Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

tim e ge tti ng it sto p pe d at my no rmal braking marker ." It wo uld come down to the final lap, Rob erts runni ng it d eep in to tu rn 10, Renfrow on his tail and able to out race him to the line from tum 11. "The Ho nda w a s reall y good, " Rober ts sa id . "1 kn ew tha t too, that' s wh y 1 ran the last lap so d eep. If 1 we nt in there a little bit slowe r to try to get a be tt er drive he s till w ould have go t me." " It was frustra ting," Renfrow began . "He wanted to stay behind me and try to cat ch Kristian (Kaas), but quite hon estly I wasn 't w illing to chan ce it. Tu rn lOis a real bad comer for me , I never cou ld get the bike settled , but 1 learned a lot w a tchi ng Kurtis, Kr isti an a n d Rich , a little bit better line ge tti ng in th er e . I figu red th at he did n't get a good drive off of here (tu rn 11), and 1 think my bik e was faster anyway. The co m b ina ti o n of the tw o I th ou ght wo uld a llow me to ge t him; th a t an d the fact that for some reason he was braking really goo d in the comers, but he wasn' t brakin g good he re (turn two) and he wasn' t braking good h ere in 11." Ienatsch had held . onto fifth un til he was pa ssed by Perform ance Machine' s Roland Sands on the seventh lap . Sand s look ed to be clo sing on Renf row and Roberts when his engine expired on the 12th lap . "A h ead bolt s ho t ou t of m y top cylinder," Sands explai ne d . " It pr ett y mu ch released all the water. I was coming over th e top of the hill, sixth gear, 13,000 rpm. Full y tucked in, the wa ter wen t over my helmet and the temperatur e gauge was fully pegged . Rand y an d Kurti s were dicing it up and I was catching them, then some thing like this ha ppens. It kills me, it jus t kills me." Tha t gave fifth pla ce back to Ienatsch, but no t for long. On the 15th lap Foster was by and, though he was able to stay up on Foster, lenatsch lost the d rag race to the finish line to take sixth. "He was righ t next to me. I d idn' t get a cha nce to swe rve," lenatsch said. Jeff Leggit t had been catch in g th e pa ir, af ter ru n n in g the race mos tly arone, bu t was about 3.5 seconds back at the end . Then came Rogers wi th Montoya in pursuit, and Paden alone after . getting away from Bobby Keith late in the race. Laguna Seca Raceway M onter ey, California Results: April 28, 1996 (Round 3 of 10) 250cc GRAND rRIX: 1. Rich Oli ve r (Ya m ); 2. Kris tia n Kaas (Ya m); 3. Randy Renfro w (Yam ); 4. Kurtis Roberts (Yam); 5. Mark Foster (Yam ); 6. N ick lenatsch (Yam ); 7. Jeff Leggitt (He n ): 8. Ch ris Rogers (Yam); 9. Michael Montoya (Yam); 10. Jason Paden (Yam); 11. Bobbv Keith (Yam) ; 12. John Fra nce (He n}; 13. Brian Ga rbc lli n i (Ya m ); 14. Ja so n Rot h (Ya m ); 15 . Perry Melncciuc (H e n) : 16. Derek Kin g (Ya m); 17 . Joe Cubbage (Yam); 18. Brandon Welton (Yam); 19. Brady Welt on (Yam); 20. Dave Ave ry (Ya m); 21. Brian Lefevre (Yam); 22. Joe Carrillo (Yam): 23. Jeff Otrlip (Yam) ; 24. Derek King (He n): 25. Thomas Montano (Yam); 26. John Burgoyne (Ho n); 27 . Dan Cook (Yam ); 28 . Lei ghton Cha lme rs (Yam ); 29. Andy Edwards (Yam ); 30. Kevin Johnson (W-R); 31. Roy de Groot (Hon); 32. Bruce Lind (Yam); 33. Aaron N ichols (Yam); 34. Phili p Snowden (Hon); 35 . Kelly Jones (Hen): 36. Kevin Carlin (Yam); 37. Cliff Tolley (Yam); 38. Hans Battle (Yam) ; 39. Billy Da tu (Yam); 40 . Roland Sands (Yam); 41. Chris.top her Thomas . (Yam); 42 . Mi ke 0' Ambrosia (Ya m); 43 . Gr eg Esser (Yam) ; 44. Mike Sulliva n (Yam). Time: 26 minutes, 30.710 seconds.. D ist an ce: 17 laps , 38.05 miles. Ave rage speed: 86.103 m p h. Margin of victory: 17.458 seconds. 250cc GP C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 3 of 10 race s): 1. Rich O live r 008/3 wins); 2. Rand y Renfrow (92); 3 . Mark Foster (80); 4. Kristian Kaas (79); 5 . Nick len at sch (7S ); 6. Bo bb y Ke ith (69) ; 7. (TIE) Jo hn France / Jason Rot h (54 ); 9. Per ry Me lneciu c (53); to. Ch ris Rog e rs (47); 11. Je ff Leggitt (46); 12. Greg Esser (4S); 13. (TIE) Mich ael Montoy a / Cliff Tolley (40); 15. Jason Pa den (34); 16. (TIE) Mike Sulli van /B randon We lton (32) ; 18. Rol a nd Sands (30 ); 19. (TI E) Brian Garbellini/Derek King (29). Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Homestead, Florida, May 19 Round 5 - Lexington. Ohio. June 2 A AP H M ro ondaOils6 Supersport Series 00cc Round 3:Lagu naSeca R aceway Smashing records By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY CA, APR. 28 , t was a race that had followers of such th in gs re search ing through record books. The last time Miguel DuHamel lost a 600cc Su pers po rt fina l? Ten races ago . Ironicall y, right he re at Lagu na Seca Racewa y. The last time a Kawasaki won a 600cc Supersp ort race? August, 1993 Sears Point. Ironically, it was DuHamel w ho rod e the bike to victory. The last tim e a non-Honda wo n a 600cc Su pe rsport race? Aug us t, 1994 - Sears Point. Iro ni ca lly, there was no thin g iro nic ab out it - a nd Mig uel DuHa mel had nothing to d o with it. Jam ie James won there on a Yamaha . All of these questions came up afte r' Muzzy Kawas aki' s Mike Sm ith p ut a stop to DuHam el's historic 1Q-race wi n s tre ak with a sci ntilla ting victo ry a t Laguna Seca Raceway. Oka y, one m ore: Wh en d id Mi ke Smith last win a 600cc Supersport fina l? How about Road Atlanta, 1994. While the outco me of th e race ma y ha ve carried so me his torical sign ifi cance, it will be remembe red mostly for being one of the classic 600cc Sup ersport battles of all-time, a war foug ht betwee n the two all-time winninges t racers in the class. Sm it h a nd Du H am el were g lued togeth er for the en tire 17-la p, 38-mile race with eac h ta ki ng his tu rn at the fro n t. Late in the race, th e pair were join ed by Kinko's Kawasak i' s Tho mas Ste vens in his mo st ins pired ri de in recent memory . The three then battled th eir wa y to th e finish , w it h the race being decided on the final lap . It was on that last lap that Du Ha mel ran into the Corkscrew too hot, locked the rear while downshi fting, was n't able to get th e Honda slowed in time to make the corner, and was forced to jump the curbing down the left-right comb inatio n comer. Smith didn't take full advantage as he'd mi ssed a s hi ft going in, and the pair emerged almost side by side. Smith, th ough, ha d th e lea d and it was o ne he'd hold to the finish. Stevens' run to the front was thwarted in the final la ps by la p ped traffic . While Smith and DuHamel were able to blast their way past the lap pers, Stevens was balked on at least two occasions, endi ng any hop e he had of victory. Fourth pl ace o n the day went to Stevens' Kink o's team mat e Jason Pridmore, in his best ride si nce re turning from a badly bro ken leg. Pridmore circulated alone for most of the ra ce, finishing w ell cl ea r ·o f r ising sta r Ben Bostrom on th e Zer o Gravit y-back ed Honda CBR600. Smokin' Joe's Ho nda 's Steve Crevier ended up sixth w ith Erion Racing's Andrew Stroud seve n th, Hyd Mech Saws' Owen Weichel eight h and Eri o n 's Dou g To la nd ni nth . Su t te r Home's Brian Parriott filled the top 10 on his Honda CBR600. Th ough th e run for th e cha m p ions hip tightened somew ha t, Du Ham el continues to lead the way. The Fren ch Canad ian ha s a 10-po int lea d over Smit h, 103-93, after three races. Stevens is a solid th ird w it h 88 points, seven I clear of C rev ier's 81. Bostrom rou nds out the top five wi th 79 points. It was neither Smith nor DuHamel who led the way at the start of the race; instead it was Pridmor e, runnin g his Kinko' s bike over the hill and into turn two with the lead. That didn't last long, however, as Smith powered past up the hill towar d the Corkscrew with Bostrom followi ng su it . Th en ca me Du H ame l and Stevens, wi th Pridmore end ing the first lap back in fifth d espite his impressive start. "Du Ham el wa sted very littl e tim e in movin g around Bostrom, flying up th e inside on the approach .to tu rn thr ee to set up what would be a racelon g battle wi th Smith. By th e com ple tion of th e seco nd lap , Steven s ha d also made his move, getting by Bost rom to tak e ove r third, though he now trailed Smit h and DuHamel by a second . "I didn't get the best start," Steven s sa id lat er. "Qualifyin g went rea l well a nd I just kind of pi ck ed m y w a y through thos e guys. Mike (Smit h) rode a grea t race, Migu el (DuHame l) wa s riding really, rea lly well and I knew I had to close up. 1 was just trying to close up, close up, close up and hopefull y have something there for the end ." That nev er ma teria lized as Stev ens en ded up hitting traffic aft er a valia nt charge that pu t him within stri king di stance in the final lap s. "Co mi ng up throu g h turn fiv e we r a n in to so me lap ped tr affi c; they cleared the guy an d I got stuck behind him going into six. So as far as my lastlap heroics, it pr etty much ended rig ht there. I was hoping to be a bit closer so I co u ld run up a nd at leas t s tu ff it in there, but that was more or less the way it went. We' re go ing to keep plugging away . The Kinko's Kaw asak i team is rea lly good . Kawasaki ste pped up and gave me a seco nd cha nce after w ha t I went th ro u gh w it h that o the r team (Yoshimura Suz uki) , ridi ng a bike that was uncompetitive for three years. I'm real thankful to Kawasaki for giving me the cha nce to get ou t there and show 'em wh at I've got so I can get back ou t there on a su perbike ." Up fron t, the battl e wo uld go the distance . Smith led every lap but the 14th, w ith DuHamel inching hi s w ay pas t o ve r th e hill a n d int o turn tw o. Du Hamel maintained th e lead as th ey co m p le ted the 14 t h la p, bu t Sm it h pulled next to him as they crossed the sta rt/ finish line, only to lose out under braking for tum tw o. The next time past the stripe, though, it was Smith in front again, with DuHam el trying to find a way by in tum thr ee. On the final lap, DuHamel char ged thr ough, only to get into the Corkscrew too hot. He exit ed behind Smith an d cou ldn't find a place to pass in the final three corners. Mike Smith (68) broke Miguel DuHamel's 1O -race win st reak in 600cc Supersport competition in a classic duel between the Georgian and DuHamel. "I was just thinki ng to myself, 'Boy, he' s goi ng really fast: " DuHamel sa id after the race. "I was just trying to ride the best race I cou ld an d Mike (Smit h) was rid ing really, really well. The places I th ought I could m a ybe p ass him , I thou ght we might end up trad ing paint and I'm not in to th at. I wa s trying to make as clean of a pass as possible and I d id a few of them w hen he mad e mistakes . Unfortu nately, I made some mista kes too . O ne, in co rner 10, I got in si deways en ou gh tha t I was loo king where I was going to land. I was able to save it and, we ll, that's going to be good for TV. The Kaw asaki's gea rbox seemed to sui t Monterey quite well and he had so me bet ter drives in a cou ple o f corners. Where 1 was strong, the finish line wasn't there so that was un fortunate . I'll go th rough this race in my head for a while becau se we're coming back here fo r World Su perb ike a nd I' d like to reverse the decision. This is pretty much what happen ed to me her e las t yea r wi th Mike Hale. I've jus t got to keep the focus on the number one thing, wh ich is th e cha mpion ship . That's w ha t's real importa nt." . Smith was obviously p leased w ith his effort. " It was a very good race:' th e Georgian said. "Ridi ng with new teams each yea r is liking putting on a b rand-new pair of motocross boots: It takes a little time for things to get wore in a nd get a fee l for w hat' s g o in g o n . Moto cr oss boo ts are one thing, but... my point is, these guys are so compet itive tha t this is no cakewalk. These guys are some of the best motorcycle racers in the world . To get on a new team and bea t these guys is a tall order - for any body. This weekend we jus t worked re ally ha rd and thi ngs are starting to come toge ther" fo r u s . By n o m ea ns do I t hink I'm goi ng to h a ve a big winni ng streak because th ese guys a re go ing to keep me hon est. If I do, it'll be in the Lord 's hands and not anyth ing that I can control. I'm just going to go ou t and do the best I can and thank God we were able to w in . We beat so me pretty s trong guys . "We finally have a baseline and now we can go racing. At Daytona I pulled every trick 1 had just to get second . At Pomona 1 was basically embarrassed to come in. It was so tou gh for me to go ou t racing and not co me ba ck with a better se tup, but that's racin g. You lose mor e times in you r career.tha n you win . You jus t have to ta k e. ' e m and go . Migu el's been very fortunate in winning all the races he has and he knows that

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