um, or I'm on it - at least up until Sears
Point when we both got up there. I expected him to be up here all weekend and I
was real concerned about not getting
third. I won it and kept him out of the top
five and I got the third place, so I'm real
excited about that."
With Yates holding down second in
the early going, all eyes focused on
Picotte. The French Canadian, though,
was down and out, dropping steadily
from his original third-place position to an .
eventual seventh.
"It was just a bad one," Picotte said of
his tire. "It just came apart. It's a shame
because we worked so hard all year. It's
not about the money, it's about having
the number-one plate."
Bames, meanwhile, was flying, opening up a huge margin on Yates, who was
beginning to get pressure from Rothman
as the race neared the halfway mark.
"My guys told me to slow down
because I had nine seconds," Barnes
explained. "So J slowed down and then it
was six seconds. The same lap I slowed
down I got stuck behind a lapped rider
, and I had to wick it back up again when I
. got around him. That made me a little nervous because J wanted more than that."
By this time, Yates was well aware of
the troubles his teammate Picotte was
having.
"I just'kinda watched my lap board
and my plus was on Pascal," Yates said. '1
had like 10 seconds and I got up to 11 seconds. J just held it there. He (picotte) had
some rear tire problems. His (championship) bonus may have been a little better than mine, but I'm really glad to win.
I'm glad this day is over with so much.
This last week I really haven't been talking to nobody. Yeah, it's been kind of
hard. I'm just glad it's over with. I was
taking it pretty easy out there."
So easy in fact that Rothman was able
to move around him without much of a
fight on the11th lap.
"Pascal (Picotte) and I were hooked up
for a while and it just wasn't good," Rothman said. "If he was ahead of me farther it
would have been better just because our
styles on the bikes are a lot c!ifferent. It
was hard for me to go the way I should be
riding. I didn't want to take him out. He
was starting to go real sJow through that
carousel and then pretty slow u'p this back
left-hander. After that J went by him and
never saw him again. The 600 flows really
well all through the infield."
Team Suzuki Sport's Mark Miller, who
had been with the lead group off the start,
crashed out of the race early and ended
his hopes of a top-five finish in the chamCN
pionship point standings.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Resuhs:October5,1996
1SO
