Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

After a shaky start, Bos trom turned up the juice on the Erion Racing Honda CBR900RR and disappeared at a record pace. He wo uld eventually win the race by 15.804 seconds at a new record average of 107.816 mph - much faster than last year's 93.098 mph set by Greg Fryer in iffy condition s. Bostrom also need ed abo u t 3'" minutes less to comp lete th e 13-lap, 39-mile race. He won his eighth race in nine tri es in 21 minut es, 42.230 seconds. Fryer need ed 25 minu tes, 8.100 seconds to win last year. "I was just kind of cooling it," said Bostro m, w h o is raci n g th ree cla sses again this week. "I had a bit of a scar e going through one. I think we caug ht a gus t of wind on th e second lap. Man, the thi ng bu cked arou nd a nd wa shed th e fro nt end . So I' m thinking, 'Th at' s n ot a good thi ng , thi s is not w he re I wa nt to crash the thi ng: I kind of like felt (tu rn) one ou t for th e next several laps and jus t tried to make u p for it and ru n the rest of the track. And then I got m y con fid en ce b ack and wa s abl e to cruise through one from there: ' The win boosted his points lead ove r N obl es to a n e ve n 40 , 296-256, w ith three races rem aining. Nobles had his hand s full. Canadian Kawasaki Motors Mich ael Tay lor wa s e very bit h is e q ua l, th o u g h Nobles' Hond a was clearly faster than Tay lo r's Kawasaki ZX-9. Th ey ' d ho o ked up early on, after G raves M otorsp o r ts' Ma r k Miller ' crashed out on the seco nd lap, and stu ck tog ethe r, easi ng away fro m Kawasa ki Team Green's Eric Wood in fourth. • No bles was ou t fro n t until lap 10, when Taylor stole t.he spot wi th a hard brakin g maneuver in tum three. On the next lap, No bles used his power advantage to d riv e by on th e fro n t s tra ig h t, with Taylor thinking about another pass in turn three before backing off. A lap later, Taylor used his brakes to pass in turn three again, and kept the spot starting the final lap. Powe r made the differen ce aga in, with No bles going arou nd th e ou tsi de of Taylo r th rough turn one before prot ecting the inside in turn three. ' "He had passed me twice going in to three," No bles said. "His bike's reall y s t ro n g o n the brakes . H e lo oks like (Aaro n) Yates. He'd run it off in there. One tim e I tried him before we got to four, but I said , 'N o, I wasn 't go ing to sho w him th at : If I had to on th e last lap , then I'd do it. But on the last lap I come down, I just reall y tried to go hard throu gh one and tw o, b as ic all y d ir t tr acking it through the re. You look a t that tire compared to Eric' s. I wa s able to get aw ay fro m him and he cou ld n' t make a pass: ' "He wa s b raki n g pretty ea r ly fo r th ree - I gu ess ma ybe because he sa w Mark (Miller) cras h there earlier," Taylor said . " It might have spooked him. I just kept trying to take advantage of tha t:' Tay lor h ad a cha nce on the las t lap w he n No bles mad e a mis ta ke in tu rn six. "He actu ally mad e a mista ke go ing in to com er six, and I thou ght I'd be able . to capi tali ze on it, but it was jus t too dangerous to p ush that ha rd ," Tayl or said . "I didn't wa nt to take us both ou t:' In the final corner, No bles caug ht a backm arker in the righ t place a nd was able to use him just enough to gua rantee the second -place spo t. "Tha t guy , I saw h im, a nd I d idn't know wh ether I was goi ng to be able to ge t him or not," the Geo rgia n sa id. " It w as kin d of a roll -the-d ice, and I took the chance and go t up und er him - an d I stood him up : ' Taylor wasn' t worr ied abo u t using tum three to make a pass. "I knew there was about four places o n th e track th at I w as st ronger th an him," Taylor said . "I gu ess I cou ld ha ve planned it a little bit better. You d o the best wit h what you've go t. He put in a particul arl y strong last lap becau se he knew I'd be tryin g some thing and came out on top . I' m a litt le d isappoin ted . It wou ld have b een n ice to ru n se co nd after all tha t fight. You fight that hard, you want to win." Wood w as abou t 8.5 seconds back in four th, all alone and runnin g by himself for much of the race on his Pen guin Racing School 840 Kawa saki. Then came Zlock Racing' s Mike Sulliva n, ab ou t 13 secon ds be hind Wood , and , like Wood , u ncha llen g ed fo r th e duration on his Kawa saki. Sixth was las t year's wi nne r, Greg Fryer, the Larsos Cycle Racing rid er pulling 'aw ay from fellow Minnesotan Ma rc Chiod o at the en d . C hiodo w a s aboa rd the Anoka Ramsey Sports Cen ter Suzu ki GSXRl 100. Fa stra x Racin g' s Dean Mizd a l w a s eig h th , another four seco nds back, and Suzuki GSXR750-mou nted . Filli ng ou t th e top 10 w ere Ho oters Restau rants' Mari o DuHam el and Chri s Voelk er on .the Greenfield s Turf In c. 1-:\ Ho nda CBR900RR. Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Res ults: August 1, 1998 (Round 9 of 12) PIRELLI FO RM ULA XTREM E: I . Er ic Bost rom (Hon); 2: Tripp Nobles (H on ): 3. Michael Taylor (Ka w ): 4. Eric Wood (Ka w): 5. Mike Su lliva n (Ke w): 6. Gre g Fry er (Ya m) ; 7. Marc C h iodo (Suz): 8. Dean Mizd al (Suz): 9. Mari o Dul-lamel (Suz ): 10. C hris Voelker (Ho n); 11. Mi ke Voe lker CHon ); 12. Daniel Brod y (S uz): 13. G reg Wh ite (Su z ): 14. Mik e Krynock (K.1W); 15. Pa ul Duca to (Ya m); 16. Jeffery Wins to n (Su x ); 17. Michael G age (T ri ); 18. C urti s Ada m s (Tri) ; 19. Woody Dea the rage (Suz): 20. Steve Jo hnso n (Kaw): 21. LarryLocklea r (Ka w ): 22 . Ma rk Mille r (Yam ); 23 . Ch u ck Graves (Yam); 24. Shawn Co nra d (T n ). Time: 21 min., 42.230 sec. Distance: 13 laps, 39 miles Average speed: 107.816 m ph • Margin of vict ory : 15.804 sec. PI RELLI FO R MU LA XT RE ME C' S H IP POINT ST A ND INCS (Afte r 9 of 12 ro un ds ): 1. Eric Bost ro m s (296 / 8 wins); 2. Tripp Nob le (256 / t) ; 3. Mar k Mille r (225 ); 4. Michael Ta ylor (20t); 5. Dea n Mizdal (191); 6. Mario DuHame l (148 ); 7. T ra y Batey (142); 8. C hri s Voelke r (129); 9. Curtis Adams (118); 10. Mike Sulliva n (97); I \. Mike Voelker (95); 12. Co ry Ca ll (90); 13. Greg White (87); 14. Jack Pfeifer (85); I S. Eric Wood (76); 16. Micah el Gag e (74); 17. Keith Ma rqu ez (57); 18. Michael Ba rn es (56); 19. Myro n Sco tt (54 ); 20. (TIE) Mich ael Smith / Pa ul Harre ll (52). Upcoming Rounds: Round 10 - Joliet, Illinois. August 8 ~ound 11 - Fountain. Colorado, September 5 AMAIProgressive Insurance P Thunder Series ro Round 10: Brainerd International Raceway Curtis takes the sixth By Henn y Ray Abrams Photo by Tom Riles B RAINERD, MN, AUG. 2 . o t th a t he need ed th e h elp , b u t Or an ge Co u nty Triumph's Cu rtis Ada ms wo n his sixth Progr essive In suran ce Pro Thun d er r a ce wi th remar kable ease after his only compe tition this yea r, tea m ma te Paul H arrell a nd Till ey ' s H- D/ Buell's Shawn Higbee, bot h retired with mechanical prob lems. Ada ms was in the lead and pu lling away wh en eac h re tir ed , on differen t N la ps a nd fo r different reasons, so he most likely wo u ld ha ve wo n an yhow. But t hey m ad e it e asi e r and a ls o a llowed h im to m ak e it a th ree-w a y figh t for the cha mpions hip w ith th ree races to go. Adams wo n the race on the same Triump h he' d ridden to his other fiv e rac e wi n s, bu t thi s tim e it w as painted red . "I think racing is just part witchcraf t ou t ther e, becau se after Mid -Oh io w e hadn't had a whole lot of luck and we thought, 'Well, let' s change the color of this motorcycle and see 'wha t that does for it: " Ad ams sai d. "Who 's to say if that makes a d ifference or not, bu t all racers got thei r own littl e qu irks a nd thin gs that they d o and we decided to paint one red an d it's a '98-model Triu m ph color ou t there and we just feel really fortu nat e to be in this spot: ' The s po t h e wa s in wa s ato p th e podium and third in the points with 288. Harrell still lead s wi th 303 and Hig bee has 292. They migh t ha ve been fu rthe r ba ck ha d the field not bee n so spa rse . There we re 11 starters and seven finis hers - if yo u incl ude th e o ne rid er who w a s lap ped twice in the 13-lap race. Beca use the re w ere so few riders, H ar rell w as cre d ited w it h eighth and Higbee with ninth. Hig bee was the first ou t, pulling out while in third on the fifth lap wh en his .Buell started smoking heavily as a result of a leaking cam cover. Harrell lasted one more lap befor e he wa s through, his Triumph br eaking a con nec ting rod after H igbee had go ne ou t. "It was slow fro m th e first lap and g o t s lower a n d s low e r a n d fin all y dropped a rod:' Ha rrell said. Whe n Harrell parked his Triumph, Ad ams had nearl y a 16-second lead on HMC' s Shaw n Co n ra d . H e w ould stretch it to 20.320 seconds at the end of th e 13-lap, 39-mile ra ce. Ad ams av eraged 99.504 mph in winning the race in 23 minutes, 31 seconds . "We worked reall y hard this weekend to try to find a good setu p:' Ada ms sa id. "We we nt pretty quick rig h t off th e tru ck Frid ay . Had a lit tle bit of a probl em in trac tion off the apex on the co rne rs. W e w orked really h ard . I thou ght we cou ld maybe get these guy s cove red and they showed me something yes terd ay in the heat race. I was prett y d iscouraged and we wen t out last night and had some fun and relaxed and just pu t ou r heads together and put a good th o u gh t pro ce ss to g eth er on w h ic h d irection to go . We wo rked some things out first thing this morn ing and the bi ke wen t really well this morning; basically, from the start I jus t had to pu t my head down an d try to ge t away as best as I could . Chose a p re tty-har d-c ompo u nd tire to make it last the wh ole race. Just put my hea d d own rig ht at the begin - When his two main rivals dropped out of the Pro Thunder class, Curtis Adams was able to cruise to victory - his s ixth of the season. ning and tr ied to s p lit. Fortu na tel y it worked out. "About halfway through: ' Ada ms continued, "I was able to get somesigns that the other tw o competitors, Shawn and Paul, were out. They're my main rivals in this points battle, so once they were out I probabl y backed off a little bit and just cruised a little bit to make sure we could make that thing finish and get the lead : ' Co nr ad motored around to finish a solid second, his best finish of the year after four sixths in a row. Afterward , he sa id he nearl y didn't make the start of the race, ge tting to the line just in tim e to make the start. " I tr ied g e t t in g behi nd C u r ti s (Ada ms), but Pau l Harrell passed me on th e insid e and Higbee a lso got me on the out side : ' Conrad sa id . "I followed th os e g u ys in to turn o n e a n d I w as thinking, 'Well, ma ybe I can han g on to these guys for a w hile: And I did - not Cu rtis, Cu rtis was gone - but Shaw n and Paul were battling back and forth, they h a d a goo d b attle - fun to w atch . I cou ld n' t qu ite claw my way up th ere, a n d go ing th rough turn two, 1 sa w smoke coming out of Higbee 's bike and right there I kind of knew - well, it' s not serious for a podium position , kind of a cheap wa y in, but it' s racin g and an ything can happen . He we nt ou t that lap, and then two laps later Paul went ou t. I loo k e d behind m e and n obody w as there and I just felt comfortable, and I've got to work on my ridi ng, so I picked up my lap times a litt le bit." Th ird in the p rocession went to Ra t Racin g ' s Mich a el Gage. He ' d mo ved int o the spo t wh en Harrell went ou t and rode s tead ily to his seco nd third-place finish of the year, this one abou t 29 seconds beh ind Conrad . 1-:\ Brainerd Internat ional Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results: August 2, 1998 (Round 10) PR O GRE SSIV E IN S UR AN CE PRO THUNDER: I. Curt is Ada ms (Tri): 2. Shawn Conrad (Tri), 3. Michael Ga ge (T ri); 4. M ich a e l C old e n (Bue ): 5. Da vid Hu ll ( Due) ; 6. Jeff joh nson (Bud; 7. Robert Gon za les (Due); 8. Paul Ha r rell (Tri); 9. S hawn H ig be e (Bue ): 10. Je rry Casciero (H-D); 11. Ja mes Lickwar (Tri). Ti me : 23 min., 31.000 sec. Dista nce : 13 laps, 39 miles Ave rage speed : 99.504 mp h Ma rgin of vic tory: 20.320 ~""C. PR O GR ES S I VE I N S UR A N CE PRO THUND ER C' SH IP PO INT ST AN D INCS (After 10 of 12 rounds ): 1. Paul Harrell (303/ 1 win ); 2. Sha w n Higbee (292/3); 3. Cu rtis Adams (288/6) ; 4. Michael Gage (221); 5. [a mes Lick w a r (t 82) ; 6. S h aw n Co n ra d (177); 7. Ru ber t G o nz ales (56) ; 8. D.lVid H ull (54) ; 9. Mark Mill er (122 ); 10. Thomas Tu cciaron e (1 16); 11. Bill St . Jo hn (l 13); i2 . Craig Mc lean (l04); 13. Thoma s David (103); 14. Pa ul O rl andi (96); 15. Ku rt Mu nd (82) ; 16. Ni ck lena tasch (63); 17. Billy G raef (52); 18. Mo nte Nichol s (50 ; l Q. Larry Schn ur (44); 20. Micha el Dube (40 . Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 - Joliet, Illinois, August 9 Round 12 . Fountain, Colorado, September 6

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