Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ing equally. The bikes are equal. No one's pulling anyone. It's smarts, and he outsmarted me and I'll learn from that" That Wait competed at all says somet~g about his character. His younger brother Nate had been seriously injured (see Briefly... ) in a qualifying crash on Saturday.. After being taken to a local hospital, Nate Wait was flown to a Minneapolis facility. It didn't seem to affect Matt's riding, however. He simply forgot to protect his line. "I guess I didn't block my line good enough the last comer and allowed Ben to sneak by," Wait said. "Unfortunately, you need a lot of corner speed to get by these guys and I just didn't have enough corner speed to get him°at the line. It was a good race. I'm happy for Ben. I'm glad he won. Well, I'm not glad he won, I wish I would have won. I'm glad for him. I'm.glad for Dave and Scott." Bostrom completed the nine-lap, 27mile race in 17 minutes, 26.174 seconds, lowering the record Matt Wait set last year. He averaged 92.910 mph on his way to winning his fourth race. With two rounds to go, Bostrom leads Estok 250 to 201 in the championship. Hikaru Miyagi, sixth today, is third with 181. The Wait brothers, Matt and Nate, are tied for fourth with 178, though that could change depending on the outcome of the appeals of Wait's disqualification from races at Mid-Ohio and Loudon. The appeal will be held this coming weekend. Dave Estok had led the first and third laps and that would be it for his time at the front. From then on he was in the shuffle, going back to third on lap four and up to second the next lap, the order of the front-running four changing constantly. He started the last lap in fourth and it wasn't until the very end of the race that he was able to get by Zampach, and then just barely, after spending much of the race sizing up the competition. "Matt was real good through two and coming in on the brakes. Ben and I were sliding around a lot and not getting good drives and Scott and Matt were getting gooi:! drives. My arm was getting pumped up and I couldn't get on the brakes. On the last lap I tried to get what I could and I was happy to get third," Estok said after finishing third with about a bike length separating the top three ridets and with Zampach in his shadow. Zampach, the defending national champion, had led laps four and seven, mixing it up with the younger riders who he has sometimes criticized for their rambunctious riding styles. He was second on the eighth lap when Wait had the biggest lead of the race and moved up to second on the final lap before getting dropped to fourth. Hal's H-D's Brian Gibbs had been part of the lead breakaway before dropping off the pace on the fourth lap. He would finish about 12 seconds behind the leaders and about 20 seconds in front of a five-rider spat over sixth that was as intense as the lead fight. After holding the spot for much of the race, Hikaru Miyagi took sixth place, but only after wresting it back from Hal's H-D's Todd Evans on the final lap. Mark BLack was eighth behind Evans, with Brian Conley and Daigoro Suzuki filling the top 10. (N Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results: July 14, 1996'(Round 7 of 9) H-D SUPERTWINS: 1. Ben Bostrom; 2. Matt Wait; 3. 'Dave Estok; 4. Scott Zampach; 5. Brian Gibbs; 6. Hikaru Miyagi; 7. Todd Evans; 8. Mark Black; 9. Brian Conley; 10. Daigoro Suzuki; 11. Jeff Harding; 12. Stephen Vlasblom;.13. Jerry Casciero; 14. Jim Whitaker; 15. Roger Hendricks; 16. Richie Morris. Time: 17 min., 26.174 sec. Dist..nce: 9 laps, 27 miles. Average Speed: 92.910 mph. Margin of Vidory: 0.010 sec. H-D SUPERTWINS C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS (Alter 8 of 11 rounds): 1. Ben Bostrom (250/4 wins); 2. Dave Estok (201/1); 3. Hikaru Miyagi (181); 4. (TIE) Matt Wait/Nate Wait (178/2); 6. DaigoroSuzuJci (17l); 7. Mark Black (163); 8. Brian Gibbs'(I60); 9. Eric Bostrom (150); 10. (TIE) Richie Morris/Stephen Vlasblom (114); 12. Lance Jones (112); 13. Scott Zarnpach (111); 14. Michael Amalric (94); 15. Jerry Casdero (89). Upcoming~ounds: . Round 8 - Sonoma, Califomia, August 24 Round 9 - Las Vegas, Nevada, October 5 AMA Perfonnance Machine SuperTeams Series Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway By Henny Ray Abrams 8RAINERD, MN, JULY 13 rion Racing moved back into the Performance Machine Super• Teams championship lead by finishing first and second in. the one-hour event at Brainerd International Raceway, while EBSCO Industries Suzuki crashed out on the sixth lap, finishing 13th and last in the depleted field on an overcast day in central Minnesota. For Erion the cloudy day could not have turned out brighter. Andrew Stroud and Doug Toland started on the two Erion Racing machines, swapping saddles at the 36-minute mark and speeding away from the third-place Mota Liberty Honda to card their first one-two finish in their second try. The race was not without its drama, however. On the sixth lap, Toland, then leading on the number-three championshipcontending machine, was run into by EBSCO Industries Suzuki's Mark McDaniel. McDaniel crashed and Toland ran off the track, but recovered well enOilgh to re-join the race in third behind Stroud, on the Erion Racing Too machine, and Mota Liberty Honda's Gerald Rothman Jr. Stroud slowed the pace down for the next 15 laps and the pair pitted at the end of the 21st lap to change places on the team's Honda CBR900RRs. Rothman pitted on the next lap to give way to Cal Rayborn II, racing in the U.S. for the first time since last October. Rayborn held onto the lead for a few laps before the Erion boys got by and sped away, leaving Ra am to deal with a balky transmission. In the end it was Stroud by 0.192 second over ToLand, with the pair dOIng wheelies up the front straight, Stroud standing up and Toland in the saddle. Raybom II crossed the line well behind the leadingduo and was the only other rider on the lead lap. Toland and Stroud completed 35 laps of the three-mile track in one hour, 35.225 seconds at an average speed of 103.983 mph. Their lead in the nine-round championship is d single point, 212 to 211 over EBSCO Industries Suzuki, with two races to go. The race had begun fiercely with four teams scrapping for the lead until it all came apart in turn three on the sixth lap. Toland explains: ''I'm going down the front straightaway hugging the wall and the cones come out at a 45-degree angle. He (McDaniel) drafts right up next to me, doesn't move over and let me go alongside the cones. That's a little dirty if you ask me. Not too considerate. I don't know about dirty, but not too considerate. He came on the inside of me and ran into me. Evidently he got into the corner a little too hot, couldn't square off the corner and went straight. And of course I was going through the corner so he just ran right into me, knocked me off the track." "I saw it all from behind," Toland's teammate Stroud said. "I was right behind Mark and he went to outbrake Doug on the inside and he ran in pretty hot. I knew he went in pretty hot. He went in pretty hot on the inside and he couldn't stop. He had the back wheel Locked up and he crashed and the bike shot up onto the grass. "Then I had to try to hold up Rothman until Doug caught up. I slowed right down. I knew that we had to lead the most laps. I thought, 'I can't let Rothman lead them all, but he could lead some.' But I couldn't lead them all on the B bike. I just sat there thinking away what the best way to do it was," Stroud said. Toland, who was better than 15 seconds down after his shunt, closed quickly as the pit stop approached and the pair made a flawless switch. Rothman soon gave way to Rayborn who found .that he couldn't match their pace once his gearbox soured. "About four or five laps into it I lost Doug Toland (3) and his teammate Andrew Stroud (90) gave Erion Racing a 12 finish In the SuperTeams event. fourth gear. The next lap I lost third," Rayborn, who had gotten the call from Moto Liberty team owner Sam Yamashita two weeks before Brainerd, said. ur d downshift in turn one and in turn two it was popping out of fourth. Coming onto the front sltai!dtt I wasn't getting no drive at all." That was the race. Stroud and Toland controlled the rest, not slowed by a very light and occasional rain. Rayborn was a lone third, the final rider on the 35th lap. The second Moto Liberty Honda of Jamie Bowman and Rothman, doing double duty, had run fourth much of the race, only to pull off with less than 15 minutes to go when their engine broke. A transmission probLem on that machine had forced them to start the race with" out sixth gear. They finished 11tho Fourth place and two laps down went to the Ohio Superb ike Suzuki GSXRI100 of Dan Bailey and Mark Junge, even though they ran out of gas on the final lap. "We've got a 7-gallon tank and we needed 7.1," Junge, who was riding when the bike stopped on final lap, said. OATS Racing's Dax Snow and Dale Kieffer were fifth in front of local riders, Scott Ruehl and Boyd Hedstrom on the I:N Brewer Racing Kawasaki ZX7R. Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results: July 14, 1996 (Round 7 of 9) PERFORMANCE MACHINE SUPERTEAMS: 1. Erion Racing (Hon); 2. Erion Racing Too (Han); 3. Molo Liberty Honda (Hon); 4. OIUo SuperbiJce (Suz); 5. DATS Racing (Suz); 6. Brewer Racing (Kaw); 1. Anaheim Yamaha (Yam); 8. Ohio Superbike [J (Sux); 9. Behr Motor Sports (Suz); 10. Anoka Ramsey Racing (Suz); I l. Moto Liberty Honda n (Hon); 12. Keystone/Northstar Racing (Yam); 13. EBSCO Industries Suzuki (Suz). Time: 1 hr., 35.225 sec. Distance: 35 laps, lOS miles. AverageSpeed: 103.983 mph. Margin of Vidory: 0.192 sec. PERFORMANCE MACHINE SUPERTEAMS C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS (After 7 of 9 rounds): 1. Erion Racing (2U13 wins); 2. EBSeD Industries Suzuki (211/2); 3. Moto Liberty Honda (202{2); 4. Ohio Superbike (196); 5. Oats Racing (191); 6. Anaheim' Vamaha (168); 7. Ohio Superblke II (161); 8. Keystone/Northstar Racing (141); 9. Moto Liberty Honda II (50); 10. (TIE) Erion Racing Too/Dutchmnn Racin8 (49); 12. Battley Cycles (41); 13. Total Clothing Superteam (30); 14. TBR Racing (28); 1S. (TIE) Brewer Racing/New England Performance Racing/Team Henson (25); 18. (TIE) American Flyers/Two Dudes from Cali Racing (24); 20. (TIE) Team Streamlined Racing/Smith &: Jessen Racing/Dega Racing/Big Slick (23). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Sonoma, Califomia, August 24 Round 9 - Las Vegas, Nevada, October 5 13

• Cover