Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE North American Superbike Series Round 4: New Hampshire International Speedway and Michael Fitzpatrick (89) (Below) Here Dele Quarterley (32) makes his pass on early leederMunroe (61); the Ducatl rider took the win In both races, with Munroe a distant second. later put a lapper between him and Monroe, then immediately droped his lap times into the low 1:165 and disappeared to win by over 14 seconds. Munroe described Quarterley's dramatic departure later: "I didn't know if he'd fallen off, pulled out, or just ghosted!" Despite running off as he did Quarterley thought there might be more speed yet. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think we're as fast as we should be," said the race winner. "I'm going to go and change four or five things (on the bike)." While Munroe was a secure second, there was considerable activity further back in the field. Fitzpatrick dampened Scheehser's hopes for a podium finish on his 600 by passing the Honda rider for third. Fitzpatrick upped the pace, but it took its toll as he nearly crashed on lap 18. "I ing Richard Alexander could not avoid hitting him. Both riders were knocked unconscious, and the reg flag flew. Fortunately the injuries were limited to a concussion for each plus a broken nose for Wood. Neither rider would make the restart, which would be for the full distance from the original grid positions. On the restart, holeshot artist Munroe moved into the lead in turn one ahead of Scheehser, Rooks, Fitzpatrick, Sweeney, Harrington and Quarterley. By the second lap the writing was on the wall as Quarterley had moved into second and closed up on Munroe. A short di lance back, Fitzpatrick had gotten by Rooks and was eyeing Scheehser for third. After another small gap came Rooks in fifth and Sean Sweeney, hanging in there in sixth on his virtually stock Ducati 916, followed by Tarricone, Harrington, Pinkstaff, Brown and Moe (who would shortly discover that he had a tire compound which was too soft when his tires started to overheat and come apart). Quarterley spent the next seven laps probing Munroe as the two lapped in the low 1:17s, trying a tentative outside move in turn one on lap six, which Munroe rebuffed. Two laps later Quartely came up with the real thing and laid a classic pass on Munroe as the Ducati rider stuck his machine inside Munroe's ZX-7 at the apex of the left-handed turn one, and then pulled alongside on the outside in the right-handed turn one-A, which gave him the inside line and the advantage for the next corner. But Munroe did not give up after this virtuoso display. He stuck close to Quarterley and in fact repassed him on lap nine to lead for about a lap. Their battle ended when Quarterley got way out of shape in turn 11, jumped the curbing, went out over the grass and out onto the (NASCAR) banking, almost hit the wall, and then rejoined the race," said Fitzpatrick. "After that I sort of put it on cruise." Having misread his pit board, Fitzpatrick was unaware that Scheehser had closed in during the last laps, that is until Scheehser outbraked him into turn three on the final lap. But Scheehser got in too deep and Fitzpatrick repassed him on the exit. Scheehser tried again on the outside into turn 11 but, as Fitzpatrick put it, '1 went to the inside of a backmarker and left nobody anywhere to go." Rooks was a lonely fifth for much of the race, as behind him Sweeney slipped back to be passed by Harrington, who pulled out on lap 19 with electrical gremlins. Pinkstaff, Tarricone, and Moe disputed eighth place for much of the first leg, when on the 15th lap Tarricone extricated himself and tracked down first Sweeney and then Rooks,. nipping the latter for fifth at the line on the last lap. obles, well back in the early going, had come to terms with his lack of grip from too-firm suspenion and was able to move past Pinkstaff and Pittman into seventh. Near the end of the race, Zlock Racing's Pittman caught his teammate and series points leader Pinkstaff and, inexplicably, passed him for eighth. Still further back, second-in-the-points Real had spent most of the race being hounded by a pack of local riders. His ankle had swollen so badly that he had had to split his boot to get his foot in, using duct tape to secure the cut shoe. He had also geared his bike long to reduce the amount of shifting he would have to do. Even so, he managed to shake off most of the locals and finish 13th. (Left) Canadian Superblke Champion Don Munroe (61) nabbed the holeshot In the restarted first . race, followed by local ace John Scheehser (611) By John Flory UARTER LOUDO ,NH, OCT. 8 T If) 0"1 . 0"1 rl u-) N ... (l) ..0 .B u o 18 he new orth American Superbike Series made its debut at Loudon this weekend with a crushing performance by Dale Quarterley. The Massachusetts racer and his Team Mirage Ducati 916 Superbike completely dominated the opposition in winning both legs of the NASB two-race format. Unable to challenge Quarterley, 1995 Canadian Superb ike Champion Don Munroe nonetheless put in a pair of deft rides to take second in both times out. What made Munroe rides particularly impressive was the fact that he was aboard a borrowed bike, the New England Performance Kawasaki ZX-7 Superbike normally ridden by Marc Smith, one of the top road racers at Loudon. Smith is on the disabled list, still recuperating from a hard fall at Bridgehampton in July. Series points leader Keith Pinkstaff and second-place man Pablo Real retained their positions with finishes in the ninth-to-13th range after their crashes before th.e heat races convinced both of them of the importance of prudence on this tight, demanding circuit. The points payout scheme used in both the ASB and the AMA series places a premium on finishing every race: A win pays 35 points while 10th still pays 21. Furthermore, Quarterley, Munroe and many of the other riders placing ahead of them had not ridden previous events in the series and so were not in contention for the championship or the $100,000 points fund at the end of the year, further reason for the points leaders not to take any chances. Spectator turnout was surprisingly good considering Sunday's cool weather and the limited advertising of the event. The event was hampered somewhat by a tight schedule, since it was run in conjunction with a full schedule of Loudon Road Race Series (LRRS) dub races. By necessity, practices were qui te short. Rainy weather Friday and Saturday evening left the track damp for morning practice both days, leaving riders to guess at a good setup for the dry condi- tions under which the races would run Sunday afternoon. The Superbike field was an interesting mix of riders from three sources: NASB regulars led by Pinkstaff, Real and Todd Harrington; local riders from the extremely active LRRS club racing at Loudon and Bridgehampton - too numerous to list, but John S<;beehser, George Tarricone, Sean Sweeney, and Kory Rooks would all figure prominently in the results; and the two "Wild Cards," Quarterley and Munroe, from the AMA and Canadian Superbike Series, respectively. Both of these series had ended, so these two were obviously here to share in the $20,000 purse for this event's two Superbike legs. QuarterJey was on his usual mount, the Fast by Ferracci-prepared Ducati 916 he rode in the AMA series, whereas Munroe would have to adapt to an unfamiliar bike. Munroe won this season's Canadian Superbike Championship on a Kawasaki ZX-7 with a ZX-9 motor, a considerably different beast from the kitted New England Performance ZX-7 Superbike he would be riding this weekend. '1t has really smooth power delivery," said Munroe of his unfamiliar mount. "It revs quicker than my bike but it's smooth. This is the fourth time 1've been to Loudon - it reminds me a lot of my home track, Atlantic Motorsports Park in Schubenacadie." RACE ONE The first Superbike leg was waved off Sunday afternoon under scattered high clouds with cool temperatures in the mid-60s. The flag dropped and Munroe, true to his fast-starting reputation, got a solid launch and entered turn one with Scheehser and Rooks, the three running side by side and heading a very tightly bunched field. Munroe's inside position gave him a cleaner shot at the apex of turn one-A and he took the lead just ahead of Scheehser, Rooks, Wood and Alexander. Wood's promising start ended when he apparently ran over a sheet of plastic or metal, possibly a tearoff, while getting on the gas as he was heeled over coming out of turn four. His bike went down violently, and the closely follow-

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