Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- --- -- comer from tum five. By the time they got to five, they we re bun ched together again and Stevens' attemp t to get away had failed. With the top four now clear of the gro up beh ind, it was Harrington who was hell-bent on catching up . The 4&6 Cycl es rider was fifth after three lap s; the sa me lap that sa w hi s team mate Owen We ich el crash ou t of h is eigh th- place position. By the com pletion of fou r laps, Harrin gt on wa s n ot o n ly w it h th e lead grou p, but he was a factor . .On the fifth ' lap he moved arou nd both Melville and Stevens to take ove r the lead . It was at this point that DuHamel realized he had a problem with his Dunlop tires. 1,) ~' I don't know what happened, " DuHamel said late r. " I ran high 20s (2:20 lap times) in the morning session with the same tires . But in the race they didn't work the same. The tire got shaggy, kind of fuzzy on the sides, and there was no grip. After the morning practice the tire looked brand-new. I was just taking it easy and having some fun with the gu ys, but four laps into it and the tire was gone. I tried everything, but I couldn't carry any comer speed. It was a bad , bad situation." It quickly became clear that the win would go to either Harrington, Stevens or MelviJIe as th ose th ree pulled aw ay, leaving DuHamel to battle with Bostrom and Toland, with an other gap to Rothman and Stroud. -t -It all came down to the fina l lap and Harrington' s wa s a good one. Stevens, mean while, thought he was balked a bit by MelviJIe. " I cou ldn't h ave ri d de n th at thing any hard er, " Stevens sa id . " H arrington' s bike was so strong. I was able to outride him, but I couldn' t d raft by h im. I tried to break away, but they came ou t of nowhere. I laid back and hoped he'd (Harring ton) pull me along to get away from MelviJIe. But here comes Melville, throwing it in there and messing it up. I just had to get as many points as I could arid second place is no good." • ' Melville had a feeling this would be a good day. • ( "I had a feeling I'd be on the pod ium this weekend," the 26-yea r-old said. "I just haven' t been able to get up to speed. The b ike was fast and I kn ew I could ride it. I rode as good as I could ride and tha t's how it turned out. I'm real happy abo u t it. I wasn't really comf ortable in qualifying and I was praying for good con d it ions today. The bike is fast and that's definitely a factor with this race track. It was almost as fast as Miguel's." rt Harrington's plan was simpl e: "I had no- plan," he said. "I ju st had to ride balls-out from the start. I had to have "a perfect first lap to get with those guys. I wasn't going to wait around. I just had to get out there rea l fast . The bike was aw esome and I wasn't riding over my head. On the last lap I didn't want to look behind me. I just took an inside line in the last two comers so they couldn't get by me. I think I got a gap on them by passing a Iapper in the Carousel. This is as big a win as I can get here - a National win." 0 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Resu lts: June 9, 1996 (Round 6 of 11) 600 cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: I. Tod d Harrington (Kaw): 2. Thomas Stevens (Kaw); 3. Ken Melvi lle (Ho n); 4,lMigue l DuHamel (Ho n); 5. Dou g Tola n d (Ho n); 6. Ben "Bostrom (Ho n ); 7. Gera ld Rothman Jr. (Ho n); 8. Christo pher Rank in (Ka w) ; 9. Andrew Stroud (Ho n ); 10. Matt Wai t (H an ); 11. Sha wn Con rad (Kaw) ; 12. Brian Pa rr io tt (H on) ; 13. Steve John son (H on); 14. Harold Winkles (Hon ); 15. Marcus Hubbard (Hon); 16. Derek Stru ye (Kaw); 17. Denni s Debuhr (Hon ); 18. John Stas ka (Ho n); 19. Jam ie Long (Ho n ): 20. Mich ael Con lon Jr. (Han); 21. Jeffrey Purk (Han); 22. Tod d Smith (Ha n ); 23. James Jessen (Ho n); 24. Jami e Wort hin gton (Hon); 25. Tod d Evans (H an); 26. Da niel Brody (Ka w ): 27. Rod Borsh e (Han); 28. Ru s s In tra va r to lo (Han); 29. Da n ~ i sch e r (Ho n) ; 30. Owe n Wei ch el (Kaw ); 31. Jamie "'.------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - --"" "] z w Q > ur Z z 52 ~ ~ :I: 0. w -' u: Bowman (Hon); 32. Gordon Lunde Jr. (Kaw ). Time: 23 min .• 45.405 sec. Distance: 10 lap s. 40 miles . Average Speed: 101.024 mph. Margin of Victory: 1.308 sec. 600cc SUPERSPORT C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Afte r 6 of 11 rounds): 1. Miguel Du H a m el (192 / 3 wins); 2. Thom as Stevens (174); 3. Doug Toland (151); 4. Ben Bos trom (145); 5. Gerald Rothm an Jr. (144); 6. Andrew Stroud (133/ 1); 7. Todd Harrington (126/ 1); 8. Matt Wait (120); 9. (TIE) Ken Mel ville /Chris Rank in (110); 11. Brian Parriott (92). • Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 16 Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 14 AMA Teamline 750cc Supersport Series Round 6: Road America Picotte strikes back By Paul Carruthers ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 8 ith the outcome in doubt for , the entire distance; Yoshimura • " .. ' Suzuki's pairing of 'P asca l Picotte and Aaron Yates put on a show in the 750cc Supersport final - and the Dominant Duo were joined throughout by EBSCOSuzuki's Mark McDaniel. In the end it wa s Picotte taking his third win of the season, with Yates and McDaniel following after a wild last l a p w hi ch all thr ee had troub le exp laining. "I caught a false neutral running d own into five and ran wide," McDaniel said . "He (Yates) outbroke me and I got caught up on my d ownshifts; all of a sud den it was freewheeling. When I saw tho se g uys g o in g under the bridge, Picotte was leading. When they came out, Yates was lead ing." Picotte made his move just after the Carousel, in a crash ·zone that featured tw o parked vehicles - an ambulance and a pickup truck. '1 was a little bit faster than him on the exit there," Picotte said. "So I knew I just .had to carry a bit more speed on the exit of the Carousel. His (Yates) rear tire was pretty greasy. I saw him running wid e and wider a couple of times. I really thought they were going to red flag it," Picotte said. "I'm glad they didn't, but they should' ve. There was an ambu- . lance and a Toyota pickup truck right there. The first lap he (the driver of the tru ck) was on the grass; the second lap he put the fr ont wheels on the pavement. I don't know why he di d that." Shortly thereafter, P icotte crossed the line with Yates in tow. McDaniel's last lap false neutral left him in third, just off the pace of the top two but well clear of. fourth-placed Doug Chandler on th e Muzzy Kawasaki. Mark Miller managed to get hi s Team Su zuki.Sport GSXR acr oss the line in fifth , just in front of EBSCO's Michael Barnes. After starting on the fifth row, 4&6 Cycle's Todd Harrington worked his way through the field on a wet track to land his first National vlc10ry ever. Picotte's win stopped Yates' two-race win streak a n d swung the ch ampi on ship pendulum back to the French Canadian. Picotte leads Yates by six points, 204-198, after getting the 35 points for victory and the single point for leading the mo st laps. McDaniel's effort, meanwhile, pushed him into a tie with his teammate Barnes for third in th e poin t standings with 163 points . apiece. . The fast-starting McDaniel led the ' pack across the stripe at the end of the first lap , and he had a slight gap over Picotte and Yates. On the se cond lap, however, things were back to normal at the front with Yates leading Picotte and McDaniel dropping to third . At the halfway mark, McDaniel appeared to ha ve lost touch. But not so. A lap later and the Californian was back on the lead duo and he would stay there to the finish. "I figured they'd break away becau se they usually do, " McDaniel admitted. "Once we all settled in, I jU concentrat,st ed on being smooth. I figu re maybe they wer e slowing each other a little'bit and I was just being smooth. I reaIly concentrated on Saving my tire." It all came down to the aforemen- 11

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