Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Hayden had a clutch problem in the morning warmup and his bike overheated, but he was still able to take his first Sunoco Race Fuels Formula Xtreme win of the year,. beating his te1'ffiIDate Kurtis Roberts, who had his own set of gremlins. Roberts rode most of the race without a rear brake, and his rear tire overheated, and there was also an undiagnosed problem that robbed his bike of top-end power. Still, he and Hayden were able to break clear of Joshua Hayes, who had his own trouble with the rear tire on his Valvoline EMGO Suzuki 840. "1 got out front and 1 just tried to kind of conserve my tires and run a pretty comfortable pace, and 1 knew at the beginning that those guys were staying right with me and 1 was pretty content with that," Hayden said. "And then 1 tried to step it up a little bit and they stayed with me, and then 1 kept on going and 1 was able to get some distance." The young Kentuckian was quick to thank his team, especially crew chief Rick Hobbs. "Most of them stayed up all night, with like 15 minutes of sleep 1 think Rick had last night," Hayden said, "and just worked on the bikes, because we had some problems." Roberts was equally gratefu1. "The team - I can't thank them enough," sajd Roberts, whose problems caused him to qualify eighth. "They've worked so hard this weekend. We had our fair share of problems Thursday and Friday, which led them to go back to the shop and rebuild some stuff. 1 had an electrical problem, which is no fault of theirs, all day yesterday and especially in qualifying, which really hindered our qualifying. And we had a rear-brake caliper blowout on us in qualifying, also. Went back to the shop, got the thing working - the thing worked really good." Hayden beat Roberts to the stripe by 3.099 seconds. Roberts and Hayden both admitted that the championship is the bigger concern, and Roberts continues to hold the lead. "1 know Kurtis - he's got a championship he's leading, so he's got to play it conservative," Hayden said. After two of 12 rounds, Roberts has 68 points - seven better than Hayes, and 19 in front of Hayden, who's tied with Zlock Racing's Mike Sullivan - lIth today. • The first crack at the race ilidn't last long. A crash in turn one brought out a red flag, causing a restart. Roberts had nailed the holeshot on the first try, and Hayden was grateful for a second chance. He got away behind Attack Performance Yamaha's Mark Miller but passed him on the second lap going into tum eight. Hayden would lead the rest of the race, but not comfortably until the final stages. The lead pack featured 'five riders, with Hayden, Miller, Hayes, Roberts and Curtis Adams - on 1993 Suzuki GSXRllOO - clumped together. There was little definitive movement until the midpoint of the race approached and Roberts made his move, first taking Miller - who also had clutch problems on lap six, then getting by Hayes on the brakes going into tum one. '1t was hard to keep Adams behind me because he was doing some hairball moves that was wrecking everybody that he was passing," Roberts said. "On the beginning, it was really sketchy when he went on the outside of me going into two. Then, in eight and nine, he went on the outside of me and tried to go inside of Miller - which, if there're five of you there and. everyone's parking, there's probably a reason. 1 wanted to pass him and get him behind me. Got around Miller, wasn't too hard. 1 could see Josh was struggling in two, six, and nine. We should have been able to get by him on the straightaway, but we couldn't. I had to get him on the brakes going into one and from then on it was me and Nicky just pulling away." Roberts said he could catch up to Hayden, but passing him was another story. "There was three laps to go and 1 kind of got held up by a lapper and 1 didn't think we could beat him anyway," Roberts said. "1 knew we could race with him and stay there, but, like 1 said, ca tching and passing is one thing, so I kjnd of just brought it home in second." "Those guys really didn't make it easy on me," Hayden said. The battle for third went right to the line, with Hayes a whisker in front of Adams, who nipped Miller at the line. Hayes said he knew early on that he hadn't made the best tire choice. "It got really loose on the right side the whole race," Hayes said. "In the early laps, I could carry a little more speed around two and I was really fast in eight and nine, but I think the track temperature comjng up had a lot of effect on the tires. I was moving around quite a bit." Behind the top five came Grigg Electric Company's Steve Grigg on the Muzzy Raptor 850. It took him about half of the race to establish ills spot and put away Graves Motorsports' Takahito Mori. Grant Lopez repassed Jeff Hagan on the final lap to take ninth, with Chris Voelker 10th in front of Sullivan. CIII Willow Springs International Raceway Rosamond, California Results: April 18, 1999 (Round 2 of 12) SUNOCO FORMULA XTREME: 1. Nicky Hayden (Hon); 2. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 3. Josh Hayes (Suz); 4. Curtis Adams (Suz); 5. Mark Miller (Yam); 6. Steve Grigg (Kaw); 7. TakahHo Morl (Yam); 8. Grant Lopez (Suz); 9. jeff Hagan (Yam); 10. Chris Voelker (Hon); II. Mike Sullivan (Kaw); 12. AI Salaverria (Yam); 13. Cory Call (Suz); 14. Clinton Whitehouse (Yam); 15. Paul Mumford (Yam); 16. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 17. Rad Greaves (Suz); 18. Oint Brotz (Yam); 19. Stephen Hewitt (Yam); 20. Greg White (Suz); 21. Devin Battley (Y.m); 22. Christopher Taylor (Suz); 23. Johnny Rock Page (Yam); 24. Dean Vincent (Yam); 25. Kevin President (Yam); 26. Michael Gage (Tri); 27. Jeff Short (Suz); 28. Mike Krynock (Due); 29. Sean Sweeney (Hoo); 30. Mike Ocrotto (Kaw). Time: 20 min., 41.644 sec. Distance: 15 laps, 375 miles Average speed: 108.727 mph Margin of victory: 3.099 sec. SUNOCO FORMULA XTREME C'SHIP POINT STANDINCS (After 2 of 12 races): 1. Kurtis Roberts (68/1 win); 2. joshua Hayes (61); 3. (TIE) Nicky Hayden (l)/Mike Sullivan (4.9); 5. Grant Lopez (47); 6. Chris VoelJcer (43); 7. Rad Greaves (41); 8. Cory Call (39); 9. (TIE) Steve Grigg/Mark Miller (35); 11. Curtis Adams (27); 12. (TlE) Paul HarrelllJohnny Rock Page/Sean Sweeney (26); 15. Michael Barnes (25); 16. Takahito Morl (24); 17. Devin Battley (23); 18. Jeff Hagan (22); 19. Robb Martin (20); 20. (TIE) Omar Isaak/AI Salaverria (19). Upcoming Rounds Round 3 - Sonoma, 9alifornia, April 24 Round 4 - Monterey, California, May 1 AMAIProgressive4nsurance Pro Thunder series, Round 3: Willow Springs In1'l Raceway Adams away By Mark Hoyer Photo by Henny Ray Abrams ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 18 ,here was never a question. From the flash of the green light, the Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder race was reduced to a single possible outcome: Curtis Adams wins. The Orange County Triumph rider, in a one-off ride aboard Paul Harrell's 955 Daytona from last year, leaped off the line, led clearly into turn one and proceeded to walk away from his pursuers. He led by \learly 3.5 seconds during the second lap and had better than seven seconds in hand by lap 11. When the red flag flew for a crashed rider on the last lap of the race, it was almost as though the pack that had so futilely given chase had been mercifully put out of its misery. "The race was just picture perfect," said Adams, who took his seventh career Pro Thunder victory today. "From the minute I let the clutch out I was able to go right to the front, put my head down and run some really hard laps. I know tills place is very ilifficult because once somebody gets out there and gets a lead it's hard to reel them in at times./I Not only was it hard, it was impossible, and Adams sajd he wasn't even giving it everything he had. '1 got some pit signals that we were getting away, then I felt like I rode pretty conservative there in the middle and we were still getting away a little bit, so we kept backing it down all the way through the race," Adams said. The rider who was behind him when the race was stopped was HMC's Shawn Conrad. The Ducati 748 rider began the race in third place, moved past Tilley's H-D Buell's Shawn Higbee after trading the spot once or twice and set o'ut after the leader. But after a few laps, it became clear to Conrad that he wasn't going to catch Adams. T Curtis Adams (45) showed that he's still the class of the Pro Thunder field, despite the fact that he's not contesting the entire series. Adams easily won at Willow Springs, his home race track.. "By the time I went by (Higbee), I figured I've got one shot here - put my head down and do two or three good la ps as fast as I can and see if I can catch Curtis," Conrad said. "That wasn't going to happen." After being passed by Conrad, Higbee began a gradual fade through the field until he was ultimately was forced to pit as his Buell billowed white smoke during the 14th and final lap. Higbee finished 12th. After running a lonely fourth for most of the race, Daytona round-one winner Cory Call was once again given a gift by Higbee and his broken motorcycle - instead of first at Day' tona, tills tline it was thrrd a t Willow Springs. "I just tried to keep it up on two shoes and hopefully something was going to fail in the heat and it wasn't going to be my bike," Ducati 748mounted Call said. "Luckily it was Shawn's (Higbee), so it kept me up there. I really wanted to beat Shawn (Conrad) to be in the points lead, but that ilidn't happen, so I just kept everything in line." KMC Telecom's Richie Morris finished fourth after Thomas Montano, who had held the spot for a good portion of the race, ultimately had to pull into the pits with tire trouble. Montano was creilited with 11tho Billy Graef on the Hal's H-D Buell was fifth. Call and Conrad are now tied for first place in the championship with 93 points. Graef is third with 74, followed by Project Monza's Bill St. John, eighth today, with 73, and Fre ohio Motorsports' James Lickwar, sixth in the final, with 69 points. _ Willow Springs International Raceway Rosamond, California Results: April 18, 1999 (Ro,*,d 3 of 13) PRO THUNDER FINAL: 1. Curtis AdilmS (Tri); 2. Shawn Conrad (Dud; 3. Cory Call (Dud; 4. Richie Morris (DuC); 5. Billy Graef (Sue); 6. James Lickwar (Tri); 7. Tom Hull (Due); 8. 8m St. John (Due); 9. Christopher Boy (Lav); to. Chris LaCruze (Dud; 11. Thomas Montano (Due); 12. Shawn Higbee (Bue); 13. Michael Dube (Hon); 14. Charles Burnett (Hon); 15. Gavin Slabber! (Due); 16. Richard Haas (Due); 17. Tom Chauncey 11 (Due); 18. Robert Gonzales (Due>; 19. jeny Jirkovsky (Kawasaki); 20. Mike Foster (Due); 21. Mark Sweeney (La v); 22. Lloyd Johnson (Yam); 23. Patrick Cody (MuZ); 24. Michael Gage (Tr!); 25.'David Estok (Sue); 26. Kiyoshige Watannbe (Hon). . PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE PRO THUNDER CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 3 of 13 rounds): 1. (TIE) Cory Call (1 win)/Shawn Conrad (93); 3. BiUy Gmef (74); 4. Bill St. john (73); 5. James Uckwar (69); 6. Richie Morris (60); 7. Shawn Higbee (S9/1); 8. Tom Mull (58); 9. Christopher Boy (57); 10. Michael Gage (51); 11. Thomas Montano (49); 12. David Estok (43); 13. Gavin Slabber' (40); 14. Robert Gonzales (38); 15. Curtis Adams (37/1); 16. Charles Burnett (31); 17. Tom Chauncey IT (30); 18. (TIE) Michael Dube/Davi. Kieffer/Kiyoshige Watanabe (29). Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Sonoma, California, April 25 Round 5 - Monterey, California, May 2 0. < 23

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