Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Roberts was away third on his Honda CBR900, behind Attack Performance's Mark Miller and teammate Nicky Hayden, also Honda-mounted, but not for long. Hayden took the lead on lap four and held it for another lap and a half before getting sideways in turn five on what he thought was a wet track. Back on track, Hayden made it one more turn, up to six, when he again slid hard, going off the track and clipping the hay bales before coming back on track. "I thought it was rain, but then I heard something in the motor and it kind of went a few more turns and finally blew up," Hayden said, adding that there was oil on both the rear tire and foot peg. By the time Hayden went out, Roberts was well out front and on his way to the win. While the others were more cautious because of the misting, which was more pronounced on the front straight and in turns 10 and 11, Roberts didn't back off, racking up nearlya lQ-second lead at the halfway point. He explained that he didn't feel the track was wet enough to slow him down considerably, but that it might have cooled his tires off somewha t. It was only in the final stages that Miller made a run at him, and by then it was too late. Miller might have made a more concerted run but had taken it easy midrace because of the rain. "It was beading up on my windscreen in 10 and 11," Miller said. At the end of the 38.046-mile race (J 7 laps), Miller had closed to within 0.675 seconds of Roberts, though Roberts said he was in control the whole time and knew from his pit boards that Miller was coming. It was Miller's second consecutive runner-up finish. The most important numbers are in the points. After four of 11 races, Roberts has a 35-point lead, 134-99, over Miller, with Grant Lopez 10th today on .the ailing Valvoline EMGO Suzuki 840 after tunning as high as third. Paul Harrell ended up in third on the Graves Motorsports' Yamaha. After Roberts and Miller got away, Harrell made his move forward, taking over second place on the eighth lap and holding it for two more. By the 10th lap he was back to fifth, but the riders in front of him would soon have problems of their own. Joshua Hay~ blew up his Valvoline EMGO Suzuki on the 12th lap as he exited the Corkscrew. That gave Miller a secure second, with Lopez third, though not for long. Two more tours of the 2.238-mile track and Lopez was back in sixth, while Harrell was up to third, where he'd finish, his best of the year. By now the field was spreading out. Where once there were riders battling in twos and threes, the field was becoming processional, which is how they would finish. Behind Harrell came Steve Grigg on the Grigg Electric Company Muzzy Raptor 850. Takahito Mori, Harrell's Graves Motorsports' teammate, was fifth, right in front of team owner Chuck Graves, making a rare start in AMA racing. The Graves Motorsports' crew was Yamaha R-l-equipped. Graves was well in front of Chandelle Motorsports' Jeff Short, the first of the Suzuki GSXR750s, who in turn had Zlock Racing's Mike Sullivan covered. Ninth place went to AI SaIaverria, the San Franciscan in his third ride on ·the Dutchman Racing Yamaha R-l, with Lopez fading to 10th. _ (Left) Kurtis Roberts took his second win of the season in the Formula Xtreme class. (Below) Shawn Higbee rode flawlessly in Pro Thunder racing for his second vic10ry of the season. Laguna Seea Raceway Monterey, California Results: May 1, 1999 (Round 4 of 11) SUNOCO RACE FUELS FORMULA XTREME: 1. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 2. Mark Miller (Yam); 3. Paul Harrell (Yam); 4. Steve Grigg (Kaw); 5. Takahit'o Mari (Yam); 6. Chuck Graves (Yam); 7. Jeff Short (Suz); 8. Mike Sullivan (Kaw); 9. AI Salaverria (Yam); 10. Grant Lopez (Suz); 11. Cory Call (Suz); 12. Chris Voelker (Hon); 13. jeff Hagan (Suz); 14. Mike Voelker (Hon); 15. M. Dean Vin"",t (Yam); 16. Gabriel Henning (Suz); 17. lee Acree (Suz); 18. Clint Bootz (yam); 19. R..,d Greaves (Suz); 20. Paul Mumford Jr. (Yam); 21. Frank Aragaki (Kaw); 22. Chad Simons (Suz); 23. Gregory White (Suz); 24. Bob SiebenhaM (Hon); 25. Michael Rawlings (Jion); 26. Shawn Reilly (Suz); 27. Johnny Rock Page (Yam); 28. De'vin Battley (Yam); 29. Joshua Hayes (Suz); 30. Michael Kosta (Suz); 31. Nicky.Hayden (Han). Time: 25 min., 48.417 sec. Distance: 17 laps, 38.046 miles Average speed: 93.659 mph Margin of victory: 0.675 sec. SUNOCO RACE FUELS FORMULA XTREME C'SHIP POINT STANDINCS (After 4 of 11 rounds): 1. Kurtis Roberts (134/2 wins); 2. Mark Miller (99); 3. Grant Lopez (94); 4. joshua Hayes (90); 5. Mike Sull;van (89); 6. Nieky Hayden (86/2); 7. Steve Grigg (82); 8. (TIE) Cory Call/Chris Voelker (80); 10. Paul Harrell (77); 11. Rad Greaves (69); 12. Takahito Mori (65); 13. (TIE) jeff Hagan/Al Salavenia (64); 15. jeff Short (53); 16. Oint 8rolz (41); 17. Miehael Rawlings (35); 18. Devin Batney (34); 19. johnny Rock Page (30); 20. Dean M;zdal (29). Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 - Braselton, Georgia, June 5 Round 6 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 12 AMA Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder series Round 5: Laguna seca Raceway Higbee takes no chances By Mark Hoyer Photo by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, MAY 2 obody even got close to Shawn Higbee. The Tilly's H-D Buell rider took no chances after being dropped to second place at the prior round of the series at Sears Point Raceway after a surprise pass by eventual winner Tom Montano. At Laguna Seca, Higbee came prepared, not only with a bike he said was working perfectly, but with fixes for the other problems that had caught him off guard last week. "Everything went really well this weekend," Higbee said. "I really think the Buell was unbeatable today. The only thing that would've kept us from winning was myself. I was a little disa ppointed with myself and my performance a t Sears Point. I kind of got caught off guard and had an odd problem with my suit (unzipping), so we put a zip-tie on my suit so we wouldn't encounter that problem again. We got a pit board going this weekend and I was N actually able to use it this weekend. It was the first weekend we've used it this year and I think it's a good thing. I wish we would've had it at Sears, but it paid off here. Cory (Call) put a run on us and he caught up t us a little bit and I saw my pit board and got going again - 1 slacked off in the middle and once I saw 1 was losing ground and they were waving me on to go faster, 1 put my head down and got smooth again and picked up the pace enough to where we could pull away." ' Dave Estok on the Motorcycle Online Buell had led into the first turn, but Higbee was quickly past and stretching a margin even before the end of the first lap. And when Estok's Buell had a cylinder crack, forcing him out of yet another race with a mechanical problem, hope for any drama at the front of the field went with him. For a 'while, GSRacing's Cory Call did manage to pull the gap to Higbee back from about 4.5 seconds to a highthree-second margin; when Higbee got the signal, he simply re-upped the pace . and went on to win the 17-lap race by 10.140 seconds after leading every lap. Call was second in his third podium finish of the year, and he was glad to have made it after chasing an electric}J problem for the last few weeks. "I had a good race," Call said. "It finished, first and foremost. We had some electrical problems with the Ducati this weekend. The tires were working great, the suspension felt fine, the brakes were all good, so 1 just needed to dice through the traffic with a smart head and stay calm, cool and collected and just finish this race and get some points." Despite some success in the West .Coast rounds of the series after his Daytona win, Call is unsure of whether or not he'll be able to make the rest of the series. "I have my thumb out and I think 1 might've hitched a ride (to Road Atlanta for the next round), so we'll see if this pans out, and if it does then I'll be there," Call said. "If not, it's been fun and I'll try to round up some sponsors for next year." Munroe Motors' Montano took his Ducati 748 to third place at Laguna Seca in what was a relatively uneventful race for the Berkeley, California, resident. "We encountered little problems as we started getting down in the lap times 'with the front end, but other than that, it was a good, clean, even race," Montano said. "I really didn't have anything for those guys today." HMC Racing's Shawn Conrad was fourth, 'Yell behind Montano at the line, followed by Bill St. John, who had managed to push his Project Monza Ducati 748 past Billy Graefs Hal's H-D Buell on the 13th lap. _ Laguna Seea Raceway Monterey, California Results: May 2, 1999 (Round 5 of 12) PRO THUNDER FINAL: 1. Shawn Higbee (Bue); 2. Cory CaU (Due); 3. Thomas Montano (Due); 4. Shawn Conrad (Due); 5. Bill St. John (Due); 6. Billy Graef (Sue); 7. Jeffrey Nash (Due); 8. James Lickwar (Tri); 9. David White (Duc); 10. Tom Hull (Due); 11. Paul Orlandi (Duc); 12. Gavin Slabbe.rt (Due); 13. Chris LaCruze (Due); 14. Mike Foster (Dud; 15. Michael Cage (TriSue); 16. Pete Demas (Han); 17. Mark Sweeney (Lav); 18. Scott Moon (Sue); 19. Devin Battley (BMW); 20. Richard Haas (Due); 21. Mark Cummings (Due); 22. Tom Chauncey IJ (Due); 23. Robert Gonzales (Due); 24. Mark McGuire (Due); 25. Mark Thorpe (Hon); 26. Rkhie Morris (Due); 27. Dale Palmer (Yam); 28. Kiyoshige Watanabe (Honda); 29. Christopher Boy (Lav); 30. David Estok (Sue); 31. Kevin Holman (La v); 32. Douglas MeLeod (Due); 33. Timothy Kelly (A00. Tim~: 26 min., 46.230 sec. Distance 17 laps, 38.046 miles Average speed: 85.272 mph Margin of victory: 10.140 sec. PRO THUNDER C'SH1P SERIES POINT STANDINGS (After 5 of U rounds); 1. Shawn Conrad (147); 2. Shawn l-figbee (129/2 wins); 3. (TIE) Cory C.ll O)/Billy Graef (128); 5. 8m St. John (21); 6. 1.mes Lickwar (116); 7. Thomas Montnno (114/1); 8. Tom l-!,uU (l02); 9. Gavin Slabbert (80); 10. Christopher Boy (78); 11. Richie Moms (71); 12. Jeffrey Nash (69); 13. Michael Gage (67); 14. Chris LaCruze (59); 15. David Estok (55); 16. Robert Gonzales (54); 17. Tom Chauncey n (51); 18. IUchard Haas (49); 19. D.vid White (47); 20. (TIE) Mark Sweeney/Kiyoshige Watanabe (39). Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Braselton, Georgia, June 6 Round 7 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 13 21

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