Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"They were playing with me . But a s long as we're m ak i n g progress with the b ike, I 'm happy. When we do get something, th ey better look out." H ack i n g was by himself in th e early going and at the end. Not so for Pridmore. He was in the middle o f a string o f mostly Su zukis, all trailing H ayden for a while until they reeled him in. Hayden w as on him on lap 11 and b y o n l ap 12, with three rid ers directl y i n line b ehind him. H e could never really shake H ayden, but did m ana ge to hold o n at th e end . All weekend long Pridmore had b een l osing the f ron t en d . " Yes ter d ay i n practice I put m y face throu gh th e w i n dsh ie l d," Prid more said. " You r confiden ce goes d own a Jot." Th e t eam r eworked th e GSX-R750 o ve rn igh t, and it w as transformed. " G o ing t hrough turns one and two I felt pretty stron g and I feIt if I cou l d ge t in front of t h em I co u l d g et away," h e said. Bu t h e co u l d n' t shak e Hayden. " It wa s fun r acing with him," Pridmore sai d . " He started g o i n g faster o nce I got past h im." . Seventh wa s fo u r sp o t s lower than he'd finished i n his previous r ace, a seaso n's best of third at Mid-Ohio. " A f t er finishing on the box, it's hard to accep t anything else," Pridmore said. Hayden knows a thing o r two abou t finishing on th e bo x, but not in thi s class. He never came to grips w ith th e RC 4 5, though it got better at the end . His best lap was the 19th, and the 20th was his second best. 'The l ast fi v e were with i n two-ten ths o f w he re I qualified ," H ay d en sai d . One area h e had trou ble was turn one, according to Cre v i e r. C rev ier chased him through there for the second h alf o f the r ace, but co u l d n' t ge t the be tter of him. " I couldn't get a d riv e t o p ass h i m and l apped t r affic just sc rewe d m e," Crevier said. Chandler was n ev er in t he hunt an d h e finished just in f ron t o f Rapp. "I just cou l d n ever get th e thi n g to stee r the wa y I liked it," said C ha nd ler, who h ad won the previous tw o r aces. " I knew we w ere struggling an d never got it so r te d ou t. We sta r ted the r ace w i t h so mething d iff erent, w e h adn't tri ed i t b efore. [ couldn't car ry speed o n the co r ners like the o t h er guys." CN B rainerd International Raceway B rainerd , Minnesota Results: August 2, 1999 (Rou nd 11 of 12) SUPERB IKE QUALI FY ING : 1. Ben Bo st rorn 0 :36.070); 2. Ma l Mladm 0 :36.410); 3. Anthony C obert (1:46.418); 4. MJ tt Wait 0 :356.587); 5. Eric Bos trom 0:37.069); b. Steve C revi er (137.452); 7. [anue Hacking 0 :37.649); 8. Steve Rapp 0 :37.6(4 ); 9. Doug Chandler 0 :37.283 ); 10. La r ry Pegra m 0:37.847) ; 11. N ic ky Hayden 0 :37.956) ; 12. Scott Russell 0 :38.220); 13. AMo n Yates 0 :38.748 ); 14. Jason Prid mo re O :38.7'J3); 15. Pa sca l Picotte 0:39.295); 16. Rich Oliver 0 :39.435); 'S 17. J.mL Randolph (J ,42.59S); 18. Tom Klpp (J ,42.b94); 19. Rad Greaves 0 :42.818); 20. Tripp Nobles 0 :43.b32); e 21. Jake Zemk (1 , 43 .9~ ); 22. Jimmy Moore (H' .010); 23 . G rant Lopez (1 :4 4.139 ); 24 . M ario DuHame l 0 :44 ,474 ); 25. Jam ie Bowman (1:44.578); 26, Andrew Deatherage 0 :44.S38); 27. Shane Carke 0 :44.99 1); 28, Roger Lee Hayden 0 :44.992); 29. John Jacobi (1:45_l:j,(}7); 30 . Dea n Mi zdal 0 :45 .565 ); 3 1. Randall Mennen ga (] ;45 .7MO ); 3 2. Mik e Walsh 0 :4 5 .854 ); 33 . Roge r Hendricks (J ,46.132); 34. Cory Call (J,46 .b85); 35. Scott Ruehle (I :46.883 ). SUPERBIKE FINAL: 1. Ben Bostrom (Due); 2. Mat Bostr o m takes aim and sprays his tea m mate Ant ho ny Gobert on the w inner's ro st ru m . Gobert f in ished third after dropping back as far as sixth early in the race. Mladin (Suz);-3. Ant hony Cobert (D uc); 4. Eric Bostro m (H en ): 5. Larry Pegram (Due); fl . Jami l' Hacking (Yam ); 7. Iason Pridmore (Suz): 8. Nick Ha yden (Hen): 9. Stev e Crevier (Suz): to. Doug Cha ndler (Kaw): 11. Stev e Rap p (5uz); 12 Aa ron Yates IKaw): 13. james Ran d ol ph (Suz) ; 14. Jim my Moon' (Suz ); 15. Andrew Deat he rage (Suz); 16. John jacob! (Suz ); 17. Sha ne Cla rke (5uz) ; 18, Scott Ruehle (5U 1:); 19. Col)' Can (Suz): 20. Roger H endricks (5uz) ; 2 1. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 22 r a scal Picott e (H- D); 23. Mik e w a lsh (Yam) ; 24. Ran dall Men nen ga (Suz) ; 25. Rad Grea ves (Suz ); 26. Mari o Duhamel (Suz ); Zl . Rich Oli ve r (Ya m ); 28. Scott Russe ll (H · D); 2Q Matt Wait . (Due); 30. Jamie Bowman (5uz). Time: 34 min ., 15.6i7 sec. Distance: 21Ia?!" 63 miles Average spee-d: 110_ 129 mph M~rgin of victory: 8.6:5 sec. AMA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 11 of 12 roun ds) : 1. Mat Mladin (333 / 1 win); 2. Ben Bostrom (325/ 1); 3. Anthony Gobert (3 19/ S); 4. Doug Chandler (271 / 2); S Larry Pegram . Chapparal Suzuki's R ichard A lexander J r. sat out the Brain' able to ta ke advantage of all that. B ut now we 've been puttmq erd round. still sufferin g from the lingering effe cts of the Lyme a lot of effort into what we' !l be do ing next year. Finally w e'tl disease he co ntrac ted m ountain bi·king before the Road Atlanta be. able to ·hit the wi nter test sc hedule with next year' s equ ip. race back in May. ' There's a .Iot of misconcepti ons about Lyme ' ment ins tea d of last year's . - A s . fo r ride rs . Sco tt Russell ' is di sease and its lo nq-te rm effe ct s." Alexander said in a ' state under co ntract. bu t Scheib e needs a second rid er . - W e' lI be ' ment released by Am erican Suzuki. ' 1 my case , since the dis0. investigati ng thatin the next few wee ks ," he said. adding that ease wa s det ect ed right away. the doct ors expect 1"11 have a. full the tea m bada - good "relationsh ip- with curre nt ride r Pascal Pic otte. · ' . reco very . They"re treating me intravenously with antibiotics each .day overa three ·week period. Obviously. I would like to be ndThe questi on' everyone was 'asking in Brainerd was. MWhat are ing at Brainerd . but I need to concentrate. on' getting well and getting .my strength up before I ride. - Al exander is expec ted to . ·y o u doi ng ·n e xt year?M Ve'ry litt le is known about the make be back for the final AMA round at Pike 's Peak in late Septemup of next yea r:5 teams. Three rider s are under contrac t. Erion ber. Racing Honda's Ni cky Hayden. Harley-Davidson 's Scot t Russell, and Yoshimura Suzukl 's Mat Mladin. Other than that. it 's ail up in, World Sports Imports' .C h u c k Sorensen won a Mazda Troy · the air.' Yamaha's ,Jamie Hacking said he 'd made no pIM S. The Lee Edition Truck fo r ta king .his first Mazda Trucks 2S0cc same 'go es with team o w ne rS. V ance '& Hines, Duca ti's Terry : Grand Prix cha mpionship . Chaparral Suz uk i' s To m Kipp to ok · Vance denied that his deal with . Ducati for next year was final· horne a $10.000 champion ship bonus for winn ing the Lockhart ized.though he expected it to be done some time the week after Phillips' USA 750cc Supersport ·title.· ptusan unspecified bonu s Brainerd. Vance would n't say wh o he'd sign. though the advice from Ameri can Suzuki. · · · . he seems to be'getting is to keep Ben Bo strom . " Our bikes are really good . - Vance said. - There are a lot of guys Who are reaily The AMA distributed a warning to ' riders not to take 'their: helgood and ·if .everything go!'s right: you' win,". V ance 'said that mets off on the cool-down lap. a rule ';"hich ·w as immediate ly : An th o ny G ob ertwas " d ef ini t e ly g one . - to Ducati, Vanc e dubbed the - Nicky Hayden : rule. Hayden took his helmet off after as sumed : ."That c o uld ch ang e . but t he pl an Is t o' s tay w ith he beat his brothe r in the 600cc Supersport race on a hot day at Ducat i..• Aher qualifying third. Gobert said he hadn't signed .anyMid-Ohio. Hayden 's father Earl. said that he did it. not tocelething and had Ei number of offers. Gobert saia he thoughlit wo uld brate. but simply because the heat had made.him feel suddenly ill · depend on how the W orld Superb ike season turns out for Ducati. and he .needed fresh air: The rule didn't stop Ben Bostrom from as weil as how the AMf'. championship' turns out . In the end. he collecting his' helmet -less tuner Ga ry Medley for his . victory lap '- wants to ride for Ducati at ·this poi nt : Everyth ing's really c1ose.around ~rainerd . . G obertwas -tnqulslt ive abou t the expe c ted Honda V ·t win.lf s bee n rumo red .that Virginio Ferra ri. who formerly ran a Ducati Nick lenatsch puiled out of the Mazda Trucks 250 cc Grand W orld Superbik e team, wou ld be running .the Honda team next .Prix after. Sunday momin g's pract ice when he broke a piston on year. A mong the wack ier rumor s was that Eraldo Ferracci would his Aprilia. The racing journalist .was riding an Apri lia backed by use the expected Honda V-tw ins in America and that current FBF Colin Jensen and Tom Christen sen. of Tom Coli ns Racing. lenrider Larry Pegram would end up at Yamaha. Ferracci said he's atsch raced the Aprilia to fourth at Laguna Seca and was to race sun waiti ng to hear back fr om D ucati and expec ts an' answer at Brainerd and Pike's Peak. but this weekend's results may have shortly. Wi th Husqvam a's Alessio Chiodi planning to race in the changed his plans. The bike is a 199 7 ex-European Aprilia race U.S. next year, Ferraccl said he may end up doing Supercross and mot ocross. . . bike that ran flaw lessly at Laguna Se ca. This w eekend .. tuner Steve Biganski leaned on the engine a little and the team found that 'rel!ability had suffe red-. "Wh en it makes 78 horsepower; ifII Erion Racing' s Kurtis Roberts saidh is manager , Gary Howard. run all day long'-' lenat sch saii;L - Now that if s making 85 . we w as working on hi.year 2000 plans; If s likely Roberts will leave t tiE! Honda fold. ·one·sign being' that they chose not to p'ut him.on ' can't get by with old parts '- There were probl ems in both Friday and Saturday' s practice. then came the .brok en piston . - It didn't an RC45 during Miguel Du Hamel"s extended absence . If th ey stick and break a piston, rt broke' a piston and l:ient the , rod ,and w ere interested in keeping him . they surely would have given him ended 6ur . day ." ·Ienat sch said . Discussions have beg un about a loo.k. Alan Labrosse , DuHamel"s manager.· said that America n possibly running the Ap rilia ·full·time next year. - W e're talking Honda has - indicated they want to retain his serv ices .." wh ich :abouti t 'with · t~ ese 9uYS. I. guess ~e 'd have .a Iittl.e more support. was co nfirmed by Amer ican Honda's .Gary Mathers. Ir Honda . maybe a spare motor in the truck . Some more financial ·backing. does kee p DuHamel, they'lI likely let Eric Bostrom 90 since they P robably t he same bike.,. , .. hav"e .Nicky. Hayden under contract fo r 2000 . Labrosse also man· ' . ages Eric B 9 st ra m and !1arley:David son's Pascal fl icoll e . :Harley·D avid so n·s . Steve Scheibe can' t· ~ait for ·next sea· '-They ·1I all have ·rides. ". Labro sse said . The rumor in Brainerd son . - From my po int of view; .th is is the continuity the Fo rd was that Picotte · wou ld return to the Fast By Ferracci D ucat i .opport unity brought us. - he said . ' This is the first time that w e learn he leh nearly four .yea~ ago . Picott e .spoke with Ferracci' will eve r be able to maintain any momentum from one se as on dUring this past off-s eason. butcouldn' t come .to te rms . When .into the next. so we 're reaily looking forward to that next year: they.we re spOiled together ·on .Sunday mo rn ing . they both: This ~ea\ aetually our:s tart wasJate in comirig. sO we' weren' t laughed and 'denied it was abou t a rice for 2000 . Labrosse also . .. (259 / 1); 6. Ja50n Pridmore (238); 7. Aaron Yates (227); 8. Eric Bostrom (218 ); 9. Jamie H ackin g (210); 10. Stew Crevier (95); 11. Stev e Rapp (86); 12 Mari o Duhamel 0 .(0); 13. rrm Rich Oliver /Pascal Pic o tte (146); 15. Miguel Duhamel 0 41/1); 16. Matt Wait (26); 17. james Randolph (25); 18. Dean Mizdal (122 ); 19. Cory Can (100); 20. Jami e Bowman (92). Upcoming Round : Round 12 - Fountain, Colorado , September 19 noted that everyoff-season Pico tt e is rumored to go back to Fer' raeci. . . Muzzy Kawasaki"s Doug Chandl er confurned the rumors t hat he'd been in touch with A prilia . But Chandler added that he felt Ap rilia w asn't interes ted in fielding an AMA Superbike team next year. Chandler also said that he'd met at Mi d·Ohio with Mik e Pre· · sto n, the man Kawasaki tabbed to run the.. road race program next year. Chandler said u was still too early to know where he'd · be riding next ye a·r. but he de finitely 'wants to co nie back and · compe te for his fourth superbike title . . Aher winni ng his third 750cc Supersport title. Chaparral Suzuki"s Tom .Kipp said he wanted to get back to the Superbike class : . "A bsolut ely.. lt"s definltely what j wan t to .do ." , Kipp said. "My heart is in Superbike racing. Supersport racing is usually a part of . the' game. too . l've.had good succe ss in Sup ersport racing, but it does feel a littl e odd not being on a big bike as well. Either way : we'lI see what happens,- Kipp said he hadn't made any definitive plans -yet for next year. His teammat e was in the same boet. i'To be honest. I"in not signed for next year. but the way things have been going I've just been taking it as it comes and I haven' t really e\fen been bothered about next season just yet. ' Damon Buck, master said. - I s imply just want to get my racing back on 'track and the career back . 0. track and that"s that. Maybe things will . 0 start happening now . W e've .got a ·six·week bre ak until one final race. MaYbe It will start happening now . l'rnsu re it win. I'm happy . with the way it is ." . Muzzy Kawasaki"s Aaron Yates ' wa s rumored to have signed wit h Yosh imura Suzuki. but Yates. who 's had a disastro us year on the. Kawasakis. denied it. ' W e've got a good Idea.- the Geo,giari said with a smile. - We 're ~tiIl talking.Yamaha' s Rich Oliver said he was at about 50 perc ent strength at BIR. " In the morning when l 'rn fres h. I can ride pretty good. - he said. • As the day wears on . it kind of wears me down a bit: It" s going to take time to get the elbow wo rking again'-. As for his plans for next season. Oliver said that Yamaha had told him they'd spe ak after Brainerd . - The re's no indi cation wha t Yamaha 's doirg . l've expressed interest in coming ' back .' If not . Oliver 's aid he w ould like to jo in a tea m thai could take advantage of his Supertiike and 600cc experience. Two of top AM A SUPerbike finishers, as ~ell as Muzzy Kawasaki' S Doug Chandler. used a special tire Dunlop made for high·speed circuits . Vance & Hines Ducat;'!; Ben Bost rom and Anthony Gobert used the modified Dunlop 501 . which was built . specially for Brainerd and Road AmeRc;' . Accord ing to Dunlop·.s road race coord inator Jim Allen; the tire is specifically W it to pre. vent.overheating it) the cente r of the tire. which is some times. a problem on the long runs at those two tracks.. ' Normally when we do that there 's a reduction in side grip. but (Doug) Chandler.thought it was as good as our regular tire..-. Allen said. adding that Ben Bostrom said that he could do steady 1,36s if he had to , though his best lap time was a 1:37·.152. SecOnd·place finisher Mat M ladin and fourth-placed Eric Bostroni both used the standard tires:. the three . en en en 17

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