Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE- DaytonaInternationalS peedway C hampionship Cup Series leading the Expert Heavyweight Supe rsport race on the penultimate lap, only to lose to Team Suz u ki Sport teammate Mark Miller by ha lf a se cond. After a year spent recovering from a broken leg, Jason Pridmo re m ad e h is ro a d ra ce return by finis hing third in his d ebut on the Kinko's Kawas ak i, but h e w oul d improve. In the Unli m ited Su persp ort race, Prid mo re ca me away with th e w in in one of the be tter races of the weekend. He and teammate Thomas Stevens were pitted agai n s t form e r Kinko' s r ider Jam es Randolph . Stevens pulled in while just in front on the last la p, with Pri d more beating Ran d olph to the stri pe by 0.24 seconds in a furio us drafting battl e. " It was tou gh being out all last year," Prid mor e said . Stevens had earlier w on th e Expert Mid dl ew eight Supersport, riding to his fi r s t w i n on th e n u m b er 64 Kin ko ' s Kawasaki . "We' re jus t trying to figu re out what By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 1-2 fter puttin g his mark on the fastest things in the air and on the wa ter,. Orlando's James White spent the Da yto n a Champ ions h ip Cup Series weekend makin g a name on the ground. Wh ite rec ently spent four years in the Air For ce painting F-16 fighter plan es, and h e n ow p ai n ts off-s hore p ow er . boats. At Dayton a he was the big wi nner, taking four Am ate ur CCS races and finishing second in anothe r. " I thi n k th at was th e hard est one ye t," White, 24, said after winnin g the Am at eur Middleweight Supersport, his fou rth victory in five tries. "I had a lot of stiff competitio n in that ra ce. I' m jus t glad to be here and finish thi s good a t Daytona . I never ex pecte d it. I n ever ex pec te d o ne th is time, ne ver m ind fou r." In ad dition to wi nning the Ama teur Mid d leweight Supersport on a cool and d amp Sa turday afternoon, White al so won Satu rday's Ama teur Heavyweigh t -Su perbike, and the Ama teu r Solo GTU a nd A ma te u r Sol o GTO in Frid a v' s pouring rain . He came in secon d in Saturday' s Amateur Heavyweigh t Supersport, though he was on his Full Spectrum Raci n g Ka w a s aki Z X-6 ag a in st Patrick Whitn ev ' s Su zu ki GSXR750 . White' s GTO an d Hea vyweight Superbike wins were aboard an updated 1989 Suzuki GSXR750 wi th a full Yoshimura motor. In th e Pro ran ks , Ya ma ha World Su p erbik e' s Colin Edwards II, w hose career ascend a nce was accelerated by winnin g races in the fall CCS weee kend in 1991, w a s th e bi g win ner a nd b ig loser on the weekend , though that's a bit dece p tive. After sitting ou t Frid ay, when rai n fell throughout the d ay, Edwards was on track and on the gas on Sat urday, br eaking ou t to the front early in three races, amassing h uge leads, th en pulling in on the fin al lap to hand the glory to second place. By the end of the day h e w as turnin g la p tim es in th e 1:51s, respectable time s considering the tern p e ra tu re w a s in th e lo w 50s a n d each race was only five laps lon g. Twice, Flo ridian Shane Prieto was the recipient of Edwards' largesse. In his first appearance, in the Expe rt Unlimited Su perbike race, Edwards pulled ou t on the fi na l la p to le t Pri e to wi n, the Custo m Glass Co./Sh a rkskin z /Bla is A (Top) James White (754) was the top Amat eur racer during the CCS races at Dayt ona Int ernati onal Speedwa y; the Floridi an wo n four races, including the Amateu r Heavyweight Superblke class. (Above ) Jason Pridmore won the Unlimited Supersport race In his comeback appearance aft er breaking his leg over a year ago. Here he Is chased by Kinko's teammate Tho mas Stevens, who also won a race during the CCS day. (Right) Yoshimura Suzuki' s Aaron Yates was one of several top factory riders who took part In the action; Yates won the Expert Heavyw eight Superblke race. Cycle-backed Kaw asaki rider beating TBR Ra ci ng' s M ichael Fitzpatrick by 4.19 seco nds. In th e Unlimited GP race, Edwards ha d better than a four-second lead on the first lap, a lead that grew as his lap times dropped , the Texan pulling out to give Prieto his second win, this one over Team Suzuki Spo rt' s James Ran dolph. When Edwa rds dropped out of the Expert Heavyweight Superbike he gave the wi n to Yoshimura Suzuki's Aa ron Yates, th e Georgia n unaware tha t he was in front. "I had no idea I won that race," Yates said in victory lane. "1 knew there wasn't anybody in' fron t of me. I'd seen Co lin up there (unofficially 15 secon ds ahead), but I gu ess he pulled in on the last lap." Thr ee-ti me Davtona 200 winner Scott Russell 'was seco~d to Yates, the Lucky Strik e Suzuki rid er startin g, like Yates, fro m the 14th row in the seco nd wave. He was 3.960 second s back at the end . Rand olph w a s se cond twice more, wor ks and wha t doesn' t," Stevens said before a polog izi n g to the res t of th e field. "We ha te to bea t up on the privateers, but there's been so little track time we wanted to stay out and ge t as mu ch as we could." Another mu ltiple win ner was veteran Todd Henn ing, th e Massachu se tt s resident using the CCS races as a tu neup for Daytona's vin tage races. Henning w on the Ex p er t Spo rtsman a board a Honda 510 by nearly 21 seco nds on Frida y and on Saturday he won the Expert Lightweight Su perb ike, his 361s t CCS win, this one aboa rd a parts-bin Yamaha 350 twin. Aside from the numero us wi nners in the 25 CCS races, there were a fair num-ber of losers , mostly the factory teams. Th ursday's practice wasn' t particularly productive and rain washed ou t any dry track time on Friday . Sat urd ay began • wi th a cold, d rivi ng rain; all the morn ing practice was on a wet track, as well as the first few races. So for the factory teams, and most were there - except for Harley-David son , Suz u ki World Superbike, and Fast by Ferracci - the dry track time they were hoping to get nev er happ ened and the teams were left w it h spending nearly an extra week in Daytona w ith very little return . Blam e the wea ther. T he n ear-re cord rai n fl o od ed th e grass y ar ea by the tr i-oval, forcin g race officials to move the start-finis h line 60 ya rds fart her down the track. Jam es White h a d ru n a b o ut 10 regiona l races in Flor ida las t year and this was his second one of 1996. He'd ru n fo r t he fi r s t time in th e ra in a t Savannah, Georgia, in early February , a nd th e res ul ts gave no in dica tio n of wha t he wou ld do in Day tona on Friday. After procuri ng Pirelli backing on Frid ay, White stu ck the tires on his ZX-6 and went out and took two win s, giving m uch o f the credit to the new rubber. "The Pirelli DOT -legal ra in tire s, they stick so good," White said as a way of explaining his sud den su ccess; Once White disposed of early lead er Woodrow Gepha rt, he was free to run to the flag, running up a 7.65-second ga p on Honda Wes t's Gephar t at the end of the 12-lap , 42.72-mile race. KWS Sports Mike Cic cotto was th ird, also Ho ndamounted . " Irn re a ll y h a p p y , a nd n o w I'm read y to go and win that GTO," White said, and he prom p tly liv ed u p to h is p ro mise, th ough the margin was less than in his first win mai nly because of a power d eficit. White ran 'his Kawasaki 60 0 a gain st th e 750s, beating F&S Kawasak i / Su zuki' s GSXR750-mounted Pat rick Whitney by 2.3 seco nds. Third we nt to the Kawasaki ZX-7 or Richar d Pacella. "To tell you the truth, I wa sn't really counting on this one. There were a lot of big bik es ou t there, but th is bike had so me thi ng for them . 1 d on' t rea lly like ra cing in th e ra in , but if was a good race," Wh ite said after the Amateur Solo GTO. W hitney turned the tables in th ei r first meetin g on a drying tra ck on Saturd ay, a nd it wasn' t eve n close. Leading from the holeshot to the checkered flag, Whitney was never challenged, the Kentu ckian building u p better th an a 7.5second lead at the halfway point before cruis ing to a 6.7-second win over Whi te. "The dri er con di tions made a d ifferen ce tod a y ," Wh it n ey said a fte r the A mateur Heav yw eight Supersport win. Richa rd Pacella finish ed third behind White. Steve We nner was all alon e in fou rth on a Honda CBR600 with Peter Lucch ese fifth aboa rd a Kawasaki 750, a pa ck of fou r close on his heels . The track was completely d ry for the Amateur Heavyweight Superbike race, Su zu k i 750-mou n te d W hite in fron t from the drop and holding a tw o-second lead on the second lap with Micha el Co hen moving into second , a position he w ould h old onto d espite' constant pressu re fro m Bell ' s Su z uki' s Aa ro n Pierratt. W hite's le a d grew to be tt e r than thr ee seco nds on the fourth lap, despite an obvious top-sp eed disadvantage on th e back st raight. When th e checkers flew afte r five laps, White had a 1.89 second edge on Cohen, w ho was holding off Pierratt. That pair had about 12 seconds on fourth-p laced R on Sirianni o f R&R Raci ng . PM H G roup' s Da vid Nelson was just behind in fifth. Whit e' s' fina l wi n came in the Am ateu r Middlew eight Supersport, the last of 16 races la te on Saturday afternoon. Fro m the start White led th e 50-rid er field an d it looked lik e he wou ld pull aw ay, but it wou ldn't h a p p en. Steve

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