Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE CCS RACE OF C HAMPIONS (Left) Charles Gainey (688) hotds off Jep Palmour in Amateur Middleweight Grand Prix action. Palmour won this one by just .010 of a second. (Above) Greg Kahle gets down to the business at hand: winning the Expert Middleweight Grand Prix class. 00 0\ 0\ ...... , ...... ...... l-< C.J ..0 E C.J > o z 8 In this one, Grigg go t an awful start, mi red a t the back of the top 10 on the firs t la p a fte r a clutch ad jus tme n t he m a d e befo re th e race pro v ed to be wrong. He added to his troubles by ru nning off the tr a ck before p u tting hi s h e a d d o w n an d mo v i n g u p . Grigg mov ed up to sixth on the second lap; he was thi rd on the third lap and into second on the four th lap . McGr ath had been leadin g, and on th e 15th lap h e h ad a bout 15 bi k e lengths on the cha rg ing Grigg - a margin that would ev a por a te on the fin al lap , when Grigg mov ed into McGrath's shad ow. And there he sat, wai ting for the final lap , knowing he cou ld use the ru n to the flag to his advantage. McGra th held his breath , bu t he fe lt G rigg co mi ng and kn ew he'd been had . "I thought I had it," McG rath said . "Steve spoiled my party. I was concentra ting rea lly hard on ge tti ng through the chica ne, and I d id . I didn 't start feeling he was back there until I go t up on the ban king. As soo n as I saw him out of the corner of my eye, there was no th ing I cou ld really do to hold him off." "The bad part abou t it is, Dave an d his da d work as hard on their bikes as me an d my d ad d o," Grigg said . "I wis h we could a ll win . That was a tremen dous ra ce . We d id some clutch work before the ra ce , and that obvi ou sl y wasn't the way to go. Then I mad e a mistake in the west-end horseshoe and got off in the grass. It took me thr ee laps to catch back up with the d raft, and when I finally di d , there was one lap to go, so I had to work fast." Ashmead took third , abo u t two seconds behi nd the lead ers. Bart Shiflett used the whole weekend to run up his tally. O n Thursd ay he rod e to a 1.9 86-seco n d win ove r Bra nd on . Bashore in the Ama teur GT-1 race. Robb Martin was third on the Fend er Bender Au to Bod y Suz u ki. The top three we re all Suzuki GSX-R750-mounted. Shiflett's Saturday began wit h a win ' in the Ama teur Hea vyweight Sport Bike race. After a red flag rig ht off the s tart, Shiflett quickly moved u p into the mix, traili ng Bowman on the secon d lap and tak ing ano ther tw o laps to ge t by him . By then it was th e half way point in the race and the top two we re starting to edge away, with Brandon Basho re back in third - bu t ge tting caught from beh ind . Shiflett led the fina l lap , into the chicane a nd ou t - a potenti a lly perilous spot, but he was able to make it wo rk, holding off Bowman by .322 of a second . "He was getting through the chicane a little hard than I was," Shiflett said. About 16 seconds back ca me Robb Martin an d Mario Marti n, with Brand on Basho re dropp ing to fifth af ter nea rly high- sid in g in the west-end horses hoe on the fina l lap. Shiflett didn't get going right away in the Am a teu r Middleweight Sport Bike race, and bv the time he d id, the frontru nners we re just far enough awa y to make victory elus ive. [ohn-O Bowman, the yo unge r bro ther of Jamie Bowman, put the Cycles of Palm Beach Honda CBR600 in the lead right from the sta rt, fighti ng with Sportland ' s Sco tt Herm er s man n a nd Cy cle Products of Ga inesville 's [ep Palrnour, as we ll as Team Pro-Motion's Gordon Conwell - who dropped out on th e four th lap . By th en , Charl e y Gain e y h a d moved into th e mix, runni ng s id e by side with Bowman; Hermersmann was ri ght there , and Shifl ett was just off the back. There was m ore swappin g amo ng the leaders righ t to the final la p, with Bowman lead in g through th e infield from Palmou r, wit h Hermersmann thir d in fro nt of Shiflett. Shiflett took third in the chicane on the final lap and wa tch ed as Pa lmour went und er Bowman on the east banking, the trio running three wid e to the flag, with Bowman winning by a wheel (officially .010 of a second), with Shiflett in their wake. "I knew they were coming after me," Bowman sai d . "I could feel them in the chicane. They wer e right on me. There ain' t no one that beat s me through the chica ne." "H e was jus t faster out of the chicane and I came down and go t in his d raft," Pa lmer said. Ga iney ended up fourth, in fro nt of Herm ersmann. Three races later, Shi flett came bac k to wi n h is th ird ra ce - th e Ama teur Heavyweig ht Su pe rbike contes t aboard his Suzuki GSX-R750. He an d Bra ndon Bas hore mad e a slight brea k fro m the 34-rider field by the halfway ma rk, wi th Shiflett d ra fting into the lead at the start-finish line to end the fourt h lap. Bashore foug ht back to ru n under Shiflett in the Intern ational Horseshoe, a nd held th e spot for the du ra tion, right up un til the final run to the stripe. That 's w hen Shiflett ra n around the ou tsi de of Ba sh ore on th e banki ng , using a backmarker to sli ngsho t him into the lead an d take the win bv a sca nt .157 of a second . " I got a good dri ve o u t of th ree," Bashore sa id. "I was righ t there." Lost in the shuffle wa s [ohn-O Bow- man , who took third , abou t 7.5 seco nds back. "I' ll take third any day," he sai d . "I was pushing as hard as I cou ld." Five seconds back came a pai r of unrelated Martins - Hooter's Suzuki's Mario Martin and Robb Martin . From the minute he hit the track on Thursday, Charles Gainey started winnin g. First u p was the 15-lap Amateu r GT-2, wh ich he easily won over [ohn-O Bowri .an, fin is hing 11.506 seco nds in front of Bow man, w ith Shawn Wa lker third on a Fast Lane Cycles Honda . The top three - in fact, the top seven were Honda CBR600-mou nted. On Saturday, Gainey a nd Bow man again hooked u p, wi th Bowman leading th e Amateur Middleweig ht Superbi ke con tes t from the thi rd lap on . Gainey, meanwhile, was clo sing a fter making his way th rou gh the 53-rider field . Just when it appeared that Bowman wa s ed ging awa y, Ga iney turned up the heat and closed on the penultimate lap. He made the pass entering the chicane, wit h Bowman comi ng back at him and Gainey hold in g th e spot into th e final lap. Then, starting the final tour, Bowman hit a little traffic, and Ga iney had just under 10 bike lengt hs going into the second hor seshoe . If there was an edge, it wa s in power, an d Gai ney was abl e to fight off the draft an d power to victory by 1.084 seconds. "I had a horri ble start," Gainey said. " I d idn 't know if I' d be able to get around him or not ." "H e made me work fo r that o ne ," Bowma n' said. "I don' t thin k I' m going to get to wi n one of th ese if he keeps coming up on me like that." (Bowman go t his win, in Amateu r Middleweight Spo rt Bike, halfway in to Satu rday's progra m. Gai ney took fou rth in tha t race.) There was a fi ve-r id er b at tl e for third , w ith Gordo n Conwell ge tting the spot just in fro nt of TBR Racing 's Ken Stafford. The top four finis hers were all aboard Ho ndas. Gainey and Bowman faced off aga in in the Amateu r Mid d lewe ig ht Grand Prix, but neither took home th e gold he re. That went to Iep Pa lmour, but it wasn't easy . Pa lmou r dug hi mself a hol e afte r cras h ing w h ile try in g to avo id a down ed rid er in the chicane on the first lap, an accide nt tha t br ou gh t out a red flag. The bike was re paired and he was ab le to make the res tart. Bowman led fro m the star t a nd looked lik e he was go ne , only to find himself hounded by Gainey. Fas t Lane Cycles Sh awn Wa lke r was a n ea rly third , with Palmour working his way through the 43-rid er pack. Things tigh tened u p mid race, with Gai ney now in fron t of Bowman, wit h Palmou r a close third and then a gap to Hermersm an n. The ord er scra mbled on the fifth lap , . w it h Pa lmo ur now ou t fro nt, Gai ney seco nd, and then Bowman. Ga iney took it back on the final lap, but not by mu ch, and the ru n to the flag was se t. W he n th ey crossed the line, Ga iney and Palmour we re side by side, with the nod go ing to Palmour by .010 of a second . Bowman was third , followed bv Walker and Her mersmann. "We -had an accid en t in the chicane w hen a ge nt leman wen t down in front of us an d we had ' nowh ere to go," Palmou r sa id . "Fortu na telv, we were ab le to ge t it fixed , ge t back ou t there, and w i n ." • 'That was a hell of a rid e out there," / Bo wm an said after taki ng thi rd. " C ha rl es (Gainey ) an d them p u lled away from us abou t the middl e of the race. We were just tryi ng to hang on to third after thaI." ,~ Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: Octobe r 3O-November 1, 1998 AM GT-l: 1. Bout Shiflett (Suz); 2. Brandon Bashore (Suz ); 3. Robb Ma rtin (Suz ); 4. Mau ro Cered o (50:£); 5. Robert Go ud y (Suz) . T ime: 14 mi n.• 32926 Sl."C. D istance: 7 1 .-aps, 25 miles Ave rage spee d: 102.m mph Margi n of victory: V J86 sec, EX GT-3: 1. Do minic Aubry (Ho n): 2. Ron Pe rry (Yam); 3. Paul Wr igh t (Yam); 4. Bill wncholder (Suz) ; 5. Dunean Farash (H o n). Time: 30 nun., 37.583 sec . Dis tan ce: 14 laps. 50 miles Ave rage speed: 97 .641 mph c Margin of victory: 4.043 se , AM GT ·3: 1. Jaso n O.lY (Yam); 2. Darri n Mitchell tHonj: 3~ Cha rl cs Coyle (K.1W); 4. Chuck Wolfe (Hem); 5. Ricky let." (Yam) . EX GT-l: 1. Sha nt> Prieto (K.1w) ; 2. John Schce hscr (Yam ); 3. Ryan Landers (Suz); 4. willia m Luke 0'.101); 5. Roger Hend ricks (502 ). Ti me: 29 min., 37 .95 1 sec. Dis tance: 151.aps. 53A miles Ave rage speed: 108.t24 mph Ma rgin of victo ry: 0.188 M,'('. A M GT~2 : 1. C ha r les Gai ne v (Hen ): 2. 10hn -0 Bowman tHo n ): 3. Shawn Walke"'r (Hu n) ; 4. Go rdo n Co nw ell (H o n ): 5. Larry Sha ffer (Hen) T im e: 31 min.• 21.747 St."C. Dis tan ce: 151 .1ps . 53.4 mil es Average speed : 102.160 mph Mar gi n of victory: 11.506 Sl'C . EX 'GT -2: 1. G reg Kahle ( Ka w }, 2. Ra nd .. l al Mennenga (Suz ): 3. William Luk e (Kaw ): 4. Ema n uel Manusuthakis (Ka w ): 5. Brian Live ngood (Suz) . " Ti me: 29 min...593 09 Sl.-C. D istance: 15 la ps , 53.4 mi les Aver age spee d: 106.841 m ph Ma rgin of victory: 10.568 St."C. EX UW G P: 1. Co lin Gilbert (Yam ); 2. G rq; Esse r (Ho n); 3.1cff Wood (Y.lm); -I. Dani e l Lud wigsen (Ho n); 5. Michael Wa rre n (Yam). Tim e: 14 min.• 2-1.835 St."C. D is ta nce: 71a~. 25 miles Ave rage sp eed: 103.733 mph M argin of victory: 0.201 sec . AM UW GP: 1. Da rr in Mitch e ll (Yam); 2. Robe rt Brook s (Ya m) ; 3. Ward W il so n (Ya m ); 4 . Rodn e y Coddard (Hen ): 5. James Coc kfield (He n). AM MIW S/BK: 1. C ha rle Gainey (He n): 2.10 hn-0 s Bow m a n (H en ): 3. Go rdo n Co n we ll CHon ); 4. Ken Sta fford (Hon): 5. Bart Shi flett (Su z). Time: 14 min .• 36.559 St'C . D ista nce: 7 11pS, 25 mil es . A verage spee d : t0 2.34(, m ph Ma rgin of vic tory: 1.0H4 M:'C. • EX MfW S/BK: 1. Erie Wood OG·1 W); 2. Greg Kahle IKa w ): 3 . Ema nue l Man usu tha kis (Kawl : 4. Jame s Milroy (Kaw); 5. Randal l Me nnenga (5u z). T ime: 13 min .•56.357 Sl'C. Dista nce: 7 1.lps. 25 miles Ave rage spe ed : 107.265 mp h Ma rgi n of victory: 5597 sec. G P SGt: 1. Je rry Wood (D ue ); 2. La va ug h n

• Cover