AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 6
ROAD RACE e
Filice masters the rain
By Paul Carruthers
LOUDON, NH, JUNE 20
et or dry, it makes no difference
to Jimmy Filice. The Wayne
Rainey Racing/Otsuka Electronics-backed Californian stormed to vietory in a heavy rainstorm to win his fifth
race of the six-race old 250cc Grand Prix
Series, easily beating Southwest
Motorsports' Chris D'Aluisio by 20.985
seconds.
"It's good practice for Europe," said
Filice, who makes no secret of his desire
to go Grand Prix racing after this season, of his wet ride to victory.
Racing through deep puddles as if
they weren't even there, Filice was even
more dominant in the rain than he has
been in the dry. The seasoJl,he spent racing in typhoon conditions in Japan in
1989 no doubt making him the most
experienced rain rider in the class.
Despite his win, Filice still couldn't
regain the championship points lead he
surrendered last week when he was
forced out of the Road America round
with a broken crankshaft.
It's hard to believe that a man who
has won five of six races isn't leading
the tiUe chase, but it's true. The championship lead is in fact held by D'Aluisio,
the consistent New Englander turning
in his fifth rostrum finish in six races.
D'Aluisio leads Filice by a single championship point, 181-180, with four races
togo.
Third place at New Hampshire
International Speedway went to
Canadian Jon Cornwell. The McBride's
Cycle-sponsored rider bouncing back
from two practice crashes to finish a
strong third after heeding some advice
from Dunlop tire technician Jim Allen:
"He told me, 'Look, take it easy. Let
them do the work for you:" The strategy paid off as Cornwell put his Yamaha
in cruise mode and circulated steady
enough to finish third, his second such
finish of the season.
D'Aluisio's teammate Danny Walker
was the only rider to match Filice's pace
early on, and that put him in a comfortable second place. D'Aluisio, though,
kept plugging away and finally got to
within striking distance of his teammate. Then Walker crashed, dropping
the Yamaha in tum three. He was able
to remount, and continued on to finish
fourth. Extreme Lean's Nick lenatsch
also braved the conditions to finish fifth,
the same position he holds in the championship point standings.
Unlike the iffy conditions of two
years ago when many different tire combinations were used in an effort to gain
an advantage, there was no choice in
this matter. A heavy rainstorm meant
each and every rider would opt to
mount their wheels in full rain tires.
There was no way things were going to
dry out.
D'Aluisio nailed the holeshot, but
went through turn one with his left foot
on the ground as he tried to keep control of his Yamaha TZ250. By the time.
they arrived at the 9O- mph); 2. Danny Walker (1:15.653); 3.
Chris C' Aluisio (1:15.789); 4. Jon ComweU (1:16.089); 5.
Nick Ienatsch (1:16.796); 6. Marcello del Giudice
(1:16.901); 7. Chris Taylor (1:17.131); 8. Todd Harrin$'on
(1:17.304); 9. Takahito Mori (1:17.362); 10. Mike Sullivan
(1:17.405); 11. William Himmelsbach (1:17.960); 12Tommy Lynch (1:18.052); 13. William Quinn (1:18.240);
14. Andrew Trevitt (1:18.497); 15. Greg Esser (1:18.781);
16. Bruce Und (1:18.974); 17. Keith Code (1:19.051); 18.
Adam Faussett (1:19.214); 19. John France (1:19.516); 20.
William Greenwood (1:19.971); 21. Timothy O'Connor
(1:20.672); 22. John Sharpard (1:20.817); 23. Jim Bonner
(1:22339); 24. Andy Edwards (1:25.081).
2S0cc GP FINAL: 1. Jim Filice (Yam); 2. Chris
0' Aluisio (Yam); 3. Jon Cornwell (Yam); 4. Danny
Walker (Yam); 5. Nick Ienatsch (Yam); 6. Adam Faussett
(Yam); 7. William Quinn (Yam); 8. Chris Taylor (Yam);
9. Tommy Lynch (Hon); 10. Milce Sullivan (Yam); 11.
William Himmelsbach (Yam); 12. Br:uce Und (Yam); 13.
John Sharrard (Yam); 14. Andrew Trevitt (Yam); 15.
Greg Esser (Yam); 16. Andy Edwards (Yam); 17.
MatteUo del Guidice (Yam); 18. Takahito Mori (Hon);
19. Todd Harrington (Hun); 20. Keith Code (yam); 21.
William Greenwood (yam); 22. Jim Bonner (Yam): 23.
John France (Hon).
Time: 47 min., 35.537 sec.
DisUlncc: 30 laps, 48 miles.
Avc:rilge Speed: 60.514 mph.
~rgin of Victory: 20.985 sec.
250cc GP CSHIP POINT STANDINGS (After six o!
10 rounds): 1. Chris D' Aloisio (181); 2- Jim Filice (180/5
wins); 3. Danny Walker (142); 4. Jon ComweU (141); 5.
Nick Ienatsch (134); 6. Mike Sullivan (103); 7. MarcoUo
del Guidice (101); 8. Rich Oliver (99/1); 9. WiJUiam
Quinn (95); 10. William Himmelsbach (93); 11. Chris
Taylor (92); 12. (TIE) Doug Carmichael/Todd
Harrington (90); 14. Andrew Trevitt (84); 15. Takahiro
Mori (82); 16. Michael Barnes (81); 17. Bruce Baldus (69);
18. Greg Esser (65); 19. Jason Paden (58); 20. (TIE) Adam
Faussett/Peter Wenslo!! (54).
a
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M
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Jimmy Filice (65) dominated the 250cc Grand Prix class in soaking-wet conditions.
Filice bounces back, takes p_ole""'-------"'----'"
L
ast week the Wayne Rainey Racing/Otsuka
Electronics team tried to get a little more top
speed out of Jimmy Filice's Yamaha TZ250 for
the ultra-fast Road America circuit. As a result,
Filice's win streak was stopped at four when the
;\ crankshaft on his TZ250 fatigued, putting the
· diminutive Californian out of 'the race in the early
going. At the tight and twisty New Hampshire
International Speedway, just having Filice seemed
to be enough.
"After last week, I have to keep the gas on:' said
Filice, after posting a one-minute, 14.867-second lap
of the l.6-mile race track to earn pole posi.tiOn, only
· .061-of-a-second slower than Scott Russell's superbike pole winning time. "I can do 'em (1:14s) as
long as the tire holds out. I feel real comfortable.
The only trouble I'm having is with it backing into
the comers with the throttle off. Maybe I'm on the back brake too milch and it's locking
~ a bit."
The biggest problem.for Filice come race time would likely be traffic; the last rider
to qualify for the 250cc Grand Prix f,inal was over 1Q seconds slower than Filice.
"I don't want to be around 'em when there's traffic:' said Filice, who won at New
Hampshire International Speedway last year. "I plan to get away so I can go through .
the traffic at my own pace."
The second quickest 250 time went to Southwest MotoISports' Danny Walker, tuming in his best-ever dry weather qualifying performance. Walker was docked at
l:l5.653.
"I only got one clear lap," Walker said. "I can run a couple of handfuls of ISs, but
will be tough to beat. His bike just jUIJlp5 off the comers. It stands up and leaps
out. The track's pretty good. I th.irik they repaved the bowl, so the transition from turn
two is a little steeper. You don't know whether to push the front through there or get it
light and use the rear. It's pretty exciting. The biggest problem will be traffic. You need
a snow plow on the front."
Walker's teammate Chris D'Aluisio clocked a 1:15.789 to put his Yamaha TZ250 into
the third slot on the front row, the New Englander surving a big scare during Friday's
practice: "I would have gone right into the trees if I'd crashed there," D'Aluisio
· explained. "The front slid away. I think I got off in the balled up rubber. The wheel cijd
Qne revolution fully tucked, and it wiped it off. I broke as hard as I could, got off in the
dirt in the next comer, leaned it left and tucked it in. I was still really moving. I would
still be laying up there if I hadn't saved it. I'm very happy to have come out of it with
just scratches on the bike, but it was a shame to miss half the session.
"We went a lot faster today (Saturday) than the times show, due to traffic. It wasn't
representative of how well I went on my best lap. I think where you pass the traffic is
going to be very important in the race. You've got to jam it in there and I don't know if
leading the racewiU be the best thing."
Canadian Jon Cornwell filled the front row on his McBride's Cycle-sponsored
Yamaha TZ250, despite matching bloodied elbows from two practice get-offS. "I
bagged it bad - it flicked me off big time:' a somewhat depressed Cornwell said. "It
was the fourth lap and it felt like a good one just before I flicked it:' Cornwell's first
session time of 1:16.089 still enabled him to take the final front row spot.
The second .row was made up of Extreme Lean's Nick Ienatsch, Back in Black's
Marcello del Giudice, Southwest Motorsport's Chris TaylQr and Two Brothers Racing's
Todd Harrington, the first Honda RS250 in afield made up mostly of Yamaha TZ25Os.
nmmy
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