Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

crossi ng the line by th at margin in front o f Pridmore, acco rding to the transpond ers. Pridmore tho ught he 'd won, and the AMA se nt him to the w inn er's circle un til road ra ce m an ager Ron Barri ck took a loo k a t the videotape and corrected the mista ke . Eve n th en , Pridm o re wa sn ' t convinced . "I kno w I go t third," Pridmore said . " I' m 100 percent po sitive becau se Stev e wa s so pissed off after the coo l-off lap. I don' t thin k he wa s mad at me, I think he wa s jus t m ad that he ju st d idn 't ge t third . I think he understands tha t we 're racing and 1 kn ew that he had enough ga p o n Chandler to wh ere I didn't feel like I needed to pull ov er for him. I figured that's wh y I jus t would try to put us on th e podium." C rev ier was incensed when he first got off the bike, but soon calmed down. " I came in, and for su re I' m a little hot," he admitted. "Whe the r I got third or fou rth I don't kn ow. It wa s a p hoto finish . I just did my best. Bring it home to try to collec t po ints. What ev er. Team orders. ·Whatever. I don' t th ink th er e' s any poin t in even talkin g abo u t it. It's like I' m out ther e just to do the best I can and so are those guys. Hey', it's just a matter of being there at the end. I d on't have the option of falling d own or rid ing tha t hard. I've go t to finish races and that's how you're going to win a champion ship. " Pridmore a d m itted tha t there were team orders, "but w he n it comes to fin is hi n g o n th e podiu m, I knew where Doug (C ha nd le r) was . It would have been diffe re nt if Doug was ah ead of m e. If I would have been ahea d of him, then su re I wo u ld hav e let Stev e (Cre vier) by. Steve had a 12-point lead goi ng in, so I'm goi n g to ga in a good c h u n k of poin ts because Nicky and Ben finish ed betw een him and C ha n d le r. So, with tha t. I just figured I'd try to finish third . I sa w Nicky go u ndern eath on th e last lap and I di dn't even know how close he wa s at that poi nt. I don't know what I'm su p posed to do, if I'm su p posed to sit th ere a nd look back. I d id look back co m ing o u t of nine and he w a s back ther e a ways. I thou ght, 'If I let off, w hat happen s if tw o o r three guys go by ?' So I just didn't want to take that risk ." icky Ha yd en , wh o was criticized by Crevier for no t a llow ing him past in the 600cc Supersport race a t the La guna Seca Wo rl d Su p e rb ik e rou nd, d idn 't have to worry ab ou t pulli ng over thi s week . Errors on the last lap prev ented him from makin g a run at the leader s. '" made a couple of mistakes an d I definit ely, the last lap, go t pretty hair ball," Hav den said . "It's kind of frustrat ing beca~se I kno w my bike was good enough and I defi nitely wanted to win tod ay real bad ." To m my Hayd en slowed on the fin al lap to let Chand ler by for sev en th, with la te Wait in fron t of Steve Rapp in the l~ figh t for 10th. Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minn esota Results: August 2, 1998 (Round 11) PRO HO:'\jDA O ILS bOO SUPERSPO RT: 1. Aaron Ya tes (Suz ): 2. Eric Bo..tr o m (H u n); 3. S tev e C revier (Suz): 4. j.1Sl.11\ Pridmore (5U7); 5. Nicky Hayden (5uz ); 6. 81..'11 Bostro m IHo n): 7. Dou g Cha nd le r (Kaw): 8. Tomm y Ha yd en (K.1W); q. Matt Wilit (Ka w ): 10. Steve Rap p (SU7.); 11. Larry Pegra m < ); 12. Kurti s Roberts Suz (Hon ); 13. Mike Clccottc (Suz); 14. Eric Sch nacke nberg (Suz ): 15. Sca n Kowalski (Hu n); l b. Bobby Kei th (Hen): 17. Br."JI,,·y l.l jk IKaw): l A Antho ny Pur du e (He n): 19. . Sco t! Ac ker ma n (Suz): 20, Ma rk Ce rn icky (Kaw): 2l. John ja cob i (Suz): 22. Keith Wil son (Suz): 23. Alan Sc h m id t IKaw) : 24. Ku r t Ma rmor (Hen): 25. M ik e Voel ker (Ho n): 26. Br ett j ohn son (S uz) : 27 . C hr is Voel ke r (He n): 28, Tod d Fische r (Yam); 29, Mike Klein rey Purk (He n): (Hen): 30. Davi d Moore ( Kaw): 31. It.'ff 32. Tod d Harrington (Kaw): 33. Kurt Sch usc hke (Suz) . Ti m e: 22 min ., 34.500 sec. Distance: 13 1 . 3Q miles . .1ps A vera ge spee d: 103.655 mph. Margin of victo ry: 0.-127St."C . I'RO H ON DA O ILS 600 SU r ERS rO RT C' S H l r POI NT STA ND INGS (After 11 of 13 roundsl: 1. Steve Crevier (318/1 win) ; 2. Dou g Chandler (300/0); 3. Ben Bt......tro m (292/ 0; 4. Eric Bostrom (2i,s); 5. !'\ id..v Ha yden (25f1 /1); 6 Tommy Ha yden (248); 7. Jason Pridml"lrt· -e Rapp (230) ; . . Larry Pegram (209); 10. 9 (235); 8. ~1 i ~ucl Dul-tamcl 098 / 1); 11. Kurti s Rober ts (182); 12. A lton Yak'S 073 / 1); 13. Bobbv Keith (128); 14. Keith wil so n ( 24 ); 15. St',10 Kowai ski (12 1); 16 . Richard Al e xand er ( 15) ; 17 . John Jaco bi (lO l1); 18. Erf k Schna ckenberg (98l; 19. Xa tha n Wait (95); 20. Milt' Ciccott o (91.1). Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 - Joliet. Illinois. August 9 Round 12 - Fountain, Colorado, Septe mber 6 A AfTeam 750cc Supersport Series M line Rou nd10: B inerdInternational R ra aceway Hayden starts over By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by Tom Riles BRAINERD, MI'I, AUG. I o u n g Nicky Hayden has h a d a traumatic season. He ' s been disqua lified nearly as o ften as he's won, a nd he 's won more than anyone expected he would . The distraction of his being disqualified numerous times al ong with Suzuki taking the HyperCycle team away from Carry Andrew caused him to consider quitting road racing entirely. Any chance of a cham pionship in the class went out the wi ndow with his DQs, but it hasn't stopped him . from winning . The trend conti nued tod av. Havd en , now o n the Team Suzu ki Spo rt - foimerIy H yp erCycle - Suzuki GS)l:R750, compl e tely d om in a ted the 26- ri der fie ld , lead ing fro m sta rt to finish o n th e way to an oth er impressive 750cc Su pe rsp ort win , his second legal win of the seaso n, to go along with two other wins he had tak en away for illega l equipment. " It was n' t that easy," Hayd en sa id aft e r w in ni ng by 5. 072 s eco n ds. " It looked a lot easi er than it really wa s. ( go t a reall y goo d sta rt. Right from th e begi nning I put my head dow n. I knew these guys were going to be going at it. Th ey' ve got points and every th ing. I just got o u t fro n t a nd put in so me- rea lly good laps a nd go t a good, com fortable lead . I'm just really happy. It' s kin d of hard to stay focu sed through th is w hole yea r . My g uys s tayed th ere and they we' haven 't given up or not hing and _ ve reall y been throu g h a lo t a nd I' m just really happy. I thi nk if Jason (Prid mor&-was he re toda v, he'd have mad e it a lot tougher on me', bu t I'm just ha p py ." H a yd en has been one of t he staunchest su pporte rs of Ca rry An d rew this season. He has sai d in the pa st th at he felt the AM A was singli ng Andrew ou t. Today, he backed off that positio n slig htly . "I d on 't kn ow ," he said w he n asked if he still felt Andrew was be ing unfairly p ersecut ed. " N o t a t Mid-Ohi o , bu t I th ink th e wind screen deal (at Willow Springs), d efinitely th e AM A was just ou t to get him on that. " After lea rnin g about his d isqualificatio n for ha vin g a n ill eg al fram e a fter wi nning at Mid -O hio, Hayden's reaction was, "Wha t's next? I was definitely d isappointed, but w ha t ca n I d o? We ' ve been t hrou gh a lot. Th em g uys , I'm thankful. I wa nted to give up. I was rea l close - I about went d irt tracking for the rest of the vea r." It was good thing he d idn ' t. Th e teen ager from Kentucky wo n the 13-lap, 39-m ile race in 22 m inutes, 29.860 ·sec- Y a Team Suzu ki Sport's Nicky Hayden eas ily won the 750Cc Supersport class - despite the distrac tion of having a change in the structure of his tea m late in the season. onds at an average speed of 104.011 mph . His champio nshi p ho pes ha ve lo ng s inc e been dashed, so th e win didn 't put h im in a n y cha lleng ing position . The cham pions hip leaders all raced for seco nd, and it - wa s a take-no-prisoners war. After Hayden sp lit, it w as left to the o the rs to fig h t fo r th e final podium pos iti o n s. Barn ett Tool & Engineering's Ric h a rd Alexande r Jr . a nd Steve Ra pp, on the 1 - 8 0 0 - CY CL E G E A R Suzuki , took off after Hayden , with Hoo te rs Restaurants' Paul Harrell in fourth a nd his teammate Mario DuHamel closing qu ickly. By the third lap Hayden had a 2.4 7second lead . Rapp was now in second , Alexander third, and then DuHamel and Harrell - with DuHamel joining the second- a nd thi rd-place riders on the s ixth la p as Rapp a nd A lexa nder swapped spots. Halfwa y in, Hayd en was o n cruise cont ro l. more tha n five seco nds in front a nd marking ti me. Al exand er was in fr ont of Rapp and DuHamel , the trio three wide on the front straight starting the eigh th lap, with DuHamel drafting past both to tak e over seco nd and Rapp getting Alexand er in tum three . "I got a pretty decent start and after the second lap I went pas t my tea m mat e Paul Harrell and I said, 'I' ve got to catch up to th e se guys, th ey're havin g too mu ch fu n , "" DuH am el sa id . "A n d I wen t by them, I followed the m for three laps a nd the n I saw th e d oub le d raft came u p ." . Once Du Ha me l go t in front , Rapp see med to slow, d roppin g off the pace, w it h Ricci Mo to rsports' Jimm y Moore now threat en in g from behin d . "So metimes when I' m rig ht behind so mebody I can' t ride my own lines, so I drop back so I can see where I'm goi ng," Rap p explaine d . " If so rneo ne's right in fro nt of you, yo u ca n't see, yo u can' t see yo ur brake ma rks . I slowed u p, not o n purpose. Once he (Alexander) got away, I could d rive my lines an d I could drive back up ag ain . If you're following right behind, it kind of messes you up a little bit." Alexa nder led at the en d of the 11th la p . Th en DuH am el ca me b y o n th e d ra ft in to turn one, with Alexander tak ing it back in tum three. DuHamel the n retook the spo t before the end of the lap. Moo re, meanwhil e, mo ved past Rapp o n the sa me lap. Sta r t in g th e fi na l la p, ' i t was DuHamel, Alexa nd er , Moore and Rapp - and the moves start ed early. Alexander we nt around the outside of DuHa me l in tu rn three. "I tried to make a move, but I was rea lly, like , on the limit and I was using u p my tire , so I decided to let the m go by," DuHam el said. "He (DuHamel) had a cou ple of bik e leng t hs going into o ne ," Al e xand er said. "I closed it back up in two. I knew go ing into thr ee he was going to mo ve o ver a nd protect the inside because I had been passing him a cou ple of tim es there. And at the sa me tim e I saw Rap p diving into t he in sid e. I said, 'Well, let me go a ro und th e o utside of hi m : I knew those two w ould get tog eth er so me how and I jus t went a ro u nd th e ou tside of them and made the pass s tick and d rov e out and pr otected m y lines to bring i! hom e: ' Rapp go t by a few turns lat er . Two tu rns from the end, Rapp 's cha nces a t a podium finis h ended ~hen he ran into tu rn nin e too ho t, d ro ppin g back to fo u rth and allowing DuHam el to ta ke over third . " I w ent off in nine, into t he d ir t," Rapp said . "And th en I couldn't get it hooked up. I went into th e last tum and I cou ld n' t keep the back end from coming around - just too mu ch corne r speed , ba si call y, t ryi ng to ge t a good d ri ve down that straightaw ay." Rapp sa id that he 'd bee n having tr action probl ems for most of the race. "It feels like it's just d oin g burn-outs e ve rv w hc re," he sai d . "W he n I'm behind Rich (Alexan der), it doesn' t even loo k like his is pu tting dow n a b lac k ma rk. Whe n I come ou t, it just feels like it' s spi nning." . Losing the spot cost him two poi nts the d ifference between third and fou rth - so h e n ow le a d s A lexander by 12 points, 295-283, with three races rema ining. DuHam el is tied with Ricci Motors por ts fo r th ir d at 244. Rand o lph cras hed on th e eig ht h lap w hile in sevent h place. Alexand er cred ited his success to his rear Dunlop , wh ich he felt held up bet ter tha n DuHamel's Pirelli. "I think I had a little bit of an advanta ge , basicall y, a t the end because my tires held up real good, and I coul d see Mario havi ng to scru b off so me speed into the turns so that he cou ld get ou t of them," Alexa nder said . "So that was my a dvantage a n d I pu t it to goo d u s e toward the end:' Th e bi ke whic h Alexander raced is one of th ree Suz uki GSXR750s w hich he o w ns, any of which is fo r sa le . Ju st chec k the cla ssi fied ads in th e bac k of th is issue .

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