Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Roger Vor hies (255) was th e top amateur racer wi th two race wins to his credit. Chris D'Aluisio won the three races he entered during th e AMA/ CCS Sprints at Daytona. Jacques G ue nette's first outing on the H onda was impressive; he won two races. D'Aluisio, Vorhiesb ig winners atDaytona By H enny R a y Abrams DAnONA BEACH, FL, MAR. I eu ing it right for the mo ney races is what a ttracts th e factory teams a nd top riders to the full slate of AMA/CCS sp rint ra ces the weekend p rior to Camel Mot orcycle Week, One rider who loo ks to be well o n the way to ge tti ng it rig h t, is last year's AMA 250cc Gra nd Prix Ser ies cha m p io nship run ner-u p Chris D'Alui sio. The West Redding, Co n ne cticu t. mechan ical engineer showed up o n G Edwar ds on th e impeccably turned -ou t Sou t hw est Mo to rspo rrs tackl e a n d prom pt ly ca p tu red the first o f his three ti tles: th ose wi ns would end up co m ing one-a-day over the th ree-da y weekend. Edwards, the p hen om of the O ctober AMA/CCS Race o f C ha mpio ns a t Day ton a a nd ru nner-u p in the final 250cc G P race o f th e year in Miami , finis hed seco nd to D'Alu isio in a ll three races. . Haro ld fo un d they were j ust a t t' beg in n ing of th e development process o n the 1992 Yam aha TZ25 0B, espe cia lly on th e su sp ension. " It' s a ll new Oh lins stuff a nd it's so far off what I like that we're still a t eithe r end o f the sp ectrum ," D'Alui sio said on Su nday morn in g, befo re winning th e seven-lap, 25-m ile Ex pert Middl eweig h t G P. " We' ve had very lim ited practice time and the la ps here are so long. We seized a rin g w hen we ran o u t of gas o n the coo l-do wn la p afte r yeste rday 's ( 14-la p, 50 -m i le Expe rt So lo GTU ) race." D'Alu isio won th at race by over 20 seconds. " We m issed th e next mo rn ing aft er we discovered th a t." Bu t D'Aluisio felt he was getti ng a leg u p o n th e field "j ust by being here. We weren' t here last vear for this weekend and we had trou hles a ll th ro ug h the week. I'm down in th e 58s (o ne- mi n u te, 58seco nd laps ) a nd las t year I never broke two minutes, " he sai d, Saturday 's w in cam e in the Expert Lig h twe ig h t GP , a lso seven laps. Canad ia n J acqu es G ue ne tte wa s a not her mu lti p le cla ss wi n ner, ta king a pair of wins in his ina ug ura l rides o n hi s McMurter Raci ng Hond a RC30. And while a n u mb er o f th e factor y riders cho se no t to fin ish the sp rints, amo ng the m Mu zzy Kawasa ki 's T homas Stevens , Com mo nw ealth H on da' s Tom Kipp a nd Mike Sm ith , Yoshimura Suzuk i's Britt Tu rki ngton , a nd the Va nce & H in es d uo o f J a m ie -j a rnes a nd Larry Schw arzbach , there were a few th at d id, In th e seven- la p, 25-m ile Expert U n l im i te d G P , G u e n e tt e best ed Yoshi mu ra Su zuki 's Da ve Sadowski b y two seco nds. And in th e 14-lap , 50-m ile Expert So lo GTO , G uene tte fin ish ed over 26 seco nds in fro nt of Sadowski. "The bike is runn ing very good." G ue n ette said . " We m ad e so m e cha nges a nd ad j us tm ents after yesterday's (Expert So lo GTO ) a nd I th ink everything is bett er. I'm goi ng faster in my la p times a nd sho u ld be able to go faster still by th e time th e 200 co mes around next Su nda y." Amo ng the Am ate urs , the rid er wi th the most troph ies was Roger Vor h ies of Fairfield. Iowa. T he Dukes Ya mah aspo nso red rider took class w in s in Amat eur Midd leweight G P a nd Amateu r Mi dd lew ei g h t Superb ik e, a nd second p lace finishes in Ama teur So lo G TU an d Am ateur H ea vywe ight S u per bike, a ll a bo a rd a n FZR 600 Ya mah a. " It was a bi t scary o u t th ere co m ing . .. Vor h ies sa id after wi n ni ng Saturday 's Ama teur Midd leweigh t G P. " It just gets tha t wa y so me times wh en it's windy a nd yo u ca n 't a lways tell -wh a t the . other rid ers are go ing to do." I T ho ug h the su n sho ne brigh tly on Sa tu rday , wi nds gusted o ver 20 m ph a t o ne poi n t, ca us ing trep id at io n a mong the less experienced riders. Best in g Vorh ies in Sa tu rday 's Amateur H ea vywe ig h t S u pe r b i ke wa s T a mpa , Flori da's Ra ben Norv ell o n a H ond a / S u w k i West Mar i n e GS XR750 Suzuki . Anti No rvell . a 21year -o ld student a t Un iversity o f So u th Flori da , used the sa me moun t to top the Am at eu r H eavyweig ht Supersport race, a lso on Sa tu rday . " I g uess n u mb er 13 has been lucky for me toda y, sta rt ing from the 13th ro w in bo th races th a t I' ve wa n," Norv ell sai d aft er hi s seco nd win. "T h is race was a little mor e tou ch-an dgo than m y ot her race. It was to ug her than su perb ike becau se th e pack was a lo t more condensed: the bikes arc mo re sim ila r a nd it was cro wded a lit th ere." H a rl ey-Da v id so n Twin S ports champi o n Sco tt Za m pach wo n the U. S.T w inS ports spr in t, usin g th e Ti lley's H-D to bea t lon g time nem esis Ni gel G a le, o f th e Bartel's H -D team , by 8.643 seco nds. Zampach too k th e lead o n th e seco nd o f seven laps, brok e th e dr aft, a nd sped to th e win a t an average speed of 92.838 mph. _ " Yo u sit up in Wisconsin trim mi ng trees in the winte r to pa y [he bi lls and yo u get nervou s," Mi lwa uk ee-resident Zam pach sa id. ''I' m a p rof ession al racer. T his is my b usiness. I'm here a nd I' ve go t to do it. " O th er no table win ners in the pro ra n ks were Vance &: H ines' Larry Schwarzbach in the Expe rt Mid d leweigh t Su persport cl ass. aboa rd a' Yam ah a FZR600, Muzzy Kawasa ki's T rip p Nobles o n a Ka wasa ki ZX7R in th e Expe rt H ea vyweig h t Supersport. a nd raci ng journa li st Ala n Ca thcart, ta ki ng the Birno ta 964 to a win in Ex pe rt H ea vyweig h t S u pe rTwins. Cat hca rt used Bridgeston e slicks, the first time they've won a sp ri nt race in th e U.S. T he clos est race o f th e weekend wen t to l fi-year- o ld Flo ridi a n J a mi e Bowman . Bo wman trai led fell ow Flo ridi a n Lee Pounders for the ent ire seven-la p Ex pert Midd leweig h t Superbik e race, using a last lap m istak e by Pou nders to tak e tbe victory by a mere .020-ofa-second , abo u t half a wheel lengt h. Po unders exp la ine d th a t, o n the • he urned around

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