Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ RA O DRACE AM! 250(( Grand Prix Series: Finalround I -------~ The 250cc Grand Prix gets underway with Jimmy Filice (65) leading Colin Edwards II (45) and Donnie Greene (3). Filice's shining moment By Henny R ay Abrams MLo\MI, FL, NOV. 10 he streets of Miami witnessed sign ifica n t moments i n tw o careers, one a just reward for a lifetime of struggle and the ot her th e launch of what promises to be a lifetime of excelle nce. J immy Fili ce, in h is 19th year of racing, won hi s first AMA road race titl e, the 250 Grand Prix class champi onship, with a dominating performance in the 24-lap 250cc GP at Miami and the experience moved him in ways even he didn 't expect. " I start ed whimpering like a bab y going aro und this race track," the L.A. Motor Works-sponsored Modesto , California, native said about his victory lap. "I have to th ank my wife and m y son, little Jimmy. You don 't know what this means to me to come back like this." The last titl e Filice won was Camel Pro Rookie of the Year in 1981. In th e ra ce, Fil ice was running comfo rtably a second faster tha n he'd qualified, slo wed o nly by traffi c. " I wanted to beat everybod y here so there were no doubts," Fil ice said of h is th ird win of the series. Bu t as im pressive as Fili ce's win was, seco nd pl ace was even more so. Co li n T Edw ards , who'd been impressive in the end of th e season AMA/CCS an d WERA Grand National Finals, made hi s professional deb ut a mem orabl e one. The 18-year-01d Texan jetted into the lead from the second row , holdin g for a lap until Filice went by. A mistak e dropped h im to fourth , but he recovered qu ickl y, mo vin g ba ck in to second o n the 11th lap and pullin g away on th e Red Line/OTS/ Northwest Honda-sponsor ed TZ Yamah a. " I told them I was going to lead o ne lap and that I did," the mature, young hi gh school sen ior said. " I wante d to finish in the top three. I got a good launch and I figured I sho u ld be running so mewh ere aro u nd th ere. Fi lice was pulling me off all the comers." Fil ice finished th e 24-la p, 36.24-m ile race in 30 minutes, 38.750 seconds at an average speed of 70.483 mph. T hird we nt to Venezuelan J ose Ba rr esi Pujol o n th e Ven emo to s/ Lucky Stri ke Yamah a. DavHar Racing's Chris D'Aluisio fini shed fourth, figh ting traffic and slower riders the whole way, but still taking second in the cha m pionship behind Fili ce. T he final point tally D'Aluisio fastest in Miami streets W 8 ith limited track tim e, th e 250 Grand Prix riders had to do a lot of guess work in making th eir settings for the first of two qual ifying sessions. Whoever learned the most, and put it to the best use, would lik ely end up on the pole. Not surprisingly, it was DavHar Racing's Chris D'Aluisio. The West Redding, Connecticut, en gi nee r knocked 2.5 seconds off his first session time to claim the pole with a late session I minute, 15.482 second lap, averaging 71.540 mph for the l l-turn track. His time was nearly a secon d better than the second fastest rider and he turned in several that would have put him on the pole. " I' m more comfortable on the pole than I've been all year," he said, after having made a gearing change on his TZ250A Yamaha that made a significant difference. lot of unknown territory around here. . _ the first _ _ " If you're riding "This place is just not safe," he 'd said after _ _ _session._ _ _ _ _ shows Fil ice with 116, D'Aluisio with 97 and Nick lenatsch third with 88. Ienatsch never got going during the weekend, qualifying 16th after seizin g in the second session and finishing 13th in th e race. Edwards got the jump on th e 32rid er field on a sunny, warm Florida aftern oo n , but it didn't last. Filice was q uickly past a nd would never be head ed. " I put m y h elmet o n, put my facesh ield do wn and said, 'I'm going for it. I'm a racer,' " Filice would later say. He was quickly into the I:15s and one unofficial clock had him in the hi gh 1:14s at o ne point, though o n most clocks, D'Aluisio would clock the fastest lap. The on ly problem for Filice would be back markers. " When traffi c came up I wasn't taking chances. I was two seconds a lap slower," he said. "I was really relaxed. The bike was working grea t. Bruce (Maus) did a gr eat job. " Second place was almost as clear cut, though Edw ards did lose it a t one point on the seventh lap. . "I came through th e chicane and flicked it in entirely too fast ," Edwards ex plained. " I flicked it back left and both wh eels came off the gro u nd. Donn ie (G reene) went past me and two la ppers an d number 52 (Barresi)." With tra ffic in creasing, Fili ce had pulled ou t over a three second lead o n Barresi on the 10th lap, but a lap later Edwa rds wo uld get both G reene and Barresi on the inside of the ri ght-hand tu rn three and hold second to the end. Barresi was in a tight fight for th ird with Ri ck Kirk and D'Alu isio, Gr een droppi ng off the pace. D'Aluisio moved into fourth o n the 16th lap , dropping back Kirk , who would retire two laps later with gearbox trouble, movin g Aprilia-rnounted AI Salaverria into fifth. Wit h eig ht laps to go the gaps between riders would cha nge, but the or der wo uld n 't. " I'm very happy to fini sh third," sai d Barresi , wh o is sponsored by Venemot os, the Ven ezuelan Yamaha importer. "I cou ld have done better if there were not so many back markers. I had all my ad vantage under brak in g. I' m usi ng to bra ki ng hard and tight comers. I was raised o n this type of trac k." "S lo wer riders, people ahea d of me going slo wer in the wro ng pl aces," was how D'Aluisio summar ized hi s da y. " I didn 't get any breaks, basically. There were big groups of riders. It was hairy. It was really stop and go ." Sal averria said that he'd gotten a bad start, then "about a quarter of the way through, the rear tire blistered and I had no traction anywhere. The frontrunners were running a different tir e than I was." 0" Results QUAUFYING: I. Chri s D'Alu isio (1:15.482/ 71.540 mph ): 2. Don Green e (1:16.365): 3. J im Filice (I : 16.470): 4. Danny w al ker (1:16.505): 5. Riek Kirk ( 1:16.795); 6. Co lin Ed wards ( 1:16:8'15): 7. AI Salaverria (1:17.108): 8. J05< Barresi Pu jol (1:17.124): 9. Lu is Lavad o (1:17.352): 10. Jonatha n Corn well (1:17.394); I I. Mike Sullivan (1:17.445): 12. Rid T ri pod i (1:17.968): 13. Michae l Barnes (1:18.137); 14. w illiam H im melsbach (1:18.409); 15. Doug Carmicha el ( 1:18.653); 16. Nick Ienatsch ( 1:18.779): 17. Migu el Ang<1 Gonzalez ( 1:19.365): 18. T om Pari s (1:19.525); 19. Manin Milfer (1:19.6 16): 20. Mall Cra ne (1:19.621): 21. j imm y Mosley (1:20. 187): 22. . Am an do Ferrer (I:20.266); 23. Edu ard o Aleman (1:20.495): 24. Nelson Perez (1:21.153): 25. J oe Cole (1:21.358): 26. Jeffrey J oh nson (1:21.800): 27. Chuck Blackm on (1:21.999): 28. J ohn Fra nce (1:22.242): 29. Edward Borowy (1:23.470): 30. Mark Lo ng (1:23.536): 3 1. J i m Bonn er ( 1:23.938): 32. Derek Nichols (I :24.005); 33. Perry Meln eciu c ( 1:25.626): 34. Andrew Peter Youn g (1:25.965). 230c c' NATIONAL: I. J im Filice (Yam): 2. Coli n Edwards (Yam); 3. j ose Barresi Pujol (Ya m); 4. Ch ris O'AJui sio (Yam); 5. Al Sala verr ia (Ap r); 6. Danny Wa lker (Ya m); 7. Don Gree ne (Yam); 8. Michael Barnes (Ya m): 9. Lu is Lavado (Yam): 10. Ri d Tripod i (Yam); 11. Mike Sulliva n (Yam); 12. Mart in Miller (Yam): 13. Nick Iena tsch (Yam): 14. Dou g . Ca rm icha el (Yam); 15. T o m Pari s (Yam); 16. J on ath an Corn well (Yam); 17. Willi am H immelsbach (Yam); 18. Jimmy Mosley (Yam); 19. Eduardo Aleman (Yam); 20. Matt Crane (Yam); 21. Nelson Perez (Ya m): 22. j oe Co le (Ya m): 2' . j elf,.y j ohnson (Yam): 24. Mark Lo ng {Yarn): 25. Derek Nichol s (Yam): 26. Edward Boro wy (H on ): 27. Jim Bonner (Yam ); 28. J ohn Fran ce (Hon ): 29. Rick Kirk (Yam): 30. Amando Ferrer (Yam); 31. Chuck Blackmon (Yam ): 32. Perry Melneciu c (Apr). Time: 30 min. , 38.750 sec. Distan ce. 36.24 miles. Avttag< speed: 70.483 mp h. Margin of victory: 2.409 sec, nNAL 2!>Oa: C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. J im Filice ( 116) 3 wins; 2. Chri s D'Alu isio (97) 3 wins; 3. Nick Iena tsch (88); 4. Dan ny Walker (72) 1 win : 5. Rick Kirk (69): 6. Rick T ripodi (67); 7. J o n Cornwell (49): 8. (T IE) T om Par is/M ike. Sulli va n (47): 10. Brad Sa wyer (39): I I. Don Green e (33); 12. Will iam Him melsbach (32): 13. Martin Milltt (" ): 14. Co lin Edwar ds ( 17): 15. (IlE) Andrew Trevi tliJoe Co le (16); 17. Donn Lewi s (12): 18. Andy Fenwi ck (I I); 19. mE)joh n Fran ce/ J immy Mosley/ Dou g Brauneck ( 10). o n the edge and don 't care, you 're going to do good. It 's the last race and there's no t a big cha nce I can win the titl e. I'm goin g to make it through it." Fresh from winning th e WERA Formula II Championship, Dianetics' Donnie Gr eene was second fastest on hi s first trip to the stree t circuit. Green was one of the few rid ers who liked the track, sayi ng it " reminds me of raci ng around the streets back hom e in Marin Co unty when I was a teenage r." G reen also improved sign ifica ntly between sessio ns , in hi s case, the improvement was 1.648 seco nds. " I sat down with Keith (Code) and we talked abo ut it," Green said. " We found spots in the track where I could do better. I studied a track of the map until I fell asleep last night. It was turn entry speeds. I wasn 't picking my turn entry far eno ugh ahead ." Ch ampionship leader Jim Filice ended up third fastest , after having been fastest in the first sessio n on the L.A. Motor Works Yamaha. He was clearly in control, need ing to only finish sixth even if D'Aluisio won the race, 'and not wanting to take any unnecessary risks. "I rode the least amount of laps possible," Filice said after turning in only 19 timed laps, compared to 39 for D'Aluisio. "A guy crashed in front of me in the corner before the chicanes. I hit the bales trying to avoid him and came back in with straw in my boots." . Filice said riding here reminded him of the cement indoor short tracks he once rode . "You can ruck the front end in. It's dangerous. You try to be careful and] go fast. It's hard to do that:' _ ____._ _ ...-..~""__ .:_~;;;....;:. ..;;...;~_"'"'_...._---1lI

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