Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Crevier had a rather lonely ride to third place, a spot he inherited when Hale's Honda expired. Picotte's ride to fourth place was neither lonely nor uneventful. The French Canadian had to battle with a lack of grip, too many near crashes from false neutrals, and a persistent Fred Merkel in order to earn fourth place. He didn't get around Merkel until the final lap, and he just barely beat the Yoshimura Suzuki to the finish line. The man who perhaps came away with the most after seemingly working with the least was Vance & Hines Yamaha's Tom Kipp. The Ohioan was battered and bruised on his right side after suffering through a horrific crash during Saturday's qualifying when ,he arrived at tum seven with no brakes (see qualifying sidebar). The crash caused him to miss practically all of Saturday's qualifying as his Yamaha YZF750 was nearly totaled, and come Sunday morning the rebuilt motorcycle refused to run properly. To top things off, Kipp, who was trying to set a good pace on the warmup lap to make sure the bike was up to snuff, ran into the back of Yoshimura Suzuki's Thomas Stevens in the last corner. Fortunately, neither rider was seriously injured, though Stevens didn't make the restart. Kipp did, but he was forced to start from the very back of the grid because his machine wasn't ready The race turned out to be a battle between DuHamel (17) and Smith (68). When all was said and done, DuHamel had won his sixth straight AMA Superbike National. by the three-minute board. His ride through the pack to sixth place was courageous. . Team Mirage's Dale Quarterley, Team Suzuki Sport's Aaron Yates, local hero Cal Rayborn III and Tilley's Harley-Davidson's Scott Zampach rounded out the top-10 finishers on a brilliantly sunny day in the Northern California wine country. But it was DuHamel who came away from Sears Point as the Superbike Champion-elect. He now leads Hale, who was credited with 25th place, by 27 points, 261-234, with one race remaining. And it will take a miracle to stop him from earning his first-ever AMA Superbike National Championship. Merkel also put himself in position to move up in the standings; his third place is now only six points less than Hale's hold on second. Kipp is fourth with 223 points and Quarterley is fifth with 187 points. Smith's late-season run has moved him to sixth in the standings with 177 points. The McGraw Insurance Servicessponsored California Superbike Chal- Confusion ends, Picotte on p-=:. . -ol- ,- e_ _ lenge started late while corner workers cleaned up the debris from the Kipp/Stevens incident on the warm-up lap, a melee that Kipp shouldered full responsibility for. '1 really had no track time in a day and a half," Kipp explained. "We had a short session today and it wouldn't run. The warmup lap was my only opportunity to get up to speed. He (Stevens) slowed way down and he was off to the left. I came barreling through there and there was nothing I could do. I plowed right into 'him. There must have been a 50 mph difference in speed. I smacked him good. It's amazing we didn't get hurt. That just took the cake on a pretty bad weekend." The Vance & Hines crew was forced into a speedy repair job, replacing such items as fairing, footpegs, levers, steering damper, and more. "1 don't know how it didn't bend the forks," Kipp said. They made it to the line, but not in time for Kipp to take his place on the second row. Instead he would start last, but his race through the pack was impressive, and it would net him sixth at day's end. The rest of the pack jetted away from their assigned positions on the grid, and it was Picotte leading Hale, Crevier and

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