AMA Press Release: Alessandro Gramigni on Pole, Nate Wait Injured at Brainerd

07/16/96

GRAMIGNI TAKES POLE, WAIT INJURED AT BRAINERD

BRAINERD, Minn. -- Italian Alessandro Gramigni rode a Ducati
to the pole for Sunday's AMA Superbike Series race at Brainerd
International Raceway.  Gramigni, a 27-year-old former 125cc Grand
Prix World Champion, set a new track record of 109.862 miles per hour,
shattering the old mark set by Miguel Duhamel (108.913) last year on a
Honda. For Gramigni, the winner of the AMA Superbike race at Elkhart
Lake, Wisconsin in June, it is his first AMA Superbike pole in only
his fourth race in the U.S..

Gramigni's Ducati teammate Larry Pegram, of Baltimore, Ohio,
qualified second at 109.807 mph. Rounding out the front row is AMA
Superbike Series leader Doug Chandler (109.791 mph) on a Kawasaki and
defending champion Miguel Duhamel, a Canadian living in Los Angeles,
who turned in a speed of 109.647 mph on a Honda.

The top six qualifiers lapped under Duhamel's old track
record.

Pascal Picotte edged Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates to win the
Teamline 750cc SuperSport final by just over one-tenth of a second to
extend his lead in the series. Floridian Michael Barnes was third.

Nate Wait, 17, of Lodi, California, was seriously injured in a
one-bike accident during Progressive Insurance Harley-Davidson
SuperTwins. Wait, who is the second-ranked rider in the class, lost
control of his machine coming on to the front straight and crashed
violently into the outside retaining wall. Wait was thrown over the
wall on impact and his injuries included a fractured left femur,
fractured left arm, a concussion and a laceration on his left
leg. Wait was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd before
being airlifted to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale (a suburb of
Minneapolis).