Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 4: IndianapolisRaceway Park. Events By Drew Lincoln Photo by Darby Parks INDIANAPOLIS, IN, JUNE27 h u ck Graves m ade a cameo appearance at the fourth round of the WERA N ational Challenge Series on his way home from the AMA National at Loudon. Some speculated that Graves was at Indy to earn an invitatio n to th e WERA G ra nd National finals and pick u p some Yamaha conti ngency money in the process, w hile ot hers thoug ht h e was there to shop for future talent to put on his bikes. To tha t end, a makeshift team of teenagers was put togeth er for the National End urance race th e d ay befor e, w ith good resu lts coming from tha t endeavor. In the meantime, Graves saddled up to race some of the Sportsman races as well as a couple of the WERA National Challenge Super Stock races, winning the Pir elli 600cc Super Stock class and taking a controversial second in the Open Super Stock race. The first 12-lap race of the day at the 15-tum, 2.5-mile drag stri p / road course was the Ope n Super Stock race. From the front row of the grid, Arcligh t Suzu ki's Joe Prussiano go t th e holeshot on h is Suz u k i GSX- R7S0, usin g th e newly h om ol ogated Pi re ll i EVa DOT ti res. Prussiano was followed closely by Mark Ju nge on the Vesra h Kawasaki ZX-9R, and by the conclusio n of the second lap, Junge had taken the lea d and tri ed to escape the onslaught of Yamaha YZF RIs bearing down on him. Junge ran into rear- trac tio n p robl em s at halfway an d slipped back to six th by the finis h. Tim Bemisderfer used the ample power of his R-l to come through from a bad start to take th e lea d on th e third lap as Peachtree Performance-ba cked Billy Eise-nacher crashed his Yamaha in the "Parking Lot" section of the track. During this time, Graves was picking his way toward the front, s howing the skills tha t have taken him to co un tless rac e wins and cha mpions hips over the yea rs. By the halfway flags, Graves had pu t his Yarna. ha into second , and within one lap the four-second lead Bemisderfer had held had disappeared . Once in fron t, Graves towed Bemisderfer around until th e white-flag lap, but Bemisderfer ou tdrove Graves onto and down the back straight and he ld the forrne r Fo rmula USA 'C hampion off to the checkered flag. In the winner's circle, Graves commented on how fast Bemisderfer' s motorcycle was and suggested tha t he would be interested in seeing the internals for himself. No official protest was' registered, and the fin al standings held without incident. Larry Denning, on another Yamaha R-l, rounded out the podium, beati ng a large pack of racers to take the place. Graves go t right back on the track in the Pirelli 600cc Super Stock race, this tim e on a Yama ha YZF R-6. Prussiano again mad e the most of the start by getting the holeshot and leading briefly until the AMA-spec R-6 of Graves steam ed by to take ove r the point positi on . Gr aves steadily .pu lled away from the fight for second involving Prussiano, Brian Lantz, Ju nge and Scott Bro wn . On the second lap, Brown went straigh t off at tum three, leaving the others to swap positions at nearly every comer. With all the passing. slowing down the pace, Eisenache r, Shannon Ball, and Grave's pro tege, Mich ael C Hannas, caug ht the battling trio. Lan tz a n d Jun g e u sed th e ir Dunlop-sho d Kawasakis to distance themselves fro m the pack and resume their fight to the finish. Lantz later acknow ledged suspension w iz a r d Ma x McA ll is te r of Traxxio n Dynamics for sorting his bike out for the bumpy Ind y track and enabling him to ea rn second, ahead of the Vesrah Kawa saki of Junge. Hannas got past 1800-CROTCH-ROCKET-sponslJred Ball and 1-888-FAST-LAP-backed Eisenacher and set out after Prussiano . One lap after Hannas mad e the pa ss on th e Arcli ght Suzuki rider and then fell, a catastrophic engine failure from Prussiano's GSX-R600 put a stop to the race tw o laps ea rly. Graves, Lantz and Junge took to the podium, in that order. Th e WERA 12Scc Grand Prix race broke down nearly the same way as 600cc race, wi lJ,1 the lead er breaking aw ay fro m a spirited dice over second. In this case, defending WERA 12Scc GP Champi on Micha el Himmelsbach go t the holeshot and proceeded to check out from the battle of the teenagers between Grand Prix prodigies Ben Spies and Jason DiSalvo . Every lap, Sp ies and his Keith Cherry Ra cing-ba cked Honda RSI25 led down the fron t straight, onl y to be passed by DiSalvo around the outside in tum five leading onto the back straight . Spies wo uld retali a te by outbraking the DiSalvo at differen t poi nts of the back section and lead d own the front st ra ig ht ti me after time . Ju s t after halfway, DiSalvo earned a little breathing room fro m Sp ies , but a la p la ter , Spies retook the lead . With only one lap to go , DiSalvo held th e p oint headin g into the ro ug h back section for the last time an d kept Spies behind him. DiSalvo had a thr ee-bik e-Iength lead exitin g the final turn on the run d own to the check ers, but Spies go t the better dri ve and the draft to win by inches. Himmelsbach has now won two in a row to avenge his two early-season losses at the hands of DiSalvo, w ith the h elp of h is n ewl y refur- Joe Pru ssi ano (2) leads Chuck Graves (hidden), Brian Lantz (24) and Mark Junge (57) during the 600cc Super Stock race during round fo ur of the WERA Nati onal Challenge series in Indianapolis, Indiana. Graves ended up with th e win , with Lantz fi nishi ng second and Junge third. bished Blackman's Cycle Honda RS-125. ] -888-FAST- LAP teammates Brian Stokes and Chris Caylo r b ra ck e ted Arclight Suz uki rider Prussia no at the sta rt, wit h Stok es lead ing the first lap. Enteri ng turn one for the seco nd time, Prussiano outbraked Stokes for the lead and Cay lor passed Stokes for secon d , braking fro m the back straight, relegatin g him to third in o ne lap . Caylo r closed the gap to Prussiano bu t could no t find the fla w in Prussian o's ridi ng that wou ld let hi m by. Stokes had follow ed Prussiano an d Ca y lor lo n g enough to form a plan of attack and, at the halfway point, he took over second from h is Marietta Moto rs ports teammate and stalked Prussiano for the lead. Stokes made the pa ss fo r fi rs t in the tight and technical back section and had the lead u n til the exit of the Car ousel, when he lit up the rear and high-sid ed his Micheli n-s hod Suzu ki. Prussia no took back the lead 'a nd held a comfo rtable cushion between himself and Caylor to the end. Sha n non Ball rou nded out the top three. Tea m Green Ka w asak i rid er Bria n Lantz used his Dunlop- slick-sh od ZX-6R to win his second Formula Two race in a row a nd his thi rd of th e year. David Bo osal es a n d IS- ye a r-old Spies 'both mad e terrible sta rts and battled to see who wo u ld be last int o the" first tum; it was Sp ies. At the front, Lantz tri ed to b rea k a w ay w h ile Ali en Racin g / Ap p lie d Business Syst ems teammat es DiSalvo and Mike Mashewsk e battled over second . Larry Denning was an other bad starter, but he put his head down and cut ~ path throu gh the field to catch Lan tz and battle for the lead. Boosales a nd Spies, b oth on 2S0cc Grand Pr ix bikes, wo rked their way up to the figh t for third between ' DiSalvo, on a Honda R5-250, and Mashewske, on a Kawasaki ZX-6R. Mashewske lost touch wit h the thr ee GP machines once they hooked up together and he even tu ally fell back to seventh . Boosa les got th ir d place but cam e und er attack at every corner from the two teenagers until he made a rare mis take and ran wide throu gh the u ltraslippery Carousel and crashed ou t of the race, causing a red flag , w hich foiled Denn ing's las t-lap strategy to ove rtake Lantz for the win and relega ted him to second, with Spies filling out the podiCIII um in third. Indianapolis Racew ay Park Indianapolis, India na Results: June 27, 1999 (Roun d 4) OP EN SISTI<: 1. Timothy J Bermsderfer (Yam); 2. . Chuck Graves (Yam); 3. Larry Den ning (Ya m); 4. Joe Prusstano m (Suz); 5. Ray Yoder Jr. (Ya m). 125 GP : 1. Michael Himmel sbach (Ha n); 2. Ben Spies (H a n ); 3. Jason DiSalvo (Ha n ); 4. Chris Pyles (Honk 5. John Hjelm (Hon). 600 SlST K: 1. Chuck Gra ves (Yam ); 2. Brian Lantz (Ka w ): 3. Mar k Ju nge (Ka w ]: 4. Shan non & 11 (Suz); 5. Billy Eisenach er (Ya m). 600 SlB K NOV: 1. Ad am Coco (Suz); 2. Benjamin Bake r ISuz): 3. Bren t Whitecotte n (Ho n): 4. Wre nn Smi th; 5. Calvin Barnett (Suz). 600 PROD NOV: 1. Brian K. Ha yes (Suz); 2. Tim Bre wer (H a n ); 3. Bren t w hitecot te n (Ha n); 4. Clin l Rupert t (Suz ); 5. Derick Young (He n). 150 SIBK NOV: 1. Ben jamin Baker (Suz ); 2. Greg Ca lla ha n (Suz): 3. Charles T. 'Alle n (Suz) ; 4. Je rome Ca ntev (Suz); 5. Calvin Barnett (Suz). 150 S/STK: 1. Joe Prussia no III (Suz): 2. Chris Ca ylor (Suz); 3. Shannon Ball (Suz ): 4. jeff Kramer (Suz): 5. Todd Snyder (Suz ). 150 PROD NOV : 1. T im Brewe r (H en ): 2. Brian Hayes (Su z) ; 3. Der ick Yo u n g (H an ); 4. Bren t Whitecotten (Han) ; 5. Cha rles T. Allen (Suz). F-l : 1. Tray Batey (Suz ); 2. Larry Denning (Yam ); 3. Scott -Ca rpe nt er (Yam) ; 4. Will iam Mrk las. (Ya m); 5. Benjamin Walters (Ya m). . F· 2: 1. Brian Lan tz (Kaw ); 2. Larry Den nin g (Yam); 3. Ben Spies (Ya m); 4. Jason DiSalvo (Hen): 5. William Himmelsbach (Yam). HIW TW EX: 1. Brian james Honey cut t (Suz ); 2. Rob Palmieri (Suz ); 3. Alan Taylor (Suz ); 4. Ch uck Batinovi c (Apr ); 5. Edw ard Yetter . HIW TW NOV: 1. Tony Wiesenhahn (Suz ); 2. Greg Callaha n (Suz); 3 . Adam Ma shike (S uz); 4 . Chris Nicoloff (Ha n); 5. Michae l J. Park (Dud. en en en ~ 55

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