Clipboard
Clipboard
RACE WATCH
Daytona etc.
600 Supersport: We expect close racing from 600s, but Daytona was fabulous, with as many as 10 riders in the lead group, continually using all their guile and skill to zap one another.
Pascal Picotte, the ultimate winner, said it best: “I was leading. Then, all of a sudden, I was seventh!”
At the start, it was Picotte by a whisker, on the new GSX-R600 Suzuki, over Miguel Duhamel (Hon), long the dominant force in this series. Duhamel retook the lead and the clash of sabers resounded until a red flag on lap 5. Then the action redoubled, but after many more laps of cut-andthrust, mistakes had their effect and leaders finally asserted themselves.
At the end it was Picotte, Steve “I’m back on the box!” Crevier (Hon), Aaron Yates (Suz), Duhamel (who had been second only three laps before) and Ben Bostrom (Hon).
The coming of the Suzukis has provoked a small crisis. The Honda F3 has been an outstanding motorcycle, so much so that team riders have wished out loud that their RC45 Superbikes handled as well. The engine’s power per cubic inch well exceeds that of pure-racing engines of only a few years ago-and this is a stock-engine series. But hard competition pushes these bikes into serious, limiting front-end chatter. Endless research has failed to find a solution that pleases the riders, the accountants and the manufacturer. This poses a question, because 750cc > sportbikes have become expensive in the process of making them suitable starting points for Superbikes-that’s one reason why 600s are so popular; they provide almost the same performance for a lot less money. To develop the 600s further risks driving them down this same path to higher cost. And declining sales.
Those with an ear to the ground believe the FIM may foreseeably switch its Superbike formula from 750cc Fours/lOOOcc Twins to 600cc Fours/ 750cc Twins. This will have the same effect: forcing the makers to push 600 development, in hopes the resulting racing success will sell bikes. This is a contradiction: To squeeze commercial success from stock-based racing, the basic machines must be made too expensive to sell.
Supercross: The Daytona Supercross is tough. Rider condition and the bike’s “fatigue factor” are crucial. Flow many spine-crushing carrier landings can one body tolerate in a day? Every lap is a physical bill to pay, so careful budgeting counts.
To a novice spectator, this serious athletic sport has its humorous aspect, with bikes rising and falling all around the course like robotic rabbits in a video game, while the machines say rude but enthusiastic things like “Yurt!” and “Rort!” Or, you could look at the bikes and riders as tappets and valves, while the track is the cam, and gravity is a weak and imperfect valve spring. Riders do everything they can to avoid “valve float,” trying to keep that back wheel on the ground and driving-but exaggerated float is the big draw for the spectator. And >
there’s the craziness of the start, which is like yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater with only one exit.
First through that door were Jeff Emig (Kaw) and Ezra Lusk (Yam), with the Great Jeremy Experiment back in 15th place. McGrath and his new Suzuki would work hard today to show that there can indeed be Supercross without full factory sponsorship. Emig and Doug Henry (Yam) ran side-byside overjumps, showing how different lines could add up to the same pace.
Emig had the power as Henry and Lusk faded back, Greg Albertyn (Suz) gained and McGrath ate his way through the pack. Each time Albertyn challenged, Emig had the reserves to pull away, under control, making no errors.
At the end, it was Emig by 5 seconds over Albertyn, with McGrath a hard-earned third. Mike LaRocco (Suz) and Larry Ward (Hon) completed the top five.
250 Grand Prix: Rich Oliver has won every AMA 250 national the past two seasons, thanks to his own riding, organizational skill and machine preparation. Two challengers appeared, both of whom led briefly: veteran Randy Renfrew on a Moto Liberty Honda RS250 tuned by John Lassak, and Al Salaverria on a Glen Paron-sponsored 1997 Aprilia 250 prepared with factory help.
The racing lasted two laps. Entering Turn 1 on lap 2, Salaverria’s back wheel kicked out (symptomatic of a seizure) and he was down. Exiting the Chicane, Oliver got a strong drive-enough to break the draft that sheltered Renfrow. Of the Aprilia, Oliver later said, “It has power. And they’ll get in the winners’ circle later in the season. But it takes time to achieve anything with a new team and a new bike.”
Oliver jetted away, beginning to lap other riders by the sixth circuit. Having more than 10 seconds in hand after lap 13, he cruised.
Renfrew was second, with Roland Sands (Yam) third. Venezuelan Luis Lavado (Yam), brother of retired GP star Carlos Lavado, was fourth and John McGuinness (Apr) rounded out the top five.
H-D SuperTwins: Don Tilley is a top 883 builder, a man whose seamed face and plain speech radiate...well, wisdom. He described the problems of building a fast 883: “Which would you want?” he asked. “A 66-horsepower peak with 52 averaged horsepower from 4000 to 7000, or a 62-horsepower peak with a 59horsepower average across the band?”
Top speed needs top power, but without high average power, you can’t climb up there. Tilley went on to explain that people understand the 883 pretty well now-there are no more big gains. The game is finding the best compromise for a given track.
A short look at practice shows another kind of progress. When the class began, fully half the field smoked heavily on deceleration. Now, only three or four puffers could be seen. Everyone’s hip to the little things, like shaved oil pumps. Forget all your smart remarks about lumberwagons, too-this is real racing. Riders who started in this class are sitting on factory Superbikes today.
In the race, the well-armed pair of Eric Bostrom (Miller Electric H-D) and Shawn Higbee (Tilley-Small H-D) got away from the field to take first and second, side-by-side in that order, by 8 seconds over Lance Jones, Jake Zemke and Dave Estok.
750 Supersport: The first
two rows of the 750 Supersport grid were solid Suzuki-except for the Zero Gravity Honda CBR600F3 of Ben Bostrom in second. Jason Pridmore, the Phoenix winner and son of early AMA Superbike hero Reg Pridmore, sat on the pole.
After a first-lap red flag, Pridmore led every lap, clearing off to win by 18 seconds over former World and AMA Superbike Champion Doug Polen (Suz) and Bostrom.
