Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

No pre-entry for Area Qualifiers HONDA Chandl er ' s Kenn y R ob erts-b a ck ed team , the Fili ce/ G all in a e ffo rt is findin g sponsorsh ip especially tight this year.' The rea sons usu ally g iven inclu de a wo r ldwide recession a nd th e Persian G u lf Wa r. T he tea m has a pair of Yamaha TZ250 Bs which they fitted wi th the factory speed kit just p rior to the openi ng G ra nd Pr ix , improving it im mediately . But there's more work to be done. " T he bike's a li ttl e heavy (244 lbs. ) a nd it hurts us a little bit," h e said. " 1 ca n' t compare it with wha t I rod e a long time ago," referri n g to ea rlier Yamahas. And it was th e firs t time he'd u sed Dun lo p tires s ince hi s 198 6 ' su pe rbike season ab oard the Yamaha FZ750. Filice ha d ridden before h is la st operation, but he sai d th ings reall y started rolling this past j anuary . "Shobert ca lled me a n d sa id to meet him at Kenn y's," the fam ed Ro berts ra nch in Hickman, north ern Californ ia. " He go t me motivat ed to train hard." But th e first tim e Filice rode a ro ad racer hard was a t a -Suzu ka test tw o week s prior to th e GP wh er e he found that, th ough he was physically fit , th e mach in e n eeded more development. " M r. Gallina ha s a lo t of experience with developing bikes," Fil ice sai d, but co nce ded , " We haven 't had much tim e to work with it. " O ut o n th e track , he real ized th at h e was going quicker each la p , but h e had no ill us io ns. " 1 do n' t expect to set th e world on fire in m y firs t race," he sai d. "1 j us t wa nt to qual ify a nd ma ke a good showing. " The a lways vo la ti le j ap a nese spri ng weather d id no thing to hel p Fil ice's comeba ck. The untimed p ractice a nd first qua lifying sessio n wer e both wet and rain y, th e seco n d qualifyin g session wa s run on a wet track, a nd it wasn 't unti l th e third session that the track was mostl y dry. Wh at th at meant wa s th at , assum ing th e race wo u ld be run on a dry track , all o f th e information for the race setup woul d have to be learnedin the single 50-minute sessio n. It wo uld be en ou gh of a burden on the teams who'd tested extensively in the o ff-seaso n and had raced last year, but for ' th e firs t yea r Fi lice effo rt, it was co n side ra bly more. T he y would qualify 24th out of 38, the firs t non-japanese Yamaha and right behind th e Ro th rna n s H onda production machine of Frenchman jean-Pierre j eandat. Eliminating th e n ine j apanese riders wh o would o n ly race h ere, Filice would have been 15th, not bad at a ll for a first race in over a year and a ha ir. Ther e would be a short warm-up session o n th e morning o f th e ra ce with more time for testin g a nd, a fter that, it would be a guessing ga me, U nfortunatel y, Filice guessed wrong. " 1 just ch ose th e wrong settings, I gu ess. I co nce ntra ted o n th e number one bike a nd rode th e number tw o bike. I th ought it wasn 't pulling as much rpm ," Fili ce sa id, co n firm ing what co u ld clearl y be heard tracksid e during th e race, " It was a bad decision , real bad. I was go ing to pull in , but I stayed out there." . H e would finish in 31st place, a lap down on th e leaders . His lap times , gradually improv ed , hi s fastest coming on the 15th of the 19 laps he wou ld complete. " Physically, I felt fin e," he said. " R igh t now I'm just starting to feel co n fident and getti ng my co nfidence back," he said. "At Laguna, hopefully I can q ualify on the second or third row. It 's going to be a good show," h e promised , a nd anyone that's seen him ride there knows not to doubt him. 0'1 Corne ride with us. NATIONAL CHAMPIONS HIP TRACKS NORTHEAST AREA QUAUFIERS MJDDtlCRHK.X. 8uddao..k. MD (30 '. 47&-2000 s-n.:L CITY lilt. OefmonI, PA (304 ) 5 ',!11 aIIICH . . . .. 8ft:h FIhoer. WY .•••••• •••• ~ en·2382 . .1·7 AlK. »21 . _ 27 ·28 TMUNDO:ItIDGIIIC. So E~.NY ..• (807)547-8620 25-:M IIIO-ATLAnIC. Aquuco, Me . . . . •. •. •. . . {301J3S4-2S25 It & Q AACtNQ . Hook.town, PA_.•• ..•. .• (4 ' 21 Q3-2MO May t8·'. _ """- ' ,2 NORTHEAST YOUTH REG IONAL June 15-1' FROZEN OCEAN IIX. Auburn . Ny .•....• (3151 7&4-5486 NORTHEAST AMATEUR REGIONAL .kiM 22-23 P'LaASURE 'ALLEy RWY ..."'*'Gh.po\ . .. .. 18 1 4. ~ ' '4 SO UTHEAST AREA QUALIFIERS ~ DEVILS RIDGE Al:Jr. 6-7 IIX . Santord. NC .• . . . . . . . (liIlli1) 776-2 4'2 GATORBAC K PARK. Gain _ viUe, Fl .. .... (813)822-8929 EC HECONHE E IIX . Mac on . GA ..•. ... .•. (912) 788-82 27 IIX 0'- MARlON CO •• Reddic k. Fl (90 4) SliIl ·2C)50 PRO SPORTS INC •• Wythevi lle. V (703) 228-3 118 DALLAS AtCKEA COMP.• Gre.fle¥me. TN . 1 703) 36C>5506 Apr.1 3 - 14 Apr. 21·28 May . - S May 11-12 Mey 18 ·1 9 ........ ..... .... 0. ~ SOUTHEAST AMATEUR REG IONAL L KE SUGAR T REE, June 1S·16 (703 ) 650-3030 xt c n, VA SOUTHEAST YOUTH REG IONAL June 22·23 GATOABACK PARK. Gainesville , FL ...••• 1 13) 822· 8929 8 MID EAST AREA QUALIFIERS Af'K. 20- 21 AfJf. V ·28 ....y .. ·5 Mav 11· 12 May 1,·t9 June 1·2 . .DauDCO..,.CLl.Mc. ~ n,MI •.. ,. Alll:MCAtI lIlT..,.,.•• tacA'""-". OH •• ; .....WOt'TC* MOIl•• 8I"ow" City. MI KIlIOe8l" " IUI _ x, Hortonv ille. IN. ; .... MNDUtIKY YLY; . . ... llttln. OM •• _•• • • • IfIO.V 1IOTDC1IOII8 . Mttehell . IN .•••. 1 ) eeH405 811 1 1_) S .2057 1 1 131 385- 210 3 f311 768-e200 «Ill&) 44 7·3064 (81 2) 801 902402 MID EAST AMATEUR REGIONAL .hi,. UH8 GLASS CITY _x, Oitlta. ,41 1, ee&-a

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