Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE ~ - AM! 25Oa: Grand Prix Series: Round 2 0 ") 0") Jimmy Filice (93) leads Nick Ienatseh (24) and eventual winner Danny Walker (71). W m the right choice alker akes By Henny Ray Abrams LOUDON, NH, JUN 16 ust before the start of the 250cc Grand Pr ix, Go ld H ill Racin g's Dan ny Wal ker mad e a decision that wou ld win him his first-ever AMA professional road race. "At the very last minute we took a ga mble and put slicks on ," the Data Track/Shoe i/ Dvnajet-sponso red Coloradoan said. " I knew 1 couldn 't ca tch them at the start, " he said, knowing that the partly wet ' track was still d ryi ng , " but 1 thought I'd catc h up a li ttle at a ti me." , As it happened, Walker stal ked race lead er Ni ck len a tsch , Del Amo Yamaha-mou nted, and passed h im wit h seven laps to go in the 32-lap, 39.2-mile ra ce. Fro m then o n he quickly opened up a gap tha t would be 7.499 seconds at the end. Walk er fini sh ed the race in 45 minutes, 07.940 seconds at an average speed of 68.067 mph. T h ird went to Canadia n Rick T ripodi on the Bru tune Racing Services! Silkolene Oil s! Arai Yam aha wit h fourth going to DavH ar Racing 's Chris D'Alu sio and fifth to Dian etics' Don Gree ne. Tires wou ld be the key for the race. T he top four q ua lifiers a ll had different combi na tions wit h Walk er's, n inth fastest, the most unique. H is were a Mich elin Radial front and Du nlop Radial rear. . Fast q ua lifier Jim Fili ce made a last minute decision to use Dunlop rain tires front and rea r o n hi s debu t aboard the L.A. Motor Wor ks Yam ah a and it cos t h im. T ho ug h th e ,Californ ian wo uld ru n near the fro nt ear ly on , as the track dried he'quickly faded to an elevent h p lace fin ish. D'Alu sio chose a bias p ly Dun lop rain fro nt and ' a ha nd -cu t slick rear wit h Ien at sch mo unting a Dunlo p intermediate fro nt and slick rear , handscuffed o n the pi t lane. Fourth fastest Jon Cornwell wen t wit h Dun lop slicks front and rear. Filice led at the start before mov ing ba ckwards, ha nding the lea d to , lenatsch to sta rt the fou rt h lap. In an effort to stay near the front , Fil ice was usin g wide, sweeping lines wh ere the track was still wet, but it wou ldn 't help . Ien a tsch , runn ing in th e low I :24 lap range, six seconds slo wer than he' d quali fied, tr ied to pull a way, but Corn well would have non e of it. T he persistent Canadian stuck to his rear , J 8 using an aggressive pass under the Mo tor cyclist magazi ne editor to start the eig hth lap . Walker was alo ne in third with D'Alu sio fou rth ahead of Tripodi and the fading Filice wit h Greene sevent h. Mor e da ring in traffic, Corn well q u ickly pulled away u ntil the 12th lap wh en he cras hed on the back part of the course. " My visor mi sted up going under the trees," Cornwell began , " and I clipped some wet pavemen t, lost th e fro nt en d a n d put i t do w n . Th e suspension sto pped wor king because the foo tpeg was jam med in the swinga rm and I had to come into the pi ts to fix it." ' After re-join ing the race nearl y a lap down, Cornwell was ins tant ly bac k up to speed pi ckin g off ri ders every lap o n his way to sixth. " I made one error at the top of the h ill and it cost me," he said. At the halfway mark , lenatsch had over a l 4-second lead o ver Walker who was well in front of D'Al usio, wit h Tripod i cha rgi ng. Well ba ck was Gr een e with Tom Pari s up to seventh. A lap lat er, o n the 17th lap , Walker knoc ked three second s off lenat sch 's lead and , af ter one mor e go -aro u nd, the ga p was under nin e with Walker 's lap time a I :22.36 and lenatsch still in the 1:25s. It was on ly a matter of time befor e the lead would cha nge hands and it ha ppened in traffic o n th e 25th lap as th e two h it backm arkers in the slo w turn three left-b ander. len atsch go t 'sand wiched between a pai r of slower ri ders wit h Walk er taki ng a lower line tha t appeared to be slower, but was ultim ately more adva ntageous. Once o u t front , Walk er was n' t to be denied. " As soo n as I cam e in from the first warm-up lap I told my crew we were stylin '," Walk er said. "The dr y line go t wider and wid er and wid er and it worked o ut ." Wal ker said he uses a Micheli n fron t becau se it "s ticks like glue," and he hadn 't been able to fin d a Dunlop that wor ked as well , though he liked th e Dunlop rear. H is on ly proble m was one most of th e riders experienced; a fogg ing facesh ield . " Fro m the second lap o n I cou ldn' t see and had to open the shield. I proba bly overshot turn three because of th at and thought I was going down. I coul d have gone five seconds a lap faster if I could see," Walk er said. The problem was worse for Ienatsch , wh o cou ld be seen flipping his visor up in the first few corners, since he also wears eyeglasses. " It was prett y fogg ed up and I would open it but the wind would push it down," he said. " With glasses, it' s a double hassle. But it didn 't slow me down tha t mu ch . "The bottom line is that yo u can' t ha ve the front end go, " lenatseh said, explai ni ng his front tir e choice. " I fig ured I could use something soft. I was over there just before the race doing a tire change. Basically, I went, as fast as I thought I cou ld go and Walk er though t he could go faster and he sure did. " But Ien at sch was still abl e to maintai n his points lead atop the 250cc Grand Prix Ch ampionship standings wi th 32 to D'Alusio's 24. T om Paris is th ird with 21, one better than Walk er. D' Alu sio lost third at the halfway ma rk when Tripodi for ged past in the turn three left-hander. The Connecticut native tri ed to stay close, but h is front was di sintegrating badl y and it was all he cou ld do to stay upright. " I had to change all my lines," D'Alus io said . " I had to go in slo wer to lift the front so I wasn 't working it. Down hill turn nin e was unbelievab le. It was a who le different track." Tripodi's fro nt, a Michelin rain radia l was "amazing," he said. "I was bra king almos t as good as on slicks," and that's where he would make tim e up since he conceded that D'Alusio's bike was a little quicker. Part of that, T ripodi explai ned, was du e to his havin g to use one stoc k and o ne modified cyli nder on his Brutune Racing Services Yamaha. " We were breaking in the barrel on th e warmup laps," he said. Only th e top four riders finished on the lead lap with Don Greene a lap down in fifth ahead of the resurgent Cornwell, and Matt Crane seventh. CN Results 250 QUAUFYlNG: I. J immy Fili ce (1:17.886); 2. Chris b 'Alu isio ( 1: 18.05 5 ); 3. Nick Ie n atsch (1:18,178); 4. Jon Cornwell (1:18.663); 5. Martin Miller ( 1 : 1 8.85~); 6. Don Greene (1:19.277) ; 7. Rick Kirk (1:19.333); 8. Andn:w Trevitt (1:19.523); 9. Dan ny Walker ( 1: 19. 762 ); 10. Mike Suthvan (1:19.926); II. Rick Tripodi (1:20.150 ); 12. Mau Crane (1:20.152); 13. SlC'Ve Lombardo (1:20. 165); 14. Brad Sawyer (1:20.173); 15. T om Paris (1:20.563); 16. William H immelsbach (1:21.193); 17. Stephane Bergeron (1:2 1.889); 18. CIiCC Bigoney (1:22.549); 19. Ji mmy Mosley (1:22.893); 20. Donn Lewis (1:23.344); 21. J e£lJ ohnson (1:23.673); 22. Greg Esser (1:23.761); 23. Ri chard Inman (1:23.820); 24. J im Bonner (1:23.87 1); 25. Joe .Cole (1:23.902) ; 26. Mark Long (1:23.962); 27. Michael Hunger (I :24. 142); 28. Dam:1I Cooney (1:24.182); 29. Kun Dimick (1:24.545); 30. Perry Melnectuc (1:24.577); 31. Thornton McPheet ers (1:25. 140); 32. Mike Lavallee (1:25.569) ; 33. John France (1:25.760); 34. Edward Borowy (1:27.230); 35. Mike Mondo (1:27.622 ). 250cc nNAL: I. Danny Walker (Yam ); 2. Ni ck Ienatsch (Yam); 3. Rick Tripodi (Yam ); 4. Chris D' Aloisio (Yam); 5. Don Green e (Yam); 6. Jon Cornwell (Yam); 7. Mau Crane (Yam); 8. Tom Pari s (Yarn); 9. Wilham Himmelsbach (Yam ); 10. Brad Sawyer (Ya m); II. J im Filice (\'am); 12. Mike Sul h van (Yam); 13. Jimmy Mosley (Ya m); 14. Michael Hun'er (Yarn ); 15. Donn Lewis (Yam); 16. Step ha ne Bergeron (H on); 17. Steve Lombardo (Yam); 18. Edward Borowy (Ho n); 19. Martin Miller (Yam ); 20. Greg Esser (Yam ); 21. John France (Yam) ; 22. Philipe Landru (Yam); 23. Joe Cole (Yam); 24. Thornton McPhccrers (H on); 25. Andn:w Trevitt (Yam); 26. Kurt Dimi ck (Yam); 27. Jim Bonner (Yam); 28. Mark Long (Yam); 29. Jeff Johnson (~am ) ; 30. <;Jill Bigon ey (Yam ~ Time: 45 mm., 7.940 sec. Disrancc: 32 laps , 5 1.2 mil es. AYCnIgc Speed 68.067 mph. : Margin o(Vietory: 7.499 sec. 250cc GP C'SWP POINT STANDINGS: I. Nick Ienatsch (32); 2. Chris 0 'Aloisio (24); 3. Tom Paris (2 1); 4. Danny Walker (20); 5. Jon Cornwell (17); 6. Rick Tripodi (15); 7. Don Greene (II ); 8. Dou g Brauneck (10 ); 9. (T IE) Mau Crane/William H immelsbach (9); II. Joe Cole (8); 12. Brad Sa~ (6); rs, (TI E)Jim Filir:c/Andrew Trev itt (5); 15. Mtke Sullivan (4). F fastest in petum ilice J immy Filice last won the Loudon 250cc race in 1982 on the old circuit. The last fuU season he rode in the U.S. was in 1987, and that was on a superbike, And he started this season with offers in both the GPs and the WERA Formula II Series. But when the call came from Maurice Murray to race a near stock L.A, Motor Works Yamaha TZ250 in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series, Filice said yes. And with points leader NiCk lenatseh only 15 points in front, Filice arrived at Loudon as an instant threat for the title. Filice had only ridden the L.A. 'M9!or Works machine for 30 laps during a test at Laguna Seca and he'd never seen the new layout at Loudon. But that didn't stop him from setting Ute fast time and taking the pole position in his first AMA 250cc race in nearly tWo years. "Yesterday I didn't get a real clean lap," Filice said on Saturday afternoon afte r clocking a I minute, 17.866 second lap at an average speed of 73.594 m1,>h. "I made some changes today in my strategy. Yesterday was like il'te GPs. The first few laps were clean. Then I caught slower riders too soon and I was always in traffi c. Today, I started slow, warmed up the tires, got some gaps and it worked out better. The track is short and tight and it's hard to be alone," The Modesto, California resident - the only rider in the 17s - said the hardri part of the track was the uneven transition from the oval to the road section where the track either jumped up or fell off. " If they weren't there, it'd be at least a second. You lose a lot of comer speed," he said. Second-fastest Chris D'Alusio agreed with Filice on the problems of the track and traffic. 'The biggest thing this morning was getting a free track," the DavHar! AraiI Dunlop-sponsored D'Alusio said. "I knew within the first few laps !:he bike wasn't set, but I did improve.There's very limited time on the track. It gives you alot of time to consider changes. The changes we made didn't really help," D'AIusio said, explaining his suspension and motor adjustments. But, noting how close the top several riders were, D' Alusio said, "No one s going to pull away tomorrow. Everyone's on the same tires and, basically, the sa me bikes. This is definitely a racer's track," Third fastest was Del Amo Yamaha's Nick Ienatsch, his 1:18.178just.122 seconds slowe r than D'Alusio on his first visit to the New Hampshire circuit. Ienatscli was nearly pitched off the front of the Yamaha over the bansi bumps, beDding the fairing brackets in the RTocess and putting boot Canadian :Jon Com . the front row time of l ::IS 663 wtii ve on:in

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