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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127732
.R A
O DRACE·.· ·
. AMA National Championship R R series
oad ace
lially wet Mid-Ohio Spo rts Car
Course.
Gambling that the track would dry,
Dutchman Racing's team owner Dave
Schlosser decided to fit the team ' s
FZR1000 Yamaha with a Michelin rain
front lire and a slick rear.
" It takes us forever to change a front
and 1 knew it would last. If it rained, we
cou ld change the rear in 15 seconds. If it
was dry, we could win with that combinati on," Schlosser said.
Nick lenatsch had taken the first stint
on the Dutchman bike and found the
rear slick a handful on a mostly wet
track.
"I told Fritz tha t I'd stick close and
give him so methi ng to work w ith," said
Ienatsch, who handed off to Kling on
the 14t h of 35 la ps. "As it ca me in it
worked well . But at the start it was sideways in every comer:'
Then it was up to Kling to get the job
d one, whi ch he did, with several corn ers
to spare.
"When 1 saw him (Kirk), I knew what
took over on the back straight d uring
the sixth lap, and tha t was it. The
Yoshimura Suzuki rider simply pulled
away, leaving Kipp to fall under attack .
from those coming from behind.
A fou r-rider battle developed for second - Kipp, Randolph, Wilson and Yates
- but it was Yates who was doing mos t
of the moving, at least as far as going
forward. Kipp was the opposite as his
direction wa s going in reverse, and he
would eventually fall to fifth place.
Yates took over the second spot for
good on the 10th lap , and he managed
to close o n Merkel b u t n eve r really
th rea te n ed . Wilson was p atient, a nd
finally moved into third for good on the
16th lap .
" 1 w a s w a tching h im (K i p p) re al
close," Merkel said . "It was just rid e
wit h him, ride with him, and wear him
d own. That's what 1 sho uld have done
at Lagun a. He (Kipp) was a bit tentative
because he ' s leading the points. 1 just
had so me spots wher e 1 was fas te r. It
w ent from six seconds to fou r seconds
and 1 made it back up. 1 just got caught
behind a guy in turn one . 1 was ju st
watching the board."
"My bike was reall y working good,"
Yates said . "I was trying to be careful off
the st art. I got si d eways a co u p le of
tim es . 1 thou ght there was a chance of
ca tchi ng Fr ed (Me r kel) . 1 w a s go ing
pretty hard an d catchin g him a little bit.
He seemed to ge t by the lappers and I'd
ge t hung up behin d 'em. 1 ma de a mistake and got sideways out of the Keyhole, so 1 took it easy for th e last few
laps. "
Wilson was nursing a collarbo ne that
was broken d u ri ng a tes tin g crash a t
Talladega two weeks prior to Mid-Ohio:
"Everybody'S bike was set up to get off
t he co rners b ette r th an mine," he
explained. "I jus t wanted to be consistent and finish . 1 think 1 was spinning a
little bit, and 1 was just ha nging back
and taki ng it easy. Once 1 started slowing down, 1 think 1 we nt faste r. 1 do n't
think To m (Kipp) wanted to ta ke a ny
chances today."
(~
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Lexington, Ohio
Results: June 3, 1995
12
750cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: I . Fred Merkel (Su z);
2. Aaron Yates (5uz) ; 3. Thomas Wilso n IKaw ); 4. Jam es
Randolph (Ka w ), 5. Tom Kip p (Ya m); 6. Hikaru Miyagi
(Han); 7. Donald Jacks lSuz); 8. Owen Weichel (Kaw); 9.
Fritz Klin g (Ya m); 10. Dale Kieffer (Ho n); 11. Seth Hahn
(Suz); 12 Chuck Craves (5uz) ; 13. Russell Katzenberger
but leave the track wet in most spots
and puddled in many.
Mark Miller Racing's Ma rk Miller
was the early leader but lost the spot to
Shawn Higbee on the Battley Cycles
Yamaha on the seventh lap.
Hi g b e e gave up the lead on th e
13th lap , after which the rider
ch an ges began and the leaders wer e
shu ffled.
It took until the 20th lap for all of the
teams to swap pilots. The final 15 laps
began with Rick Kirk in front of Fritz
Kling by close to 20 seconds, then, about
25 second s back was Devin Battley of
Battley Cycles, with Hikaru Miyagi
using his full slicks to take advantage of
the d rying track.
Miyagi took over th ird on the 24th
lap and that's w here he would finish .
Ou t front, Kling was chargi ng after
Kirk. The lead was less than 5.5 seconds
with 15 minute s to go a nd Klin g
chi pped away, closi ng up wit h two laps
to go and followi ng him aro und for the
final lap . Kling ran up the inside of Kirk
I had to do. 1 came in on the insi de of
him in the Keyhole," Kling said .
Erion Racing had dra fted Kirk onto
the n u m ber -o n e bike after M ichael
Barnes, who was sched uled to ride with
Pegram, cra shed on th e Eri on Racin g
Too bik e on th e first lap. The Honda
CBR9OO-equipped team chose to go with
hand-cut sli ck Brid gestones, front and
rear, a combina tion tha t worked well for
lead rid er Larry Pegram. Kirk took over
a t the 36-min u te mark and kn ew tha t
Kling was closing. "I tried as hard as 1
could to keep hi m beh ind me," Kirk
said, and very nearly did .
After 35 laps (84 miles), Kling's ma rgin of victo ry was 0.141 second . He
averaged 83.343 mph in giving Dutchman their second win of the year.
The win increases Du tch man's lead
in the championship to 14 points, 130116, over Erion Racing after four of 10
races. Third in the points at 108 is Cycle
Motion Racing, who dropped out on the
fifth lap .
Third in the race, and the only ot her
team to complete 35 laps, was Action
Speed Racing · Don Ca net teaming with
Hikaru Miyagi on a Honda CBR900.
They chose Dunlop slicks, fron t an d
rear.
Fourth went to Dats Racing with Battley Cycles finis hing fifth,
The one-hour event began in a light
drizzle that would stop early in the race,
g oi n g up into the Ke yhole a nd Kirk
could onl y watch.
" H e had me set up pretty good, "
Kirk said in th e wi nne r's circle. "Fritz
rode a real good race."
About a minute later came Miyagi in
third.
0
(Above)Tom Kipp
(1) led the 750cc
Supersport final
early on, but it
was Fred Merkel
(27) who took the
win. (Right) The
Harley-Davids on
SuperTwins class
gets sta rted with
eventual winner
Shawn Higbee (1)
getting a fast
start.
()(aw); 14. Gerald Rothman Jr. lSuzl; IS. David Deveau
(Suz); 16. Anthon y Lupo (Yam ); 17. Jim Lester (Yam) ;
18. David Sta nton (Suz) ; 19. Dax Snow (Suz); 20. Dann y
Roberts (Suz); 21. Rad Greaves IHcn): 22. Mark Black
(Suz) ; 23. Mike Himmelsbach (Yam); 24. Daniel Bailey
(5uz); 25 . Mic hael Dean Vincent (Yam); 26 . Mike
Kry nock (Kaw); 27 . Da vid Ro y (Ka w ): 28 . Todd
Harrington (Kaw); 29. Mike Murphy (Ka w ); 30. David
M