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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128003
trio fighting over third and toward the back of the pa ck con testing the same spo t in the seco nd race . All in all , he was a little over 1.2 seco nd s bac k of Merega lli a n d much impro ved on last yea r's performan ce, wh en he crashed . "A fter las t ye a r's di s aste r, a goo d result tod ay was w hat I wa nted," th e Italian sa id . "T he rear w a s slidin g around a lot and I d idn' t want to crash here aga in, so I took it cau tiously and rod e as hard as I could w ithout tak ing cha nces." Bontem pi, as stated earlier, was sixth overall, partly because n igglin g problem s kept him from sorting ou t his race setup during practice. En doug Metal s is t em ' s C ris tia no Migliorati was sixth on a Suzuki, some d istance from Bontempi and a cou ple of seconds in front of Dee Cee Jeans Yamaha 's Wileo Zee lenber g, eig hth overa ll after sixth- and nin th-p lace finishes. In the first leg, Zeelenberg was just in front of Migliorati and in th e second one at the back of the third-place pack. "My first race was okay, but th e second w asn' t so good ," th e Dutchman said. "I made a mistake wh en I overtook Christi an Kellner, a nd tha t d isru pted my rh ythm. I lost about three or fou r places right a fterwa rds and outbra ked myself a couple of times." Zellner took nin th, complaini ng that Casoli was hol ding him up in the corners and leaving him on the straigh ts. " I could not get past him in the ea rly laps," said the German, who was making his first trip to Laguna Seca. Elf Hond a France' s Willi a m Co s ies fin ished l Oth, le s s th an two-ten th s beh ind Kellner on agg rega te time. _ Laguna seca Raceway Monterey, California Results: July 11 , 1999 (Round 7 of 11) W ORLD S UP ERSPORT: 1. Step ha ne Cha m bon (Suz ); 2. lain Mecl'herson IKaw): 3. Paolo Casoii (Due); 4. Massimo Meregalli (Ya m); 5. Fab rizi o Pimvan o (5uz); 6. Piergi orgt o Bontempi (Yam ); 7. C ristia no M igliorati (Suz): 8. Wiloo Zeelenberg (Ya m); 9. Christia n Kellner (Yam ); 10. W illiam Costes (H e n): 11. James Tosela nd (Hen ), 12. W"Tnt>r Daemen (Yam); 13. Bria n Pa rri ott (H o n) : 14 . Christoph C oga n (Ya m) ; 15 . Miche le Malatesta (D ud; 16. Ca mi llo Mariotti ni (Kew ): 17. Mauro Sa nc hin i (Su z): 18. Lu ca Conforti (Kaw): 19. Dav id C he ca (D ud; 20. Fihsbertc Tei xeira (Ho u): 2 1. Kar l H arri s (Suz): 22. Ton y Do ran (Hon): 23. Rube n Xaus (Yam) . Tim e: 38 mi n., 19.719 sec . D istan ce: 25 laps, 58 miles Avera ge speed: 87.696 mph Margin of victory: 4.083 sec. WORLD SUPERSPO RT C H A M P IO N S HIP POINT STANDI NG S (A ft e r 7 of 11 r ound s t: I. Stephane Chambon 001 /1 win ): 2. Piergio rg io Bontem pi (92/ 1); 3. la in Mecl'h erson (67 /1); 4. Fabr izio Ptrova no (66); 5. [org Teuchert (64/ 1); 6. William Cos res (61); 7. Christian Kellner (58); 8. Wilco Zeelenberg (49/1); 9. mE) Ruben X.lU... / Paolc Ca sol i (45/1); 11. Massimo Meregalli (42); 12. James Toseland (41); 13. Cris tiano Mi~iorati (35); 14. Jamie Whitham (25 11); 15. Pere Rib a (23) ; 16. Yves Brigu et (22); 17. Vitto rio lannuzzo (19); 18. C hristoph Coga n (5); 19. Walte r Torturoglio (12); 20. Rob Wood (Ill. (Left) Chambon tails ea rly leade r Paolo Caso li In turn 11 . (Below) Piergiorgio Bontempi (7) leads Fabrizio Pirovano (1) in the ir battle for what would eventually turn out to be fifth place. that as they moved thei r relentl ess spa rring match w ell clea r of the rest of the 40-rid er Pr o Hond a Oils 600cc Supersport field on a su nny; breez y d ay at Laguna Seca Raceway. The only clue as to who might win cou ld be see n coming off the near-dead-stop tum 11, the final tum before the run up the fro nt straight to the chec kered flag. All ra ce lo ng, Hayd en was ab le to ju m p off th e co rner so stron gl y th a t, e ve n if he fo u nd himself tr ailin g h is tea mma te, he mi gh t be abl e to ou tg un him to the s tri pe . As . it turned out, he d idn't have to. The eldest of th e ra cing H a y d en s took the lead for the final time with an aggressive move inside Hacking in the very fast tum-on e kink on the fina l lap, an d he spent the rest of th e 2.32-mile tour of the I l -turn Mon terey track fending off the persisten t jabs of Hackin g. By th e tim e they go t to turn 11, Hayd en wa s well in con trol, and he jetted to the checkered flag just in fro nt of his teamma te. " I kn ew I h ad to win toda y a n d I knew at the end I was going to go for it and th a t' s what happen ed , and I wa s ab le to come ou t with the wi n," Hayd en said after his third win of the year, this one by the narrowest of margins, just .042 of a second . That mar gin narrowed ano th er margin, the lead hi s yo u ng er b roth er N icky h eld ov er h im in th e p oin t sta nd ings. Erio n Racin g's N ick y Hayden admitte d he wasn' t riding well, the end resu lt being a fifth -place finis h. His fifth an d Tommy's win ad ded up to Nicky holding an eight -poi nt lead, 281273, af ter nine of 12 races . Hackin g is third in poin ts with 248. "I knew I had to wi n toda y becau se Vegas go t canceled," sai d Tommy Hayden, who also wo n the race run in the Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Brands Hatch, England, August t Round 9 - Zeltweg, Austria, August 29 A MAIPro H ondaO 600cc S ils upersport Series Round 9 Laguna Seca Raceway , : Yamaha sweeps By Henny Ray Ab rams MONTEREY, CA,JULY 17 ro m the mid poi nt of the race on, it was clear a Yamaha was going to win. What wasn't clear until the final few inches was which one it would be. Tea m mates Jam ie H a ck in g and Tommy Hayd en acted like any thi ng but F The AMA 600cc Supe rs port field heads Into turn two with Eric Bostrom (32) leading the way over Steve Rapp (82), Kurtis Robe rts (80), Steve Crevier (1) and the rest of the pac k. 13