Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

with DOT tires so it really was n't a big dea l to us. " The fight for second through fourth was clo se a nd compelling a nd c hanged in the fina l la ps and afterwa rd. O n the 18 t h lap Riv e rsi d e Moto rsp or t s ' Matthe w Silva took the s pot from Team Hop py Racing 's Pa ul Hopkins , who'd slid com ing onto the front stra ight. The race was stopped a lap later an d Silva had the spot , the best AMA Pro finish for the Mystic, Connecticut, rider. "I ha d a couple slipper y first couple la p s , " S ilva s aid . "My lap ti me s , I dro pped a second a lap. I started to feel really good I ha d a good line and I got by the guys a nd if we go the full dista nce I'll see Sc ottie, ma ybe I wo n't. The race tu rne d out like I wanted it to ." S ilva had m o ved Paul Ho p kin s to third. Hopki ns ' tires were fadi ng in the late stages and he sa id he s lipped in tu rn II , al mo st falling off his Yam aha R-6 . Th a t was S ilva's opening a nd Hopkins was relegated to thir d , tho ug h at the en d of the race, he d idn't know it. Th e top three shown to victory lan e were those listed atop the order at the e n d of th e 19th la p , w ith Pa rk wa y Cycles' J ohn Sa lemi then in third . But whe n scoring rev erted to th e 18th, it was Hopk ins who was third . Salemi had been troubled by visio n problems. His visor fogged up a nd he di d n 't ha ve th e ve nts o n hi s he lm et open . He was ha pp y to be pas se d by S ilva on the 11th la p. "Whe n he passed me it was actua lly good for me bec a us e I needed so me one to follow a round ," S a le m i s a id. "I a lmo st hit a co uple of curbs." In th e e nd, Bost ro m sum med it up best. "Everyo ne lost," Bostrom said. "I'm a s dis appo inte d a s a ny body, bu t th e crowd lost , the organization lost. It wa s bad . The wa y th ings we nt down was bad for everyone a nd to expand on tha t ther e is a certain a mount of time that your tires need to take to wa rm up and we were pushing on the time there . Anyway, the fact is that, if we run a dry race , it's s upp osed to be dry. If it's a wet race, a nd at an y other racetrack it wou ld hav e been a wet race and we wouldn't hav e had a problem with because they would have sta rted a wet ra ce a nd th en we would have to just go out there a nd deal eN with the con ditions." Unknown racer Scott Greenwood won the 600cc Supersport race at New Hampshire International Spee dway after the factory and facto ry supporte d stars e lected to boycott the ra ce. B Y H EN N Y R A Y A BR A MS PH O T O S BY B RIA N J . N E LSO N LOUDON, NH, JUNE 17 n a remarkable displ a y of s olida rity, the Japanese fa ctory teams , their satellites squads , and most of the AMA regula rs, boycotted the Pro Honda Oils 600cc S upersport race because of the conditions a t New Hampshire Intern a tional Speedway, while the race organiz ers a nd the AMA o penly b ic ke red ne ar by on the pit lan e . After ins pecting the tra ck on Thurs da y, a long with a number of riders, the AMA mad e the decision tha t no races would be run on a wet track . The edict wa sn 't te sted unt il S und a y when th e remnants of Hurrica ne Allison hov ered with s iniste r intent over Loudon late in the morning . De spite the tra c k's be st efforts to prepare th e trac k, th e riders wer en 't convinced it wa s s afe for two rea son s . The first wa s that they sa id the AMA didn 't give the m e no ugh time to he at their race rubber on tire -warmers. "It was a sa fety iss ue ," Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom , the cha m p ionship leader and fast qua lifier, s aid . Bostrom had the most to los e a nd wan ted to race. With Ya ma ha 's An th o n y Go be rt si del ined wit h a br o ken wr ist , Bo s tr om c o ul d have conside rably added to his cha mpio ns h ip p o int lead . As it wa s , h e ga ined o n ly on e po int for be ing fa st qua lifier and wal ked a wa y with a seven point lead. "What we needed from the time it was time to go out , it was about 25 mi nut es , a nd everyone kn ows that on a cold day like this it ta kes about 45 minutes to he at up th e tires , the n we needed about an additional four to five minutes to look at the tra ck ." Track t ime was the second iss ue . The riders wanted to be able to test the trac k at something a pproac h ing rac ing speed, rather than at parade pa ce . "T o d o a war m -u p lap is not a chance to look at the trac k," Bostrom sa id. "We're nev er e ven going into tum on e at any rate of speed . You're starting from a standstill a nd go ing into tum o ne d o in g 30 , whereas o n lap two you 're goin g in there do ing 100. It's no t a fa ir case for us to go out there and ha ve a c ha nce to run for a Na tional Ch ampionsh ip whe n there's s o m any va riabl es going on , beca use we could hav e all wen t into the first turn, 30 of us cou ld ha ve crashed together. Th er e 's I too mu ch unknown, so we would have liked to go look at the track ." Th e AMA's position was that they 'd given the riders the cha nce to go out on the pa rade la p and they'd refused . "The riders had a n o p po rt un ity to ta ke a parade lap ," AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said. "Why didn 't they go out on the parade la p and do a la p to get co mforta ble? But they d idn't take a look. " Atta ck Suzuki's Tom Kipp did ta ke the warm- up lap. but pitted afterwa rd . When the ra ce , origina lly sc hed uled for I I a. rn ., wa s gr een -lighted under thick , da rk clo uds a nd a ligh t drizzle at 5: 17 p.m ., there we re 12 riders on the g rid, mo stly Loudon re gul ars , one of who m would be a he ro. New England Performance' s S cott Greenwood filled the role. The Dunbarton , New Hamps hire , rid er s p lit from the lim ited fie ld a nd c ruised to his first ever AMA Pro win . The race was re dflagged by rain on the 19th of 24 la ps, Greenwood in the lea d and declared the winner by 11.855 s econds whe n scor ing rev e rted to the 18th la p , th e la s t one the entire field co m pleted. "I support the AMA gu ys and I s uppo rt th e ir who le po int of vie w," sa id G re e n wo o d , who 'd q ua lified s ixt h fastest, in front of a number of factory rider s . "The y' re Su perbike ride rs a nd it's their job and their living, they've got to do wha t they 've got to do . But , on the ot her to ken , we're her e , I spent a lot of m on e y to be h er e this we e kend , I wanted to go out and ride ." Eve ryon e wa nte d to ride when th e da y started , but most wouldn't ge t the ch an c e . Rain fell fo r s e vera l h our s before ending some time afte r 2 p.m. NHIS maintena nce staff were deployed to ready the tra ck, four jet- dryers blow ing the track dry, while workers swept, sq ue e geed , a nd d amm e d t h e worst parts of the trac k. Th e first ra c e u p wou ld be 600 c c Supersport. First call was issued , with th e race scheduled for a bo ut ha lf an hour later , and th e te a m s d id n 't feel they had time to heat their tires on the tire war mers . As the AMA regulars stood in groups on the p it lane , the sparse, but stoic crowd began to hoot and cheer as only 12 riders lined up on th e gr id . Track owne r Bob Bah re, who'd been at odds with Ba rr ic k earlie r in t he weekend , confronted him on the pit lane near the starting line , ask ing, "Who 's in cha rge here ? You or them: he sai d, po inting to the idle riders . The scene qui ckly deteriora ted into a sho uting mat ch among va rious parties with Barrick a nd AMA Director of Competition Merrill Vanderslice walk ing a wa y from th e in c re as in g ly h o s til e cro wd. "Wa lk away, walk awa y. Eve ry one of yo u guys wa lk away ," Vander slice told the nearby rider s a nd te a m person nel. Bahre was displeas ed last year when the Sup erbike rider s chose not to ride a nd the race ran on Monday . This year wa s no different a nd he laid it a t th e feet of the AMA. "In a ll h o n e s t y , in m y op in ion , they 're th e m ost d is or gan ized o pe ra tion," he sai d of the AMA. "It's the most disorganized thin g I've ever seen in m y life." Bahre ha dn't been told that no ra c ing would ta ke place in the ra in until a day before the meeting began. "We ' ve d o ne eve ryt h in g t hey 'v e asked . We 've bent ov e r ba c kwa rd s ," Ba hre sa id. "The AMA is not ru nn ing the s ho w, in m y opinion. If you go with NASCAR, the drivers do as they're told . In m y op inion, they have to get some b od y s tronger t ha n [Ro n ] Bar ric k. That' s m y opinion." The rac e , which had almost become incid enta l at th is po int, was green -lighted and qu ic kly turn ed into a runaway. G re enw ood was u nm a t c hed and h e s pe d to an uncon test ed win. His previo us be st finis h wa s a 10th in 6 0 0cc Supersport . "O ve ra ll , I' m t ic k led thi s wh ol e wee ken d," Green wood sai d . "I qua lified sixth in the dry , l out-qualified Migue l [DuHa m e l]. l ou t -q ua lified some seri ously quic k guys ." Greenw ood sa id that the re was a dry line the e nt ire track , u nless you ran wide . "You ha d to pay attention, there 's a lot of pa int her e , so yo u rea lly had to pa y attention to stay off the paint, espe cia lly in three , I I there's a nice littl e stripe stretch through there because they just resealed the track and the re was no lines left," Greenwood sai d . "It was the sa me conditions we raced in last week e n d in a c lub ra c e , a nd they we re sketchy, but we raced in it last weekend e y e I e New Hampshire International Speedway Lo udon, New Ha mpshire Results: June 17, 2001 [Round 5J PRO HOND A OILS 600 5{JPERSPORT: 1. Scott Gree nwood ( Suz) ; 2. Matthew Silva ( Kaw); 3 . Paul Hop k in s (Suz) ; 4 . J ohn Salemi ( Han); 5. Roland Willia m s (Suz); 6 . Michael Niksa (Suz); 7. Mic hael Ma rtire (Kaw); 8 . J ustin Blak e (Han) ; 9 . Dale Seaton lI m ) ; 10. Owen Richey (Yam): 11. Michae l Cusano Jr. Han); 12. Da vid Schwe itzer (Han). me: NIA due to red flag Distan ce: 18 laps, 28.8 mi les. Average speed: N/A due to red flag. Margin of victory: 11.855 sees. PRO HO NDA OILS 6 00 cc SUPERSPORT C'SHIP POIN T STANDINGS (A fter 5 of 11 races): 1. Eric Bostrom ( 125/1 win) : 2. Anthony Gobert ( 118/1 ); 3. Miguel Duhamel (108 /1): 4. Tommy Hayden ( 102) ; 5. J o sh Hayes (96 ); 6 . Aaro n Yates (93/1) : 7. Jam ie Hackin g (86): 8 . J ak e Zem ke (85) : g . (TI E) John Hopkins / Kurtis Roberts (76) ; 11. Jim my Moore (62 ); 12. Roger Lee Hayden (58): 13. Aaron Gobert (57): 14. Lee Acree (56); 15. Brian Parriott (4 1); 16. Daigoro Suz 40 ); 17. David Ortega \ 39) : 18 . Scott Greenwood 37/1); 19. Grant Lopez 36) : 20. Vincent Haskovec 33). ~ 1 Upco ming Rounds: Round 6 - Monterey, California, July 6 Round 7 - Lexington, Ohio, July 22 n e _ S • J UN E 27 , 2001 13

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