Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 4: Sears Point Raceway • AMAIPro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series Round 4: Sears Point Raceway . Hayden • Nicky! By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, APR. 25 rion Racing's Nicky Hayden slid into turn 10 at Sears Point Raceway - a broken black mark left in his wake - and under Muzzy Kawasaki's Aaron Yates. That was all it took. In one fell swoop, Hayden had not only stormed into a lead he wouldn't relinquish, but he'd also taken charge of the AMA/Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series championship points lead with a win at Sears Point Raceway. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel was also able to move around Yates in the second portion of the restarted race, taking second after poor results in the el las.t twed° rhounds. DuHamH aIsdo put inha spmt c arge to catch ay en on t e final lap but came up just .503 of a second short at the finish line. Yates held on to finish third, despite leading 10 of the 15 laps. He'd thought his Kawasaki was jetted a bit off, due mainly to a change in weather on Sunday that saw conditions that were cooler than the hot and sunny qualifying sessions. Still, Yates did enough to move into second in the point standings, behind Nicky Hayden. The championship leader coming into Sears Point, Jamie Hacking, crashed out of the race on the fifth lap of the first portion and was lucky to walk away E "I I! III :! • iii .0 • s: . ~ .... i;' ~ 10 after crashing in tum 10. The crash left Hacking with a headache, but what hurt worse was the fact that he fell back to seventh in the series point standings. Fourth place in the race went to Erion Racing's.Kurtis Roberts, a vast improvement from the seventh-place position he held prior to the restart. Perhaps a talk from his three-time World Champion father, Kenny Roberts, between races paid dividends. Roberts ended up coming out the best of a battle with Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Crevier and Yamaha's Tommy Hayden, who had led off the start in both races. Tommy Hayden was a bit irritated after the race, • blaming Crevier for an off-track excursion in turn one. Behind Hayden came Yoshimura Suzuki's Jason Pridmore, Parriott Motors~ Brian Parriott, Chaparral Suzuki's Tom Kipp and Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Josh Hayes. The race was stopped after eight laps in order for a helicopter to transport the fallen Randy Groves, who had era hed his Suzuki in the high-speed esses, to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Groves was upgraded from critical to serious condition on Sunday afternoon, with head and chest injuries. The Elk Grove, California, resident was placed into a medically induced coma and is in intensive care. Nicky Hayden's second win, adding to his Phoenix victory, his fourth at Daytona and his fourth at Willow Springs, gives him the championship points lead over Yates, 128-111. Tommy Hayden is third in the series standings with 110 points, nine clear of Roberts. DuHamel is fifth with 94 points. The race was held in two parts, with Tommy Hayden getting the jump on the field in both of them. "Unfortunately, it wasn't a drag race," the oldest Hayden said later. Though Tommy Hayden started strongly, it was Yates who bulldogged his way to the front when the pack headed into the Carousel for the first time, leading the first lap, with Tommy Hayden, Steve Rapp, Crevier, Nicky Hayden, DuHamel, Roberts, Kipp, Hacking, Pridmore and Team Yamalla's Rich Oliver giving chase. Nicky Hayden was on the move, though he had his initial troubles getting past Crevier. "The first start there, 1 got a bad start," Nick Hayden said, "and right there at the beginning (Steve) Crevier did what he always does on the first lap, and I fell back. Once I got going, I was going .pretty good. I knew 1 couldn't let Aaron get away, because he was moving, and 1 knew he was fast all weekend and really hungry. I knew I had to get up there or he was going to get away." Once he got around Crevier, icky Hayden set out after his brother Tommy ~ while Yates led by almost a second. "It took me a little bit," Nicky Hayden said. '1 got around the Suzuki guys and got up with my brother" I couldn't get around him because he was running really good, really smooth everywhere, and making no mistakes." Then the red flag came out, with the helicopter being called to transport Groves to the hospitaL The delay ended up being quite lengthy, with the majority of the field fitting new tires to their mounts. Some - like Rapp and Kipp needed them most after shredding their DunJops early in the first portion of Jhe race. By this time, Hacking was already out of the race, having crashed 11is Yamalla in turn 10 (see "Briefly..."). The restart was nearly a carbon-copy of the first one, with Tommy Hayden leading the way, only to give quarter to Yates in turn four. This time, Nicky Aaron Yates (20) tries to hold off Nicky Hayden (69) in the 600cc Supersport final. Steve Crevier (1), meanwhile, leads Miguel DuHamel (17). Hayden was coming from row one, and he didn't waste any time in going after Yates. Still, the Kawasaki rider led by .78 of a second at the end of the first lap, with Nicky Hayden ahead of Tommy Hayden, Crevier, DuHamel, Roberts, Oliver, Parriott, Kipp, Pridmore, Hayes and Rapp. Then Tonupy Hayden had his run-in with Crevier. "The start was great again," Tommy Hayden said. "I've got'em figured out. Crevier carne up the i!,lside of me and couldn't make the corner. I went out into lhe grass. After that, 1 couldn't get back by those guys." By the end of lap two, icky Hayden had closed to within two-tenths of Yates, with a gap back to Crevier, DuHamel, Roberts and Tommy Hayden. Yates led for one more lap, and then. Nicky Hayden attacked, sliding his way past on the entrance to turn 10, his CBR stepped out like a dirt tracker running counterclockwise. "I knew that Aaron (Yates) was really struggling getting off turn 10," Nicky Hayden said later. "He was shaking his head corning off there, but honestly 1 wasn't as close a 1 wanted to be there. 1 was like, 'Nah, I'm not going to do it: and then 1 went for it." Yates was hoping Hayden would slip up - bu t he didn't. "I was hoping he'd run in there a little hot and run wide, but he kept it tight," Yates said. From there, Yates had no answer to Hayden, and the youngster pulled away. DuHamel, however, wasn't giv-

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