Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Rothman, a slow er guy waved him by coming out of Nascar two. He looked back and saw me and I nodded to him like, all right , and wen t over the hill and he blocked me , and I lost quite a bit there. My fate was sealed." Stroud had a cushion on Weichel and Wait broke aw ay from Harring ton and Parriott on th e fin al tw o lap s. Parriott ca me out on top o f Harrin gt on a fte r dra fting by him at the flag. l~ (Left) Rich Olive r won for th e seventh ti me in seven sta rts in the 250cc Grand Prix class at New Hampshi re Internat ional Speedway. • (Below) Aaron Yates won fo r the fourt h t ime in 1997, but st ili trails teammate Pascal Picotte in the 750cc Supersport Series. New Hamp sh ire Intern ational Speedway Loudo n, New Hamps hire Results: June t6, 1996 (Round·7 of 11) 600cc SUPERSPO RT: 1. Miguel Du Hamel (Ho n); 2. Th omas Stevens (Kaw) : 3. Mi ke Smi t h (Ka w): 4. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Ho n); 5. Dou g Toland (Hon); 6. And rew Stro ud (Ho n); 7. Owen Weichel (Kaw): 8. Matt Wa it (H o n ): 9 . Bria n Parri o tt (Hon ): 10. To dd Harrin gton (Kaw); 11. Be n Bostr om (Hen) : 12. Des Co n boy (H e n): 13. Ha rold Winkles (H on ): 14. Sco tt G ree n w oo d (Ka w): 15. Ji m Les te r (H o n): 16. Bob La pus nak (Ka w ): 17. C h ris to phe r Bli ss (H o n ): 18. Mich ael Conlon Jr . (He n): 19. Rick Maron (Ka w ): 20. Dat e Dandrea (He n): 21. Christop her Holske (Ho n); 22. Cisa d Logiza (H e n) : 23 . Jeffrey C u r ti s (Ka w): 24 . Haro ld H illa rd (Ya m) ; 25 . Er ic Wo od (Ka w) : 26. Cha rles Chouinard (Kaw ): 27. Mike Calde ro n (Ho n): . 28. Dani el R ios (Hon) : 29. Ken Melville (Hen ). Time: 31 min ., 15.763 sec. Distance: 38.4 miles. Average Spe ed: 73.697 mph. Marg in of Victory: 3.1 seconds . " 600« SUPERSPO RT C'SHI P POINT STANDINGS (Af ter 7 o f 11 ro un d s); 1. Migu el DuHamel (228 /4 wins); 2. Thoma s Stevens (206)i 3. Doug Tolan d 4. Gera ld Rothman Jr. (172) ; 5. Ben Bostr om (1 65 )i 6. And re w Stroud (158/1 win); 7. Tod d Ha rrington (148/1 win)i 8. Matt Wait (43); 9. Mike Smith 0 28/1 win ); 10. Brian Parriott (14)i 11. Ken Melvill e (1 12)i 12. Stev e Crev ier (111); 13. Christopher Rankin (110); 14. Harold Winkles (84); 15. Owen Weichel (75 ). om: Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July t 4 Rounds 9 - Monterey, California, July 21 AMA250cc Grand Prix Series R ound7: New Hampshire Internal'l Speedway Oliver rolls on By Henn y Ray Abrams Ph ot o by George Roberts LOUDON, NH, JUNE 16 f co u rse Ri ch O li ver won th e 250cc Grand Pr ix race a t N ew Hampshire Int ernati onal Speedway . Was there ever a question? r- N ot from th e fir st corne r on , si nce once Oliver took th e lead his success , ba r ring misfortune, wa s a giv en, as it has been at every race this yea r. "My stra tegy was to get se ven secon ds in hand b y halfwa y a nd that' s what 1 did," said Oliver , wh o actually had close to 13 seco nds aft er 12 of 24 laps. Since he·was ab le to lap nea rly a second faster than anyo ne else, he was ab le to build up close to a 20-second lead befo re slo wing at th e fin ish to record his seventh race win out of seven this year . The perfect record, along with lead ing the most laps, gives him a total of 252 points, 54 better than Randy Renfro w, the Honda-mounted vetera n who bested Performance Machines' Krist ian Kaas aft er pulling ou t some br eathin g roo m in the second half of the race. Kaas is third with 197 points, one fewer than Renfrow. The race was sh ortened by six lap s this year, from 30 to 24, so Oliver's winning race time of 30 minutes, 33.765 seco n ds becom es a new rec ord . Oli ver averaged 75 :386 mph in winning the 38.4-m ile race by 18.976 seconds over Renfrow. Kaas was, unofficially, another 2.4 seconds back and had lost the pursuing Mark Foster of Deu tsch e Financial Services in the last few laps. Mike Sullivan was a mostly lonely fifth, the Dick Wall /Chow Down Catering /Simpson Co ns truction rid ing his Brian Sw arttuned 1993 Yamaha TZ250 to fifth. O For a br ief instan t Ran d y Renfrow Motorsports' Ran dy Renfrow was in the lead after ge tti ng th e jump on the 31ri der fie ld . Th at lasted roughly un til turn one w hen O liver wen t past and began to check out. His cushion after five laps was about 6.3 seconds and it grew and grew and grew . There would be traffic to contend with. Ot her tha n that , it was a day at the beach for the 34year-o ld Fresno, California, reside nt. "Ear ly on I ran off a 1:14.8, which was my best lap ," Oliver said after winni ng his record 29th race. "From th a t poi nt on I di dn't seem to put togeth er much of a real concise lap because I ran into traffic. Whe n I enco untered these long lines of traffic I just waited to get by. I wanted to lap people real clean. 1 didn't wa nt to mess up anybody ' s race." Except for every one wh o finish ed behind him . The near est would be Renfrow, with "nea r" being a relat ive term. The Virginia veteran settled into second behind Oliver for the first sev en laps. He and Foster swapped second back and forth on th e eig hth lap , wi th Foster comin g out on top and hold ing it until the 11th when Renfr ow we nt bac k und er him . Renfrow held the spot to the end , taking out a second at th e halfway ma rk and stretching it somewhat as the rid er chasing him chang ed . Up un til the 13th lap it was Foster, then Kristian Kaas went by and Fost er stuck with him. Even wo rking as a pair, they could n' t catch up to Renfrow, wh o had bett er than a thr eesecond edge with five laps to go. "I think tod ay' s finish was the produ ct o f r eal d et ermin a tio n," Ren frow said. "I wanted to d o well here. Loud on is a special place even though some people may not like the track. It's like Dayton a. It' s ver y impor tant for me to do well here. I do t~nd to get up for th is race more than most." As soon as he saw Renfrow dr awi ng clear, Kaas knew that third would be his on the day. "Ra ndy (Renfro w) go t away and I didn 't ha ve a ch an ce to ca tc h h im agai n," Kaas said. "This track gives you a workout. It's short, but it' s all about turns all the time." Foster was we ll in front of Sulliva n, who worked a ll wee kend to find th e prop er jetting for the race. "I' ll take it," Sullivan said. "We started the weekend not too hot. Then 1 got up to s p eed and th e bike got up to speed. I was closing in on Mark (Foster) a couple of times and got caught up in traffic. I'm hap py with fifth and it pa ys well." Sixth was Roland Sands, the Perf orma nce Machines Californian spending a lot of time lookin g back on the straightaway with no one much in sight. The closest was Crest Racing' s Cliff Tolley who broke free from a three-way fight that included Perry Melneciuc and Chri s Rogers wi th abou t four laps to go to finish seven th in wha t was a mostly singlefile race. (~ New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Resul ts: June 16, 1996 (Round 7 of 10) 250cc G RAN D PRIX : 1. Ric h O liv e r (Ya m}; 2. Randy Renfrow (Honf 3. Kristian Kaas (Yam ); 4. Mark Foster (Yam); 5. Mike Sullivan (Yam); 6. Roland Sand s (Yam) ; 7. Cliff Tolley (Ya m); 8. Perry Melneciuc (He n): 9. Chris Rogers (Yam); 10. Bill H imme lsbach (Yam); 11.. Derek King (Yam); 12. Jason Roth (Yam); 13. Bruce Lind (Yam); 14. John Fran ce (He n): 15. Fred d y Maruca (Yam ); 16. Ma rk Orcha rd (Yam); 17. Thomas Dina rdo (Yarn): 18. Jim Bonner (Yarn): 19. Timothy O'Con nor (Yam); 20. Murphy Anderson (Yam); 21. Gary Berbaum (Yam); 22. Jeff Ort lip (Yam); 23. Michael Za jac (Yam); 24. Dan iel Rios (Ya m) ; 25 . Cha rles Mac Kay (Yam ); 26. C h r is Reynolds (Yam) ; 27. Bobby Keith (Yam) ; 28. Joe Skrocki (Yam) ; 29. Leon Hor (Yam ); 30. John Burgoyn e (Hen ): 31. David Pare (He n). Time: 30 min., 33.765 sec. Distance: 38.4 miles. Average Speed; 75.386 mph . Marg in of Victory : 18.976 seconds. 250 « GRAND PRIX NATIONAL C'S H IP POINT STA ND IN GS (After 7 of 10 rou nds): 1. Rich Oliv er ('152/ 7 wi ns); 2. Randy Renf row (198); 3. Kristian Kaas (197)i 4. Mark Foster (176)i 5. Perry Meln eciuc (153)i 6. Cliff Tolley (151); 7. Bobby Keith (147); 8. John Fran ce (126); 9. Jason Roth (114); 10. Roland Sand, (113); II . C h ris Rog ers (9 1); 12. Dere k Ki ng (85) ; 13. Ma r k Orchard (83); 14. Mike Su llivan (82); 15. Jaso n Pad en (76). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 14 Rounds 9 - Sonoma, California, August 25 AMA T amline7 S e 50cc upersportSeries Round 7 N H : ew ampshireInterna S n peedway G Yates reat By Henny Ray Ab rams Phot o by George Roberts LOUDON, NH,JUNE 15 oming into the seventh round of the Tea m line 750cc Su perspor t series, the Yoshimura Suzuki had so dominated th e se r ies that each of their two rid ers, Aaron Yates and Pascal Picotte, had won thr ee races. This week it was Yates' tu rn to break the tie, the Georgian patiently wa iting until the 13th lap to make his move to the front, then speeding away to his fourth win of the year as Picott e chased him at a dis tance after quickl y losing touch. "The race was pretty smooth," Yates sa id after punctuating his w in with a lurid siide-and-wheelie co mbo out of the fina l turn. "A couple of riders go t by me off the start. I chose to follow them arou nd to see how fast they they wou ld go. I just wan ted to hang back and save the tires." Third place wen t to EBSCO Industries Mark McDaniel, the Suzuki ride r moving pas t Team Suzuki Sport's James Randolph on the 15th lap and easing C 11

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