Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

o n th at fir st lap . It w a s ju st prett y nu tty." By the 11th lap Bostrom was righ t on Nic ky Hayden , ta king four laps to ge t by with a pass, firs t in tu rns one a nd two, the n the o ne that s tuck in turn three . Immed iat ely he p u lle d away to chase Cr evier , but the Yoshim u ra rider was too far in fro nt. He also had to fend off 4&6 Cycle' s Tod d Harrin gton until Ha rrin gton cras he d h is Kawasa ki in turn two on the 22nd lap. " From th en o n , I s a w Cre vi er up there, and I was just riding as hard as I could, tryi ng to stay focus ed," Bostrom said . " I . came up a little bit short, but I th ink ma ybe a co u p le more laps w e cou ld ha ve m a ybe go t up th ere a nd ga ve him some trouble and wo rked on fourth. All in all, considering the lou sy start, we did pretty good ." Hayden couldn't catch a bre ak. After Bostrom wen t by, he was su cked in by hi s teamm at e Pridm ore , who had to make up considerable distan ce after his s to p- a nd -go p en alty, and Alexa nder . The three ga the red th emsel ves in to a trio for the final three laps , Hayd en able to just hold Pridmoreoff, wit h Alexan der eighth. Then came Pen gu in Racing School's Eric Wood in nin th , chased to the end by 1-8DO-CYCLEGEAR's Steve Rapp in 1~ . D New Hampshire Internat ional Speedway Loudon, New Hampsh ire Results: June 21 , 1998 (Round 8 of 14) 600 S /S l'T FINAL: 1. Do ug C ha n d le r (Ka w ); 2. Aa ron Yat e s (5 uz) ; 3. Ben Bostrom (Hon): 4. Ste ve Cre vier (Suz); 5. Eric Bostro m (Hon); 6. Nicky Hayden (Suz); 7. JaMIO Prid mo re (Suz); 8. Rich Alexander (Suz); q. Eric wood (Kaw): 10. Steve Rapp (Suz); 11. Tommy Ha yd en (Ka w) : 12. Lar ry Pegram (Suz): 13. Kurth. Robe rts (H e n ): 14. N ate Wait ( Ka w ): 15. Anthonv Purd ue (H o n) : 16. Sea n Kowa lsk i (Hen): 17. Di s Co nbo y (Ho n); 18. Keith Wil son ISuz): 19. Seth H ah n (Suz); io. John Jacobi (5oz); 21. Roland Williams (5uz); 22. Kurt Marfll(lr (Hon); 23. Ch ris Rockwell (Honj: 24. Mark Cernicky (Ka w): 25. Sha ne Gonye a (Suz ); 2b. Dale Da ndrea (Su z ): 27. Joe Co n fo r t h (Ho n) : 28 . Brent Ca mp be ll (Suz) ; 29. C rai g Ba bcoc k (Hon); 30 . Todd Harrington ( K..1W ); 31. Jim Les ter (He n): 32. Kyle Zazzi (5uz); 33. Bobb y Keith (He n): 34 . Mile Ciccotto (Suz); 35. John Sale mi (K.1W); 36. Peter Douvri s (Su z). Time: 31 rmn., 3 1.0RO ~"C . Dista nce: 24 laps, 3RA mile . s Ave rage s pee d. 73.101 mph. Margin of victory: 0.714 Sl-'C. AMA 600 " S U I'E R S PO RT C'S H I P POINT ST ANDINGS (Afl~r 8 of 14 ro unds): 1. Steve C revier (226); 2. Ben Bostrom (217/1 win); 3. Doug Cha nd le r (210 / 5); 4. Miguel Du l-ta mel (19H/l); 5. (T IE) Nicky Ha yden /Eric Bos tr om ( 88) ; b. Ste ve Rapp (175); 7. Tommy Ha yden ( HIS); 8. Ja!OOn Pridmore (156); 9. Larry Pegram (142); 10. Kurt i.. Robe rts ( 40); II. Aaron Yates (24); 12. Richard Alexander Jr. (l IS); 13. Sean Kowa lski (91); 14. Tak a h ito Mori (87); 15. John Jacob i (78); 16. lk'bb y Keith (7i'); 17. Mike Cicco tto (70); 18. (fIE) Keith Wilson / Eric Wood (62); 20. Anth on y Sean Purdue (SO). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Monterey. Californ ia. J uly 11 Round 10 - Lexington. Ohio. July 19 AMAfTeamline 750CC Supersport series Round 8 :New Hampshire Int'lSpeedway pR.IDmOR.r errs HIS rOUR.TH By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by Tom Riles LOUDON, NH. JUNE20 ason Pridmore's season has been up an d down mo re than a manicdepressive elevator opera tor. Since the beg inning of the season, the defending series champion hasn 't been able to put two s tro ng ra ces together - until no w. After nearly cras hing on the warm- J up lap, the H yperCycle Su zuki rid er took com ma nd on the six th of 24 laps, used tra ffic judi ciously, and then jetted off to h is seco nd wi n in a row (a nd fourth of the season) on a day of rapidl y cha ngi ng wea ther on th e tw ists a n d tu rns of New Ham pshire Intern ation a l Speedway. " I jus t w ant to w in thi s cha m pions hip again for Suzu ki and for HyperCycle a n d Du nl o p an d eve ry body, because I've go t the best bike out there and I just want to keep winning," Pridm ore sai d a fte r w in ni n g t he race in reco rd time . The 28-yea r-old Californian com pleted the 24-lap, 38.4-mile rac e in 30 minutes, 48.500 seconds at an ave rage speed of 74,786 mph. He lowered the. mark of 74.298 mph held by Yoshimura Suz u ki's Aaron Yate s. His margin of victory over Barnett Tool & Engineering' s Richard Alexand er Jr. was 5.075 seconds. , The more im po rta n t marg in is th e o ne a t th e top o f th e ch a m p io ns h ip stand ings . Pridmor e took possession of seco n d pl a ce with 223 p oint s, n in e beh ind cha m pio nship lead er Steve Rapp of th e 1-800-CYCLEGEAR team. Rapp finis hed fourth today after giving up the spo t to H yp erCy cl e Suzuki ' s N ick y Hayd en (third tod ay) with less than five laps to go. Alexa n de r Jr. is th ird in poin ts with 219. The s u n p e eked o u t from behind omi nous clo u ds w hen the ra ce began lat e o n Sa tu rday af ternoon . Alexander took the lead, but Pridmore had already had more excite me n t tha n he'd hoped for. "I tell you w hat, you guys, I d on't kn ow how lucky I am, because th is is the first time all yea r I felt like I've had a little lu ck," Pridmore said . "I al mos t fell on th e wa rm u p lap . I th ought it was ove r. It go t totally sidew ays, both fee t off the pegs, a nd I cou ld n' t believe it. The n, w he n th e ra ce was go ing to get started, I stopped at the end of the field jus t to make sure I wasn' t leak in g an ything. Richie (Alexander) though t that I w as leaki ng some wa ter or so me thing and had me pu ll over. I thou ght, 'We ll, I'll tr y to get a wa r m u p la p in' eve n thou gh I thought there could be something wrong and then co me back her e a nd loo k a t it . An d I didn ' t see an ything." Pridmor e said he didn't know w hat caus ed the turn-tw o inciden t, nor does he know how he saved it. Alexander, Ra p p a n d Pri dmore ju m ped to th e front of the field, w it h Hayd en and Ricci Mo to rs ports ' James Randolph just behi nd. Prid more got Rapp on the fourth lap, Ra pp too k it back, an d they wen t a t it for a lap until Pridmore made it stick ex iti ng tu rn two . He th en se t ou t fo r Alexa nder, w ho m he ' d hound for the next lap or two, the pai r running side by side across the stripe to end th e six th lap . Alexand er Jr. was able to hold him at bay un til the end of the lap. "W hen we got b y Ra pp a nd w e pulled a littl e d istan ce o n h im , I thou ght , 'Well, if I can jus t try to ge t by Rich ie so mewhe re, and find a way to put di stan ce o n h im , th at wou ld be good:" Pridmor e sai d . "That's kind of what I did . Still, it' s easier when yo u' re runnin g at the front, I think. I was just trying to be as consistent as I could and I figur e, if nothing else, it's goin g to pull Richie fur ther ahead of Rapp, and that' s , kind of what it wa s." Alexander held Pridmore off by takin g the insid e in turn on e, with Pridmore making a no the r run exiting turn two for the run down the back straight. That didn 't w ork e it h e r, so h e wa s p atient, wa iti ng until th e fi na l turn, which Alexander botched by runn in g off the track an d thro ugh the grass. "Jason was try ing to get under me and I was closing the door, not knowing that he was there, and I stood it up and h e gave m e as mu ch roo m as possible: 'Alexander said of his off-track excursion. "A nd it was eithe r me close the door and take both of us out, or me stand it up, run acros s the grass, and get back on the track, and that's what I did . And he was courteous enoug h to hold off a little bit and let me ge t back in front. I did not ice tha t and I apprecia te it." Prid mo re tried to make a brea k but couldn' t put mu ch mor e than a second on Alexa nder. All the while Rapp a nd Hayd en were inc hin g forwa rd so that th ey a nd Alexander were mostly runnin g as a trio just behind the leader. It w a s n't until th e h alfwa y p o int th at Al e xand er wa s a b le to ga in a s lig h t ed ge, w ith Pridmore not able to pull ou t an y room in fro n t. Th en Pridmore go t serious . With five laps h e h ad m ore tha n three seconds, and that was the race. "When I see plu s two or three, I usua lly ge t so rt of comforta ble and that's kind of w hen I checked th a t I got a pretty good lead:' Pridmore said. "We were going th rou gh backmarker s, I go t held up a little bit , bu t I had a feeli ng that where I was getting by them, I thou ght Richie could be ge ll ing a head of them so mehow; I don ' t know if that wa s the case. I kept on wai ting for him to come back and we started hitting backmarkers. I knew he was getting backmarkers ." "Any lime Jason's in fron t, it's ha rd to catch him an d I'm starting to see a little too much of tha t," Alexander sa id, crediting Prid more's rid ing mo re than lapped riders . " I th ink we ke pt about the same d ista nce for a long time until we got into lappers, and no excuses. I ran as good as I could an d Jaso n's a really strong rid er, and I was real happy to come ho me on my home track." Alexa nder sa id th at, a fter th e bad luck of the previous year, he jus t wanted to make su re he finished . " I ju st rod e a co nser va ti ve , g oo d race," he said . With the lea ders gone , the fig ht for th e final ticket to Vict ory La ne wa s b etw e en Rapp and Ha yden , Rapp looked to be leaving Ha yden with about seven lap s to go, a n d th en H a yd e n Jason Pridmore (1) celebrates his fou rth win of the season in the 750cc Supersport class as championsh ip leader Steve Rapp offers a handshake. closed ri g h t u p , h ou n d ed hi m, th en made his move on the exit of turn six on the 20th lap. Rapp stuc k to him for a few laps, then fell back just a lillie. " I was right behind th ose gu ys off the start and I just lost a little ground at th e beginn ing and then I mad e it u p," Hayd en said . "I just could n't seem to ge t by Rapp q u ickly eno ugh . Th ese guys kind of go t away a nd, o nc e they go t away, I figured I'd just sit on him and wait for him to ma ke a mistake, and he made a few, bu t I co uld n' t ever reall y ge t by him. Then , go ing into the bowl, I just sort of got underneath him." Ricci Mot orsports' Jam es Randolph was a lone fift h. . well clear of fe llow Suz uki rider Jake Zemke. Zem ke, on the Zero G ravity Suzu ki, passed Hoo ters Restaurants' Paul Ha rrell less than four laps from the end for sixth. Loca l rider Charles Cho u ina rd was eig hth, by himself, and then came Jamie Bow ma n on the Cy cles of Palm Beach Su zuki, wi th Hooters Rest a u r ant ' s C~ Mario DuHamel 10th . New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Results: June 20 , 1998 750 StSPT FI NAL: 1. Jaso n Pridmore (Suz) ; 2. Richard Alexan der Jr. (Suz); 3. Nicky Heyden (Suz); 4. Steve Rapp (Suz ): 5. [a mes Ran d ol ph (Suz); 6. Ja ke Zem ke (S uz); 7 . Pau l Har rel! (SU2) ; 8 . C ha r les Chouina rd ($ U7.); 9. Ja mie Bowma n (Suz) ; 10. Ma rio >1 Du H.lmt.. ($02); 11. Jimmv Moo re (Suz); 12. John Jacob i (SU7. ; 13. Des mo nd Conboy (He n): 14. Keith Wilso n ) (Suz); 15. Sean Kow alski (Hon); lb . Stew Teschke (Suz); ; 17. Mi ke Ciccctto (Su.I.) 18. M.nk Ce rn icky (K.1w) ; 19. 20. Keith Ma rqu.....l (507.); 21. Rola nd williams (Suz); 22. Brent Campbell (Suz); 23. John Louru.. ury (Sux); 24. b Lawrence wol fel (502) ; 25. Dale Dandrea (SU7.); 26. Kr.1e Z17.zi (Suu; 27. Chris Rockwell (Hon): 28. Dale Kietfl"r ; (SUl); '19 Shane Gonyea (Su z); 30. Dav id Dalzell (5u7.) . 31. Joe Confort h (He n): 32. Ste phe n Hansen (Suz) ; 13. . John Haner (Suz); 34 . John WiIlidms (5u7.) . Tim e: 30 m in., 48.500 sec. Distance: 24 laps, 38.4 miles. Average spee d: 74.786 mph. Ma rgin of victo ry: 5.075 St."C. 750, S U l'ERS l'ORT C 'S H Il' I' OI NT ST A N DI NG S (Afte r S of 13 ro un ds ): I. Ste w Rapp (232 / 1 win ); 2. j a son Pridm ore (22 3 /4 ); 3. Richa rd Alexa n d e r Jr. (219/1); 4 . james Randolp h (213); 5. Ma rio Du l-lamc l (191); 6. Pa ul Harrell (167); 7. Nicky Hayde n (160 /2); S. Dale Kieffer (44); 9. [ami c Bowma n (143); 10. Jim mv Moore ( 34); 11. John jacob i (118); 12. Steve Tesch ke (16); 13. Jake Ze mke (107); 14. Mike Sullivan (86); 15. Kd th Wilso n (71); 16. Sean Kowalski (69); 17. Cha rles Erik Cho uinard (67); 18. Ricard o Bordin (54); 19. Schnacken berg /Cory Call (52). is 8 ~ mE) Upcoming Rounds: Round9 • Lexington. Ohio, July 18 Round 10 . Brainerd. Minnesota, August 1 19

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