Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE NATIONAL SUPERBIKE C AMPIONSHIP H ROAD RACE SERIES Round 8: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course A Pro Honda Oils 600cc Su ers ort Series MA (Righ t) Miguel DuHamel (1) raises hi s fi st In victory I bu t it was a elos e one as Jason Pridmore (7) and Pascal Picotte (21) ra n with the French Canadian to the very end. (Below) DuHamel (left) and Picotte (right) spray the bubbly In cele brati on of their 1·3 fi ni sh in t he 600Cc Supersport final. By Paul Carruthers Photos by Hen n y Ra y Abram s . LEXlNCfON, OH,JULY 20 nly .010 01 a second separated first place lrom second place in the 600cc Supersport final at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. And third p la ce w a s just as close . Naturally, Smokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel DuHamel and Yoshimu ra Suzuki's Pascal Pico tte we re toge ther in tha t fraction of time bu t they wer e separa ted by HyperCycle's Jason Pridmore, in by lar his bes t 600cc performance 01the seaso n. O 10 The race was aga in a classic in the mold 01 most 600cc Supersport linals. Fo r most of th e ra ce th ere w ere fo u r p layers going at it all around th e 2.4mile road course. Tha t was trimmed to three when Yosh im ura Suzuki's Aaron Yates cra shed out while trying to pass his team mate Picotte lor the lead . Four , three... it didn't matter. The three that were left made certain that the outcome was in doubt until the very end. As he has p roven a zillion times befo re, there may be no on e tougher on the linal lap than DuHamel. That was the case again today as the French Carta - di an so me ho w found a way to w in, barel y beatin g both Pridmore a nd Picotte to the finish . DuHamel's teammate Steve Cr evi er was a di stant fourth, leading Yamaha's Tom Kipp and Kink o ' s M ik e Sm it h ac ross th e fin ish line. Yamaha ' s Rich O live r end ed up seventh, followed by Muz zy Ka wa saki ' s Tomm y Ha yd en, Yoshimu ra Suz uki's Larry Pegram and 10th-p lace linish er Ben Bostr om , on the Zero Gra vity Hon da CBR600. Bul fourth th rough 40th we re nothing m ore th an a sid es how. The main attra ction was at the fro nt a nd it fea tured unmatched drama. It also ended with a fa miliar face at the front, wit h DuHam el not only wi nning but further extend ing his champions hip po ints lead . With lo u r w in s to h is credi t, DuHame l now lead s Picotte by 16 p oints, 257-241. Yates is third - alter picking his Suzuki up and finishing 12th - with 230 points, 16 p oints clear 01 Crevier's 214 points. On ly tw o rid ers led ac ross the startl finish stripe during the race - an d DuHamel wa s the lirst to do so on the openi ng lap . It ha d been P icotte ' s h ol eshot with Pridm ore seco n d, but DuHamel simply rode around the ou tside o f Pridmore in turn one, then flicked it und er Picotte in the kinks 01 turns two and three. Crevie r, too, was o n th e move all th e s ta r t, motoring around Yates to take over fourth place. Picotte re turned the favor to hi s cou ntryman DuHamel on the lollowing lap, passing in the kink. But it didn't last long as Du H a m el w as back in lron t again by the end 01 the back straight. By this time, Kinko 's Kawasaki's Jam ie Hacking was ou t of th e ra ce , crashing the ZX6 in tu m one. There was soon a five- cider b rea kaway at th e lro n t: Du Ham el, Picotte, Prid more, Crevier and Yates. Then came Smith, Klpp, Pegram and the rest. By the third lap, Crevier was bringing up th e rear 01 the breakaway, bu t was still 3.7 seconds ahead of the Smit hlKipp battle. Picotte led acro ss the stripe lo r the first time on lap three an d he would co ntinu e to do so lor tw o m o re laps . Then it wa s DuHamel lor a lap and th en Picott e lor eight more. DuHamel would lead the linal two Iaps. While DuHamel an d Picotte w ere doing a ll the leading, Pridmore a nd Yates were never o ut 01 it - that is, until Yates dec ided to try lor the lead at th e end 01 th e back s traight. Yat es pulled alo ngside 01 Picotte pr ior to th e tight right-hander at the end 01 the fast back straig ht, then he simply ran it in larther - too far, as it turns out. With the back end s te p ped out, Ya tes lo st th e l ro nt prior to the apex, and he slid to a stop in the grass . He remounted , bu t could only mu ster a 12th-place finish. "I guess 1 go t in there a little laster tha n before," Yates admitted later. " It lelt lik e I go t on th e brakes in pretty mu ch the sa me spot, but 1 gu ess I had a little m o r e s peed when I go t o n th e bra ke s . I pulled o n th e lever a little harder, I reckon , and it just went. When I got back up, I was looking lor the black m ark a nd it w as a long m ark th ere wh ere It slid lor a while. Irs just one 01 those things, I guess. I thou ght I wa s in there co mf o r ta b ly . I' d been in th ere las ter before, butit jus t let go." Picotte, who wa s in front at the tim e, wasn't su re w ho was arou nd him. He q u ickly fo u nd ou t. Fir st it w as Yates; ultimately it was DuHam el. "At first I didn't know there was anybody behind me," Picotte said later. "Th ey were just s ho w ing m e my lap times so 1 didn't know what wa s going on behind me. And then I started thinking a little bit and I ran wide two times on the Keyh ole. All 01a sudde n I turned aro u nd and I sa w a big 20. I thou ght, 'Uh-oh, that's Aaron and he's going to try me on the brakes in the next corne r that's lor .sure.' And that's wh at he did and he lost the front. Tha t's bad for him because it cost him a lot 01po ints lor the cham pions hip . Alt er that, I still didn't know wha t was going on beh ind me, so I s ta rted pointing to my me ch anics to sho w me w ha t' s behind me, or what's plus 0 or whatever . All week end lon g I lelt like I was able to do low 325 and all these guys were able to do low 33s. So I wondered, 'Am I pulling away or are they rig ht th e re behind m e?' I reall y d idn't kn ow until 1 turned around and saw a big number 1. Miguel jus t d id a great race. I tried to hold on to him on the outside, but I lost the back end a little bit and Jason went by me ." Th e r a ce ca me down to th e e n d . Picotte made his move on DuHamel in tum two on the fina l lap , but DuHamel was able to take the lead back at the end 01 the back straight. Picotte got in a big slide on the exit 01 the corner, allowing Pridmore to s ne ak through . At th at point, the positions w ere fi xed : DuHame l, Pridmore, Picotte. " I ju st ca me in a li t tle b it more relaxed ," Pridmore said . "We've been struggling a little bit this yea r and 1 just basically told myself th at th e tea m has giv en 100 percent, I' m givi ng 100 percent and our GSXR600 ran awesome this week en d . I knew it wo ul d be well suited to thi s circu it beca u se we d id n' t ha ve too ma ny stop -and-gos . M y weigh t hurts us a little bit and on the stop-andgo stull, it ' s rea l ha rd to get it going wi th my big lard ass on it. I just lelt like it was my time. I kne w I cou ld ru n with th e se g uys, and I we nt q uicker this morning in practice than in qua lifying. I

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