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 G RAND CHAMPIONSHIP New Hampshire International Speedway From the second row, Wood took to the fron t of the Expert Unlimited Superbike field , lead ing the 21 rid er s ou t of the first se t of turns and losi ng one of his possible rivals when John Scheehser high-sided at the front of the pack exiting tum two . Luckily, he wasn't hit and escaped wi tho ut injury . The spill caused mo re than a few riders to back off and Wood took advantage, splitting posthas te a nd hol ding nearly 10 seconds at the halfway mark. From there it was a short trip to the wi nner's circle. "I was trying to put toge ther a pa ce that was nice and fast, and maintain it for the race," Wood said. Brett Guyer settled into second on the first lap and stayed there to the end, with Chouinard urging h is Honda CB R600 by the Suzu ki GSX R750 o f Haner on the fourth lap . The rest of the race was mostly processional, though Kyle Zazzi did ma ke his way by Han er wit h les s th an two lap' to go. Wood' s next wi n was in the Expert Heavyweight Superbike class. Agai n he split at the start and agai n Guyer was second, and again they were on similar machines, Kawasaki ZJ<-7s. Not much happened to the top four from the second lap on, and it was only a question of how far in fron t Wood would be at the end . Th e final number was 14.04 seconds after 12 laps . Guyer had abou t 8 .5 seconds on Su z u ki- (Above) Another multiplerace w inner was Garett King. (Right) Marlo Martin rode his Hooters-s ponsored bike to a pair 01 races on Friday. (Below) Jerry Wood gave the Wood family even more to celebrate when he won two classes on his Ducatl. , 00 .... ClJ .r:J a .... u o 18 mounted Haner, with Suzuki rider Steve Arsenault fourth. "Tha t bike's a rocket ship," Wood said after notching hi' third win. Then, in the following Expert Mid dleweight Supersport race, he jumped on his Kawasaki ZJ<-6 and it took him a while to make the transition. "These-machines are so di fferent . 1 spent the first two laps of the race sliding all over the place," Wood said . On e of the main d ifferences is the DOT tires on the superspo rt bike. While he was doing tha t, Chou inard was tryin g to get away, his Hond a looking stronger than Wood 's Kawasaki on the fro nt s tra ig h t. None o f tha t mattered, thou gh, as Wood took advantage of the d eteri oration of Choui nard 's transmission to move to the front. "I wa nted to make sure I kept him in sigh t," Wood sa id . "He missed a s hift and 1went by." "I had a problem with the bike shifting," Ch ouinard said . "Someti mes it would go into gear, sometimes it wouldn't ." The problem had cropped up on Friday an d he 'd sp lit the cases on his Wi n dmi ll Cycle, Honda o n Friday nig ht. The problem per sisted on Saturday and they split the cases aga in "and it stili wasn't righ t." Cho uina rd ad ded. With Chouinard behi nd him, it was d ear sailing - Wood wo n by nearly 10 seconds after turning his fastest lap on the third of 12. Chouinard was never thr eat en ed from behind and took second, with jeff Curtis moving his Suzuki GSXR600 by the H onda CBR600 of Christopher Holske on the seventh lap. The final race of the day was al so Wood 's final wi n, after he'd gone ou t of the Expert Midd leweight Grand Pri x while leading on the fifth lap. " I felt a lit lle bit of v ib ration and when I shut the throttl e off in tum one, the motor locked right up," Wood said. Ea r li e r, Chou ina rd had go ne o ut when .his transmission failed . "The last race I wanted to finish, but it wouldn't shift anymore," Chouinard said. "I thou ght I'd go out and milk it." With the top two out, jeffrey Curtis inherited the lead - and by then he was well out in front and on his way to his only win of the weekend. . "I saw Charlie (Chou ina rd ) go ing dow n the front straigh t wi th his hand u p," Curtis began, "and I passed him. Th en I saw Eric (Wood) in turn one . I didn't kn ow ho w dose an yone w as behind me." Back on his ZX-7 Supe rb ike for the final race, Wood wa s untou chabl e, lap p ing more tha n three second s per lap fas te r than anyone e lse in the sparse nine-rider field to win by exactly 28 seconds . Kyle Zazzi had over 11 second ' on Chad Hea ly, the thi rd -place finis her . A mateu r Matth ew Palum b o was part of the seco nd wave in the first race of t he day on Fri day, th e 30-min ute combi ned Light weight and Unlimi ted Endurance. Both classes covered 22 lap, and Pa lu mbo came ou t on top of the Lightweig hts . Patrick Salonis was second and Michael Warren was third. All thre e we re aboa r d Yama ha FZR400s . The second - and th ird -place finis hers pro ba bly spen d m ore ti me workin g on their bikes tha n Pal umbo does, though. Palumbo's is a 1988 mod el which he has raced for two seasons and which he shared wi th a nothe r ri de r las t year. That's three race seasons in twu years. "We're not joking," sa id Palumbo, who races mostly at Bridgehampton, and was making his first appearance of the season here. "We just check the tires and gas before we co me out to race." Other than that, if' maintenance-free. The 26 -year-old New Yorker wa s back in the Lightweight Superbike race, an eight-lap sprint tha t he went to the front of on the third lap. Once out fron t, he was in the company of Stephen Scott an d jeff Earl. Earl wen t down in tu rn nine on the sixth lap and Pat rick Salonis moved u p to third , where he'd finish on the tra ck . The n Sco tt was p enali zed three pos itions for creeping at the sta rt, moving Salonis up to secon d in front of Michael Warren, who wa s well back in fourth. In h is fi na l Fr id a y appearance, Palumbo went wi re to wi re, winning the Ama teur Ligh tweight Supersport class with ease by firing out to an ear ly lead which he ad ded to with every lap. At the end, the un official margin of victory wa s 11 seconds.