Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE AMAICCS600and75OccSu ~ Tom Kipp won his first600cc Supersport final of the season at Loudon. Gerald Rothman, Jr. holds Scott Russell (I) and Andrew Stroud (148) at bay. Kipp takes command, Smith hurt in Loudon 600cc SS By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams T 10 recovered, though, to finish sixth and maintain his claim as the Top Expert rider, an honor he's achieved in five of six races this year. The race got. underway with Schwarzbach leading Turkington, who had been rammed by Smith in tum one. Smith went off the track after the miscue and ended up in 19th place when he rejoined the fray. Schwarzbach had his head down, and he quickly opened up a lead on Turkington, who had Kipp, Kirk, Leslie, Gerald Rothman, Jr., Crevier and Renfrow breathing down his neck at the end of the first lap. Smith, meanwhile, was impressive, the Georgian sliding both wheels as he scorched through slower riders: he was 12th after one lap, ninth after two, sixth after three, fourth after four, second after five and he took the lead on the sixth lap. Unfortunately, he didn't back it down and instead kept up the hurried pace until he was well clear of the pack. On the ninth lap, he lost the fralt end in bumpy . tum 10 and slid feet first into the bales, instantly reaching for his broken left leg. By that point, Kipp had also reeled in Schwarzbach and parlayed a nice inside move in tum 10 into second place. When Smith exited, Kipp took over and he never looked back, cruising to a 7.675second win. Schwarzbach stayed steady to finish second with Turkington also able to break free for a lonely third. Behind them, though, came a horde of riders battling for the fourth-place position. It came down to the final lap, with Leslie departing from the battle first after running wide in tum one. Then Renfrow tried to get outside of Kirk in tum nine to set him up for the pass on the inside of 10, but instead the veteran lost the front end and crashed, handing fourth to Kirk. Crevier watched the proceedings to finish fifth, with Leslie regaining his composure to finish sixth. "Maybe he (Smith) cooked his tires," Kipp said. "He was pushing it awfully hard. That's a bumpy section there. You have to be right on line or you hit a big bump. ] told my dad last night, '] didn't get you a card - I guess I1l have to win one tomorrow.'" Schwarzbach guessed that he may have overdone things in the early going while trying to make a break. "] probably overdid the front tire," he said. "When they went by ] figured I'd just ride to third. Then Mike crashed, 1 hope he's okay." I:!II Results 600«: SS FINA L, I. Tom Kipp (Hon); 2. Larry Schwarl2bach (Yam); 3. Britt Turkington (Suz); (. Riclc Kirk (Hon); 5. Steve Crevier (Hon); 6. Jim Leslie (Yam); 7. Stephen Nogueira (Hon); 8. Don Munroe (Hon); 9. LOUOON, H,JUNE 21 om Kipp didn't make it to the card store to get his father a card, but he did make it to the winner's circle at New Hampshire International Speedway and instead gave Tom Sr. a victory, his first of the season, for Father's Day. With four seconds and a fourth-place finish in the five previous rounds of the series, Kipp and his Camel Honda CBR600 had established themselves as the most consistent pairing in the field. With his win here today, though, he took total control of the championship point standings and it will take some work by the others to wrestle it away. Unfortunately, this came about because of the injuries suffered to his Camel Honda teammate Mike Smith. The Georgian, a three-time winner in 1992, was leading the race after bravely forcing his way to the front after an offtrack exam;ion left him in 19th place at thE;! start. But Smith crashed in tum 10 after taking the lead, slamming feet first into the hay-bale protected wall, and breaking his lower left leg in two places. He is expected to undergo surgery later rt Series: Round 6 this week to have the leg repaired, and he may return as early as Mid-0hio in the beginning of August. Thus, Kipp lost his number one challenger, and he now leads the series by 22 points over Two Brothers Racing's Rick Kirk, who finished fourth here today, 101-79. Second place today went to Vance & Hines Yamaha's Larry Schwarzbach, after the Texan had made a break on the field only to be reeled in by Smith and Kipp. Still, he rode the Yamaha FZR600 to an impressive runner-up position. Third place, for the third time this season, went to Britt Turkington and the first-year Suzuki GSXR600, making the winner's circle a three-brand affair. Kirk and his teammate Steve Crevier rounded out the top five finishers after an intense battle saw Randy Renfrow and Jim Leslie eliminate themselves from contention on the final lap. Renfrow E;!nded up crashing while trying to pass Kirk, remarkably his first last-lap crash in 20 years of racing, and Leslie ran wide in tum one and ran into a lapped rider. He Owen Weichel (Hon); 10. Chuclc Downie (Hon): 11. Gerald Rothman, Jr. (Hon); 1l. Robin Holliday (Hon); 13. Gleen Szarok (Yam); H. David Adang (Hon); 15. Randy Renfrow (I-Ion). Tune 29 min., 06.473 3eC. D ~ 22lapo, 35.2 miles. Average S","", 72558 mph. MaJ1lin of VICIoIy. 7.675!IeC. 600cc C'SHIP POINT STANDINCS, I. Tom Kipp (101); 2. RicIc Kirk (79); 3. Steve Crevier (76), 4. MiKe Smith (73); 5. Randy Renfrow (57); 6. Britt Turkington (56); 7. Jim Leslie (52); 8. Larry Schwarzboch 941); 9. Chuck Downie (33); 10. Gerald Rothman, Jr. (29); 11. Owen Weichel (20); U. (TIE) Robin Holiday/john Choate (19); 1(. (TIE) Brett Harreioon/Dave Sadowski (13). AMAICCS 750cc Supersport Series: Round 6 Russell in control By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams LOUOON, NH, JUNE 20 o playing around. No bad luck. Just a good '01 fashioned victory for the dominant duo in 750cc Supersport racing - Scott Russell and his Muzzy Kawasaki. N Russell returned to his masterful at New Hampshire International Speed way today, to totally control the 22-la race from start to finish, and in th process took firm control of the champi onship point standings. Second place today went to the C Racing-backed Kawasaki of upstart J Pridmore. The young Californian work ing his wax dear of the pack behind . to score his first second-place finish the season, a week after earning his first ever victory. Pridmore ended up 8. seroncIs behind Russell at the finish. Third place was taken by Came Honda's Tom Kipp, who only decided race the team's Honda CBR600 against the bigger 750s five minutes prior to the race. Kipp maneuvered by Gerald Rothman Jr's. Kawasaki a lap from the end to take the final rostrum position. Rathman and Sutech R&D's Louis Saccoccio rounded out the top five finishers. . Russell now leads Pridmore and Rothman by 14 points, 77-63, after six races. Fritz Kling and Saccoccio are fourth and fifth in the standings with 50 and 47 points, respectively. By the time the pack approached turn three for the first time, Russell already had the lead. But he ran Wide, pushing Pridmore even wider and allowing Rothman to sneak by on the inside. Rothman held that spot for two laps, before Russell decided enough was enough. He then pulled dear for the victory. . Rothman held second until the 14th lap when Pridmore finally worked his way by, and by this time Kipp was also in the thick of the battle for second. Pridmore, though, was able to open up an advantage he would hold to the finish. Behind him, Kipp and Rothman would go at it to the end, with Kipp eventually passing the Manchester, Connecticut rider two laps from the end. "We haven't had that much luck this year with supersport," Russell said. "1 got out front and rode my own race. This morning we were fastest. I figured he (Kipp, who'd qualified fastest on Friday) was on a 600 and I was on a 750, so I'd have an advantage. I was confident I could go quicker. 1saw he had a new tire front and rear, so 1decided to just try and go right away. Rothman was on the stick early and 1 had to work to get by him." Kipp's last-minute decision to race paid off: "1 was sitting on pole so 1 figured it would look bad if 1 didn't race," Kipp said. "1 thought my lap times could win the race, but we changed some things and picked up a front-eld matter. 1 also didn't think they'd have that much of a power advantage." "1 got Gerald (Rothman) in two and that was the key," Pridmore said. "1 was able to be more aggressive in traffic after that." Ol Results 75Oc< SS FINAIo I. Scott Ruosell (Kaw); 2. Jaoon Pridmore (Kaw); 3. Tom IGpp (Hon); 4. Cerald Rothman. Jr. (!

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