Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL C HAMPIONSHIP top 10 befo re having clutch problems, He continued to circulate, finally get ting cred ited with 19th. " Larry Pegram (72) tries in va in t o hold off a charging To m K1pp (16) and Aaron Yates (2). Kipp lurned up the heat, catching t he threesome batt lin g f or second . He ended up passing all 01 them to take t he ru n ner-u p s pot beh ind DuHamel. Bra inerd International Racewa y Bra ine rd , Minnesota Resu lts : Ju ne 29,1 997 (Round 6 0110) S UPE R BIKE Q UA LI FYING: 1. Pa scal Picotte (1:39.173 /108.901 mph); 2. Doug Chandler (1:392 17); 3. Miguel DuH.1mcl (1:39.365); 4. Tom Kipp 0 :39.519); S. Mat M1adin 0 :39.%9 ); 6. Gera ld Rothman Jr. (1:39.969); 7. Thomas Stev ens 0 :40.024); 8. Larry Pegra m 0 :40.(98); 9. "Thomas Wa so n (b W.305); 10. Aaron Yates 0 :40.494); 11. Stl'V!;' Crevier 0 :40.855); 12. Chris Ca rr (U l .517); 13 Doug Polen 0 :42.028); 14. Tripp Noblt'!> (1:42.034); 15. Tummy H a y d e n 0 :42 .155 ); 16 . Michd e l Bdrnr!'> (1:43.129); 17. Qut"lln i Kin g (1:44.645); 18. MdrL Millrr O :45.()('Ih); 19. Doll( Sno w (1:45.029); 20. nail" Kie ffer (1;45.244); 21. D.1nid Bailey (l :45.JJ6); 22. Christopher Rank in (1:45.5JO); 23. Richard Alexa nder Jr. (l :45.536); 24. Ia ecn Pridmore OA5.7H}; 25. Andy De atherage 0 :45 .757) ; ze. James Ran d olph (1:41).0 96); 21. Br ian Gibbs (I:4t>.1 In; 28. Anthony Lupo 0 :46.171); 29. Gn'S Fr yer 0 :~6.450); 30 . Eric MoE' 0 :46.65 1); 31. Ja mes Milr oy [r . 0 :47.251);.32. Jimmy Moore (1:47.494); 33 . John Jacobi (1:47.806); 34. Dean Miz da l 0 :47.829); 35. Mike Walsh 0 :48.100); 36. Roger Hendri ch 0 :48.152); 37. Shane ClarkI!0 :49.348); 38. Dav id Kieffer (1:49.470). SU PE RBI KE NATIONAL: 1. Migu el Duf-la mel (lion); 2. Tom Kip p (Ya rnl , 3. Mat Mladi n (Dud; 4. P" "".11 Picotte (Su z); 5. Dou g Chand ler (Kaw l; 6. Steve Crevier (l lon): 7. Thoman Stevens (Du el; 8. Aaro n Yates Picotte's washout abou t sev en laps left, I looked up and it looked like a whole s tra ightaway from me to Doug (Chand ler). I put my head down and tried really hard not to make a ny m ista kes bec ause if you ma ke a mistake in tum on e or tum tw o, you can lose a second . I just d id my best not to ma ke any mistakes and kept my eye on the lead ers. I chose a good tire and the Du nl op stuff wa s work in g g reat th is weekend . I co uld n' t as k fo r any thing more fro m tha t rear tire. Th e bik e was working great. " I jus t w anted to ma ke a pass and go " Kipp ad ded . "I did n't wa nt to have to make a pass twi ce on the sa me guy. 1 jus t tried to pick each guy off in a spot where I knew I could ge t a dri ve, And it worke d . I couldn 't see Miguel (D u Ha me l): he w a s n o where to b e found ." By then, MIad in had finally managed to shake Picotte, usin g traffic to keep the French Ca nad ia n at .bay. "With th ree laps to go, I go t back past him in the middle of some traffic, and I so r te d it ou t s o th ey'd drop ba ck in behind me wh er e he cou ld n' t ge t back past ," Mlad in sa id . "With tw o laps to go , he (Kip p) cam e fly ing past a nd I th ought it was Pas cal. I di dn ' t eve n know Tom wa s there. I looked over my shoulder a cou ple of times and I didn't see anyone. He must have been tuc ked in behind the others and I could n't see him . Anyhow, that's ho w it w en t. We we re happy to finish in fron t of Doug (Chand ler) a nd put another four points on him. We d id th e bes t we could d o tod ay with what we had ." Kipp's cha rge, though, had definitely caug ht him off-guard . 'That was stra nge. I hadn't seen him (Kip p) a ll race ," Mladin sa id. "I wa s wondering wh ere he ca me fro m, because he was nowhere to be see n earlier in the race. H e must have chosen a good tir e, a nd th e bi ke was wo rking good . We were o nly ru nn ing 39s and 4(),;, so it was a piss-poor effort from all of us - exce pt fo r him (Du l-larnel) and him (Kipp)." Picotte wa s a d isap poin ted fou rth, after think ing for most of th e race that he had seco nd in the bag. "I got held up by lapped traffic - big. big time ," Picotte sa id , abo com plaining ' ab ou t a front -end p u s h ca u se d by a worn righ t s id e of a d u al -compound front Dunl op tire. "Kipp screwed up my M 6 d rive a t the end , and in the little esses I got stuck behind two Superspo rt guys. I had to downshift one more gear. I really thou ght I had second covered . I thou gh t it was Dou g (Chandler) behind me ... I was just pushing the fro nt too mu ch . I co uld co ver Ma t (Mladin) ea sy . Kipp I don' t know; I didn't run wit h him." Chandler, too, was d isappo inted , but also relieved that he'd finis hed the race that alm ost cost him last year's cha mpionship. Alon e in sixth w as C revi er . "I ju s t ro de a good , co mfo r ta b le pa ce," Crevier said. "I th ought I had rear-ti re p ro blems but it was th er e . I th ink I shou ld have just tried harder. I ha d w a y m ore ti r e tha n I th ough t . I th ink th e chassis w as ju s t too loose und er me. 1 p refer something tighter. It was jus t a bad da y fo r me, o verall. 1 could n't stay wit h Kipp . He was on the m ove. He was like a rail throug h th e infield , and I pr obably held him up. But we're still good in the points." Down on po we r, Stevens bo tched his charge by trying too hard and ru nn ing off in turn thr ee. "It's very frustra ting," Stevens said . "Seventh sucks. I won ' t be happy until we win . Th e tea m ha s gi ve n m e a lt they' ve go t. A bit more tim e and we' ll be fin e . We're jus t in the no t-give-u p mode. On the 10th lap , I had a big slide in three and ran off the .track. After that , I just put my head dow n . It' s all part of our learning curve." Then came two di sgruntled Dunl opus ing Suzuki pilots - Yates and Pegram . "I picked the wrong tire:' Yates said. "I was told to use th e wrong tire. 1 los t th e fr ont o n ce in turn o ne a n d w ent almost to the grass, but the rear was th e problem. " Ditto for Peg ram : "I used a med ium front and it was g rea t," Pegram said. "But me and Aaron chose the same rear - everybody else had somet hing different. Th is tire is su p posed to be so meth ing the World Superbike guys used at Mo nza , bu t I was two seconds s lowe r than I was this morning. I don 't understa nd it. We ju s t watche d eac h o the r slide all over." Hayden w as 10th af ter co mi ng up short in a late-race battle with Pegram. Privateer Paul Harrell was 11th, keeping his s t reak of co n s iste n t top finishes in tact. Tille y' s Ha rl ey-D a vid son' s Tripp Nobles had his VR1000 just ou tside the T or re ntiill ra in a nd ligh tni ng las h ed out a t Brainerd International Raceway e n Sa turday afternoo n, w ashing out th e sch eduled fina l qua lifyi ng session and handin g p ol e p oaition to Yoshim ura Suz u ki's Pascal Picotte (right), based on his quick time from Frida y. It was the sixth superbike pole of Picotte's ca ree r. his first on a Suzuki, and hi... first since Sea rs Point in 1995. Picotte clicked off a 1:39.173 lap n 08.901 mph) on th e fas t a nd much -liked 3-mile Brainerd circu it to earn th e pro ... isional po le on Friday - a nd Sa tur day's d e-luge g ua ran teed that he'd be a ble to keep it . He m<1 Y also want to consid er a post -race career as a wea therman. H was hea ring that there might be showers in the I area on Satu rd ay, so 1 really tried to go as fast as I could today;" said Picotte on Frida y. "The wind real Iv made tum one difficult, so if conditions are better tomorro w, l think a track record is within rea ch." With rain falling hard prior to Sa turday's final session, Alessandro Gramigni' s I.1p record from last veer was safe. High ;"'inds plagued the Friday session, but it wasn't the only problem faced by the superbike me n on Friday. A blown motor left oil on the racing surface in tum one late in what became the- onl y qualifying ses.sion, and several riders, includ ing Picotte, said they wcre setting up to run their fastest laps onl y to ha ve to slow down because of the oil. One of those wa s Muzz y Kawasaki's Doug Chandler, who ended up second on the front row w ith his. 1:39.217 on Frid ay. " It was SoO wi ndy, especially in the first tw o turns," Chandler SOlid . "The re wa s a -t-mph speed difference in the first tum. Yesterday (Friday) , I used a qualifying tire, an d I went faster this morning wit h a race tire . I wanted to try a few mor e thin gs this afternoon (Satu rd ay), but hopefully w e can get through them tomorrow (in Su nda y morning's warmup). I think it's got a good chance of bei ng like it is today. res hard to s..lY how it would be aro und he re in the wet. It' s been so long since I've been around here in the we t - they'd have to give us some practice in it tom orrow. There art:' still a lo t of tire decisions to be ma de. There's a safe one and some marginal ones. The safe one is okay, but I w anted to try the oth er one a nd put some-laps on it." Roundi ng ou t the- front row we-r Smokin' Joc' s Honda ' s Miguel DuHamel an d Yamaha's e Tom Kipp, the pair lapping at 1:39.365 and 1:39.519, respectively. Dul-lamel. though, turned in some blazingly fast lap s in Saturday morning 's free practice • d session ru n in nearly perfect cond itions. "I' m really happy With the se tu p we- found ," Dul-lamel sa id .: "O n Frida y, I wasn 't riding really well and I wasn' t happy with my lap times. Then it went really good yesterday (Saturday) morning and I did a 38.4 0 :38.4). Maybe the rain hurt us; maybe it helped us. Nobody else was able to ca tch that lime. I did those fast tim e with a full tank of gas and with race tires. s I' m really harpy, but I'v e learned over the yea rs not to be too happy." Fast By Fcrra cd Du cati's Mat Mladin, the winner of the past 1\-\0'0 races and the most serio us threat to Chand ler' s hopes of d efending his superbi ke crown, en ded u p on the second row of the grid . The Australia n posted the fifth-fastest time on Friday - a time- mat ched Identically by his teammate Gerald Rothman Jr. Mladtn, thou gh , didn't a ppcn r worrie . d "We' re loo king all right, " Mladin sai d . H would have been nice to have a nother sessio n, It but everyone' s in the sa me boat for tom orrow. Sta rting on the second row isn't a problem here. We' ve only tried a coup le of tires so far, so it w ould ha ve helped to do m ore la ps. It'd be scary in the rain , but it would n't bot he r me. I ha ve n't ridd en in the rain for awhile - Ohio last year but it should be okay" The third Du cati o n the seco nd row was the Va nce & H ines 916 ridd en by Th omas Steve ns . Yoshim ura Suzuki's L lTry Pegram filled the second row after clocking a 1:40.098. Five di fferent manufacturers - Suzuki, Kaw asaki, Honda. Yamaha a nd Ducati - we re represented in the first five qua lifying positions. Harl ey-Davidson' s Thomas Wilson qua lified ninth, with his teammateChris Carr 12th. Picotte's po le was Suzuki's first-ever a t Brainerd . Honda leads the way wi th five Bra ine-rd .pole positions. Some riders, most notably Doug Polen, were ho ping for a wet race. "I f it rains... yeah, tha t would help a whol e lot," the Pirelli-using Polen said. 'We' ll ~. The bike' s not a real barn-burner a t this po in t. We pu t a d ifferent pipe on and that may help. We'v e also chan ged the ca m timin g and went back to last year's shock . I'm just trying to get a bc line se to what I had last year. Hopefully, it'll get me more gri p. I figure we're 14 to 15 horsepower down on the factory guys. I know wha t they' re like, beca use I ride the factory stuff overseas."

• Cover