Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·ROAD:RACING. '. Round 8: New Hampshire International Speedway Race Fuels Formula" USA senes ·~unoco (Left) Masahiro Iizuka topped four other riders to win the 125cc International Grand Prix. IIzuka had flown from the AMA National in Las Vegas late Saturday night In order to compete at Loudon. His trip was worth it as he clinched the title in the 125cc class. Michael Gage disputed fifth for several laps until Johnson got the upper hand. McGrath thanked Low Country Triumph and his mechanic Mike Kelly. "The last two races I've been with the lead group," McGrath said. "I've done dumb things and I've fallen down. I fell down while leading in Portland, and I fell out of second at Pocono. Just dumb mistakes. I wanted to just try to get a level head. After the first two or three laps I saw Zampach's and Hanrahan's pace, I thought if I got clear of them and I was smart I could win." ~ New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Results: October 6, 1996 (Ro~nd 7 of 8) MOBIL 1 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE OIAUENGE (all on Triumph): 1. David McGrath; 2. Scott Zarnpach; 3. James Hanrahan; 4. Adam Lewis; 5. Steve Johnson; 6. Michael Gage; 7. Thomas Fournier; 8: Shawn Conrad; 9. Robert Wrublevski; 10. Thomas Murray; 11. Benjamin Welch; 12. Devin Battley. Time: 15 min., 7.310 sec. Distance: 11 laps, 18 miles A verage speed: 72.888 mph Margin of victory: 6.54 sec. MOBIL 1 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (Aft.. 8 of 8 races): 1. Scott Zampach (269/4 wins); 2. James Hanrahan (218/1); 3. David McGrath (200/1); 4. Shawn Conrad (194); 5. Michael Fitzpatride (175); 6. Benjamin Welch (172); 7. John Scheehser (167); 8. Tripp Nobles (166/2); 9. Michael Gage (147); 10. Thomas Murray (124); 11. Ride Kirk (116); 12. Devin Battley (87); 13. William White (84); 14. Thomas Fournier (83); 15. Robert Wrublevski (65); 16. Ty Howard (64); 17. Adam Lewis (60); 18. Blaine Paulus (54); 19. TI~ David Hull/Ride Shaw (32). NAsa Harley Davidson Twin Sports Series Round 7: New Hampshire IIlt'I Speedway \0 0\ 0\ .,....; -.0 .,....; "' .g" ti o 32 (l) Lester, Brian Livengood, and John Scheehser. With LRRS regulars in first, second, fourth and fifth, the race looked surprisingfy like an LRRS Middleweight Supersport event. By the second lap, Wood had pulled out a small gap over Greenwood that proved critical in keeping Sadowski at bay later in the race. Passing Greenwood, a rider who has improved steadily over the past season, proved a thorny problem for Sadowski, not helped by the fact that Chouinard was chewing at Sadowski's tailsection trying to get by him. Meanwhile Lester was a relatively placid fifth, ahead of Livengood and Scheehser duking it out over sixth and Steve Johnson going at it with local Des Conboy for eighth. At this point, Frankenfield was 10th but was beginning a slow slide down through the field to an eventual 18th. Over the next few laps, Wood built a lead of over three seconds while Sadowski had his hands full with upstaIts Greenwood and Chouinard. Meanwhile, Conboy had shaken off Johnson and interjected himself into the Scheehser / Livengood matter. Finally, on lap eight of 11, Sadowski managed to outbrake Greenwood into turn six, get by, and set out after Wood. He was able to close the gap slowly because a shift-shaft seal had blown on Wood's bike on lap four. "It covered my foot in oil on the fourth lap," Wood said. "From that point on I was a little bit tentative in the left-hanqers, and I was really watching my plus boards. I was just riding as hard as I had to stay in front. I was definitely riding hard, but I was just giving up that little bit. My foot kept slipping off the peg - it was covered in oil - and I was kinda nervous. " It was too late for Sadowski, however, and Wood held him off by less than two seconds at the finish line. Greenwood and Chouinard checked in at third and fourth. Lester cruised home a lonely fifth, and Scheehser shed Conboy, who in tuIn freed himself from Livengood. It appeared at this point that Lester had narrowed the gap between himself (second in the points standings going into the race) and leader Frankenfield from 28 points to 15 points. But when Lester's CBR600F3 was weighed by the tech inspectors after the race ~t came up at 392.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds under the 395-pound limit for the class. The penalty was loss of points earned in this race, loss of purse money for the race, and a $300 fine. If the penalty stands, Frankenfield has a 41-point lead and has wrapped up the championship. ~ N_ HlImpshlre International Speedway Loudon, ~ HlImpshlre R-.ulls: October 6, 1996 (Round 7 of 8) EBC BRAKES SPORTBIJffi 1. Eric Wood (Kaw); 2David Sadowslci (Hon); 3. Scott Greenwood (Han); 4. Charles C1>ouinarcf (Kaw); 5. Jim Lester (Hon); 6. John Schee.hser (Hon); 7. Des Conboy (Hon); 8. Brian Uvengood (Hon); 9. Peter lllich (Hon); 10. Jean-Francois Cyr (Kaw); 11. Marc Underberg (Hon); 12. Bob Lapusnak (Kaw); 13. ShaA-n Conrad (Kaw~ 14. Bradley Zajic (Kaw~ 15. Jordan Szoke (Hon~ 16. Francis Martin (Kaw); 17. Christopher Holske (Hon); 18. Reuben Frankenfield (Kaw); 19. Rick Maron (Kaw); 20. Dale Dandrea (Hon); 21. Timothy Stevens (Hon); 22. Stephen Duval (Hon); 23. Brent Campbell (Han); 24. Peter Gagnon (Kaw); 25. Gwmar Wicklund (Hon~ 26. Gerry Provencher (Han); 27. Chris Rockwell (Han); 28. Christopher Markin (Hon~ 29. Ride Neenan (Hon~ 30. Jeff Harding (Bue); 31. Steve Johnson (Hon~ Time: 14 min.• 28.070 sec Distance: 11 laps, 18 miles Av...ge • .-a, 76.183 mph Margin ofvidory: ].410 sec. EBC BRAKES SPORTBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (Aft~r 7 of 8 rounds): 1. Reuben Frankenfield (169/1 win); 2. Jim Lester (128); 3. Steve Johnson (121); 4. Shawn Conrad (116/1); 5. Bradley Zajic (113); 6. John Scheehser (107); 7. Brian Uvengood (101); 8. (TIE) David Sadowski/Ma.tt Wait (97/1); 10. Charles Chouinard (95); 11. Eric Wood (92.11); 12. Ride Kirk (86); ]3. (TIE) Dan Fischer/Matthew Winnackef (53); IS. Chris Bliss (Sl); 16. Kevin Rentzell (48); 17. Jeff Williams (47); 18. Timothy Stevens (43); 19. Eric Kropp (42); 20. Kris K1ubb (41). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Daytona Beach, Florida, October 17-20 Mobil 1 Triumph Speed Triple Challenge Series Round 8: New Hampshire IIlt'I Speedway McGrath's Back By John Flory LOUDON, NH, ocr. 6 lthough Hansen Racing's Scott Zampach had already wrapped up the championship in this c1a5s at the Pocono round a month ago, he elected to contest Iound eight at New Hampshire International Speedway, and his opposition still wanted to beat him. The race, the season finale for this class, began with a bang as John Scheehser and Michael Fitzpatrick tangled and fell in turn one A on the first lap. Scheehser said that he got sandwiched between Fitzpatrick and someone else, had no place to go, fell, and hit the rieters on both sides, only one of whom crashed with him. James Hanrahan and his Point Racing Triumph held the lead for two laps with Zampach and Low Country Triumph's David McGrath in close pursuit while Brit Ada}ll Lewis lost ground behind them. Zampach had a big slide coming out of turn 12 onto the front straight and so followed Hanrahan for another lap before taking the lead under braking into turn one. But then McGrath pulled a master stroke by outbraking and passing both of Hanrahan and Zampach on the inside in tum three. "I didn't plan on getting both of them," McGrath explained. "Zampach slowed down a little more than I expected, SinQ~1 was next to him I figured I'd be in his way, so I just went ahead and rode on through. I don't think Zampach expected anybody there." Zampach hung with McGrath for a while but dropped back on lap eight of 11, the gap growing to 2.2 seconds on lap nine and 6.5 seconds at the finish. Hanrahan and Lewis were alone in third and fourth, respectively, and Steve Johnson and A Zampach's the champ again By John Flory LOUDON, NH, ocr. 6 oints leader Scott Zampach clinched yet another Harley-Davidson Twinsports championship this weekend after posting another race victory at New Hampshire International Speedway. Actually, all the Hansen Racing rider needed to do was to finish one lap to collect a few points and claim the championship, because second-placed Ben Bostrom was not here and third-placed Todd Evans was 33 points behind. For a while it appeared that Zampach would settle for a safe second place, but then he took the lead and won tl1e race. At the start, current LRRS Supertwins champion Chad Healy took the lead on his Meredith Harley 883, heading a pack consisting of Zampach, Evans, Mark Reynolas. Healy still held the lead as they began the second lap, but Reynolds had dropped back to seventh and had been replaced by Ron McGill. On the fourth lap, the lead pack split into a scrap for the lead between Healy and Zampach followed by Evans and McGill, who were dicing for third. On the sixth lap McGill took third from Evans and began to pull away from him, while Zampach swooped around Healy in turn six to take the lead. Zampach gradually pulled away from Healy as the laps wound down, finishing with over three seconds in hand. McGill and Evans were well-separated in third and fourth, and the main excitement in the last few laps was centered around a dispute over fifth between Brian Bodine and Brian Conley. It was resolved on the last lap when Conley passed Bodine. This was the season finale for this class, as the World Harley Finals, a tworace affair, will be held in its place at the final NASB event in two weeks at Day~ tona. P

• Cover