Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

an d Yates. Valvoline EMG O Su zuki ' s Josh Hayes was head ing u p the res t of t he fi eld th at was tig h tly g ro u ped behind him. . O n th e fourth la p , Nicky Hayden ma de a hard cha rge. Firs t h e passed Robert s, then he nailed a great driv e coming up the hill ou t of turn 12 to pass his older brother and take the lead . On the n ext lap, th e Hayden boys began p u lli ng away. Yates was ex pe riencing clu tch prob lems on his Kawasaki, and Rober ts, wh o w a s wea k from a prolonged bout of the flu, los t conce ntra tion and nearly ra n off the track in the Keyhole section. Both Robert s an d Yates we re given a reprieve, ho wever, w hen Jess Roed e r a nd ·Mich ael Ha n nas II crashed th eir Yama has in the esses. There was oil on th e cir cuit and th e r ed flag came ou t, sto pp ing the race. Th e Mu zz y crew we n t to wo r k pu ttin g a n ew cl u tch in Yates ' bike, while the race wo ul d 'now be a lO-lap AMAIPro Honda O 600cc Supersport Series ils Round 10: Mid·Ohio Sports Car Course Brother to brother By Larry Lawrence Photos by Tom Riles LEXINGTON, OH, JULY18 t th e M id-O hio Spor ts Car Course, Nic ky Hayd en pulled off what ma y have -been one -of the grea tes t las t-la p passes for the lead in the 13-year h istory of AMA 600cc Supers po rt ra ci n g . Makin g th e inc re dible . mo ve even more memorabl e was the fact tha t he pulled it on his older brother To mmy, with w ho m he is locked in a colossa l ba ttle for the 600cc Supersport ti tle . Nicky, ridi ng a n Erion Honda CBR600 F4, held on after "The Pass" to bea t big bro ther Tom my an d his Yamaha R6 by two-tent hs of a seco nd. Erion Ho n da's Ku r tis Rober ts also go t by Muzzy Kawasak i's Aaron Yates on the fina l circuit to nail down the finalpodium positi on . Nicky Hayd en earned his fifth victory of the season, a win tha t extends his se ries lead over Tommy to 11 poin ts with just two races remainin g. Yamaha's Jamie Ha cking ruined any rea l chances he had at the title after he inexpli cabl y cras hed on the warm up lap and didn't start the final. Ha ckin g rem ains third in the stand ings but is a d istant 69 poi nts behind the series lead er. '" Mid -Ohio has a history of producing some of the mos t exciting and unpre~ d ict abl e 600cc Supersport races. Scott N Zampach earne d a surprise win here in -5 1989, a v ic to r y th a t. ga ve hi m the ..., mo mentum an d confidence he needed 12 to go on an d wi n the title th at year. In A m Tommy Hayden (22) led the majority 01 the 600cc Superspo rt race at Mid-Ohio. Here he leads Kurtis Roberts (BO), Aaron Yates (20) and his brother Nicky Hayden (69). In the end it was Nicky Hayden (right) who came away with the win alter a thrilling battle. '96, An d rew Strou d overca me a rain slick tra ck to give Erio n Honda its first 600cc Su p e rspo rt win. La st yea r , Tommy Hayden led most of th e race while Nicky Hayd en and Aaron Yates bange d on one ano ther. Nicky and Yates ended u p in a gravel trap w hile Steve Crevier so mehow su rvived the com motion to win h is first 600cc Superspo rt race in over six years. To mmy Hayden served notice early th a t he would be the man to bea t. In qualifying, th e eldest Hayden bro ther ro de as though the memory of coming so close to wi nn ing his first AMA National at this race last year was bu rn ing in h is m in d . He called upon the power of his facto ry R6 to scorc h MidOhio w ith a blis tering time of 1:30.891 secon ds at 95.059 mph - an amazing 1.3 seconds faster than the old 600cc Superspo rt record set by Aaron Yates. Even before the race began, a major developmen t in the champions hip picture took place when Hacking cras hed his R6 on the warmup lap. Accord ing to Hacking's manager, Robert Nutt, Hac king was rid ing th rou gh a turn sit ting up with one han d on the ba r and looking beh ind him when the bikesu dd enly slid .out from und ern eath him. Wha teve r the · cause of the cras h, the bo ttom line was that Hack ing was, for all in ten ts and purposes, now ou t of the picture in the . cha mpionship hunt. Th e s ta rt of th e ra ce was in te nse, with rid er s da rting from side to side, tr y in g th rea d th e ir way through th e fi eld. T omm y Hayden got a goo d lau nch and moved across traffic to the . right-hand side of the track to se t up for turn o ne . Rob ert s flas hed in beh ind him , followed by Yates and, of all peopl e, Steve Cr evier. Crevi er had ma naged to pull off the best start of the field and had moved all the way up to fourth from the third row. Unfo rtunately for th e Yoshimura Suzuki rider, his race would be over too soon. On the second la p , after Nicky Hayden had just passed him, h e charged ha rd through the esses sec tion of th e track, slid har d int o one of the many seams of the concrete patches an d hit the paveme nt: The impac t broke off his brake lever an d his race was over. "My bike is down on power, so I'm havi ng to ride way too h a r d in t he tur ns," said the defe nd ing series cham pion. "I tucked the fron t end . Somehow we have to find more power in this bike." Up fron t, the race d eveloped int o a four-rid er bre akawa y , w it h Tomm y Ha yd en leading Roberts, Nicky Ha yden sprint, whic h, due to his lack of stamina, wou ld work to th e adva ntage of Roberts. O n th e resta rt , it was Rob erts who led coming au t of turn one . After a few laps it was again the quartet of Roberts, Yates, and the Haydens p ulli ng away fro m everyone with th e ex ce p tion of Eric Bostrom and Hayes . Un de r h ea vy b raking on the back straight, Yates took over fro m Roberts and h eld th e lead for one lap be for e Tom my Hayd en passed him in the exact spo t he had passed Roberts a lap earli er. In the middle of the race, most of the at tention w a s focu sed on th e intense . ba ttle for secon d between Yat es and Nick Hayden. For several lap s, Hayden tried to getby Yates, only to have the

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