Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Nicky Hayden started his perfect weekend off with a victory in the 7SOcc Supersport final on Saturday afternoon. (Above) Roland Sands (1) barely beat Chuck Sorensen (90) to the line to win the 250cc Grand Prix class at Willow Springs. 19. john Jacobi (Suz); 20. Erik Schnackenberg (Suz); 21. Robbie Dowie (Suz); 22. Kurt Marmor (l-Ion); 23. Stuart Stratton ($uz); 24. Samuel Carnibucci (Hon); 25. Ty David Piz (Suz); 26. Anthony Doran (Suz); 27. Justin Savage (Suz); 28. Melissa Berkoff (Han); 29. Rick Schopp (Suz); 30. Damel Dietrich (Suz). 'Ii,me: 21 min .• 09.208 sec. "Distance: 15 laps, 315 miles. AVefOllge speed: 106.367 mph. Margin of victory: 1.018 sec. 600cc SUPERSPORT C'SHIP POINT STANUINGS (After 4 of 14 rounds): 1. Doug Chand.ler (1236/3 wins); 2. (fiE) iclcy Hayden (1)/Miguel DuHamel (lI8); 4. Steve Crevier (lOS); 5. Ben Bostrom (102); 6. Steve Rapp (85); 7. Tommy Hayden (82); 8. Eric Bostrom (80); 9. Jason Pridmore (79); 10. Kurtis Roberts (69); lI. Larry Peg..m (63); n. Rid""d Alexander Je. (45); 13. (fIE) 10hn Jacobi/Bobby Keith (44); 15. Takahito Mori (42); 16. Tripp obles IlJ (40); 17. Mike Cicrotto (39); 18. Erik Schnackenberg (37); 19. William Luke (35); 20. Chris Rankin (34). Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 - Sonoma. Califomia. May 3 Round 6 - Braselton. Georgia. May 31 AMAITeamline 750cc Supersport Championship Series Round 4: Willow Springs Int'l Raceway That's two 'By Mark Hoyer Photo by Henny Ray Abrams ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 25 trike another one up for. the kid. HyperCycle Suzuki's Nicky Hayden put on another impressive show as he raced to his second straight Teamline 750cc Supersport win against the best production-class racers the nation has to offer. That's two wins in four tries. Hayden was fourth at the end of the first lap and then began a methodical charge to the front to take the win by more than 2.5 seconds, his only real problem along the way being Lafayette, California's Steve Rapp. The San Gabriel Mountain Spring Water-sponsored rider led the first three laps but couldn't match Hayden's drive off the corners and the fight for the lead was soon over. Rapp, in his first podium finish of the season, held station in second for the duration of the race, never threatened from behind by third-place finisher Rich Alexander. Nexander had gotten off to a brilliant start - until the first turn, where he forgot to tum. n] got the awesome jump into turn one thinking I had the killer lead and the nel« thing you know, I went in and S forgot to tum," Barnett Tool and Engineering's Alexander said. "The track went left and I kind of went a little straight. These guys just dove under and took off. Tha t put me from first back to, ] think, fifth or so." Alexander made a good recovery, pulling first away from HyperCyde's Jason Pridmore - who wouldn't give up quite that easily as the race wore on and then Ricci Mostorsports' James Randolph, to ultimately finish third. It wasn't without a little worry, however: Pridmore had returned. "My pit board kept sayjng 'plus one, plus one: so I knew somebody was there," Alexander said. '1 figured it was Jason. I was just like: 'All right, what's Jason going to to? Hold off to the end and put a charge on?' And I think that's what he did because all of a sudden (my . pitboard) said 'plus zero' right at the end." Pridmore had clawed his way past Randolph and closed the gap to Alexander significantly, but his attempt to make the podium was foiled. "I started to catch Richie with about five laps left and then 1 had a backmarker just completely screw me all the way from turn three down to five:' Pridmore said. "] realize these guys are racing among themselves, but this guy was all by himself, getting lapped, and he was a little bit slower than the rest of them." End of charge, and Pridmore was fourth at the line ahead of Randolph. The battle for sixth was the best of the race and included as many as five riders duking it out for nearly the race distance of 15 laps. Ultimately it was Ricci Motorsports' Jimmy Moore taking the spot, with Racer's Edge's Dale Kieffer, Hooters' Paul Harrell, his teammate Mario DuHamel, and Crago Racing's Bryce Gross rounding out the top 10. Alexander got the clear jump off the line to lead the way into the first comer as the 15-lap, 37.5-mile race got under way at around 5 p.m. on a clear but cold and windy afternoon in the Antelope Valley. Unfortunately Alexander ran well wide in the first tum, allowing several riders by in the process. Among those who got past were Rapp, Randolph, Hayden and Pridmore. Rapp got the best of it to lead the early laps, but Hayden was on his way and was soon by. Rapp tried to respond, but ultimately thought better of it. "I hung with him (Hayden) a little bit," Rapp said. "I know we were running I guess different tires in the rear, at least, so I don't know if that was a fac- tor, but coming off the comers, ] don't know if it was the power or the grip off the tires, but I hung with him for a while and I was getting... I was riding hard too hard. I was getting a lot of spin off the back and I knew I couldn't keep it up the whole race. So I just... I didn't let him go but I just had to back off some earlier than I wanted to. So we need to do a little more work for. sure on the bike." Hayden worked hard to get away in hopes of building a gap in the absence of lapped traffic. Even once he began lapping riders - around the seventh lap he still put time on his pursuer. "] knew once we got into traffic I didn't know what was going to happen, so I wanted to have a pretty good gap so ] didn't have to take any chances in traffic:' Hayden said. "My bike's working really good. My team, they're making it . easy on me. I'm getting a little more comfortable as the races go on." If he wants to get any more comfortable he's going to have to race in a smoking jacket and slippers. That was that for the top two spots. At about the same time that Hayden took over first, Alexander moved into third as he went past Randolph and soon built a comfortable margin. And that was that for the top three. Except that Pridmore looked as though he might get a challenge in for the final podium spot before the race was over as he worked his way back up from fifth. Alexander was fortunate to have their run through traffic in the final laps work in his favor. "We got into some lapped traffic and I think I played it to my advantage:' Alexander said. "Especially just that last lap, and it worked out to where I kept third place, so I was pretty happy· very happy." The figh t for sixth was some eigh t seconds behind the lead group by the fouTth lap, though it did nothing to quell the in tensity of the battle for the position, the group often running side by side down the long front straightaway. Moore, who had run at least as low as 10th, finally took the spot. eN . Willow Springs International Raceway Rosamond, Califomia Results: April 25, 1998 (Round 4 of 13) 1S0cc SUPERS PORT FINAL: 1. Nicky Hayd.en (Suz); 2. Steve Rapp (Suz); 3. Rich Alexander (Suz); 4. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 5. James Randolph (Sux); 6. Jimmy Moore (Suz); 7. Dale Kieffer (Suz); 8. Paul Harrell (Suz); 9. Mario DuHamel (Suz); 10. Bryce Gross (Suz); 11. Jake Zemke (Suz); 12. Ben Welch

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