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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127960
ROAD RACE
AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE
N
ATIONA
LCHAMPIONSHIP
AMAJPro HondaO 600cc'Su'persport Series
ils
R 1 PikesPeakInternationa Raceway
ound 2:
l
Larry Pegram (72)
leads Eric
Bostrom (17),
Tommy Hayden
(22) and Doug
Chandler (1 0) in
the 600cc
Supersport final.
Pegram,
finally!
By Pa u l Carruthers
Photo by He n ny Ray Abrams
FOUNTAIN, CO, SEPT, 6
he re are those in racin g ci rcles
w ho fir m ly be lieved th at Larry
Pegram wo uld never win a 600cc
Super sport race. And yo u could n't really blam e the m for th inki ng that w ay,
especially based on his perform an ces of
late . Believe it or not, Pegram's best finish of th e seaso n in 600cc Su pers por t
coming int o Pikes Peak was a s ixth a t
M id- Ohio - a nd th at was one of on ly
three better -th an-LOth-pla ce finis hes on
the year.
But that was then, this is now .
Jus t a da y after his 26th bi rt hday,
Peg ram wen t out and did what ma ny
thought he would never do - he won!
Rid ing his Yoshimura Suz uki to perfection, Pegram bea t the very bes t the class
has to offer in a straight fight. He was
fast fro m the ver y firs t practice session
and no one had any excuses for losing to
him. Pegram wa s just sim p ly better on
this sunnv and hot dav in Colorad o and
it was en ou gh to give 'him the victory in
the red-flag-interrupted race.
"I t was a good race - I won ," Pegram
said. "[t certainly wasn' t the way I wanted it to go . I thou ght fro m the times we
were running all weekend, that if [ go t
the holesho t I could ge t away. I thou gh t
maybe that Dou g (Cha nd ler) or Tommy
(Hayden) cou ld r un with me , bu t I
thou gh t if I really put my head d own 1
cou ld ge t away. 1 got the holesh ot both
time s and could n' t ge t away,"
He cou ldn' t get aw ay, thanks to the
stro ng ou tings turned in by Erion Racing's Eric Bostrom and Muzzy Kawa saki's Tommy Ha yden , the only tw o rid ers
wh o had a crack at Pegr am and at least
kept him honest. Bostrom end ed up taking seco nd, jus t .807 of a seco nd beh ind
Pegra m and on ly frac tions a he ad o f
Hayden .
For Eric Bostrom it was reall y jus t
bu sin ess as u su al as he co nti nu es hi s
im p ressive la te-season charge. It was
Bos trom' s six th p odium finish of the
year, though he still hasn't come away
wi th a win in 600cc Supersport racing.
Tommy Hayden continued the trend
at Pikes Peak of the lesser-known brothers upstaging the be tter-known brothers . Hayden finished on the podium for
the second time in the las t three races as
he continues to regain the form that
earn ed him a berth on th e Muzz yowned Kawasaki team in the first place.
Tommy's you nger brother Nicky finished fifth o n his Team Su zuki Sport
GSX-R600.
Sandwiched between the two Haydens was Mu z zy Kawa saki 's Dou g
Cha nd ler , the man who sits second in
the 600cc Supersport Championship title
chase. The man who lead s the way in
the cha m pionship, Yoshimura Suz uki's
Steve Crevier, d id all tha t he need ed to
do to ma in tain his cus h ion goi ng int o
th e fi n a l ro u n d a t Las Veg a s Motor
Speed way. Cre vie r did nothing fancy
and ended up si xth, thanks in part to
some help from his friends.
Team Suzuki Sport's Jason Prid mo re
slowed enoug h to allow his fellow Suzuki rider to pass in the final laps. Dilto for
T
10
Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates. Yates
d id n't p ut up much o f a fi g h t when
Crevier came past. Prid more end ed up
seventh with Yates eighth.
Todd H arr in gt o n rod e hi s 4&6
Cycles-backed Kawasaki to ni nth place,
jus t ah ead of the Erion Racin g Ho nda
CBR600 of Kurtis Roberts,
Wit h ju s t the La s Vega s round
rem a in in g on th e schedul e , C re v ie r
leads Chan dle r by 16 points, 343-327, as
he tr ies to ca p tu re his firs t-ever AMA
tille. Eric Bostrom jumped ahead of his
older bro ther Ben, wh o crashed ou t of
the race on the final lap and was cred ited w it h 16t h, in th e title chase . Eric
Bostrom hold s down third in the standings , three points dear of Ben, 310-307.
Nicky Hayd en is fifth with 282 points,
just five points ahead of hi s brother
Tommv.
The first attempt at racing lasted jus t
two co m p le te laps. A crash and the
resulting d ebri s on the circui t forced the
A."v1A to stop the pr oceed ings wi th a red
flag .
The re start didn ' t change t h in g s
mu ch. Pegram got the jump on the field
aga in , lead in g Tommy Hayden, Eri c
Bost rom , Ch andl er, Crevier, Ben
Bostro m and Pridmor e to complete the
first lap, Pegram co ntinue d to lea d up
front as the top three distanced themselves slightly fro m the pa ck.
O n th e 11th lap, Tomm y Hayden
too k th e lea d fo r th e fi rst time as he
passed Pe gram on the b rak es for tu rn
three, Il didn't la st lo ng , th o u gh , as
Pegram fou ght back throu gh to ru n up
the inside of Hayd en just one turn later,
The in cid ent that cou ld have eas ily
chan ged the ou tcome of the race came
on the 13th lap . Heading into turn thr ee,
Ha yd en aga in wail ed u ntil the last second to bra ke. He ran up the inside of
Peg ram, but Pegram wasn' t prepared to
give any room. Fina lly, the pair were
force d wide, allo wing the patient Eric
Bostrom to shoot undern eat h and in to
the lead .
"I was going for the pass an d I was in
p retty hot ," Hayden explain ed . "La rry
(Pegram) was right there and he wasn't
wanting to give me a n y roo m and I
w asn 't wanting to get off the line too
much . We were p retty m u ch rubbing
there for awhile."
"He (Hayden) had me and I just tried
to lean over," Pegram ad ded. "When I
did , I think he picked up a little because
he thou ght we were goi ng to hit. That
pu shed us wider."
Th e incident left Pe g ra m in third
pl ace, but he wa s in no mood to s ta y
there. He forced his w ay und erneath
Hay den in tu rn four on the 16th lap and
set ou t after Bostro m. On the 20th lap,
Peg ra m b arg ed h is way past Eric
Bostro m in turn thr ee to take the lea d .
And he wouldn't give it back .
"I w as bein g reall y aggressive, not
just with traffic but with these gu y s
too," Pegram exp lained , "Anytime there
was an oppo rtu nity to stu ff it in ther e, I
did . On this type of track, tha t' s what
you hav e to do. I just tried to be aggressive and it just paid off,"
From there he only had to battle his
own nerves.
"I knew go ing into the race that I was
capable of winni ng it, so I think I was a
little bit ne rvous ," Pegram sa id . " I
wasn't as fluid as I wa nted to be and it
probably cos t me a couple of tent hs a
la p,"
See mingly always ha p py, finish ing
se co nd on thi s d a y d id li ttl e to a lte r
Bostrom's mood , He was s till ha p py,
still smiling.
" It w as a reall y good ra ce ," Eric
Bostrom said . "These guys d id a fantastic job. We just pushed hard every lap .
When you ride the best yo u can every
la p, yo u have to be happy w ith it. I'm
ne ve r hap py to finish secon d , bu t it's
really good co m pe tit ion a nd it was a
really good race. I didn't get throu gh the
lap pers too clea n. I guess I just hit 'em
wrong. Tha t put me back a few times,
but for the most p art every thi ng wa s
pretty smooth. Abo ut 10 laps from the
end, I started losin g the fro n t end rea l
bad all the wa y arou nd the race track, I
ju s t had to co o l it. Otherwise, I was
going to be on my head. "
Hayde n w a s a lso ple a s ed a n d
thrill ed to back w here he belongs - full
of confid ence and running a t the front.
" It was a real tigh t ra ce, but tha t' s
wha t I expec ted," Hayd en sa id . " I wanted to ge t a good sta rt and tha t's what
happened . Every thing was prett y mu ch
going to plan in the begin ning - I was
right there. Larry (Pegra m) go t ou t front
and for the first few laps I was jus t trying to hang ther e with him, and see how
the race played ou t. 1 started trying to
pass him a nd I got by him once in the
back on the brakes . I got in a little too
h o t an d we bump ed a li tt le - t h a t
allowed Eric (Bostrom) to get by. Larry
got bac k by me and I was pr ett y much
th ir d th e .whole race. I wa s droppin g
back and I was ab le to catch back up to
him a lillie, but I was never ab le to make a pass on him there at the end - wh en 1
needed to . I'm happy w it h th ird . Th e
las t few ra ces m y bik e ha s jus t reall y
been dialed in and it's definitely made it
easier on me ou t there. Hop efull y, I can
carry the momentum I have right now
in to the next race a nd ho pe fu lly win
one."
Pegram cred ited much of the change
in hi s fortu ne to getti ng back to the
basics.
" I thought I could do well, bu t th e
seas on this year has been terrible - just
terrible," Pegram sa id . "My confi dence