Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128104
AMAIChevy Trucks U.S . Sup erbik e Series Mississippian was eighth on the first la p of the restart b ut he p lugg e d awa y, ultimately com ing out th e best o f a s crap w ith Ya m aha ' s Tomm y Hayden , who held on to finish fifth. S ix th place went t o Va lvoline EMGO Suzuk i's John Hopkins in his first race si nce break ing his collarbone a t Daytona . Hopk ins held off Ar cl ig h t Rac ing 's Brian Parriott , Va lvo lin e EMG O Suz uki' s G ra n t Lop e z and C an a d ian Kaw asa k i's Owen Weic hel , with those thr ee filling the top -10 positions. Am ong the no tables who failed to finish was defending AMA 600cc S upe rs po rt Champion Kurtis Roberts. The Erion Racing rider had a da y to forget at Sears Point. On the warm -up lap , Roberts ' CBR600F4i broke an exhaust pipe and the problem forced him to go to his back -up bike. In the first part of the race , Roberts strug gled with what he called an und er powe red m o to rc ycl e . After the red flag , the crew was a ble to make some chang es to the bike th a t see m ed to he lp him , but then he cr ashed out on th e fourth lap while lying fourth . Yoshimura Suzuk i's Jam ie Hack ing a lso crashed , wit h h is inci d e nt com ing on just the fo urth la p of the first port ion of the race. Roberts a nd Hac king no w find th emselves in serious troubl e in th e c h a m pi o n s hi p points standings as they currently la y 11th and 12th o verall . Attac k Suzuki 's Jason Pr idmore and Gr a ve s Motorsports ' Damon Buc km aste r a lso failed to finish , with Pr id m ore 's Suzu ki blowing up and Buc km aste r's Yamah a suffering with an e lectrica l probl em. Gob ert's vic to ry at S ears Po int Ya m a ha 's first win in th e class her e sinc e Jami e James wo n in 19 9 4 pu ts him in a ti e at the top of the ch a m pion s hip points standings with DuHa m el. Both have 66 points after two of 11 rounds. Bostrom is third with 58 points, eight clear of To mm y Hayde n and 10 ahead of Hayes. Yates led the way into turn one at th e start of the race , followed by Bo s t ro m and Gobert , but the Aus tralian wasn 't wasting any time and he qu ic kly disposed of Bostrom in turn 11. A la p later and he was in the lead after Yates ran wide in tum seven. But it was all for nothing as the race was stopped shortly thereafter. "I was a little bit disappointed th a t they restarted it ," Gobert sa id . "I'd pa ssed the gu ys and I knew I'd shown Aa ro n [Yates] where he was slower. I knew he 'd see my lines where I was qu ic ke r. I knew on the restart he'd be tough to pass beca use he 'd be doing my lines ." S u r e e no ug h , t hat's t h e way it went. Yates got qu icker a nd th e pace got qu ic ker once the race was resta rted . But then it e nded with th e Georgian crashing in turn 10. "He started doing that [us ing Gob ert's lines] and the pace picked up," Gobert said. "It was a bit of a race . It's kind of easy to go up th e insid e on these hairpin sto ries . He so rt of stuffed me one time and was going really close to me as we ll. I d idn 't want to risk crash ing . I figure with the AMA points, you have to just finish and finish . I did all I had to do and we g o t to th e point whe re I knew we couldn 't push th e tires m uch ha rder. Two corners after I thou g h t th at , Aaron went sliding off. Th at kind of handed the race to me ." The only thing that remained to be seen was who would finis h second Bostrom or DuHamel? Th e nod went to Bostrom. "We struggled w ith s etup and never really felt like we hit the th ing ," Bostrom said. "I was really su rprised that we qualified as we ll as we d id. It seemed like we were about tapped out, but ou r lap times starte d coming. I was d isappointed beca use I think we co uld hav e be en up th e re for the win. I ha ve fun on th is track because it's kind of a moto track. I sh ifted m y bike the wrong way once a nd almost went over the hand lebars j u s t because I was thinking , 'O h, it' s a d irt b ike ,' and th e shifting p att e rn is back wa rds ." Bostrom had a good view of th e Yates crash. "It looked like he just tipped it into 10 too hard and the front e nd went off," he said. "I got by a nd I thought the bike wou ld try to co m e ba ck out onto the trac k. Fortunate ly , I do n' t think it did ." DuHamel tried in v a in to pa s s Bostrom on th e final la p , but he wa s happy nonetheless. "I go t a bad start," DuHamel said. " I go t a good la u n c h o ff , but I couldn 't shift. I think it was because I was spinning too much. Both times I got sh uffled back. The first time I got through the pack good, and I liked the first race better because four of us were s itting there and everybody was together. I was really feel ing good and the bike was work ing good . In the second race I got a bad start aga in, even wo rse , and then Tommy (Hay den} was more aggressive and Kurtis [Roberts} was more aggressive. It was e ven harder to pass . Fortunately , when Kurtis fell, the bike went over the to p and Tommy slowed down to see wha t was coming . I jus t fig ur ed th is wa s my opportunity so I pa ssed him a nd Kurtis twice, once him , a nd on ce th e bike. That wa s a good break for me . Afte r t ha t I had to m a ke the gap up on Eri c [Bo strom] . I was really ha ppy. It ' s a to ug h and ph ysical tra ck a nd I was rid ing p ret ty safe. I was excite d to catc h up to Eric a nd Anth ony [Gobert) wa s n ' t g e t t ing away. My lap times were gr eat and I 12 n MAV16.2001 ยท cue . e eVIl's feel great. I wish the race went longer." As for the last -gasp attempt in tum 11, DuHamel sa id: "My bike is geared a little bit too tall there . When I'm by myself, I can carry the corner speed okay, but when somebody's in front of you .. . I remembered when I used to motocross and fanned the clutch - don 't fan the clutch. It's not a good idea." eN Surs P.iat Raceway So Dina, Californ ia Results: May &, 2 01 AMA 600cc 5OPERSPORT FINAL: I. Anthony Gobert ( Yam ) ; 2 . Eric Bo strom ( Kew ); 3 . M iguel DuHam el (Hon ); 4 . Josh Haye s (Hon) ; 5. Tommy Hayd en ( YlI m ) ; 6 . Joh n Ho pk in s ( SUI) ; 7 . Jak e Zemk e (Hon) ; 8. Brian Parriott (Suz): 9. Grant lopez ( Suz) ; JO. Ow en We ichel ( Kaw); 11. Rog er Lee Hayden ( Hon) : 12 . L ee Acree (Su z); 13. J i m m y Moo re (Suz.); 14 . Vincent Heskcv ec (Suz); 15. Stuart Stratton (Ya m) ; 16 . St eve Petterson (S UI); 17. David O rt ega ( SUI); 18 . J eremy To y e (Yam) ; 19. Aa ron Gobe n (Yo m) : 20 . O wen Rich ey ( Yom ): 21. Gory Hatfield (Yam) ; 22. .Jeffrey Tig ert (Hon); 23. Kevin c art er (Yam) ; 24 . Kurt Marm o r ( Hon ); 25 . Blake Eric Bostrom (3 21 finish ed s ec o nd to Gobert after holding off the repeated attacks of Miguel DuHamel (171. Law son (Hon ) ; 26 . J eremi ah J ohn son (Yam) ; 27 . Dove Norgord (Yom) : 28. Davld Rodg ers (Yom): 29 . Ma,rk Simon (SUl): 30 . Er ic Han co c k (Ve rn) ; 3 1. J ustin McReyn old s (Yam) ; 32 . Dan Benn ett (SUl) ; 33. Jo seph Gill (Yom) : 34 . Ju stin Blake (Hon) : 35 . Lance William s (Ya m) ; 36 . Aa ron Yates (SUI) ; 37 . J ason Pridmore (Suzuki) ; 38. Geoffrey Pestee (Yam ); 39. Demon Buckma ster (Yam) ; 40 . Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 41. Robert Bussey (Suz): 42 . Tyle r Wodsworth ( Yam); 43. Jemte Hacking (Suz ) ; 44 . Jonethen Evens (Sul) . lime: ole due to red flag Distance: 15 laps, 37.8 miles. Average speed : nla due to red neg l'Io,g01 of Victory: 2.949 sec. AMA 600 cc SlIPERSPORT C 'SHIP PO I NT STANDINGS (Afte, 2 of 11 round . ): 1. (1IE) Miguel D u Hamel /Anthon y Gobert ( 6 6 /1 w in ) ; 3 . Eric Bostrom ( 58): 4 . Tommy Ho yden (5 0 ) : 5. Josh Hoyes (48 ): 6 . Joke Zemke (46 ): 7. Lee Acree (39 ): 8. Gront Lopez (36) : 9 . J im my Moo , e (35): 10 . Nicky Hoy den (3 2): 11. Kunis Roberts (2 8): 12 . (TI E) Ja,m ie Hack ing/ J ohn Hop kins (25); 14. Aaron Yates (24): 15. Brion Porriott (23). Upcoming Rounds Round 3 - Braselton, Georgia, May 20 Round 4 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 10 AMAIGenuine Suzuk i Accessories 750cc Supersport S eries Round :2 : Sears Point Raceway STOR Y A N D PH O T O By HEN N Y R A Y A B RA M S SONOMA, CA, MAY 5 ria n Parriott could afford to laugh. The resident of nearby Calistoga had been on the pod ium at Sears Po int Raceway once before, bu t knew he d idn't deserve to be there . The Honda CBR600 he rode to th ird place was a litt le hinky and he knew it. Instead of being taken down , he disqualified himself. This time it was different. "It's the first podium that's going to stick ," the Arcl ight Rac ing Suzuki rider sa id with a la ugh after winning his first AMA profess ional race , the Genuine Suzuk i Accessories 750cc Supe rsport final, and it was a no doubt win from the start - from the end of qu alifying e ve n. Parriott g rew up as a r a c er at Sea rs Point. He bega n his ca reer racing in AFM club events at th e Sonoma circuit in 1990, a nd even when he moved to th e profession a l ranks , he still com pe ted near his home. So it came as no surprise that he set the B fa s t qua lif y ing mar k , a lap of 1:36 .7 09 , which established the new record for the track which was reconfigured before last year's rainedou t eve nt. The next-fastest rider was Jimmy Moore of the Corona Extra EBSCO Med ia team, more th an seven-t enths of a second slower. Fro m the start of the race, Pa rriott was in charge. Within a few laps he had a secon d in hand, adding incrementally , until , halfway into the 16 lap , 37. 12-m ile race, he had nearly thr ee. That was enough, and Pa rriott was content not to expand it, winning the ra ce by 2 .949 seconds. He averaged 91.919 mph. "I did what I wanted to do ; got out front early, and kept my head down ," Parriott said. "I th ink the only thing that moved m e away from these guys was tra ck knowledge being a ble to hit th e same m a rk, the same point, th e sa me turn e ve ry sing le tim e. I didn' t e ven have to use the bra kes for the first half of th e race ." Behind Parriott ca me Moore , second for the duration , but with little comfort for the first half of the race