Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMA/MBNA SUPERBIKE N TIO ALCHAMPIONSHIP A N an d it's paying offi6r "me.'The Yam~ha'~ really rippin g." Ha cki n g k n ew tha t someo ne was co m ing , but he d idn ' t kn ow it was Cha nd ler. "I had n o id ea who it w as beh ind me," he said. "I d on 't pay att ention. The race is in front of me, not behind me. All I d o is pay a ttentio n to m y sp lits and jus! keep a nice, stea d y pace goi ng . I noticed th e ga p closed up and the la ppers wer e coming up and I was tryi ng to pull a Migu el (DuHamel) on everybody and just ge t in there an d stuff them up and give Dou g the short of them and it looked like it came ou t on my side. "Thos e guys (at Yamaha) are reall y not looki ng for me to do any thing this yea r, but if I can come out of this wh ole deal with a top five I'll jus t be tickled to death - that' s a big acco m p lishme n t to me," ad ded Hacking, who's tied for fifth in points with Mladin. "That's basically what I set ou t to d o this ye ar , a nd it look s like I'm going to end up doing it if I just keep riding smart and usin g my he ad and ke ep learn in g to r id e th is bike." Gobert finis he d about 17 secon d s behind Ha cking , ha v ing hel d off a ll cha llengers while s truggli ng with a front end which wo uldn' t plant or turn on a track he didn't like. "I don 't wa nt to take any thing away from Aaron (Yates ), because he did a good race; all these guys did, rea lly," the Australian said . "I didn't really give up, but I reali zed from the start that it was going to be d ifficult for me because we hadn't reall y had that much d ry tim e. We've been chasing a se tu p th e whole tim e since we've been here, a nd I jus t didn't feel that con fident once I sawall the oil and stuff and with the front end I didn't want to risk going d own because I've co me a long way in the last few races. I'v e had a few mechanical prob,. Doug Chandle r h ad third wrapped u p, b ut c rashed trying t o pass Hac ki n g fo r second. T he d ef en ding Nat io na l Champion w as credited with f inishing nint h . lems, w hi ch d ropped u s way ou t. To make up so man y point s, I didn't wan t to jus t so rt of risk cras hi ng and throwing it all away. As it turned ou t, I think we m ad e a b it of g round - th e w a y they've worked the points ou t. " I'm just ha ppy to finish on the pod ium ," h e co n tin ued . "A t one s tage I thou ght I was going to fini sh nin th or l Oth, so it was really good for me to be up here and get so me more po int s. So cong ra tul a tions to Aaron a nd Jamie (H a ck in g) ; th ey're r idi n g go o d. I thought th at Aa ro n d eserved the w in after watchin g the 600cc race, so it was good that he fina lly go t one. I think it' s just good to have so me d iffer ent guys up her e apart from the Hond as. It's been a bit of. a procession . It' s a shame tha t Migu el got injured and a couple of other guys as well. I hope they recover fully a nd g et ba ck to raci ng soo n, a n d w e miss them and the racing is not as good without them. We wish them a speedy recovery ." At his suggestion, the Vance & Hines team mad e a change to the fro n t en d tha t ult imately didn' t work. " I d o n ' t know when I'm go ing to learn; h ope fu ll y a fte r this ra ce I wo uld 've learned ," Gober t said . "Every time we see m to make a cha nge go ing into th e race, and th e wa y that I rid e, I' m always a big front-end rider on the brakes and everythi ng. If I'm not confident with th e fro n t, the n it takes me a long tim e to ge t goi ng . Basically, here, once I s tuc k it in a few times on th e front, then I didn't feel confident at all. I ~ and Gobert ) and then I jus t started get" ting fatigued beca use of m y collarbo ne and I said, 'Well, I got plus four on whoever's behi nd me' at one point and then I really started to slow down towards the end and then it went - like all of a sud den it wen t zero and I thou ght , 'I've com e too far to give up sixth: " Stevens said . "So I jus t dro pped back d own to d oing so me b etter tim es . (Tom m y) H a yd en was catching me, bu t then I wasn't going to give it up. I'm ha ppy . This morning, w he n we did p ractice, I tho ught I w as going to finish in the top 10. For a while there I thou gh t I was going to finish in the top 15. Then I got a decent start and those guys just ke p t making mist akes and I ke p t movi ng up, and I' m happy. After I fell off Th ursday and then I got my X-rays and saw I fractur ed my clavicle, I just figu red this is luck." Hayden had closed to within abo u t a seco nd and a half of Stevens when time ran out. . , throug h the AMA. " he said, " I think the prob lems we have we can try .to solve very easily , W e have tires here . we have hay bales." :Briefl H fa th ou gh t straig h t away tha t it w as not worth rea lly end ingup on the side of the track. It was just sort of regrou p and com e back to the next race a long way behind. It was ju st th e kind of thing wher e I wasn' t happy wit h the wa y the bike was set u p, so I didn' t want to push it." Crevier was next, abou t 13 second s back after losing touch. " I cou ld n' t get ah ead of Gobert and Pascal (Picotte) in the beg inning: ' Crevier said . "They were getting a little bet ter drives. Still, it's a little bett er than it has bee n. It was good in the com ers . 1 cou ld stick it in the turns. The last tw o races we haven't achieved that. Through attrition I go t handed fourth and I'll take it." It w as h is best-ever fi nis h on th e Suz uki tw in. Vance & Hin es' Stev ens was only a few tent hs beh in d Crevier an d closing w hen the checkered flag fell. "I cau gh t back up to th em (Crevier , , that his team might now skip the W orld Superb ike race altogether. ," I' m up' and down. D ucati wants me to do a little hospitality . To 'do the race cost me .$ 25,000. I, don't know . I've g'ot to decide . " . , M etzg er Rac ing Suzuki' s Bre" Metzger' was ho sptta lized in int ensive care after crashing during Pirelli For mula Xtreme practice 'Among the .rtders wh o' were interest ed in riding 'for, Ferrac'cf this .Harley -Davidson' s Thomas Wilson suffered seve re - po ssibly caree r-threate ninq injuries>, wh en he .crashed in turn one' during . on ' Fr iday morn ing , M et zger c ras he d co ming on to t he fron t ' year was Luca Cadalora. ', the ' Italian GP 'vet eran who rode the st raigh t . turn 12 . and struc k the outs ide wal l. The N ew ington, previous tw o 500 cc GP's for Yamaha Team Rainey befo re signing Friday .mor ning practice at Loudon. Accor ding to.l-i -D direct or of on w ith Team Suzuki fo r the next tw o .' His con trac t' with ·Suzuki ;'arketing Art Gompper, Wil son ' suffer ed bilateral femur fractures ' C onnecti cut. rider suffered 'a fractured skull. had his spleen and le ft kidney remove d. and frac ture d his left elbow. On S unday ' expires afte r the' J uly 5 Briti sh Gp at Doningt on Park . " N ow he of. bot h leg s. a shattered pelvis , injuries to his low er right leg : might want to co ntinue (on the S uzuku . " Ferracci said. ' "a nd I some " er' da mage , and a sma ll p unct ure in one lung . M o re. morn ing he regained con sclou sne ss in th e cardiac' care unit at liv ..:vorry if I'm up to ~is expectatio ns." . . C o nc o rd Ho sp ital i n C o nc ord . N ew Hamp s hire . afte r be ing surgery is expecte d tostabillze .the pelvis injury . " He was ripped ' open pretty good." Gom pper said . Gom pper said W ilson had removed from life-support system s. Mike H ale wa s knoc ked out of the Lou don' race whe n he highbeen transferred from a' hospital in Conc ord to Dartmouth HitchAfter strug gling t he entire seaso n on the Fast By Ferracci 'Ducan , sided during Saturday morni ng pract ice ; injuring his right shoulder. coc k Medical C enter and underwent surgery Friday night. He was and injuring his shoulder in a crash on .Saturday morn ing. Mike The spill occ urred in tum three, a loopi ng uphill right-hander . " It list ed in stab le co ndltion. His 'Wif e: Lynn. flew in from Ohio on FriHale was released by the team. " He needs to think and regroup hurts like hell right now , " Hale sa id dUring Saturd ay' s lunch break. day night. M uzzy KavVasaki' s Doug Chandler was right behind Wil his mind beca use he go t scared of my bike. " team ow ner Eraldo "I t felt like ' it , arne out of place. It hurt like heH for 20 seco nds . son wh en it happened. " Ultimately. he locked the front and lost then there was a sharp painthat we nt away . N ow it hurts again Ferracci said. " I don 't know what rt is. if it's the bike and he not it , " Chandler said. A s he wa snpplnq it in, Chandler said Wil son caught his foo t on the ground . possibly fro m hilling a false neutral '. trusting this and that. I think he' s better off to go find a ride on a . and if s not go ing away ..I had a few close calls yes terdayand we ' bike th at he can fee l mo re confident. He crashed always my made so me chassis; adjustments . It ' made the bike real quick. It or not back shiftin g. " Basically. he jus t low -sided." Chandler said. motorcycl e and u's terrible . It co sts a bunch of money for nothing. stepped out just like that ." Haie left the area after being told he " He chased the bike into the wall (hilling it with his legs. whic h wa~ being let go 'and w as unavailable for co mme nt. . I told him yes ter day. He was hurt. I say. 'What you do?You going splayed apart . break ing both and cru shing his pelvis)." There was to go fas ter? No. So you get lapped twice. So w hat are you going no prot ect ive barrier, of any sort in fro nt 01 the wall. Upon impact. to do ? You ride for a fac tory , you get lapped twice because you The rash of bad crashes - more than had hit one AMA road race in 'the bike burst into flames and followe d the conto ur of the track one meennq than anyone could reme mber - caused a lot o f riders arou nd the bo wl. cha sing t he Corner w orker s from their po st 'not feel good because you're sore or all this stuff . II's no t a goo d thing to do.' " A s for whether Ferracci will repl ace h im. he said, be tween turns 'one and two. . to recon sider the tracks on which they're asked to ride. Fast By " I' m going to be very care ful becau se I've already go t the wrong Ferracci' s Tom Kipp had an admittedly 'emo tional respon se. cho ice , I want to see somebody that gives me some idea that be , Bob Bahre. the chairman of the 'board of New Hamp shire Inter" We shoul dn't ' < racing anywhere whe re the guy incharqe .of ,nai ional' Speedw ay . said he' woul d gla'dly make any changes neethey 're going to do good , J don 't want 'to jus t get another guy. I' m the track is not willing to work with us:" he' said . ."H the guy has ess ary . Jf asked. v Nobody' s ever saida word to us. " Bahre said. ' going to be a little more... in myoid age I,get too easy . Instead ' the altitude that he doesn't care. we shouldn't be here. I've had a " I' m not trying to pass the buck. but I would think that the AM A I'v e got to, b e t he o ther wa y ar ound . I guess .," Performance lot to say about the trees (go ing' over the hill aft er turn seven) to would tell us if they wanted .thern (hay bales) or not.We're willing . M achines' Roland Sands wou ld end up being that ride r. Ferracmany different people. The answer I got tw o or thr ee years ago is to put them anyw here they wa nt. if they want hay bales or they ci said late in the weekend t hat t he 250cc ' G rand Prix Series that they didn't want to cut trees dow n. They had some lame reachampionship leader wo uld be on the D uca ti beginning with the want tires. Hell. we want t he place to be safe ..We don 'twant a so n, Basically . t hey said it lo ok ed nice. That' s hard to swallow rep utation of guys gelling hurt. W e had three bad ones thisweekAugust 3 race at Brainerd. " He wan ts to step uptosuperblke and when 9UYs' are gelling broken legs. That' s definitely the most danend , But, as you know you rself . so me times , t hings just go in 'Brainerd is a safe track . I'd like him to tes t so meplace: Ferracci gero'us partof the track . " Kipp ' s solution is that the riders have to long time.' said. but there were budget co ncerns , " We talked slncelast year. cycl es .and happenand then they -don't happen for co mmunicate to the AMA and th e prom oter what their needs 'are; W e hope the hell they don't. If they w anted hay bales or some, . Last year I said yo u should try a superbike , He has nice lin'e s. he's , "There,are not that many people that have a good underst anding ' thing else. they can let us know ahead. You can't just run out .and smoot h. he has goo d cornering speed . good brakinq, That' s w hat , o f w het ' s co nsi d ered, a 'safe' oru nsafe corner . It' s difficu lt ,to get a bunch of them today . We don 't want to see anybody hurt. " , , yo u need with this new bike. this powe r. You start wrestli ng the understand unless yo u ' re .o n a 165 -hor sep ow er motorcycle . bike and yo u're in trouble: Ferracci s aid he thought Brainerd wa s Bahre boug ht the trac k in 1989 and changed the con figuration to There's a lotmore than how far it w ill slide if it goes, down. They the way it is in 199 0. The 'track 'added tire s in turn one 'after the ' a Safer track for Sands to make his debut. rathe r than at the nex t. have no 'cornprehe nsto n of w hat hap pe ns .on a high -pow ered DuH amel and Wil son incidents , ' " 1told 'our guys that if they want round at Mid -Ohio , He also didn't co nsider asking him to make his motorcycle. " He believe s that handful of riders should w ork wi th debut in the World' Superbike round at Laguna Seca because that ,anYthing'. just do it." Bahre believes that the request for changes the AM-to: and that ' " the AMA h as to take them seriously. There sho uld be made th rough t he proper cha nne ls . " It sho uld ' go ' wou ld be like throw ing h im to the wo lves . Ferracci said , adding are a lot of high-impact areas that go' unnoticed . Ron Barrick 'does a a 14

• Cover