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AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 3
Filice seems most determined to prove
that he still deserves a shot at the Grands
Prix and his perfonnances so far this season do nothing to disprove it.
"I don't know what to say," Filice said
after taking his customary spot atop the
winner's rostrum. "Ed Toomey (Filice's
crew chief) is an awesome dude. This
bike is so good. It handles well, it runs
good. Ed built it and Bud Aksland and
Sandy Rainey have been doing work
behind the scenes. We're going back East
next to Chris' neck of the woods and I'm
going to have to keep on my toes."
D'Aluisio had gotten away about fifth,
moving up to fourth on the fourth lap,
passing teammate Danny Walker. Walker
would slow with electrical problems soon
after and, though he would return to the
race briefly, his day ended after only six
laps.
On the fifth lap, D'Aluisio would pass
Baldus and set off for Cornwell, though
he was over six seconds back at the time.
He couldn't close the margin, but
Cornwell did it for him, spilling outside
of turn two just after starting the 11th lap.
D'Aluisio moved up, held on and finished nearly six seconds in front of
Cornwell at the end.
"That was not the way I wanted to
start the race," D'Aluisio said. "I knew
that if I was going to do anything I'd have
to get a good start. Once I got going, I was
trying to track Jon down," said D'Aluisio,
who'd had set-up trouble all weekend.
"This morning was the first time the bike
was anywhere near where it should have
been."
After picking himself up and assessing
the damage - cracked windscreen, broken
footpeg, tweaked handlebars - Cornwell
remounted and got back to work. At the
end of 11 he was eighth, up to seventh a
lap later, then fifth on the 14th lap. Six
laps from the end he was by Barnes and
into fourth, finally moving up to third on'
the 17th lap.
Like Cornwell, lenatsch's finish would
be the result of a relentless charge to the
ROAD RACE ~
I
With only three comers completed, Jimmy Filice (65) was well on his way to victory in the 250cc Grand Prix final at Laguna Seq.
front, though his was from a poor qualifying spot. lenatsch explained that he'd
fallen on his 750 Supersport machine in
the rain and wasn't prepared to push
during the wet qualifying because of
uncertainty about the track surface. "1 still
don't have the killer instinct of Jon
(Cornwell) or (Steve) Crevier or Miguel
(DuHamel)," he said, naming three
aggressive Canadians. "1 just kept thinking about what I had to do in the second
half of the race," he said. His tuner, Steve
Biganski, said his fastest lap, a 1:32.4, was
dope three laps from the end when he
was catching Baldus. He would pass
Baldus on the brakes entering the
Yamaha. I just have to hang in there. It's kind of frustrating. I just hope it rains. I
could win this thing if it rains."
Championship leader Jinlmy Filice was third on the Otsuka Electronics/Wayne
Rainey Racing Yamaha, happy to qualify on the front row and ready for the race.
"I brought her home without throwing it on the ground/' Filice said, "I'm hoping
it's dry. My setup's pretty good. I did a 1:30.4 last year and I'maq,ut a second and a
half slower. We. can go faster if we need to. These guys are probably getting up to
. speed a little more, but I'm real comfortable. We've got the motor running real
good:'
Since winning Daytona, Filice's tuner Ed Toomey had fitted new front forks, an
updated set of Ohlins from last year, as well as Brembo brakes.
"The brakes are easier everywhere, but it's not critical here except in the slow
turns," Filice said.
The only racing he's done since Daytona was on l00cc mini-bikes against Wayne
Rainey, Bubba Shobert, and Kenny Roberts at Roberts' ranch. He was able to test the
foot that he injured during a practice crash at Daytona and pronounced it fit.
. Jonathan Cornwell would be on the end of the front row, tlJe McBride's Cycle
Rider Club/Yamaha Genuine Parts/Shoei-sponsored Canadian spending much of
the rainy session recoveting his confidence after a crash during the first dry practice.
"In the first session I went down in tum five on cold tires," Cornwell said, but
recovered to where he thought it was working "pretty dam good. We made some
changes to the suspension. We adjusted for turn ten and the flat comers. I can carry
a little more comer speed and not worry about the transition stuff. Because of the
way you're braking and turning, there is a lot of sideways load on the suspension.
"I thought the wet setup was okay, but I just never got a chance to get any laps
in," Cornwell added.
Fifth fastest was Walker's Southwest Motorsports teammate Chris D'Aluisio, the
Connecticut native unhappy with the amount of qualifying time after going out in
the wet session with the wrong tires.
''TIley were hard compound. We could have tried to change them during the red
flag break, but we didn't have anything mounted," D'Aluisio said. "You can only
do so much in 20 minutes. It's very poorly run. I had zero grip. I'm on the front row,
. so that's okay, and I didn't fall down. The first colipie of laps were hair-raising."
D'AlUWo said he wouldrt't be able to try anything in Sunday morning's ~arm
up because they had to break the engine in. "Unless the track condition is the same
or better, we can't test what we changed. These bikes need to be adjusted for the
.
track and we don't have the time to do that"
Filling out the second row were Hall-n-Still Racing's Bruce Baldus, "Back in
Black" Racing 'Lines' Marcello del Giudice, and Moto LibertyINankai's Doug
Carmichael.
Forty-one riders qualified for Sunday's 35-rnile race.
Chris 0' Al~sio (2) finished second with Broce Baldus (46) finishing sixth.
corkscrew on the 21st lap, then move past
Barnes coming down the hill after the
corkscrew in turn nine on the finaI lap.
"I'd passed him (Ienatsch) earlier in
the race and I had no idea he was there,"
said a surprised Barnes, adding his main
concern .was finishing ahead of Baldus,
which he did. "I knew I had to get Baldus
because we were tied on points. Once I
passed him, I never saw him again:'
Baldus was trying to re-pass Barnes on
the final run up to the flag, but ran into a
lapped rider, Don Grijalva, knocking him
off his bike on the front straight. The
Yamaha slid past the finish line after hitting the inside concrete wall and Grijalva
came to a stop, urlhurt, about 50 yards
short of the finish line.
eN
Results
2S0cc GP QUALIFYING: 1.Danny Walker
(1:49.4'17/72.838 mph); 2. AI Salaverria (1:50.305); 3. jim
Filice (1:53.135); 4. jonathan Cornw.ll (1:53.926); 5. Chris
D'Aluisio (I :55.057); 6. Bruce Baldus (1:55.853); 7. MarceUo
d.l Giudice (1:56.796); 8. Doug Carmichael (1:56.841); 9.
Michael Barnes (1:57.409); 10. jason Paden (1:58.080); 11.
Peter Wenslofl (1:58.359); 12. Rodney Fee (1:58.412); 13.
Eugene Brown (1:58.656); 14. William Quinn (1:58.889); 15.
Bobby Ka!h (1:58.930); 16. Todd Harringtt>n (1:59.200); 17.
Takahiro Mori (]29.718); 18. james Williams (2.'00.028);
19. Chris Taylor (2.'00.050); 20. Paul Hart (2.'00.081); 21.
DavOi Avery (2:00.928); 22. Geep Tennova (2.~.lll7); 23.
Nick lenatsch (2.'01.761); 24. Bruce Lind (2.'01.869); 25.
Adam FaUMell (2.1l2.170); 26. Edward Sadvar (2.'03.863);
'17. William Kunmelsbach (2:04.259); 28. Aaron Turner
(2:05.286); 29. Donnye Vance (2:06.050); 30. Andre
Ca.tanos (2:06.117); 31. Greg Esser (2:06.324); 32. Brian
l.ekvre (2:07.178); 33. jimmy Mosley (2:07.581); 34. Kent
I