Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMAJPirelli Formula Xlreme C Series 'ship R ound7: New Hampshire Int'l Speedway (Left) Eric Bostrom won the - Formula Xtreme race at Loudon. It was his sixth victo ry in the class in seve n attempts. '(Below) The Pro Thunder class gets the green light with the Buell of race winner Shawn Higbee (3) getting the jump on the field. BOSTtOm TAMES OVEt By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by Tom Ril es LOUDON, NH, JUNE 20 ri on Ra cin g' s Eric . os tro m to ok B th e lead in t he Pirell i Formula Xtrem e champions hi p with a flagto-flag win in th e red -flag-in terru p ted ra ce on an o vercas t a nd th rea te n ing af ternoon a t New Ham ps hire Int ern ational Speedway. " Bos tro m jetted to the lead from his po le pos iti on a nd was never h ead ed . The race was stopp ed on the sixth of 24 la ps d u e to an ac ci dent o n th e fro nt s traigh t a nd shortened to 19 total laps, 14 to be ru n a fte r th e s top , with grid positions set by the ru nni ng or der at the en d of th e fift h la p , th e la st o ne th e en tire field had com pleted . J Bostrom aga in sped to the front and t his time w a s goi ng e ve n fas te r . H is mar gin kept growing and growing and a t the end of the mostl y processional 19lap , 30.4-mile race, Bostrom had won by 8.760 second s. Because of the red flag, there was no averag e speed or time of race . "I cou ld n' t do m uch wrong out there, to tell you the truth," Bostrom said after taking his s ixth win in se ven tri es . "I was just pointing it off the turns a nd gassing it down the st raightaways . These guys were d o ing a rea lly grea t job; all weekend th ey' ve be en chas ing me a ro und a nd chasing a nd pushing ha rd a n d I was h o p in g tha t Tripp (Nob les) and I would be ab le to get on etwo, but I'm really happy to see (EMGO Valvoline Suz uki 's) Tray Batey up here he's a g r ea t co m pe tit o r an d a great guy." . Th e win vaulted Bostrom a he ad of tea mmate Tripp Nobles in the championshi p. After seven of 12 races, Bostro m has 222 points, six ahead of Nobles, w ho w a s th ird tod a y with a m ot orcy cl e which he could n' t ge t o ff the corners. G raves Mot orsports' Mark Miller , who took fou rth toda y with a crafty last-lap pass of local hero Eric Wood , the Penguin Racing Schoo l teacher, is third with 184 poin ts. Miller made th e res tart af te r bei ng in volved in th e red -fla g incid ent. He w a s inex p li ca b ly plow ed in to fro m be hind on the fro nt stra igh t by Batey's tea mma te G ran t Lope z. The exha us t p ipe on Miller' s Yamaha YZF-R1 was bent nea rly vertical, but the team was able to change it before the restart. After rag-do lli ng d o wn th e fron t stra igh t, Lopez sa t ou t the race. Ba tey finished second bu t was never a factor. Bostrom had a lead of nearly a second an d a ha lf afte r the firs t lap of the restar t and jus t kept it growing. "Well, you know, befo re we had that res tart I was com ing on pre tty str on g and I think tha t when we had a cha nce stop, and everybody had a chance to kind of talk ab ou t wha t had ha p pened on tha t fir st s ta r t, he too k o ff a li tt le quicker in that second on e," Batey said. Erion Racing's No bles stuck to Batey fdr a while but los t grou nd as the race wo re on and finished ab ou t 2.5 seconds ack. b "Yeah, I just couldn't seem to put it together to get off th ese co rners," th e E to Geo rgian said. "I' m su re the fans in tu rn one enjoyed me backin g it in the re. And then, over in tha t bowl, turn six, I hop e yo u a ll en joyed it . I'm su re it looked goo d because I was just leaving big old black mark s coming ou t of there, tryi ng to make a ru n at Tray. He looks like he just had his rear end set up a little better than I cou ld ." . T he race for four th was between Miller and Penguin Racing School's Eric Wood . Wood , wh o teaches at Loudon, s tayed safe ly in fro nt until the closing stages . Th a t' s wh en Mill er r a n h im d own and, on the final lap, wh en Wood go t hung up in traffic, Miller was able to ge t around him coming on to the fron t straight to take fourth. Yama ha - mo un te d John Sch ee hser wa s sixth, by himself, wi th Fastrax Racin g' s Dea n Mizd al seven th in fro n t of Mich ael Fitzpatrick. Greg White put his Suzuki in front of Xtre rne Mo to rsports' Keith Marquez' s Suzuki, with Ma rquez finishing 10th. (~ New Hampshire Internat ional Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Results: June 10, 1998 (Round 7 of 12) P IR EL LI FO RMULA XT RE ME FINAL: 1. Er ic Bost rom (He n): 2. Tra y Bate y (Suz): 3. Tripp No bles IHo n): 4. Mark Miller (Yam); 5. Eric Wood (Kaw): 6. John Scheehse r (Ya m); 7. Dean Mizd a l (Suz ); 8. Micha el Fit z pa tri c k ( Ka w ): 9 . G re g Wh ite (Su z ): 10 . Ke ith Ma rq uez (5uz) ; 11. Tho ma s Fou rn ier (Dud; 12. Michael Gage (Tri): 13. Do n Ca ne t (Bue): 14. Lawren ce Wo lfe l (Suz): 15. Curtis Adams (Yam); 16, Brett Guyer (Kaw): 17. Mari o DuHa m el (Suz): 18. Pa u l Harrell (Suz); 19. Sha wn H ig bee (Due) ; 20. Grant Lope z (Su z). Tim e: N / A due to red flag D ista nce: 19 laps, 30.4 mil es Ave rage speed: N / A d ue to red flag Marg in o f v ictory: 8.371 sec. AM AJP IRELLI FO RM ULA XTR EM E C' S H IP POINT ST AN DIN G S (Af te r 7 of 12 round s); 1. Eric Bostrom (222 / 6 wi ns); 2. Tr ipp No bles (216 / 1); 3. Mark Miller (184) ; 4. Mich ae l Ta y lo r (l 43); 5 . Tr a y Ba tey (142 ); 6 . Dea n Mizd al (141); 7. Mario Du Ha me l (126); 8. Cu rt is Adorns (92); 9, COry Ca ll (90); 10. J

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