Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Brainerd International Raceway Kurtis Roberts (80) and Ja mie Hacking (2) were this close for the ent ire 600cc Supers port final. Roberts almos t cras hed in the last turn, giving Hacking the win - his second of the season In the class. Nicky Hayden finished third, ta king a big step toward winning the 600Cc Supersport title. AMAIProH O 600CC S onda ils upersport series Round 11: B rainerd International R aceway Down to the wire By Henny Ray Abr ams Photos by Tom Riles BRAINERD, MN,AUG. I rion Racing's Ku rtis Roberts wa nted to w in the Pro Honda Oils 600cc Sup ersport so badly th at he los t it. Leading in to the fina l comer on th e fina l lap, Robert s was a litt le too ent husiastic. Th e rear ste pped ou t, he nearly came off, and Yam aha's Jamie Ha cking was ri gh t th er e to take advanta ge a nd tak e the win, his seco nd of the yea r, this one in stunning fashion. "He was ru nning this one (turn 10) a little too ha rd .and he could 've backed off and p robably could've go t it," Hacking sa id of Rober ts, w ho'd ta ken th e lead on the final lap in turn thr ee. "But he got in there and got a little antsy. I thought he was going down. He d id a good job saving it." Rob er ts said he didn't know how close Hacking was. "Really, if yo u go in there and lead it in the re you're going to win th e th ing here," Roberts said . "I just went in just a little bit too dee p, I didn' t get it stopped qu ite as quic k as I wo ul d have w he n I flicked it in. It just moved around and lost the back and picked up off th e line and Jami e was rig ht the re." The result was that Hacking had won the ep ic ba ttle by .280 of a second wi th Rob erts seco nd a n d Nicky Hayd en a com fortable third on the se cond Erion Racing Hond a . Ha yd en co u ld a ffo rd n ot to pu sh a fter w hat h ap p e n ed to hi s broth er. Alo n g w it h a pa ck o f o th e r rid er s , Tommy Ha yd en was run off the track in turn 10 on the first lap, d ropping back to 25th place. Ha d he finis hed th ere, Nicky E '" '" '" ~ ~ :: ~ g' < 18 Hayden would've won the title. But Tommy H a y d e n turned in th e most impressive ride of the day. Knifing through th e field , Hayden was in 14th a t th e halfw ay p oin t, bu t there was more to come . He sta rted the last lap in 10th and ended it in fifth, taking rid ers everywhe re. Along th e way, he turned in the fas t lap of the race and saved his cha mpions hip hopes . Wit h on ly th e fina l rou nd at Pike 's Peak re m ai ning, N icky lead s To m my Hayd en by 14 points, 346-332. Hacking is third at 285. Nic ky has to finis h eighth o r better to cl in ch the titl e, as sumin g broth er Tommy wins and lead s the most laps. Tod ay's race was a reco rd for Hacking, the Sout h Carolinian kn ockin g near ly 22 seco nds off th e previou s best. He com pleted the 13-lap, 39-mile race in 22 m inutes , 12.061 seconds at an average speed of 105.401 mph, well u nd er th e previous mark of 103.654 m ph. Yamaha an d Erion Racing alternated th e top spots on the fron t of the g rid, with fast-qualifier Hacki ng in fron t of Nicky Ha yden, To m m y Hayden, a nd Kurtis Roberts. Hackin g go t th e jump o n the field with Roberts and Nicky Hayden following, th e n Yoshimu ra Su zuki ' s St eve Rapp and Steve Crevier. By the tim e the first lap ended the field had a differ ent look. Go in g in to turn 10, the fin a l ri ght before the finish line , Robert Jensen slid out, ta king a number of riders with him . Some cras hed, including Yamaha's Rich O liver, a nd o the rs were just forc ed to ta ke ev asive actio n - Tomm y Hayden a nd American Ho nd a' s Eric Bostrom amo ng them. "This d ude came up the inside of me and tried to ou tbra ke the w hole pack," Tommy Hayd en said . "He lost the fro nt and ran so me people off th e tra ck. He took Rich (Oliver) ou t. He was righ t in front of me. I cou ld n' t tu rn in." Hayd en wou ld finish lap tw o in 22nd w ith Er ic Bostrom 19t h . Bostrom ran in to cl u tc h p ro bl em s a n d nu rsed hi s bike home to 14th place. Rob erts took the lea d o n lap three, lost it briefly int o turn one, and took it back in tu rn two. Th a t' s how th e race would go. a o ne was go ing to ge t away, a mistake could decid e the wi nner, an d it wa s up to th es e t w o to decide. Nicky Ha yd en kn ew his brother was out an d m ad e th e sma rt cho ice no t to push. " I was ki nd of righ t th e re a t th e begi n ni ng a n d I seen m y boa rd sai d number 22, P-15 or som ething and then th e s e g uys w ere go ing a t it pretty good ," Hayd en said. "They were both wa nting to win real bad and they we re . doing a great job up fron t and I just, for me, I d id n' t think it wa s quite worth gettin g up there an d tryi ng to race th em because 1 didn' t th ink it' d be worth it. I jus t kind of played it a littl e bit conserva tiv e an d I got a little too con serva tive and my ga p closed down to fourth and I kind of upped the pa ce and go t a little gap, and just ran a borin g race all by myself most of th e w ay. All in all, I'm happy with the wa y it tu rn ed ou t. Th at' s w ha t I need ed , 1 gai ne d a few points and we'll jus t go to Colorad o now ." Hacking was in fron t o n la p five, pulling out of the draft to take the lead . Roberts used th e d raft on lap six to ta ke the lead in to tu rn one, hold ing it un til th e ei g h th lap when Hack ing was in fron t again - this time for quite a w hile. Roberts was co nten t to sit o n h im, and Hacking knew he was the re, waving at him a few times an d giving him a thu mbs-up . "I was just following him, he wa nted to lead beca use he was go ing a little fa s ter than 1 was w hen I was in the lead ," Rob erts sai d . "So I was just follo wing the w ho le race and decid ed to pass w here I kn ew I co uld in th ree . I was good on the brakes ther e all we ekend. I go t him the re, I just tried to last pretty well an d messed up, that 's it." Ha ckin g' s view was a bit different. "He wa s kind of ho ldi ng us up in a cou ple of turns on the infield , so I got by him and I motioned him just to follow us," Hacking said . "We were doing low 42s and I d ropped it down p rett y good a nd we were abl e to ge t awa y fr om those gu ys and the n it was jus t race to turn in here." Hacking sa w an opening just before th e b us-s top turn o n th e fi na l lap because he'd seen Roberts slid ing on the way in. . "W he n h e ga th ered it ba ck u p h e s nap ped to th e rig ht a nd I w as rig ht there , so I had to shu t off," Ha cki ng said. It cam e d ow n to th e final turn and Rob erts w as in too hot , h is ti res w ell used up. "Th ey ha d a lot of laps on them," he said , add ing, "At first I wasn' t su re if he was go ing to come un der m e, I was tryin g to ge t it turned back down, bu t he rode a good race. He was d efinitely fast a II weekend ." Nicky Hayden finishe d th ird, abo u t 11 seco nds back , and abo ut tw o seco nds in front of Valvoline EMGO Su zuki' s Jos h Ha yes . Ha y es h ad b e en w i th Muz z y Kawa s aki ' s A aron Yates fo r much of th e ra ce, th en Ya tes pitt ed on the 11th lap with oil on his pe g. A valve cover bol t had broken . " I wa s ru n ni ng throug h tu rn tw o, running up on Josh and my foot slipped a couple of tim es," Yat es said . "In turn three it slipped off five or six times." Fifth went to th e cha rging Tomm y Ha yden, going through riders w herever he could get them on the final lap . " I got tw o ri g ht a t th e end h e r e (be tw een turns nine and 10) then I· ran wide," Ha yd en said. " I can ' t believe the y didn 't get me." Th e rid ers he got we re Brian Parriott a n d Tom Kipp, the p air in a p ack of eight all cov ered by tw o seconds. Parri ott go t Yos h i m u ra Su z u k i' s Crevier and Pridmor e on th e 11th lap, checking up beh in d Kip p. He followed Kip p o n lap 12 a n d w ent und er h im be fore th e bus s to p, hol d in g th e sp o t across the line. Kip p came ba ck throu gh an d he followed him for a w hile befo re taking th e spot aga in. A lapped rider at the apex of turn nine balked him slightly , a n d that' s when Parrio tt tho u g h t Tommy Hayden go t him. On th e ru n fro m turn nine to 10 he wea ved to mak e sure Kipp cou ld n' t ge t him , and secured h is best finis h of the yea r. Kipp objected to the weaving, bu t Parriott, w hose Honda F-4 is backed by Em il Pesa ri, with a n engine by A ndy Milton of Su persport Engi ne Devel opm en t, sai d it was "no m ore tha n th ey wo u ld do." Kipp was less than a 10th behind in seven th, h is best of th e yea r , wi th a strea m of rid ers in his wake . He said that cha nges th e team mad e to stiffen up th e suspension paid off. "I focused on using the d raft as much as I could, " Kipp said. It would n' t help on the final lap. When Pa rriott wea ved o n the run between .n in e and 10, it "ju s t to tall y hosed m e," Kipp said . "I had to ge t out of th e th rottle tw o tim es to keep fro m getting my front end chopped." Eighth, in his best finish of th e year, was Sean Kowalski on an Erio n Racing Honda. Th en came Pr idm o r e, C ha parra l Su zuki' s Damon Buc kmas ter, Crevier and Rapp. _

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