Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROADRACE m~ Su erbike Series: Round 3 ~~~ Filice wins third ina row By Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 18 immy Filice continued his mastery of the Laguna Seca circuit, so thoroughly dominating the 250cc GP final on his Wayne Rainey Racing/Otsuka Electronics Yamaha that the only question from the second turn on was how much he would win by and who would finish second. The answers: 17.171 seconds and Southwest Motorsports' Chris D'Aluisio, who was actually much farther back until Filice backed off in the final few laps. "I feel confident racing here," sajd Filice' after winning his third 250cc GP race in a row to keep his perfect 1993 season alive. "I feel like I can beat anybody in the world here." The world will have to wait, but for today Filice took the lead from the flash of the green, held a one-second lead after one lap, and cruised home, his lead nearly 30 seconds at one point during the 22lap, 48.71-mile race. He completed the race in 34 minutes, 14.755 seconds at an average speed of &5.338 mph. "We've been chasing Jimmy all year," D'Aluisio said after his best finish of the year. HHe's riding hard. He certainly had us covered here. I don't know what I have to do to my bike to make it better, I have to do something to Jimmy's bike." D' Aluisio inherited second when McBride's Cycle Rider Oub/Yamaha Genuine Parts/Shoei's Jonathan Cornwell crashed in tum two while in second place on the 11th lap. Cornwell, who was about 10 seconds behind Filice at the time, re-mounted in eighth place and charged through the field to finish third, his best finish of the year also. "What happened is I changed jetting J (Left to right) Scott Russell, Doug Polen and Miguel DuHamel celebrate. 8 "I was having trouble going through the right-handers and I was losing time there," DuHamel said. "I seemed to have more speed coming out of tum nine. On the last lap I just figured I was going to get Doug there, but it didn't work out that way. I went for it too much in the last comer and went way wide and Scott got by on the inside. It was such a great race it could have gone either way for any of the three guys." Polen's tactical race had worked to perfection, but the oil leak had caused him to worry. "The plan worked well, but my foot kept sliding around on the right footpeg," Polen explained. "We'd put an extra catch can on there because we'd had a little seepage earlier in the week. I thought, 'Oh, this is going to put me out.' I just kept going and figured if it got really bad I'd stop. But it wasn't a risk to anybody else or myself. I thought that if I got by these guys they'd get really pissed off at me because there'd be an oil mist in the air. It'd get on their bikes and stuff, so I sat back." Ru sell was all smiles after a rather tough week at the office. "I had so many problems through the week, I really djdn't even know if I'd be able to race for the lead or not," he said. "We did an engine on the first lap of practice today so the warm-up lap was really my only practice. The motor we put in was pretty slow and I shredded the rear tire halfway through the race. I think I could've won it if I didn't get out of shape coming out of tum six on the last lap. It got sideways and started hopping. It was easy for him (Polen) because his bike has such an advantage." James was pleased to be back in the hunt and showed that he hadn't lost much to the others despite not racing in the first two events. "I hadn't ridden on the new tires and I didn't know what to expect," James said. "I got jerked over the fairing once in tum six. I gathered it back in and decided to cool out and finish the race. It took a lot out of me and there was a point when I thought the tire was shreddin'. I'm a little weak in the upper body still, but I did alii could do." Picotte was somewhat frustrated after suffering with a myriad of bike problems en route to his seventh-place finjsh. "I had the wrong setup:' he said. "I had no more than 10 laps on that bike. The front was too soft, the rear too hard, I lost my seat, it was leaking oil..... Overall it was a long day for the French Canadian. Eighth-placed IGpp said he had two regrets about the race: "I should have used a harder tire and I didn't get by (Dale) Quarterley fast enough." Top privateer Quarterley saw it this way: "Hey, I beat two of them (factory riders - Sohwa and Thomas Stevens)," he said. "That's good. We're trying to score some points and we're flfth in the standings. Unfortunately sevenths and ninths don't sound that good, but we're doing something right. Now that I have the power I'm having trouble getting used to it. It will either tum or accelerate, but not both at the same time." The most disappointed man in the pits was Stevens: HAll I can say is that the way I rode is the best I can ride it," he said. "In qualifying we're just a little off, but in the middle and late stages of the race we have some bike problems." (N Results SUPERIIKE QUALIFYING: I. Doug Polen (1:28.734); 2. Srott R.....II (1:29.354); 3. MiKUd 0uH0meI (1:29.812); 4. jomje jame (1:30.01S); Colin Edwards D (1:30.029); 6. Takahiro Sohwa (1:30.526); 7. Thoma. s. SlOvens (1:30.536); 8. Pasa! Pico... (1:30.636); 9. Tom IGpp (1:30.865); 10. MIke Sml'h (1:31.083); 11. Dale Quarterley (1:31.418); 12. Christian Gardner (1:32.363); 13. Srott Gray (1:32.995); 14. Midlael Taylor (1:34.456); 15. Chuck Grav.. (1:34.989); 16. john Ashmoad (1:35.366); 17. Pablo Real (1:35.535); 18. Dwya?" Chung (1:35.681); 19. Larry Loclcleor (1:35.903); 20. Michoel _ (1:36.052); 21. Jacques Guenette Jr. (1:36.498); 22. Jim S.bin (1:36.534); 23. Brad H..en (1:36.562); 24. Eric Moe (1:35.693); 25. Robert WriJlh' (1:37.401); 26. David KiefIe' (1:39.008); 27. Nick FdTi (1:39.068); 28. Mike Wal.h (1:1:41.214); 29. Greg Kopp (1:42.016); 30. ~ff Rheame (1:45.461); 31. SlOv.. FeWlreli (1:45.461); 32. Lindaay Thomas (1:47.526); 33. Andrew Stroud (1:51.197); 34. Fritz ](ling (2.'02.152~ SUPERBIKE ANAL: 1. Doug Pol.. (Due); 2. Sco" Russell (Kaw); 3. Miguel DuHamel (Kaw); 4. Colin Edwards D (yam); 5. Jamie Jam

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