Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I caught up to Eric and passed him, " Pegra m sai d . "I kne w I could ge t him o n the brakes in to th e ba ck corner. I d on't kn ow w hat he w as d oin g th ere. He was go ing in hard, but he was running wid e every time. I jus t waited till the last lap. I co uld've pa ssed him the lap befor e, but I waited tiII the last lap so he wo uld n' t have a chance to pa ss me back." Bostrom felt his machine was n' t quite right, either . "It' s kind of like one of those deals; we just had to grit our teet h and hope fo r the best ," he sai d . "A nd, ac tua lly , things wer e goi ng better than I actually an ticipa ted. I thought we might be able to stav in touch with N icky and Aaron and I "lost touch with them. I had a few big m om ents down in turn on e; I had th e thing a ll crossed up, a nd go t th e th in g ou t of shape, ran off-lin e a little bit. The n, on the las t lap, Peg ram went by me on the brakes p retty good and I thought we might have the me asure on h im coming ou t around here, but we just didn' t - we jus t came up a little bit short." Pegram u sed a s li ngs ho t move to take third by half a bike length . An other five s e cond s ba ck ca m e Chandler , his cha nces fo r th e cha m p ionship diminished when he was balked by the falling Robert s. Even with0';lt t~at incid ent, his was a tall orde r. Coming In, he had to win with Crevi er finishing wo rs e than eig ht h - so me th ing wh ich hadn't happened all year. Between the two came Tea m Su zuki Sport' s Ja son Pridm ore a n d 1-800 -CY CLEG EAR ' s Steve Rapp. Crevier explained that he stillsu ffers a ftereffects from the personal watercraft accide nt he had over two yea rs '1go. His in testines co n tin ue to be p roblematic and he had an episode the Sunday prior to th e ra ce . Initi all y, his d octor didn't wan t to release him , op ting inst ead to do an operation. Crevier checked out on Thursday a nd began ea ting aga in. "I go t out there, I ra n the race, it was the easiest da mn race I've had all yea r," Cre vier said . He was as hig h as fifth, for one lap, and as low as ninth, but never in jeo par dy of losing the title. "I' ve usua lly been trying to mix it up a litt le bit at the beginning and I've been ju st trying to fini sh on th e box an d be con sistent and ge t the finishes," he said . "Bu t thi s year I did n' t care a bout the box, I jus t cared abo u t wh ere Dou g wa s. Dou g got run off the track w hen Robert s fell down and stu ff. So this is the easiest race I' ve ever ridden in 600 Su persport most pressu re, bu t the easiest rid e ~ ' ve eve r had . The bike wo rked goo d , tir es worked good . It was easy ." The fina l tall y shows Crevier wi th 366 points, Cha nd ler w ith 353, and Eric Bostrom with 337. 1:\ Las Vegas Motor Speedw ay Las Vegas, Nevada Resul ts : Octo ber 4, 1998 (Round 12) PRO HONDA OILS 600 SUPE RSPO RT: I. Aaro n Yat e (5u7.); 2. Nicky Ha yd en (Su z): 3. Lar ry Pe gram s (SU l ); 4. Eric Bostro m (Ho n): 5. Doug Chand ler (Ka w): 6. Jason Pridmore (5uz ); 7. Steve Rap? (Suz); 8.Ste.ve C re vie r (Suz) ; 9. Rich Alexande r (5u z) ; 10. Ta ka hito Mori (He n): 11. Na te Wa it (Ka w ): 12. Greg Kah le (Ka w): 13. [a mi e Han shaw (Suz); 14. Erik Schnackenberg (Suz): 15. Ra nd y Mennenga (Suz ): 16. Josep~ Gill (Kaw ): 17. Iarnc Milroy (Kaw ): 18. Scan Kow alski (Ho n): 19. John s Jacob i (Suz); 20. Larry Denning (Kaw~; 21. Jeremy Toye (Suz): 22. Rand y Gro VI.'S (Su z): 23. Mike C ICCOUO (Suz) : 24. Mark Ce micky (K.1W); 25. Keit h Wilson ISuz) : 26. Ant ho ny Do ra n (Su z): 27. Dave .La n.g ford (Kaw); ~8 . Brya n Kova rick (Su 7o); 29. Ty David PIZ (Su z); 30. Mike Voelker (Hon): 31. Mike Berger (Hen ): 32. Steve Laszk o (Hon ); 33. Mike Klein (Hen): 34. Law ren ce Kap lan (Su z): 35. Brett Jo h nso n (Su z): 36. Tommy Hayde n (Ka w): 37. Stu ar t Stra tton (Suz): 38. Kur ti s Rob e rt s (He n): 39. Richard Inma n (Hu n); 40. Scott Ackerma n (5U7.); 41. Kurt Marmor (Hon). Ti me: 25 mi n., 9.940 Sl.-'C . Di stance: 15 laps , 37.s miles Ave rag e spe ed: 88.693 mph M a rgin of vic tory : 0.055 sec . FINAL 600.. S UPER S PO RT C'S HI P POI N T STANDINGS (After 13 of 13 rounds): 1. Steve Crevi er (366/ 1 wi n) ; 2. Doug Cha nd ler (353/6) ; 3. Eric Bostrom (337); 4. N icky Ha yden (314 /1); S. Ben Bostro m (307/1); 6. Ja so n Pridmore (284); 7. To mmy Ha yd en (277); 8. Larr y Pegram (275/ 1); 9. Steve Rap p (273); 10. Aaro n Yates (23312); 11. Kur ti s Rob er ts (203); 12. Mig ue l DuH a mel 098 /1); 13. Richard Alexander Jr . (57); 14. Sca n Kowalski (I 41); 15. John Jacobi ( 35); 16. (TIEl Na te Wai t/ Kl·ith Wilson (I33); 18. Bobby Keith (128); 19. Erik Sch nackenbe rg (115); 20. Ta kah ito Mo ri (I08). AMAlTeamline750cc S upersportS eries inal F round:LasVegas Motor Speedway Miracles happen By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams LAS VEGAS, NY, OCT. 3 Oin g in to th e final ro und o f th e AM A 750c c Supers p ort Series a t Las Veg a s M otor Spe edw ay, Richa rd Alexander Jr. need ed a miracle. He tra iled series lead er Steve Rap p by 15 po ints, making his odds of winning the cha m p io ns h ip less th an w ha t he could have found on any downtow n Las Vegas ga ming table. Like those for tuna te few pictured on the casino wa lls, Alexander struck it rich - Vega s style. With Rap p appa re nt ly cru is ing to w ha t w ould be a second -p lace fini sh and the cham pi ons hi p, di saster struck for the 1-800-CYCLEGEA R rid er w hen his Suzu ki GSX-R750 failed him. Rapp's ha nd went up on th e th ird lap of the restarted race as he coasted the bike to a sto p, a n d A lexa nder a nd hi s Barnet t Too l & Eng ineeri ng Suz u ki cruised by, har dl y believing his luck. • "I w as totall y aware of h is prob lem s," Alexand er said of Rapp 's misfortu ne. "On the restart, I ha d a killer start. It dropped ou t o f gear o n m e tw ice goi ng into that hairpin tu rn and I lost a lot. I thin k 1 w ent ba ck three p laces. I was tryin g to p lay catch-u p an d I sa w Rapp getting away. Abou t the third lap int o it, [ saw Rapp's hand go up and [ said, 'Oh, wo w, this is it. All I've go t to do is finis h.' My mecha nic, Kenny, had the signal ou t there that said Rapp was o u t. I was a w are of it, [ knew it ha p pened, and ali i sai d to myself was, 'J';Ist finis h the race.' All [ needed was to finis h in the top six or seve n. That's th e way it went." : The artwork on Alexa nd er's helme t featured a mock $10,000 bill go ing into th e Las Vegas rac e . It sy mbolized the amo un t of mon ey he wo uld be paid in cha mpionship bonus from Suzuki if he were to w in the title. Tha nks to his fifthplace finish and the cham pio nship that C Richard Alexander Jr. won the 750cc Supersport ChampionshIp with his fifthplace fin ish in the series finale. came with it, Alexander will soo n find his $10,000 check in his mailbox. " I h ad a re ally co ns is te n t y ear, " Alexa nd er said, "excep t fo r the Road Atlanta race (w he re he cras he d in th e we t cond itions). I would have liked to have gone a little stronger at times, but N ick y (Hayde n) is reall y s tro ng ou t the re . I'm re ally h appy a bo u t h o w things turned arou nd th is year for me. It hasn ' t really su nk in yet because I came here with a big gap in point s. Alii need ed w as some lu ck a nd - w ow, it happened! It' s a weird feelin g. I would ha ve much rather done it by goi ng out a nd w innin g, but I' ve go t to ta ke it as it comes - it's all part of racing. As far as my riding, I wasn 't riding on top like I should have been, but it wo rked out for me an d I'm really happy." The cha m p ionship was Alexa nder's , bu t this rac e was all abo ut N icky Hayden . The Team Suzu ki Sport rid er rode to hi s fifth w in of the seaso n, a nd it came a fter a d omi na ting performance. Hayden chased Ra pp for a lap on th e first start, trailed him for two laps in the second attemp t at runn ing the race, an d then pulled away for an eas y 7.2-second wi n . Ini tially, Hayden wa s surprised tha t Rapp was rid ing ha rd . After all, the Cal iforn ian d idn't have to do much to earn the title. "I was really surprised he was going as hard as he was," Hayd en said . "I wa s definitely su rprised . TI,e race wa s good. Rapp was pushing hard , but he alwa~s d oes in the beginning. [ wa nted to Win this race really bad . It's been a lon g and exciting year. 1 rea lly wa nt to thank all the gu ys on the team for stay ing behi nd me, even th rou gh the rough tim es ." Hayden w ill ra ce an Erion Racingba cke d H o nd a i n n e xt y ea r 's 600cc Supersport and Form ula .Xtrerne Series. H is 750 cc Su pers p o rt caree r m a y b e over, bu t it wo n' t be forgo tten. His five career wins in the series pu ts him in a tie w it h Doug Cha ndler a nd Aaron Yates for sevent h on the all-time win list in the class . With Ha yd en a n easy w inne r, the real ac tion en ded up coming from the battle for second - and it featured two guys who normally ar en' t racing for secon d. It wa s easy to see why both Ricci Mo tor spor ts ' Jimmy Moor e a nd Ze ro G ravi ty's Ja ke Zem ke were go ing to co me away happy from this o ne - no m at te r t he resu lt . In th e e nd, it was Moore jus t in fron t of Zemke a t the finish lin e. Cy cles of Palm Beach 's Jam ie Bowman, meanwhile, finishe d fourth, just clear of the cruising Alexande r. Naturall y, Moore was thrilled w it h what wa s his first pod ium finish ever in 750cc Supersport racing. "The firs t half, before the red flag, was a lot of fu n," said Moo re, who call Eu gene, O regon, home. "I felt goo d re ally s moo th - a nd [ fe l t lik e I h a d things under control. It was just a mat ter of sta yi ng uprig h t and fini shing th e race . The red flag was kind of a bummer, bu t [ kept tellin g myself during the red flag to stay posit ive. [ kept say ing, 'It can ge t b ette r , it ca n ge t better: inste ad of say ing, 'I can go backwards.' I go t kind of nervou s at the beg inning of the restart; then I calmed down, and I'm really happy. The battle on the last lap wi t h Ja k e - th at wa s fu n . O u r tea m s truggled all ye ar goi ng to battle with wha t we had. I thin k this means a lot to me, but I kno w it means a lot mor e to the team for all their hard work. There have been a lot of late nights, sleeping in che a p motel s, in th e car, and a ll th a t s tu ff . So I'm really gl ad for th em as well." The red fla g ca me o n the 10th lap, when Jam es Randolph crashed hard in tum one. Fortu nately, he escaped withou t injury. Randolph's loss was Zemke's gain . . . "The red flag really helped us out a lot, " Zemk e s a id . "W e m ad e some a dj us t men ts and th e adju s tm ents worked and we were ab le to come from beh ind and pick up with Jimmy (Moore) a nd Rich ie (A le xa nd e r) . Luckily, w e w ere a b le to ma ke it up on th e box tha t's been a goal all yea r. One of our go als was to make it to the top 10 and we acco m plished those goa ls - and I'm reall y happy abou t it. Thi s is my first year on a four-cylind er bike, so I jus t wanted to get used to the bik e, and get used to the tracks tha t I could make it to. I w anted to fini s h in th e to p fiv e a s mu ch as possible and h op efully get on the box. It's been a rea l learn ing experi- ence for me this year. We ma d e some small adju stme n ts to both the fro nt and back end, and pu t on so me fres h tires . That helped a lot." Fo r so m e one w ho ha d ju s t lost a championsh ip , Rapp was u pbeat. "We thi nk it wa s so met hi ng electrica l, " Rap p sai d. "It ju st s h u t d ow n . Every thing we nt d ead - the tach, eve rythi ng . [ w as ju st cr uising a ro u.n d on a Su nday ride ." Rap p' s mood was no d oubt hel ped somew h a t b y th e fa ct th at h e ' d ju st s ig n e d a o ne-ye a r con t rac t to jo in Yoshi m u ra Su zuki, w here he'll rid e a GSX-R750 Superbike and a GSX-R600 in the 600cc Su persport class . The final standi ngs saw Rapp slip to sec on d b eh ind Al exa n der, 338-327 . Ma r io Du H a m e l e n d e d th e s eri es ranked third w ith 288 p oints on hi s Hoot er s'-backed Su zuki. Hayden a nd Randolph filled the top five in the sta nd in gs , with Moore' s final-rou nd effort netting him sixth overall. 1:\ Las Vegas Molor Speed way Las Vegas , Nevada Results: October 3, 1998 7 5 0 ('(' SU PERS I'O RT FINAL: 1. Nicky H ayd en (Suz): 2. Jim my Moo re (Suz) : 3. Ja ke Ze m ke ISuz) : 4. Jamie Bowma n (Su'l); 5. Richard Alexander Jr. (Suz); 6. John Jacobi (5uz ); 7. Dale Kieffer (Suz ); 8. ~reg Kahle (Kaw ): 9. Ma r lo DuHamel ISu z): 10. Da vid Du p r~y (S u z): 11. Jam e s Mi lro y Jr. ( Kaw) : 12 . Eri k Schnackenberg (Suz); 13. Sha ne Clarke (Suz ): 14. Mark Cern icky (Ka w): 15. Anthony Dora n (Suz ): 16. K ~ it~ Wilson (Suz): 17. Greg White (5uz); 18. Tetsu lmeni shi (Su z): 19. Da ve La ngf ord (Ka w ): 20. Steve Teschke (Suz ); 21. Don Hart (Suz): 22. Stua rt Stratton (Su'l); 23. Jeff Eklu nd (Su z): 24. Den nis Bu rke (Suz ): 25. B r~f'l n Kova rick (Su z): 26. Lawr en ce Wol fel (S U7.); 27. M ike Be rg e r (He n) : 28. Micke y Mazzett i (Suz ); 29 . Shove La s zk o (H o nl : 30 . C h ri s N o r m a n (Su z ); 31. Scott Ac ke rm an ' (Su 'l); 32. Steve Rapp (S u z) : 33 . Sea n Kowa ls ki (}io n); 34. Brta n Gibbs (Suz ): 35. Rand'y Groves (Suz): 36. Randa ll Mennen ga tSu z): 37. Ja m ie Hansh a w (Suz); 38. Bryce Gro ss (Suz ): 39. Brett Johnso n (Su z ): 40. Brad McKiern a n (SU7.); 41. James Rando lph ( 00 0\ 0\ ,...... ..,;: ,...... .... QJ ,..Q o ...... u o 13

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