Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o ne b y 1. 762 secon ds . Buckmaster made his way arou nd Hop k ins two laps from the end to secure second . The win lea p - frogged Lo pez over Hopk ins to the to p of the cha m pionship stand ings. With two races to go , Lo pez holds a thr ee-point lead over Hop k ins, 2 1 1-208 . Ric c i M oto rsp orts ' Jimmy Moore, fo urth toda y after running with the lead pa ck, is third with 197. "I d idn 't reall y h av e a st rate gy," Lop ez said aft er the wi n. "The strategy is always win. I felt reall y co m petitive." Even before the race start ed, Lop ez saw tha t t here was an ope ni ng . "Norma lly Dam on [Bu ckmaster] j ust ann ihi lates in q ualifying ," Lopez said . " He beat us in qualifying toda y . but he didn 't ann ihilate us." Bu ckmast er was on the pole w ith a 1:39. 6 9 7 w ith Ho ot ers' Rest au ran t s ' Mik e Ciccotto a close seco nd . abo ut a 10th back , with Lopez and Hopk ins at the end of the fro nt row . "So th at was a rea lly good feeli ng ," Lopez added. "A nd Mik e Ciccotto ki nd of surpri sed us." Ciccotto got the j um p and led fo r fo u r la ps befo re Lopez, who 'd com- pleted the fi rst lap in third , took over. Lopez was in the lead, but strung out behind him were four r id ers - Hop ki ns, Bu c k m a st e r , C i c c o tt o , and Moore . " It was still plus zero t h e whole race," Lop ez said of his tenuou s lead . Hopk ins m ade a cha rge on the ninth of 13 laps, he and Lopez swap p ing b ack a n d f orth wi t h Lo p ez l ea d in g ac ross th e lin e. It was on the 11th lap th at th e outco me would be fi xed as Lopez dro ve thro ugh a pai r of lapped riders in tum fo ur , the pair ho ldi ng up Hopki ns and Bu ckmaster. "I j ust kn ew to get by th em ," Lopez said . "Just don't give them any m ercy ." " Going t hro ugh four and five I go t stuc k behind two ride rs," Ho pk ins said . " T hey we re pretty slo w. He [ Lopez] ju m ped out big tim e righ t th ere. From th ere on I knew if he didn't make a m istake it was going to be a race for sec ond [w hich it was, but it didn' t go his way] ." Late in the race, Hopk in s w as h it with ti re troubles and Bu ckmast er k new it. He'd been chasing Hopkin s up the straights for m ost of the race, not quite having t he power to make much of a draft pass . "I just had to get arou nd him wherever I could bec ause I couldn't do it down the str aight," Buckmaster said . "It was so to ugh I had to ma k e sure I go t a good run out of th e last tum otherwise I was screwed down th e straight." Then .Ho pk ins sta rted to sli de and B uckma ste r wa s rig ht th ere , passin g him on th e inside. Hop ki ns said th at once Buck m aster came by he fo llo wed him on the last lap "a nd I stayed right behi nd him and got a reall y bad slide co ming out of three and it set me back quite a ways . I tried every thing I co uld to m ake it up. I ran in to so me lapped t raffi c the re on the l ast l a p. It a lmost wo rked, b ut not qu ite. " A fter being fourth in th e lead quintet , Ciccotto fe ll just slightly off the pa ce with Moore closing in . En tering the Bus Stop tum on the fina l lap , Ciccotto went straight down an escape road handing fourth to Moore befo re re-joining the track to take fi ft h, ab out 8 .4 seconds back. Mazda Chaparral Suzuki's Rog er Lee Hayden was sixth, another four seconds adrift and just in front o f R-Power sports.com's Michael Bam es. Brainenllntemational Raceway Brainerd , Minnesota Results: Ju ly 29, 2000 [Round 7 of 91 LOCKHART·PHIWPS USA 750cc SlJPERSPORT: 1. Grant Lopez ( Suz) ; 2 . Damon Buckmaster (Suz); 3 . J ohn Hop k in s ( Su z); 4 . J immy Moore ( Suz); 5 . Mi ke Cicco tto (Suz) ; 6 . Roger Lee Hayden (SUl); 7. Michael Barne s (Suz); 8. Ben Spies (Suz); 9. J ohn Ja cobi ( Suz) ; 10 . Randall Menn en ga (Suz); 11. Robe rt Jensen (Su z) ; 12 . Shane Clarke (Suz) ; 13 . Ala n Sch m idt (Yam); 14 . J acob Hold en (Suz); 15. Eric Erling Haugo (Suz) ; 16. Scott Gooc h (Yem) : 17. Rob Bo werm an Jr . {Sua): 18. Dav id Ort ega (Kaw ); 19 . Jeffrey Purk (Yam) ; 20 . Christopher Monge (Suz); 21. Todd Snyder (Suz) ; 22 . Eri c Shoe ps (Suz); 23. Justin Bl ake (Hon) ; 24 . Eric Dooyema (Yam); 25 . Frank Cesena (Hon) . TIme : 2 1 m in .• 51.980 sec. Dista nce: 13 laps. 39 miles . Average speed: 107.014 mph . Margin of victory: I. 762 sec. LO CK HA RT· PHILLI PS USA 7 5 0c c SUPERS PORT C'S HIP POINT STANDIN GS (After 7 of 9 round s): 1. Gra nt L op ez (2 1 1/ 2 w i n s) ; 2 . J ohn Ho pk i n s (208 /3) ; 3 . Ji mmy Moore ( 197 ) ; 4. Da mo n Buck maste r (1 86/1); 5 . Roger Lee Hayden ( 184 ): 6. Mike Cicco tto ( 144) : 7. Jamie Bowm an ( 117/1 ); B. Rob Bowerman Jr. (89) ; 9. David Ortega (79 ); 10 . J ustin Blake (68 ); 11. (T IE) Shane Clarke /Ran dall Mennenga (65); 13 . Scott Gooch (SO); 14 . (TIE) Rich Co nicelli / Ben Spie s ( 4 7 ); 16 . ( TIE) J o hn Jacobi/Robert J ensen (44 ); 18. Chris Arbor (40); 19. (TIE ) M;ke Mashewske /Chad Simons (36) . Upcomin g Rounds: Round B - Fount ain, Colorado , Augu st 12 Round 9 - Rosamond. camomta, September 30 AMAIMBNA 25Dcc Grand P Series rix Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway B y H E N N Y R A Y A B RA M S P HO T O B Y BRI AN J. NELSO N BRAINERD, MN, JULY 30 R ic h Oliv e r doesn' t ne ed he lp to w in , but he isn't abo ve t ak ing a g ift wh en it's offe red . At Bra in erd , Ran dy Ren fr ow wa s a l egit imate threa t , t he Perform an c e M a ch in es ' Hon da very fast o n th e o ne-mile fro nt straight, especially in th e hands of p art-t imer Renfrow . Renfro w do es n't ra ce a full cam paign, instea d h e r a ce s where he wan ts to rac e, an d he wanted to race at B rainer d , bu t his start shot down th os e plans. " T h at's th e firs t tim e th e bi k e ' s eve r c o m p let ely d ied on m e," Renfro w said of h is duff st art. " I think ba s i call y I j us t ove rrevve d i t a nd , whe n I let the cl u tch o ut, t he t h ing was just co m pletely passed its power pea k . It m oved ab out three fee t and it week end so I d idn 't have a pit boa rd ," Ol iver sai d , " so I was looking around for awhil e and after a while I couldn 't r eall y see an ybody else back th ere, so I wa sn' t sure if it was five seconds, 10 seconds , 15 seco n d s ; I had no id ea , so I j ust k ept riding as hard as I co ul d a n d had a pre tty un ev entful rac e reall y ." Under th e guise of bein g ho unded, Ol iver was runn in g ' fu ll stick , la p pi ng nearly tw o sec onds a lap better tha n second pl ac e and pu lling away to win b y a ve ry com fo r t a b le 24 .260 se c ond s. It was hi s fifth w in of th e year, and t he 47th o f his caree r. H e bro ke his o wn fo u r-y ea r-ol d race record b y three second s, c om p leti ng th e 13- lap, 39 -m il e rac e in 22 mi nute s, 9 .94 0 secon ds at an a ve rage spee d of 105.5 69 mph . "I fi g ured exactly wha t Ran dy was t h inking," O liv er sai d . " Randy wo ul d t ry to latch on to m e at th e beginning. Ran dy 's Honda is real fa st. M y Yamaha is real fast too, but Randy , being a li ttle b it sm all er g uy, he's rea l aerod y na mic, esp ec ia ll y o n t he hi gh -spe ed tr acks. I k new if he was in m y d raft it wa s goi ng t o b e difficu l t t o b reak away bec ause Ran dy was really sto ut down in one and tw o. I hav en ' t seen Ra ndy ri de this we ll a ll year. I was really im pressed wi t h his spee d here. He's a lot sm oother tha n he'd been at Daytona ." Th at di dn 't m att er in the end. But even with fi ve wi ns in se v en st art s, O liver st ill t rail s World Sp orts Imports Ch uck So ren sen , third t oda y beh ind Renfrow , by 15 po ints w ith tw o ra ces rema in ing. "It's getti ng to be real tough," Oliv er sa id of his cha m pio ns hip cha nces. was de ad. Luc kily it wa s roll in g fas t enough th at I w a s a b le to p u ll t he cl utch in , drop it, and it re-sta rted , so that k in d of blew sticking wi t h Rich ." O li v er was agai n a m o stl y o nem an b and , with so me help fro m fel low 250cc GP rac er J oc elin , who he, in turn , wa s h elp ing . S o he d idn ' t have anyone g iv ing pit sig nals, which mea nt he di dn 't k no w how strong his lead was. " I ' m a little s ho r t on c rew this c u e I e CN n e _ S • A U G UST 9 , 200 0 11

• Cover