Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127963
ROAD RACE A GRAND MA CHAMPIO SHIP N anythi ng for h im th a t particula r race. (I've got to) kind of save my energy; I've got four more left tod ay and (let's) just see if I got something else in one of the other races for him." Ha ner wasn't willing to pu t it down to Chouinard 's machi ne superiority. "No, it h a s n o t h in g to d o w it h motor ," he ad mit ted . "He was jus t rid ing real we ll. My bike is just as fast as Chuck's is; he was just a better rid er in that particu lar race, and now I' ll see if I've go t anything for him lat er on this afternoon." "That' s pret ty much how we planned it: Charge real hard at the sta rt and gap these gu ys and just put it on cruise and save the engi ne," Chouinard said. There w as p lenty of mo tor in th e Expert Unlimited Superbike race, but it w as Ka w a sa k i p ow e r this ti me , Chouina rd ha ving switche d from th e Suzu ki he r&:l e to victory earlier in the d a y . The result was n o d iff e r ent. Ch ouinard cha rged to the fron t on the third of 12 laps, with Haner moving up to s e co n d b y the fo u rth la p a n d Cho u ina rd hol di n g be tter than seven seconds at the midpoint. Again, he wou ld more than double it, winn ing by 19 seconds after 19.2 miles of racing. "Chuck knows this track really, really well , and my hat' s off to him, " Haner said. "He is riding extremely well. John Scheehse r over there (who failed to finis h after running into transmi ssi on pr obl em s ea r ly o n) , he w as r id in g ex tre mely well, too. He wa s going to give Chuck a ru n for his mon ey un til he had a problem. I'm going to make su re th a t Chuck d oesn 't ge t a clean sweep this weekend. I mad e some adjus tme n ts to th e bik e an d it w orked o ut p ret ty well. We ' ll see. Ch uck was ru n ning extreme ly fast and I was just doing my best jus t to keep him in sight." "Tha t's the plan, " Chouinard said of his disa ppearing act, which he ran at lap ti me s i n the 1:16 range, his be st a (Above) Cho uinard (2) leads the pack through the first set of corners at Loudon en rou te to winn ing the Expert Heavyweig ht Supe rs port clas s. (Right) Jerry Woo d ho lds off Brett Guye r in the Expe rt Li ghtweight Superbike class. gr~t;~~~~~~~:~~:~~~~~::::::::::~ aw ay at the ry and 1:15 .96. "T begi nn ing and jus t set it on cru ise and conserve my tires and my strength for the res t of th e week end . We'v e go t two more big ones to go here. That was going , but 1 think ther e's some more in there. Mid- I Ss wi ll be eve n better. New England Performan ce - they're a local co m pa ny righ t in New Hampshi re he re - th ey b uil d a killer b ik e. We' re struggling a little bit on the hand ling and that's what we're working on now, but it's got plen ty of mo tor . That' s the ga me plan and we 're jus t goi ng to keep on p lugging along, take a li ttl e break now and relax, and we've go t two more big on es this afternoon : ' He nail'1l. down the first one in race 10, the Expert Heav yweight Supersport class. Nothing changed : ho leshot, big lead, wi n. The ma rgin was 12 seconds, th ou gh it had been 8.5 a t th e crossed fl a g s . Han er chased a gain and h ad Richa rd Doucette try in g to run h im down, finishing about 2.6 seconds back, whil e w a it in g fo r a ch arge fr o m Roger Ha yden , th e youngest of the racin g Hayden brothers, who finished fourth. " I looked ove r m y should er," Do uce tte said . "I was still a little hurt fro m the 600 cras h and I kept seeing him coming; 1 was waiting for him. 1was jus t trying to hold on and finis h the race: ' Doucette, like th e top six finis he rs, rode a Suzu ki GSX-R75O. "The star t was real critical," Han er sa id. "Chuck had a reall y go od sta rt. 1 started back ther e on the third row, bu t Ch uck had a good sta rt a nd go t th a t lead an d jus t took off. I had noth ing for ยท him ." The win helped move Cho ui nard up in the poin ts chase for th e LRRS title with one race remaining, next weekend . " We miss ed t he first couple of round s chasing AMA s tu ff, but we 've hit the last ha lf of the season here and ~ J we're in the hun t for a few of the points," he said. The last ra ce of t he d a y was the Unlimited Grand Prix, a Dash For Cash race with a $2200 purse which was cospons ored by Moto Race, the Michelin di st ributor, a nd .Brett Metzger Motorspo rts. Ch ou inard took the top prize of $500 for winning the race, but Jeffrey Wood , 23 seconds back in second on his Yamah a TZ250 to C h o u ina rd 's Ka w a saki Superbike, ea rned $400. Third, abo u t nin e se co nds behind Wood , wa s Des Conboy on his R-1 Yamaha . "C huc k rode a grea t ra ce," Wood sai d . "He fina lly go t in the ISs on that bike (Ch o u in a r d ' s best time was a 1:15.82.) He rod e a wicked-hot race. I lost my brakes in the first laps. 1 don't thi nk it wo uld 've mattered : '