Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE NT N C A IO AL HAMPIONSHIP :":'; .• '~".' ·i ";; ..~ .- .', ., ....-; . : "" ~ : ' . ':"., ,-,; " . ," " ';:'. ." ", -e . . ' , ,'J.;-:<~ , ...... ,.,.. (,, ~"!~\ .,. -. (Left ) Kurtis Roberts wo n the 250cc Grand Prix aft er press uring Chuck So rensen int o a laterace cras h. (Below) Eric Bostrom wo n again in the Form ula Xtreme cl ass. (Suz ); 42. Owen Weiche l (5uz); 43. Jerem y Toye (Suz): 44. Ryan Bur ke (Suz). T ime: n /a, d ue to red flag D is ta nce: 15 laps, 37.5 m ilt'S Average Speed: n / a, d ue to red flag Margi n of Victo ry. 7.210 M-'C. FINAL 75 0cc SU PERSPO RT C' S H I P PO INT STANDINGS (Aft e r 12 of 12 rou n d s ); 1. Rich a rd Ale xand er Jr. (338/1 wi n): 2. Ste ve Rapp (327 /2); 3. Ma rio DuHa mel (288); 4. N ic ky Hay d en (27 1/5); 5. james Randolph (270); h . Jim my Moore (238); 7. Pau l . Har Tt1I (228); 8. [aso n Prid mo re.(223/4); 9. (TIE) Jak e ' Ze mke /J ohn Ja cob i (202); 11. Jamie Bowma n (200); 12. Dal e Kieffer (192); 13. Stev e Tesch ke (144); 14. Erik Schnac ke nberg (1 9); 15. Keith Wilson (117). AMAIEnRace F uelslLubricants G Prix rand Series,final round:Las V asMotor Speedway eg Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas , Nevad a Results: October 4, 1998 (Round 12) Raberls ralls ELF RACE FUELSILUBRICANTS GRAND PRIX, 1. Ku rti s Ro be r ts (Hen) : 2. Rola nd Sands (Ya m ); 3. Taka hito Man (lion); 4. Charles Sorensen (Ya m); 5. Jo sep h Cubbage (Yam ); 6. G reg ES~'r (Ha n); 7. Gecp Terranova (Yam); 8 . Chris Ulrich (Yam); 9. Jeffrey Vos (He n): 10. Edward Sorbo (Yam ); 11. Edwa rd Mar chini (Hen): 12. Larry Robe rts (Ho n): 13. Gary Georges (Yam); 14. John Fra nce (Ho n): 15. Harold Parke r (Ya m); 16. Ty David Piz (Ya m); 17. William Dale Whe lan (Ya m); 18. Du nca n Griffiths (Ya m); 19. Co lin Je nse n (Apr) ; 20 . Mike Fos ter (Yam); 21. Tom Christian (Han); 22. Mar k Fos te r (Ya m) ; 23 . M ich a e l Cz ysz (A pr); 24 . Pe rry Melneciu c (Hen): 25. Jeffr ey Legg itt (l-ion) . Time: 24 min ., 59.365 sec. Distance : 15 laps, 37.2 m iles Average spee d: 89.318 mp h M argin of victory: 11.100 sec. ELF R AC E FU ELS /LU BR IC ANTS G RA N D PRIX C'SH W r O INT STANDINGS (Aft e r 12 of 12 rounds): L Rolan d Sand s (394/5); 2. Kurti s Roberts (358 / 3); 3. C huc k Sor en se n (347/3); 4. Randy Re nfro w (263); 5. C ee p Terran ova (241); 6. Greg Esser (235); 7. Je ffrey Vns (22 4) ; 8 . Ta ka hito Mor t (2 19 /1 ); 9. (T IE) Ma r k Fost er / Bobby Keith (212); 11. John Fran ce (178); 12. Pe r r y Me lne ciu c (170 ); ·13 . Leo n Co r tes (148) ; 14 . Ed war d Sorbo (124); 15. Al Sala ve rria (103); 16. Rod ney Fet' (99); 17. Willia m Him melsbach (90); 18. Bru ce Lind (87); 19. Jose ph Cubbage (74); 20. Chris Ulrich (73). By Henny Ray Ab rams LAS VEGAS, NV, OCT. 4 rion Racing' s Kurtis Roberts end ed hi s 250cc GP ca reer by riding th e mu ch-im proved Honda RS250 to his secon d Elf Race Fuels/Lubricants win in a row , and his third in the last four races of t h e seaso n . A ft er s ta rting s low ly w hile ge tting used to his thir d d ifferent motorcycle in thr ee yea rs, an d having to learn a nu mber of new race tracks, the yo ungest o f the Rob er ts cla n came on s tro ng , p ro ving H ond a' s d ecision to sig n him was a wise one and one they won' t regr et next yea r. He finish es the season in second p lace and will move on to contest the 600cc Supe rsport an d Formu la Xtreme cla sses for Erio n Raci ng next year. His late-season success has come as a result of the continued d iligence of both his team and American Honda. American Ho nda has pitched in wit h his team to make the Honda the best it has been all season, and the evide nce is clear on the race track. At this race, he caught a brea k w he n h e w a s a b le to u s e th e engine fro m teammate Randy Renfrow 's Honda RS250. Ren fro w op te d n ot to race after hurting himself in a crash on Saturday . It carne at an especially propitiou s momen t, since Roberts' engin e had seized twice. "The race actually was kind of fu n because I've never been able to p as s anybody on the stra ightaway this year," Roberts said. "We go t Randy' s mot or . Unfort una tely, he cras hed on Thursd ay, and Th ursday we seized both sess ions . Friday, the thing w asn't running . ·We d id it for the heat race. Actu ally, yesterd ay we pu t in Ra~dy ' s m otor a nd the thing worked goo d . John La ssa k a nd . Bria n Turffrey , th ey pu t th ei r h ea d s togeth er and they w ork ed toge ther as a team and they wo rk really well. And the chass is was good." Rober ts led the opening lap and then fell in line beh ind World Sports Imp orts' Chuck Sorensen as the tw o pulled awa y from the field . Robert s sa id he was .con ten t to sit, kn owing he cou ld make a pa ss at any time. He we nt ahea d briefly on lap nine of 15, then took the lead for good on the 00 penultimate lap when Sor ensen cras hed 0\ 0\ ...... a t the end of the back s traig ht. ert s sai d . "The bik e was perfect," Rob ~ ' "I just played w ith Chuck . I hate to say ...... it, but that' s wha t I was d oing. I pa ssed ;.... him once and I sa t up most of the lap (l) .o and rod e arou nd and he didn' t want to o ...... p ass me ba ck. I w as go ing d o wn th e u fro nt s tra ig h ta way h a lf -th rottl e . H e came up alongs ide of me and though t 1 would slip by the inside - then he'd let me go. I just locked up the fro nt brakes E B lSI ~ o 14 a nd let him back in th e lead a nd th at flustered him a lot. He sta rted sha king his head and wasn ' t sure abo u t th at. I ju st kept th e p re ssu re on hi m , kept show ing him a w heel and wa iting for somethin g to happen . I kept sizing hi m up, ma king sure 1 could d efinitely ge t him before the checkered flag, w hich we wer e go ing to be able to do. " Kee pin g the heat on, Roberts was in the p erfect p o siti on w h e n So re nsen ma de his mistake. "I wa s right behind him," he said . "I was rig h t there. He lost the fro nt over the transition, which was his line. 1actually tried hi s lin e and I lost the fro nt th ere . It d id n 't work for 15 laps - it worked for 13, I guess." Seco nd, some 11 seco nds be hind , went to Roland Sand s, the Performa nce Machines' Yama ha rider who'd clinche d th e title a t th e previou s race in Pikes Peak. San ds didn't get away well, and then he had to pass teammate Mark Foster, by which time the lead ers had split. A heat- race crash had put Sands back on the fifth row of the 27-rid er fIeld . More im p orta n tly, he ' d d am aged h is forks and had to make a swap. "We've h ad so ine p rob le ms thi s weekend, mainl y yes terday in the heat race; we bro ke a fork leg an d it caused a crash, and tha t wasn 't so good," Sands said . "We had to start from the back of the gr id an d 1 knew win ning was go ing to be tough. 1 was kind of hop ing for a red flag . I just went ou t ther e and rode as hard as I cou ld, tried to get as man y people as 1 could on the first lap, and 1 got quite a few guys - bu t it was n' t qui te e noug h to h a n g with Kur tis and Chuck." Still, he already had the title by virtue of his five wi ns tha t came in a six-race flurry from Lagu na Seca to Loudon. His only nonpodium finish, a fourth at Sears Point, came in the middle of that run . Th e fina l ch am p io ns hip shee t lis ts Sand s at the top w it h 394, Robert s in second w ith 358, and Sorensen th ird wi th 347. "I just di d w hatI had to do," Sands sa id . "I ' m h a pp y to fi n is h seco n d today." Mota Liberty's Takah ito Mori inherited third after Sorensen and Foster went out. Heat-race problem s had forced him to the b a ck ro w o f th e g r id , s o a ny cha nce of victory was slim . It d idn't stop him from making his usu al cha rge and he cracked the top 10 on the second lap. From there his pr ogr ess was steady. He was up to fifth by lap five, but he stalled a nd had to wa it for Fost er to pu ll off and Sore nse n to crash befor e he cou ld inherit third , which he d id on the penultimate lap. _ "I'm just lucky to make thir d place," the Japanese Hond a-mounted rider said. After sp illing at the end of the back stre tch, Sorensen p icked up his Yama ha and got going. He lost th ree spots but still managed to finish fourth . That was th e spot th at Foster h eld from th e fif t h lap th ro u g h th e 13 t h , when he was forced ou t by a problem whic h he initially misd iagnosed. "I thought 1 ra n ou t of gas, so 1 th rew a te mper tan tr u m, " Fos ter sai d . "I thought it was my me chanic's fault, but it was a bat tery failure. It started (while) coming ou t of turn one . Tha t same lap, it s ta rted dyi ng going d o wn -th e ba ck straightaway. I was really upset. Even if I would have just sat there and put my nose d ow n, I w ou ld've gotte n third . I still wasn' t giving up yet. There was one spo t w here 1 thou ght maybe I could ge t second. It just di ed - it d ropped a cell." The batt le for w hat wo u ld be fift h pl a ce w en t ba ck a nd fo r th b e tw ee n Team Ra ce Aga in s t Cance r' s Joseph Cu bbage and Fabw eld' s Greg Esser after Cu bbage caug ht Esser on the ninth lap. The pair officially swapped the top spot five tim es at the fin ish line, and more often on the race track. In the end, Cubbage took fifth, his bes t of the yea r, and Esser tied his b est with a six th . Geep Te rr a nova w a s se v e n th, wi t h C h ris Ulrich , Jeffrey Vos and Edward Sor bo filling the top 10. . rx AMAJPirelli Formula X treme Series inal egas otorSpeedway F round: LasV M Who else but Bostrom? By Henny Ray Abrams LASVEGAS, NY, OCT. 3 rion Racing' s Eric Bostrom co mpl eted his ch ampionsh ip -w inning Pirelli For m u la Xtrem e season in the same mann er as he had most of the races - w it h a th orou ghly d omin ating wi n, on a wa rm and very windy day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For Bostrom, w ho w ill join Migu el DuHam el on the American Hond a team next year and who has won the past two AMA Superbike Nationals, it was a case of deja vu : Get out fron t, stretch his lead, cruise to the win. This one was his ninth in 11 tries, and only a pair of mechanical grem lins kept him from a pe rfect season. As it was, the year turned out pretty well. "Yeah , I'm d e fini te ly h appy , " Bostrom sai d . "The CBR900, I think the bik e is pretty proven . Th e gu ys bust their but t on the thing. I think in the 1I races that we' ve ru n, we 've had the best bike 11 times . I'm just real happy to be treated like tha t." Bos trom said th at rid in g the RC45 Su perbike, w hic h he has done for th e p rev ious th re e races, has he lped h im wi th the Erion Racing Hond a CBR900RR. "They bo th kind of comp leme nt each other," he said . "Like this thing go t me a head s ta r t on the su perbike this year and then th e su pe rbike is just rid in g . T h e Su pe rbike cl ass, yo u ' ve g o t to extend yourself a bit. I' m still like on a pretty steep learning curve, I think, and eac h time I get on both bikes, 1 learn a E

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