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France, Derek King and Clif(Tolley crashed on the first lap. On the second second try, the start was cleaner, with Oliver jumping out in front trailed by Filice, the pair quickly leaving all in their wake. Though Oliver was in front, they circulated as one until corning up on Andy Edwards on the seventh lap. Filice zipped by, Oliver stalled, and the lead changed hands. "He (Filice) passed me going into the slow esses. 1 just got totally balked," Oliver said. ow it was Filice's tum to lead and Oliver's tum to search for an opening. "We both felt we could win," Oliver said. "I wasn't upset to follow him, but it was a fast pace. "My bike was a bit faster and 1 was a bit deeper on the brakes. This place is not the mo t forgiving," Oliver added. "I kept seeing plus-zero the whole time till there were two laps to go," Filice said. By then he had a slightly greater edge on Oliver and held it to the line. "I reeled him back in four or five times and by the fifth time 1 thought 1'd let him make a mistake, but he didn't," Oliver said. No question, they were the best. By the halfway mark the leading duo had more than 13 seconds on third-placed Sorensen, who was struggling with gearing that was wrong in most places. lenatsch was a dose fourth, but not pressing. After all, there was no need. In fact, lenatsch could be content to keep an eye out for an attack from behind. By the time the race ended, Sorensen had about four seconds on lenatsch, but no one was between them. "I was kind of fighting myself with the setting I chose at the last minute," Sorensen later admitted. "It was my choice. 1 fel t it would be best. It was overrevving in some places and in some place it'd bog off the corners. All my shift points were wrong." He also had a scary moment when he ran too hard into a right-hander on the 14th lap and had to slow down. Well alone in fifth was Mark Foster, the number-17 machine parked there from the first to the last laps. "[ wish 1 had someone to get a tow off of," Foster said, adding that he'd made a rear spring change that slowed him down from his practice times. "I put the wrong pring in and I had to ride it sideways everywhere. [ would do the bare minimum." Behind him was a three-way fight that was settled with ix laps to go when AI Salaverria went by Mike Sullivan. Until then they'd been sparring with Randy Renfrow, who faded in the final laps after running as high as sixth in the early going. Salaverria said that he was till getting used to the Moto Liberty Honda and knew he had to ride it hard to keep up with Sullivan's Yamaha. "They had steam on the front straight," Sal:averria said. "[ couldn't even draft them. I had to work my butt off in the infield. Renfrow was the hardest to get by because he squared off every corner. I was behind him so long 1 didn't get a chance to move up. On this kind of track, if you get stuck behind someone with power, there's no way to make it up." Sullivan finished in seventh place with Renfrow, Bobby Keith and Roland CN Sands rounded out the top 10. Flreblrd International Raceway Chandler, Arizona Results: September 24, 1995 250 GP: 1. Jim Filice (Yam); 2. Rich OUver (Yom); 3. Chuck Sorensen (Yam); 4. Nick lenatseh (Yam); 5. Mark (Left) Jimmy Filice (65) and Rich Oliver (1) resumed their battle for 250cc Grand Prix supremacy in Phoenix - this time the winner was Filice. (Below) Filice (center) Is flanked by Oliver (left) and third-place finisher Chuck Sorensen. Foste.r (Yam) 6. Al Salaverria (Yam); 7. Mike Sullivan (Yom); 8. Randy Renfrow (Han); 9. Bobby Keith (Yam); 10. Roland Sands (Yam); 11. Jeff Vos (Apr); 12. Joson Pade.n (Yam); 13. Greg Esser (Yam); 14. Bruce Lind (Yam); 15. Joe Skrocki (Yam); 16. Andy Edwards (Yom). Time: 25 min., 32.506 sec. Avuilge speed; 82.688 mph. Disunce: 22 laps, 35.2 miles. Margin of victory: 1.038 sec. RNAL 250 GP C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 10 of 10 tou.ncb): 1. Rich Olive.r (324/7 wins); 2. Nick Ientasch (286); 3. Chuck Sorensen (284); 4. Mike SulUvan (239); 5. Randy Renfrow (228); 6. Greg Esser (212); 1. Bobby Keith (196); 8. Joson Paden (192); 9. Jeff Vos (180); 10. Mark Foster (163~ 11. Christopher Ranlcin (15t); 12. John France (138); 13. Jimmy Filice (109/2); 14. Joe Skrocki (95~ 15. (TIE) Derek King/DaV1d Deroone (81); 17. AI Salavema (78); 18. William Himmelsbach (72~ 19. Bruce Lind (7l); 2ll. John Sharrard (67). (Left) The decisive move In the 750cc Supersport final. Tom Klpp (1) dives under Aaron Yates (90) to take the lead and the victory. The win gave Klpp his second successive 750Cc Supersport Championship. AMA 750cc Supersport series Kipp'S rate, Kipp's title By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams OIANDLER, AZ, SEPT. 23 e much-anticipated showdown for the 750cc Supersport crown . never materialized at Firebird International Raceway. Instead everyone held their collected breath as the race was red-flagged while Yoshimura Suzuki's Fred Merkel was airlifted to a local hospital after a horrific encounter with a concrete retaining wall. With Merkel getting treatment for broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a bruised heart, Vance & Hines Yamaha's ~ Tom Kipp was left to race for the championship without his fiercest rival. After that it was just a matter of Kipp being patient. He allowed Kinko's Kawasaki's Thomas Wilson to pull clear, only to crash; he let Aaron Yates take a tum at the front; but when push came to hove, Kipp did what a champion usually does -he won. At the completion of the 22-1ap race, Kipp was 1.516 seconds ahead of Yates after getting the better of the big Georgian in lapped traffic. The revelation of the race was the young man who finished third: rising star Ben Bostrum. The dirt trackerturned road racer was impressive, riding his Bartel's Harley-Davidson, exMike Hale, Honda CBR600 to a third-place finish in a class of bigger 750s. And all this was after the 21-yearold had crashed in the first portion of the red-flag interrupted race. Fourth place went to Factor/Wheelsmith Racing's Anthony Lupo with Mid Citie Honda/Kawasaki/Sea-Doo's Mark Miller finishing a career-best fifth on his Kawasaki. But the day belonged to the now two-time AMA 750cc Supersport Champion - Tom Kipp. "I would like to dedicate this race and title to Donald Jacks (who was killed in a road accident earlier in the year)," Kipp said from the victory podium. "He was a good friend. My thoughts and prayers are with Fred Merkel '- he made my job tough all year." When all the points were added from the 10-race series, Kipp's 313 put him above the rest. Merkel managed to hold on to second place with his 270 points, with Wilson third on 251 and James Randolph, who crashed out of today's race, fourth on 214. Japan's Hikaru Miyagi rounded out the top-five point getters with 189. It was Wilson grabbing the holeshot to start the race with Kipp, Merkel,