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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127942
Steve Crevier leads Ben Bostro.m
early in the race. Crevier, running in
fo.urth, pulled away fro.m Bostro.m,
only to get passed on the last lap
and dropped to. fifth.
tough and something that most of the
riders like to see so much, but 1 think in
tum it's making us all better riders."
Crevier looked like he was having a
Sunday afternoon ride on the Suzuki Vtwin for most of the day. The leaders
were gone and Ben Bostrom was behind,
but not making any progress. Until the
last few laps, that is. That's when
Bostrom decided he'd been babying the
rear tire long enough and it was time to
make a move.
'1 said, 'I've got to put my head down
and catch him,'" Bostrom said. "1 saw he
had a decent little gap on me, so 1 eased
off. I was riding real hard. I think I start-
·Biiefl~~·.~
ed to use up my tires a bit. 1 thought,
'Man, I'm really sliding around, I better
back down: I think I backed down too
much. Then I saw my board saying there
was five laps to go, I was like, 'Screw the
tire, just go: So I just put my head down
and thought I better catch him. I ran him
down, I followed him the last lap of the
track and just decided I don't care what it
takes, I'm going to go by.him going into
11, on the inside:'
Crevier knew it was coming, and he
also knew there was nothing he could
do. After all, he'd ridden the Honda
RC45's last year and knew there was no
match for its brutal power.
"At the end I sort of slipped up a bit
because of tire wear and the same old
complaint; when the bike starts straightening up and starts to get loose on me, it
wobbles a lot," Crevier said, "I just tried
to hang on and I knew somebody was
there. I got a pit-board signal and I read
it wrong. I thought I had plus five seconds, I didn't have plus five, I had plus
half a second, He was on me, and I had
like four lappers on tre back straigHtaway alone and lapped traffic just
wasn't in my favor, And Ben just horsepowered me. We aren't competitive to
~hat kind of power yet. What we are is
railing corners pretty good. We're just
not competitive to that horsepower. We
just got blown away on the straightaway. He waited it out. Heck, if I was on
something that quick, I wouldn't be
where I was. It's just the way it was."
The next position went to Kipp, who
rode by himself almost from start to finish to finish sixth, his best so far by one
position this year. Both he and Mike
Hale have been struggling this year with
the Ducat!. Ferracci imposed some order
on. the team 'at this race and Kipp,
though wary at first, was willing to do
anything to get going. What they did
worked and there's more in it, Kipp
believes,
"I think I just accepted that the bike
doesn't do things the way I'm used to,"
Kipp said. "I just kind of rode around it
instead of waiting for the perfect pitch.
Instead of coming and making a bunch
of changes to make the thing feel the
- way I thought it should feel,l asked
Eraldo, based on his experience, where
he thought that bike would like to be. I
said, 'Man, let's do that," and I'm just
going to learn how to ride it.
"1 really thought I was going to track
Bostrom down, and I was chipping away
at him until about halfway, and then I
had like three laps in a row that weren't
so hot and had maybe a couple of
lapped guys or whatever the reason was,
but I slowed down and I just couldn't
catch him."
Behind Kipp there was a trio contesting seventh, H-D's Picotte, Rapp on the
Vance & Hines Ducati and, early on,
Yamaha's Rich Oliver, Oliver, who was
fighting a wobbling motorcycle, was
dropped by Rapp on lap 10 and fell off
the back of the pack and into the clutches of Harley's Thomas Wilson, who
made his way by the four-time AMA
250cc GP champion on the 20th lap.
Oliver would finish 10th behind Wilson.
Rapp passed Picotte on the 11th lap
and with Picotte waiting until the Iinal
lap to take it back,
"I looked back the last lap and I saw
him," Rapp said, "I thought I could hold
him off. He passed me going into 11. L
passed him back coming out, and then'
he passed me through the chicane."
Aside from dealing with Picotte,
thele's nothing ";rong with it,." Muzzy Kawasaki"s Doug Chandler 'we didn't.have the' back section, it was just the short course as
said. "We've done il a n'u,mber 'of places: When I·was in Europe well. Still, i mean·! know wAere il'goe.s, it's 'nothing:1 did the best I
,we'd do the same thing. and dirt track, it'was like·nonstop. II's couliftoday and ended up second. ."It reminds nie a'lot of lakEr
great to have a little series going, cohsecutive races." Yoshimura side ,in 'Queensland al home really: Pmbably a bit.of 'a cr6s'S
Vance. 8. Hines Ducat!'s Anttiony Goberi wanl'ed, to clear Suzuki's Mat Mladin added, '"We 'just jump in the car and drive to between Oran Park·and prooably Lakeside,·1 think. Maybe little
,bit of. BaSkerville'as well. It'.s, really nothing sort,Qut of the ordinary .
·some'!hieg up h'e said at the preyious round of ,the MBNA Super: three races.'"
. '
for us. really. We've ridden on tracks 'like ihis before. It"s.,re.ally
· bike Championship at "Yi1low Springs. Gobert was quoted as say:
ing, "To'be h"n,esl, I'would' be bett¢r off i; lot ot.times with Ferrac- Rain was the first orde~ of t~e day at Sea~s. Point and kept motor- enjoyable. It's a little bit scary in som" of the comers, ·with the'
cycles off the'track unlil' almost 4 p:m. on Friday, The biggest p,ob-, barriers :prettY close. If you ,do tuck the'1r9nt you're going to go in
ci. be,cause t~ey do hav!, tha,t-