Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES (Left) Eric: Bostrom (2) and Shawn Higbee (3) had a race-long battle in the SuperTwins final at Laguna Sec:a, The win eventually went to Bostrom, his third straight victory in the class. (Below) Doug Toland (3) leads his Erion Racing teammate and eventual winner Andrew Stroud (1) and Paul Harrell (74) In the Formula Xtreme final. fully pass Higbee on the downhill through Rainey corner (turn nine) and also on the brakes into turn 11. "Shawn always does a terrific job, but there were certain parts of the track where I felt I could do better than him," Bostrom said. "I felt really confident on the brakes." There were 11 lead changes by the midpoint of the 12-lapper as leader Higbee and Bostrom raced under the halfway flags side by side. One lap later Bostrom held the lead into the corkscrew only to be passed by Higbee in turn 10 and then outbrake him into 11 to make another pass around the outside. The scenario replayed itself.on lap nine with Bostrom almost running off the track in turn nine as he used the alligator bumps to make a pass attempt on Higbee, who yielded the point once again up the front straight. "With our gearing, if you scrub oW too much speed in the corner, a guy's going to pull a length on you," Higbee said. "Our bikes were pretty much equal in that respect." . Higbee led Bostrom when the pair took the white flag, but Bostrom finally gained a clear advantage when he latebraked in turn two and came off the corner with a one bike-length advantage. Somehow, Bostrom was able to pull clear, and though Higbee tried to remain in the hunt, a lapper ultimately spoiled his chances. Bostrom wicked it up and pulled away to the win. "I pushed real hard on the last lap," Bostrom said. "I wanted to get away earlier than that, but as you can see, I didn't. I guess I just lucked out today. 1 feel lucky. It was a great race." Higbee came home second with Estok continuing to run alone in third for the entire distance. "I was there with them in the beginning, but then I hit a false neutral and they got out on me," Estok said. "Then and I hate to say it because it's the same old excuse I had last year - my arms started to pump up. But it was a fun race. The worst part of it was that those guys got away and looked like they were up there having a blast." Guidera crossed the line fourth, but his motorcycle failed to pass the postrace tech inspection and he was disqualified. With the results adjusted, Jones wound up fourth and Roeder fifth. t.~ Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, Cal"omia Results: April 20, 1997 (Round 3 of 11) AMA PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE SUPER· TWINS FINAL: 1. Eric Bostrom; 2. Shawn H.igbee; 3. David Estok; 4. Lance Jones; 5. Jess Roeder; 6. Jake Zemke; 7. Shaun Russell; 8. Mike Voelker; 9. Jeffrey Johnson; 10. Jeff Eklund; 11. Perry Melneciuc; 12. Sean Loll.,; 13. Gary Rogers; 14. je"}' Casaero j,. 15. Robert Brown; 16. JOOy Hendley; 17. Robert Bussey; 18. Otance Darling; 19. Brett Land... Time: 20 min., 22.520 sec. Distance: 12 laps, 26.856 miles. Average speed: 79.084 mph. Margin of "ktory.: 0.230 sec. . AMA PROGRESSIVE INSURA CE HARLEY· DAVIDSON SUPERTWI S SERIES POINTS STANOlNGS (After 3 of 11 rounds): 1. Eric Bostrom (107/3); 2. Shawn Higbee (97); 3. Da"id Estok (86); 4. mEl jake Zemke/Lance jon.. (79); 6. Shaun Russell (72); 7. jess Roed., (71); 8. jody Hendley (65); 9. JO")' Casciero j,. (47); 10. (TIE) PO")' Melneciuc/Gary Rogers (46); 12. Mike Voelk., (43); 13. jeffrey Johnson (39); 14. Sean Lollar (36); 15. Robert Brown (32); 16. Nate Wait (2B); 17. Steve Vlasblom (25); 18. Chad Healy (23); 19. (TIE) Darryl C",dsby /jeff Eklund (21). Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 • Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 8 Round 5 • Loudon, New Hampshire, June 15 AMA Pirelli Formila Xtreme Series Round 2: Laguna Seca Raceway Stroud has them covered By Mark Hoyer Photo by Kinney Jones MONTEREY, CA, APR. 19 t the end of qualifying for the . Pirelli Formula Xtreme class, chances of racing excitement seemed pretty slim. First to last on the 32-man grid was covered by nearly 13 seconds, two of those coming between fastest qualifier Andrew Stroud and his Erion Racing teammate Doug Toland. Stroud did what was expected, breaking away from Toland and Attack Racing's Paul Harrell with ease to ride on to the win by a better than 10-second margin. When Harrell pulled off just after the halfway point, so did any chance for continued drama associated with settling the remaining podium spots as Harrell had been dicing with Toland for second until he left the race. "We didn't have any practice Thursday so we decided to run this Formula Xtreme thing because it was only 30 bucks," Harrell said referring the half- A price entry special the AMA gave fOT the fledgling class to ensure the grid would have more riders than a t the opening round in Phoenix. "I wasn't even going to run the race. At the last minute we decided to go out and run it and just use it for practice. So I went out and v:-as playing and just having a good time. Every time I go to the AMA races I watch all the races and that race is one of the most boring there is. It's obvious. That's why they're only charging you 30 bucks. I never had any intention of finishing." "He was pretty fast," Toland said. "But he'd come out of 11 waving and looking around and stuff, so how much was he on the throttle? He was out there waving at the crowd in the corkscrew and everything. He was screwing around, you know? Was he racing or was he playing? He didn't finish and maybe that's what you get for not taking it seriously." Actually, a fine is what you get for not taking it seriously - Harrell was riding a superbike, one without a functioning charging system or starter as the rules require - and was fined $300. "If 1 would have known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have done it," Harrell said. "1 was just trying to have some fun and entertain the crowd." After Harrell was gone, Toland circulated alone in second with a huge gap . back to an equally lonesome James Randolph, who was using the race as a tuneup for the 750cc Supersport race that followed. "I just took it easy and kept those guys (Toland and Harrell) in sight," Hooters-backed Randolp.h·said. "I know Paul Harrell was probably under suspicion because I'd seen that t.h!ng in superbike all weekend. But I saw I had an II-second lead (over fourth), and 1 really didn't have to ride any faster than I was. Pretty uneventful. I was just getting ready for 750cc Supersport." The only real racing came in the fight over fourth involVing Dats Racing's Dale Kieffer, Paul Mumford and Hooters-backed Brian Gibbs. Ultimately Kieffer would take the spot from Mumford after their late-race scrap that saw Gibbs drop back. Stroud has a perfect 72 points from his pair of wins and leading the most laps in each race thus far. Toland is second with 64 followed by Randolph with 60. Toland grabbed the holeshot and early lead, hanging on to it until turn 11 when Stroud came by to head the pack at the end of the second lap. From that point on, Stroud simply walked away, piling seconds on to his lead with every lap. The multi-time New Zealand Superbike Champion had as much as half a minute in hand and backed it down to a comfortable pace to the end. "After it (the lead) got up to about plus nine or 10 seconds I just made sure I passed all the traffic really cleanly," Stroud said. "I iust want to keep winning races and staying on the bike. The way the points system is now, you drop one race it makes it very difficult." "I knew Andrew would come by," said Toland, who was suffering from an inflamed muscle in his righ t forearm. "When you twist the throttle, it uses that muscle. When you grab the brakes it uses that muscle. It's quite painful. Anyway, so that slowed me down a little bit. Andrew got away after a couple laps and I rode around with Paul Harrell. He dropped out for whatever reason, 1 have no idea why. I was just sort of hanging back and letting the laps go down and after Paul dropped out it was no problem." Toland would finish some 10 seconds behind Stroud, with Randolph another 14 behind him. The fight for fourth between Kieffer and Mumford lasted until the later laps, each rider fast on different parts of the track. . "Coming down out of the corkscrew into turn 10 1 could really reel him in," Kieffer said. "But he's good on the brakes in 11, and everywhere else he'd just outpower me so I had to really work to pass him under the bridge (turn nine)." Pass him he did, and Mumford couldn't answer, settling for fifth at the flag. "I guess he was right behind me the whole way around, and I guess two laps from the end he came around me going into turn 10, and 1 just couldn't get back around him again," Mumford said. 1:1\: Laguna Sec:a Raceway Monterey, Camomla Results: April 19, 1997 (Round 2 of 9) AMA PlRELLI FORMULA XTREME FINAL, 1. Andrew Stroud (}ion); 2. Doug Toland (Hon); 3. James Randolph (So2); 4. Dale Kieffer (Suz); 5. Paul Mumfoed (Kaw); 6. Brian Gibbs (5uz); 7. Mike Krynock a

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