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ad vantage at every tum. Chandler u sually got by cleanly also, but would have
to spe nd the better part of the lap taking
back the lost tim e . It worked until the
very end when DuHamel was jus t too
much, leaving Chandler to hope for better next time.
"You've got to go ou t there an d go
fo r th e w in an d d o th e bes t you ca n .
An d that's what we d id, we just corne
up a little bit s ho rt today," Chandler
said . "I thou ght I could have so me thing
left at the end but it just didn't wo rk ou t
tha t wa y. We go t held up by lappers jus t
abo u t th e tim e I w anted to get going
and it jus t didn't wo rk."
As for w hether his victory wheelie
w as premature, DuHam el said , "I kn ew
I had a second-a nd -a-ha lf-lead abo u t. I
carne around the last lap, obvi ou sly took
a li ttle off. I ju st went arou nd , took it
easy . 1 wa s prett y proud. I always wanted to do that. Every year I go, dam I forgot. But this year I di dn't forget. I d id a
big slide, like the big boys di d, did a big
slid e and came ou t of there on a wheelie . W hen I s lid, wh en I popped th e
wheelie, 1 jus t tu rn ed my head just to
make sure th e re w ere no sur pri s es
because I don't think it would look too
good. And I would have to walk back to
California if I lost the race."
H e sa id h is most st ressful m inute
w as when he and Kipp ca rne up on a
lap ped rider who see med to be havin g
directiona l problems .
"Actu ally, one gu y almos t did a great
job of taking Torn and myself ou t," said
DuHamel. "Torn w en t over the top of
the hill and when we go t to the bottom
of th e hill he though t the track turned
right and it turned left and I was on him
on the outside. I won 't menti on nobody,
but it wa s number 50 (T e xan M a r k
Bla ck, a cco rdin g to Dul-lam e l ),"
DuHamel said. Black finished 16th.
Afte r d ropp ing back behind Mladin
a n d Yat es , Peg ram waited p a ti ently
before makin g a charge. It began on the
21st lap wit h a pass of Mladin, the Austra lia n now seei ng oi l seep ou t of his
en gine, and . continued on th e 27th lap
w h e n h e wen t ahea d of Ya tes, w h o
cou ld n't ge t him back an d thought better of try ing .
"I just said there ain't no way, there
ain 't no use in it," Yates said . "I' m going
th ro ugh th e co rners sliding a nd wobbling and stuff, trying to go fast. If I try
to go fast he gets in my wa y in the turns
and then smokes me down the straightaways. There just w asn' t an y use in it. 1
decided to back off and finish it."
T h a t he wou ld do, but b e h in d
Pegram, w ho pulled away easily.
"I think I had the fastest bike on the
tra ck, everywhe re except go ing up the
hill," Pegram sa id. '1 just couldn't seem
to get a drive. We had a better bike than
w ha t the resul ts show. We should have
done better."
After Yates carne Mladin, who spent
much of his time w atchi ng his engine
leak.
"We had a little bit of a problem that
we never had befor e," Mlad in said. "A
cou ple of covers crack ed and the motor
was leaking oil a ll over everythi ng . It
gets a bit slippery . 1 noticed it as soo n as
1 dropped back. All of a sudd en 1 went
b a ckwards. I ju st had to take it as it
carne, looking down all th e time." H e
. also had to start looki ng back in the final
few laps as Harley' s Wilson mounted a
ch a rge. Wilson cl osed to within le ss
tha n a second of MIad in w h en he su ffered clutch failure at the mos t ino ppo rtune time.
.
"I ha d no clu tch lev er . None. Zero .
Fla p p ing in th e wind ," Wilso n sa id .
"The best place 1 ha d to pass hi m was
inside of tu rn one and 1 took a look at
Traffic played a part In
the National. Aaron'
Yates (20) prepares to
pass Raymond
Bowman.
(Below) The top three
celebrate - Chandler,
DuHamel and Kipp.
said the team was hop ing to test before
the next AMA Su perbike Na tio n a l at
Brainerd on July 14, possibly as early as
the d ay after Lou d on a t New Hampshire Intern ational Speedway.
L'
New Hampshire Internationa l Speed way
LOUdon, New Hampshire
Results: June 16, 1996 (Round 7 of 10)
him once. An d every time I'd go in there
I'd really step it sideways because of all
the engine braking and trying to carry
speed. So 1 thought this is my onl y hope.
If he really gets in he re lame, I'll get him
next time. If not, I'm not going to d o
something stu pid on the last lap to take
both of us out ov er sixth plac e. At one
time 1 was gaining over a seco nd a lap
and 1 started to pick it up as much as 1
could . Once I got ri gh t there to him,
something in the clutch was going bad
and that's why it broke and that's w hy 1
ended up coasti ng across the line."
That he go t to the line at all carne as
somethi ng of a surprise after the exci ting opening laps.
"What really hurt me is th at 1 go t a
reall y d ecent start and 1 almost hi ghsided the bike up the hill. And the next
la p Mike Smith did . When th a t ha p pen ed to me a bu nch of guys go t past
me, 1 passed a few guys back, and th e
next la p Mik e Smi th d id that, " Wilson
sai d . " But 1 had to corn e to a lmost a
com plete stop to avo id Mike. The guys
I'd just passed got past me again and
th en 1 ha d to work m y way back past
the m and 1al mos t d id them again on the
next lap."
Higbee h a d settled into a spot
behind Wilson ea rl y in the ra ce and
never really progressed. His teammate
Gramigni d idn't fare th a t well either,
a fter ma ki ng a bad choice on sus pen sion.
"I can go better. 1 must listen to Eraldo," Gramigni said in heavily accented
English. " I want to try so methi ng and
it's no good. After two, three laps, 1 say
it' s too hard to stay wi th them . The setting on the rear is not good and I can ' t
open the gas. Two times 1 risk crashing.
Also, the trac k is very dangero us and I
used my head to finish."
That he w as not in v o lv ed in th e
cham p io ns hi p also blunt ed h is d rive,
tha t and a loss of morning practic e tim e
afte r a second sm all elec tr ical fire on
Sunday morning.
Gramigni had left Picott e behind on
th e 25th la p as Pico tte continued h is
march backwards.
'We tried a diffe re nt link, a different
rear spring, a hard tire ," Picotte said .
"Every body ha d a soft an d I felt mor e
co mfortable with the hard. It was not
the way to go. 1 had really bad cramps
in both hands. That's never happened
before. They started right away." Picotte
o
Q UALIFYING: 1. Tom Kipp (1:13.473) ; 2. Miguel
DuHame l (1013.788); 3. Larry Pegram (1 :14.234); 4 .
Thomas Wilson (1:14.310); S. Doug Chandler (1:14.460);
6. Mike Smith 0 :14.657); 7. Ma t Mladin 0 :14.873); 8.
C h ris Ca rr 0 :15.0(4); 9. Aa ron Yates 0:15.0(4); 10 .
Pasca ) Picotte 0 :15.144); 11. Mic hael Rutter 0 :15556);
12. Dave Estok (I :1S.605); 13. Shawn Higbee (1:16.129);
14. Alessandro Gramigni 0 :16.656); 15. AJ Salaverria
(1:16.755); 16. Sea n Sweeney (1:16.913); 17. Tri pp Nobles
(1:17.041); 18. Eric Moe (1:17.186); 19. Richa rd Alexa nder
J r. 0 :17 .22 7 ); 20 . Jim Les li e 0 :17.34 1) ; 2 1. Ja me s
Rand olp h (1:17.342); 22. Charles S....,II Jr. (1:17.746); 23.
Road Greaves (l :17.961); 24. Mar k Miller 0 :17.979); 25.
Brett Metzge r 0 :18.404); 26. Frank Wilson 0 :18.823); 27.
Steve Patterson 0 :18.951); 28. Ma rk Black 0 :18.958); 29.
Bria n Ken t (1:19.075) ; 30. Cha r les Mill.". (1:19.091); 31.
Da niel Bailey (1:19.249); 32. Seth Hahn 0 :19.248); 33.
Raymond Bowman (1:19.447); 34. Mark Jun ge 0 :19.734);
35. Da vid Felt (1:19.809); 36. Noel Brown (1:19.859); 37.
Da le Kie ffe r 0 :19.8 84 ); 38. M ichae l Fit z pat ric k
0 :19.892 ); 39 . Steve Coo ke 0 :20.0 63) ; 40 . A nd rew
Dea thera ge 0:20 .132 ); 41. Kyle Zazzi 0 :20.141); 42.
Dean Mizdal (1:20.169); 43. Ku rt Dillm an 0:20.189); 44.
Jeff Heino (l :20.469).
SU PE R BIK E NA T IONAL: 1. Mi gu el Du Ha mel
(Han); 2. Doug Cha ndl er (Ka w ); 3. Tom Ki pp (Yam); 4.
Larry Pegr am (Due): 5. Aaro n Ya tes (Suz) ; 6. Mat
Ml ad in (Suz); 7. Thoma s Wilson (H- D); 8. Sha w n
Higbee (Due); 9. Alessandro Gra m igni (Due); 10. Pascal
Picotte (Suz ); 11. James Ra nd ol p h (Su z); 12. Richard
Alexa nde r Jr. (Suz); 13. Sean Sweeney (Due) ; 14. Mark
Mill.". (So2) ; IS. Eric Moe (!