Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Atlanta Chuck Graves led early In the EBCSport Bike final, but he ended up handing vlC10ry to Rueben Frankenfield when he crashed his Buell 1200. EBC Brakes S Bike Series port Round 2 :Road Atlanta Frankenfield's gift By Henny Ray Abrams Pholo by George Roberts B RASELTON, GA, MAR. 31 euben Fran kenfie ld had resigned himself to finishing second in the soggy EBC Brakes Sportbike race when he was graciously handed a victory by Graves Mot or sp ort s-Motorcycle Online's Chuck Graves. "I saw Chu ck out front and I tried to reel him in, bu t it wasn't going that way so I put it on cru ise control pretty mu ch," Frankenfield said. Then, on the 10th lap, . the engine on Graves Buell 1200 locked u p, sp inning him around, and spitting him down. Graves was u nh urt, bu t the race was red-flag ged and called complete. Gree nwoo d Motorsp orts /Pirelli / Pen ske-b acked Franken fie ld an d his Kawasa ki were d ecl ared th e w inn er s, Kawasaki-mounted Parris Register was second, after borrowing a motor, and Lee Produ ctions Dave Sadowski was third on a H on d a CBR600 th at he'd buil t for another racer. " It was look in g really goo d . I was thinkin g, 'When's that white flag coming out. I guess it was the next lap around, huh?" Graves asked after being scored in 18th place. Becau se of the red flag there was no official time or margin of victory for the race which was called official at the end of the ninth of 12 laps. At the time Graves crashed , he had about a five-second lead on Frankenfield, who, in turn, had about 14 on Register. Sadowski was about four seconds adrift in fourth. The win moved Franken field into second in the EBC Brakes Sportbike champi- . onsh ip poi n t sta n d ings . After two of eight races, he.trails Rick Kirk, seve n th today, b y one p oint, 56-55. John Scheehser, fourth th is afternoon, is tied wit h Daytona winne r Yves Brigu et an d Jim Lester, 12th here, with 35. In a class dominated by four-cylinder Japanese 600s, Graves' Buell entry was a breath of fresh air. As long at it complied with the 102 horsepower and 395-pound weight limit, it was perfectly legal. It was also blazingly fast. . Graves spent the first four laps dicing w it h local h ero Kevin Rentze ll, then Rentzell slid off into the mu d while run ning a close second and' Graves w as home free. At the midpoint of the race Grave s had better than five seconds on second- placed Frankenfield, his gap to Register a similar interval . As th e race pl ayed itself out it was .a p p are n t tha t the .w in ner wo uld be Graves, un less disaster struck, whi ch it did, though Graves wasn't sure what. "I don't know, something happened it just locked up jus t as I was runnin g up the side of the dip, or just before that, it spun around 'and th at was it," Graves saidof his high-speed get off on the backstraigh t. Still, he was ple ased with his first race on the Buell. "Tha t's the besthandli ng bike out th er e, I have to tell you . It handles so well and it' s go t so muc h torque and you'll see it at the front of these EBC races." R Donahue, Dela nde Spo rt Center, Dunlop-backed rider from Macon said of the block-patterned Pirellis. Third went to Red Line Racing, TBR Racing, Battl ey Cycl es Michael Fit zpatrick, also Pirelli-shod, H anrahan completed the 12-lap , 30mile race in 21 minutes, 1.365 seconds at a n average speed of 86.307 seconds. Though Nob les hung close, H anrah an was able to u se tr affi c to s tretc h his adv antage to 2.783 seconds at the finish. Enfield Motorsp orts' John Scheehse r was a lone third, w ith Barnett Travel/ South Bay Triump h' s Ben jam in Welch gett ing th e measure of David McGrath for fifth. Then came the penalties. Th ird-place fini sh e r Mi ch ael Fit zpatrick wa s do cke d five cha mpio nshi p points and fined $300 for illegal streamlining . Acc ord in g to an NA SB p ress release, " Fitzpatrick had mod ified th e po sition of h is fro n t n umbe r p la te ." N ASB' s Pat Mu rphy exp lained that the number plate has to be on the same plane as the front forks. "He' d pulled the top back to m a ke it m ore aero d y na mic ," Murphy sai d . Scheehser an d We lch , fou rth and fifth, respectively, each had th ree cha mpionshi p point s taken away and were fin ed $100 for illegal fra me modifications . "Both riders had removed tabs on the rear swing arm," the release said. The pe nalties did not affect the top th ree in the point standi ngs af ter the third of eight races. On the strength of his wins in the first two races, HMC Hanse n Racing' s Scott Zampach, eight h tod ay, continues to lead the cham pionship with 93 poi n ts. Hanrah an is second wit h 87, six more than Fitzpatrick. H a nr ah an w as th e best out of th e blocks and mad e the race come to him. Nobles and Scheeh ser tried to brin g it, with Nobles having better luck with Fitzpatrick joining the fray on the fourth of 12 la ps. Right about th en H anrah an beg an to check out leaving Nobles to hold off Fitzpatrick, which he did, clear and steady gap s growing among the top three. Scheehser had dropped to fourth. several seconds back, but so far in front of fifth that he could cruise to the finish. Ca r ry in g the number -one p lat e, Nobl es closed up on H anra han on the seventh lap, the pair leaving !.fipatriCk behind wit h Fitzpa trick near ly com in g off in th e final tu rn at the end .of th e eighth lap . He put his left foot down to make a miraculous save and appeared to lose touch with the leaders, bu t it was n' t so. Though he was better than 2.5 seconds back, he moved up so that starting the final lap the top three were covered by about 1.6 seconds, with Hanrahan in front of Nobles and Fitzpatrick. Then the tr io came up on tra ffic and Ha nra ha n, w ho' d been wai ting for the onslaugh t, saw the ligh t. "I di d lo ok back, bel ie ve m e," he said. "I seen them backmarkers coming up and I said, 'Thank God : I tried to get him o ff my tail and it worked . Backm a rk e r s pl a yed a p retty go o d ro le toda y . It he lp ed m y cause." H e ex plai ne d th at it w as in tu rn s tw o thro ugh five that he made the best use of the traffic. "I could get the last section on the brakes and, wh en the next grou p came throu gh , th e backm arkers were sta cked up th ere. The y he ld u p Tr ip p and Fitzpatrick." "To day, I was s lidi ng th at th ing aroun d a little more than I'd like to, but I was trying to keep them in sight because I thi nk I had a little 011 top for the m," Nobles said. "But I got a couple of backmark ers between he and I and it kind of slowed me 'up." That put him in peril of being caug ht by Fitzp at rick. "I took a peek over m y shoulder com ing ou t of turn seven and I got held up in traffic, or the lapper s, and he closed up on me, he was coming. I knew he hadn't gone far. I did n't look for a while but I knew he was there." The pair raced to the flag and the difference was about one bike length. " It was really a good race," Fitzpa trick sai d. "I th ink a couple of back markers pla yed a ke y part in " of it . .I know all Tripp was sliding all over the place along with me. It was tough ou t there :' . Scheehser had a mostly lonely ride in fou rth , the n came an equally solitary Welch , w ith McGrath not being pressure d either . Rick Kirk 'took seventh from Zam pach on the final lap. Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: March 31, 1996 (Round 3 of 8) MOBIL 1 TR IUM P H S PEED TRIPLE CH A LLENGE: 1. James Hanrah an; 2. Tripp No bles; 3. Mich ael Fitzpatrick ; 4. Joh n Scheehser; 5. Benjamin Welch; 6. David McGrath; 7. Rick Kirk; 8. Scott Zampach; 9. lhomas Murray; 10. Ty Howard; 11. Shawn Conrad; 12. Ray Hixon; 13. Devin Bartley; 14. Thomas Fourrder; 15. William Whi te; 16. BlaiJw Paulus; 17. Rick Shaw; 18. David H ull; 19. j im Brannon; 20. Michael Gage. Time: 21 min., 1.365 sec. Distance: U laps, 30 mi les . Average speed: 86.307 mph. Margin of victory: 2.783 second s. MOB IL I TRIUMPH SP EED TR IPLE CHALLEN G E C'SHIP POINT ST AN D INGS (After th ree of nine races): 1. Scott Zampach (93/ 2 wirul); 2. James Hanrahan (87 / 1); 3 , Mich ael Fitz patrick (76) 4. Rick KH (74 ); 5. (TIE) John Scheehser j Da vid McG ra th (67); 7. Tr ip p N obles (64); 8. Benjam in We lch (63); 9. William Whlte (59); 10. Shawn Conr ad (55); 11. Devi n Battlcy (51); 12. Th oma s Murray (44); 13. Ty How ard (42); 14. Th oma s Fournier (37); 15. (TIE) Davi d Hun /Rick Sha w l Ada m Lewis (32); 18. Michael Gage (29); 19. Jim Brannon (28); 20. Patrick Bonfigl io (26). Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Brainerd, Minnesota, M 19 ay Round 5 - Elkhart Lake. Wisconsin, August 4 Unofficially, Frankenfield had about 14 seconds on Register at the end of the nin th lap , more than eno ugh to ensu re the win. Asked how his tires worked, Frankenfield replied : "Perfectly. The Pirelli MT60's worked grea t. I didn't have much of problem anywhere, just here and there," he sai d, ad di ng th ey were especiall y effective in st a nd ing wa ter. As for Graves, "He was really ridi ng the wheels of that. He must have been using a lot of corner speed because it does n' t have a lot of straightaway speed." "W e h ad to swa p m ot o rs and we finally got a good motor un de r us thanks to Kevin Blaise. We couldn' t quite keep up with Reuben's and Graves stuff and I knowSadowski was closing on me too," Register said after finishin g second. Sadowski may have been closing, but at the end of the ninth lap he was better tha n fo u r seconds back. Who knows w ha t wo uld have happened in the last three? As it was, Sadowski was happy to get third since he rode most of the race alone. " It wa s really ha rd to keep my concentration," he said. "I've been building bikes at my sh op at home to establish a college fu nd for my boys. This is artis t Lee Bieven s bike, he raced it ou t here yes terday and he finall y won a race at the end of the day and I decided , man, this thing runs pretty good and I'm going to give it a shot:' Fourt h p lace was a bit of a struggle an d not as well -defined as the pod ium finishers. Scheehser moved into the spot wh en Barry Henson went out of the race on the eighth lap . Top Line Cycles Steve Johnson m oved into th e sp o t beh ind Scheehser with Mark Mon yette taking over sixth when Grav es crashed . k irk , Brian Liv eng ood, Cha rles Chouinard, and Chris Bliss filled out the top 10. C~ Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: March31, 1996(Round 2 of 9) EBC BRA KES SPORTBIKE: 1. Reuben Frankenfield (Kaw); 2. Par ri sh Register (Ka w ); 3. Da ve Sadowski (Hon~ 4. john Scheehser (Hon ); 5. Steve johnsen (Honb 6. Ma rk Monyette (Kaw) ; 7. Rick Kirk (Kaw ); 8. Brian Liven good (Hon ); 9. Charles Otouinard (Kaw); 10. Ch ris Bliss (Hon ); 11. Jim Albritton (Yam); 12. Jim Lester (Hon ); 13. Rick Maron (Kaw); 14. Colin jevens (Kaw) ; 15. David McPhe r son (Ka w ); 16. Thom as C occi a (Kaw); 17 . Timothy Stevens (Hon) ; 18. Chuck G raves (Bue ); 19. Randy Texter (Bue); 20. Edward Bernd. (Suz); 21. Qu enni Kin g (Du e); 22. Ma tt Wait (Hon ); 23. Mark Sch m id t (Hon); 24. Dustin Sperber (H on ); 25. Rick Beggs (Kaw ); 26. Shane Oarke (Kaw); Xl. Dan Fischer (Han ); 28. Barry Henson (Kaw ); 29. Joe Wolfe (Kaw ); 30. Kevin Ren tzell (Kaw); 31. Michae l Sidw ell (Kaw) ; 32 . Dr ew Linco ln (H on ); 33. Jason Fraser (Kaw); 34. Eric Gray (Ho n); 35. Da vid Rose (H on). Ti me: N / A du e to red flag. Di sl.lonce: 9 laps . 22.5m iles. Ave r..ge speed: N / A du e to red flag . Margin of victory: N I A due to red flag. EBC BRAKES SPORTBIKE C' SH lP POINT ST AN D ING S (Aft er tw o o f eigh t ro u nd s):l. Rick Kirk (56); 2. . Re ub en Fran ke n fie ld (55 /1 w in): 3. (TIE) Jo h n Schee hser/Yves Bri g u e t lJ im Le st e r (35) ; 6. Brian livengood (33); 7. (lIE) Ma tt Wait /P.urish Registe r (32); 9 . C ha rles C ho ui na nd (3 1); 10. (TIE) Davi d Sadows ki /Ch r istia n Zwedorn (30) ; 12. (TIE) Dou g To la nd / Oue nni King / Mark Mo nyette (28); 15. Steve John son (26); 16. (lIE) Kevin Rentzell / Eric w ood (25); 18. (TIE) Th omas Montano / Dustin Sperber (22); 20. (TIE) Chris Bliss /Brett Ray /jeff Williarns (21). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Brainerd, Minnesota, M 19 ay Round 4 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 4

• Cover