Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Ch e vy Tru c k s Sup erbik e C h a m p io n s h ip R o u n d 8 / 9 : Mid-Ohio S p o rts C a r C our s e to w. Both of th e Hondas had passed Bostrom in su c cess ive moves on the third lap and th ey we re now tryi ng to catch Yates. They s ucceeded a la p later and the trio were together, joined a lap or so later by the d uo of Bostrom and Tommy Hayden. The n came a gap to DuH am e l, who had worked around Hacking . DuHamel would continue to close on the Bo stro m / To m m y Hay den d ic e until passing them both on the 11 th lap. Nic ky Ha y d e n , m e an wh ile , took the lead for the first time on the fifth lap wit h a n in si d e pass on Yates und er br aking for tu rn six. A lap la te r, Rob e rt s pull e d off t he exact same mov e o n Yates to take over second . Roberts a nd Hay den co ntinued to mix it up with Yate s wa tching clo sel y fro m third pla ce . "T hey kinda got into a brak ing th ing at t he e n d of th e ba ckstraight over th e re , but I c ould never get close e no ugh bec a us e they'd pull me prett y good down the h ill: Yates sa id aft er fi ni s h in g s e c o nd, for h is fi rs t -e ve r 600cc podium a t Mid-Ohio . With th e clo s ing la p in s ight, Hay den tr ied to brake too deeply for tum s ix and slid off, le tt ing both Rob erts a nd Yates past. That set up a la st- la p battle for those two , one that ultimately went to Roberts - desp ite Yates ' best effort in tums seven and e ight. "W he r e I stuck it und er Kurt is there , I kne w that was my on ly spot," Yates s ai d. "I wa s trying to d e c ide how w id e t o go up th er e , but I thought, 'We ll, I guess I better turn.' I acc el erated down th e hill and I was hoping he 'd run wid e , but he kn ew where he was going a nd he held it down th ere tight. " . AMAIlockhart-PhillipsUSA 750cc Supersport S T O RY AN D P HO T O S By H E NN Y R A Y A B RA M S LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 15 ra nt Lopez went to school on the warm - up lap o f the Lockh art Ph illips USA 750cc S upe rs po rt race a nd g ra dua te d 16 la ps later with top hono rs . Ra in h ad d ou s ed the area in th e ho u r pr io r to th e ra c e and, t ho ug h th e tr ac k w as mo s t ly dry , th e Val vo line EMGO S uzu ki ride r want e d to kn ow wh e re the d an ger sp ot s G we re . "I took off o n th e wa rm -up lap and jus t re ally studie d the tra ck a nd rode it hard, got th e t ires good and hot a nd could tell wh ere th e wet spots were and not and wh at to do , rea lly , reall y 12 JUL Y 26, 2 0 00' cue I e Th e batt le for third wa s als o he ctic , and it wa sn't dec ided un til the trio of Bostrom, DuHa me l and Tom m y Ha yden go t to the finish- line stripe. Natu ra lly, a lapped rider p la ye d a role. "The lap before , there was a lapped rider who was all over the place and I couldn't get by him : DuHamel said . "I almost ran into him and E ric and Tommy went by me. I passed T o m m y and was behind Eric and I thought it would be poetic justice if it happened to him also. Sure e noug h, w hen we came aro u nd there was a la pped rider again . Eric hesitated and we nt wide , a nd I h ad a lrea dy committed to g o ing wid e ope n arou nd the o uts ide o f h im . He we nt wid e and t ha t pu sh ed me wid e , onto the rum b le s t rip s a nd t he d irt. I d e fin it e ly ha d th e m o mentu m. It wa s good fo r th e champi o nship t o g e t in fr o n t of Eric ." DuHa mel 's happ iness was s ho rtlived as he late r fo und out th at he'd bee n bumped down to fourth . "I had the m om entum o n the out s ide of them : DuH amel said. " I don 't kno w if the lapped rider moved ove r on hi m [Bo strom ] or wh at, but they both moved over a nd pushed me to the grass . Wh at am I supposed t o do? I just ran out in to the d irt a n d once you get into the d irt with DOT ti re s , you 're not go ing anywhere . I wa s more afraid than an yth ing . I coul d have g one o ve r the ba rs o r anyth ing in that mud because that's what usu ally happens . Fo r th em to sa y that I ga ined an advantag e in do ing t hat - it's just misint e rpretin g t he rul e b o o k . It co me s fr om m otocros s wh ere y o u c an c u t th e t ra c k a n d ga in a n adv ant a g e - I gas it hard on th e dr y , and br a ke ha rd o n the dry and ease up, pic k up the b ike over a little wet spot he re a nd there: Lop ez sa id, after winn ing h is first 750c c Supe rsport ra c e of t h e yea r, in recor d t ime. "Rea lly control the line , I re ally st udi ed it and worked it to m y advanta ge ." Know ing th e t ra ck was hal f th e b att le . Th e othe r half wa s int e rna l. Ha ving c o nvin c e d h is mech a n ic to mak e a sm a ll m e c ha nica l c h a nge pr ior to th e ra ce , Lopez now ha d th e mac hine under him to do th e job. "I had an argument with my tune r ea rl ie r in th e weeke n d ab o u t midrange on m y bike, how it wa s kind of flat a nd I'd roll it on a nd no th ing wou ld re a lly happen," Lopez s a id of his Suzuk i GS X-R750. "He d id n 't beli ev e me at first , a nd then he dec ide d to g o ah ead a n d try s o met h ing a n d made som e ' p r e tt y dr as t ic n e _ s Eric Bostrom (32) was give n third p l a c e at the f inish lin e in the 600cc Supersport race after Miguel DuHame l (1 7) w a s pen alized a spot for leaving the track to advan c e his posit i o n , f o llowing t h eir p hoto finish. . c o u ld n ' t g a in an a dvan t age fr om be ing pu sh ed onto th e gra ss . Wh at was I supposed to do? Le an on Eric a nd try to cra s h o r someth ing ? It' s reall y d is appoint ing . How ca n yo u ga in an a dva nta ge with DOT tires on the d irt and the grass? It's ridiculous. I had nowhere to go - I d idn 't wa nt to go onto the wet g rass . It just ta kes some common sense ." CN Mid-OhioSports CarCourse lexington, Ohio Results: July 16, ZOOO 600cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: I. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 2. Aaron Yates (Suz); 3. Eric Bostro m (Kew ): 4. Miguel Duham el (Han) ; 5. Tom m y Hayden (Yam ); 6 . J am ie Hac k ing (Ya m): 7. Dam on Buc k master (Suz) ; 8 . Jos h Hay es (Han ); 9. Ric ha rd Alexa nde r (Ya m): 10 . Ja ke Zem k e ( Ha n) ; 11 . Ma rk M iller (Yama ha ); 12. Roger Lee Hayden (Suz); 13. Kevin Lacom be (Han): 14. Kenneth Snyde r III (Yam ); 15. Kevin Lehm an (Yam ): 16. Nick Daniels (Yam) ; 17. Nelson Perez (Han ); 18. J oseph Ternperato (Yam); 19. Mi ch ael Nik sa (Kaw) ; 20 . Da vid O rtega (Kaw); c h a n g e s in the mi d - rang e . " Th e re sult, Lopez said , wa s th at "onc e he tuned it up I co uld rea lly fe e l it a nd just dr ive off the corner. I thi nk that was p ro ba bly th e b ig g e s t h e lp this we ek end." S o mu c h s o , t ha t o n ce h e took c o ntr ol of th e ra c e fro m te amma te Jo hn Hop k ins o n t h e four th of 16 la ps, he was un to ucha ble , c ontro lling the race from the front , and winni ng the 16 -lap , 38.4-mile rac e by 10. 253 seconds. Lop ez com pleted th e race in 2 4 m inu tes , 47.0 80 second s at a n average spe ed of 92.9 6 1 m ph, brea king the rec or d se t by la s t year by Ya ma ha's Tom my Hay den . The victory, th e third AMA 750cc S uperspo rt win of his ca ree r, va ulte d Lop ez int o seco nd place in the po ints stand ings . After six of nin e ra ce s, he tra ils teammate Hopkins by ju st five poi nts , 17 4 - 179 . Ric c i Motorspo rts ' Jimm y Mo or e , wh o fini sh ed fifth , is third with 170. Th e re wa s n' t a lot to watc h at th e front of th e race, not once Lopez s et- 21. Mike Mashewske (Kdw) ; 22 . Jason Late (Yam) ; 23 . Kurt Marm or (Hon) ; 24 . Paul Hopkins (Yam) ; 25. Eri c Tw igg (Ya m); 26. Sto ney Le nders (Ka w) ; 27 . lauren ce Borst (Yam) ; 28 . Brent Dudley (S uz); 29 . J ohn Trautmann (Yam) ; 30 . Leo Veneg a (S uz); 3 1. Sha wn Po tt e r (Ya m); 32. Travis King (S UI); 33 . Just in Blake (Hon) ; 34 . Brett Rernesfk (Yam); 35 . Nick Hayden (Hon); 36 . Clint Bretz (Yam) ; 31. Jess Roeder (Yam): 38 . Jeff Muskopf (Yam). Time: 24 m in .• 33 .4 10 sec. Dist ance: 16 laps , 38 .4 mil es. Average speed: 93 .823 mph Margin of victory: 0.078 sec. AMA 600c c S U PERS PO RT C'S HIP POIN T STANDIN GS (A ft er 6 of 9 rou nd s): 1. Kurti s Roberts (1 83 /2 wins) ; 2 . Er ic Bost rom (178/1); 3 . Miguel DuHa m el (1 6 8/1) ; 4 . A aron Yates ( 166/1) : 5 . Tommy Hayden ( 158): 6. Ja mie Hack in g (150): 7. Richa rd Alexander (12 1); 8. J ason Pridmore (118) ; 9 . Josh Hayes (1 11):10. J ak e Zem ke ( 110); 11. D am o n Bu c km ast e r (10 5); 12. (TI E) Nick Hayd en / Roger Lee Hayden ( 104); 14 . Mark Mill er (77); 15. Kevin Lacom be (66) ;16 . Michael HannasJI (49): 17. (TIE) David Ort ega/B rian Parriott (37):19 . B ro t z (35) : ZOo ( T IE) Do ug Cli nt Chandler/C hristoph er Rankin (32 ). Upcoming Rounds Round 7 - Brainerd, Minnesota, JUly 3D Round 8 - Fountain, Colorado, August 13 tied in . He and Hopk ins were lo n g gone, gapping an interesting rac e for th ird, but clearly in a cla ss of their own. "I le d fo r like th e firs t two , th ree laps a nd th en Gra nt got by m e a nd I sta yed with him for four or five la ps ," Hopkins s a id. "Afte r that he wa s runn ing strong , runn in g fla wles s , n ot mak ing a ny m ista kes . Pre tty much k e p t t he s a m e dis ta nce th e whole tim e . We h it some lapped tra ffic a nd G ran t g o t thro ugh it a little b e tt e r tha n I d id and I lost a second or two off of that and I knew he was riding rea lly good a nd it was definit e ly h is d a y . I j us t k ind of bac ked o ff a nd re m e m b er e d ab o ut th e poi nts an d didn't want to th row it a way because I kn ew if he led I'd sti ll be ho ld ing it." Third pla c e was passed fro m ride r to rider, be ginning with Lopez on th e first few la ps , th en Hoote rs ' Re staurant 's Mik e Ci c c otto , t he n Ma zda Ch aparral Suzu ki ' s Rog e r Le e Hay d en , who m ov ed b y C ic cotto just before the ha lfway mark. It looked like th e youngest Hayden would re -visit the podium he first vis-

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