Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. ROAD .RACE.. ' Round 2: Road America . NorIh AmetIcan. BIke SeIjes second race, working his way into the lead on the second lap and crossing the line first. He didn't lead the entire race, however, as Real hounded him for the last five laps, taking the lead, then losing it, before retaking it on the final lap. The pair encountered backmarkers in the slow, hard-left tum five, and Nobles had the better line, snatching the lead back and racing to a narrow victory. At the end of the 13-lap race, he was 0.330 seconds in front of Real, the pair having left the rest of the 28-rider field well behind. "Pablo drafted by me lwading into turn five and we came up on a coupl! of lappers and he had to slow even more because he went up under them because he was already committed, but it killed his drive up the hill," Nobles said. Real added that traffic was "a big problem the last two or three laps." Pittman came third this time, moving up from fifth on the last lap, with Pinkstaff fourth and Deatherage falling to fifth. Farther back, Harrington battled front-brake problems to take sixth, just in' front of Moe. The second was the faster of the two races, Nobles averaging 103.243 mph while Real averaged 102.760 mph. Moe would end the day the undisputed leader in the NASB championship point standings. After two race meet(Left) Todd Harrington (73) INda Pablo Real (29), ErIc Moe (57), AnOy DelithenIge (23), Joe Pltlmlln (41) Mel K.1th Plnkstllff (49) on the fIrlIt lap of the first NASB race at RoecI America. (Below) The IIlICOnd race turned Into • battle bet....n Tripp Nobles (SO) and R••I (29). By Henny Ray Abrams ELKHART LAKE, Wl, AUG. 6 t the end of the day, the first-ever stand-alone North American sUperbike race, held on a beautiful summer day at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, was both more and less than anticipated - more fans and fewer riders - but the streamlined and efficient program went off without a hitch and there was a promise by the series promoters of many more to come. Only time will tell whether the American road racing community can support three professional series - the others being WERA Formula USA and the AMA Superbike Championship - but the superbike field was strong and more than a few riders earned bigger paydays than they ever had before. It is in the slimly subscribed support classes where there is concern. But that didn't seem to matter to the announced crowd of 8,000 spectators, a number more than double what was expected in the absence of any substantive prerace publicity and the unexpected failure of some of the more established superbike riders to show up. Despite the glaring non-appearance of a number of name riders who had been expected to compete, the racing, in the majority of the classes, was strong and produced a pair of winners in the two superbike races. Martini Racing's Pablo Real won the first race, conserving his engine early, fighting his way through the pack, then easily pulling away from American Flyers's Todd Harrington late in the 13-lap, A 52-mile race. The Miamian took over the lead with three laps to go and bolted to a 7.9-second win. "I cannot abuse the engine all race long, so 1 was kind of taking it easy," Real said. '1 have a lot of experience racing the Ducati for many, many years, so I kind of take it easy, especially because I pay and they last longer that way. 1 could have gone a lot faster too, I just wanted to make sure 1 could last because 1 had less speed on the straightaway." '1 knew he was back there the whole time, and he came by me and I kind of lost my concentration and wasn't concentrating on what I was doing enough," the Kawasaki-mounted Harrington said. "And he pulled out a little bit of a lead and there were three waving yellows in a row, just about, and we got some lappers right away." The race for the lead had been a good one, with six riders going for it and the pack staying tight almost to the end. Harrington was second, but he'd been passed by Joe Pittman with two laps to go and had to fight his way back. In the end, Pittman's Zloek Racing teammate, Keith Pinkstaff, who had led the first lap, wicked it up at the end of the race to move up into third. Both were aboard Kawasaki ZJ<-7s. "1 dropped back for a little while, but was able to close back up on them and put together some of my fastest laps the last couple of laps and get by (Eric) Moe and Pittman," Pinkstaff said. Pittman was a close fourth, just in front of the Kawasaki of RB Engineer- ing's Eric Moe (Kaw), with similarly mounted Andy Deatherage a close sixth. Then came Tripp Nobles, the Georgian racing Bill Zearley's Kawasaki ZJ<-7 after Zearley was sidelined with a broken left wrist, the product of an accident the previous week at Savannah, Georgia. Nobles crashed the Kawasaki in the morning practice, and may have broken his right collarbone, but didn't seek medical assistance out of fear that he wouldn't be able to race. He had to start from the back of the pack after the bike wouldn't run cleanly before the race, and he worked his way up to seventh. It was later discovered that, in the haste to rebuild the bike after the crash, tape was left over the carburetors. "They don't run so good without air," said Nobles' mechanic, Vic Fasola. Nobles was later penalized for coming to the starting line late. He didn't make that mistake in the ings, and four races, Moe leads the chase with 99 points, 15 better .than Pinkstaff and 23 more than Harrington. RACE ONE The first race began promptly at noon on a warm and cloudlit day with the Zlock Racing team of Pinkstaff and Pittman taking to the front. But by the end of the first lap the order had shuffled and there was a six-rider breakaway from the 34-rider field. The order at the end of the second lap was Pinkstaff, Harrington, Real, Pittman, Deatherage, and Moe. A lap more and Harrington was in the lead where he would camp out, though with no great comfort, for the next several laps. "Things were definitely feeling a little bit different, but Pablo was up there and a couple of guys who were riding a little bit more aggressive than they were

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