Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMA National Championship Road Race Series Final Round: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Gerald Rothman Jr (5) won the 600Cc Supersport final after a thrilling finish with Jason Pridmore (7) and Todd Harrington (hidden). Average Speed: / A due to red flag. Margin of Victory: 0.002 sec. FINAL 600" SUPERSPORT SERIES POINT ST A.NDINGS (After 11 of 11 rounds): 1. Miguel DuHamel (360/6 wins); 2. Thomas Stevens (296/1); 3. Gerald Rothman Je. (282/1); 4. Ben Bostrom (275~ 5. Doug Toland (270); 6. Andrew Stroud (264/1); 7. Matt Wait (230); S. S'eve"Cn!'ier (204); 9. (TIE) Mike Smith (1)/)ason AMA HP4 600cc Supersport Series Rothman by inehes By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams LAS VEGAS, NY, ocr. 6 AB \0 0\ 0\ ,...., \O~ ,....; l-< III ,.n o ..... u o 10 er two starts and 37 miles of racing around the new Las Vegas otor Speedway, it all carne down to the final 10 feet before the start / finish line. It was there that Mota Liberty Honda's Gerald Rothman Jr. was able to hold off the advances of both Kinko's Kawasaki's Jason Pridmore and the 4&6 Cycle Kawasaki of Todd Harrington to win by a scant 0.002 of a second. With the series championship wrapped up by Smokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel DuHamel at Sears Point some six weeks earlier, it figured that today's race would be won by somebody new. While DuHamel had dominated the season with six wins, the other four had seen different winners in Mike Smith, Andrew Stroud, Todd Harrington and Thomas Stevens. Thus it was fitting that the final round would be won by a sixth different winner and Rothman was that man. The New Englander was always in the hunt and he led when the red flag was shown with only three laps remaining in the race. Instead of calling the race complete, the AMA opted to send them out again for what amounted to a four-lap sprint to the finish and Rothman was fortunate enough to stay on top for that as well. Pridmore gave it his all after leading early on, but came up just short at the finish line while Harrington also made a run at it, barely missing out on beating both of them with his draft move on the front straight. Still, it was Pridmore's best result in his comeback year. . Fourth place went to DuHamel with the French Canadian not willing to risk life and limb only hours before the final AMA Superbike National of the year. He poked his front wheel in here and there, but never enough to be a serious threat at the conclusion of the race. Behind DuHamel came Erion Racing's Andrew Stroud, who was much more of a factor in the first portion of the race than he was in the four-lap sprint at the end. Stroud led Smokin' Joe's Ste:ve Crevier, Bandit International's Matt Wait, Zero Gravity's Ben "Bostrom, Erion's Doug Toland and Mota Liberty's Jamie Bowman. With DuHamel and Kinko's Kawasaki's Thomas Stevei1S secure in the top two positions in the championship, the only position of any importance still up for grabs was the one for third in the series. Rothman's strong outing gave him the spot over Bostrom, 282-275. With Rothman finishing second the day before in the 750cc Supersport final, it was indeed a memorable weekend for the Moto Liberty pilot. It was Rothman's first Supersport win in two years. "It feels great," Rothman ~aid. "1995 was a real tough year. I was out injured after breaking my back and it was a comeback for me too. To get this ride this year was nothing shQrt of a miracle. It was a little bit slow in the beginning because I was a little bit sore, but as my strength increased I was riding a little bit better. It's just like Daytona for the most part, tha t run from NASCAR three. [ knew those guys were on me and I could feel 'em draft. I knew they were coming. I just dove down low so I'd have less ground to cover and I was able to pull it off today." Surprise, surprise, it was Bostrom leading the way at the start of the IS-lap 600cc Supersport final, despite the lingering back pain suffered in a Harley-Davidson TwinSport practice crash. Bostrom was surprised to be leading, and for his two Japs at the front kept wondering why nobody was coming past. When somebody did, it was Pridmore and the Kinko's Kawasaki And Pridmore seemed determined to stay there, putting his head down to open up a lead of 1.1 seconds by the end of the fourth lap. Two riders behind him had broken loose from the pack and were in hot pursuit - Rothman and Stroud - with Stevens also looking to punch through after a horrific start. At the end of five laps the order read: Pridmore, Rothman, Stroud, Stevens, Harrington, DuHamel, Toland and a fast-fading Bostrom. By the seventh lap there were four riders at the front, with Rothman leading for the first time with Pridmore, Stroud and Stevens iri the hunt. On the ninth lap, th.e lead pack was split up somewhat when Stevens crashed his Kinko's Kawasaki in the turn-five hairpin. "There was nothing to lose and everything to gain," Stevens said. "I just wasn't going to finish second." That left Rothman with the lead with Harrington suddenly in front of Pridmore with Stroud getting balked by Stevens' crash. The foursome was soon back together, though, with Rothman holding steady at the front. A crash in the turn one-two combination and the resulting debris and oil on the track forced the AMA to stop the race, and a four-lap sprint would be held to determine the winner. While the majority of the top men changed to new rubber, Harrington was caught out by thinking the race would be called complete. By the time he realized his error, it was too late and his charge would be with used tires. The restart saw Rothman lead into the first set of comers, foLlowed by Harrington and Pridmore, but Matt Wait was the man on th.e move and was quickly challenging. Pridmore led the pack at the end of the first lap, b¥t Rothman was better on the brakes in turn one. Wait was third ahead of a resurgent DuHamel and 'Harrington. The top two - Pridmore and Rothman got a brief reprieve the next lap when Wait nearly crashed, slowing DuHamel and several others. At that point, it appeared as though DuHamel said enough's enough, with the more important AMA Superbike National scheduled to be run only a few hours later. Harrington, though, didn't give up and he was right on the leading pair for the final run to the flag. At the line it was Rothman' hugging the apron while Pridmore and Harrington unsuccessfully attempted to draft-pass their way by. Hows this for dose? Rothman by 0.002 of a second over Pridmore with Harril)gton equal!y as dose in third. "I thought it was an exciting race, but I wish they wouldn't have had the red flag," Harrington said. "I'd caught up to Gerry and my tires were working pretty good. After the 'red flag, 1 heard that the race was going to be called so I didn't mount up new tires. At the last second I heard they were going to restart so I went back out on the same tires. J caught 'em on the last lap, but the place they were strongest was coming out on to the banking. When Jason pulled out for the pass that gave me two bikes to draft off and I thought I was going to get'em/' DuHamel cruised to fourth ahead of Stroud, Crevier, Wait, Bostrom, Toland and Jamie Bowman. "It was a great race and I was real happy to be out there with Gerry (Rothman)," Pridmore said. "The tires I had on for the first race never really came in. We came in for the red flag and I knew I'd be in for a better shot in the second leg with new tires on. My tires were pretty good for five or six laps, but with the new surface, the tires were heating up pretty quick. I knew with a four-lap sprint I'd be okay, so I just bided my time and waited 4~ for that last lap." las Vegas Motor Speedway las Vegas, Nevada Results: October 6,1996 (Round 11 of 11) 600<:e SUPERSPORT FINAL, 1. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Hon); 2. Jason Pridmore (Knw); 3. Todd Harrington (Kaw); 4. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 5. Andrew Stroud (Hon); 6. Steve Crevier (Hon); 7. Matt Wait (Hon); 8. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 9. Doug Toland (Hon); 10. Jamie Bowman (Hon); n. Ken Melville (Hon.); 12 Owen Weichel (Hon); 13. Brian Parriott (Hon); 14. Harold Winkles (H.on); 15. Jack Pfeifer (Hon); 16. Gint McBain (Hon); 17. Mike Klein (Hon); 18. Christopher Rankin (Kaw); 19. Kenny Canedo (Hon)i 20. Tetsu lmnnishi (Kaw); 21. David Wasson (Hon); 22. Paul Wrigh' (Hon); 23. Bill Borselli (Yam); 24. Bryan Kovarick (Yam); 25. Shane Lnwm01Ster (Hon); 26. Bryan Chesser (Hon); 27. Michael Quindazz; (Hon); 28. Matthew Guidera (Hon); 29. Michael Noschese (Kaw); 30. Thomas Stevens (Kaw); 31. Daniel Dietrich (Hon); 32. Michael Smith (Kaw~ 33. Mark Cemicky (Hon~ Time: N / A due to red flag. Distance: 15 laos. ~i? miles. Pridmore (193); 11. Todd Harrington (178/1); 12. Christoph... Rankin (158); 13. Harold Winkles (l45~ 1-1. Owen Weichel (1"2~ 1S. (TIE) Ken M IviUe/Brian Parriott (132). AMA Teamline 750cc Supersport Series No drama By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams LAS VEGAS, NY, ocr. 5 ith just two measly points separating the two championship protaganists heading into the final round of the 750cc Supersport Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, great . things were expected come race time. Those grand things never materialized as any and all suspense was re!"fioved early in the race when it was dear that Pascal Picotte wasn't going to be able to match the performance of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates. When all was said and done, it was Yates who was crowned as champion in his first year on the factory Suzuki team, with the Georgian finishing a careful third to wrap up the title while Picotte struggled with a chunked rear Dunlop tire to finish an eventual seventh. While Yates was the man of the hour, he had to share some of that spotlight with EBSCO Suzuki's Michael Barnes. The Floridian ended a seven-year winless drought -in Supersport racing by simply running away from the field in the season finale at the brand-new facility in the desert outside of Las Vegas. Second place, too, was "somewhat of a surprise as Gerald Rothman Jr. turned in a flawless ride on his Moto Liberty Honda CBR600 to move around Yates and into the rwiner-up spot, despite the disparity in the displacement of his motorcycle. Utah's Dale Kieffer rode his Oats Racing Suzuki to a fourth-place finish bel1ind Yates and ii1 front of Mota Liberty's second 600cc Honda-toting teamster, Ken Melville. . Yates' third-place finish gave him a grand total of 332 points on the season and a final cushion of eight points on the struggling Picotte. Barnes' last-race push moved him past his teammate Mark McDaniel and into third in the final tally, 284-276, with the normally consistent McDaniel having an off day in finishing eighth. Jim Leslie, 11th in Las Vegas, filled the top five in the championship with 217 points. The race itself was a rather duJ] affair with Barnes dropping the hammer from the get-go and never looking back. 'T d practiced on used tires all weekend until qualifying," Bames said. "I put new tires on for that and it was like, 'Wow, these tires don't even move for about five laps.' I figured out that was my break. I practiced the holeshot in practice and I got it. It was a weird start going into that tight left down there and it was pretty slippery. It pushed the front a little bit but I got a real wide line and carried my speed everywhere on the first lap. I just tried to be as smooth as I could to save my tires as much as I could. "I came in here five points behind (Mark) McDaniel for third in the series, so I figured the only way I could make up those points was to win it. He (McDaniel) just wasn't hitting it this weekend and it's real surprising. All year long it's been either him or me. Either he's on the podi- W

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