Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Series points leader Tom Kipp (16) leads his teammate Damon Buckmaster (147), Jimmy Moore (86), Mario DuHamel (96) and the rest of the 750cc Supersport field into turn one. was right on the edge of going off in the dirt on the right-hand side so I couldn't make the corner, 0 1 had to barely miss the gravel trap. I ran it through the dirt. Luckily, we'd already gapped fourth place, so I came out a good ways behind Tommy (Hayden). I wasn't quite happy. He had a clean pass and he had me on the brakes. He didn't need to come over on me. He knows how to pass." He lost touch with both Haydens momentarily, though he would fight back to chase them down when the race was stopped again two laps later with the Mori/Harrell incident. 'T ve been so close on the 600 to winning - I felt like I could have won it this weekend, you know," Hacking said. uIt' okay, we'll go on to the next race. There's no ha te between ei ther one of us, it was just one of those deals. It was one of those racing deals and no one go hurt. It was unfortunate, but we'll go on." Tommy Hayden al 0 gave chase to the very end, but he couldn't quite match his brother - at least prior to tile red flag. "I got a pretty good start both times," Tommy Hayden said. "The second time, I started with new tires and I didn't quite have the confidence in 'em because they weren't scuffed yet. I let Aaron (Yates) and Jamie get away from me on the first lap more than I should have. I had to ride pretty hard to catch up to 'em. I got up to 'em and got by Aaron pretty good. I figured before the race it would be between me, Nicky and Jamie - so that was what I was expecting. I was trying to conserve my tires. I was following Nicky and I was close, with about four laps to go, and tilat was when I was going to try something. I got in a pretty good slide out there and lost my drive - that set me back. I got back up to him and then the red flag came out. It would have been a pretty interesting last two or three laps. Unfortunately, it got red flagged. That's racing and that's the way it goes." For icky Hayden, it was win number three on the season and the fourth of his career. "The first time, I got a decent start and I was right there," Nicky Hayden said. "For the second one, I got a horrible start and in turn one I tried to go around some guys and screwed up. I didn't even know what place I was in but I was back away. I thought them guys were going to be gone and I was blowing it. I pushed really, really hard for the first laps and I think I may have gotten my tire a little bit too hot. I got up to 'em and got around them and me and Jamie had a moment up there sorry about tha.t. I was in too hot and 1 thought I was going to run off. I feel bad that I ran him off the track, but it was just one of those things. After that, 1 rode a little tight and hesitant. I wasn't riding smooth and those guys stayed right with me. I thought there was going to be another restart, and I didn't want that. I was happy with the way the race turned out." Hacking, naturally, wanted more laps. After all, he had something to prove. '1 had some aggression there," Hacking said. "It's probably good that it ended the way it did." The race was called complete after 11 laps. _ Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: June 6,1999 (Round 6 of 14) 600cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: 1: Nicky Hayden (Hon); 2. Tommy Hayden (Yam); 3. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 4. Aaron Yates (Kaw); 5. Joshua Hayes (Suz); 6. Rich Oliver (Yam); 7. Steve Crevier (Suz); 8. Steve Rapp (Suz): 9. Kurtis Roberts (Hon): 10. Eric Bostrom (Hon): 11. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 12. Sean KowaJski (Hon); 13. Paul Harrell (Yam); 14. Tom Kipp (Suz); 15. Roland Sands (Yam); 16. Brian Lantz (Kaw); 17. Richard Alexander Jr. (Suz); 18. Damon Buckmaster (502); 19. Joseph Gill (Kow): 20. Joke Zemke (Suz): 21. Michoel Hannas (Yam); 22. Mark Junge (Kaw); 23. Francisco Ramirez (Suz); 24. Brian Livengood (Suz); 25. Bryon Barbour (502); 26. Kurt Marmor (Kaw); 27. Roman Frias O-lon); 28. Jess Roeder (Yam); 29. Rocky Gravley (Yam); 30. Francois Barbe (Yam); 31. Daniel Urbina (Hon); 32. Steve Laszko (Hon); 33. Bob Laszko (HoN; 34. Takahito Mori (Yam); 35. Frederick Farzanega (Hon). Time: n/a due to red flag Distanc~ 11 laps, 27.72 miles Average speed: n/a due to red n"g Margin of victory: 0.255 sec. 600« SUI'ERSPORT C"SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 6 of 14 rounds): I. Nicky Hayden ('18713 wins); 2. Tommy Hayden (179/2); 3. Jamie Hacking (150); 4. Rich Oliver (144); 5. Aaron Yates (43); 6. Steve Crevier (140); 7. Kurtis Roberts (30); 8. Joshua Hayes (126); 9. Miguel DuHamel (115/1); 10. Jason Pridmore (07); II. Steve Ropp (107): 12. Tom Kipp (93): 13. Paul HarreU (90): 14. (TIE) Sean Kowalski/Eric Bostrom (81). Upcoming Rounds Round 7 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 13 Round 8 - Loudon, New Hamsphire, June 20 AMA/Lockhart Phillips 750Cc Supersport Series, Round 6: Road Atlanta Take five for Kipp By Larry Lawrence Photos by Henny Ray Abrams BRASELTON, GA, JUNE 5 t a hot and muggy Road Atlanta, Tom Kipp, riding a Chaparral Suzuki, won his fifth straight 750cc Supersport race despite looking, at times, as if he might just want to lay back and protect his considerable championship points lead. When it was on the line on the final lap, Kipp showed that he still very much cares about winning races and kept his streak alive in a fun-to-watch round six. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Grant Lopez challenged for the lead most of the race and finished second, his best finish of the year. Rounding out the podium A was Californian Jake Zemke on his 1-800CYCLE-GEAR Suzuki - it was Zemke's second podium finish of the season. Kipp has been racing 750cc Supersport on and off for 10 years and has won the series twice. During his 1994 championship-winning season, he had a . stretch where he won four consecutive races. With the Road Atlanta win, Kipp set a new personal best in that category. The Chardon, Ohio, resident now has 13 career 750cc Supersport wins to his credit, placing him third on the all-time win list behind Scott Russell's 23 victories and Jason Pridmore's 16 wins. With a 31-point lead coming into Road Atlanta, there was talk in the paddock that Kipp might go into protection mode and not risk going all out if the race turned into a battle. Looking at Kipp's history, however, he's really never gone conservative during his previous three AMA Championship campaigns. An interesting sidebar in the 750cc Supersport race at Atlanta was the professional road racing debut of 16-yearold Roger Lee Hayden. The youngest of the three racing Hayden brothers came into the race with the pressure of the Hayden name bearing down on him. Yet the youngster didn't shrink under the pressure. "I know, because of what my brothers have done, there's a lot expected of me," said the youngest Hayden, who qualified a respectable ninth with a time of 1:29.488. "It's not that big of a deal, because I expect a lot out of myself." The start saw a three-wide pack going through turn one, witli Kipp emerging as the leader. As the tightly knit pack came around on the first lap, it was Kipp holding the lead, with teammate Damon Buckmaster second, followed closely by Mike Ciccotto, Lopez, Jake Zemke and Tommy Hayden. The big story of the second lap was the pass Roger Lee Hayden put on his big brother Tommy. As the two sped down Atlanta's back straight, Roger Lee, using the power of his 750, pulled out of Tommy's 600's draft and took over sixth. Up front, Ciccotto was riding aggressively and took over the lead on lap four. Ciccotto had held the lead for less than a lap when his aggressive riding got the better of him and he nearly pitched away his bike coming out of turn seven. In the near crash, his Suzuki's inertia safety cut-off switch (designed to shut off the motor in the case of a crash) killed the motor. The following trio of riders came close to hitting the slowing Ciccotto. Ciccotto rolled off the track, not knowing that he simpl y needed to turn off and on his ignition switch to restart the bike. With Ciccotto out and Buckmaster fading because of severe leg cramps, the race became an inter~ting two-way dice for the point between Kipp and Lopez. Lopez held the advantage through the twisty first half of the 2.54-mile circuit, while Kipp was the better of the two entering the high-speed turns of the second half of the circuit. j..opez took the lead on lap nine with a bold inside-onthe-brakes pass of Kipp going into turn six. A pass in that tum is rare and considered a bit risky since the entry speed is so high and there's a good chance of the rider who is being overtaken not seeing the passing rider coming up the inside. Lopez made it look routine. ow it was Kipp who settled into studying Lopez's strengths on the circuit. Kipp found he was better braking for turn one and made his move there two laps later, regaining the lead. Lopez tried to get back al1ead going up tile hill but couldn't make a pass stick. On lap 10, Lopez got into a big slide coming out of tum seven and seemed to settle into conserving his energy and tires for a last-lap surge. Meanwhile, Roger Lee made his way past B\lckmaster and found himself in fourth, not 10 bike lengths back from Zemke and a podium finish. Unfortunately for the youngster, Zemke had other plans. He had earlier made a theatrical rear-wheel-kicked-out, heavy-onthe-brakes pass on Buckmaster before setting his sights on the leading duo. He came up just short at the flag, a couple of seconds behind the leading pair. After a poor start, Moore charged through the field and came up to pressure Hayden in.the final third of the 15lap race. With three laps to go, Moore made his move and got by Hayden. Roger Lee would ha ve to settle for fifth all in all, an impressive comir,g-out for the new kid. According to AMA records, Roger Lee's road racing debut was better than that of either of his brothers. Tommy finished 21st in his fir t AMA Pro race and middle brother icky finished 12th in his first race in 1997. On the final lap, Lopez marshaled his strength and made a hard charge at Kipp coming down the back straight. The Alabaman actually J;ludged ahead and it was getting a little hectic at this point. It would have been very tempting and perfectly reasonable for Kipp to settle for second, but instead he outbraked Lopez going into turn 10 and, even though Lopez made one more last-ditch effort coming down the hill, he held on to win the race by a bike length. Zemke held off Moore for third. "I was thinking maybe I sh"uldn't be riding so hard," admitted Kipp afterward. "We'll do what we can to win the championship, but I'm out to win, and if I can do 'that without taking too big of a risk, tllen that's what I'll do." With the victory Kipp extended his points lead to a commanding 41 points over Moore. _ 13

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