Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.R AD RACE .. . O Mobil 1T phS rium peed T ripleC hallenge . Ro~nd 1: W illowSprin sInternational Raceway g (Left) Eventual winner Scott Zampach (11) leads Tripp Nobles (1), Lance Holst (88) and David M cGrath (66) dur ing the Spee d Triple Challenge . (Below) Kevin Murray (742 ) topped the 125 GP class In front Masahiro . IIzuka (8) and the rest. stood atop the victory podium. Instead, it was Vista, California's, Kevin Murray. At the start of the race things looked good for Iizuka, even if M urray was able to mosey away with the hol eshot. The Japanese rider went quickl y to work and was able to move past in tum nin e. Murray tri ed to retort in turn one but cou ld n't make the move stick. The lead pair started to break away a bit from San ds, who had suffered from a poor launch. "Man , I got worked on the start: ' said Sands. Wesley Totsubo and Vicky Jackson- Bell followed. By lap three, Iizuka stretched his wa y to a near-three-second lead an d looked good for a comforta b le w in . Near the e n d of the la p, h ow e v e r, something went wrong for th e HR C-b acked rider as he lost his lead in tum seven to Murray. "Iizu ka was goi ng too fas t into th e com ers:' said Murray. "And I'd just do m y own thing an d beat him on th e way out. " Murray w as indeed ridin g tm p res sive ly , but w ha t h e p rob ab ly didn ' t kno w was th at Ii zuk a h a d lost his silencer an d was trying to com pensate for his sudden lack of power. That was it for Iizuka, and though he wou ld try everything he cou ld to make u p for the By Mark Hoyer· Photo By Tom Hnat iw 6 WILLOW SPRINGS, CA, FEB. 18 ate arriving fans that came to Willow Springs In ternational raceway for the first roun d of the Mo bi l I Triu mph Speed Triple Ch a lla nge mi gh t h ave been just a lit tle bit confuse d. Wh at they wo uld have hear d wa s the annou cer explaini ng how Scott Zampach and Tripp Nobles w ere battling tooth and nail for the lead position, draftin g and p a ssing each other an d explaining how smooth riding w as the key to success in a spec class like this. It would have been easy to think that they were racing 883s. They we re n' t. Wh at they wer e racin g in was America's new est sp ec racing cl a s s featuri ng th e T riumph Sp e e d Triple, wi th strict rules governing allowab le mod ifica tion s an d a limit of 102 horsepower. Rules are enforced by a Dynojet dynamometer that will travel to every round . The class w a s well received, and the tight rules provided close racing for most of the race; that is until Zampach finally made his break at ju s t around halfway . After a fou rthplace sta rt, Zampach worked hi s was past both Lanc e Hol st and Nobles, the pair having indulged in a lead-tradin g frenzy d uring the ea rl y s tages of th e race. Nobles mounted a strong chall eng e for a tim e, bu t Za rnpach was able to break away from the pack, dropping his lap times nearly a second in the process, to pull away for the series-opening win on the windy race track. Lead ing the way off the line was former World Superbike racer Nobles, wi th Lance Hol st, David McGrath and Zam pa ch follow ing. No bles' lead was sho rtlived, though, as Willow Springs regul ar Ho lst qu ickly sho t to th e lea d th rough tu rn t h ree . Fo ur tu rn s lat e r, N obl e s re turned the favor , only to have Holst wrest th e lea d right back through tu rn n ine - only N oble s m ade it by ag ai n, drafting Holst d own the front strai ght. By this time Zampach was running a lon ely fourth behind McGr ath , followed at som e dis tance b y Ben Wel ch and James Hanrahan in fifth and si xt h , respectively. But wh at ha d at first appeared to be a comforta ble hold on third for McGrath was qu ickly eaten up by a flying Zam pach , wh o ju st a lap la te r cu t up the insid e of both Holst an d Nobles to take his pla ce at the front. " 1 th in k m y ex perien ce w it h th e Harle ys really paid off - especially with the wind: ' sa id Zampach. "There's no aer odynamic assistance, so you can' t let the wind affect your hold on the bike." Nob les hung on for a tim e, eve n n earl y ge t t ing b y d own the fr ont straightaway, desp ite both bikes headshaking violently in the tu rbulen t air. At this stage in thei r limi ted racing develop me n t, head -s hake appears to be a characteristic of the Speed Tripl e when they tra vel at these speeds in a pack. "We softened the fro nt (fork) and it shoo k really bad," sai d Nobles. Zarnpach quickl y recovered the lead he w ould hold to the end. And while Nobles tried to make up the ground, he cou ld n' t - and he st ill ha d to conten d with Holst . . "I tried there for a little b it:' sa id N obles, "b u t too many changes w ere made and the bike kind of started shaking its head while I was up near Scott. He was only getting like tw o-tenths a lap, but he put a few (lap s) together and got awa y." Thus far pu tting in an impressi ve ride was Holst, but that blistering pace took its toll, because that's ju st what his tires did - blister. He would fade to an eventual sixth. That left McGr ath wit h third place by la p seven . H anraha n, too, bene fitte d from H ol s t ' s t ir e tro ub les and a fter spe nd ing most of the race in sixth p lace, was ab le to secure fou rth. Kevi n Johnson, Will iam Wh ite and Rick Kirk followed some distance behind. I.' Willow Springs International Raceway WillowSprings, California . Resu lts: February. 18, 19 96 TRIUMPH SPEED TR IPLE CHALLENGE: I. Scott Zampach ; 2. Tripp Nobles: 3. David McGrath; 4. James Hanrahan; 5. Benjam in Welch; 6. LOla> Holst: 7. Kev in Johnson; 8. Willia m \'\'h ite ; 9. Rick Kirk ; 10. Mich ael Fitz patrick; 11. Shawn Conra d ; 12. John Scheehser: 13. Michael Gage ; 14 . Roger Heemsb er gen : 15 . De vin Battlev. T im e: 15 mins., 13.790 sees. D istan ce: 25 miles . Ma rgin of victory: 4.750 St"CS. A verage speed: 98.491 mph. TRIUMPH SP EED T R I PLE C HALLENG E SERIES 'IT STA.'i DlN GS , 1. Scott Zampach (35 ~ 2. Tri pp PO L Nobl es (32); 3. David McGrath (30); 4. James Hanrah an (28); 5. Ben jamin Welch (26 ); 6. Lan ce Ho ls t (25 ); 7. Kevin Johnson (24); 8. William White (23); 9. Rick Kirk (22); 10. Michael Fitzp at rick (2 1); 11. Sh aw n Con ra d (20); 12. John Scheehser (19); 13. Micha el Cage (I B); 14. Roger Heemsbergen (17); 15. Devin Bartley ( 1 6~ International GP by Idemilsu, H and RC Roadracing W orld j\t{ur ra By Mark Hoye r Photo by Tom Hnat iw WILLOW SPRINGS, CA, FEB. 18 earn Moto Liberty 's Masah iro lizuka see med like a shoo-in at the close of the windy qu alifying session on Saturday afternoon . After all, he was nearly a half- second faster than . number-t wo m an Ro lan d Sands, and has proven himself inc re d ibly fas t on the little eig h th-liter machin es. But for round one of Internation al GP racing, hel d between Formula USA rounds on a wi ndy Sunday afternoon, it w as neith er lizuka nor the determine d Sands who lack of power, he u ltimately finished in the runner-up spot some seven seconds . behind Murray. Two Brot hers Racin g' s Totsubo finished a surprise third, th ou gh he was hoping for better. . "It turn ed out a lo t be t ter than I thought, " said the su rp rised Tots ubo. "I don't know what happened to Roland (Sa n ds) . I h op ed he w ould pull m e along to catch Iizuka." Sands couldn' t do it thou gh, beca use he, t oo, h ad suffered fro m a bro ken exha us t. "Th e grom met on the p ipe broke," said Sands, who pulled off aro und the seventh lap. "After th at I had no mot or that su cked, man." Behind Totsubo came Vicky Jacks onBelt finishing a so lid fourth with [oji Tokumoto rou ndi ng out the top five. 1-:\ Willow Springs Internati onal Raceway Willow Springs, California Results: February 18, 1996 INTERNAT IONAL GP : 1. Kev Murray (Ha n ); 2in Masahiro liz u ka (Ha n ); 3. Wesley To tsub o (Han); 4. Vicky Jackson (Hon ); 5. Joji Tokum oto (Hon); 6. Ch ris Ulrich (Yam); 7. Ro lando Q uinte ro (Hon); 8. Carlos Ne ves (Ho n ); 9. Frank Pa te (H en ): 10. Joe l -He rm osa (Ya m); 11. Th om as Dor se y (Hon ); 12. Jeff Ca rd arelle (Hon); 13. Nobi Iso (Ha n); 14. Sharyn Namn ath (Hon ); 15. Roland San ds (Han ); 16. John Ulrich Han); 17. Craig Aver y (H an ); 18. Bru ce lind (Yam ); 19. Russe ll Tuck (Han ); 20. Evan Ray (Han ). T ime: 15 mins.• 13.280 sees . Di stance: 25 mi les. Margin of victory: 7.8 sees. Average speed: 98.546 mp h. INTERNATIONAL G P SERIES POINT STANDL'i GS, 1. Kevin Murray (35); 2. Mas ah iro llzu ka (32); 3. Wesley Totsubo (3D); 4. Vicky Jackson (28 ): 5. Joji Tokumoto (26); 6. Chris Ulri ch (25); 7. Rolando Quintero (24) B. Carlos Nev e'S (23); 9. Frank Pat e (22) ; 10. Joel Herm oso (21) 11. Thomas Dorsey (20) ; 12. Jeff Cardarelte (19); 13. Nobi ls c (18); 14. Sharyn Namnath (17); 15. Roland Sands (16); 16. John Ulrich (15); 17. Craig Avery (14); l B. Bruce Lind (13); 19. Russell Tuck (12); 20. Evan Ray (11).

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