 9

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