Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

, , : ' - 'AD - .' C . .. ", " , ~ . ,:~:.'R'O ''RA' E~::..".. \ ' ...· · 4MA250cc Grand Prix Ser18s:, "j ~ ' - • Round 1: Daytona International Speedway ce pulls it o tro 's Chris D' Aluisio at the line, taking third place in his first 250cc race on the new and improved Honda RS250. D' Aluisio battled him aboard a new Aprilia that he'd only taken delivery of on Tuesday, after a number of shipping delays. The Honda had a considerable top-speed advantage, and Barnes used it every lap on the front straight to draft past D'Aluisio. On the final lap, D' Aluisio led from Tum Four to where the tri-oval begins to bank, then Barnes went by as if D' Aluisio had dropped anchor. DA¥rONA BEACH, FL, MARll "I had the motor," Barnes said after finishing third, his 'best 250cc finish II~out a month ago I didn't know whether I'd even be ever. "I knew I had it when I was at half ere - but my boss, Wayne throttle on the last banking going to the, start/finish line. n Rainey, provided me this chance to do the job," said AMA 250cc Grand Prix "It was like that the whole way around," D'Aluisio said. "It (Barnes National Champion Jimmy Filice - and what a job it was. Honda) was so fast. I was riding my tail off in the infield. No matter where I was For the second year in a row, Filice dominated the l00-Kilometer on the banking, he'd come by." International Lightweight , Mile Hi Motorsports Don250cc race, this time establishnie Hough finished fifth, his ing an early lead and fending off the advances of Perforsalvation being the red flag. manceSouth Racing's Rich On the 18th lap, Hough Oliver. As in 1993, Oliver folseized going into turn one lowed Filice to the flag. while running in fifth place URich is tough," Filice said. just in front of Nick Ienatsch. "He had a little better gearing But with the red flag later in for the wind. He kept passing the lap, he was able to claim me down the back, and I kept fifth in the results, moving passing him down the front. I Zero Gravity's Ienatsch back wasn't going to give up until I to sixth. won this race." "He had some serious "Jimmy and I had a great motor," Ienatsch said. "The battle,"Oliver said . "Our lines last two laps I made a run on are so different. In the infield, a him at the start/finish line couple of times we converged and I couldn't do it . I in the co rne r, so w e had to thought, 'I'll get him when avoid each ot her a few times he brakes early for the turn there. " and go underneath him:" The race, scheduled for 18 UI had to beat him and I ' laps and 64 miles, was reddid, and now I'm screwed," flagged twice, once on the first Ienatsch said after coming lap, and again on the final lap out on the short end of the because of a crash in the interscoring decision. national Horseshoe. Because of Seventh place went to AI the crash, there was no official Salaverria, the Enough Said time, average speed, or margin Productions/Laser Life of victory for the race, though Technologies/Ross BarronFilice won unofficially by bet- Jim Filice (1) and Rich Oliver (97) battled to the wire In the 250cc GP. Filice led from the start, but was challenged the backed Yamaha rider coming ter than 11 seconds. Also whole way by Oliver. from the back of the pack because of the crash, scoring reverted to the end of the 17th lap, a change that would make a difference. With Filice on cruise control and Oliver riding solo, the battle of the day was for third and was argued between two riders on new and vastly different machines. Mota Liberty's Michael Barnes recovered from a crash on a cold tire on the first lap of the red-flagged race to run down Motoworld/Lassak Racing/Spec- By Henny Ray Abrams ent steering and c9mering motorcycle' ,TheHo and pushing the front end more. The Yamaha rear wheel more. "I've got a lot of time at Daytona. That's my card. It's not like Jimmy's time, he team came together late, the bike was delive,red just three weeks prior to Day- but I've got a lot of laps. The Honda's going good for the first time in years. I'd be tona, the qualifying session was 25 minutes, and there was an overheating prob- delighted to be on the podium with the likes of these guys." lem. But none of that stopped Wayne-Rainey Racing's Jimmy Filice from lowering Filling out the front row was Jonathan Cornwell, the McBride Cycles-backed Canahis 250cc GP qualifying record at Daytona International Speedway. The AMA 250cc GP dian, working with turner Dave May for the first time on a bike with plenty of miles. .champion tumed a best lapof 1:56.867, averaging 109.663 mph on the 3.56-mile course. "We're struggling. trying to get top speed," Cornwell said. "I feel good about the Filice's best time from last year was 1:57.031. Like last 'year, Filice owed his ride to fact that we're on the front row. We're using a '92 chassis and '92 motor, with '94 Rainey. updates and lots of TLC. Dave Ray did a heck of a job. You've got to give credit where "A few months ago he didn't want to go racing." Filice said. "Then he wanted me to credit is due." come to Daytona and run the #1 bike. If not for Wayne Rainey, this wouldn't be possiCornwell led a group of eight riders that were all on the same second, with Chris ble. D' Aluisio qualifying fifth after struggling to get his new Aprilia to the track. "We had problems yesterday. We basically ran a 1994 motor. We don't know what The bike arrived in Orlando on Monday and it was picked up on Tuesday afterit was, so we just switched motors. I was pretty worried. It's just a little gremlin in the noon. The team tried unsuccessfully to make practice, then spent the rest of the aftermotor that we couldn't figure out. Today it was high on the temperature, so I came in noon and evening working to make it race ready. On Tuesday night D'Aluisio and and we took the front fender off. With 25 minutes, it's really hard to do any adjust- tuner John Lassak took it to the deserted parking lot at the jai alai stadium across the ments to the bike. We just changed a little on the suspension:' Filice said. street and ran it until 11:30 p.m. When D' Aluisio went out for practice on Wednesday, Performance South's Rich Oliver qualified in second place with a best lap of he found there was still much work to be done. 1:57.219. Oliver, who will contest the entire AMA 250cc series for the first time since "The thing is really slow and we're not sure why. The top end is down. The acceler1989,was happy to be back. ation is not bad, but we need to improve," D' Aluisio said. "When you can't stay in "It's such an honor to ride at the top level of American racing. I love it here:' Oliver someone's draft into the wind, you know you're in trouble." said. "I like Daytona. Iwas racing superbikes here when Kenny Roberts was on a 500 A bigger problem was suspension. After using 0hIins components on his Yamahas, here." + D'Aluisio was adapting to the White Power units. , " Oliver was on the newJ!j94 TZ250 Yamaha, a bike he found to be refined, though "Jim Linderman is helping us out a lot. We changed the front end because the forks ' not greatly changed:' q,;jf'A were really far off in the beginning.We have no idea what the head angle is, the rake, "One difference is ho eengine installs in the chassis. They've worked on every the off-sets. We'll just figure it out by riding it:' D' AIUisio~. , " , part and lightened it a e n e w motor is better in every way. The second time that I " 0 on the second row as ,zero Gravity's Nick IenatSch,the Sitting nex to D' rode it, on Tuesday; ,wen as fast as I qualified last year:' Oliver said. "It's been strong ' Sport Rider a itor not willing to g Ie:asIl1uch as he thought he sh from the firsfday on. ThiS'isa hard track to tune at because of the wind conditions and have. , " ' d " '" ' • atmospherics." "I don't enough chances with the m i s / ' !entasch said. "We , Also contesting , AMA '250cc series is Mike Barnes, the Mota Uberty tiny steps and don't get caught up with the o, , ~.guys. I don't have have the experi-" Honda rider qualifying third. For Barnes it's been a learning process. ence to get off the bike and say this is right or this is wrong. We didn't re-gear for the "I'm learning a lot. Doug Carmichael is doing the tuning and he's helping a lot. It's wind. I probably should have stopped (during) the last laps and changed gearing. It's almost an advantage, because I can say something to him that almost anyone else hard for me to take chances because it's so fast. I'm not a charger on this track." might not understand:' Barnes said. ''I'm coming to grips with the Honda. It's a differIn all, 45 riders qualified for the 1DO-Icilometer race. T >

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