MOTORCYCLES : Turkington Makes the Right Choice and Wins

With Gerald Rothman on the inside trailing him by a few yards, Britt Turkington considered his options as the last left turn approached.

As Rothman took a deep turn, Turkington utilized his experience and decided to stay on the outside. It worked.

Turkington barely outpowered Rothman to win the American Motorcyclist Assn. 750 SuperSport race by 0.246 seconds Saturday afternoon at the Pomona Fairplex.

“I was going to go inside, but I decided, with this track, that if he took the inside it would force him wide,” said Turkington, who started in the pole position and averaged 85.448 m.p.h. for the 23 laps.

Starting in the first row, Ventura native Jason Pridmore crashed into a hay bale on the first lap of the 2.1-mile course, but regrouped and finished third.

After Pridmore crashed, Fred Merkel, the all-time leader in superbike victories with 19, smashed into Pridmore’s bike, forcing Merkel out of the race. Neither Merkel nor Pridmore was injured.

In the AMA Middleweight Team Challenge that followed, Team Moto Liberty/Honda easily outraced Team H I Racing 2 by 16.471 seconds.