Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Above) Alter a heated race-long battle, Scott zampach (2) crossed the line in front of defend ing champ Shawn Higbee in SuperTwlns actio n. (Left) The 750cc Supersport race was a crash-fest, with reigning champion Tom Kipp surv iving to take his second strai ght win. side of tum five his chances of a firstever AMA pod ium fin ished th w arted w hen his Honda ran out of fuel. From th ere it was a cruise to the finish fo r Kipp, bu t th ere was p lenty of last-lap d rama behind him. Jacks had closed to the re ar wheel of Ra n dolph and h e pushed throu gh on the inside of tum 11 on the last lap, ho lding off the Californian in their drag race to the flag. "I al ways had 'someone to follow, someone to g auge off of ," Ra ndol ph ex p la ined . "Two la ps earlie r, when Miyagi dropped out, 1 d idn't have any· body anymore. All of a su d d en 1 was alo ne and trying to get a rh ythm going. It was the longest race 1 can remem ber. 1 knew 1 was in second p lace an d 1 came by the las t lap and my boar d said 'three' (pl us three seconds). 1 tried to get on the gas. It spu n a little he re an d sp un a little there. 1 cam e up on Mike Taylor and 1 thought 1 jus t had to get by him and I'd be okay. 1 went to look under him and Donald went by . that was the race right there. I thought maybe I could drag race him to the line, and he won. He got me and it was fair and square." "Toward the end of the race there 1 came ou t of a tum, hit the white line and got out of control," Jacks said, "but I saved it. 1 pushed real har d, but 1 didn't think 1 ha d enough time to catch Randolph. 1 just kept pushing. On the second-Iast tum there he got caught behind some traffic. I was right behind him and as soon as he got off the gas 1 almost hit him. 1 went to the inside and it worked out pretty good . I'm real happy. It 's bee n a long time coming. I've ha d a real ro ugh two years and I'm looking forward to th is one." For Kipp it was just 750cc Supersport business as usual: " I was really su rp rised tha t I had pulled such a lead," the defending class champion said. "These guys are usually so close you can hardly breathe. I th ink people crashing...tha t tends to slow you down a little bit and I was ahead of all that. We worked really hard on a rain setup all weekend long. 1 worked a lot with Dale Rathwell this weekend and Tom Houseworth just pre-pared an excellent motorcycle. The bike and the crew jus t made my job easy ." l~ > Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Res ults: April 29, 1995 750cc SUPERSPO RT, 1. Tom Kipp (Yam ); 2. Donald Jacks (Suz); 3. Tho ma s wil n (Kaw); 4. Th omas Wilson so (Ka w ); 5. Mi ch a el De an Vin cent (Ya m) ; 6. Ma rk McDaniel (Suz ); 1. Fritz Kling (Yam ); 8. Tripp No bles (Kaw); 9. Thomas Montano (Ho n); 10. Mik e Mu rphy (Kaw) ; 11. David Dev eau (Suz ); 12. Dale Kieffer (Hon) ; 13. Michael Tayl or (Kaw); 14. Be n WeIch (Yam); 15. David Stanton (Suz); 16. Jim Lester (Ya m); 17. Akiharu Sh igeno (Ho n); 18. Dax Snow (Suz); 19. Gene Buonomo (Kaw); 20. Da vid Roy (Ka w~ 21. Hikaru Miyagi (Hon); 22. Ma rk Barlow (Yam); 23. An tho ny Lupo (Yam ); 24. Murray O ift (Ka w~ 25. Mike Krynock (Kaw); 26. Srort Staffo rd (He n); 7:1 Glenn Filshie (5uz) ; 28. Mark Black . (Suz); 29. Danny Roberts (Suz) ; 30. Gerald Roth man Jr. (5uz ); 31. Pa u l All en Wrigh t (5 uz) ; 32. Aa ro n Ya tes (5u z) ; 33. Britt Turkin gt on (Kaw); 34 . Larry Pegr am (Hon); 35. Fred Merkel (Suz). T im e: 42 min., 54.645 sec. D islancr: 22 laps, 48.4 miles. Aver.lgr Speed: 68.106 mph. M .arg in o f Victory: 10.889 sec. 750c c SUP ERS PORT CSHIP POINT STANDINGS (Af ter 3 of 10 ro unds ): 1. To m Kipp (102/2 wins); 2. Thomas Wilson (85); 3. James Randolph (84); 4. Mar k McDaniel (82); 5. Don ald Ja cks (73 ); 6. Fred Merkel (60 / 1 win); 7. Fritz Kling (58); 8. Ge ra ld Rothman Jr. (48); 9. David Stanton (45~ 10. [l1E) Mike Murphy /Ben Welch (38); 12. Dale Kieffer (37); 13. Hikaru Miyagi (33); 14 . Michae l Dean Vincent (27); 15 . (TIE ) David Roy I Mic hael Barnes l Jim Les lie (26). Upcoming rounds: Round 4 • Lexington. Ohio, June 4 Round 5 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 11 AMA SuperTwins Championship Series '1 By Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR 29 t wasn't enough that Tilley's H·D's Scott Zampach had to deal with Bartel s ' H·D' s nat ional champion Shawn Higbee and nineteen other riders. Or that the SuperTwins race was run on a wet track in a light rain . Zampach was also thinking tha t his wife was about to give birth to their first child back in Milwaukee. None of that slowed him down much and the former national champion took the le ad for goo d les s than two laps from the end of the 12-lap final and, after a scary slide in the final comer, the "Z-Man" sped across the line first, Higbee in his wake. "If it takes h an gin g it out on the las t corner on the last lap, that's wha t I'm going to do, " Zampach said after the victory. "Becau se last year (at Laguna Seca) 1 didn't hang it off enough and I'd ride through the tum and 1 didn't have enough momentum and Shawn would get me up the straigh t and beat me to the flag. 1 was worrying about that." Both riders had their strengths in different sections of the l l-turn, 2.2-mile Laguna Seca road course. Higbee was good over the hill and through on e and two . Zampach could m ak e his move through fou r and five. It was there he made the pass on th e penultimat e lap that would lead to his win. " He led it throu gh two and I was .able to get by him with a little bit better drive out of four, up the chute out of five, and I kn ew I was just a lit tle bit stronger coming out under the bridge," Zampach said. "So 1 knew if I could lead exiting the corkscrew, if he d idn't outbrake me going in, I had a pretty good chance of winning the race, just from lap after lap that we were together, we just kept gauging ourselves ." "On the last lap coming into (tum) 11 I'd p retty much no t given up, bu t I was too far back to make a serious attempt," Higbee admitted. "I got stuck going up the inside of him in seven - the left-hander going up the hill. I came up inside of him and 1 think 1 caught up to where he could see me, but I didn't want to take a chance of us tangling so 1 backed ou t, and when I backed ou t 1 lost a lot of momentum up th e hi ll. I w as p laying catch-g all the way down 11 and just came p a little bit sho rt." The margin of victory after 26.4 miles of racing was 0.234 seconds. Third place went to Mitchell's Modesto H·D's Matt Wait who wo rked his way free fro m a ba ttle for third to join the leaders in the race's fina l stages. Tho ugh he was thi rd from the thi rd lap on, it was only on the 10th lap that he was in touch with the top tw o, but he coul d never get by them. " I focused on them through th e whole race and 1 think they were slowing each other down, so 1 caught up to them," Wait exp lained . "I think there was not enough tim e for me to th ink where I was going to pass them. They were just side by side and 1 just wanted to play it safe. 1 though t I would have a chance." The win kept Wait in the championship points lead, though Zampach is quickly closing. After three of 10 races, Wait h as 88 p oints, three better than Zampach. Bartels' H·D's Eric Bostrom, wh o was spectacu lar during the rainy practice, finished seven th on a wet track, leaving him third on 74 points. A light drizzle greeted the riders at the sta rt of the race, but it would aba te early on and the riders had a cons istent, though wet, su rface to race on. Higbee was out front early, but Zampach was righ t there and by the fourth lap the y were swap pin g positions. Typica ll y , Zampach would pa s s H igbe e between the flat turns four and five and Higbee would strike back by outbrak ing Zampach on the outside of tum two. Back and forth they went, nev er gaining enough of a cu sh on to relax, all signs pointing to a last-lap struggle. The struggle came a lap earl y when Zampach motored by in his usual spot, but was able to hold off Hi gbee whe n the pair cres ted the hill at tum one for the final time. Higbee made a few final runs . on the w ay to the Corkscrew and in tum 11 . but Zampach was not to be denied. Wait spent much of the race try ing to shake Ben Bostrom. Theyran as a pair behind the leaders from the fou rth lap to the ninth, when it appeared that Wait was tired o f waiting. That's when he caught up to the leaders, though he was unable to make a pass. "I know that when you're battling wit h someone it slows you down, " Wait said. " I knew 1 wo u ld catch them, b ut unfortunately I couldn't pass the m." Bos trom was alone in fourth with Specto-Moroney's Racing's Aaron Yates holding on to fifth, a spot he took over on the eighth lap. Citrus Heig hts' H·D's Mario DuHamel was the rider he d ispl a ced for fifth, and DuH amel woul d finish s ix th, well in fron t of Bartels' H-D's Eric Bostrom. l~ Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Resu~s:April29 .1995 SUPERTWINS NATIONAl.; l. Scott Zampach; 2. Shawn Higbee; 3. Matt Wait 4. Ben Bostrom; 5. Aaron Yates; 6. Mario DuHamel; 7. Eric Bostrom; 8. Matthew Gu ide ra; 9. Dean Mizd al; 10. Jody Hendley; 11. Brian Cibbs; 12. Jim Rosa ; 13. And y Fenwick; 14. Ron McGill; 15. Devin Battley; 16. Jerry Casciero; 17. Alan Eadi e; 18. Pete Demas; 19. Jim Wh itaker; 20. Owen Weichel; 21. Brian Kohl Ti me: 21 min __ 4.499 S( ' C . Dist. nce: 12 bps. 26.4 mil es . a Ave rage spud: 75.638 mph. M u gin o f victory: 0 ..234sec. SU PE RT WI NS CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS : (After 3 of 10 rounds): 1. Matt Wait (88); . 2. Scott Za mpach (85); 3. Eric Bostrom (74); 4. Andy Fenwick (70); 5. (1lE) Dave Estok l Mat th ew Gui de ra (67); 7. Shawn H igbee (64); 8. Mario DuHame l (61); 9. (TIE) Ben Bostro m /Owen Weichel (46); 11. Billy Graef (43); 12. Jay Sp ringsteen (42); 13. [ody Hendley (41); 14. Randy Texter (38); 15. Jell Eklu nd (37); 16. Alan Eadie (36); 17. De an Mi zd al (33 ); 18. Jim Whitaker (32); 19. Brian Kohl (31); 20. r ete Dem as (30). Upcoming rounds: Round 4 . Lexington, OH, June 4 Round5 . Elkhart Lake, WI, June 11 AMA SuperTeams Series By Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 29 . ith less than six laps to go in the rain-soa ked o ne -ho u r Supe r Tea ms ra ce, Cycl e Motion Racing's Dave Deveau ran down race leader Larry Pegram, on the Eri on Ra cin g Honda, and s p e d away to give th e EBSCO Media-backed Suzuki team their first SuperTeams win and move them into the series points lead. " I didn't even see him," Deveau said of Pegram; who was ridin g in his first wet rac e. " I thought he'd gone, then a cou ple of lap s later I caught him. " Deveau had been put in a position to ca t ch Pegram b y te a m m a te Mark McDaniel, who rode the first leg against Erion Racing' s Michael Barnes. When Deveau took over he was facing roughly a ten-second defici t, but quickly made it up. . "Pegram's never ridden in the rain, " Deveau said. "I thought Barnes would go, then we could catch Pegram." "I had a little trouble getting m y rhythm going." Pegram said in the win- r

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