Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE · AMA S uperbike N ational Championship Series Roun d2:Pomona Fairplex (Left) Shawn Higbee tries to get away from Pascal Picotte (21) and Steve Crevier (14) In their battle. Higbee ended up fourth In only his second AMA Superblke Nationa l. (Below" from left to right) Chandler, Pegram and DuHamel spray the bubbly after the Superblke race . His tea mm ate Picotte was worse off, with his chassis problems mainl y cau sing front-end dilemmas. ..It w as better than a cra sh ," Picotte said of his ninth -p lace finish. "It had a fron t-end push tha t was really bad. We can' t pu t the power to the ground. They are pulling us big time on every exit and I . lost about five times the front end - everywhere. I just couldn't keep up: ' Kipp m anaged to top his teamm at e Ja mes, b ut he's still hoping for better things as his crew chief Jim Leonard gets more time with the new Yamaha engine specs. "The red flag sa ved me," Kipp said. "I had a tou gh time getting by (Mike) Smit h. I got bo xed in at th e start and was flustered . I was happy to see th e red flag. but then I got the same crummy start. I mad e some changes in the front end and it was definitely better in the second leg. I didn't really have any troubles. I'll be better off at Laguna. The stop-an d-go sniff here figu res to h urt me more than a re al ra ce track would. I anticipate things getting better. Jim (Leonard) hasn't had any time and this is new for u s. Since Da yt ona there's been no opportu nity to work on things. I plan on winning races this year . How ? I don't know, but I haven't given up hope." (~ Pomona Falrplex Pomona, Califomia Results : April 21, 1996 (Round 2 of 10) SUP ER BIKE QUALIFYIN G: 1. Chris Carr (1:24.377); 2. Larry Pegram (1:24.617); 3. Pas eal Picotte (1:24.65): 4. s Doug Chandler (1:24.893) ; S. Mal Ml adin (1:24.895 ); 6. Miguel DuHamel (1:24.933); 7. Steve C revier (1:25.087); 8. Jamie James (1:25.166); 9. Mike Smi th (1:25.458); 10. Tom Kipp (1:26.633); 11. Shawn Hi gbee (1:25 .651); 12. Al Sa laverria (1:27 .286); 13. Tripp Nob les (1:27.508); 14 . Thomas Wil son (127.526); 15. Dave Esto k (1:27.650); 16. Aaron Yales (1:27.745 ); 17. Mark T . Mill er (1;28.392); 18. Jam es Randolph (1:28.783): 19. Michael Bames (1:29.226): 20. Rad Greaves (1:29.329); 21. Pau l Harrell (1:29.651); 22. Frank Wilson (1:29.854); 23. Jim Leslie (1:30.065); 24. Daniel Bailey (1:30.122); 25. Eric Moe (1:30236); 26. Mark Black (1:30.490): 1:7 Dale Kieffer (1:30.825); 28. T . ohn Weiss (1:30.951); 29. Joh n Hilton (1:31.238 ); 30. Stev e Patterson (1:31.447); 31. David Roy (1:31.68 6): 32, Ant hony Lupo (1:31.706); 33 . Dax Sn ow (1:3 1.936); 34 . Peter HU~riCh (1:32.370); 35. Jim Dickenson (1:32.438); 36. Mike ock (1:32.961); 37. Mark Junge (1:33.086); 38. Victor abra J (1:33.262); 39, Dean M izdal (1:33.640); 40. Jam es Hanlon (1:33.960). SU PE R BIKE A N AL: I. Miguel DuHamel (H on) ; 2. Larry Pegram (Du e); 3. Doug Chandler (Kaw); 4. Shawn Higbee (Due); S. M.lt Mladin (Suz); 6. Tom Kipp {Yam); 7. Jamie James (Yam); 8. Steve Cr evi er (Ho n); 9..Pasca l m anaged to squeeze past two lapped riders on the entrance to rum seve n, leaving them to badly balk Pegram an d Chandler th ro ugh not only turn se ven, but also eight an d nine. "Toward the en d of the race I was real comfortable following him, and he got two la p p ers in betw een u s," Pegram exp lained. "At abo ut that same tim e we started to have a little bit of a clutch problem with m y bike. It wasn' t anything m ajor, but it w as probably costing me a couple of ten ths a lap . I couldn' t be real aggressiv e because the rear end was chattering en terin g the comers. I just tried to stay in seco nd and keep Dougie (Chandler) behin d me." Du Ha m e l wa s n' t certain that the lap ped riders w ou ld end up help ing his cause : ""I was jus t tryin g to make some hard laps and go fast to try and pu t some di st an ce on h im (Pegram) , but he was stic king in the re pr etty good . I figured th at he wasn't going to be able to get'em (the lappers), bu t you never know . Sometimes they'll see me come in an d they can either ge t o n my rear w heel thinkin g, el'm going to race with Miguel for a lap, comer o r two: Or som etimes they' ll just step right ou t of the way an d m ake his life easy. Th at worked out really good . Th a t' s o ne thing, when I wa s behind Larry , every tim e, especi ally in the first ra ce, we started to come up to lapped riders I said, 'Okay, I wan t to be in front of this race so I can control w hat happens with the lapped rider: Fortunately, I was able to get in front of them real quick so I could dictat e what wou ld happen with the slow riders -.If I w as going to ge t bo gg ed, h e w as go ing to get bogged . That was really im po rtant here because Pomona is a tough track to pass on." DuHamel wo uld end up winning. but only by 2.275 seco nds. Pegram was second, but only just with Chandler moving in for a last-lap charge that came up 0.106 sho rt at the finish line. H igb ee w as in co ntrol of th e grou p beh ind, leading Mladin, Kipp, James and Cre vier across the line. Picotte w as fighting ha nd ling p rob lems and d ropped off the pa ce to finish a lonely ninth . Smith was also the victim of an iII-handling bike and he would end up a woeful 10th. ..It's just a lack of expe rience on my part," Sm ith con fessed ...It's tou gher for m e to get o ne ri ght. I'm slow to m ake changes and I tend to ride around th em too long and I end up on my noggin. The cras hes d id n't help. I ju st d on 't know Picotte (Suz); 10. Mike Smi th (Kaw ); 11. Dav e Estok (Due ); 12. Tripp N obl es (H -D ); 13. Mark Mill et (Suz ); 14 . A l . Salave rria (H · O ); 15. James Randolph (Suz); 16. Rad C reav es (Suz); 17. Dale Kieffe r (Suz~ 18. Jim Leslie (Suz); 19. Micha el Barn es (H· D); 20. John Hilton (Ho n ); 21. Daniel Bailey (Suz); :u. Dean Mizdal (Yam ); 23. Dax Snow (Suz ); 24. Jim Di ckenson (Suz); 25. Jam es Hanlon (Suz ); 26. Eri c Moe (Kaw ); 27. Pete r Hupperich (Suz); 28. Aaron Yates (Suz); 29. Paul Harrell (Yam ); 30. Steve Patterson (Su z) ; 3 1. John Wei ss (Suz); 32. Chris Carr (H · D) ; 33 . David Roy (Suz) ; 34. Frank Wilson (Suz ); 35. Thom as W ilson (H·D). Tune: n l a due to red flag. Distan ce: 30 laps. 63 miles. Average SPftd.: 0/ a due to red flag . Margin of Vi ct ory: 2.275sec. A MA SUPERB IKE N AT ION AL C 'SHIP POINT STAl'.'UlNCS (Aft er 2 of 10 ro u n ds): 1. Miguel DuHamel [70/2 wins); 2. Do ug Chandler (56); 3. Larry Pegram (5S); 4. Pascal Pico tt e (SO); 5 . (TIE) To m Kipp ! Steveo Crevie r (48); 7. Ma t Mlad in (46); B. Scott Ru s~ 1I (32); 9. Colin Edward s II (30 ); 10. Shawn Higbee (28); 11. Aaron Yates (27); 12. AI Sala verria (26) ; 13. Jamie James (24); 14. (l1E) Eric Moe /Rad Greaves / Chris Carr (22 ). Upcoming rounds: Round 3" M onterey, Califomia, April 28 Round 4 - Homestead, Florida, M 19 ay exactly w hat I want, but the package is there an d we'll get it." Higbee was obviously elated with his fourth-place finish: "This was really my first time riding with these guys and I was able to follow and learn," Higbee said . "From what I learned in the first part, I was able to use in the second race. Everybody had their places w he re they were having troubles. I was disa ppointed after qua lifying. but I feel I can run up front - I just didn't know how long it wo uld take us to get there. This is a good first step." His teammate Pegram was also confident of what he could do with the Fast By Ferracci Ducati. "I expected wi th the equi pment th at I'm on, and the tires, and the team , that I wa s going to be able to run up front in these races," he said. "I feel good that it's happened this ea rly in th e seaso n . I learned more today, not so much from Miguel because I wasn't behind him too mu ch , but I lea rned how to run w it h Miguel. Next week I won't be so nervous when I'm up there. This time-I was ~ little bit nervous because it was my first time. Nex t week it'll be a little bit easier and every week it'll be a litt le bit easier. - Maybe I won 't let him by next time." Mladin's best AMA effort was a struggle, thanks to an ongo ing handling p roblem w ith th e new Suzu ki: ..It wa s spi nning." he said . "We just need a bit more testing to ge t so me things so rted out. We ' ll try s o m e different su spe ns io n things ai Laguna; we're not just sitting on our arses, that's for sure. I used a different tire in the second race an d it wasn 't the right choice." Brieflv... - thank to red flags , AMA Superbike races usu'; ·ally are run_in two legs · only with a shorter. break inbetween races', . With his 11th AMA Superbike National win co ming at Pomona Mig u e l DuHamel mov out of a tie with Mike Baldwin for seved enth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list and now holds the position by himself. One more victory will put him into a tie with S c ott Russell for Sixth ; five more wins will vault him all the way to a tie for second with Wayne . Rainey. The leader in AMA Superbike wins is Fred Merkel with 20 career victories. e , ' Hariey-Davtdscn's Thoma s Wils o n had his string of 1996 bad luck continue at Pomona, The friendly Ohioan missed a lot of practice as his VR1000 had mechanical problems. and ·then he missed the start of the National when · it died on the grid and he couldn't get it restarted. Allthls after ·crashing out 01 the Daytona 200 lastmonth, "l had one full session all week: Wilson said. "It's been pretty tough. I'm really str uggling 'on suspension."Wilson said ·copying the obviously succes sful setup use d by his fast qualifying teammate Chris Carr-is out of the quest ion. "His package does n't even remotely work for me. "Wilson said. "The bike is getting really good. but until you can get the suspension underneath you. if s hard to get anythingto work.i For his efforts. Miguel DuHamel earned $45 00 . of the $ 28 ,0 0 0 supe rbike purse. Larry Pegram pocketed $3000 for finishing second and Do u9 Chandler took home $2000. The three-day crowd of 39,124 spectators was a reco rd for the third running of the L.A.. Superbike .Champlonship, according to event · ·As if he wasn't sore enough, Aa ron Yates promoters. Last year's crowd was 32,647, further complicated his collarbone injurywith a While heavy criticism of the Pomona race track cras h in ·the seco nd part of the rest arte d h as subsided over the years, it is still the brunt . superbike race. Yates was high·sided from his of jokes among some of the riders. There was Yoshimura Suzuki and reinjured the collarbone the standard joke that'Chris Carr's pole po st- in 'edd it fo n to twisting htsankle, "It's pretty tion on the Harley wasn't really out of the ordi- .- loose,"Yates said of the broken collarbone on nary because "Pomona's a lot like the Peorta his right shoulder. -I gues s I popped it loose. Tl', only rougher.- As Miguel Dul-iamel said . On the restart I. wanted to see if I could run after the Superbike National, "lt's very appro- with eern and I guess the tire was a bit fresh priate that they give you a buckle like from the . onthe right side · itjust spit me off.i rodeos because this track beats .you up and Two·pit area fixtures were noticeably absent at kicks you around and everything.". Porno",;; Eraldo Ferracci and Dale Quar. . . One of. the things discussed 'at the AMA . terley. Ferracci stayed in Philadelphia with his Road Race Advisory Board .mee ting on ailing son Bobby, who recently underwent a Friday night was the ongoing debate ove r·· second liver transplant. It was ,the first time whethe r the AMA s hould adopt the World anyo ne co uld remember a pi t are a without Superbike format of running iwo superbike Quarterley who. despite hiS recent retirement, 'races on a single day. Pundits point out that. was at least was on hand at Daytona with his Ducati being ridden there by Randy Renfrow.

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