Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127860
ROAD RACE AMA BRIDGESTONE GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP By Henny Ray Abrams LOUOON, NH, SEPT. 26-28 h e n he 's n ot ra cin g , Eric Wood ca n o fte n be fo und teachin g asp iring racers the fast way around New Hampshire internation al Speedway. Th is week end , the Pen gu in Roadracin g School instructor used that local knowledge to show a few mor e riders the qu ick lin e arou nd the l.6-mile course, winning five races in the inaugural AM A /Brid ge st one Gra nd Cham pio ns hip Road Race, ru n on a beautiful fall weekend in New England. " I've go t a lot o f track 'lime her e," Wood said after w inning the final event of th e 31-race wee ke nd. "I d efinitely have a home-field ad vantage." Th is was the AM A's firs t a mateu r road race champions hi p that anyone could remember, and, thou gh it went off without a hitch - there was only one red flag and the program ran briskly - it was clearl y a regional event. There were 559 entries from 12 states and Canada, but the overwhelmi ng majority were from W r-, 0\ 0\ ...... 00 ... (I) o ... ,.!:l u o 16 New Hampshire International Speedway New Engla nd and the East Coast. Among them was Mansfield, Massachusetts' Wood . The 26-year-old father of two made his mark early. In the final race of a 10race Saturday a fternoon, Wood sped away from his second -row pole starting spot and disa ppeared, despite usi ng his backup mot or . His race moto r had developed transmission problems. Going up the hill to the old section of the track, less than halfway through the second of eight laps, the Kawasaki ZX-6 rid er had abou t 4.5 seconds on New Jersey' s Roland Williams, aboard a Suzuki GSX R600, The n Windmill Cycles ' Charles Ch ou inard, who ea rlier in the da y had won the Expert Mid dleweight Endu rance aboa rd his Ho nda CBR600, made a run at second , taking the p lace just past the halfway ma rk, but we ll in arrears. At the end, Wood would be 8.99 seconds in front, followed by Chouina rd and about 15 seconds later came Honda rider Craig Babcock, who'd come out on to p of a three-way tu ssle with Marc Underberg in fourth and Suz uki mo unt. ed jeff Curtis. On Sunday, Wood was pro lific. He began by rid in g his Ka w asa k i ZX-7 Superbikc to victory in the 12-lap Expert Unlimited Superbike eve nt, the first of the six 12-lap Premie r races, and it was decisive : 15.86 secon ds over Brett Guyer, who also rod e a Ka w asa ki. Chouina rd, on th e sm a ller H on d a CBR600, was third . Yamaha YZF1000mounted Kyle Zaz zi was fourth a nd Texan jo hn Ha ner was fifth on a Suzu ki. Next was th e Expert H eav yweight Su pe rbike race, also a Premier event, where Woo d wen t flag to flag to bea t Brett Guyer on his Kaw asak i by 14.04 seconds wi th Ha ne r up to th ird this lime, though abo ut 8.5 seconds back. Wood jumped from his ZX-7to a ZX6 for the Prem ier Expert Middleweight Supersport race and this one was a racefor a lap. Tha t's how long it took Wood to get by Chouinard, wh o he dutifully left behind, a job made easie r when Chouinard's transmission began to fail. Wood wo uld la ter say that the switc h from the Superbike to the 600, and from slicks to DO Ts, was h a rd er th an it looked . Still, Chouinard nursed his mount to second, eve ntually endi ng 9.71 seconds back, wi th Jeff Curtis third on a Suzuki GSXR600, another se ven seco nds bac k. (Cu rtis lat er wo n th e Premier Expert Middleweight Gra nd Prix whe n both Wood and Chou ina rd reti red within a lap of ea ch othe r . Woo d had a mot or lock up, and Choui nard's transmission, which had been prob lema tic all week end , finally gave ou t ) Chou ina rd's Hond a CBR600 was in top form in th e firs t rac e of th e da y, ho wever, w he n h e wo n th e Exper t Heavyweigh t Supersport race, the first of the Premier races and his second win of the week end, ove r a pair of Suzuki GSXR750s. john Scheehse r was second and Han er was third. It was fitting that Wood won the final race of the weekend - which he virtually owned. His fifth and final victory came in the Expert Unlimited Grand Prix. Again he