Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMA/MBNA SUPERBIK E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Tommy Hayd en , meanwhile, ha d a problem - tho ugh he wasn' t sure what i was. His exha us t had broken loose and was d ragging and leaving sparks in the right-banders. It was doing a good jo of spooking everyone invo lved . "His pipe was coming off and at on point it hit my clutch lever," Yates said later. "I thought you were supposed t get black-fl agged when parts were com ing off your motorcycle." Hayden not b ein g black -flagged wa sn' t th e only d isa greem ent about fla gs . Ev ery one oth er than Crevier thought the Canadian should be penalized for allegedly passing under a waving yellow flag. The AM A, however. did n't find evidence conclusive enough A MAJPro ond ils 600cc S 'H aO upersporlseries R 10: Mid-DhioS CarCourse ound ports "olova lost By"Paul Carruthers . Photos by Henny Ray Ab ram s LEXL'iGTo. ,OH, JULYI9, 1998 ith two Hayd ens on the front row and a horde of Suzukis near the fron t - most of which were under orde rs to help Steve Crevier in his quest to become 600cc Supersport Champion - the 600cc Superspo rt race a t Mid -Oh io Sports Car Course was supposed to be abou t bro th erly love and team spirit. Yeah, righ t. W hen a ll the p us hing a nd shoving was over, hot ma ny could reca ll ever seeing a 600cc Su pe rspo r t race a ny rougher than this one. In the end , Crevier and Su zuki got what they were looking for - a victory and a stack of championship points. But they didn't do much in the way of making friends along the way. In fairness to Crevier, this one was rough-and-tumble all th e way and he may not have done much worse than anyone else - and probably was more gentl e to those around him than hi s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates. What Crevier did do was incense a young man who doesn't get mad very easil y. icky Hayden was racing behind his brother Tommy at the front of the pack, the pair seemi ngly co ntent to b ring home the fines t res ult in the young and impressive history of the racing Hayden family. Crevier, thou gh, had other ideas and he bar ged his way past HyperCycle Suzuki's Nicky Hayden in the Carousel, nearl y ca using the yo u nger Ha yd en to cras h. The incident enra ged the normally soft-s poken Hayden . "He (Crevier) tr ied to take me ou t," Hayd en said . "He ran me to the dirt. He wan ts us a ll to give him roo m, but he doesn 't give us anyt hing." What mad e Hayd en eve n more upset was the fact tha t he was supposed to be help ing Crevier in thi s one - tha t, an d the fact that Crevier was critical of Ha yd en af ter las t week's Laguna Seca round of the series, a race for third that Crevier beli eved Ha yd en sho u ld ha ve let him wi n. "I ain' t never letti ng him (Crevier) go by aga in," H a yd en told Speed visio n cameras after the race. Nicky Ha yd en w a s more u pset a t Cr evi er than at Yates - who end ed up tak ing the both of them ou t in a d esperation last -lap move. Eve n thou gh Nicky H ayden ended up on the grou nd, it was a grea t day for the Hayd en s as older broth er Tommy finall y turned th ings around, finishi ng seco nd to Crevier after leading 98 percent of the race. It was the road race of Tommy Ha yd en's life and every one was happy to see him on the winner's podi um . He w as slowed a t the end of th e ra ce wh e n h is e xhaus t sys te m broke awa y from its mount an d started scraping the gro und in right-handed corn ers, bu t Ha yd en stayed on the gas and wa s barely bea ten by Crevier. "I'm happy becau se this is really the first lime I' ve led a 600 ra ce," Tommy Hayd en said . "I got off in the front and was jus t trying to run a good pace and W , 11 10 (Above) To mmy Hayden (22) led a 600cc Superspo rt race l or the first ti me In his yo ung career at Mid-Ohi o. (Right) Hayde n end ed up finishing secon d to Steve Crev ier (center). Doug Chand ler (ri ght) was third. keep up. Everything was goi ng prett y good . I was kinda expecti ng lappers to get bad in the la st few lap s , but it seemed like we were jus t coming up on one or two at a tim e - so that wasn't a problem. I looked back a cou ple of times and e ve ry lime ic ky was jus t r ight there . I was just keeping my head d own be cause I kn ew nobod y wa s going to give me a break. I wanted to stay out front. At the time I didn't know what happened, but the bracket bro ke on my pipe and in the right-handers it was d ragging. It felt like somebod y was running into me. I was getting off line a little, and I sta rted riding tight. The last few laps weren 't tha t fas t a nd Steve (Crevie r) was able to pass me o n th e brakes on the back straig htaway. On the last half a lap, I really di dn 't have anythi ng for him. I was just tryin g to salvage second ." Hayd en did end u p salvaging seco nd as his bro ther Nicky and the hard -riding Yates cras hed ou t of the race for third on the final lap. Tha t left Mu zzy Kawasaki's Dou g Cha nd ler to inherit the spot, pr ev entin g C rev ie r fr o m g a in ing as mu ch as he s ho u ld have on his title. chase rival. C rev ie r, th ou g h , was more tha n happy to have w on the second 600cc Supe rspo rt race of his career - and the first since 1992. "I really d idn't ge t off to a great start with th e Yo shimu ra crew," Cre vi er sai d. "I've so rt of been fighting to get th ose guys to go my w ay w it h se tu p, but consistency ha s definitely bee n paying off. We' ve been lucky and fortu na te th at Dou g (Cha nd le r ) fell down a n d Migu el (Dublamel) go t hurt. I've been ha nd ed things, but consistency is paying off. I' m d efinitely hap py with th e bike now . I' m star tin g to reall y fee l comfor table riding it. I don 't have much bad to say abou t it, bu t I can't ge t off the corners too we ll. These -guys we re jumpin g o n the ba ck straig h t the re th ey were d ri vin g rea lly good. I w as rea lly suffering, but a tthe en d of the ra ce I s ta rted to ge t a little bit be tter drive. They were all getting on the back straight bet ter than me and I was really worried tha t I was go ing to ge t passed a lo t o n the ba ck s t ra ig h t - but s i nce Elkhart Lake , my bike has been reall y stro ng on top end. I'd say I'v e got one of th e strongest top ends. I was d oing every thing to u se up all the track and d efend m y line. I'm really happy. Shit , I'm happy. It's been so lo ng and I've been trying so ha rd ." With e ve ry o ne m oving up a few places with the last -lap cras h of Nicky Ha yden and Yates, it was HyperC ycle Su zuki's Jason Pridmore w ho claimed fou rth p lace. Erio n Ra cin g ' s Er ic Bostrom e nd ed up fift h after leading ea rly o n, w hile Yoshimura Su zu ki's Larry Peg ra m had his bes t result of late with a sixt h-place effort. American H o n d a ' s Ben Bostro m ended up seven th, ahea d of the 1-800CYC LE GEA R Suz uki of Steve Rapp . Daga Racing' s Jam ie Han shaw and 4&6 Cycle's Jose ph Gill rou nded ou t the top 10 finishers. Wit h 10 ro u nds of the series complete, Crevier now lead s Cha nd ler by 13 points, 289-276, with four rounds to go. Ben Bostro m is third wi th 267 points. The race got un d er way under su nny skies an d wa rm temperatures, with Eric Bostrom leading th e way . Th at lea d wo uld last for two laps. At that point, Bost rom w ould s ta rt go ing back ward before set tling int o seve nt h place . That seventh wo uld become fifth when Ha yd en and Yates crashed on the last lap . "I wasn' t riding very good when I was in the lead ," Bostrom said. "Whe n I started to go backward, it took the tiger ou t of me. I'm pretty d isappointed." It was T ommy Ha yd en a n d th e Mu zzy Kawasaki taking ov er the lead on th e th ird lap, w it h Nic ky Hayd en tucked in beh ind as the Hayd en brothers flew in forma tion at the head of the pack. It loo ked li ke it wou ld p ossibl y end up that way. C re vie r a n d Yates, h ow ev e r, had ot her ideas and that's when the pushing a nd s hoving s ta rted . Yat es got things rollin g wit h a bold pass onCrevier in the Caro usel on the ni n th lap. Crevier did the same thing to Nicky Hayden in the same spot a few laps later, pushi ng Ha yd en a ll the way to the d irt a nd a ll the w ay ba ck to fou rth place . On the 15th lap , Yates bashed into Crevier on the exit of the Carou sel and the action was sudd enly getting heated all over the track. to dock the race winner, and the results stood. Crevier' s pa ss on Tommy Hayden came at the end of the back straight on the final lap. A few turns lat er, icky Hayden was tak en out by the crashing Yates. "We we re ba ngi ng all th e way through the esses," _ Nicky Hayden said la ter. "He jus t tu cked th e front and cras hed in fron t of me." Th at le ft Crev ie r in fr ont , with Tommy Hayden settling for second and Ch andler a very fortunate third . "I've been just focu sin g on finishing a n d being co nsis te n t," Cr evi er sa id. "And I' ve been giving up positicns-v like la s t weeke nd with N ic ky H ayd en . I knew he'd be inside me and if I blocked th e lin e we' d tan gl e, a n d th at a in' t go nna give me my poi nts . 'I've been trying to be consis ten t and it sure s tinks because yo u can' t gi ve it 100 percent. You've go t to give it like 95 to make su re you' re there at the end . With the poin ts the way they are, with too man y points a n d n ot e no ug h ra ces , fini shin g is important. Dou g (Cha nd ler) can tell yo u that - he's won cha mpionships that way. I hop e to follow in his foo tsteps, bu t I'm older so I can't." Crevier kn ew th ings we re rou gh at the front. "I think it w as all be cause Tommy was lead ing and Nic ky was so blo ody happy tha t Tomm y w as lea ding, he wasn't trying to pass him mu ch," Crev ier said . "He was reall y protect ing him, so there was a lot of fighting back ther e. I've never seen Nicky so nice. It was kind of funn y to watch. We were all bun ched up a nd Aaron (Ya tes) was just th e man. I mean, that guy is brave. He was nuts. I wished he'd finished and not taken out N icky because it wo u ld have given me mo re points on Doug (Chan d ler). But I'm just surprised I d id n't fall. I was slid ing a lot a nd tr yi ng ha rd . Peo p le w ere just crazy ou t there - it was great. There was a lot going on ou t there." A bruised and ba ttered Chand ler was happy with fifth . He was even happier w hen tha t became third . He d id n' t wa nt

• Cover