Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race AMA/Pro Honda O 600cc Supersport Series ils Round 12: P Peak International Raceway ikes Yates wins, Hayden (Nicky) crowned By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams FOUNTAIN,CO, SEPT. 19 Wo yea rs ago, a punk kid by the nam e of N icky Hayd en showed up a t.Pikes Peak In ternation al Raceway and took part in his first AMA p r ofe ss ion a l ro ad r a ce . Rid ing a Kawasaki ZX6, the 16-yea r-old Hayd en finished 13th . Who wou ld have guessed th a t two years la ter tha t sa me jcky Ha vd en wo uld leave Pikes Pe ak with th e AMA 600cc Su pers port Cha rnp i. onship? Hayd en did jus t that. Needing only to finish eighth if h is o lder broth er To mmy won the race, Hayd en finished fif th - clinching the first p ro fessi ona l cha m pio ns h ip o f hi s career. It li kel y won 't be his last. 'The race actua lly seemed like it took a lon g time," Hayd en said . "Right at the beginning, the first few laps flew by and I thou gh t we we re abo u t ready to see the halfway flags. I looked up and there were still 22 to go. From th ere, I just kinda go t ou t in the middle by myself a way fr om eve ry bo dy . I ju st k in da cruised around . That was it." Th e r a ce w i n we n t to Mu z z y Kawasa ki's Aaron Yates, the Georgian saving his best for last to give Kaw asaki its on e and only 600cc Supersp ort win of the yea r. It was also his final d ay as a factory Kawasaki rider as he's alr eady sig ned a contract to rid e for Suzu ki in 2000 and 2001. "I've been .thinking abo u t thi s for a cou ple of weeks now," Yates said . This wa s th e last race for Kawasaki, an d I T en en en en N :;; .c E Cll E. Cll en 12 (Above) The 600cc Supersport f ina l feat ured a classic th ree-rider battle to the fi ni sh with Aaron Yates (20) eventually gett ing the better of Kurtis Roberts (80) and Tommy Hayden (22). (Right) The spot that mattered was Nicky Hayden 's fifth-place .effort - it gave him the 600cc Supersport Champ ionship. ha dn ' t wo n anything all yea r. I really wa n ted to wi n so me thi ng . I deci ded I was goi ng to win or tear up everythi ng in th e tru ck tr yin g. I reall y wan ted to p ut a 'w i n w i th Kawa sa ki in m y resum e." Yates ended up gell ing the best of a sci n tilla ting three-rid er battl e fo r th e win as he was able to lead the laps that m eant th e m os t - th e fin al ones. Th e ea rly lap s w ere Jed by Yam ah a ' s Tom my Hayd en, the on ly rid er wit h a cha nce to topple his bro the r fro m a top the cha mpionshi p. Hayd en started fast, led early, th en gave wa y to Er ion Hon d a's Kurtis Rob erts. Th e yo ungest of the Rober ts brothers led the middle portion of the race before giving way to Yates as the pair battled side by side for several comers . Then in the closing laps, Tom my Hayden was abl e to wo rk his way aro und Robert s whe n the latt er was balk ed in tra ffic, earning second place in the process. Hayden's performance was impressive, especially cons idering that he had his broken left wrist pinned just 10 days ago . Fourth pla ce went to a lon ely Ste ve Crev ier on the Yoshimura Suzuki - making it fou r d ifferent bra nds in th e top four. Crevier was alon e for most of the race after his teammate Jason Pridmor e cras hed ou t of their battl e for fourth on the 18th lap . Th en came Nicky Ha yden, the new AMA 600cc Superspo rt Champio n. Hay- den rod e conserva tively all da y, wa nting to spend the day by himself rather than in a pack - th us increa sing h is chances of finishing where he needed to. Behind Ha yden came American Ho nda's Eric Bostrom af ter he got th e better of Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Rapp in a race-long battle. Then came .Cha parra l Su zuki's Tom Kipp and his tea m m at e Damon Buckma ster, with Yamaha's Rich Oliv er rounding out the top 10 finishers. The tw o Hayd en brothers rul ed the top o f the ch am pions hi p, with Nicky beating Tommy by eig ht points, 372-364. Rob erts end ed up th ird in th e se ries stand ings with 300 points. Yam aha 's Jami e Hackin g grabbed the lead off the front row , only to be passed by his teammate Tommy Ha yden on the en trance to the left-ha nd hai rpin that makes u p tu rn th ree. They complet ed the first lap with Tommy Hayden leadin g H acking, Rob erts, Cre vier, Yates, Bostrom, Nicky Hayd e n, Kipp, Pridmore and Buckm aster. Hackin g's problem s s tarted almost im media te ly a s h is Ya m a ha s lo wed, then go t go ing aga in, only to finall y call it quits on the ninth lap. Wh en thin gs sorted them selves ou t, it was Tommy Ha y d en , Rob erts and Yates ou t fron t and pulling away. The w in woul d go to o ne ' of th ose th ree. Which one, however, was in doubt until the very end. Initiall y, Hayd en had the ed ge . Bu t on the nin th lap, Robe rts sq ueezed by on the en tra nce to the hairpin and managed to make it stick. "The race started out pretty good," To m my Hayd en said. "I led th ere for w ha t seemed li ke foreve r, but it was' only five or six laps. I wasn't real comfortable lead in g, and I kn ew I wa sn ' t ge tting away, so I was kinda happy to follow Kurtis arou nd . I thou ght ma ybe me and him cou ld ge t away, but Aa ron (Yates) was rid in g reall y good a nd he wasn ' t go ing to let that happen." Roberts then led until the 20th lap. It w a s th en that he ca me under atta ck from Yates , w ho had done a wa y with Hayd en a few laps ea rlier. In on e lap , the lead duo changed spo ts repea tedly, with Yates ultimately coming out on top of a fairin g ban ger with Robert s. "The ra ce w as a lot lo n ge r than I wa nted it to be," Roberts said. "I led for quite a while in the midd le of the race, but th e laps weren ' t go ing d own fast eno ug h. I kept loo king ove r, and Aaron (Yates) was right beh ind me . Th en he go t u nd erneath me - and me a nd him started ban gin g out there for half a lap . It was quite fu n, but I messed up on the next lap and gave him a sizeable ga p. That w as all h e needed a n d h e ju st kinda rod e away. I tried to keep Tommy behin d me, bu t I messed up again in the sa me corner wit h a few lappers and he w ent und erneath us all. I could n' t ge t him back, but I was trying." An d th at w as it. Despi te their best efforts, Yates was able to gap the other tw o - making the more aggressi ve passes in traf fic to d o so. And then, just a few laps from th e fini sh, Ha yd en w as abl e to ge t und e r Robert s w he n the Honda rid er go t stuc k in so me lapped traffic in the final comer. That was all it took and the top three we re set. "I knew if we were going to be in the fro nt , I had to ge t on up there," Yates said. "I' ve been goi ng pretty good all weekend. The bike's not really wanting to pu ll out of the turns as good so me of th e o ther bikes, but I had a couple of pla ces dial ed in reall y good ou t there. The traffic kinda help ed out a little bit in a couple of spots . I didn 't want to be leading early on like this guy (Hayd en),

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