Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.R ADR C O AE . .'.A National Championship Road Race series · MA Round 6: New Hampshire International Speedway The Le M ans-style start gets underway for the SuperTea ms race at New Hampshire International Raceway; Dutchman Racing (3) gets the jump on Erion Racing (1). 12 was a close one with Merkel, Katzenb erg e r and Kipp fig h ting their way around in close com pa ny . The story in this one, tho ugh, was the one which involved Ya tes . The Team Su zu ki Sport racer ·w a s a rg ua b ly th e qu ickest on th e race track. He moved in to fourth p lace on th e third lap and started to close on the top thr ee. O n the n inth la p , the Georgia n cras he d th e Suzuki in turn thr ee. " I locked u p th e fr ont brake a n d tucked the front," Yates exp lained late r. "1 think 1 hit a bump or something. Anyw ay, th e cornerwork er had turned the · key off. 1 think 1 was 10th w hen I go t go ing aga in an d I jus t wanted to catch back up." And ca tch up he did. At the end of the 10th lap he was 10th; after 13 laps he was ninth; by the 19th lap he was up to fifth; and a lap later he was fourth. At th at p oin t he could see Ka tz enberger, and that proved to be his u nd oing. He crashed again in one of the final corners, but remou nted to finis h eighth . A wild day, indeed. " I wan te d to be on th e podi u m," Yates said. "1 was catching 'em, catching 'em . He (Ka tzenberger) was only on a 600. 1 knew I cou ld throw it up underneath . 1 tried to ge t ther e, but I d idn't m ake it . The shifter and everything b roke, but I managed to get it in first gear and cruised to the finish line." Meanwhile, Me rkel and Kipp were well clear. An d with Yat es crashing, Kat zenberger wa s free to finish th ird, tho ugh he wa s later fined by the AMA for running a smaller-than-stock battery on his 600. McDaniel and Leslie battled to the finish line wit h McDani el getting the nod after bot h had made easy work of Jacks, wh o ended up sixth. Notable crashers included (in order of d eparture): Eric Gulbransen, Scot t Morris, Marc Smith, Anthony Lupo, Gerald Rothman Jr . (the victim of his exhaust sy s tem falling und er his rear wheel), Yates and Yates again, and Jim Lester. "It was a good race for me," Kipp s aid . "1 di dn't w in , but I s till ga in ed points in the championship and the title is th e importa nt thing to u s . Th is is Yamaha's first year for a serious look at the 750cc Supersport class, so each track we go to is b asi cally new for us. We wo rk all weekend and the n by race time, w e seem to ge t everything just abou t right." For Katzenberger, his thir d-place finish w as an all-time hi gh at an AMA N a tional : "This is g reat," he said . "I hop ed for a top 10 finish and ended up third wit h a tri p to victory lane. This is my bes t finish in a National. 1 do a lot of club racing here at Loudon, bu t 1 don't think my track kn owled ge helped a lot. 1 just tried to keep it steady on th e ga s and kee p a rh ythm going . 1 knew somebod y was back the re on the last lap, but I didn't know who. I just didn't wa nt to get passed on the last lap. I wa s really looki ng for the white flag. It seemed like the race ju s t kept going and going . I thou ght it was 20 laps . I've got to read the sched ule closer next time." I':\' New Hamsphire International Speedway Loudon, NewHampsh ire Results: June 18, 1995 7SOc S UPE RS PO RT: 1. Fred Mer kel (Suz); 2. Tom c Kipp (Ya m ); 3. Russell Ka tzenbe rger (Kaw); 4. Mar k McDa niel (Suz) : 5. Jim Lesli e (Suz); 6. Do na ld Jacks (5uz ); z. jemes Rand olph (Kaw); 8. Aaro n Yates (5uz); 9. Eric Wood (Kaw) ; 10. Hikaru Miyagi (Han); 11. Th omas Wilson (Ka w ): 12. Richard Alexander (Suz); 13. Cha rles Choinard (Kaw); 14. Fritz Kling (Yam); 15. Brian Kent (Hon); 16. Joh n Schee hse r (Hon ): 17. Raymond Bowman (Yam); 18. Rad Greaves (Hon); 19. Da x Snow (Suz); 20. Dona ld Berry Jr. (Yam) ; 21. No el Brown (Suz); 22. Martin Gaudreault (Kaw): 23. Mark Miller (Kaw): 24. Brett Metz ger (Suz); 25. Jim Lester (Ya m); 26. Charles Miller (K aw) : 27. Ja mes Bron s on (K aw ): 28 . Owe n Weiche l (Kaw ): 29. Seth Hahn (5uz); 30. Dale Kieffer (He n): 31. Ge rald Rothman Jr. (Suz ); 32. Marc Smit h (Yam); 33. Anthony Lupo (Yam); 34. Scott Morris IKaw), 35. Sean Sweeney (Suz); 36. Eric Gulbransen (Kaw) ; 37. Da vid Roy IKaw). Ti me: 39 min., 12.540 sec. Dililance: 30 laps , 48 mi les Ave rage Sp eed: 73.453 mph. Margin of Victo ry: 1.050 sec . 750cc SU PERS PO RT C'S Hl P POINT STANDINGS (A fter 6 of 10 rounds): 1. Tom Kipp (192/ 2 wi ns ); 2. Fred Merk el 0 65 / 4 wins); 3. Thomas Wilso n (163); 4. Jam es Randolph ( 59); 5. Don ald Jacks (141); 6. Mar k McDan iel (135); 7. Hi karu Miyagt (98); 8. Fritz Kling (96); 9. Gerald Rothm an Jr. (88); 10. Aaro n Yates (SO); 11. (TIE) Da vi d Sta nt on / Dal e Kieffer (74); 13. Ru ssell Katzenberger (63); 14. Dax Sno w (61); IS. Mik e Murphy (57). Upcoming rounds: Round 6 - Brainerd, MN, July 16 Round 7 - 5 1. Louis. IL. August 12 A SuperTeams Series MA All Cycle Motion By Pa ul Ca rruthers Photos by George Ro be rts LOUDON, NH, JUNE 17 s Erion Racin g's Michael Barnes so aptly point ed out: "Now we're back in it." It, in t h is case, is th e AMA SuperTeams Championshi p an d Erion 's th ird-place finish at N ew H ampshire Interna tional Speedway, combined with cham pionship-leading Du tchman Racin g' s low ly 12th-place ou ting, moved th e Honda CBR900-mounted tea m to withi n six points of th eir Yamahamounted rivals. . But what Barnes failed to point ou t was that the team which so dominantly wo n the sixth rou nd of the series - Cycle Motion Racing - also moved to within striking di stance in th e cha m pions hip, as only 11 points now separate the top three in the championship. This d ay sim p ly belonged to Cycle M otion Ra cing , w ith its Suz u ki GSXR1100 rid d en brilliantly by Mark McDaniel and Aa ro n Yates. By the en d of th e o ne- h o u r even t, Ya tes a n d McDani el had combined to top secondp laced Ebsco Media Suzuki by 24.139 A secon ds . While easily topping th e Jim Leslie /Gerald Roth man Jr . co m bo, Cycle Motio n Raci ng end ed up lapping all the way through to fifth place o n a d a y th at fea tu red w arm tempera tures and brilliant sunshine in New England . It wa s Cycle Motion Ra cin g' s seco nd v ic to ry of t he ye a r, th e firs t one coming at laguna Seca. Fo urth p la ce wen t to Stanton Racing Ind ustries, a Kawasaki ZX7 ridden by Ko rry Rooks and Da vid Fett, th e las t team to finish on the same lap as Cycle Motion Racing. It was a n ea rly-race crash by N ick lenatsch that caused the normally strong Dutchman Racing team to flounder to a 12th -place finish a t Lou don. lenat s ch crashed in the final corner while leading Erio n Racing on on ly the seven th lap. Consequ ently, the team lost tw o laps while hasti ly making r e p a irs a nd , alth ou gh lohey ulti mately cha rg e d th rou gh to finish 12th, they were never a factor at the front of the pack. The race began at 5:15 p.m . on Saturd a y w it h Du tc hman ' s lena tsc h a nd Erion Racing's Barnes settling into their norma l s p rin t- race formation at th e fron t. The pair quickly es tablis h ed a le a d over Bat tl ey Cycles , ridden b y Shawn Hi gb ee, w ith Cycl e Motion' s Mc Dan iel runn ing in thir d plac e. McDaniel moved to third on the secon d lap and ran alone w hile lena tsch and Barnes contin ued to battle up front. All of that cha ng ed, however, on th e seven th lap whe n lenatsch was high -sid ed in the left-hander lead ing on to the front straight. "He hit the transition with abo u t oneeighth too mu ch th rott le," sai d Barn es, who had a front-row seat for Ienatsch 's ge t-off. "It high-sid ed him." At that point, Barnes' focus shifte d somewha t. Instead of being forced int o a team vs. team battle with Dutchman, his th ou ghts went straigh t to the cham p ions hip . And, th erefore , th e Flo ri dian backed off the pace. "That wa s ou r break to get back int o th e p oints," Barnes sai d . "A ft er ou r Da yt ona disaster (t he te am fin is hed 14th), we've each ha d o ne bad ra ce . Now it's tim e to duke it o u t fo r th e cham pionshi p. I got a 'Plus 2' on Cy cle Mo tion. I was trying to ha ng in th er e, bu t it was hot and slippery. I decided to be as consistent as possibl e and just finish." Con sistent d id n ' t cu t it on this day. At least not wi th the speed being shown by M cD aniel and la ter Yate s . O n th e 11th g o-a ro u n d , Mc Da niel m ad e th e pass on Barnes and Cy cle Motion was never head ed again. Not eve n d uring their man datory pit sto p in w hich they replaced McDaniel wi th the hard-riding Yates . The Geo rgian picked up the pace eve n more, and only at the ur ging of his crew d id he slow late in the race. "1 just watched my pit board," Yates sai d. "Mark Mc Daniel ga ve me a good lead of abo ut seven seconds . I d idn' t ha ve to worry about anythi ng. I just went out ther e an d rod e. I tried a lot of d iffe rent lines a n d fou nd som e that worked . My times sta rted dropping and I got th e lead up to 22 second s. They (the Cycle Motion crew) were telling me to slow down." Hi gbee mov ed Battley Cycles int o second place before crashing at rou ghly, the 3D-minute mark, the team eventu ally making repairs and finishing 26th, nine laps behind the leaders. Erion Racing then app eared to have a lock o n seco nd p la ce , but th a t to o changed i n the waning minutes of the race when Larry Pegra m wa s passed by Ebsco Med ia's Jim Leslie. "The battery w en t dead ," Peg ra m ex p la ine d. " It wou dn' t re v p a st s ix grand. Tha t happened with eight or nine minutes to go. At first I thought I was hittin g the rev limiter. It was splu ttering and every lap it got wo rse. I was helpless - a 600 could have passed me on the straight:' fX New Hamps hire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Resu lts : June 18, 1995 SUPERT EAMS : 1. Cy cle Motion Racing (Suz ); 2. Ebsco Media Suzuki (Suz); 3. Er ion Racing (Hon); 4. Stanton Racing (Kaw ): 5. Fog Racing (Ha n); 6. Action Speed Racing (Hon ): 7. Keys to ne /Northstar Racin g (Ya m); 8. Tea m America Racin g (Hon ): 9. Ana he im , Yama ha (Yam ); 10. Ma rk Mille r Racin g (Ka w ): 11. Performance Cycle (He n): 12. Du tchma n Racing (Yam); 13. Oats Racing (Suz ); 14. Anderso~ /Dynamic Racing (Yam); I S. B&B Racing (Han); 16. Mi ller Gen uine Draft (Kaw); 17. Hond a-Suzu ki World Racing (Hon); 18. Team Ad hesio n Racing (Suz) : 19. D&S Racin g (Kaw): 20. Team N ash (Suz): 21. Best Auto / Cy cle Racin g (Kaw ): 22. Tall an d Sho rt Racing (Ho n); 23. Gra nd Prix Ap parel Su perteam (Yam); 24 . Acm e Racing (Duc); 25. 5uperbike Concepts (Han); 26. Battley Cy cles (Yam); '17. G&5 Racing (Kaw). Ti me: 1 h our, 36.060 sec . Dis ta nce: 46 laps , 73.6 miles. A veeage Speed: 72.870 mph. Margin of Victory: 24.139 sec. SUPE RTEAMS CSHIP POI NT STANDINGS (After 6 o f 10 ro u n d s): 1. Dutchm a n Racin g (184 / 3 wins); 2. Eri on Racing (178 / 1 wi n); 3. Cr cle Moti on Racin g (173/2 w ins) ; 4. Action Speed Raong (135); 5. Keystone Northstar (126); 6. DATs Racing (124); 7. Mark Miller ' Racin g (111); 8. Miller Ge nu ine Dr a ft (03); 9. (TIE)

• Cover