Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AM A/MBNA SUPERBIKE SERIES 8 "About ha lfway through, th e bike start ed to m isfire a nd (was) qu itting," Mlad in sai d . "It ra n go od for the first half of the race and then it just started mi sfir in g. Th ere was not hing I co u ld do; I was lucky to finish . The las t few lap s, I did n't think I w as going to finis h. It was a good race - I wis h I was the re for the whole lot of it. He (Chandler) got a good run thro ug h the first part of the traffic and we got a good run th rough the second part." So it was down to two: Chand ler and DuHamel. On the 201h lap, Chandl er ran it into tu rn six deep, running wide on the exit and nearly go ing off tr ack. It was a crucia l m om en t in th e race, because it cha nged hi s attitude. But the race was still on and Chandler was in w ith a chance unt il a fi nal lapped rider in the Keyhole ruined his dri ve and any cha nce of a pa ss at the end of the back stra ight. Th at was all DuHam el needed. "It's just a matt er of wo rking hard," DuHamel sai d . "The team is working hard o n the b ike. We've been having probl ems with the s us p ens io n sinc e 1995, having trouble trying to figure it ou t. Back th en it was okay because I don't think ev er ybody had th eir a ct to gether re a l 'good . Toda y, yo u just ca n' t a fford to do th at. Doug (C handl er) was ridin g reall y s tro ng today . Wh en r w as w ith Mat (Mla d in) ba ck there, [ was thinking, 'C' rnon, Mat, ge t back up there: I cou ld n' t ge t out of the Keyhole to save my life an d I was losing a lot of time. I was trying to make it up on th e b rakes a nd that o ne ti me when I tried to pass Doug... I thought I wasn't r unning it in there too m u ch kamikaze, I didn't feel too dumb doing it. But when I got in there, I braked and the bike go t Sideways an d sta rted sliding. I was trying to brake more and finally [ didn't fee l too smart when I did that. I was coming inside Doug and I was thinking, 'Oh , ma n, we just played a game of golf not too long ago and he's no t going to play golf with me anymo re: It wasn't on purpose, and he sa w the b ik e sliding and every thi ng. That comer is really deceivin g. You go in there every ti me a n d yo u think yo u' re not goi ng in there that deep. It' s like, 'C' mont get serious.' You gu in there half an inch further and you're like a millimeter from not making the corner. It 's real greasy and hard to ju dge ou t there . It wasn't scary; I just (Above) Tom Kipp (16) and Pasca l Ptcotte (21) battled lor most 01 the race. In the end it was Picotte taki ng Ilfth with Klpp si xt h. (Righ t) Doug Chandler may have linlshed second, but th e resu lt was good enough to further ext end hi s c hampio nsh ip po ints lead. Here he is joi ned by so n Jett prior to the win ner"s circle cele brati on. d idn' t feel too smart. I was just hoping that noth ing happened to Dou g. When you mess up like that, you just-hope yo u' re by yo urself and you don't take anybody with you. "The race was great," DuHamel added. "I heard Ma t's bike pop a few times, so I noticed he was having bike problem s. I though t he wo uld be with us the whole way. It was really a good race. Doug was riding ha rd and it took everything we h ad . La ppe d tr a ffi c helped us sometimes, and sometimes it hindered us. All in all, I think it hurt Doug more tha n us. Once I go t back up there, I was ju s t trying to figu re out, 'Where can I get him, where can I ge t him?' It was a lot of wo rk." Cha ndler was a ll s miles. H e 'd enjoyed a good race. Record breakers I t took three years to break Colin Edwards Il's super bike lap record at the Mid- Ohio Spu rts Ca r Co urse, but when it ha ppened , it happened big ~ wit h seven riders lapp ing u n d er the ex isting re cord of 1:29. 176 . Th ose seven were led by Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaro n Yates (right), the laid -back Georgian la p ping .1 1:28.610 (97.506 mph) in the closing stages of the final session. For Ya-tes, the quick tim e was just a natural progression - now that he's finally worked ou t th e setup problem s with the Suzuki GSXR750. " I like thi s tr ack a lo t," Yates said. "1 ~~S you could say it's pret ty technical - a lot of cu rves a nd a lot of tu rns. You've gut to muscle the bike around a nd ride it really ha rd . The bike has gotten so good lately tha t we've only made J few changes ~ two clicks on the fron t an d a couple on the rear . I'v e just been riding the thing a nd try ing to sort ou t carburetion stuff just to get the bike to run bette r. That's what we spent a ll this morn ing with. And w e ended up going back with the carbs we sta rted ou t wit h the other day. Tha t's w ha t ha ppened th e other week: We mad e a bu nch o f cha nges b ut e nded up going back to what we had. We tried some differe nt things with the ign ition and it really mad e a lot of di fferen ce there in the la..t session. We used a different ignitio n box with J, little more advance and it made the bike a lot faster. I didn't know how fast I was going because they didn't hook up the lap-timer sensor >so I had no idea what times I was doing . [was just ~o i ng as hard as I cou ld . I gu es.. it was a qualifying tire - I don't know . They just said, 'Try this tire: I figured it was J, qualifier because it went off in two or three laps and started spinning a bit." Behind Yates came Muzzy Kaw's Doug Chandler - balked on both of his fast laps by eve ntua l non -q u ali fie Dr'. Dave Kieffer . r "Going in to this yea r, I thoug h t I cou ld get on the podium in all the races - that was my goal," Chand ler said. "I pre tty much blew tha t a cou ple of races ago, but we 're still consistently top five . I think if we ca n continue tha t and no t let M a t (M la di n) beat u s too ba d ly , we're looking good fo r the ch am pions hip . Tod ay, the bike was wo rking re all y good a n d I w a s really happ y "Both times [ had qualifiers on, 1 hit traffic:' Chandler said. "I did two 28.65 - both times I caught him. The traffic is really bad ." Cha nd ler wasn't alone in his criti cism of the traffic. With 50 riders attempting to qualify, things were tight on the 2 .4 ~ m i l e race tra ck . Smokin ' Joe's Honda 's Migue l DuHamel, who ended up third with a 1:28.787, W oil. He was looki ng:ba ck, bu t he never saw me. 1 was waving a t him but I guess he was coming in . Th a t la p wa s a 28.7. I' m pretty disappoin ted because I think we cou ld have gom' faster, but those guys. did their job and it's the same thing for ev erybody out there. T he tra ffic is u nbea rab le. It's no t just that the traffic is slow, but they're unpredictable. They're off-line like th ey hove a mechanica l problem, then th ey just put it in on the ra ce line. It' s pretty hazard ou s ou t there:' The front row would be filled by Fast By Ferraro's Mat Mlad in with his 1:28.884. Still, it wa sn 't enoug h to please the Australian . "lr's just me," Mladin said. "I' m the worst qualifier in the w or ld . l'rn hopeless. For some reason , w hen I go ou t there, I seem to get stuc k behi nd someone or ... Well , it ' s not just that. I've ne ver be en a big believe r of go ing ou t there a nd q ualifying for the po le. I think th e po int for the po le shou ld really hap pen . You'd pr obabl y hav e a mu ch bette r idea of w ha t':" going to ha ppen on Su nday if you d idn' t ha ve tha t po in t for pole - I think. It' s good if peo p le want to go ou t th ere an d try for the pole, bu t I did m y fast times only 25 minutes into the ses sion. I was a ll done then. We cam e in at the end of the ses sion and put on a tire tha t' s too so ft for the race. We put it on a nd I w ent ou t and went ha lf a seco nd slower . I'm not a big believer in qualifying; I just like to ge t set up for th e race. Ther e ar e more points to be earned on Sunday than th er e are on Saturda y, so I d on't co nc en tra te tO Q much on it. W~'re look ing pretty good for the race tomorrow. Hopefully, it'll be a good race. 1d on 't know, but I know what we 've got for the race." The second row would be led by Yamaha's Tom Klpp , the Ohioan "t his home race track in front of his family and friends. Kipp clocked a 1:28.913 - the last ride r to Iap in the 28s. He was joined on row two by Yoshimura Suzuki's Pascal Pico tte, H-D's Thomas Wilson and Vance &: Hines Ducari's Thomas Stevens. In illl, 44 riders ended up makin g the cut for the Supcrbike Nati onal.

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