Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Roberts had com e into Brainerd with a 41-p oint lead and hopes of clin ching his fir st AMA championship. H e w as fast in the first practice. session on Friday, then his engine let go three laps into qualifying and he was forced to ride a backup.engirie. He'd use the same moto r in the ra ce a nd soon found it wasn't up to snuff. "It just wouldn't run," Roberts said. "I cou ldn't even stay in the draft." The result was that his lead was narrowed to 30 points, 273-243, over Hayd e n, with the fina I race to be run at Pike's Peak on September 18. The title goes to Robe rts if Ha yd en wins, and leads the most laps , and Roberts finis hes 23rd or better. Given the spa rse ness of th e fie lds - th ere we re 18 star te rs in Brain erd - he may have the title by the time sign-up ends . The race began with five rid ers running at the fron t, with Ha yden leading for three lap s, then Hayes, then Ha yden again. . By then the race had broken up with Hayden , Ha yes, and Harrell ou t front, then Roberts and Graves, the rest of the 18-rider field trailin g . It was Honda vs . Yam aha vs. Suzuki, and Ha yes, on the 840 Suzuki, the sma llest of the trio, was happy to keep u p on the one-mil e Brainerd strai gh t. "I knew it was going to be a long race, I knew th at th ese guys were n't go ing anyw here," said Ha yes, who led la ps seven through nin e. "Pa ul and Nicky are both rid ing really grea t and I never rea lly though t I mad e a break. I was really surprised when my little 840 mad e it down the whole front s traightaway without getting passed once or twice." Hayes an d Harrell we re bo th getting through the fast tu rns one and two better than Hayden, an d he knew it. 'Through the infield we had m y bike set up rea ll y good and I could try to sq uare up the comers and ge t a run on th em , but throu gh one and tw o th ese guys ma d e m e look like a gi rl down there," Ha yd en said. "I do n' t kn ow how mu ch tim e th ey w ere ma ki ng o n m e d own there, but I thou ght I was on the ed ge and these guys wo u ld go right by m e . I felt li ke if I'd we n t an y fas te r th rou gh there I was go ing to crash and here these guys we re just pulling away from me." Hayd en was in front for lap 10, then Harrell for two, w ith few among the m fo r th e fina l la p . Eac h had a la st la p strategy , bu t only Ha yden's worked out. "I was going to block hi m there and I thou ght, he's going to get me on the last comer and I wanted to get a good drive out of that bus stop," Harrell sa id . "When I come up to that comer, I saw this red, and I go, 'Son of a bitch , the re he is: right where he totally got me . I thought I had a plan, but he had a good run on me." "I knew it'd co me d own to th e las t lap and the last turn, and these guys rode awesome: ' Haves said . " The last lap , I didn't know where I wa s go ing to be. We were having a little bit of problems. We spun some teeth off the rea r sprocket and it wa s hu rting us a little bit coming off the first gear turns over here , and it didn' t hinder us enough to knock us ou t of the race and we' re still in conte ntion, but it hu rt a little b it . I can't blam e that for the race. These guys rode grea t. Nic ky, you know, he may be the new 17-yea r-o ld kid around tow n, bu t he's been racin g since he can probably rem ember. He ' s got a brother to race with every wee kend and I think he outraced both of us tod ay. He mad e passes in a differe nt spot every lap . He' d make things happen that shouldn' t ha ve happened - d amn it." Eric Wood won the Pro Thunder class in dominating fashion. It was Wood's third race win of the series. Shawn Conrad, however, earned the Pro Thunder Championship with his second-place finish at Brainerd. Graves got the better of Roberts on lap ni ne and Roberts didn't h ave a n answe r. "We put in a d iffer ent motor -and I cou ld n' t stay in the draft with-an ybody, the Suzukis or Yarnahas," Rob erts sai d of the motor tha t was built in the team tran sporter overnight. "I had to rid e my ass off to do 395." Ano ther 10 seconds behind that pair was a n o the r du o , Va lvoli ne EMGO Suzu ki's Grant Lopez a bik elength in fro n t o f Dutchman Racing ' s Mich a el Barn es, the team's best finis h of the year. Z lock Racing' s Mik e Su ll iv a n was eig hth, abo ut 25 seconds fu rthe r pack, w it h Wo od y ' s Serv ice ' s And r e w Deat herage not far back in nin th. CIII Brainerd International Raceway . Brainerd, Minnesota Results : August 1, 1999 (Round 9 of 10) FO RMULA XTR EM E nNAL: 1. Nicky Ha yd en (Hon) ; 2. Paul Ha rrell (Yam); 3. Joshua Ha yes (Suz); 4. Ch uck Craves (Yam); 5. Kurti s Roberts (Han); 6. G ra nt Lopez (Suz); 7. Michael Barnes (Yam); ~t Mike Sulliva n (Ka w); 9. Andrew Dea therage (Suz ); 10. Cli nt Brotz {Yam}; 11. Paul Ducat o (Yam); 12. Jeffre y Purk (Hu n); 13. Jam es Dickenson (Suz); 14. Marc Underberg (Yam); 15. Eric Erling Hauge (Suz); 16. Rad G reaves (Suz) ; 17. Mark MiIJ~ (Yam); 18. Greg Fryer (Yam) . Ti me : 21 min. , 40.404 !Ot"C. Distan ces 13 L 1PS, 3q miles Avera ge sp eed . 107.967 mph Ma rgin of victory: 0.220 sec. FORMULA XTREME C' SH IP POINT ST ANDlN G S (After 9 of 10 rounds): 1. Kurtis Roberts (273/3 win s); 2. Nicky Hayden (243/ 6); 3. Joshua Ha yes (220; 4. Mark Miller (212); 5. Grant Lopez (204); 6. Steve Gnu (162); 7. Rad Greaves (54); 8. Tak ahito Mori (140); 9. Cli nt Bratz (29); 10. Paul Harrell ( 20); 11. Mik e Sullivan (112); 12. Chuck Graves ( 07); 13. Michael Barn es (%); 14. rrte Cory C.1 11 /Ch ri~ Voelker (SO); 16. Devin Battley 165 ); 17. (T IE) Ie ff Ha ga n /Johnny Roc k Pa ge / A I Salav errta / Iorda n Szoke (64). Upcoming Round: Round 10- Fountain, Colorado, September 19 AMAJProgressiveInsurance P Thunder Series ro Round10: B rainerdInternational Raceway Wood disappears By Henny Ray Abrams Phot o by To m Riles BRAINERD, MN, AUG. I t took a while to get the Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder race started at Brai nerd Inte rn at io n al Raceway . There was oil all ove r the track from a blow n engi ne that mad e its way back to the starting area , which had to be thoroughly scrubbed. By the time the cleanup was finis hed, so mu ch time had bee n co ns u me d th at th e race had to be cu t from 13 laps to 10 to gua ran tee that the Su perbike National. which ca me af ter Pro Thu nder, wo uld be ready for its live television slot. I When the track was finally clean, and eve ry one was on a bik e - th ough n ot necessarily thei r own - Pen guin Racing School's Eric Wood cleaned up himself. TheDucati-mounted New Englander go t the jump on th e 20-rid er field and was gone from the sta rt, racing agains t himself and the clock . He completed the t O-la p, 30-mile ra ce in 17 minutes , 45.746 seconds, at an average speed of 100.413 mph, wi nni ng by 9.821 seconds. "I wa nted to see how fas t the rest of th e pack w as go ing, we put ou r head d own a nd wen t for a co up le of laps: ' 'the Pen guin Ra cin g Sch ool ins tructo r sai d . 'The lap times we re actually a little bit s low because of all the oil that go t dropped on th e track. And we had all the fresh Oildri ther e, so we had to especially a lter ou r line coming on to the front stra ightaway, which meant losing two or three hu ndred rpm at the end of the straightaway, wh ich was qu ite a few mile per hour. I was jus t watching my pit board and we were gaini ng abou t two seconds a lap early in the race, and in four laps w e stre tched it to abo u t a p lus-8 and I jus t s hu t off and sai d, all right, we'll kee p it here. If anybody gets closer w e' ll put ou r hea d ba ck d o wn and jus t kind of took it hom e to the wi n. I actua lly like racing wi th someone a little bit better, but we'll take an easy one too." It was his third win in four tries, with only a hiccu p at h is h om e t rac k in Loudon to su lly a perfect reco rd. Even so , h e joi ned the se r ies late after a n injury in the opening round at Daytona, and had no chance to wi n the title . That honor went to HMC Raci ng' s Shawn Conrad, who eme rged on top of a race-long spa t with Motorcycle Online's David Estok to take his first AMA professional title. Consistency was th e kev for the Ducati rider, his seven runner-up finishes, and podiums in all but one race , giving him an insurmounta b le 52-point lead over T illey' s HD/Buell 's Shawn Higbee, eig hth today on David Estok's back-up bike. Conrad never won a race, but he didn' t have to, and no w has the luxury of going for it in the final race of the year. "I know I can win in the class , and if I happen to win at Co lorado, all the better : ' Conrad said. "Bu t if not, I' m not really that wo rried abou t it. It doesn't really bother me. I scored the m ost points. It' s a team sport, peopl e don 't rea lize that. My tea m d id grea t and I'm jus t rea l pumped for them." It was a rough roa d to victory lan e for Conrad . Burn ing a clu tch in his hea t race mea nt he had to start from the bac k of the grid . On Friday a water leak had dumped wa ter on his rear tire an d highsided him. He blew up two engines and the one in his "A" bike was overhea ting. He d idn't d o mor e than four co nsecu- tive laps all weekend, which mea nt his setup was off. So w hen the race came, he was pushi ng the front and found that he'd chosen the wrong front tire . From the back row, Conrad quickly made his wa y forward, catching Estok on lap three and pa ssing hi m a lap later . "I turned around and I wa sn' t losing • him a t all and I was gett ing some big slid es throu gh turn on e and he ended up passing me at the exit of turn two on lap eight," Conrad sa id. 'Then I started getting something on m y windscreen, so I backed off a little bit and he must have made a few mistak es and whatnot and I pulled back up on him and, I go, 1 ma y as well give it a try' - I was racing for the cham pionshi p. He ki nd of came to th e inside of turn 10, not much, just a little bit. I figured, 'well, if it's a good clean, safe p ass fo r me on th e o u tsi de, I' m goi ng to d o it.' It wo rked out go od , it w as clean and I think he mig h t ha ve overbraked thinking I was on the inside. And I just took the second place." Es to k too k third , .161 of a secon d behind. Then ther e was a ga p of abo ut seven seconds to Ad vanced Mo torspo rts' John Nash, who was we ll alone in front of a stru ng-out gro u p of five led by Proje ct Mon za's Bill St. John. St. John was one of the rid ers w hose machi ne needed so me hasty adjustments on the starting li ne . Sha w n Hi g b e e , who fi n is he d eig ht h, behind Dunbar Eu ro-S po r ts Michael Gage), was another. . Higbee's Tilley's H-D /Buell ligh tning 1200 blew up on the warm-up lap . Wit hout a spare, he bo rrowed Estok's Motorcycle Onli ne back-up bi ke, his crew hastily taping over Estok' s number "2" with Higbee's "3." Eighth was the best he could do, and it wasn 't enoug h to keep Conrad from ....'inning the title. CIII Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd , Minnesota Res ults : August 1, 1999 (Round 10 of 11) PRO THUNDER: I. Eric Wood (Dud; 2. Shawn Co nrad (Due); 3. David Esto k (Bue ): 4. je ffrey Nash (Duel; 5. Bill St. John (Dud; 6. Mich ael Ca ge (Tri ): 7. Shawn Higbee (Bud; 8. Tom Hun (D uel ; 9. Th omas Fournier (D ue) : 10. [ef frey Jo hnson (BUl' ); 11. Ma r k Mlinar (Dud; 12. Do uglas Mel.cod (Due) ; 13. Ke vin Bu rges s (D uc) ; 14. Da v id H u ll (Du el ; 15. Rob ert Go nza les (Due) ; 16. Cory Ca ll (Bue); 17. Cedi Myers (Due) : 18. Ric hie Morris ( D ud; 19 . Sean Nin ne ma n (Due) ; 20. Billy Gr aef (Due). Time: Ii min .• 45.746 sec. Dista nce: 10 la ps . 30 m iles Average s peed: 100.413 mph Ma rgin of victory: 9.821 sec. AMA PRO THUNDER CSHI P POI NT ST ANDINGS (Afte r 10 o f 11 rou nd s) : 1. Sha w n Co nra d (308 ); 2. Sha wn Hig bee (254 / 3 wins); 3. Co ry Ca ll (231 /1); 4. Tom Hull (2 18); 5. Bill St. John (212); 6. Jeff rey Na sh (207); 7. Billy Gr a ef (87); 8. James Lickwa r (65); 9. Rich ie Morris (151); to. Michael Ga ge (145); 11. Robert GOl17 >s (132); 12. Ch rist opher Boy 0 17>; 13. Eric wood ..ah.. (116 / 3); 14. Gavin Slabber! (115); 15. Thomas Mon tan o (114/ 1); 16. David Estok (1]0); 17. Th omas Fournier (l OS 18. Mark Cummi ngs (76); 19. Chad Healy (72); 20. ); Chri s L.1Cru~ (59); Upcoming Round: Round 11 - Fountain. Colorado. September 19 en en en ~ ~ ~ U; :::> Ol :::>

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