Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

par them off, and by the second lap I was in third place." Sands moved into second with Renfrow's untimely departure, and he ran unmolested for a good portion of the race. But as the laps wound down the battling pair of Wait and Foster turned up the heat and reeled in the Long Beach, California, resident. Wait found his way by Sands near the end of the race, but Sands answered, retook the runner-up spot and held it to the fini h. Wait finished third followed by his main competition in the race, Foster, who was still suffering the lingering effects of his Daytona crash that left him seriously injured, unable to make an attempt at overtaking Wait. "They found a new break in the top part of my hip:' Foster said. "You can actually feel the bones rubbing against each other. So my back, the muscles are actually trying to hold everything in place, and my back gets spasms." Behind Foster was Moto Liberty'S Toshiyuki Hamaguchi in fifth, riding his injured teammate Ken lwahashi's bike in his American 250cc GP debut. Former 250cc All Japan Championship racer Hamaguchi got off to a strong start - a little too strong according to the AMA as he was forced to pit for a stop-and-go penalty on the third lap. Hamaguchi was running around fourth when he pitted, then re-entered the race in ] 9th and blazed back through the field to finish a distant fifth. "I only stopped for a moment - two or three seconds," Hamaguchi said through a translator. "After stopping I didn't think about position, I just didn't want to crash again." His concern carne from his earlier efforts in the 600cc and 750cc Supersport races. Both he crashed in. Team Zero Gravity's Bobby Keith finished sixth, followed by Broward Motorsports' Quenni King and Datatag North America's Robin Holiday. World Motors' Thomas Montano and Gold Hill-sponsored Brady Welton filled the top 10. As a result of his third win and third point for most laps led, Oliver has a perfect ]08 points. Sands sits second with 80, followed by Keith with 70, and Greg Esser, who finished]] th, with 66. Crasher Renfrow drops to fifth with 64 points. Renfrow had actually gotten the holeshot at the beginning of the race, but Oliver had only to wait until turn five to take the lead he would never relinquish. Renfrow, meanwhile would settle into a comfortable second place with no thought of trying to run the flying Oliver down, but rather worried about the threat from behind. "I was a little worried about it (a challenge for second):' Renfrow said about his run in second until his lap-]3 crash. "I knew there were a couple of guys who had gone as fast as me in practice and the heat races and I was worried about having a bad string in traffic, so I wasn't exactly cruising, but at that stage I was also being real careful ·in traffic. I don't know why I fell." , As it turns out he really didn't have anything to worry abou t since Sands had by that time done the same as Renfrow - given up on catching the man in front of him. "I thought maybe I could catch him but I saw the gap staying about the same and I was riding hard and had a couple big moments corning out of four:' Sands said of the roughly threesecond gap to Renfrow. "So I just kind of settled in where I was. Then I came around and saw him off in the dirt over there, and I was like, oh, bummer. But 1 just kept riding it and keeping my head in it." Sands had briefly tussl.ed with Wait at the start of the race as they came from their deep-in-the-pack starting positions to top five spots in the ma tter of two laps, with Wait passing Sands early, only to be left behind again. "I didn't know what to expect from this race, starting from the 10th row:' Wait said. "You've got a lot of traffic to get through, and 1 figured the only way I'm going to have a chance at finishing near the top was just to get through on the first and second lap. That's basically what me and Roland did. I passed Roland. between turns two and three and then he got me back, and then we kind of set sail going through the pack and started working on Foste,." Meanwhile, Hamaguchi had been running fourth when he was forced to pit for a stop-and-go penalty for his jumped start. Harnaguchi rejoined the race in ] 9th, was eighth by the end of lap ]] and passed Keith for fourth by the end of the ]6th lap. Hamaguchi would finish the race there, well behind the leaders. As Sands broke away early a fine battle between Foster and Wait ensued as they fought over what was fourth and then third after Renfrow's crash. They traded the spot furiously in the early laps but by the end of lap seven Foster looked to be pulling away. Foster, however, was having a difficult time setting the consistent pace he was after, the one that would allow him to pull away. "I couldn't get consistent:' Foster said. "My back would tighten up and I'd loosen it up by sitting up, but it would tighten up again. We had some really good times, but I couldn't do them consistently." Wait fell slightly behind for a while,' but a few laps after the halfway mark he clawed his way back into striking distance. In the meantime, he and Foster had also managed to reel in Sands, setting up Wait's opportunity to take over second place. "I could see Roland and he was way out ahead of us:' Wait said. "I think with me and Foster battling together we used each other to catch Roland. Once we caught Roland I didn't want to have anything to do with Foster anymore, so I tried to get by Roland so me and him could get away from Foster, and that's what happened." Sands was surprised to see WaH corne by. '1 looked at my lap board and could have sworn I saw plus four, then Matt blows by me on the brakes and I thought, 'That's not plus four, that's plus nothing:" Sands said. "I got him back corning up the front straight. I knew I had to get back by him because there were only a few laps left. Once I got by him I knew I had to put my head down and get a gap so he couldn't get back by me, and he didn't. I'm just very happy to finish second - especially coming from 36th. By the time Sands had repassed Wait, the' Honda rider was indeed safe from the tiring Foster. "When Roland got back by me I had a little cushion, so Foster couldn't get me at the finish," Wait said. '1t worked out really well. I wanted Roland, but I couldn't have him, so I'm happy with what I've got." What he got was third. Foster finished fourth and was happy to have done as well as he had. "The last three laps were really hard," Foster said. "I saw those guys and said, 'You know what? Fourth is good.' I thought I was going to start at the front and fade to seventh, so I'm happy. I'm really looking forward to the next race." Well off the pace of the leaders came Hamaguchi in fifth with Keith some distance behind him in sixth. Keith managed to take the spot from Michael Montoya about halfway through the race. '1 got by Montoya and he stuck right behind me for a while:' Keith said. "Then one lap I looked back and he was nowhere. He wasn't even there." Montoya had crashed in turn five about five laps from the end after having been passed by Hamaguchi. "It just crossed up and I couldn't get it back:' Montoya said. "I thought 1'm not going to catch these guys so just be smooth: About two laps later, being smooth, it let go while I was behind Harnaguchi." l"X Laguna 5eca Raceway Monterey, California Results: April 20, 1997 (Round 3 of 10) ELF FUELSILUBRlCANTS AMA 250<:< GRAND PRIX FINAL: 1. Rich Oliver (Yam); 2. Roland Sands (Yam); 3. Matt Wait (Han); 4. Mark Foster (Yam); 5. Toshiyuki Hamaguch; (Hon); 6. Bobby Keith (Hon); 7. Quenni King (Yam); 8. Robin Holiday (lion); 9. Thomas Montano (Han); 10. Brady Welton (Ya.m); 11. Greg Esser (yam); 12. Brain Carbellini (Yam); 13. Perry Mefneciuc (Hon); 14. John Fr.,"", (Hon); 15. Leon Cortes (Yam); 16. Jeffrey Vos (Han); 17. Keller lGng (Yam); 18. Hikaru Miyagi (Hon); 19. John Bugoyne (Hon); 20. Derek King (Hon); 2]. Roque Torres (Hon); 22. Daniel Reeser (Yam); 23. Jeff Hoeppner; 24. Joshua Hageman (Yam); 25. Aurelio Peccei (Yam); 26. Steve Mayeau (Yam); 27. Jeff OrtJip (Yam); 28. Roy De Groot (Hon); 29. Andrew Edwards (Yam); 30. Richard Snowden (Hon); 31. Corey McCecncy (Yam); 32. Colin Gilbert (Yam); 33. Aaron Nichols (Yam); 34. Kent Shoemake.r; 35. David Gibbs (Yam); 36. Kelly Jones (Hon); 37. Tom Christian (Hon); 38. Mike Dambrogia (Yam); 39. Cristian Scheib (Hon); 40. Kelly Newman (w-Rl. Ttme: 25 min.• SO.no sec. Distance: 17 laps. 38.046 miles. Average speed: 88.325 mph. Margin of victory: 31.950 sec. ELF FUELSlLUBRlCANTS AMA 250« GRAND PRIX CHAMPlONSHJP POlNT STANDINGS (Af'u3 of 10 rounds): 1. R;ch OUver (108/3 w;ns); 2. Roland Sands (90); 3. Bobby Keith (70); 4. Greg Esser (66); 5. Randy Renfrow (64); 6. John France (S8); 7. (TLE) Perry Melneciuc/Matt Wait (56); 9. Hikaru Miyagi (54); 10. Marlc Foster (S3); 11. Leon Cortes (49); 12. Chri5 Rogers (48); 13. Quenni King (44); 14. S",dy Welton (42); 15. (TIE) Dereck King/Thomas Montano (35); 17. Kenidtiro lwabashi (30); 18. luis l.avado (28); 19. (TIE) Toshiyuki HamagudU/John McGuffin... (26). Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 8 Round 5 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 15 AMA Progressive Insurance Har!ey-Davidson SuperTwins Series Round 3: Laguna seca Raceway Lagwagons By Scott Rousseau Photo by Kinney Jones MONTEREY, CA. APR. 20 ivalry is still the name of the game in the Progressive Insurance HarleyDavidson SuperTwins Series. Whereas last year's title chase between Ben Bostrom and ultimate series winner Matt Wait went to the R Rich Oliver (1) put another win under his belt - his 13th in a row - In the 250cc GP class. Randy Renfrow (2) crashed while In second. wire, the current edition of the series, which also happens to include another Bostrom at the top of the points race, has so far been a runaway as far as the series is concerned. Eric Bostrom, Ben's younger brother, has consistently been able to defeat archrival Shawn Higbee in each of the 883 contests held thus far to remain perfect in the series. He did so again at Laguna Seca, scoring his third win in as many rounds after another tooth-and-nail battle with - you guessed it - Higbee. It appeared as though the race might showcase a four-rider battle when the 2D-rider field boomed off the grid and headed up under the bridge to turn one as Bostrom on his Miller Electrical Construction entry and the Cycles ]28backed Higbee were joined initially by Bartels' Harley-Davidson rider Jake Zemke and World Motors' David Estok. They didn't all get away cleanly either; Bartels' rider Jody Hendley low-sided in turn three and slid off into the gravel trap on the opening lap. Hendley remounted to finish 17th. Bostrom and Higbee quickly left Estok and Zemke behind as they set about as torrid a pace as is possible on 883s. By the first lap, the pair had a stout four-second cushion on Estok, who claimed a lonely third place while Cox's H-D/Tilley's H-D rider Lance Jones and . American/ Asphalt and Grading/Las Vegas H-D rider Jess Roeder ran in fifth and sixth place just behind Zemke. Bostrom led it back to the stripe only to be overtaken by Higbee on the uphill approaching the corkscrew. Higbee remained in control for the remainder of the lap, but it was only the beginning of the seesaw affair. The lead would change between the Bostrom/Higbee duo some 23 times.during the race. AMA Grand National Championship regular Brett Landes was the next rider to hit the ground, losing control in turn five._ Landes was uninjured and returned to the pits. Estok remained alone in third while Jones closed up on Zemke and made the pass for fourth on lap five. Harley-Davidson of Citrus Heights rider Matthew Guidera also entered the picture at this point as he shot past Roed.er and would soon overtake Zemke for a shot at Jones. There were already some nine lead changes by that point. The rider who was able to get the run on the uphill in the back section of the course seemed to have the clear ad vantage back to the stripe. For most of the race that was Higbee, who was able to repeatedly dive under Bostrom at the entrance turn eight. "It's a little difficult to do that:' Higbee said. "But you just have to stick it in there and make it work." Bostrom soon foiled Higbee's scheme, though, as he began to success-

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