Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 2 ~ Rich Oliver (97), and eventual winner Jimmy Filice (1) dispute th e lead in the 250cc final after only two turns; they lead Rick Kirk (5), Colin Edwards II (45), Kenny Roberts, Jr. (25), and the rest of the 250cc Grand Prix pack. Filice conquers all By Henny Ray Abrams M ONTEREY, CA, APR. 26 n wh at was far and away th e best race of the ' weekend, Co mmo nwealth H ond a 's J i m my Filice returned to the scene of hi s grea test triumph, pulling away from a fou rrider fight lat e in the race to score the win o n the Ed T oomey-tuned Camelbac ked H onda RS250. Filice, who probably ha s more laps o n the Laguna Seca circu it than any of hi s fellow racers, jumped into the lead from th e pole pos i tio n, but quickly found himself in the middl e of a q ua rtet made up of Sout hwest Motor sports Co li n Ed war ds II , Otsuka Racing 's Ri ch Ol iver, him self, and Ots uka's Ken ny R oberts, J r. T he defendin g GP series champ io n ra n in the middle of the pack un til the 15th lap when he moved into second, taking over first a lap lat er. He quickly p u lled away, bu ild in g up a lead that would be 5.767 seconds at th e end of the 23-la p race, and the Sl -year -old veteran racer led a pair of 18-year -old youngsters into win ner's circle. Fili ce average d 86.574 mph for the 50-mi le race and gave H onda th eir first 250cc series win since Kork Ballington won at Brainerd in 1987. "T his brin gs back such good memories," Fil ice, wh ose greatest win came in the inaugural U.S. 250cc GP here, said. " I was th inking the last lap how it reminded me of 1988. Ed Toomey is my n ew mechanic and this is o ur first race together. I think everybody co u nted me o u t afte r I lo st my mech an ic, bu t don 't cou nt me o u t yet." Bruce Mau s, wh o tun ed Fil ice's machi nery last year and at Dayton a, left the Commo nwea lth team to work I 10 wi th 500cc World Cha mpions h i p conte nder Australian Peter Goddard ' o n the Valvoline Yam ah a. Roberts, j r., the only o ther memb er of the q ua rtet wh o never led the race , . fini shed second ahea d of Edwards and Oliver. Fifth went to Two Brothers Ra cin g' s Rick Kirk with Edwards' Southwest Mot orsports teammate Chris D'Aluisio struggli ng with front end troubles on the way to sixth . . Edwards holds th e championship points lead by three over Roberts, J r., 35-32. D'Alu isio is th ird wi th 27. T he Laguna circ ui t, with its elevation cha nges, uphills and downhills, banked and flat corners, wreaks havoc on fron t tires. "If the front end's not sticking, you go in slow, but com e out hard and it burns u p the front ti re," Oliver, whose front began to go away earlyon, said. Edwards had trouble wi th his setu p all weeken d, but th at didn't stop hi m from forgin g into the lead at the beginning of the race. Fas t q ua lifier Oliver, Fili ce, and Roberts got away with him , with Kirk lead in g Air Tech's Aprilia-mounted AI Sal averria for fifth. On the sixth lap, O liver took over the lead go ing int o tu rn two , Edwards holding second ahea d of Filice and Robert s, Jr. Already , thou gh , O liver kn ew he wouldn't be able to keep up the pace. "The front end go t hot and started cha tter ing real bad aft er five laps," the 30-year·old Oliver said. " At first 1 was conte nt to foll ow Colin. 1 could make up all I wanted on brakes. When mine deterior ated, 1 hesitated from goi ng ." Wh a t O li ver n ot iced was that Edwards was also fightin g a poorly damped front end. " It was hard ass work ," Edwards said. "Turn nine (a fast downhill left ) and turn four (a flat 90-degree righthander) were abou t the two worst," he ad ded. " I had to brak e later and sq ua re the th in gs off to get it turned q uick and settle it. " Ed wards ran off in to the dirt on th e outside of turn three on th e IOth lap, thoug h he didn' t lose a spot, act ually taking th e lead o n the 11th lap and cu tting a lap time in the low I:32s, below hi s q ualifying pa ce. O n th e 13th lap , Filice fell ba ck to fourt h, bu t he'd seen wh at the o thers wer e doing a n d kn ew wh er e hi s strengths were. " I knew I was faster than them, I just didn ' t have the power," Fil ice said. " On the front straight, even in the draft I couldn' t do nothing. Up the hill I just couldn' t get by. They were fighting really hard up fron t and I sat back there an d saved my tir es. When I go t to fourth , 1 cal med down, let the tir es coo l off." On la p IS, Filice moved up two spots, taking Roberts jr., then getting Oliver on th e brakes going into turn I I and j us t after, Roberts, Jr. ran into the back of Ol iver going into tu rn I I, ru nning off the trac k and lenin g Ol iver p ull away. "He was bra king a lot soo ner for th e corne rs," Roberts, Jr. said. " I was on th e o utside and he drifted over and 1 hi t hi s exha ust . I fell o ver on my left side, hit the bubble and wobbled arou nd a li ttle bi t befor e I go t back going." Filice took th e lead seven laps from the end, Ed wards a close second, but wo uldn' t be there long, Filice upping the pace as the race went on , turning an unofficial I:30.54 on the 17th lap. T h e H onda, which ran poorly a t Daytona du e to a cran kcase seal whi ch was imp ro p erl y in st all ed durin g assem bly, ran flawl essly and Filice's confidence grew wi th each lap. Once more around and Filice had over a two-second lead and he pulled away about a second a lap o n his way to the winner's circle. " I put my head down and said this is the time," Filice said. Edwards tried to hang on to second, but had to relent when Rob erts J r. pressed late in th e race. " I don't kn ow how I did it. It was crazy, abso lu tely crazy," Edwards said abou t finishing th ird. " J immy would leave me to tall y in the corners. T he front tire went away abo ut ha lfway th rough the race. We needed to do a bi g . change to th e front en d. We change d the front springs , p ut harder ones in today and it hu rt. I was ju st trying to bring i t ho me. It was dangero us, pl ain dangerous." " Everybod y's bik es we re prett y eq u al, " Rob erts, Jr. said. " Maybe j irnbo's handled a little bet ter. .Min e was vibrating and cha ttering. I wasn 't goi ng to settle for th e bike not being righ t. I came up on Colin at the end of the stra igh t. I more or less had to mak e a move then. " Ol iver had been passed by Roberts shortly before.he'd gotten Edwards and ' cou ld n' t do mu ch abo ut it. " It was a long one," Oliver said. " I ch arged late in th e race, bu t th ere was no wa y I cou ld catch Jimmy. It seem s like the head wa s fading th e forks. I lost damping contro l. I sh ould have had more damping and rebound dialed in. The tir es saved me from crashi ng." Salaverr ia passed Kirk for fifth on the 14th la p , bu t crashed in turn II a few laps from the end giving Kir the spo t. H e re-mounted to finish ninth beh ind D'Aluisio , Del Amo Yam ah a 's Robbie Petersen and Danny Walker on th e Moto Libert y Yam ah a. D'Aluisio was p lagued with electrical troubles during qualifying and, th ough he'd changed everyth ing for the race, found an int ermi ttent misfire on the second lap. " I couldn't pass backm arkers. They were pulling me out of the corne rs," D'Aluisio said . CN Results 250 Q UAUFYING: I.Rich Ol iver (1:31.087); 2. Kenny Roberts , Jr . (1:31.961); 3. Jim Filice (1:32.049): 4. Don G reene (1:32.189); 5. Rick Kirk (t :32.445): 6. Co li n Edwards (1:32.862); 7. Tom Paris (1:32.963); 8. Danny Walker (1:32.981); 9. Chris D'Aluisio (1:33.057); 10. Robb ie Petersen (1:33.364); 11. Rick Tripodi (1:33.384): 12. Al Salaverria (1:33.522); 13. Brad Sawyer (1:33.650); 14. Bruce Baldus (1:34.012); 15. Mike Sullivan (1:34.287), 16. Fab ian Corter (1:34.583), 17. Ma rcello del Giudice (1:34.756); 18. Nick Ien a rsch (1:34 .954) ; 19.C hu ck Sore nsen (1:35.000), 20. Mike Myers (I :35.252), 2 1.J oe Pittma n ( 1:35.368), 22. Ji m Sabi n (1:35.677); 23. Peter Wen slol! (1:35.844); 24. Mike Gra ves (1:36.144), 25. Keith Code (1:36.322); 26. Do nn Lew is (1:36.342); 27. Ra ym o nd H a thcock ( 1:36.772 ), 28. Do u g Ca rm ichae l ( 1:36.920), 29. Greg Esser (1:37.045); 30. Jason Pade n (1:37.542); 31. Willi e Burr (1:38.031); 32. Steven Fewtrell (1:38.246), 33. Will iam Q uinn (1:38.615); 34. Geep T erra nova (1:38.857), 35. David Avery (1:38.924); 36. Paul H art (1:38.949); 37. Bruce Li nd (1:39.065); 38. Chuck Monto ya (1:39.579), 39. Chuck Blackmon (1:10.299); 10. Andre Castanos (1:42.406); 41. Bill Egg ima nn (1:43.344); 12. Don Grija lva (I:14.156). 250 FINAL: I. J im Filice {Hon]; 2. Kenny Roberts, Jr. (Yam ); 3. Co lin Edward s (Yam): 4. Rich Oliver (Yam): 5. Rick Kirk (Hen): 6. Ch ris D'Alu isio(Yam ): 7. Robbie Petersen (Yam): 8. Danny Walker (Yam); 9. AI Salaverria (Apr), IO.Tom Paris (Yam ); II. Bruce Bald us (Yam): 13.Mlke Sullivan (Yam ), 14. Marcello del Gi ud ice (Yam); 15. Fab ian Co rtez (Yam); 16. Chuck Sorensen (Yam); 17. Mike Myers (Yam); 18. J im Sabi n (Yam), 19. Nick Ienatsch (Ya m ): 20. Doug Ca rmic hael (Yam); 21.Mike Graves (Yam); 22.Peter Wen slofl(Yam ); 23.Brad Sawyer(Yam); 24. Donn Lewis (Yam), 25. Keith Code (Yam) ; 26. Geep Terrano va (Yam); 27. Raymond H ath cock (Yam) ; 28. Bruce L in d (Yam) , 29. David Avery (Yam); 30. Steven Fewtrell (Yam); ~l. J ason Paden (Ya m); 32. Andre Castanea (Yam ); 33. J oe Pi ttm an (Yam ); 34. Ch uck Black mo n (Yam); 35. Greg Esser (Yam); 36.Paul H art (Ya m ); 37.Don Greene (Yam): 38.Willie Burr (Yam ). Time: 35 min ., 17.486 sec. Distance: 23 laps, 50.6 mil es. A.erage Speed: 86.571 mph Margin o(Victory: 5.767 sees. 250 GP POINT STANDINGS: I. Co lin Edward s (35); 2. Kenn y Roberts, Jr. (32); 3. Chris D'Alui sio (27); 4. Robbie Petersen (22); 5. (TIE) Jim Filice! Ri ck Kirk (20), 7. (TIE) Da nn y Walker! AI Sala verria (14); 9. Rich O liver (13); 10. (TIE) Jon Cornwe ll! Tom Paris (II ), 12. Bruce Baldu s (9); 13. Mike Sull ivan (4); 14. Ri ck Tripodi (3); 15. Marcello del Gi udice (2): 16. (TIE) Fab ian Cortez/ Mike Myers ( I ).

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