MOTORCYCLES / AMA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT POMONA : Dirt-Track Experience Pays Dividend for Hale

Mike Hale had two for the road Sunday.

Two, as in two first-place finishes in the road races at the Pomona Fairplex, where the American Motorcyclist Assn. Championship series held its second stop.

Hale, a former winner of the Grand National dirt track series, won the Superbikes and 600cc SuperSport races for his first national road race victories.

“For sure, the dirt track experience helped me with the race--it was a constant slide out there with the oil and everything,” Hale said.

In both his races Sunday, he battled Pascal Picotte and Steve Crevier early before opening large leads.

Crevier agreed that Hale’s dirt experience helped him on a track that was crowded, bumpy and slick in some spots.

“I knew I would have to slow down on some of the turns, like the carousel (turn six), but Mike took them with no problem,” Crevier said. “You can’t make up a five-second lead on a track like this . . . well, maybe if Mike would have slowed down to wait for us.”

After overtaking Picotte in the eighth lap of the Superbikes, Hale won by 12 seconds over Crevier. Picotte finished third, four seconds behind Crevier.

Picotte, who gained the pole position in the Superbikes by recording the best time in the practice runs, was in the top three spots throughout, despite a broken collarbone suffered at Daytona three weeks ago.

“It bothered me a lot, especially after I got (bumped on the eighth lap),” Picotte said. “My muscles tightened up and that really made it hurt.”

In the 600cc SuperSport bikes, Hale won convincingly after taking the lead when Picotte crashed on the seventh lap. Picotte was the leader after six laps when the red flag was raised to stop the race because of oil on the track.

Hale took advantage of the opportunity and had leads of up to eight seconds. The real race was between Crevier and Larry Pegram for second place. Pegram crashed on the last turn of the race and Crevier took second. Miguel Duhamel finished third.

Dave Estok won the Harley-Davidson SuperTwins race, much to his own surprise.

“That was the first time I ever led a national race,” he said. “With all the oil out there, I probably pushed it too hard. But it feels good to win one.”

Shawn Higbee, who won the Pomona stop last year, finished second and Matt Wait finished third.

Rich Oliver won the 250cc Grand Prix race so easily that he apologized afterward for making the race boring to fans. He won by 12 seconds over second-place finisher Nick Ienatsch.

In Saturday’s late dirt races, Jay Springsteen won both the Harley-Davidson 883 12-lap, half-mile main event and the 25-lap Grand National half-mile.