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ROAD RACE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES AMAIPro Honda Oils 600cc Su ers art Series DuHamel by a whisker Miguel DuHamel (1), Aaron Yates (20) and Pascal Picotte (21) stayed claM for the duration of the 600cc Supersport final. By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 8 xtremely close racing in the 600cc Supersport class is the norm; especially' so on high-speed nice tracks. Road America is one of the fastest'in the series so, naturally, the 600cc Supersport race was a thrilling affair, with four, five and sometimes six riders knifing their way around the 4mile circuit in unison, oftentimes three abreast. The man with more experience than any other when it comes to the sometimes hostile racing environment of the 600cc class is Miguel DuHamel. On a clear and sunny day in Wisconsin, DuHamel and his Smokin' Joe's Honda were again the pairing that came out on top after a scintillating battle with a pair of Yoshimura Suiukis, ridden by Aaron Yates and Pascal Picotte. And it was ohso-close, with Yates crossing the line only .210 of a second behind, with Picotte just as close in third. The win was DuHamel's second of the four-race-old season and the 31st of his 600cc Supersport career, a mark that more than doubles the number of victories· of his nearest pursuer on the a11time win list. On this day, the King of the 600s was just tha t. Not only did DuHamel capture the hard-fought victory, but the win also moved him into the championship points lead for the first time in 1997. He now leads Picotte and Yates by five points, 131-126, with the Yosh pairing tied for second in the standings. Although it was those three who ended up clear of the rest at the very end, it wasn't always like that. Early on, the trio was joined by the resurgent ·Mike Smith on the Kinko's Kawasaki and Zero Gravity's Ben Bostrom. And they were joined by a sixth rider: peren- E 10 nial AMA 250cc Grand Prix Champion Rich Oliver, who is quickly learning the fine art of running with the big boys in the 600cc class. Oliver ended up passing Bostrom to finish a supersport-class-best fifth, one spot behind Smith, whose fourth-place finish was his finest of the year. . Bostrom was sixth, clear of a Jamie Hacking/Steve Crevier struggle that was won by the Kinko's Kawasaki rider in the closing stages. )3arnett Tools & Engineering's Matt Wait and HyperCycle Suzuki's Jason Pridmore rounded out the top finishers. It didn't take long for bad luck to strike pole-sitter Tom Kipp. The factory Yamaha rider diagnosed a problem on the warmup lap, but was helpless in fixing it and only turned a lap in the final. "I did half a warmup lap," Kipp explained. '1 thought the fuel was shut off. It's some kind of fuel-starvation problem. I'm surprised it ran ail the way to turn five. I couldn't find a problem, but when the race started... As soon as I got the clutch out, it started acting up. I did one lap and came in." By then, Yates had put himself in the top spot, leading Smith and Bostrom at the start, with Bostrom taking over as the pack hit Canada Comer fqr the first time. Bostrom continued to lead, and crossed the stripe first at the end of the opening lap, with Yates,· Smith, DuHamel, Picotte, Crevier and Hacking giving chase. "I got a good start and tried to make a little break if I could," Yates said. "But I realized that wasn't going to be possible. I just tried to save things and do the quickest laps that I could. DuHamel came by me and then it was just back and forth." Suddenly, DuHamel was in second after starting from the third row of the grid. And then, just as quickly, he was in the lead. That didn't last long, as Yates soon forged ahead. Those two would do the majority of the leading, at least at the start/finish line, though the lead changed with such regularity it was difficult for anyone to keep track. Doug Toland was next to go, crashing his Erion Honda in turn one. Then Larry Pegram fell from his Yoshimura Suzuki, pitting with a broken brake lever. By the fifth lap, the top four - DuHamel, Yates, Picotte and Smith - had put a gap on Bostrom, who was starting to feel pressure, in the form of Oliver. The all-time winningest AMA 250cc rider was coming to grips with his Yamaha YZF600, carrying impressive cornering speed to work his way forward. By the end of the sixth lap, the top six were together. "We knifed our way up througn there," Oliver said. "You've just got to jam it into the corner. You look like a total idiot out there, but so do they. (Miguel) DuHamel and those guys up there were racing hard and they slowed down. I had one, two, three, four, five bikes up there giving me a barn door to ride through. When the white flag comes out, they see dollar signs." . It was on that white-flag lap that DuHamel reaily put his head.down. The lead trio came up the front straightaway together, but neither Yates or Picotte could draft by DuHamel. Then came Smith, Oliver and Bostrom. "I just geared it wrong," Bostrom said. "The only way I could make up ground was to brake real late, but you can only do that for so long. At one point, I bumped with (Rich) Oliver - I was done after that. I can't wait for Loudon - a tight and nasty little track. I just wasn't there today." Picotte, who, like Oliver, didn't get off the line with the front-runners, ended up third. "I was trying hard, of course," Picotte said. ".here was one key corner for me and that was the kink. I was able to get a really good drive out of there to close the gap to these guys. That was pretty much the only comer where I had an advantage over these guys. They were braking really deep and late. They were slowing each other down, and that gave me a little break. I think Mike (Smith) was right in front of me, and something happened in the comer just before the Carousel. Someone went sideways - I don't know who it was - and I had to let off the throttle and jump almost onto the grass and come back. Oliver, and Ben (Bostrom), and a few guys went by me. I had to put my head down and try again." That incident almost cost DuHamel, who was badly balked and had to pick up the bike and run off-line. "For some reason, Aaron (Yates) didn't accelerate out of the corner like he normally does," DuHamel said. "I had to slam on the brakes right in the middle of the corner, and almost: washed ·out the front and crashed. That was odd. I don't know what he did that lap. It felt like 1 was motocrossing and he brake-checked me or something. It was really weird. Then he (Yates) came by me on. the front straighr and they were waving a yellow down the~e. I was reaily surprised, because he came flying by when 1 was almost into the corner. It was a waving yellow, so I don't know how they are going to rule on that. 1 .took time to point it out." f.N Road AmericaElkhart Lake, Wisconsin Results: June 8, 1997 (Round 4 of 11) 600cc SUPERSPORT, 1. Miguel DuHamel (Han); 2. Aaron Yates (Suu; 3. Pascal Picotte (5uz); 4. Mike Smith (Kaw); 5. Rich Oliver (Yam); 6. Ben Bostrom (Han); 7. Jamie Hacking (](aw); 8, Steve Crevier (Hon); 9. Matt Wait (Hon); 10. Jason Pridmore (5uz); 11. Eric Bostrom (Hon); 12. Andrew Stroud (Hon); 13. Todd Harrington (Kaw); 14. ToshiyuJd Hamaguchi (Hon); 15. David McGrath (502); 16. Tommy fiayden (Kaw); 17. Rad Greaves (Hon); 18. Kenichiro Iwahashi (Hon); 19. Mark Junge (Suz); 20. Mike Ciccotto (Kaw); 21. Steve Steinman (Kaw); 22..Daniel Fischer (Kaw); 23. Brian Gibson ($uz); 24. Jeff Williams (Hon); 25. Dax Snow (Suz); 26. James Bronson (Suz); 27. Richard Alexander Jr. (Suz); 28. Rkk Schopp (Suz); 29. Randall Mennenga (5U2); 30. Keith Wilson (Kaw); 31. Nelson Cardoso (~on); 32., Scott Ackerman (5uz); 33. Charles JandaJ (502); 34. Charles Rutherford (Suz); 35. Pablo E'scalante (Han); 36. Greg Myer (Suz); 37. Ray Yoder (Kaw); 38. Scott Diedrich (Suz); 39. Larry Pegram (Suz); 40. Ken Krebs (Su,z); 41. Keith Marquez (Suz); 42. Douglas Toland (Hon); 43. Greg Kahle (Suz); 44. Tom Kip? (Yam). Time: 23 min., 29.500 sec. Distance: 10 laps, 40 miles. Average speed: 102.164 mph. Margin of vidory: 0.210 sec. AMA 600« SUPERSPORT C'SHlP POINT STANDINGS (After 4 of 11 rounds): 1. Miguel DuHamel (13] 12 wins); 2. (TIE) Pascal Picottel Aaron Yates (126/2 wins); 4. Steve Crevier (lOS); 5: Mike Smith (92); 6. Jason Pridmore (91); 7. Rkh Oliver (89); 8. Jamie Hacking (82); 9. Ben Bostrom (79); 10. Andrew Stroud (77); 11. Eric Bostrom (65); 12. Doug Toland (64); 13. Tommy Hnyden (5?); 14. (TIE) Tom Kipp/Larry Pegram (56); 16. Todd Harrington (51); 17. Rad Greaves (49); 18. Richard Alexander Jr. (48); 19. Matt Wait (47); 20. Ma.rk Miller (41). Upcoming Rounds Round 5 - Loudon, New Hampshire. June 15 Round 6 - Brainerd. Minnesota. June 29 E~ FueisILubricants 250cc Grand Prix series ROIIIld 4: Road America No stopping Rich By Henny Ray Abrams ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 8 nother race, another record or two. On a warm, beautiful, sunny afternoon at Road America, Team Oliver. Yamaha's Rich Oliver won his fourth Elf Fuels/Lubricants 250cc Grand Prix race of the season and 14th in a row dating back through Daytona of 1996, a record which, until refuted, is considered the longest winning streak by an AMA professional of any kind. It was his 36th career 250cc GP win, extending his own record, and sixth in Elkhart Lake, a A

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