Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.ROAD RACE Series . Pocono International Raceway North American Sport Bike Mike Himmelsbach (Hon); 4. Chris Ulrich (Hon); 5. Chris Pyles (Hon); 6. Jeffrey Young (Hon); 7. Rick Neenan (Hon); 8. Stephen Rumer (Hon); 9. Todd Nordby (Hon); 10. Lance Yeager (Han). Time: 17 min., 22.960 sec. Distance: 9 laps, 22.5 miles. Average Speed: 71.664 mph. Margin of Victory: 0.260 sec. (Left) Masahlro Iizuka (8) paases Vicky JacksonBell to take the win in the 125cc Grand Prix race. (Below) Dave Estok won the Buell race. INTERNATIONAL GP BY lDEMITSU AND HRC C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS (After 7 of 9 rounds): 1. Masahjro Hzuka (232/5 wins); 2. Vicky Jackson-Bell (198); 3. Stephen Rezmer (117); 4. Jeffrey Young (106); 5. Chris Ulrich (105);'6. Todd Nordby (102); 7. Marcello Del Giudice (97/1); 8. Frank Pale (9S); 9. Nobi lso (73); 10. Lance Yeager (65); II. Mike Himmelsbach (56); 12. Todd Bowman (S1); 13. (TIE) David Jordan/Lu LaCourte (49); 15. Roland Sands (48); 16, Gayton Kwitowski (47); 17. Aaron Stein (45); 18. Chris Pyles (44); 19. Jason Lanigan (43); 20. Joji Tokumoto (42). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Loudon. New Hampshire, October 6 Round 9 ' Daytona Beach, Florida, October 20 Buell Ughtning Series Round 4: Pocono International Raceway on the first or second lap," Bostrom said. "We just started cruising away from those guys and I started picking up the pace a little bit and Dave ma~e a pretty good slide that held him back, that kicked the seat of his bike a little bit" "When I first got on it I didn't know what was going on," Estok said. "At first I thought it was like oil getting on my seat and it was slick. And all of a sudden it slipped like way back. I think I lost a bunch of time because I was on the banking and I was up in the wind and I really don't think I was wide open the whole way. I got it back up on the back side. That's where I lost a little gap. In the comers I was scared to jump from side to side. I had to keep weight on it the whole way around or it would slip back further and I'd have to grab it and pull it up:' With his seat falling off, then his arms pumping up, Estok was in no position to challenge, so Bostrom cleared out and, lapping faster than he'd q4alified and over a second better than Estok, won the race by )1.040 seconds. He completed the nine-lap race in 17 minutes, 31.390 seconds at an average speed of 77.041 mph. . Halfway in and Estok had over four seconds on Zampach, the Z-Man holding more than that on Tilley's H-D's Tripp Nobles back in fourth despite his motor going off-song early on. "My bike maxed out for about two laps and it sounds real rough right now and it sounds like it went flat so I lost a bit of power," Zampach said. "I'd like to congratulate Ben Bostrom and Dave Estok. You can't quite match that Bartels' Harley-Davidson horsepower out there. Nobles was a very secure fourth, well in front of Low Country Harley-Davidson's Brian Conley. (N It . Pocono International Rac_ay Long Pond, Pennsylvania Results: september 1, 1996 (Round 6 of 7) HARLEY-DA VIDSON TWINSPORTS: 1. Ben Bostrom; 2. Dave Estok; 3. Scott Zampach; 4. Tripp Nobles; 5. Brian Conley; 6. Randy Texter; 7. Todd Evans; 8. Ron McCill; 9. Brian Baine; 10. Mark ReynoldS; 11. Jeff Harding; 12. Preston Hopkins: 1.3. James Hanrahan; 14. Chad Healy; 15. James Whita!cer. Time: 17 min., 31.390 sec. Distance: 9 laps, 22.5 miles. Average Speed: 77.041 mph. M.ugin of Victory: 11.040 sec. HARLEY,DAvrDSON TWlNSPORTS CSHlP POINT STANDINGS (After 6 of? rounds): 1. Scott Zampach (175/1 win); 2. Ben Bostrom (153/1); 3. Todd Evans (142); 4. Matt Wait (140/4); S. (TIE) Dave Estok/Brian Bodine (124); 7. Brian Gibbs (106); 8.. Brian Conley (100); 9. Randy Texter (91); 10. Tripp Nobles (85); 11. Ron McGill (73); 12. Michael Friberg (66); 13. Roger Hendricks (65); 14. Hikaru Miyagi (45); 15. Devin BaWey (42); 16. James Whitaker (41); 17, Jim Johnson (40); 18. Jeff Harding (37); 19. Darvin Loyd (33); 20. Daigaro Suzuki (29). 28 Upcoming Round: Round 7 - Loudon, New Hampshire. October 6 Intemational GP Series by Idemilsu and HRC Round 7: Pocono International Raceway By Henny Ray Abrams LONG POND, PA, SEPT. I . oto Liberty's Masahiro Iizuka won his fifth International GP by Idemitsu and HRC 125cc race in a row, but Vicky Jackson-Bell made sure that this one wasn't as easy as most have been. After qualifying on the pole, JacksonBell stalked· Iizuka the entire race, even taking the lead with daring late-braking moves in turn one, only to be rebuffed at the end by a scant .260 seconds in what was essentially a two-rider race in a skeletal1D-rider field. "I had ,a real good line through the infield and I'd catch him and he'd pull away on the back banking," said JacksonBell, who was clearly down on power on the long Pocono backstretch. More damaging than finishing second was the loss of championship points. With two races remaining, at Loudon and Daytona, lizuk~ holds a commanding 34-point edge, 232-198, over Jackson-Bell. Stephen Rezmer, eighth today, is well baCk in third with 117 points. The Japanese rider Iizuka completed today's nine-lap, 22.S-mile race in 17 minutes, 22.%0 seconds at an average speed of 77.664 mph. From the second the tiny field of tiddlers was green-lighted, it was essentially a two-rider race, though there were others who pretended to be contenders early on. Jackson-Bell got the better jump, but Iizuka was quickly out front, his custom- ary position, with Jackson-Bell right on'his tail, taking the lead in turn one on the third lap when Iizuka raT! wide. Iizuka wasted Ii ttle time and took the lead back on the fourth lap, his lap times dropping, and the gap from the leaders to third-placed Mike Himmelsbach of Himmelsbach Racing just beginning to show. The first turn was Iizuka's Achilles heel and Jackson-Bell was ever the opportunist. This time the Japanese rider didn't wait to retake the position, slashing by in the long, looping right before the turn two hairpin to take the lead for good. JacksonBell made the final good run to the flag, but the Moto Liberty Honda was too strong, Iizuka sewing up another victory on a machine he would later say was less than 100 percent. "It was pretty difficult because they try hard there," Iizuka said in broken English. "J was kind of lucky because my bike was not good," he said, alluding to suspension settings which he didn't feel he ever got on top of. "Anyway, thank you very much." '1t was a good race," Jackson-Bell said. "I really enjoyed myself out there. I tried to be conservative. It's a tight track, hard to passon." That was a lesson that third-placed Himmelsbach certainly learned, especially given a lack of power on the eighth-liter bikes. 'We just didn't have the motor on the back straight to come up on them going down the backstraight. They'd just Pl1ll away from us," said Himmelsbach, of nearby Quakertown, Pennsylvania. "They're one and two in the series. I don't know where I end up here, but this is pretty good to finish third. We're getting closer and closer to these guys and pretty soon we'll get up there." (N Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Results: september 1, 1996 (Round 7 of 9) INTERNATIONAL GP BY IDEMITSU AND HRC: 1. Masahiro Iizuka (Hon); 2. Vicky Jackson-Bell (Hon); 3. LONG POND, PA, SEPT. 1 artels' Harley-Davidson's Dave Estok maintained his perfect record in the Buell Lightning Series, winning his fourth race in four tries, this time on an ill-handling bike whose deficiencies were magnified by a rough and bumpy Pocono International Raceway. "This place is so rough," said the Daytona Beach, Florida, resident after holding off American H-D's Roy Nicholson by 0.550 of a second. "On the 883 you can push it. But that Buell is always ready to go down." J;lrian's H-D's Ron McGill finished days back in third, the Pennsylvanian making a rare racing appearance after mostly giving it up earlier this year. Estok completed the nine-lap, 22.5mile race in 17 minutes, 18.140 seconds at an average speed of 78.024 mph. With only the final round in Daytona • _to be'run, Estok leads Nicholson by 33 points, 140.107, almost certainly guaranteeing him the title, especially since today's race drew a thin field of 14. Since 29th place pays two points, Estok will automatically become the class champion if there are fewer than that number of entries at Daytona, a virtual certainty. The Buells were the first race· on a warm and sunny day in the Pocono mountains of eastern Pennsylvania and, after qualifying, it looked like this one wouldn't be a race but a- romp. Tilley's HD's Tripp Nobles qualified his Buell 1200 nearly three seconds ahead of Roy Nicholson who, in tum, had Estok covered. But the race is a separate beast and Estok set out immediately to tame it. He got away well from second, though not as well as Nicholson, whose jump was impressive, until he faltered on the run to turn one. "He (Nicholson) pulled the holeshot and then he missed a couple of gears," Estok said. "I thought his bike went. I almost collected him there." Estok led after one with Nobles coming by on the second one and Estok ready to make a go of it. Early in the lap he knew something was amiss with Nobles' bike and would soon find himself alone mit front. "The first lap I was thinking it's hard . to pass here," Estok began. "If I could

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