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too . I had lost the front runners, but I
was safe in third. Matt and Eric were riding so hard and so flawl essly that I knew
I couldn't do an ything to mak e up the
grou nd I had lost and not run o ff the
trac k from trying too hard."
Th a t left it to the lead ers to decide
who w ould w in, an d Bostrom had an
ea rly idea who it might be. Bo st rom
fo u n d one good line, "then Ma tt go t
wise to it, th ou gh . I was tr ying to get
better drives going up the hilI. I d on' t
know, he may have had better gea ring.
He seemed to b e g etti ng down the
stra igh taways better tha n us. He migh t
have just outsnookered us . I r ea ll y
w an ted it bad. I've never won one of
these and I thou ght today would be my
chance."
No t so fast.
"Basica lly, the win came down to a
ma tter of timin g," Bostro m said. "Who
blocked the rig ht lines and held the ot hers off." It wo u ld eventually come d own
to the final few turns of th e 14th lap ,
Wai t getting by cleanly throu gh turns 10
to 12, Bostr om and his sore wrist getting
held u p.
"Unfo rtunately for me, Matt go t by a
lapper and m ade a good p a ss and I
coul d n' t get by as qu ick. He go t so me
distance on me . I wanted to wi n my first
roa d'race," Bostrom said .
"Basically my key tod ay was to get a
good s ta rt, ge t ou t front," Wait said .
"This tr ack is the tou ghest one on the
circu it and if you' re not ou t in front, it
ca n be pretty hectic in the back of the
p a ck . And then Eric ca ug ht up to me
an d w e ha d a good scu ffle there for a
w hile. I really wa nted to race really ha rd
to day to wi n for my d ad, because it's
Fa the r's Day and I want to wis h him a
happy Father' s Day."
Behind the lead tri o came Jones, the
St. Louis resident movin g int o the spo t
w he n Ben Bostrom went ou t on the fifth
la p a nd stretch ing his ad vantage over
sixt h.
That position wa s held by a number
of different rid ers, including Estok wh o
wa s riding hu rt, but gaining points .
"When I got up ahead of (teammate
Hi ka ru) Mi y a gi I w a s hurti n g like
crazy," Estok sa id . "I got int o a decent
rhy thm and I wa s happy where I was at.
I w as fifth on I don't kn ow what lap
wh en it started to run ou t of gas. I made
it in, but I was pretty upse t. I could feel
that th e collar bone was bro ke because
t he bon e was clicki ng every time I
wo u ld go left to right and back righ t to
left."
Then Estok went out on ihe 12th lap
to gas up, leaving fifth to a four-rider
train headed by Miyagi and including
Black, Bliss, and Suzuki.
Black and Blis s e a ch moved up a
spot, Miyagi dropped tw o, and Suzuki
held fast at eightft .
I~
New Hampshire International Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Results: June 16, 1996 (Round 7 of 11)
H-D SUPERlWINS: 1. M.ltt Wait; 2. Eric Bostro m,
3 . Scott Zampa ch ; 4. Lance Jo nes; 5. Ma rk Black ; 6.
Ch ris top her Bliss; 7. Hikaru Miya gi; S. Daigoro Suzuki;
9. Cha d Healy; 10. Mar k Reyn olds; 11. leff Ha rding; 12.
Ste p hen Vlas b lom; 13. Jess ROt."Cit.I'; 14. Dave Esto k; 15.
'
Jim Whit ak er ; 16. Bruce Lysk aw a: 17. Na te Wait; 18.
Tod d Evan s; 19. Tony Montenegro ; 20. Ben Bostrom; 21.
Brian Gi bbs ; 22. Jerry Casciero.
T im e: 22 m in., 4.895 sec.
Di sta nce : 25.6 m iles .
Average Speed: 69.560 mp h.
M.ugin o f Vic tory: 1.267 sec.
H-D SU PE RT WI NS C'SHl P PO INT ST ANDlNGS
(After 7 of 11 round s): 1. Matt Wait (214/ 2 win s); 2.
Ben Bostro m (212/3); 3. Na te Wait ( 74); 4. Dave Estok
(168/1 win); 5. Hikaru Miyagi (153); 6. Daigoro Suzuki
(147); 7.. Er ic Bostrom ( 44); 8. Mark Black (35); 9.
Bria n Gibbs (30); 10. Scott Za m f ach (113); 11. Richie
Morri s (98 ); 12. (TIE) Mi ch e Am alric /Steph en
V las b lo m (93 ); 14 . Scott Z a mpac h (8 3); I S. Jerry
Ca sci ern (70).
.
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 8 - Brainerd, Minnesota, J uly 14
Rounds 9 - Monterey. Ca l~om ia , July 21
Performance Machines SuperTeams Series
Round 6
:NewH mpshire Intemafl Speedway
a
local heroes
By Henny Ray Abrams
Photo by George Roberts
LOUDON, NH, /UNE 15
he
Pe rfo rma n ce
Mach ines
SuperTeams class has become a case
of the "haves" and the "have-nets."
The "haves" have a legitimate cha nce of
w in ning the race, the "have-nets" will
likely get lapped in the one-hou r race.
Unfortunately for the alwa ys-sparse class,
t here a re on ly a bout three o r fo ur
"ha ves," and a t Loudon only three finished on the lead lap .
Th e b es t of the 16-rider fie ld this
w eekend wa s the Moto Liberty Honda
tea m, with local talent Gerald Rothman
Jr. and Richard Alex ander teaming up
here for the first time to give the Hond a
CBR900RR-mounted team its second win
of the year. Rothman rod e the first stint,
. taking the lead on the sixth lap and never
relinquishing. When he pitted to hand off
to Alexander at the 39-mi nu te mark, .he
had close to a 27-second cushi on on the
seco nd- p lace Erion Ra cing H ond a
CBR900RR of Andrew Stroud . Even after
Alexa nder too k ove r, the team stil l had
close to a 14-second lead which they built
on to the end . EBSCOIndustries Suzuki's
Dale Qu arterley and Mark McDaniel finished third, about 36 seconds behind
Erion, the final team on the lead lap.
"I got behind the other guys a t the
start and followed th em around to see
what they had," Rothman said . '1 knew I
had to get by. I got by, did consistent lap
times, saw my pit board, and kept going.
I just pu t my head down and charged "
The Moto Liberty Honda team completed 46 laps (73.6 miles) of the 1.6-mile
track in 59 minutes 44.749 seconds at an
average speed of 73.913 mph. Their margi n of vict ory w as 16.919 secon ds . Th e
win moved them within a point of second-placed Erion Racing in the Performance Ma chines SuperTeams championship poi n t sta ndings after six of nin e
races. Moto Liberty Hon da has 172, four
behind Erion Racing's 176, and 21 behind
the leadin g 193 of.EBSCO Industries
Suzu ki, th e only team to finish on the
podi um at every race.
Finishing a lap beh in d th e wi nners
was the Ohio Superbike Suzuki of Mark
Miller and Mark Jun ge, DATS Racing's
Dale Kieffer and Rad Greaves, the New
England Performan ce Racing Kawasaki
T
of Charles Sma ll Jr. and Don Munroe, and
the Anaheim Yama ha of Dean Mizdal
and Brian Parriott.
There were a few new lineups for this
week's race: EBSCO Ind ustries Su zuki
had Mark McDani el back, teaming with
local legend Dale Quarterley while Doug
Polen was off testin g the Suzuki wo rld
endurance machine. Erion Racing fielded
a second Hond a CBR900RR u nd er the
Erion Racing Too banner with the hope
tha t it wo uld get between their championship conte ndi ng entry and EBSCO to
gain a few precious championship points.
Th e r iding w a s to b e shared eq ua lly
be tween Stro ud and Dou g Toland, the
p air sch ed u led to swap bikes near th e
midpoint of th e race. Moto Libe r ty
Hond a, which had used AI Salaverria the
past few races, teamed Alexa nd er a nd
Rothman, both rid ers with intimate
knowledge of the track. And Ohio Superbike was using Mark Junge an d Mark
Miller, who rep laced the injured Daniel
Bailey.
. •
EBSCOIndustries Suzuki's Quarterely
jumped into a relatively short-lived lead,
with Rothma n taking over the lead with
an aggressive move on the sixth lap.
"I actua lly passed him once before and
I passed him a tum later. I jus t stuffed it
in pretty hard on the inside of him. He's
done it to me:' Rothman said .
The move came less than 10 minu tes
into the race and th e race wi nner was
already decided. Rothma n kept stre tching
his lead until the 39-minute ma rk, w hen
he gave way to Alexan de r who brought
the Honda home with ease.
"This is my first time being up here,"
Alexander said from the top step of the
podium. "Being here on my home track, I
was confident I was able to do it."
As Moto Liberty sped into the distance
second was up for grabs betw een the two
Erion Racing teams . They pitted simultaneously at the end of the 16th lap, swappi ng bikes, then heading back int o the
fray. The pair dropped to fourt h and fifth
before moving forward when the rest of
th e teams b egan to make th eir r id er
changes.
At the 23-minute mark McDaniel took
over for Quarterley, w ho was running in
third at the time behind Moto Liberty and
the New Eng land Pe rfo rmance Racing
Kawasaki ZX-7R of Don Munroe. A few
min utes later and the Erion Racing Too
machine was in the pits, Toland putting it
behind the wall after it went on two cylinders due to an electrical problem, possiblya defective coil.
Not mu ch ha p p ened un til the 35minute mark when Munroe pitted to give
off to Cha rles Small [r., tho ugh with no
expedience. T he te a m s h ut the bike
Dale Quarterley (1) handles the riding
dU1ies for EBSeD Suzuki while Gerald
Rothman Jr . prepares to make the pass on
his Moto Liberty Honda during
SuperTeams action at the New Hamps hire
International Speedway.
down , topped off the gas tank, then seni
Small Jr. ou t a lap do wn .
That left th e order at Moto Libe rty,
Erion, EBSCO after 28 laps and only the
gaps wo uld chan ge.
"I' rn so rt of sad tha t we didn' t win.
These gu ys clearly beat us today. I've go t
to congratulate Moto Liberty and Erion
for pu ttin g on a good show," EBSCO's
McDaniel said. "We're still in the lead, I
think. We alwa ys go out and try to win.
Sometime it d oesn't wo rk ou t tha t way.
We missed the setup today."
Erio n Racin g' s Kevin Erio n sai d he
hop ed there were "enoug h races to get
them back."
Ohio Superbike h ad moved into
fou rth pl a ce when Eri on Ra cin g Too
dropped ou t, Mark Miller taking the early
shift befor e handing off to Mark Junge
just past midpoint. Their spot was never
in jeopardy, though they were lapped by
. Moto Liberty in the final 10 minutes.
Still, they were well in fron t of th e
DATS Racing Suzuki GSXR750 of Dale
Kieffer, th en Rad Greaves . They, too,
weren't ever hurried, Greaves not imperiled by the New Eng land Performance
Racin g machin e of Small in the processiona l second ha lf of the race. Ana heim
Yamaha u sed Dean Mizdal first, then
I~
Brian Parriott, to take seventh place.
New Hamps hire International Speedway
Loudon, New Hamps hire
Results: June 15, 1996 (Round 6 of 9)
PERFOR1'>tANCE MA CHINES SUPERTEAMS, 1.
Mot o Liberty Honda (Ho n): 2. Erion Racing (Ho n): 3.
EBSCO Indu stries Suz uk i (Suz); 4. O hio Superb tke (Suz);
5. Oa ts Raci ng (Suz): 6. New Engla nd Per forman ce
Racin g (Ka w): 7. Anah eim Yamaha (Ya m); 8. Team
Strea mlined Racing (Ho nk 9. O hio Su perbike n