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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127794
Hale (57); 11. Christer Lindholm (51 }~12. Wataru
Yoshikawa (SO); 13. Kirk McCarthy (49); 14. Paolo Casali
(46); 15. Piergiorgio Bontempi (33~
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 7 - Brands Hatch, England; August 4
Round 8 - Sentul, Indonesia, August 18
Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series
Round 9: Laguna Seca Raceway
DuHa.el
•
cruises
By Henny Ray Abrams
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 19
5
mokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel
DuHamel put on a riding clinic
for Zero Gravity's Ben Bostrom,
towing the younger rider along for the
et;ltire race before slicing through traffic
and upping the pace to a level that
Bostrom couldn't match, but could only
watch in admiration.
"He's (DuHamel) a great traffic-passer and that's what wins races, so I actually learned a lot off the guy," Bostrom
said after finishing second in the Pro
Honda Oils 600cc Supersport race on a
hot and sunny day at Laguna Seca Raceway. Though he finished only 0.844 second behind, Bostrom wasn't effectively
able to mount a challenge at the end and
DUHamel slowed out of the final comer,
looking back to make sure he had a safeenough cushion for a celebratory wheelie. The two had run together, with Erion
Racing's Andrew Stroud close behind,
until DuHamel began to speed up just
past the halfway mark. He dropped his
Jap times from the 1:34 range, down into
the 1:33s with an unofficial best of
1:33.26 on the penultimate lap.
"You don't need to win by a big margin, you need to win, you need to get
points," DuHamel said after jetting
away from the pole and setting a new
race record. The French-Canadian lowered the mark set by Muzzy Kawasaki's
The World Superbike contingent found a Laguna Seca race track
that was much different from the one, they remembered from
1995. In addition to being resurfaced, the World Superbike riders
were also seeing the changes to turns 10 and 11 for the first time,
as well as the more daunting run over the hill that is tum one. "Irs
good and bad." 'Troy Corser.said of the changes. "There's
more grip and less pumps. but someone can really screw you up
completeiy in tum 11 now. Tum five is really good. you can carry a
lot of' cornering speed through there. I think tum one is harder
.now; the speed is higher and it seems fiatter. It wicks up big·time
on the downside of the hill and I almost crashed there. In fact. il
there would have been other bikes around me someone would
have hit me. "
.
'Corser also said. that it is .100 percent c'trtain that ,he will race a
. 500cc Grand Prix bike in 1997. "I should know soon: the
Australian said. "I haven't liigned 'anything yet I met with Alfred
(Inzinger) last week and I'll be on a 500 next y'ear for·sure. I'm just
waiting on his final decisiOn. It's. 100 pergent fo'-500s next year.
It's just sorting out the details."
.
Pro,:,otor Ducati te~ni owner Alfred '"zinger was e~pected to
make a major announcement in regard to his racing plans for
199? but has ,postponed that announcement until the Brands
Hatoh round of the series in two weeks' time. It is now believed
that Inzinger may end up using twe different brands of motorcycles 'as he fields.
teams in both World Superbike and Grand
Prix for 1997.
Wild hairstyles seem to be all the rage on
the World Superbike. circuil. Aaron
Slight showed up at Laguna Seca- with
the most outlandish hairdo, an orange
mohawk. Anthony Gobert came to
Laguna with his hair dyed green. sideburns
and aiL "I thought I'd better try something·
to match my riding style. so we'lI see how
it goes." Gobert said. Colin Edwards II was
among the hairless at Laguna. the 'Texan
shaving his head and wearing ,a 'do rag.to
protect it from the sun - .a little too late.
however. as he'd already been 0