Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE : . AMA Superbike National Championship Road Race Series . s po ts - w ith Smith le a ding Sohwa . On the second lap, Sohwa moved around his Geo rg ia n teamm at e a nd a lap la te r Smi th crashed in tum eigh t. He rem ounted in seven th place, but lasted only until the seven th lap when he su ffered a broken cam belt. On that sa me lap, Sohwa d eparted, crashing the third Ferracci bik e in turn 11. That left Kipp alon e in second p lace, well ahead of Qu arterley, who in tum had a gap to Hale, DuHamel, Merkel, Jacks, Picotte and Steven s. Steven s wa s as high as fifth until he ran off the tra ck in tum six earl y in the race . " It was good until I ran off," Stevens sa id la ter. "I .w en t through the mud, kept it on two wheels and got back on the track. It was set up way too soft and it was jus t sp inning everywhere when it started to dry out." Di tto mos t every bo dy else. Hale moved by Quarterley on the nin th lap and DuHamel started to gain ground at roughly the same time. By the 14th lap , DuHamel was on Hale and Quarterley too was sta rting to rebound . DuHamel went into second on the 17th lap just before Kipp crashed out in Rainey Corner (tum nine) . "Tire games is what it amounted to," Kipp said later. "Yesterday we had 'ern covered . I think they did something different wit h tires toda y. The setup I had was good for a wet track, but it wa s too soft when it go l d ry . The re we re four bik es behind me and I jus t did n't wa n t to let 'ern all go by. I knew I was on my Round 3: Laguna Seca Raceway way backwards because the y were all corning up on me. I just tried to salvage as much as I could . I sho uld've let 'e rn all go, but who kn ows. It's easy to say that now." With Kipp o u t, th e to p 10 on th e 17th lap wa s: Spencer, Dul-Iam el, Qu ar terley, H a le, Me rkel, Jacks, Stev ens, Sad ow ski - who was later rul ed to be a lap behind - SaIaverria , Pico tte, a n d Jam es. With DuHamel slid ing all over the place on worn-out rain tires, Quarterley kept plugging away until he moved by th e Fren ch Canad ian on th e 20t h lap. H e then charged after th e s lo w ing Spencer, but carne up sho rt at the finish line. " I wa s tryin g to run Torn (Kipp ) down early on," Quarterl ey exp lai ned later. "I just kept my pace going. When they got to me, I just picked it up a little. When th ey go t by me I calmed back d ow n and reel ed ' ern back in . I could see Freddie, but I was going as fast as I could go . One more lap and we might have been all set. He (Spe ncer ) would ha ve had to get back in rh ythm and I was alr ead y in it." DuHamel held on to third , with Hale a safe fourth, James, meanwhile, was on the mo ve, cutting the quickest lap of the race near the end - so me two seconds quicker than Spencer' s best. He ended up s eve n th, behind Merkel who was displaced .lat e in the race by his team mat e Jacks for fifth. "I ha d to run harder a n d didn 't have the luxury of looking for the wet spo ts and looking at the birds, " Wet and Fast B Ferracci T h e three Michelin-shod Fast By Ferracci Ducatis swept qualifying on a soaking-wet Laguna Seca Raceway, with Georgian Mike Smith leading the way for his first -ever AMA Superbike pole position . Smith lap ped th e 2.2-mi le race track in on e m inute, 43. 84 5 seco n ds t o lead hi s Ferrac ci teamma tes, Takah ir o Sohw a and Fred di e Sp en cer. Soh wa was clocked at 1:44.30i with Spencer clicking off a I :44.322. Vance & Hines Yamaha's Tom Kipp was the first non-Ducati rid er and the fastest Dunlop user in tw o, all-wet qualifying sessi ons, clocking a 1:44.481 in the Friday aftern oon sessi on. Misera b le weather wa s the order o f both Friday afternoon's first session, and Satu rday afternoon' s final session, and there appeared to be no end in sight to the rain that has plagu ed No rthern California all winter. So with fu ll wets fitted, the top Superbike men battled through th eir first all-wet qu alifying sess ions in recen t mem ory. And the Ducatis and Michelins seemed to ha ve the advan tage, both in the V-twi ns' power de livery and the grip of the French rubber. Smith used the combination of both to storm to his first pole position in five years of AMA Superbike racing; his best time coming during a mini-race with Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie James. "1 went out and just tried to the do the best 1 could and Jamie Games) came up and gave me a push, a little incentive to give it a little bit more: ' Smith said. "I got a little bit mo re testing on the Michelin tires - it's the first time I've used 'em in the rain - and, as you know, they work pretty good. The Ducati is one of our biggest DuH amel said . "Every body w as in front of me. One by one, I got by them . I had a little scare once go ing in to the Corkscrew whe n I hit a wet spo t. The last four or five lap s th e t ire w as cooke d - r u n n ing in th e wat er wo uldn' t fix an ything." Sp encer' s 16th career AMA Superbike v icto ry (pla cin g him on ly three behind all-tim e lead er Fred Merkel) ma y have looked easy, but with drying condit ions it wasn' t. " I wa nted to save the tire and was hopin g it would ra in more," Spencer s a id after w inning th e ra ce with an ave rage speed of 75.725 mph. "I knew it was working go od a n d I'm re ally thankful to be back here and winning. I was watching the lap boa rd and trying to find the wet spots for the last fou r or five laps. I kn ew so meon e was back there, and I was hoping tha t he didn 't have slicks on or someth ing. I was just trying not to chunk the tire beca use I've chunked tires before in the last lap s. I d idn't relax until I went across the finish line." Hal e's race ended up bei ng a calculated one that h e will likely end up pointing to if he indeed hangs on to be the AMA Superbike National Champi on: "I wa s thinking go forward and trying t o co n s e r v e th e tires th e best I cou ld," Hale said . "I tried really hard n ot to abu s e the tire early on. I was doing the best I could every lap . They w en t by and I had built in a m a rgin between me an d the limit - a safety mar gin. They we re going faster and my rear was really used by then. I cou ld n't get adv antages - it really works good and we' re fortuna te to ge t the thing working pretty good in the rain. "Jamie had his head do wn, I could tell. He came by wi th his head down an d I thought, 'well, let's see what h e' s got : He was riding good and the Yamaha was working good. I gassed it on a little bit more an d tried to be smooth. We got up into the Corkscrew and he go t in there a little hot. got it crooked and hit the paint stripe. He basicall y wen t off into th e sand trap . After th at I smoothed ou t. Riding with Jam ie was pretty exciting more like a race. I prefer not to be that close to somebody in the rain ." As for the very real possibility that similar conditions would return for Sunday's National. Sm ith see me d confiden t: "The track displaces wa ter rea lly well and there' s good traction everywhere. I saw him (earlier pace-setter Tom Kipp) over there and I hated to see him run off beca use I do n't wish that on anybody - but it was kind of good becau se he was going good. He'll be toug h tomo rrow. I like riding in the rai n, but you kee p wi nding it tighter, wi nding it tighte r. The track changes, like motocross, you've jus t got to adapt to the track. Things happen in the rain gradually, gra dually, gradua lly and then rea l quick. The closer you ge t to the edge of the knife you get in the rain, the sharper it gets . (In the d ry ) I'm still rid ing it like a two-stroke, or an in-line four. You can't ride it like tha t becau se it likes to be clugged. You know, clugga, clugga, clugga..." Kipp , who was the man to bea t afte r Friday's wet session, joined a long list of cras hers during Saturday afternoon 's session - a lis t th a t included both th e Muzzl. Kawasa kis of Pascal Pi cot te a nd Steve Crevier, ana Yoshim ura Suzuki's Fred Merkel. "I was going to come in the lap before, but I saw a clear track ahead of me and thought I'd give it one last go:' Kipp said. "That was the lap I fell on . I p robabl y shou ld have just come in. I caught up to Doug Polen and Da le Qu art erley in tum five and I figured I could make a little time in tu rn six. I just went in too hot - I blew it." Sohwa was qu ick throughout. and perha ps wo ul d have gone qu icker if not for the worry of crashing and destroying th e team ' s tel em e t ry system which wa s mounted to his 916. "I like the rain . I had all the telemetry stuff on th e bike and I wa s pretty sca red . I d idn't want to crash and make Mr. Ferracci mad. I was trying to spee d up, but many guys were crashing in front of me." Spencer wa s third in the Ducati sw ee p, and was fastest in Friday morning's only dry sessi on. "We pretty much had the setup yesterday (Friday) any d rives. My charge h ad leveled off by then and I was d oing all I could do. Kipp fell in fro n t of me and rem inded l~ me what could happen." Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Results: May1, 1995 SUPE R BIKE QUALIFYING: 1. Mik e S mit h (1 :43 .845 ); 2. Tc kahlro Sch w a (1:44.3 07 ); 3. Fre d d ie Spencer (1:44 .322) ; 4. To m Kipp (1:44.48 1); 5. Jam ie Ja mes (1 :44 .646); 6. M ik e H a le (1:44.85 4) ; 7. Steve Crevier (1:4S.192); 8. Fred Mer kel (1:45.400); 9. Tho mas Stevens (1:45.575); 10. Migu e l DuHamel (1:46.166); 11. Pascal Picotte (1:46.596); 12. Donal d Jacks (1:48.470); 13. Doug Po len (1:49.670); 14. Dave Sadowski ( 1:50.05S~ 15. Chris Carr (1:50.242); 16. Cal Rayborn m (1:51.18Jt. 17. A I Sala verria ( 1:53. 2 06 ); 18 . Da r r e ll C li nge rman (1:53.802~ 19. Pabl o Rea l (I:53.862~ 20. Tod d Harrington (1:54.579); 21. Ron McGill (1:55.446): 22. Da mia n Weber ( 1:56 .505); 23 . Tommy Ly nc h (1 :58 .242); 24 . Mi ke Krynoc k (1:58.681); 25 . Da le Quarterley (1:59.456); 26. Eric Moe (1:59.54 2); 27. Sco t! Za mpac h (2:00 .011); 28. An thony Lu po (2:00.261); 29. Jim Dickenson (2:00.363); 30. Joh n Hil ton (2:01.524); 31. Mark Black (2.-D2.008); 32Aody Fen wi ck (2:02.670); 33. Jeff Reev es (2:02.812); 34. Ben Welch (2:04.180); 35. Davi d Mcintyre (2:05.637); 36. Gre g Gibso n (2:10.186); 37. N ick Felli (2:10.236); 38. Rick Shaw (2;11.161); 39. Step hen Vlasbl om (2:17.104). SUPE R BIKE NA TIONA L: 1. Fredd ie Sp en cer (Due ); 2. Dal e Qu arte rl y (Ouc) ; 3. Mi guel Du Ha mel (Hon ); 4. Mike H al e (H on ); 5 . Donald Jacks (Suz ); 6. Fre d M erkel (Su z ); 7. Jamie James (Yam); 8. Th omas Stevens (Su z ); 9. Al Sala verna (Du e); 10. Pascal Picott e (J

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