Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD 'RACE· AMA National Championship Road Race Series Round 8: Brainerd International Raceway Miguel DuHamel (1) leads Thomas Stevens (2)'and a host of others In what was a thrilling 600cc Supersport final at Brainerd International Raceway. AMA Honda Pro Oils 600cc Supersporl series Round 8: Brainerd International Raceway By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams BRAINERD, MN, JULY 14 ive different riders led, the 600cc Supersport final at Brainerd Inter. national Raceway and the outcome was in doubt until the very end of the 13-lap, 29-mile race. Some of those who led had never led before. The one who led last was Smokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel DuHamel, naturally. In what was easily the best 600cc Supersport final of the season and perhaps the best ever, DuHamel led early, slipped back as far as eighth when he was nearly bashed off the track by Matt Wait, and led again at the end, barely beating Kinko's Kawasaki's Thomas Stevens as the two veterans somehow managed to hold off a horde of overzealous youngsters. In the end, the best of those up-andcomers was 4 & 6 Cycle's Todd Harrington, the Road America winner fighting back on the final lap after being bumped backward from his one-time lead in' the mad scurry that was the final at Brainerd. Harrington's efforts, though, may go for naught as his engine has been sealed (so that hE: can still use it at the new round at Laguna Seca on July 21) by the AMA and will be inspected following the next round. The AMA cited "cosmetic and material differences" as to the reason for the decision. "We'll pull his motor and investigate after Laguna," AMA road race manager Ron Barrick said. "We're sealing the motor because he didn't have anything else to race next weekend." That was the only flaw in an otherwise stunning race, a pack of seven and eight riders circulating together, run- F o ning two, three and sometimes four wide through the ultrafast turns one and two. Right behind Harrington came Zero Gravity's Ben Bostrom in his best ride of the year. The likable Californian Fut the coaching he received the day before from DuHamel to good use, taking his time as he came through from the back of the lead group to lead the race on the final lap. Only a bad slide on the exit of tum three prevented him from doing better as it allowed not only DuHamel but also Stevens to pass. Bostrom also erred in the final corner, sliding wide and allowing Harrington to slip through for the final rostrum spot. Kinko's Kawasaki's Jason Pridmore was also impressive. Back after missing the last three races with a broken leg, Pridmore was quickly up to pace and his final-lap surge pushed him all the way up to fifth, despite the fact that he rode the race with a somewhat cumbersome brace on his injured right leg. Hyd-Mech Saws' Owen Weichel finished sixth, leading a group of riders that included Erion Racing's Doug Toland, Bandit International's Matt Wait, Moto Liberty's Gerald Rothman Jr. and Erion's Andrew Stroud, who rounded out the top 10 finishers. The win further extended DuHamel's already-rotund points lead. The French Canadian now leads Stevens by 26 points, 264-238, with three races remaining on the schedule. Toland is third with 201 points, seven clear of Rothman and eight ahead of Bostrom. Stroud had problems on the grid, his Honda smoking after something had spilled On the engine. He was aided by team owner Kevin Erion, but still got a bad start while also somewhat balking Smokin.'.Joe's Steve Crevier, who was gridded behind the Kiwi. DuHamel, meanwhile, had no such problems as he jetted off the line and into the lead, the pack screaming off the grid behind him and heading into turns one and two three and four abreast. Stevens moved around Wait in turn three to take over second behind his championship-series rival. That's how they finished the first lap, with the lead threesome having pulled a slight gap ahead of another group that included Jamie Bowman, Harrington, Weichel, Toland, Rothman and finally Bostrom. The lead changed hands shortly thereafter, with Stevens moying by DuHamel in turn one. A lap later and DuHamel did the same thing to Stevens, making a pass in the first corner. When the pack got to turn three things rea IIy heated up. Wait entered the corner with his rear wheel locked up, the dirt tracker sliding the bike into the .comer and knocking DuHamel way off line and all the way back to eighth place. "I think he crashed, he just forgot to fall," DuHamel said later. "I heard a bike grinding, wheels locked." The man who gained the most from the incident was Harrington, who sneaked through the melee on the inside and exited turn three with the lead. Harrington continued to lead, with up to 13 bikes in the lead draft. By the fifth lap, Harrington was still in front, but DuHamel was up fourth, trailing only Wait and Stevens. Behind him came a swarm that included Weichel, Rothman, Pridmore, Bostrom, Toland, Bowman, Stroud and finally Muzzy Kawasaki's Mike Smith. Wait took over on the sixth lap, but both Harrington and DuHamel charged by on the entrance to turn one, then DuHamel shot to the lead with a move in turn two. A lap later, Harrington returned the favor, shooting by the alltime 600cc Supersport win leader in turn two. By the 11th of 13 laps, Bostrom was suddenly in the fray, biding his time just like DuHamel had told him the day before. Heading into turn three, he took. the lead. for the first time. "Ben (Bostrom) was riding really well," DuHamel said with a coy smile. "I coached him yesterday, and I probably won't do that anymore. He went into three and I went to the inside just to' make sure no one stuffed through on . the inside. But I'd never been there before and I wasn't sure of the track, so [ braked semi-deep and Ben went for it on the outside and outbraked me. r got behind him and coming out he just came really close to high-siding. I went by him and then r was waving him on, 'Cmon Ben, don't give up.' I think he scared himself pretty bad there." After Bostrom's miscue, DuHamel had Stevens in his tailpipe, but the Floridian. wasn't going to do anything stupid. Instead, he finished second. "Nobody wants to win as much as I do," Stevens said. "We were just out there trying to fend off the guys who were riding over tJ.eir heads. I know it's a great show and it looked really good, but a couple of guys were riding really, really hard. Miguel and I were just cruising around waiting for the laps to count down. Once they did, we went ahead and picked a lot of those guys off because I fell pretty far behind at one point. We picked 'em off and went up to the front. Ben (Bostrom) kind of messed me up a little bit when he almost ran into Miguel and then - I had the ~ance today, but the only thing I could have done was to run into Miguel and maybe knocked both of us down. I'm not going to do that - not to win. We'll have our day." Bostrom's final error, a slight slide on the exit of the final corner, allowed Harrington tq finish third. "I think I was a little faster through one and two," Harrington said. "I went in behind Miguel and he let off for a second and I almost hit him. I hit the brakes and went way wide and everyone went by me. When I was leading r could run my own lines and it was . good. Back in the pack, in every corner someone would come by you. On the last lap I was seventh and Wait went into turn three real hot and took two guys wide - r went up the inside. I had one last chance in the last corner and he (Bostrom) went wide." The man who suffered the most on the final go-around was Wait, who ran ofHhe track and dropped back to an eventual eightho "Every year here at Brainerd it's real tight," DuHamel explained. "This was just one more of those scenarios - a draftiest. No matter how fast you are through the infield, when you get to the front straight you're a sitting duck. It made for a great race. Todd (Harrington) rode really well and Thomas rode great. He was always there. I went into the last corner pretty deep and I thought if he was going to come 'on the inside there wasn't much room there. But I have full faith in Thomas. It was a really hard race. I got bumped back to eighth or ninth when Matt Wait came inside of me. A lot of guys were really excited, a lot of them not used to being up front. Obviously, they're not as experienced as Thomas and me and they were making mistakes and putting us in jeopardy in some places." 1'X Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results: July 14, 1996 (Round 8 of 11) 600« SUPERSPORT FINAL: 1. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 2. Thomas Stevens (Kaw); 3. Todd Harrington (Kaw); 4. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 5. Jason Pridmore (Kaw); 6. Owen Weichel (Kaw); 7. Doug Toland (Hon); 8. Matt Wait (Hon); 9. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Hon); 10. Andrew Stroud (Hon); 11. Jamie Bowman (Han); 12. Mike Smith (Kaw); 13. Steve Crevier (Hon); 14. Steve Johnson (Hon); 15. John Stash (Hon); 16. Harold Winkles (Hon); 17. Daniel Brody (Kaw); 18. Brad Zajic (Kaw); 19. Jason

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