Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.ROAD'RACE .:.: ..... :AMA S uperbikeNational Ch~mpionship Series Matt Wail (95) held off a dete rmined Eric Bostrom (2) to win the Harley-Davidson TwinSports final. 12 away to hi s third th ir d -p lace finish of the season. Randolp h ha d led the ea rly stages of the race af ter getting a torrid s tart, then slowed w hen hi s re ar tire started spinriing. That left him to fen d off the constant advances of H udson Valley Me's Richard Alexander, a Suzuki-mo unted local rid er who chased Rand olp h right to the flag. Yates, who won the 24-lap , 62.4-mile race in 31 minutes, 0.627 second, average d 74.298 mph a nd b eat Picotte by 4.436 seconds . The win moved him a littl e closer to Pi cotte in th e Teamlin e 750cc Supersport Ch ampionship point s tandings, 234 to .Pi cot te' s 236 , after seve n of 10 round s. The clas s, which has been Suzu ki's d omain all season, became even more so th is week wh en Mu z zy Kawasaki ' s Doug Chandler pulled ou t of the champ ionship and Kinko's Kawa saki' s Thomas Stevens skipped the race du e til a lingering s h o u ld er in ju ry (s ee Briefly...). The 30-rid er field took to the 1.6-mile New Ham pshire In ternational Speedway on a clo udy and ra pi dly cooling afternoon, a hint of threatening rain that wo uld begin lat e in the race. Tea m Su zuki Sport's Randolph go t the jum p on the fiel d, a jump so good that he was convi nced he was going to get the meatb all flag and a stop-and-go pena lty . _ "I wheelied, set it down, there were th ree gu ys in front of and I go t two of them into turn one. I kind of ban ged into the guy in first in the first rig ht-hand er. I pushed wi de and slammed into him and was into the lead," Randolph said . Behind him the string read Pico tte, Alexander, Bre tt Metzger, and Yates , then M cDa niel an d h is EBSCO teammate Michael Barnes. The nex t lap a nd Ra n d ol p h was pulling away and Yates was moving forward, passing Metzger ou t of turn four with McDani e l drop ping M etz ger a nother spot in th e next corner. Randolph, once he realized he wasn 't going to get the meatball penalty, kep t the heat on and surprised himself. "I looked back and there was half a s tr ai g h ta w ay," Ra n dolph s ai d . " I couldn' t b eli ev e it . I was d oing 16s . Th en I lost concentration and tried to se ttl e in a goo d pace, doing 17s. The guys reeled me in." That wouldn't happen until the ninth Round 7: New Hampshire International Speedway lap, Picotte getting by Randolph goi ng over the hill between turns five and six, Yates up the ins ide in turn 12 with such precision that Rand olph was force d to back ou t of th e throttle. By now th er e was a very light drizzle beginning and Randolph thought there might be a red flag an d he'd be ab le to co me in a nd change tir es. That never happened . Ins tea d , Pico tte and Yates took off leaving Randolph in front of Alexan der, and McDaniel, the n a gap to Barnes and Penguin Racing School's Eric Wood. Just a fter taking th e halfway fla gs, Yates went u nd er Picotte enteri ng turn one, never to be headed. "I just wanted to hang back and save the tires . It's a pretty long race. I relaxed in the first half of the race to save m yself for the end," Yates said . Two laps after taking the lead he had better tha n two seconds on Picotte, a gap that rem a ined constant u ntil the final two laps whe n he added a second per lap. "W hen he (Ya tes) finally go t by he pulled a two- or three-second ga p right away," said Picotte, who w as held up by tra ffi c. "I th ou gh t I mi g ht b e able to keep up but I go t stuck behind slower riders three or fou r tim es. I played it sma rt becau se second is be tter than nothing and I' m still lead ing the champion ship sta nd ings. " As Yates left Pico tte, so Picotte left McD anieL The EBSCO rider and Randolph swapped spo ts two or three times on th e 14th lap, McDaniel getti ng in fro n t p ermanently in tu rn one on th e ' 15th tour. H e quickl y made h imself scarce, settling in for the run to the flag. "Watching th ese guys pull away at th e beginnin g wasn ' t fu n, " McDani el said afte r finis hing about thr ee second s behind Picotte. "I was kind of concerned abo ut tha t. When they bu nched up I was able to catch back up. This is a long race which takes its toll and I figu red ther e would b e some fa d ing at th e end . It worked in my favo r against James Randolp h. I was able to take third from hi m. I closed a b it on Pascal (Picott e), bu t near the end I saw I had a cushi on on the rid er following me, so I jus t pla yed it smart." After droppin g to fourth Randolph saw the p lu s- zero on his pit board as Richard Alexa nd er Jr. stuck right to him.' Alexander of Carmel, New York, never go t a wheel by, though Randolph knew he was there. "I just can ' t let up," Ran dolph said he told himself. "I can' t let a local guy bea t me . He got right there and I could feel him. I had good lappers here . I had it to wher e I cou ld close the d oor on him." , Randolph finishe d aro u n d 5.5 seconds behind McDani el, with Alexand er just behind, th en only a little over a second to Michael Barn es. Wo od end ed up seven th, then th e Hooters Restau rants' Kawasaki of Jim Lesli e, [icari lla Apache Tribe's Rad Gr eaves, and Brett Metzger. 0New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon , New Hampshire Res ults: June 15 , 1996 (Round 7 of 10) T EA MLINE 750cc SUPERSPORT: 1. Aaron Yates (Suz ); 2. Pascal Picotte (Suz) : 3. Mark McDani el (Suz); 4. Jam es Ra ndo lp h (Suz): 5. Richard Alexa nder Jr (Suz) ; 6. Mike Barne s (Suz): 7. Eric Wood (Ka w) : 8. Jim Leslie (Suz ): 9. Rad Greaves (Suz) : 10. Brett Metzger (Su z); I I. Mar k Black ISuz): 12. Frank Wilson (Su z); 13. Brian Par riott (Ho nk 14. Steve Pa tters on (Suz); 15. Cha rles Miller ISu z): 16. Jef frey Cu r tis (Ka w ): 17. Seth Hahn (Suz); 18. Ray mo nd Bowma n (Yam); 19. Keith Mar quez (Suz): 20. Eric Gul bransen (Su z): 21. Steve Arsena ul t (Suz): 22. Michael N eme th (Kaw): 23. Gary Ricci (Suz): 24. Ma rk Ju n ge (Su z): 25. Noel Bro wn (Su z): 26 . Ken Melville (Han ); 27. Glenn Filsh ie (Suz) ; 28. Dale Kieffer (Suz ); 29. Mark Miller (Su z): 30 . Christ op her H olske (Hen ). Ti m e: 31 min ut es, 0.627 seconds. Di stance: 24 laps, 62.4 mil es . Av erage spee d: 74.298 mph. M argin o f vi cto ry: 4.436 second s . T EAMLINE 750« SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP POlNT ST ANDINGS (After 7 of 10 rou nds): 1. Pascal Picotte (236 / 3 wi ns); 2. Aaron Yates (234 / 4); 3. Mark McDa nie l (93); 4 . Mike Barne s (88); 5 . Mark Mill er (] 61); 6. Jim Leslie (]47); 7. Jam es Ra n dolp h (29); 8. Ma rk Black (12 8 ); 9 . Da le Kieffer ( 11); 10 . Dou g C ha nd ler (10 7); 11. S te ve Patte rson (99) ; 12. Ja son Prid mo re (94); 13. Frank Wilson (91); 14. Da x Sno w (88); 15. Richard Alexa nd er Jr. (83); 16. Th omas Ste vens (79); 17. Ma rk Jun ge (73); 18. Owen Weichel (65); 19. Daniel Bailey (64); 20. Rad Greaves (56). Upcoming Rounds: . , Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, Ju ly 14 Rounds 9 - Sonoma, California, August 25 AMA P rogressive Insura Harley-Davidson nce S uperTwins series Round 7 New Hampshire In rnat'lSpeedway : te Wait rebounds . By Hen ny Ray Abrams Photo by George Roberts LOUDON, NH, JUNE 16 his week it was Matt Wait' s turn to get a break. Last w ee k t h e Mi tchell ' s Modesto ' s H- D rider was knocked d o wn o n the front s traig h taway at Elkhart Lake while near the front of the pack on the first lap, and was lucky to have escaped wi th nothing more than a bruised wrist. This week, he d id the riding and let fate take care of th e rest of the field , which it did . Rid ing wit h a severely bruised and possibl y strained right wrist, Wait won h is fir st si nce Pomona back in April, though it didn't come easy, even after a T number of challen gers fell by the wayside. Ha l's H-D's Brian Gibbs fell on the th ird lap w hile running in th ird . Two la p s la ter, champions hi p lead er Ben Bostro m was sidelined wi th an electri cal problem on his Bartel's H-D. And Bartel' s H a r ley-Davidson's Da v e Est ok, who was involved wit h Wait in the first lap crash at Elkhart Lake, w as almos t ou t before it began, force d to back off after bre akin g h is left coll arb on e in Su perbike qualifying . Th e team' s plan was to run just a lap or two to get some points, but he felt com pe titive enough to keep riding, only to run ou t of gas and be forced to pit for refueli ng. In the end he finis hed 14th in the 22-rid er field and got more poin ts than he tho ught. Wha t the race came down to ear ly on was a two-rid er due l between Wait and Eric Bostro m, Ben's Bartel' s H-D-sponsored yo unger bro the r . The pair left d e fend in g Na tio nal Cham pion Scott Zampa ch (Su b u r ban Mo to rs H -D) behind at the halfway mar k and foug ht tooth and nail to the conclus ion. Bostro m w as able to tak e the lead for the 11th and 12th laps, but Wai t made su re that w ould be it . Though he wa s dogged to the flag, Wait made judicious use of a slower rider and held on for his t hird w in of th e yea r a n d , w ith it, moved into th e Progressive Ins u rance Harley-D a v id son Su perTwins se ries points lead. "I was hot out there, but, all in all, it was a gre at ra ce," Wa it sai d . "I was pu shing it hard beca use [ need the win. Winn ing was in m y mind all the time. Get th e w in, rid e h ard , don' t d o anythi ng stu pid and stay on two wheels ." "Me and Matt w ere going at it a little bit. I thought I had some speed on him and then I got cau ght up behind a lapper coming off the hill and that kind of ended my chances," Eric Bostr om said. The always forthright Za mpach finished back in third ; then said: "What can I say? I go t my butt kicked ." Fourth, some di stance behind Zam pach, was Widman H-D's Lanc e Jones, th e for mer d irt track er a comfor table margin in fro nt of th e Miller Electrical C on struc tion-Hou ston 88 3 of Mark Black. J Black had been swapping spo ts with Moroney H-D' s Christo pher Bliss and Bartel's H-D's Hi karu Miyagi for most of the distance before ge tting ahea d on the 14th lap and losin g them on the final lap. Bliss end ed tip sixt h, Miyagi sev en th, then Daigoro Suzuki , Meredith HD's Cha d Healy, and Woodstock Cycle Barns' Mark Reyn old s. Wait completed the 16-lap, 25.6-mile race wi th a new race record tim e of 22 minutes" 4.895 se co nds. He ave raged 69.560 mph and w on th e race by 1.267 seconds. . By garnerin g maximum points, he moved ahea d of Bostrom in the champions hip by tw o points, 214-212 with thr ee races remaining . Nate Wait , 17th tod ay, is third at 174. It was a pret ty sim ple race from the start. Wait and Eric Bostro m jumped to the fro nt with Gibbs, who w ould only last a few lap s and balk Zampach when he cras hed, then Ben Bostro m moved up before he, too, exited early. Zampach w as th e next to mo u nt a challenge, bu t it was over almost before it sta rted. "I was in fourth behi nd Brian Gibbs comi ng d own the hill in to turn six and he cra shed right in fro nt of me. When th at happens, you ge t spooked and it hur ts your r hythm ," Zampach exp lained. "It's a dangerous place to fall. The front two jumped away by a second or two . On the next lap I saw the ambu> lance in that spot and that spooked me

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