Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA,/ Che~Tru c ks Sup e rb ik e N a t io n al C hampionship Round 6 : New H a mps h ir e -Intern a t io n a l S p e e dway Ne. Hampsh i", Inte rnati onal Spee dway Loudon, New Hampshi", Results: June 20, 2000 SUPERBIKE QUALIFY ING: I. Mat Mladin ( 1:09. 94 7 ); 2 . Eric Bost rom ( 1: 10. 0 0 7); 3 . Aa ron Aaron Ya tes (2 0 1 finishe d f o u rth in the Superblke Na tional. The Georgian lies third in t h e serie s p oint s tan dings. Yates (1:10.092); 4. Nicky Hayden ( 1:10.37 1); 5. Ja m ie Hac ki n g (1 :10 .4 3 4); 6. Steve Rapp (1:10.470); 7. Jason Pri more (1:10.55 8. Tommy d 9); Hayden (1:10.805); 9. Pascal Picotte (1:10.81); 10. Do ug C ha n d le r (1:1 0 . 896) ; 11 . La r ry Pegr am ( 1: 11.114) ; 12. Miguel DuHamel ( 1:11.464); 13. J o hn Ko cin sk i ( 1: 11. 4 81); 14. Sc ott Ru s se ll (1:11.975); 15. Damon Buckmaster (1:12.875); 16. AMA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Af te r 6 of 12 round s): 1. Mat Mladin (2 09 /4 ): 2. Nicky Hayden (195/2 ); 3. Aaron Yates (166); 4. Eric Bostrom ( 164 ); 5. Doug Chandler ( 146); 6. Miguel DuHamel ( 137) ; 7. M i k e C tc cotto (1 : 13. 84 9) : 17 . Ja mie Bowma n Tommy Hay den (131) ; 8 . Ste ve Rapp ( 126) ; 9 . (TIE ) J ohn Koc ins ki /Pasca l (1:14.164); 18. Roger Lee Hayden (1:14.331); 19. Pic otte (123): 1J. Jamie Hacking (110); J im m y Moore (1 : 14 .3 86) ; 20. Andy Deatherage 12 . Ja son Pridm ore (1 09) : 13. Larr y Pegram (99); 14. J ami e Bow man (93); 15. Jim m y Moo re (80): 16. Dean Mizdal (1:16.825): 21. Dean M;l dal (1:16.289); 22. Shan e Gonyea (1:17.9 14); 23. DaleDandrea (1:18.902). SUPERBIKE NATIONAL: I. Mat M;adin (SUl): 2. Er ic Bostrom (Kaw); 3 . Ja m ie Hacking (Yam); 4 . Aaron Yates (Suz); 5 . Steve Rap? (Due) ; 6. Nic ky Ha yd en ( Hon da ) ; 7 . Tom my Hayd en ( Yam); 8 . Pascal Picotte (HoD); 9. Dou g Chand ler (Kaw): 10. Miguel Duf-ieme l (Hond a); 11. Larry Pegram (D uc): 12. J ohn Kocin ski (Due); 13. J am ie Bowman (Sua): 14. Dean Mildal (SUl ): 1 Shane Gonyea (SUl); 16. 5. Dal e Dand rea (Suz) ; 17. Sco tt Russell ( H· D) : 18 . J ason Pridm ore (Suz). (66); 17. Mike Ciccotto (65); 18. Scott Ru ssell (6 1); 19 . A ndrew Deathe rage (56); 20. Randall Mennenga(41). Upc o mi ng Rounds: Ro un d 7 " Monte rey, Cali fo rn ia , July 8 Round 8 - Lexington , Oh io, Ju ly 16 BRIEFLY. •• The to tal p ur se f or t he 77th A nnual Loud o n C lassic w as $113,000, the second biggest payout in the AM A Chevy Trucks U. S. Superbike Cha mpion ship , next to Dayton a Internat ional Speedway. Mat Ml adin earned $10, 500 of the $65,000 C hevy Trucks Superbike purse for taking the wi n. Eric Bostrom took home $ 7000 for finishing second, with Jamie Hack ing earning $45 00 for finishing third. Yoshimura Suzuki' s Mladin also earned $1000 fo r taking the inters tate Batte ries Superbike Pole Award , his third of the ye ar. The $500 M otorcycleu sa.com Holeshot Award also wen t to Mladin. CompetitionA ccessories.com's Larry Pegram won the $500 Top Privateer Qualifier Bonus by turning in the 11th fastes t Superbike time. Sat urday was a day that Grigg Electric's Stev e Grigg w ouid rather forget , for a number of reasons. Grigg cras hed his Muzzy Raptor 850 in eSportbike.com Formula Xtreme qualifying in the tum one area, with the bike catch ing fire . He was forced to use his spare. which hadn't been through technical inspection. Once that was discovered . he was fined $ 1500 . Grigg was also disqualified from the Superbike clas s when it was discovered he was running the oversized 850cc engine in the Superbike class, and had qualifled on it. "We got wind of it before Xtreme qualifying," AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said. "Had he not crashed and had to switch bikes, we probably wou ldn't have looked into these things and found these problems." Barrick also clarified the situation regarding the fine levied against Harley-Davidson 's P ascal P icotte at Road Am erica. Picotte jump ed the start and was given a sto p-and-go penalty. The lap after he served the penalty, Picott e was "gesturing on live TV ,· accord ing to Barrick . the next time he crossed the finish line. " I don't think TV caught that, but they could have," Barrick said. The fine wa s always $3500 . There was no negotiating it from a more severe penalty , he said. The schedule for the McGraw Insurance International Superbike Classic at La gu na S eca is out and there 's non-stop action from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon, unless you're in the AM A Superbike class. The Superbikes won 't hit the track until their first practice on Friday morning with the single and final qualifying session from 12:45 -1:45 p.m. On Saturday morning the re's more practice, with the race to run at 12:35 p.rn, eSportbike.com Formula Xtre me follows the Superpole and MBNA 250cc GP heat races. The Lockhart Phillips USA 750cc Supersport and MBNA 250 Grand Prix both run between the two World Superbike races on Sunday. The management of New Hampshire Int ern ational Speedw ay invested in 50 sections of AirFence Bike - tw o meter sect ions of safety barrier - one o f several safety measures the track instit uted for thi s yea r' s race . AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said the AirFence is a foam barrier with a fr ame that has almos t identical rebound rate s to inflatable air fence . Like the traditional AirFenc e, the A irFenc e Bike is cons idered a Type A barrier . Barrick said that AirFence's Andy Coff ey had spent a week at Loudon assembling the barr iers. The total cos t was in exce ss of $25,000. Three sec tions w ere installed out side of tum one with more placed outside of tum two on the exit onto the back straight . In the turn three area . whe re the rid ers make a loo ping right off the speedway and into the back section of the 1.6-mile road course, a wall was removed and 12 fee t of run-off wa s added. Barrier s we re placed in the turn six downhill left and sections were placed on the rider' s left at the top of the hill that follow s turn six. The turn 10 right-hander has been lined wi th the new AirFence . Barric k also said there were more hay bales at Loudon tha n eve r befo re, this year wrapped in plastic bags . 10 .JUNE 2 8 , 2000 ..!- c -g c~ e - - n e _ Torrential ra ins an d high winds hit on Saturday afternoon at about 2 p.m., during 750cc Supersport qualifying. the pit lane turning into a frenzy of activity as teams tried . some in vain. to keep their awnings from being destroyed . The Yoshimura Suzuki tents were first down and among the most twisted . Vance & Hines Ducati, Yamaha, and American Honda also took hits. Activity was halted for about 90 minutes after which they invited anyone with a vehicle to take to the track to help dry it. In short order it turned into a race. Yamaha's Keith McCarty has his powder blue Uncoln Town Car among the front-runners. until a few of the racers took to the track. Then it became a duel betwee n Larry Pegram in his Dodge Cirrus and Mark Miller in his Nissan Maxima. Pegram was the more impressive. smoking the ti res wh en he e-braked into turn one. The activity resumed about 2 1/ 2 hours afte r the rain began with the final 13 minutes of even numbered 750 cc Supersport qualifying out on the dry track. Then came a truncated 30-minute Superbike qualifying session. followed by the afternoon' s races. Before riding t he Hond a Re 5 1 Superbike at Loud on, N i cky H a yd e n raced the Hond a C BR900 RR in the Formula Xtreme class last year. Both have a lot of power, but Hayden said there was no comparison. "The Xtre me bike was really good arou nd here, on the front , it had four cylinders that were over the front and I really had a good feel for the front, " he said. "And here, on the Superbike, I don't have quite so much feel for the front. But the Xtreme bike, this bike's way better, it turns and everyth ing, it' s a lot lighter and easier to flick. The Xtreme bike was a handful around here. I think anything bigger than an 80 is." Yoshimura Suzuki's M a t M ladin, an often outspo ken critic of the AM A, had a different view of how the schedule should have been run on Saturday. Rain had pushed everyt hing back over 2 1/2 hours and Mladin thought Friday' s qualifying times should have stood. Instead, there was a 30-minute session early on Sat" urday eve ning and M ladin took his third success ive pole. ..How it should.have run, the schedule was set, they shouid have stuck by the times and Eric [Bostro m] should have the pole, that's my honest belief and that's what I've been saying," Mlad in said. "We were fortun ate to get that sessi on and get the pole, but if they stuck by the schedule and done thing s how I believe they should be done, Eric should be sitt ing here with the pole." Because of the delay in the program . more than one rider was ca ught o ut. firs t amo ng them Vance 8. Hine s Ducat i' s J o hn Kocinski . A pair of Kocinski's V&H Ducatis were waiting for him on the grid when the qualifying session was run afte r 5 p.m., but Kocinski was nowhere in sight. " He left the track ," V&H Ducati' s Jim Leonard said after attempts to reach Kocinski prove d fruitless. " He didn't think they' d get it in." Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom was also caught by surprise. " I thought there was anot her 750c c Super sport session, so they called up that last call and I was still in my str eet clothes," Bost rom said. Richard Alexa nder was back racing in his region for the first time in two years , now with signifi cant new spo nso rs hip. The Carmel. New Yor k, rider picked up backing from HVR Shogun Motion Cycle Sports just before Road Atlanta, the first of the three consecutive races . Shogun HVR is an Internet -based company that will be active before the end of the season. As to what kind of content they' ll provide, " It's kind of a secret right now ," Al exander said. Motion Cy cle Sport s own fou r dealership s in Texas and Louisiana. and Alexander sec ured their backing just before the season started at Daytona. W orld Sport s Import s' C h uck Sorense n found himself on the back row of the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix after a heat race crash. " In the heat race I got a good start and started to pull out and I'd been doing lap times like 13.1 and 13 flat , and I was looki ng to get to a 12," Sorensen said. "There 's a seam through tum 11 where there' s light pavement and dark pavement. The perfect line will sometimes carry yo u across the seam. I had it in practice a coup le of times where I'd lose the front and just push it back up s- with my knee. But on that lap it just went too fast and I low-sided and the bike picked itself back up and flopped back on the other side and hammered the brake." Local star Chris A r b o r collected the biggest paychec k of his racing career when he wo n the non-points-paying Buell Pro Thunder race on a wet and rain-J'o dden New Hampshire Intern ational Speedw ay. Riding a Riverside Motorsports Ducati 748 , which his father had bought for him, the Salem, New Hampshire, resident surviv ed a run into the track side tire barrie rs to collect the victory. and the $5000 top prize. As a carro t to the Pro Thunder riders , the purse had been doubled and points weren't awarded - a strategy that seve re ly cut dow n t he size of the class . "This is my home track because everybod y's so nice," Arbor said after the wet win. Arb or had had to pass Fred Stucky to take over the lead and that' s when he nearly crashed. " I made a pass of him, I had my leg up trying to stretch my knee, locked the front wheel and barely saved it . " Second wen t to HMC Racing's Shawn Conrad (Duc), the class champion who briefly passed Arbor late in the race . Arizo nan Tom Hull wa s third . also on a Ducati. with Ve rmonter Read Cronin fourt h on yet another Ducati. A mencan Honda's Gary Mathers, a member of the road race advisory committee, has been a detract or of the Loudon circuit, but with good reason. " Honda' s had more broken bones and hurt riders here than all the other places put together, " Mathers said, pointing out Miguel DuHamel' s horrific crash here in tum one two years ago. At the time, Mathers said he was of the opinion that the track was unfit for an AMA national. This year he met with various track offic ials who advised him that improvement s we re ongOing. " From talking to Je rry Wood [the owner of t he Penguin Racing Schooll on Thursday, he took me' around and showed me all the stuff they 'd done and apparently the family's made a commitment to do what it takes. So I came into this one to see what happens. I was against running here until we got here this time. If they keep trying to make it work you've got to give them credit for that." Harley-Davidson 's P a scal Picotte wa s one of the few riders who wanted to race in the rain. and why not? He proved during the wet practice that he was the fastest rider and the horsepower disadvantage that Harley normally suffers was mostly negated. " I wanted to ride because 1felt the place is not really safe in the dry. so if we race here in the dry. that mean s here in the we t we should race, because the speeds are a lot slower," Picotte said after pos ting the fifth fastest time in M onday morning's practice session. "Those impact zones should be like 30-40 mph slower, so I just don't know why those guys don't want to race in the rain. It' s definitely a lot slowe r. We were just puttinq around yesterday in the rain." No one seemed willing to completely hang it out in the rain, including Picott e. " I was trying. I was having fun actually for the first time since a long time," he said. "And, of cours e, we do have a good chance to do good with Harley-Davidson. We all know we're a litt le bit down on power. We don't have the speed and acc elerat io n of those guys. Right now at t his moment it makes things easier for me and definitely yesterday I was on a mission and ready to go and win the race. " As to whether they should race here at all. Picott e saw two areas that are lack ing. safely and transition. " I mean we could always race here , but they need to improve some area for sure . But we could still race. but they need to do some improvement." Picotte said. Vance & Hines Ducati's .Jo hn Kocinski finished 12th after pitting on lap 15 to change his rear tire. " I got a bad tire, " Kocins ki said. "The first, second lap, it nearly highsided me out of every tum . I'm not used to those tires . " The pro blem was n't so much the tire , but the choice. "John chose unwisely ," Dunlop's Jim Allen said of the soft rear that Kocinski chose . •After he pitted, they put on a 587 wh ich everyone else raced on. For the most part , it was our best tire. He tried the [so ft] 555 on Friday and decided to race with it. .. Harley-Davidson's S cott Russell had a short day . The Georgian was docked a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the start . When he came in, he decided to call it a day. ------ -

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