Beca us e h e m is s e d th e p re v io u s
round in Portland, d ue to a conflict with
th e AMA 's Mid-Oh io d a te , a n d a ls o
because he wa s d isq uali fied from one
wi n, he's way down in sixth in the point
standings a fter five of seven races.
Leading the pa ck is HM C Hansen
Racing' s Shawn Conrad wit h 138 points,
four better tha n Hal's H-D's Tod d Evans.
Conra d go t to chase Bostrom to the
flag, an d it wasn't ca sy . He an d Eva ns
we re hooked up with Kersting's Cyde
Centers' Greg Hutcheso n early on, with
Valley Racing's Brian Conley lat er mov ing in to the mix.
Halfway in, H utch es on seemed to
have a ga p on Conrad, Evans, and Las
Vegas H-D's jess Roed er; then the pack
dosed and there we re four nose to tail,
with Conley just off the back.
On the penultimate lap the order was
Con ra d, Hutch eson and Eva ns ; th en
Hu tcheson sh ot by a t the line to take
over second befo re Conrad rea sserted
himself on the white- flag lap . It may not
have been the best stra tegy for Conrad
beca use of the lon g run up the hill to the
flag, but the rider from nea rby Sheboygan Falls made it work.
" We ha d a tremendou s d ra fti ng
game ou t there and we knew it could go
either way:' Conrad said a fter his narrow second, his be finish of the series.
st
"When Hu tcheson dra fted by me on the
back straig ht , I kn ew I could win the
race. It was heads or tails all the wa y."
"I thou ght I had seco nd:' Hutcheson
said . "I didn't want to follow on the last
lap. I didn 't think he could dra ft me."
Evans took a close fourth; then carne
Conley, wh o was followed by Chris Bliss.
A p ro cessio n follo wed, w it h N e w
Castle H-D' s Brian Bodine in front of
Michael Fribe rg . Then came Hal's H-D's
Mark Zalke, crossing the the line well
a head of ji m's Harley Davidson of St.
Pctc's ScOtt Korol.
(~
Road America
Elkhal1 Lake, Wisc onsin
Results: Augusl 3, 1997 (Round 5 of 8)
HA R LEY-DAVID S ON TWIN SPORTS : 1. Eri c
BoNtrom; 2. Shaw n Co nrad; 3. Gn>g Hutchl"SOn; 4. Todd
Eva ns; 5. Brfun Conll-Y 6. Chris Bliss ; 7. Brian Bod ine; 8.
;
M ich ael Fr ibto r~ 9. M.uk b ike ; 10 . Scott Korol; I t.
Da rren Co nrad ; 12. David Marv u; 13. J~s Reeder, 14_
Sha wn MeN.try ; 15. Billy Gr"ef; 16. Rilly J Fehrman.
.1t"
Time: 15 m in.• 42.495 :ow."C.
Di !ll~n cC':
61"p!!, 24 nclce
AvC'ugC' spee d: 91.bn mph .
M~rgin of victory: !l.813!ICC
.
HARLEY· DAVIDSON T W IN SPORTS C' S H IP
PO INT STA ND ING S (After S of S rounds): 1. Shaw n
Conrad (38); 2. Tuc..ld Evans ( 34); 3. Billy G raci 029/ 1
w in); 4. Brian Budin" (122); 5. Gn-g H ut cheson (11y (017); 15. Robert B~
(46); l b. Roy Nichl.lI!O(Jll (oW); 17. Chud .. G rave. (30); 18.
Sco tt Moon (25 ); lq . Jody f-1 t"nd ll"y (23) ; 20 . David
rrre
Ktdfer-(22).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 6 - Long Pond, Pennsylvania. August 31
Round 7 - Loudon , New Hampshire, October 5
N S CAmerican GP byId itsu
A 8JliR
em
R 5: Road A
ound
merica
liza ka
back on
track
By He nny Ray Abrams
ELKHART LAKE, WI, AUG3
o ns id er th e Po rtl and ra ce, where
Masah iro Iizu ka finished second to
a n in te r lo per , a n a be r r a tio n . At
Elkha r t Lake, Silverman Museum Racing's Iizuka was back to his old tricks,
lead in g the Idernitsu American Grand
Prix from the s ta rt a nd breaking away
for ano the r domina ting win, his fourth
in five tries .
It was so boring that at the end all the
track a n nou nc er co u ld say was: "The
1255 m ake th eir way into th e winner's
cir cl e a fte r a ve ry une ventful 125cc
race."
Amen.
Iizuka' s da y may have looked eas y,
bu t a cra sh in the wet morn ing qualifying session made sure tha t it wasn't. The
japanese rid er had to spend most of the
midmorning repairing his Ho nda RSl25
C
af ter the spill, finishing the wo rk just 30
minutes before the sta rt of the race. "I
cou ld n' t co nc e n t ra te before the final
race, bu t I' m happy now," he said after
taking the win .
Iizu ka an d Kncwseed Energy's Marcello del Giud ice broke away from the
thin 12-rid er fie ld , leaving the rest to
brea k into smaller quarrels. Del Giudice
s tuck with the defend ing series cha m pion until making a mistake entering the
hard-braking turn-five Icft-ha nd er.
"I overcooked five once," del Giud ice
admitted . "He mad e a couple of mistakes too, bu t he was able to pull away."
And quite rapidly.
At the end of the six-lap, 24-mile race,
Iizuka had a 13.704-second cus hion, winning in a new race record of 15 minutes,
10.091 seconds, at an av er age speed of
94.936 mph. It was considerably faster
th an his win here last yea r, when he
averaged 92.647 mph. The only way he
can be stopped, del Giudice thought, was
if there was a rule change. "How abo ut a
rule where everybody weighs the same?"
the hemp advocate proposed.
With four wins' and a second, Iizuka
leeds th e cha mpions hip by 24 points,
172 to 148 over former teammate Vicky
Jackson-Bell, with three races remaining.
Lik e Iizuka , ja ckson -Bell a lso su ffered a heavy tumble in morning qua lifying. Her cras h w as in the left-hand
turn six, and the r esulting damag e
forced her to change the forks on he r
Hond a RS12 5. Un like ll zu ka , w ho
esca ped mostl y unscathed, jackson -Bell
wa s a little banged up.
Her effort wou ld earn her th ird a nd
it would com e at the expense of Patrick
Ryder, a lo cal hotsh ot fro m n e arb y
ja nesvill e. Ryder had recently returned
to racin g after ta king m o r e than a
decad e off. S ince his return to competition, he'd run only one other race before
this one . At Elkhart, he was near jackson-Bell for a few laps; then she go t on
the gas and started to pull away. At the
end, she had about 3.5 seconds in hand.
Dragonfire Racing took the next two
s p ots, fellow Los An gelenos Rolando
Quintero battling, Ben Solis the distance,
the ord er not cha ng ing though Solis
never gave up and finished a d ose sixth.
Seventh went to Hayden james Bool,
a New Zealander sponsored by the Cali'"
fornia Superbike School.
Road Ame rica
Elkhal1 Lake, Wisconsin
Results: August 3, 1997 (ROU 5 of 8)
nd
HR C AMERICAN GP BY lDEMITSU: 1. Mo1So'1luro
liz u ka (Ho n); 2. Marcello del Giudice (Hon); 3. Vicky
Jackso n-Bell (Hun); 4. Patrid. Rydt.T (Hon); S. Roland o
Quintero (Hon); 6. Ikon Solis (Hon); 7. Ha yden James
8001 (Hon); 8. Dan Ckrnt."f\S (Hon); 9. JeffYoung (Hoo);
10. Pa u l Hoyt Ndson (Hon ); t 1. Aaron Stein (Hon); 12.
Todd No rdby (}ion).
Tirn ~ 15 min., t o.()Ql sec,
O iu... nce 6 LtJ'!!" 24 mile.
Aver.ge spnod : 94.936 mp h
M. ~in ui victory; 1 3 .704 ~.
HRC AMERICAN BY ID EMITSU C"SHIP PO INT
!>ANDIN GS (Aftr r S of 8 ro und s); 1. M. sah iro lizuka
i
(172/ 4 win.'lo); 2. Vicky Jacbon-Bcll (148); 3. Marcello d el
Giu d ice (139); 4. Ben Solis (117); 5. Rola ndo Quintero
( 03 ); 6. Ch ris Ulric h (99); 7. LaVau ghn Mon tgo mery
(75); 8. Joh n Ulric h (65): 9. (TIE ) Roland Sa nd slJoe
Sht.'h on Jr. (M) ; n . Jeff You ng (59); 12. Tod d No rd by
(53 ); 13. Ha yden Bool (46); 14.. Nobi Iso (35); 15. Aaron
Stein (34.); 16. Pau l Nelson (33); 17. Jad CYDeU (31); 18.
Colin Gihart Jr. (30); 19. P~ t rick Rydl!'l'" (28 ); 20 . (TIE)
w esley Totsu bo /Muk M tt>r (26).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round6 - long Pond. Pennsytvania. August31
Round 7 - Loudon, New Hampshire. October 5
