Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE · AMA S uperbike National C hampionship Round 3: LagunaSeca Raceway (L eft) Mike Sm t ih (6 8) lea d s To m Kipp (16) an d Picotte in t heir ear ly-rac e battle f or th ird . Sm ith ended up f ifth an d Kipp was f o urth. (Ab o ve) Mlad in (left) and Picotte (right) give Ch andler a cha m pagne shower on t h e victory podiu m . few laps and I figured on settling for second . Then it go t consisten t agai n and I started giving chase. I couldn't believe it when I saw him down . He had that thing really drifting, and it was prob ably just one of those things that caught him out :' Mladin, meanwhile, completed what w as a me th odical cha rge throu gh the pack after a slow start. Th e Aus tralian was eighth after five lap s, sixth after 15 laps, and finall y third on the 18th lap . Fro m th er e he w as able to pull away, inh eriting second with DuH amel's crash. "I though t, 'Beau ty, I just picked up a spot:" Mladin said of DuHamel's tumble. "We're ha ving some fa irly majo r clu tch probl ems," he added . "Going into turns all it wants to do is skip the back end . Off the start, I went from the front row to furth er back than 10th in the first corner. It's happened at the last two races and it's making thin gs really difficu lt to come back throu gh the field and chews up tires. When you' ve got guys like Doug (Cha nd ler) and Migu el (Du l-Iamel) ou t front there, you can' t give them any space - you can't let them have a free 'ru n and try and catch 'em becau se it jus t doesn' t BriafIy--,-- ----:. --,-------,-•..-----, An ' almo st unrecog nizable, yet popu lar figure in the pad dockat Laguna Sec a.was three·time World Champion Kenny Roberts. San s his norm al Ma rlboro team garb . Roberts w as on hand 'to watch his yo ungest ' son Kurtis make his debut in the AMA 250cc Gra'nd Prix Series 'aboard a PJ-1-sponsored Yamaha 1Z250. Once recogniz ed , ,the T-shirt - and jeans-clad Roberts ';"as popul ar with paddock dwellers , as wa s his turbocharged Humvee. Roberts also confirmed that Kurtis will race in up to seven of the remaining AMA 250cc GP races , those which don't 'conflict with his current European 250cc Road Racing Series commitments . . .Ano ther popular visitor to the track was Monterey resident Wayne Rainey. The three-time W orld Champion and his son Rex rode in a pace car that led over 400 motorcycl ists who paid $10 each to take part in a lap around t he' circuit. The money w ent to th e newl y formed W aYne Rainey Foundation, a non-proftt organization dedicated t? helping fund more research on spinal injuries. Form er 250c c .Gr and Prix racer Chuck Sorensen has been drop ped from the 'Erion Racing team for 1996 and replaced by New Zealander Andrew Stroud . prompt ing a press release to be issued at Laguna by Sorensen. "A t this time I am ready, "';iIIing and able to fulfill my duti es as specified and agreed to ,in my contract and in discussions afte r the crash at Dayt ona. and am saddened that the same cannot be' stated for Team Erion," Sorensen said in his release. " It is my belief that this dec ision .was made afte r the results that were achieved by St roud at Pomona , not on my abilit ies." Sorensen crashed during 600cc Supersport practice at. Dayto na in M arch , s uff eri ng a broken ar m. 'S troud rep laced him at Pomona, leading the team to victory in the SuperTeams event and finishing fift h in the BO Occ Supersport final, . 'Ke v in ,Er io n re spo nded to S oren s e n's press rele ase ~ith ' a release of his ow n, ' T he decision to replace Sorensen wa s a business decision purely based on what was best for the team and our sponsors ." Erion said in his release. " In the first tw o tests we ran Chuck SOrensen showed good potential and we felt once he was .used to the machinery he wo uld be an asset to the team . However: in our next session he crashed tw ice and'then crashed in pract ice at .Daytooa seriously breaking his arm. W hile hl s ann is healed, we do not feel that he is .! 00 percent ready to win' races arid that is what we must do . Andrew Stroud is an excellent rider and has already demonst rated his ability to win . We are sorry that this decision had to be made. but racing is a busine ss and to be 'successful you'must .do what is nece ssary to wi.n and that is what we have done ." happen these days. All the bikes are too good and some of the riders are too good to let that happen. The Suzuki is coming along in eve ry department now. I think once we get the d utch problem sorted ou t and w e ge t some new suspe ns ion bits that th ey 're going to ,send over fro m Japan fo r Homestea d, we' ll be a lot stronger for the whole race. I know if we can get off that start line we'll be racing for th e lea d a nd no t tryi ng to co me through the pack trying to catch the leaders. "My strong point, it always has been, is on the brakes. We jus t got th is new triple cla mp and it means we ca n 't h a ve the brakes of our choice. The brakes aren' t reall ywor king the best and the strong point in my racing is passing people on the brakes. That's how I ride. Tod ay we cou ld n' t really do that, mi xed with a couple of o th er problems. You see the result. Not that I'm not happy wi th second , it's great. Fortunately, Miguel is okay after tha t crash, but luckily for us he did have that crash and all the points have com e all the way ba ck in there a nd it' s reall y dosed the championship right up . For a new bike, the Suzuki is doi ng extre mely well. People can expec t us to be a lot stronger as the season goes on - that's for sure." Mladin's Yoshimura teammate Picotte was next, after a last-lap battle with Kipp. " I didn 't rea ll y h av e a ve ry good start," Picotte said . 'The Suzuki, we still need to wo rk a little bit on the dutch. We have a little pr oblem w ith that, so it' s pretty hard to get a good start. I think I was a little faster than the guys in front of m e, but they held me back a littl e bit. When Mat (Miadin) went by me, I said, 'It's time to go. If I don 't, I'm going to be in trouble now: I was pus hing hard withou t makin g a ny m istakes, 'esp ecially going into (turn) one because a lot of guys were going really wid e into one. That corner right th er e, turn four, I w ent past thr ee guy s right th ere - Mike (Smith), Larry (Pegram) and (To rn ) Kipp. When I saw Miguel fall, I thought I was really too close to that podium to give up , so I put - - -- - -- - Continued on page 35 One rider missing from the AMA Superbike National was Yos himu- . A parts shortage forced M ichael Barnes to abandon his Harleyra Suzuki' s Aaron Yates . The Georgian. wh o broke his collar- : Davidson VR 100 0 for th e weekend and ,jump onto his sponso r ' bone afte r crashing in a test session at Wi llow Springs a few wee ks M ike Canepa' s Fast by Ferracci D ucati 955 street bike. "We had ago . was concentrating his effort s on the 750c c Superspo rt race. somebody pick up the street bike and we 'pulled the blinkers off. It still has the starter, hom , and 'radiator fan. " Barnes said afte r quali."After crashing on it last week . I'm just going easy on it here. We didn't get any Superbike points last week . so it's better to take it fying 16th on the bike which showed better than 5000 miles on the · easy here.... ' . , . still-mounted odomet er: " It' s got the low-fue l indicato r light. When that carne on, I carne in. " Barne s said that he' hoped to have the · Du~ati team owner Eraldo Ferracci was absent" for second . VR 1000 ready for the next AMA Superbike race at Home stead on straight race. staying back in Philadelphia to be with his ailing son .May 19. " Harley 'is.really into helping us. Vile're hopirigto be ready. · Robby, who recently underwen t his seco ndhver-transplant surgery. . It all depen ds o n the part s we get . W e ,really' w ant torun th e " He C Robbyl ,was taken off the respirator ye"sterdayC Friday, April Harley. " Barnes finished 14th in the race. . . 2S) so that' s a good sigh," team manager Larry Ferracci said. "And he's also been co mplaining , so that' s another good sign.' The pos t-race press conferenc~~ almo st a~ays' feature some postrace humor, espec ially if Miguel DuH amel is involved. Al though , DuHamel was n't present after the Superbike National, Picotte ~lIed ' . Accordi ng to Larry Ferracci . Ducati's ~nancial woe s ;"111not have an in as the res ident .comedian. ".I'm 25:" Picotteanswered when . effect on Ducati's ability to meet AMA homologation numbers AMAPro, Racing'sLarTy Lawre~ce.asked him his age. ' He's ahar ." by June., ..No'problem, " Ferracci said. " I've got a fax from the"englPicotte' s teemmate M at M ladin said. Then Picotte explained: ' I , ck. neers sitting i ~ the tnu Everyth ing is on sched ule and all the,bikes have A lan Lab rc s s ea s my man ag e r , th e se rneas M iguel are spoken for. " Ducati has to have 500f the Ducati 955s to show (DuHamel> And Mi guel is 26 for about five years in a row . So he . the AMA by J une. , told me to stop at 25 . " . Larry Pegram h~d a simple solution for not having Eraldo' Ferracci to help with bike setup at the race track. "W e'", playing catch-up A s a 7·year-old , Doug Chandler raced in 'his first .motorcycle because eve rybody els e tes ted here ove rt he wi nter," Pegram race in 1972 . Ironically. that race was held at the Mo nterey Fair' explained during practice. ' It hurts not having Eraldo here, but I talk grou nds; just a few miles wes t of Laguna Seca Raceway. " It' s great because I've never won here before and it' s my home track. " Chan. to him four or five times a day on the phone . What we need here is quite a bit different than whatwe had in' Pomona." Pegram finished . dler said ,after winning the Seperbike National. " All the family, and a surprising second to Miguel D uHamel in the second round "of the having 'all this backlng behind you, it' s like, jeez. you' want to do the s~ries : held on April 21 'in Pomona, Californ ia. best yo u can. It's just great . :It' s re ally good. " Ch andlerearned # 59 000 from 'the $6 2,00 0 superti ike purse for his effo rts :,nun ner-up W ho had the most fans at Laguna Seca? W ell. if ticke t requests Mat Mladin ,poc ke ted .$ 70 00 'and third -place man Pascal Picot te had ,anything to do w ith it. Doug Cha ndler was the hands-dow n' went home with $40 00. . ' '. ." " wi nner, Chandler, who was born and raised in nearby Seiinas. had 30-some tickets reserved for family and mends. The AMA claime d several of the top finishera' DOT-ap p rov ed tires from the SOOcc Supersport fmel at Laguna Seea, after DunW hile Yoshimura Suzuki' s Pascal Picotte has struggled somelop 's Jim Allen had sent them a lett er ,sugges ting that'they do so: what to get the new Suzuki GS XR750 superbike up to speed, his Race w inner Mike S rnit h.,runn er-up M iguel D uHamel and 10th.. teammate M at Mladin says he' s been forced to play even' more place fintsher .Brian Parriott had their Dunlops claimed. along 'w ith cat ch-up. " The bike is completely diffe rent from when we' te sted the Bridgestone' s 'o fseventh-place finisher Andrew St roud and here," M ladin said on Saturday afte r qualifying second. " Pascal and 12th .plac!" man Ken M elville. " l told them that' s what they should a lot different riders and he did a lot of. testing before I mys elf do ,' All en said. r I 'also told them that the manufact urers should .- act ually even got to see the bike. He asked for a lot of diffe rent submit a sectio n ofa nynew tirethat 'shornoloqated. Then they' d , things and whe n I came over I just couldn't ride it. J felt like' a duck have a tagge d piece o f tire fr om eac h manufa c tur er to c hec k out of wate r. Now we're finally gelling some things that are making against. ' I've been accused of cheating. but I can tell yo u I ain't me fuel a brt more comforta ble. After here. and before Homestead, cheat in'. we'll have a few more things as well. Hopefully, by Homestead I'll .' be a lot strOnger." A three-day crowd totali~g 26.000 people' was on h~nd at laguna Seca Raceway. according to track offic ials. a ate

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