Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2:Pomo aFairplex n ~ . By Scott Rousseau Photos by Kinney J on es POMONA, CA, APR. 21 f Miguel DuHa me l is one thi ng, he's efficient. There is perh ap s no other w ay to d e scri b e the m ann e r in w hich t h e Sm o kin Joe's Honda rider - th e man wh o h as more AMA 600cc Su persport . victo ries to his cred it tha n anyone else in th e hi s to ry of th e spor t - bid ed hi s time behind Smokin ' Joe ' s te amma te and fellow Canadian Steve Crevier for alm ost 12 of 18 laps at the Pomona Fairpl e x before exe cu ti ng a ca r e full y p lan ne d move in tu rn seven an d the n pulling away clean ly to lead the final six circu its and come aw ay wi th his second co nsecu t ive AM A / Pr o H onda Oils 600cc Supersp ort win of the year. . It didn't look as th ou gh DuHam el would ha ve eno ug h for Crevier in the early going, however, as the two factory Honda .riders pulled aw ay to battle for th e lea d among th em sel ves. Rather it seem ed that Cr ev ier m ight ·h a ve th e measure of the defendin g champ. But aft e r sho w ing h im a w heel here an d there, DuHamel ou tbraked Crevier at the end of the ba ck straigh t and dived by him at th e en tra nce of. tu rn seve n. Tha t was all she wrote excep t for a few well- time d passes on backm arkers who cross ed his patho "Steve obviously did n't read the fine lines in his con tract - I'll ha ve to talk to him about that later: ' DuHamel joked in reference to the amo unt o f time th at Crevier held the point position . "1 figured I'd follow him for a bit becau se it eas ier to do tha t; You only have to go as fast as the the guy in front of you. Then again, tha t can w ork against yo u, and be fore you know it, yo u ge t lu lled to sleep and he gets away. But I di dn 't figure th at I shou ld pass him un til at least halfw ay, becau se I wa nted to save my tires. He was as fast as I was on the corners up by the bridges. Then I pulled out immediat el y and d idn 't have too much troub le with th e lapped tr affic. I'm very happy to bring this one hom e for Smokin' Joe's and Honda." Du H amel was followed across the . line not by Crev ier, but by Zero Gravity rider and fu ture hope ful Ben Bostrom, who locked up his first 600cc Supersport podium via determ ination and excellent traffic negotiation. Fifth off the line, the di rt tracker-tu rn ed -road racer quickly worked his wa y into a podium pos ition on his Honda "B-tea m" mach ine a fter bo th a brief d ice w ith p ri v at eer rider To d d Harrington an d a p ass of Team .Kaw asaki' s Mik e Sm it h o n lap seven . The 21-year-old Californ ian then inched up on the two front-runners, reeling in Crevier on the final lap and then tak ing full advan tage of a five-rider traffic jam to stuff it un derneath the Canadian in tu rn seven and lead him around to the checkered flag . . "Th is is probably one of the happiest days of my life," Bostrom said . "1 w ant to thank Zero Gravity, and Honda for le ttin g m e test all during th e w in ter, I .' ROAD RACE ' .AMAIProHondaO 600ccS ils upersport - beca use I knew that I needed a lot of track time. I also want to thank Gary Mathers and Ray Plumb. They build one hell of a motor. "1 st uffed Steve in turn five and he stuffed me in six," Bostrom said . "Bu t I sawall that traffic coming an d I knew tha t was my cha nce right there. Traffic is a real factor here." (AbOve) Steve Crevier (4) tri es to hold off Miguel DuHamel (1) In the 600cc Supersport final. (Left) Ben Bostro m finished second, passin g Crevier late. Just ask Crevier. The forme r Muzzy Kaw asaki ride r started fas t and stayed fast - save for the pass by DuHamel, yet Crevier cou ld n' t seem to cat ch a break from the lapped ride rs he encoun tered, and tha t proved to be his undoing. Crevier d idn 't appear to be hav ing too much troub le defendin g the runner-up position from Bostrom until the pair hit a wall of s lo wer ri ders at the end of th e b a ck straig ht going into tu rn seven. Bostrom dipped low to take the po int away, and Crevier was unable to retaliate due to the traffic jam. The end result was that Crevier w as locked into th ird an d was none too p leased with it as evi denced by the hand gesture he inadverten tly made at Kinko's Kaw asaki rider Thomas Stevens before crossing the finish line. " Th e lapp e r s we re just hacking across m y fro nt tire, " Crevi er sa id. "When Miguel lap s you, you ought to have enough common sense to kn ow that someone else is coming. I mean w e (factory rid ers ) are not the only gu ys on th e tra ck eithe r, but it's lik e th e only wa y that you can treat a lapped rid er is to o ba sh the hell ou t o f ' em . I d on' t want to race that way. A little common cour te sy w ou ld b e nice . Sorry to Thom as (Stevens). I didn't mean to flip him off. Ithought he was one of th ose other guys." " 1 got a really goo d sta rt - th e y jumped, but I was real relaxed," Crevier said . "My setup was pretty good, except I went with a tooth-shorter gea ring than Miguel did, so late in the race when the tires got hotter I started ha ving trouble finding drive. He w as going good. My pace wasn't good enough." Kinko 's Kaw saki rider Stevens came home a rather lonely 'fourth, and by h is own ad mission "lost" the race 18 laps earlier - on the start. Jus t the same, the Floridia n w as in the hunt for the ent ire battle after running seventh on the first lap the n ta iling Bost rom to the fron t, and at times threatening to overta ke the yo u ngste r. Bu t Stev ens wrestled with traffic too, and by the time that he was clear of it an d close eno ugh to ma yb e challenge Crevier for third, time wa s up. "1 blew the start," Stevens said . "You can' t mak e that kind of grou nd up with t he ta lent ou t th ere . I did the b e st I could. I suppo se th at I cou ld h ave ru n u p the inside of Steve (in tra ffic), but I w asn't go ing to d o that. Th e Kin ko's Kawasaki guys gav e me a goo d bike to ride. We'll get 'em . We just need to get the hell out of this parking lot and back on to a real race track." New Zea land er Andrew Stroud used a last-corn er pass on Muzzy Kawasaki polesitt er Mike Smith to stea l fifth p lace aboard the Erion Honda. Stroud, wh o is better known for his exploits with the Britten V-twin wond erb ike than a 600cc Su persport ma chine, d id a resp ect ab le job of su bbi ng for injured Erion rid er Chuck Sorenson. He wa s mired in ninth place off the start but steadily marched forward, and after battling with Gerald Rothman Jr . and Harrington, ca u ght Smith late in the race and then dipped u nder him within sight of the checkered flag to swipe the position. "1 had actua lly gotten by him three laps before while braking on th e b ack side," Stroud said . But he got me back. I was losing the fron t end out there. My Bridgeston e tires were were goo d, but I do n't think that I h ad the front end set up right, which d idn't do a lot for m y confide nce. If I could wo rk on it, I think w e' d b e in th e re. Tou gh cl ass, th ese 6OOs. The last time I rode one w as in the rain at Lagu na Seca in '93. Before that it was ' 88. They're definitely streetbikes." . Smi th wa s none too happy eithe r. "We just d id n' t ge t th e b ike se t up right fro m the ge t-go," The Georgian said . "One fast lap is different than a lot of fast lap s. It w as tou gh, but we'll take it. We got some points and we' re right beh ind Cr ev ier. They ju st run off and left me wish in' tod ay, but we' re gonna get it. I have faith ." The onl y serious inciden t in the race came on the openin g lap when Kinko's Kaw asaki rider Jason Pridmore collected a pylon marking the course after it wa s accide ntly flipped under his front wheel by DuHamel. Prid more took a horrificlooki ng tumble in to the turn-eigh t ha y bales but sus tained only a sp rained left a n k le . H e is ex p e cted to b e b a ck in action at the Lagu na Seca N ational. (":\ Pomona Fairp lex Pomona, Californ ia Results: April 21, 1995 (Round 2 of 11) 600cc SUPER5 PORT: 1. Migu e l Dul-lame l (Ho n); 2. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 3. Steve Crevier [Hen): 4. Thom as Stevens (Kaw ): 5. Andrew Stroud (Hon); 6. Mike Smith (Kaw ); 7. Tod d H arrington {Kaw]: 8. Gerald Rothman Jr . (H a n ); 9. Bri an Pa rri ott (H a n); 10. Do u g Tola nd (Han) ; 11. M a tt Wait (H a n ); 12. Ch ris to p he r Rank in (Kaw ); 13. Ken Mell e vill e (Ha n ); 14. Harol d Winkl es (Han ); 15. Ma tth ew C uidera (Hon); 16. Sha wn Roberti (Kaw); 17. Mike Murphy (Kaw) ; 18. John w eiss (Kaw) ; 19. Marcus H ubb ard (Hon); 20. D ustin Spe rbe r (Hon); 21. Rich Thorw ald son (Hon); 22. Da le Whel an (Hon); 23. Mich ael Co nlon Jr. (H e n ): 24. M ike Klein (Hon ); 25. Ma rk Cemicky (H o n); 26. Shan e Lawn rnast er (Hon ); 27. Paul Allen Wri ght (Han ); 28. Tro y Mat u ro (Hon); 29. Jason Prid more (Kaw); 30. Owe n We iche l (Kaw); 31. Daniel Diet rich (H en). T ime: 26 min., ~ . 61 7 sec. s Di sta nce. 18 la ps, 37.8 mile Average Speed: 85.337 m ph Margin of Victory: 3.154 A MAIP RO HONDA OI LS 600« S UP ERS P O RT SERIES POL1\lTS STAN D INGS (Aft er 2 of 15 rounds): I. Migue l Dul-l ame l (7 1 p o in ts ! 2 w ins); 2. Thomas Stevens (58); 3. Mike Smith (57); 4. Steve Cre vier (56); 5. Ben Bo s tro m (53 ); 6. D ou g To land (47 ); 7. Ge ral d Ro th m a n Jr . (45 ); 8. Matt W a it (40 ); 9. Christo p he r Ra nk in (35); 10. {TJE)' YvE' Brigner /Matt hew G uide ra s (28); 12. An d r e w Strou d (26) ; 13 . (T IE) Todd Ha rrington / Christian Zwedom (24); 15. Jamie Bow-man (23 ); 16. Brian Par riott (22); 17. (fIE) Eric Wood IJ ason Pridmo re / Haro ld Winkl es (19); 20 . (T IE) Jeff WiIliam s / Kt>n Melville (18). sec: Upcoming r6unds: Round 3 - Monterey. CA. Apr. 27-28 Round 4 - Homestead, FL. May 18-19

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