Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE AM! 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 7 ~ Jimmy Filice (65) leads Jon Cornwell (49) and the rest early in the 250cc race. Chris D' Aluisio soon took over the 250cc lead and he held it to the finish. DAluisio back on track at ' Texas World Speedway By Henny Ray Abrams COLLEGE STATION, TX, ocr. 6 avH ar Racin g's Ch ris D'Aluisio had a few problems at the sta rt of the 250cc Grand Prix at Texas Worl d Speedway. First, he got away poorl y, then he fou nd hi s recently rebu ilt Yamaha T Z250 didn 't wan t to run. Once it began to clear up, he made hi s move . " At first I cou ld see th e guys ou t front weren ' t go ing anywh ere," he said. " I decided it was my turn to go ." D'Aluisio . mo ved in to third.-cpas t Rick Kirk on the fifth lap, h e then passed J on Cornwell on the seventh before setting his sights on race-leader Jimmy Filice on th e LA MotorWorks Yamaha. After stalking him for a few lap s, D'Aluisio too k th e lead on the 10th of 28 laps and went on to win by 7.524 seconds. Filice was second, Cornwell third on the JJ Barnike L td/Equipe Castor/ Castrol -backed T Z250, with Lassak Racin g's Ri ck Kirk fourth. Gold Hill Racin g's Dan ny Walk er was a ph oto finis h fifth ahead of Del Amo Yam ah a/ Motorcyclist's Nick Ienatsch , D' Alui sio average d 92.07 3 mph during the 32-mi nu te, 50.603-second race. The points standings are headed by n . 14 Fili ce with 96 to Iena tsch 's 85 an d D'Aluisio's 84 with one race to run. T he jump on th e 16-rid er field went to Fil ice, q uickly into turn one ahea d of Corn we ll , Kirk , a nd Ien atsch . D'Aluisio was fart her back and findi ng it tou gh going. "T he bike was not up to speed rig h t off," he said. " I had to have a mass ive dr ive to keep up with them. 1 had no doubt it wou ld clear out." The top eight were spl it into fou r pairs on the four th lap, Filice leadin g Cornwell , D'Alu isio leadi ng Kirk, Walker in front of Ienatsch , and Rick T ripodi ahead of Martin Mill er. By the sevent h lap, D'Aluisio was up to th ird, Kirk was alo ne, an d Walker and Ienat sch were locked up in a race to th e fin ish. " I' d pi ck up, the n lose in traffic," Ienat sch said. " When he was ahea d of me 1 just kept pushing, tryin g hi s lin e in turn one." Fili ce relinquished the lead on th e 10th lap , though he wasn 't giv ing up. He stuck close to D'Alu isio, the mar gin cha ngi ng briefly in tra ffic, the lap times for both fall ing. After qualifyin g at 1:10.554, D'Aluisio was in the midnin es and would do a best of 1:09.3 late in th e race. It wasn't until the final th ird of th e race th at he was abl e to put an y distance on Filice and feel secure abo u t the win. Soo n a fte r being p a ssed , Filice real ized tha t D'Aluisio was pulling him off th e corne rs and on top speed. " I decided to finish second, " he said . " It was an easy race. We were cu tting good la p times in the n in es rea l comfortably. He was sticking with me earl y. 1 saw zero -plus, zero -plus on my lap board s. When he pa ssed me 1 follow ed h im for a few laps and pressured him hoping he would make a mistake and he didn 't." Both Cornwell and Kirk were well alone in th ird and fourth, respectively, but for different reasons. " I don 't want to make any comments about the bike, but it wasn't running good, " Cornwell said. " When Chris came by 1 kn ew it wasn 't as strong as hi s. 1 couldn 't draft and stay with h im on the straight. 1 let them go." Kirk felt he had the engine to move to the front, but no t the cha ssis, hi s 1990 model unable to handle the tight part of th e track as well as the current T Zs. . "T he engine is pl enty strong enough to win ," he said, but added he couldn't get it through the ess turns as well. " You always want to win, but fourt h p lace, I'll take it." The race for fifth carne down to th e line, literally, with Walker getting it in a photo finish. Ien atsch said he didn't want to "get sideways and blow his driv e" ou t of the last turn on to the front straight. " He was ju st a little tougher," Ienatsch said, adding that he was still ha ppy with th e race. "I got into th e lOs, 10.8. 1 qualified 12.8 and ran 10.8." Martin Mill er fini shed sevent h with Tripodi . eigh th, Doug Carmichael n i nt h , and Will iam Himmelsba ch CN 10th. Results QUAUFYtNG: I. Chr is D'Aluisio (1:10.554); 2. Ji m Filice (1:10.735); 3. J on Cornwell (1:11.047); 4. banny Wal ker (1;11.483); 5. Rick Kirk (1:11.752); 6. Nick Ien tasch (1:12.882); 7. Rick Tri podi (1:13.085); 8. Jimmy Mosley (1:13.566); 9. Doug Car m ichael (1:14.229); 10. Ma rtin Mille r (1:14.664); II. Will ia m Himmelsbach (1;15.146); 12. Kurt Dimi ck (1:16.403); 13. J ohn Fran ce (I :I7.764); 14. Thornton McPheeters (1:17.958); 15. Andrew Perk ins (1;18.868); 16. Frank Klernen tich (I;22.596). 250cc NATIONAL: 1. Chris D'Aluisio (Yam) ; 2J im my Fili ce (Yarn): 3.10n Cornwell (Yam]: 4. Ric k j(,irk (Yam); 5. Dan ny Walk er (Yam); 6. Nick Ientasch (Yam); 7. Mart in Mill er (Yam ); 8. Rick Tripodi (Yam); 9. Dou g Cartnichael (Yam) ; 10. William H immelsbach (Yam); I I. J im my Mosl ey (Ya m); 12Kurt Dimick (Ya m) ; 13. J ohn Fra nce (Yam); 14. Thornton McPh eeters (Ho n); 15. Andrew Perkins (Yam); 16. Frank Klem enti ch (Ya m). . Tim~: 32 m in .. 50.603 sec. Distance: 28 1aps, 50.4 miles. AV

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