Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES (Lett) The Harley race was again a battle belwee n Eric Boslrom (20 ) and Dave Eslok (12). (Below) Surprisingly las l local Greg Fryer won the rain-sodden Form ula Xtreme race, endi ng Andrew Stro ud 's perfect season. en d ed u p a close fo urth, foll owed by Bartels' H-D's Zemke. Widman's H-D 's La nce jon es, w ho spent most of the race just inside the top 10, ended up se ve nth, wi th Bartels' HD's Sh aun Russell , w ho spen t most of th e race fighting for third befo re dropping off a t the end of the race, ending up ninth. The final rid er contesti ng second was SI. Paul ' s H-D' s jeff Jo hnson . H is race ended with a tu mble in tum six on the final lap whil e he was in se ven th. jo hnso n's SI. Paul's H-D teammate Michae l Gold en a nd Mi tchell ' s Mod est o H-D 's Robert Bussey also cras hed in the same corner. Of the 14 starters, there we re 10 finishers. .~ Brainerd Inte rnational Raceway Bra inerd. Minnesota Res ults : J une 22, 1997 (Round 6 0111) PR OCRES51VE INSURAN CE 5 UPE RTWIN 5: 1. Eric b lrum; 2. Da vid E!!ilu~ 3. Tod d E Vdn ~ 4. N.al'" Wdit; 5_J"'l.:> 7~ko; 6. Lance lollt.'S; 7. Shaun Rus.....II; 8 J(.:.Iy Ho:-oJwy; 9. J~ Cd'lCit.-ro Jr.; 10. MicNlI'l ('old",; . 11. Robert 8\1....... y; 12. JdErry John!lOn; 13. Jeff Eklund . T imt: 17 min.• 19.500 M'C. D i5tu ~ 9 laps , 27 mtlce. Aver age speed : 93.506 m p h. M.ng in of victory: 0.310 SC'C. P ROGR ESSIVE IN SURANCE SUP ERTW INS C SH IP POINT STA N DI NCS (Aft er 6 o f 11 rounds): 1. Eric Bostrom (214/6 wi ns); 2. David Estok (183); 3 . Jake Zem ke (158); 4. Lance J UIlt.'S (149); 5. Jody Hendl ey (131); 6. Shdwn Higbee (127); 7. Shaun RU !r'~1l (118); 8. Jer ry Ca scl e ro Jr . (JOn) ; 9 .jt's'l Ro..dt· r (104 ); to. Jpff te y John!lOn(82); I I. Robert Bussey (70); 12. Jeff Eklund (68); 13. Andrew Nobl t'!l IU (58); 14. Na if' Wait (56); 15. Tod d Evan s (52); 16. (TIE) Perry Mele eciuc /Cery Rogers (46); 18. Chris BIi, \'! (44); 19. Mike Voe lke r (43); 20. Michad Cold ~ /Sc.a n Lollar (36). mE> Upcoming Rounds: Round'7 - Monterey. California, J uly 13 Round 8 - l exington. Ohio. July 20 P Fonnula Xlreme irelli Round 5:B rainerd Inte rnational Raceway ~ Locol hero ~ By Henny Ray Abrams BRAINERD, MN,JUNE 2B inn eso tan G reg Frye r us ed local kn owled ge and the proper tire choice to end th e Erio n Raci ng stran g le h old of the Pirell i Formula Xtreme class on a wet but drying Brain erd Int ern ational Racew ay. The Blai ne, Min nesota, re s iden t, a regular in Central Road racin g Associa tion cl ub even ts a t Bra in erd, fitted a Michelin IXJT rain rear tire and a ra in M 12 fro nt to his Larson Cycles-backed Yam aha YZF750 a nd, after a ho rrib le s ta r t, esse ntially ran away with the race in his first Pirelli Formula Xtreme appearance. Racing under cool and threatening skies, he was into the lead an d pulling away by the third lap, stretching the margin to better than 12.5 seconds at one po int. Erio n Racing 's Andrew Stro ud ga ve chase, closi ng to wit hin abou t nin e seco nds, bu t fell 5.32 seconds s ho rt a fter Fryer slo wed on the final lap, his first AMA p rofess ional victory ass ured . His previ ous bes t pl a cing in a n AMA National was 15t h . However, he said tha t he' d never lost a race in the rai n. "1 expected them to be close toward the end ," Fryer, 25, sai d after wi nning th e race, w hic h had been dela yed fo r nearly tw o hou rs because of torren tial d o wnpours. " I kind of kn ew I had a good lead. You can feel it some times." W hat he co u ld fe el m os t was the track. Fo r th at , he credited Mic helin' s Walt Schaeffer. "Fiftee n mi nut es before the race, he ask ed us what he should pu t on," Schaeffer sa id . "Tom Mason, my distribu tor, sai d 'Pu t these on: It turned out to be right." Fryer co m pleted the 13-la p, 39-mile race in 25 m in utes, 8.10 seconds, at an average speed of 93.098 mph. The race had bee n sched uled to start at 3:30 p .m., bu t wa s g ree n-ligh ted a t abo ut 5:15 after he roic efforts were made to prepare the track after the downpour. A helicopter was brought in to dry the start area, as was a turbine d ryer. Even w ith the ad ded tra ction , th e race had n't started well for Fryer . Spinning his rear tire at the start, Fryer was about 14th in the 17-rider field into the first tu m . He moved to sixth at the end of th e firs t la p, then th ird ending th e second , before takin g the lea d on th e third go-a round . Ironi cally, having less power than the big -bore Hond as all owed h im to r un wid e open thr ough the ultra-fast turns o ne a nd two, while th e o the rs had to back off. "I always told myself I would never look bac k in a race ," Fryer said . " Bu t I jus t cou ldn' t beli eve I wa s leadi ng an AMA Nationa l rac e, so I loo ked ba ck, figuring these guys would go right back by me:' It never happened . By the end of the fourth lap, he had better than a five-second m arg in , a ga p h e s tre tched w ith every successive lap until it top ped out at about 12.6 seconds on the eighth lap. The next ti me bv, S tro u d had knocked be tter th a n i wo se conds off a nd, with fo ur laps to go , it look ed like he mi ght be makin g a run. Bu t o n the next la p he co uld o nly ta ke back about half a seco nd , and he di d n' t ga in mu ch m ore in th e ne xt few laps. He'd chosen a DOT fron t Dunlop and cu t slick rea r a n d admitt ed it w a sn't the r ig h t choice. "It was rea lly slip pery," said Stroud, whose wi nning stre ak ended at four. "The proper choice wo uld have been full rai ns fron t and back. Towa rd the end, it started to come right: ' If th er e was any consola tion for th e New Ze alander, it was tha t he con tin ued to stretch his cha mpionshi p point s lead . Afte r five of nine races, he leads the championship wit h 176 point s. Dou g Toland, his Erion Racing teammate, is second wi th 158 po ints. Toland finished th ird today after an eventful race. Both he and Stroud spun the tires on their Honda CBR900s at the start, much of the field jetting past and into the first tum ahead of them. Toland finish ed the first lap in seventh place, moved up a spo t in each of the next few laps, and settling into fourth on the sixth lap. .It looked as th ou gh that was where he'd finish, since he was better th an 12 seco nd s behind the th ird-place rid er, ea rly leader Daniel Bailey of th e Ohio Su perbi ke team, a t the halfw ay point. The n it a ll starte d to cha nge. Tol an d d ropped ba ck a s pot, Marc C h iodo, a no the r Mi nneso tan, dropping him to fifth . But it w as o nly a brie f se tback. Toland and Chiodo dosed on Bailev o n th e 11th lap and d ropped him back to fifth, w here he would finish. O n th e final la p, Tol and turned u p the wi ck and was able to speed by Ch iod o, beating hi m to the s tri pe by about five bike len gt hs. Hoo ters' Brian Gibbs finished alon e in sixth, well ahead of DATS Racing' s Dale Kieffer, who had to deal with the d os ing Bells Suzu ki rider, jo hn jacob i. Keit h Ma rq uez was a lone nin th , with H yp ergraphics Raci ng' s Terry Tes ke 10th. Of the fifth- throu gh 10th-pla ce riders, all were Suzuki GSXR750-mo unted excep t for Kie ffer, who rode a Su zuki Ie , GSXRllOO. Bra inerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnes ota Resu lts: Ju ne 28, 1997 (Round 5 019) PIR ELLI FO RMULA XTR EM E: I. Creg Fr yer (Yam); 2. Andrew Stroud (Hon); 3. Doug Toland (Ho n); 4. Marc Chiodo (Suz ); $. Da niel Bailey (Suz ); 6. Brian Cibbs (Suz); 7. Dale KidJer (Suz ); 8. John J.KObi (Suz); 9. Keith MoirqUCZ (Su z) ; 10. Terry Teske (Suz); 11. Moi k C McDaniel (Suz); 12. James Randolph (Suz); 13. Jd fnoy Pur" (Hon); 14, Kri!o' Wil!olm (Hon); 15. Aldhdru ShiKl'nu (Su7.); 16. Jim my MOOI"Il" &7.); 17. M ich.Jd C' .oldt'll (8u("). T imp: 25 min ., 8.100 -ec: Oi "YnCf' 13lap"', 39 mib. : Ann8~ sr-d: 93.098 mph. MA n of victory: 5.320 sec rgi P IRl::lLl FORM UL A XT RE M E C' S H I P POI NT STA...'\lOINCS (After 5 of 9 round~): 1. Andrew Stroud (176/ 4 wins); 2. Doug ToLlnd (158); 3. Jamt.">ft R.indolph ( 31); -t. Brian Gibbs (117); 5. Dale Kieffer 12); 6. [)Pan Mizlh.l (66); 7. Terry Teske (59 ); 8. Scott Roehk- (54 ); 9. (TIE ) Daniel Baitey/ Mnl McWilliams (48); 11. mE) ~er Bd1 D/Ben Wekh (46); 13. Mike Krynocl (~5); '04 . Allh.uu Sh igehU (44); 15. Anthon y Jo hn"oOn (40); 16. Jimmy M('ore 08); 17. Jdfrey Purl (37); 18. G n.-g Fryer (6 /1); 1Q M.m; Chiodo (28); 20. Poilul Mumford (26). . n Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Lexington. OH. July 19 Round 7 - Colorado Springs.CO. August 16

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