Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pie of tires I. got, they didn't come in good and 545 were a struggle. The last tire I got, I ran 535 for the whole 17 or 18 laps. It was the same. tire, but I don't know. "I caught up to Ben (Bostrom) real good," Mladin continued. "I had enough to draft him on the last lap, but I caught him up real quick 50 I put my head· down and pulled away - 50 I'd have a bit of a breather the last few laps." L~ Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 8, 1998 (Round 2 of 14) SUPERB IKE QUALIFYING, 1. Scott Russell (1:48.840): 2. Miguel DuHamel 0'49.001): 3. Doug Chandler (1:49.118); 4. Anthony Cobert 0:49.131); 5. Pascal Pieotte 0:49.235); 6. Mat Mladin 0:50.041); 7. Mike Hale (1,50.046); 8. Ben 80strom (1,50.355): 9. Thomas Stevens (1 :5O.603J; 10. Rieh OHver (1:50.828); 11. Jamie Hacking (1:50.863); 12. Tom Kipp 0:51.102); 13. Aaron Yates (1.51.448); 14. Larry Pegmm (1,51.536): 15. Thomas Wilson Jr. (1:51.834); 16. Steve Crevier (l :52.380); 17. Jason Pridmore (1 :52.409); 18. Jamie James (1,52.600); 19. Tommy Hayden (1,52.979): 20. Chris Carr (1:53.027); 21. Rad Greaves (1:54.055); 22. Michael Barnes (1:54.390); 23. Michael Taylor (1:55.694); 24. Ricky Orlando (1,56.556); 25. Eric Moe (1,56.919); 26. James Ran~olph 0:57.076); 27. M.ike Cicootto (1:57.3(9); 28. Dale IGeffer (157.556); 29. Enc Wood (1,57.631); 30. jamie Bowman (1,57.694); 31. Rick Horup (1,58.127); 32. Mike Sullivan 0:58.142); 33. Jimmy M~re (1:58,210); 34. That's five fingers for five wins. Scott ·Russell - they don't call him Mr. Daytona for nothing. Mike Walsh (1,58.301): 35. Daniel Fischer (1,58.374): 36. Mario DuHamel (1:58.491); 37. Jesus Rodriguez 0:58.681); 38. Jamie McNaughton (1:58.725); 39. Tim Bemisderfer (1,58.875): 40. jeffrey Vos (1,58.977); 41. Dean Mizdal (159.Q73); 42. Steve Rapp (1,59.131): 43. Paul Harrell 0:59.148);A4. John Ashmead 0:59.337); 45. Jeff Heino 0:59.387); 46. Keith Marquez 0:59.652); 47. Mar<: Underberg (1,59.697); 48. john Jacobi (159.960): 49. Dean Thomas (1 :59.987); 50. Brian Gibbs (2:00.072); 5]. Benoit Pilon (2:00.171); 52. Scott Ruehle (2:00.369); 53. Rick Shaw (2,00.856); 54. Brett Roy (2'00.906); 55. Chris Steele (2:00.909); 56. .Ricardo Rodrigues (2:00.985); 57. Anthony Faria Jr. (2:01.039); 58. Luke Yarbrough (2:01.331); 59. Jimmy Shelton (2:01.579); 60. Daniel Bailey (2,02.023); 61. Roger BellllJ (2,02.143): 62. joseph Capicotti (2,02.343): 63. Brian Boyd (2,02.479); 64. Doug Gross (2,02.498); 65. john Blessed (2,02.532); 66. Patrick Weekley (2:02.721); 67. Sean Ninneman (2:02.842); 68. Roger Hendricks (2:02.855); 69. Thomas Fournier (2,02.863): 70. James Romero (2,03.194): 71. jeff jenning> (2,03.253): 72. john Spitulski (2'03.335): 73. Luiz Carlos Cerciari (2:03.384); 74. Sam Fleming (2:04.224); rn 75. Richie Morris (2:04.227); 76, Emanuel Mrlllusuthakis (2:04.303); 77. Kurt Liebmann (2:05.672); 78. Devin Battley (2,05.891): 79. Richard Alexander Jr. (2,06.058); BO. Stephen Tue! (2,06.173). DAYTONA 200: 1. Scott Russell (Yam); 2. Doug Chandler (Kaw); 3. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 4. Mat Mladin (Suz); 5. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 6. Aaron Yates (Suz); 7. Tom Kipp (Due); 8. Anthony Gobert (Due); 9. Thomas Stevens (Due); 10. Larry Pegram (Suz); 11. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 12. Thomas Wilson Jr. (H·D); 13. Jamie Rolex for Russell~ Timex for the rest J ust when it looked as though someone else would walk out of Daytona International Speedway with the Rolex wristwa tch tha t goes to the pole sitter for the Daytona 200 by Arai, their plans all fell apart sort of like cheap watches. And in the end it was business as usual and the Rolex left Daytona on the left arm of Scott RusseU (right). With the majority of Russell's main threats attempting to qualify via the first of the two sessions on Thursday afternOOll, the Georgian could only sit and watch as the others came close to what was perceived to be the magic number for this year's pole - a high 1:48. Then they all kind of feU apart. Vance & Hines Ducati's Anthony. Gobert could have had pole, but the Australian blundered badly. Thinking the tinling beacon was positioned earlier in turn one than it actually was, Gobert sat up and coasted. through the corner - costing hinl what would have been the fastest lap of the session, and ultimately pole position. Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler, meanwhile, also did some quick laps - but his transponder had faUen off in the chicane and he didn't know it. In the end, he only did six laps that counted - and none of those were quite quick enough. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel thought he had put in a lap that was good enough, but it turns out that his on-board timing system wasn't matched to the AMA's. AccordiJ.lg to the digital display on his triple damp, DuHamel had done the magic number, breaking into the 48s. Not SO on the AMA system, however - tI,at had him clocked at 1:49.001. So witll those three au t of the way, Russell and his Yamaha took to the track for the second session (for even-numbered riders) and promptly ear11ed himself another Rolex. TI,e Georgian didn't wait until the very end of the session to put his time on the board; instead, he clicked it off rather early - lapping the 3.56-mile race track in 1:48.840 to narrowly beat the Jap record he set in qualifying last year. So what does a man Witll so many fancy watches do with them? "Sell 'em all," Russell joked. "For profit." On a more serious side, Russell was a bit worried watclling the others make a run at pole position. Still, he and Michelin didn't seem to be suffering much from getting only five hours of testing from their mostly rained-fiUed three days of testing in December. , '1 was very concenied," Russell said. "These guys were all runlling around at 49-clead.I.'d done 48.7,.8 earlier in the weekyesterday - and I thought that we cou.ld get there, but it wasn't going to be easy. .l saw how they kinda got to that wall and they were all knocking all the door hard. Anthony (Gobert) got tll[OUgil it - he just backed off too soon. He did the fastest lap on my guy's board, but it's just knowing where the stuff is. He learned sometlUng today and next year he won't let that happen - I'm sure. Yamaha's done a great job with the bike, the Micheli.n tires are great, and we're gonna go out and have fun. [ think we're all gonna have a good race on Sunday. _ "This is part of it," Russell said. of sitting on pole position. '1 think last year was the first year I'd won it from the pole, so I want to do it again. These guys are going good and, honestly, I didn't think we'd be as strong this year as we were last year down here. I was sure that Kawasaki picked up the pace, and Honda, and Ducati. Everybody's up tI,ere, but Yamaha stepped it up a little bit, too. I was a little bit worried about what they were going to be able to do with this old bike to get it runlling, but they've done a great job. As soon as we unloaded it from the crate, we haven't toumed it. We put tires on it and a little bit more oil in the front forks and that's all I've done to the thing. It's been wocking great. They've really made my job easy and my hat's off to those guys." Though the others came close, Gobert knew that he'd actually done a time that would have earned him the pole position. Instead, he'd barely made the front row with a 1:49.131. As far as his starting position for the race was concerned, his mistake hadn't been that costly. But it did cost hinl a pretty decent timepiece. '1t was my fault - I should have gone down there and saw where the beacon was," Gobert said. "They said it was halfway around turn one, but I think it was probably on the way out of turn Olle. Yeah, it was my mistake and [should have gone down and had a look, but I'm still happy just to be 011 the front row. That's all I reaUy wanted. I wanted the Rolex worse than anytiling, but just because I wanted to beat Scott - because he's got it a few times now. That would have been nice, but I'm still happy. I've got a good setup with the machine, so I'm pretty confid.",t for the race. Hopefully, we can get away with these guys at the start. I'm just gonna do my own race and hopefully we can be there at the end." Apart from some front-end changes, Gobert - like Russell didn't have to mange much on hi!; bike once the team arrived at Daytona. He ended up riding his number-two bike for most of qualifying, including his fast hip, after his best bike had an exhaust catm fire early in the session (see Briefly...). interestingly enough, Gobert was the only rider on the front row who made mention of the possibility of getting away from the field. 'We've tried a lot of things," Gobert said. "I had some problems with the front end; it's sort of been hitting the bottom. It's been' affecting me a little bit. I nearly crashed here yesterday because of that going into one. They fixed that problem with a little more oil and a harder spring. It seems really good. I've only really been happy with one tire at the moment, and I've got to run some laps with it tomorrow (Friday) to see if it'll last. At the moment, I feel good. J feel confident right now that we can go out there and run at the front. I'd like to try and edge away from these guys if I can.l'd like to try and. make a gap. I'm usually pretty good in traffic, so hopefully that'll work to my advantage and I can make a bit of a gap and get away. I don't really want it to come down to the last run to the checkered flag - I'd rather have a bit of a gap. I'll be puslUng as hard as I can for pretty m"ch the jVhole race." DUHamel had to be satisfied with the second-quickest time, despite thinking he'd gone quicker. "On my lap timer, it was a bit quicker than what they posted," DuHamel said. "1 knew you needed probably a 48.8, or somewhere around that, to have a good shot at pole. I got 48.97 all my thing and they gave me a 49.001, so I would have liked to have been in the 48s at least. But 1 tlUnk our bike has the speed and everything. Obviously, it's a little disappointing because Daytona is a big race and it's ruce to have the pole. Scott's had it so many darn times, you think he'd.let me have it one time. "1 think we're looking real good," DuHamel added. "Honda has brought me an RC45 that's just so well-groomed right now. It's just so fast and I feel really good on the bike. You can't neglect the competition that I'm up against. Not just these guys, but some of the guys that aren't here right now. Two hundred miles is a long race and a few times we had a good shot. 1 think this year we have our best shot. [ think we have th.e tools to put it in the winner's circle." Clul1ldler, too, was pleased with his front-row position, though it could have been better had the transponder not fallen off in the chicane. Once that happened, the team had to wait while another one was delivered and several important minutes were squandered on pit lane. Still, Chandler lapped at 1:49.118 for the third-quickest time. '1'm happy with it," Chandler said. "It would have been nice to do !'etter, but we're on the front row SO we'll just have to go from. there. We'll work on a good race setup and hopefully Stlnday will be a ~ood race for us. I think I did maybe siX total (with the transponder). 'When that thing fell off, we had to wait for those guys to go back and get us one, bring it, and tape it back on. I think we lost about five minutes waiting to get a transponder." Of special interest to trivia buffs: All four of those on the front row have ridden at one time or another in the 500cc Grand Prix Series, and all four have also'ridden factory Kawasakis for Rob Muzzy. There was little or no surprise in the fact that the front row read: Russell, DuHamel, Chandler and Gobert. The big surprise came at the head of the second row: Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picotte. It was by far the VR1000's finest hour at the Speedway - at least since Cal Rayborn won the 200 in 1%9. The key; according to Picotte, was more parts from the factory that made the VR more adjustable. "I'm sure I could have done a 48," Picotte said after clicking off a 1:49.235 for the fifth-fastest time. "I'm starting to build my confidence. I was out with Doug (Chandler), and he was faster in some areas and I. was faster in others. At the last minute, I. tried a different linkage and it's one that will work better. Phoenix was hard on me.! asked for tlUngs, but we didn't have the tools to work with. ow we have the tlUngs and we can change everything. It's completely better and I'm feeling confident now. I'm giving them good feedback and tlley are having confidence in me. We're just starting, and it's only a start. It's nice. I'm deali.t).g directly with the factory and we can get things fast. If it doesn't work, it's my own problem." To make it a perfect Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki front six, Yoshimura's Mat Mladin was sixth fastest at 1:50.041. Mladin led Fast By Ferracd's Mike Hale (1:50.046) and Honda's Ben Bostrom (1:50.355), who had crashed twice en route to his second-row start. Vance & Hines Ducati's Thomas Stevens led row three, . heading Yamaha's Rich Oliver and ramie Hacking and Fast By Ferracd's Tom Kipp. Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates - brok~ jaw and all (see Briefly...) - led the fourth row, followed by Yoshimura Suzuki's Larry Pegram (the first of the Suzuki TLlOOORs), Harley's Thomas Wilson and Yoshimura's Steve Crevier.

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