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O ctober 21, 1992 10 ROAD RACE AMA 600/75ÖCC SupersportSeries: Final rounds Tom Kipp and Mike Smith were this close for most of the 600cc Supersport final. Kipp tops Smith in Texas By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams COLLEGE STATION, TX, OCT. 11 I n the beginning of the season, Camel Honda's Tom Kipp had a little trou ble getting up to speed at the start of 600cc Supersport races. Hence, his team mate Mike Smith often put together two or three quick laps right off the bat, making him very difficult to beat. At Texas World Speedway, Kipp showed just how far he has come in his champi onship-winning year as he blasted off the start and set the pace for the dura tion of the season finale. The Ohioan, who wrapped up the series championship at Mid-Ohio in August, ended his season with a victory, topping fellow Honda CBR600 pilot Smith by 4.188 seconds after 20 laps of racing at Texas World Speedway. Third place went to Yoshimura Suzuki's Dave Sadowski after a race-long battle with teammate Britt Turkington on the sec ond GSXR600. Two Brothers Racing- backed Randy Renfrow rounded out the top five finishers on his Honda CBR600. The victory was Kipp's third of the season, tieing him with Smith for the most wins on the year in the 600cc class. Kipp won the 36-mile race in 23 min utes, 44.443 seconds at an average clip of 90.983 mph. The final championship point stand ings list Kipp with 156 points, some 42 points clear of second-placed Steve Crevier, sixth today, on the Two Brothers Racing Honda CBR600. Third place in the championship went to Crevier's teammate Rick Kirk, seventh in Texas, with 111 points to Renfrow's 100. Smith, who missed several races with a badly broken leg and was mak ing his racing return at Texas World, managed to salvage fifth place in the championship with 90 points. While Kipp was outstanding at the front, the ride of the day may have come from Crevier. The Canadian was forced wide at the start of the race and made his way down the short straight linking turns two and three on the dirt. By the time he returned to the pavement, he was dead last. Riding like a man on a mission, Crevier fought through, pass ing some 18 riders, including Kirk, to finish sixth. When the flag dropped on the 20-lap final it was Kipp out ffont, leading a horde of riders that included Smith, Sadowski, Gerald Rothman Jr., Renfrow, Turkington and Kirk. Crevier, mean while, was making his way to turn three on the dirt. "I got a good start, but Renfrow pushed me wide and then a bunch of others kept me out there," Crevier said. "I had no cornering speed and I was sliding in the rough. I drove straight to turn three rather than take a crash." Crevier would knife his way through the pack, his pace not slowed until he finally caught up with the battle for sixth between Kirk and Rothman. Once past, Crevier could go no further and he would finish sixth, quite a distance behind Renfrow. Meanwhile, up front, Kipp stopped any thoughts Smith may have had of passing and pulling away from his teammate. The pair pulled clear from the pack, with Kipp finally pulling out a gap in traffic on the 10th and 11th laps. By the finish, he was 4.188 seconds clear of Smith. "I really wanted that," said Kipp, who dedicated his victory to Larry Schwarzbach's family who were in attendance at Texas World Speedway. "I wanted to win the last race. I thought it would be a nice deal to win the last race of the year. I can't say enough about how the Dunlop tires worked. Earlier in the season I had a tough time getting going at the start. Here I really ham mered it for the first four or five laps." Smith soldiered on to a lonely second place, pleased with his result consider ing it was his first race back: "I went a second and a half faster than what I qualified," Smith said. "So I was already in Wonderland. I was hoping he (Kipp) would make a mistake in traffic, but I did. I'm a bit rusty. I usually make the front end chatter on the 600, but I couldn't today. I just haven't ridden fast in so damn long." The race for third between the two rapidly developing Suzuki GSXR600s went to the finish line with Sadowski drafting by his teammate Turkington right at the finish line. "I caught Turk when he was slowed by some backmarkers," Sadowski said of the final lap. "All the lines were taken so I went outside and went for it. I saw this Kawasaki Ninja and knew it had the widest tail section so I tucked in - then it was like angels came out of the sky and pushed me by him." cn Results 600cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: 1. Tom Kipp (Hon); 2. Mike Smith (Hon); 3. Dave Sadowski (Suz); 4. Britt Turkington (Suz); 5. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 6. Steve Crevier (Hon); 7. Rick Kirk (Hon); 8. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Hon); 9. Robin Holiday (Hon): 10. Glenn Szarek (Hon); 11. Chuck Downie (Hon); 12. Thomas Wilson (Hon); 13. Tatsuhiko lino (Hon); 14. Jeb Bridgeman (Hon); 15. Pete Martins (Suz); 16. David Kuliński (Kaw); 17. Thomas Dinardo (Hon); 18. Bryan Hanson (Yam); 19. Jeff Covington (Suz); 20. David Tuntland (Hon); 21. John Condron (Suz); 22. Stu Morrison (Yam); 23. Doug Simmons (Hon); 24. Marcus McBain (Hon). Time: 23 mins., 44.443 sec. Distance: 20 laps, 36 miles. Average Speed: 90.983 mph. Margin of Victory: 4.188 sec. FINAL 600cc SUPERSPORT SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Tom Kipp (156); 2. Steve Crevier (114); 3. Rick Kirk (111); 4. Randy Renfrow (100); 5. Mike Smith (90); 6. Larry Schwarzbach (74); 7. Britt Turkington (69); 8. James Leslie (61); 9. Gerald Rothman Jr. (53); 10. Chuck Downie (43). Russell in a romp By Henny Ray Abrams COLLEGE STATION,TX, OCT. 10 T - -- start. If the two-time defending 750cc Supersport champion gates well the race is over. When the 750cc Supersport race was green-lighted on a hot and sunny late afternoon at Texas World Speedway, Russell was away second, a very good start. End of story. By the fifth of 20 laps he had nearly a three second lead, by the halfway point he had close to 10 seconds which he increased to better than 13 before back ing off at the end with a greasy rear tire. The official margin of victory for the 36- mile race was 12.473 secs., but it could easily have been much more. "The tire started to wear and I started to get out of shape," Russell, who aver aged a record 91.096 mph in completing the race in 23 minutes, 42.676 seconds, said. "I developed a chatter mid-race. You had to know that's what it was and not push it through the turns. " Still, Russell was happy about win ning his third consecutive title. "The whole year's been great fun for me. Three years, three championships. This might be my last year riding this class so I'm happy to go out with a win," Russell said. Second went to Russell's Muzzy Kawasaki teammate, Tripp Nobles. Nobles moved into second on the fifth lap and gradually pulled away from a spirited battle for third crossing the line with a ten second cushion on third. The battle for third went right to the line, Michael Barnes taking the New Tech Cycle, Muzzy, Bridgestone Kawasaki to the top of the banking to cross the line just more than a bike length in front of Class Racing's Fritz Kling who chose the apron for Ids run to the flag. Gerald Rothman Jr. was fifth ahead of the Honda 600's of Two Brothers Racing's Steve Crevier and Randy Renfrow. Class Racing's Jason Pridmore was bumped back to eighth, but clinched the Top Expert title. The final championship numbers have Russell winning with 134, Pridmore second with 102, and Kling third with 95. Pridmore grabbed the lead at the start, Russell fast on his tail with Kling and Rothman close behind. But before the first lap ended, two riders were out. Canadian Owen Weichel crashed on the straightaway between turns two and three, taking Louis Saccoccio out of the race with him. Russell outbraked Pridmore going into the left hand-turn three on the third lap to take command of the race. He quickly asserted himself and was gone. Barring any problems, the race would be for second. "I though I was going to have to race with Jason and the guys," Russell explained. I had to put a move on them in the esses and put some serious ground on them. I had so much more confidence in the racetrack than I'd had all weekend." The track had been a sin gle greasy-lined circuit, but the bikes in the three-hour endurance race, run just prior to the 750cc Supersports, put down enough rubber to change the nature of the course. It took Nobles a little longer to pull away than Russell had taken, but by the halfway point he had close to three sec onds and was using Russell as a marker to chart his progress. "I could see Scott. He was my gauge as I pulled away from them," Nobles said. "I could get a lot better drive onto the straight than Jason's bike, but I could barely hang onto him on the straight." Still, he left the battle for third to oth ers. It was a three-way battle most of the race, Pridmore leading Kling and Barnes, riding in only his second 750cc Supersport race of the year. Barnes moved into third at the halfway point, Pridmore taking it back on the 14th lap, Kling taking it a few laps later. With a few laps to go, Pridmore was hung up in traffic, losing touch with the others. The race would come down to the last lap, Barnes hold ing the lead going into the infield, Kling unable to get around him. Pridmore was fifth until the last cor ner when he got bumped aside and ended up eighth. "Crevier hit me in the last corner. I didn't even know he was there. I thought I was OK in fifth place, then here comes Steve," Pridmore said. "I wanted to get top five so I could be sec ond overall and Top Expert champion. But I couldn't get the front end to stick. I was going so slow through the infield that I was holding people up." Gerald Rothman Jr., who was right behind Crevier going into the last turn saw it this way: "Jason didn't take the same line as he took the lap before. Crevier touched him and it gave me a straight line to the right at them to the flag." or Results 750cc SUPERSPORT FINAL: 1. Scott Russell (Kaw); 2. Tripp Nobles (Kaw); 3. Mike Barnes (Kaw); 4. Fritz Kling (Kaw); 5. Gerald Rothman Jr. (Kaw); 6. Steve Crevier (Hon); 7. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 8. Jason Pridmore (Kaw); 9. Mike Taylor (Kaw); 10. Dean Mizdal (Kaw); 11. Robert Wright (Suz); 12. Thomas Wilson (Suz); 13. D.Greg Abbott (Kaw); 14. Bob Sandy (Kaw); 15. Robin Holiday (Hon): 16. David Tuntland (Hon); 17. Mark Black (Kaw); 18. Thomas DiNardo (Hon). Time: 23 mins., 42.676 secs. Distance: 20 laps, 36 miles. Margin of Victory: 12.473 secs. Average Speed: 91.096 mph. FINAL 750cc SUPERSPORT SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Scott Russell (134); 2. Jason Pridmore (102); 3. Fritz Kling (95); 4. Gerald Rothman Jr. (89); 5. Tripp Nobles (79); 6. Mike Taylor (73); 7. Randy Renfrow (69); 8. Louis Saccoccio (51); 9. Bob Sandy (45); 10. Dean Mizdal (40); 11. Bruce Baldus (39); 12. Steve Crevier (38); 13. Titian Bue (28); 14. (Tie) Mike Harth/Thonias Stevens/Robert Wright (20); 17. (Tie) Chuck Downie/Andrew Stroud (19); 19. (Tie) Owen Weichel/Ray Yoder Jr. (17). 21. John Choate (16); 22. (Tie) Tom Kipp/Michael Barnes (15); 24. Thomas Wilson (13); 25. Rick Kirk (10).