Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127788
,R SuperbikeRACEChampionship , R d6: R dA . OAD National AMA OU" oa menea Du H a m e l, w ith th e Smokin' Joe's Hond a rid er turnin g a bad tire choice into a fifth-p lace fin ish . At day' s end, Chandler led DuHamel, 181-164, with fo u r ra ces rem aining in the lO-race seri es. Yo shimu r a Su zu ki ' s Pascal Picotte he ld o n to th ird in th e se ries stan di ngs with 158 points, d esp ite an off day tha t resul ted in a ninth-place finish. "The fat lady d idn 't sing, but she' s warming up ," Du Hame l said after a disappointing day in which his fifth place was actua lly some what heroic cons idering his tire choice. The French Canad ian had op ted to fit a Dunlop rain tire on the front of his Honda RC45 and 'an intermed iat e on the rea r, in th e hop es that th e tr ack wou ld dry ou t. It d idn't. In fact, th e rai n inc re ased well be fore it showe d any signs of decreasing. With Kipp holdin g on to finish third, fourth went to the loneliest man on the race track, Ma t Mlad in. The Yoshimura Suzuki rid er d id a rem arkable job consi deri ng he wen t w ith the same ti re choice as DuHamel, but the Australian's race was a desolate one as he circu lated ' by himself through ou t. If DuHam el and Picott e made poor tire choices, Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yat es' d ecision was even worse . The young Georgian chose to mount intermediates front and rear on his Suzu ki, but he still fare d rem a rkab ly well . In fac t, he e nded u p with a ca ree r best sixth place. Behind h im came Fast By Ferracci Du ca t i' s Larry Pegram, t he pol e-sitter not able to follow up on his qualifying performanc e when the rain came - eve n though his Ducati was fitted with the sa me Michelin rain tir es tha t Gramigni used to such perfection. Eighth pla ce went to Tilley's HarleyDavidson's Tripp Nobles, the Georgian having his best ride of the season to earn top privateer ho nors on the da y. Then cam e two more factory bikes, Picotte's Yoshimura Suzuki and the third Ferracci Ducati rid d e n b y Shawn H igbee round ing out the top 10. With rain now apparen tly followin g the AMA series, Sun day dawned cloudy and cold . Although the morning's 600cc Supersport final wa s held in the dry, the weather turn ed fo r th e wo rse as the By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams R ICHAR LAKE, WI,JUNE9 T ~ ~ ~ ~ \0 0\ 0\ ,...... 0\ ,...... ~ ::s ......, _ 6 ro fes so r Al ess a nd ro Gram ign i gave the AMA Superbike conti ngent a 41-minu te lesson in the fine art of wet-weather road raci ng tod ay, the Italian splash ing his wa y to a wellcalculated win at Road America under a constant if no t heavy rain. While Gramigni definitely wasn't the fastest of the su perbike men du ring dry qualifying, there was littl e doubt as to wh o had the conditions mastered once things deteriorated on a cold and rainy Su nday afte rnoon in Wisc on sin . Gramigni and his Michelin-sho d Fast By Ferracci Ducati wer e simply the class of the field in the wet, desp ite the fact that he'd only managed to qu alify 13th when the track was dry. The Italian didn' t get the best of starts, but he quickly moved to fifth place by the time the field sorted itself ou t o n th e run down the backstraight towa rd s turn five. Gramigni P was thi rd after two lap s, second aft er three lap s, and was lead ing by the time the pack had put four lap s in the books. After tha t, he was never head ed , despite the best efforts of those behind him., The m an wh o ca m e th e closest to Gramign i was actually Vance & H ines Yam a ha's To m Kipp, a lt hough he wasn 't th e ne ar est a t th e fin ish. Kipp had mo ved to within tw o seconds of Gramigni near half di stance before he started losing ground just as rap idly, his re ar Dunlo p rain tire starting to lose grip. Eventuall y Kipp came under fire from Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chand ler and , on the 13th of 16 lap s, the Californian moved aro und Kipp and into second place. By this time, however, Gramigni was long gone, slowi ng only on the fina l lap to beat Cha ndler by 3.369 seconds. Chandler may not have won the race, bu t he still had plenty to smile about namely an increase in his championship points lead. The 1990 AMA Superbike National <:;:l;1ampion gained six points on h is cha mpionshi p riva l Miguel In only hi s second AMA Superblke race, Fast by Ferraccl Ducatl 's Alessa nd ro Gram lgn l rode to a mast erf ul win at a . so aking-wet Road America.