ROAD RACE
AMA NATIONAL C
HAMPIONSHIP
ROAD RACE SERIES
Round 6: Brainerd International Raceway
(Left)Jason Pridmore
battled iffyracing
conditions to win the
750Cc Supersp ort final.
10
Migu el's draft ins tead of Rich's dra ft. I
went by Miguel and I knew Rich was a
little slowe r th an he was in the beginning in on e. I jus t kept it wide open and
I closed the gap on him. Then I made a
mo ve o n th e inside of three and ju st
kind of blocked the line. I tried to slow
down and kill his midcorner speed and
ge t a d rive out. After that, I didn't think
Rich was going to be able to ge t me on
th e insi de, unless Aa ron ... he was th e
gu y I was worried about, because he can
pr et ty mu ch ou tbrake me anywhere on
the inside. If you brake a little later, he'll
bra ke later a n d later a n d later a nd
later."
Yates' hard -b ra ki ng m o ve wo u ld
com e, but not to Picotte. Instead, Yates
was forced to try a final -tum move on
Oliver for second pl ace. O live r co u ntered, th o ugh, u sing kn owled ge he'd
gained back in 1979 - when Yates was a
six-yea r-o ld o n a pl aygrou nd in Geor gia.
.
"Aaron (Yates ) reall y ran me down
hard there at the end," Oliver explained.
" But in 1979 a t Riv ersid e, go i ng in to
Boil er Plate Tu rn Nine, I remembered
th at a g uy who goes underneath real
hard always en ds up wide. If you go in
wide, yo u' ll end up tight and yo u can
m aybe beat h im o u t of th e turn . Th e
same thing here . I was hoping that was
going to happen."
It d id, and Oliver was a career-bes t
second .
"I wa s thinki ng thalthis wa s the only
pla ce I w a s going to be ab le to go,"
Yates ex p lai ned. "The prev ious lap, I
was kind of looking to see w here everyone was br ak ing. I w en t in the re an d
Rich (Oliver) jus t kept going lower and
lower. I was on the inside of him coming in and I kept going lower and lower .
I was thinking, 'Man, I'v e never come in
down here before.' Then I went all th e
wa y out and almost went int o the dirt
over here."
River sid e in 1979 di d n' t help Oli ver
in his efforts to hold off Picotte, but in
the fast world of Supersp ort racin g, it' s
not often easy.
"I wa s thinking to prot ect the inside,
but it' s so hard to p rotect th e in side
whe n yo u' re ra cin g top guys," Oliver
sa id . "They' re going to put it in there if
they can . 50 I was thinking, 'Well, try
not to go back too far. Don 't make too
many mistakes.' A lot of times, it's out
of your hands. You're doin g your maximum, and I was doing my maximum. I
came up seco nd , but I feel good abou t
that."
Still smarting from his one-lap penalty for passing under a waving yello w
flag at Loudon (see Briefl y... >. Picotte
realizes it's going to be tough to haul in
D u Ha mel in t he series s ta n d ings
despite winning his thir d race of the sea son.
"I f we don't ge t pen alized , it's go ing
to be a lot eas ier, if you kn ow w hat I'm
saying," Picotte sa id . "The team is really
behind u s and we' ve p ro ved alread y
that we can w in races. The re's no doubt
in our mind, but wh en so meone penalizes us and puts us behi nd - it ma kes the
job a lot tou gh er. You have to count on
some th ing happen ing to the o ther guys.
That's not the way we wa nt to go racing.
We want to bea t him . We don't wan t to
get penalized and ge t beat. This is not
L"'i
winning fair and square."
>
Brai nerd Int ern ati onal Raceway
Bra inerd , Minnesota
Resu lts: June 29, 1997 (Round 6 of 11)
6OOc:cSUP ERSP ORT: 1. Pascal Picotte (Suz ); 2. Rich
Oliver (Yam ); 3. Aaron Yates (Su z); 4. jamie Ha ck ing
( Kaw); 5 . Mig uel Du H a m e l ( Hon); 6. Ben Bostrom
(Ho n); 7. Stev e C revier (Ho n); 8. Eric Bostrom (Hon); 9.
Tom Kipp (Vitm ); to. Larry Pegram (Suz) ; 11. Malt Wa il
(H on); 12. And rew Stroud (Hon ), 13. Mik e Sm ith (Kaw);
14. Jason Pridmore (Su z); 15. Todd Harri ngt on (Kaw );
16. Owe n Weichel (Kewl: 17. Tommy H ayden (Kaw):
18. Ken Mel vi lle {Hon ), 19. Do u g To land (H on ); 20 .
Ste ve Johnson (Kaw); 21. Richa rd A lexander Jr . (Su z);
22. Mark Miller (Sw ); 23. Rad G rea ves (Hon): 24. Sean
Kowalsk i (Ho n); 25. Ray Yoder ()(a w ); 26. Greg Kah le
(Su z); 27. Bradl ey Zajic:(Suz ); 28. Jason Farrell (He n): 29.
Brant Frrt"burK (Hon); 30. Daniel Fischer (Kaw); 31. Dax
Sno w (SUL) 32. Scutt Ackerman (SUL) 33 . Troy Burs tyk
;
;
(Kaw): 34. Ch a rjes Jond.ll (Su z); 35. D.m id Brody (.<;111:);
36. Rand.lll Menrenega (Su z); 37 . Kl'ith W ilso n (Ka w ):
38. Jameo; Dot>Jflcr (Yam); 39. Cha rles Rutherford (5u1:);
40 . Kurt Marmor ( Ho n }: 41. Rick Sc ho p p (Su z ); 42 .
Tos hiy uki Hameguchi (Hon l; 4J. Mike Ciccotto O1 (192 / 3 wins ); 2.
Pa sca l Picotte (178 /3); 3. Aaron Yates (175 ); 4 . Steve
Crevit-r (161 ); 5. Rich O ttver (145); 6. jason Pridmore
( 34); 7. Jamil," Ha cki ng ( 26); 8. And rew St roud ( 20); 9.
Ben Bostrom ( 118); 10. Eric Bos tro m (11 6); 11. Mi ke
Smi th mO); 12. Larry Pegram (07); 13. Do ug Toland
(96); 14. To m Kip p (93); 15. To mmy Ha yd e n (92).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 7 ~ Monterey. California. July 13
Round 8 - Lexington, Ohio. J uly 20
AMAlTeamline 750Cc S
upersport series
Round 6:B
rainerd Inte tional Raceway
rna
Pridmore
perseveres
By Paul Carruthers
Photo by Henny Ray Abr ams
BRAINEl\D, MN,JUNE 28
y p e r C Ycl e ' s . Ja son Pridmore
didn't sit a ro u nd prio r to th e
s ta r t of th e 750cc Teaml in e
Supers port final a t Br ai ne rd International Ra ceway. In st ead , he s tu d ied .
H
Watching from turn one as th e Formula
Xtreme r ace was ru n, Pridmore p aid
close at te n tio n to the w a ter spraying
from the back ti res of th e bi g-b ores.
Then, in a furt her effort to find the line
with the least amou nt of water o n it, he
took his tim e to pay close attention to
track co nd itio ns on th e warmup lap .
And it paid off.
Des pite a sluggis h sta rt, Pridmore
was able to slip and slide his way to the
front of the pack on an absolutely miser able day in Min nesot a . Once th er e, he
found it to his likin g, and carried on to
w in his fourth race of the season - fur ther bolstering his lead in th e cha mp ionshi p po int standings.
It was a good da y for Pridmore and a
good day for HyperCycle Suzuki. Pridmore's tea m ma te Mark Miller also carne
on stro ng afte r a less-than-stellar start ,
eve ntua lly working hi s wa y up to seco nd afte r a race-long ballle with Team
Su zuki Sp o rt's Richard Alex and er Jr.
Those two had caught Scott Ruehle with
the local hotshot finishing an impress ive
fo u r th d espi te r id in g with a broken
thumb.
OAT s Racing 's Dale Kieffer con tinued his consis ten t season with a fifthplace finis h in th e iffy racing conditions .
With a torrential downpour flooding
the tr ack ea rlier in th e da y, th e 750cc
Superspo rt race go t under way after the
Formula Xtre me final - and after mainten an ce cre ws u sed variou s method s,
including a helicopter, to di splace th e
water . Whil e cond itions wer e s till iffy,
. each and every lap saw the track in bet ter condition for racing.
Ma nsso n Technol o gi es' M icha e l
Barnes grabbed the holeshot at th e start
of th e 13-lap race , but his run at th e
front only lasted until the third corne r.
Th at's wh en Alexander jumped to th e
lead .
"1saw he wa s being timid in the first
twu comers," Alexander said . "I kn ew I
had to get through and try to pull away.
Soo n a ft er, Jaso n (P r id mo re) ca m e
along ."
Alexander held th e lead for th e first
lap, but Prid mo re was soo n in tow after
d isposing of Barnes. Prid more then sho t
past Alexander heading into turn three
at the sta rt of the second lap - and that
was all she wrote.
"Jaso n (Prid more) just chec ked ou t,"
Alexander said later .
.
"My s ta r ts the las t co u p le of ra ces
ha ven 't been that great, bu t today wa s a
little bit better," Pridmore said . "I wa s
able to pass, like, three gu ys in the first
turn on the first lap. I just wanted to ge t
o u t to a fi ve-seco nd lead and w he n I
d id, I just put it o n cruise control. It was
nice to just get into the lea d a nd just
cruise. In the se cond itions, if you ge t off
line just a little bit , yo u ca n fall o ve r
really easily."
But things beh ind Pridmore we re far
fro m se ttl e d . Alt ho ug h Al exa nder
seem ed rather comfortable in th e spot
early on, h e w a s destined to come
under attack - first from Ruehl e, who
cha rged fro m well back a t h is home
race track to take ove r seco nd place on
the fifth lap - then fro m Miller . Miller,
o n the second H yperCycl e Su zuki
GsX R750, had started slowly but was
on the move. But by the time he caug ht
alexa nde r, Ru eh le had pulled out a
co mfortable gap on what was now a
fo u r -way battl e for th ir d be tween
Alex and er - who had run off the track
at on e point - Miller , Kieffer and Brian
Gibb s.'
,
By the I I th lap , however, Alexander
and Miller had pulled away from Kieffe r and Gibbs an d w ere cl o s ing o n
Ruehle. On th e final lap , the three were
to gether, with b oth Alexa nde r a n d
Miller passing th e resi dent of nearby
Saint Cloud .
"I knew they'd be co ming ," Rueh le
said . "My br oth er told me (wi th arm signal s) that th ey wer e coming. I thou ght
I'd be able to go th e whole way, but .I
go t tired. We had to change the engine
be fore the race. We had 40 minutes and
we did it. Brew er Racing gav e me what
it took to be here. Th ere wa s only o ne
line in turn tw o, but I took the wet line
o n the ou tsi de. Th at' s w here I pa ssed
every body. I knew that beca use it's my
home track . I thou ght I could catch him
(Prid more), but he must have turned it
up. I p ro bably go t co m p lace nt a t th e
end."
. Still, fourth pla ce wa s Ruehle's bes tJ
ever AMA finish.
Af ter moving around Ru ehle, the
battle for second was whittled down to
two: Ale xander and Miller, wi th Miller
able to .take the po sition for good with a
pa ss in turn four. Alexa nder co ul d n't
co u ntera tt ac k and th e runner -up s pot
went to Miller, his best finish of the season.
"I was pr etty fa r back in the beginning laps and I wa sn 't su re if I co u ld
catch th e lead gu ys," Miller sa id . "I just
kept m y head down and picked off a
few at a time, I finall y ca u g h t up to
Rich Alexander an d w e ha d a really
ni ce s w a p fes t fro m mid r a ce on . I
almost crashed rea lly bad in turn three
midway through; I bas ically high-sided
and landed ba ck on top of it. I gathered
it back up and we caught the number68 gu y on the last lap with a d oubledraft."
,~
Brainerd International Raceway
Brainerd, Minne sota
Results: June 28, 1997 (Round 6 of 10)
750(( SUPERSPORT: l. j ason I'ridmore tSu z); 2.
Mar k M iller (Suz) : 3. Richard A lexander Jr . (Su z) ; 4.
Scott Ruehle (5uz); 5. Dale Kieffer (Suz); 6. Brian Gibb5
(Suz ); 7. Michael Baml.- (Suz); 8. Doug Polen (5 u z); ~.
':!
Dax Snow (Suz); to. John Jacobi (Suz ); 11. Chris Rankin
(5uz); 12. Ben Bostrom (Ho n); 13. Mike Ckrotto (J(aw);
14. Sean Ni nnema n (Suz) ; 15. Anthony Lupo (502) ; 16.
Ray Yoder (Kaw); 17. Terry Teske (Suz) ; 18. Jeffrey Purk
(Suz); 19. Rad Gre aves (Suz ); 20. Eric Herbison (Yam );
21. Dan iel Fischer (Ya m) ; 22. Daniel Brody (Suz); 23 .
Ma rk McDa niel (Su z ); 24 . Kei th Marquez (S uz); 25 .
Keith Wilson (Ka w ); 26. Soott Ackerman (Suz); 27. Brock
[uusola (Hon); 28. Eric Hauge (Yam ); 29. Jimmy Moore
(Suz ); 30. Larry Pegram (Suz); 31. Mikt> Sm ith (Kaw); 32
Owen WeichI.'! (Kaw); 33. Da niel Bailey (Su z); 34. Ja mes
Randolph (Suz) : 35. Shane Cla rke (Suz ).
Time 23 min., 9.140 sec .
Di",t.lncf': 13 laps, 3Qmilt:'!<
Average sr-d: 101.071 m ph
M.lrgin of victory: 7.100 !ROC
.
AMA 1SOcc SUPERSPO RT CHAMPIONSH IP POI NT
STANDINGS (Afte r 6 of 10 ro un ds): 1. Jason Pri dmore
(208 / 4 wins): 2. Ben Bostrom (165); 3. Da le Kieffer 0341;
4. Do ug Polen 0 17/1 w in) ; 5. Rich ard Alexand er Jr .
(08); 6. (TIE) John Iecob r/ Da x Snow (04); 8. (TIE)
Mark McDaniel /Mark Miller (96); 10. Ch ris Rdnk in (92!.
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 7 - Lexington, OH, J uly 21
e
Round 8 · Colorado Springs, CO, August 179
