Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMMfBNA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Sa.nds (Yam); S. Geep Terranova (Yam); 6. Randy Renfrow (Han); 7. Rodney Fee (Han); . Takahito Marl (Hon); 9. Michael Montoya (Yam); 10. Bobby Keith (Han); 11. David Mason (Yam); 12. Jeffrey Leggi~ (Han); 13. P_ Femen;a (Yam); 14. Greg Esser (Yam); 15. Mark Fosler (Yam); 16. Richard Snowden (Hon); 17. John France (Hon); 1 . Ed Sorbo (Yam); 19. Harold Parker (Yam); 20. Colin Jensen (Apr); 21. Perry Melneciuc (Hon); 22. Darnel R...... (Yam); 23. Roy De Groot (Han); 24. Leon Cortes (Hon); 25. Rocky Wong (Hon); 26. Jeffrey Vas (Hon); 27. Andrew Edwards (Yam); 28. Matthew Bettencourt (Yam); 29. Michael Kosta (Sol); 30. Craig Harry (Yam); 31. Richard Denman (Han); 32. Tom Christian (Hon); 33. David Gibbs (Yam); 34. Philip Snowden (Hon); 35. Gary Georges (Yam); 36. Joseph Cubbage (Yam); 37. Steve Mayeau (Yam). Time: 26 min., 0.270 sec. Distance: 15 laps, 37.8 miles or a mechanical on his part. I just kept my head down after I hit that traffic and tried to slice my way through as best I could." Sorensen figured right. After their intense battle for the first half of the race - one in which they almost collided Salaverria was balked by traffic on the eighth lap, but the real culprit for his dropping off the pace was indeed mechanical. "I got a really good start," Salavenia said. '1 got the lead but Chuck passed me into seven on the brakes. I'm not really familiar with the new track yet. It's a little different. I just hung tight on him for a while and I just made the move and passed him back. Once I got in the lead the Aprilia started misshifting. We've had a lot of problems with the gearbox on that bike. The gears tend to be really soft and if you just hit one misshift it starts to round off the gears really quick. And it just started doing it every lap. Out of 11 going into the chicane here and then going out of turn one, going up the hill in the back, too. So I had to deal with that. Then Chuck passed me on the brakes into seven, and we almost hit each other - I went underneath him and them my bike misshifted again and then something happened to Chuck's bike I guess, and tha t was it. The thing just got worse and worse, and I just tried to fini h the race." "I came under AI in seven and then ran wide a little bit," Sorensen said. "When you try to outbrake someone there, generally you are going to run a little bit wide, but you try to hold it in to protect the line. I think I must have ta pped the electric shifter on my bike, and it cut out for a minute. And Al I think had the same problem, but still was right next to me and we almost bumped." They didn't hit, and Sorensen would tart pulling a gap on Salavenia from the halfway point on. Sorensen knew the Aprilia rider was having some difficulty, but didn't know its severity until late in the race. "I wa sitting behind him and I saw him misshift and alrnost came up on him from behind a couple times," Sorensen said. "But I didn't know that that problem was just escalating. I didn't realize that until I saw the plusses gaining on my board." Their figh t for the lead had carried them to a nine-second gap over the battle for third by the halfway mark, and Salaverria would not be threatened for the runner-up spot, where he would finish. The ba ttle for third was wild from the get-go, with Roberts holding the spot from alternately Mori and Sands, with Terranova in the mix as well. After winning the last two races, Average speed: 87.216 mph Ma,rgin of victory:: 7.960 sec. AMA/ELF RACE FUELS &. LUBRICANTS 250« GRAND PRIX SERIES POINT STANDINGS (Round 5 of 13): 1. Roland Sands (165/2 wins); 2. Takahito Morl (142/1); 3. Chuck Sorensen (135/2); 4. Kurtis Roberts (134); S. Randy Renfrow (103); 6. Geep Terranova (101); 7. Rodney Fee (99); 8. Bobby Keith (92); 9. AI SaLwerria (79); 10. (TIE) Greg Esser/John France (75); 12. (TIE) Mark Foster/Jeffrey Vos (73;; 14. Michael Montoya (72); IS. Ed Sorbo (S7); 16. Perry Melneciuc (56); 17. Joseph Cubb.'ge (48); 18. Gary Georges (47); 19. Harold Parker (41); 20. David Mason (40) (Above) Chuck Sorensen won lhe 250cc GP class after an early battle with AI Salaverria. (RighI) It was Eric Bostrom yet again in Formula Xtreme racing. Sands had been hoping to add another to his list of accomplishments, but a hard crash during promoter's practice Thursday left Sands off the pace. '1 was just riding to fini h that race," Sands said. "I came out here on Thursday and hit the ground just about as hard as I've ever hit the ground. Dislocated my shoulder a little bit, hyperextended.my right knee, smashed left foot, smashed my wrist a little bit. I was praying for rain to tell you the tr.uth. Today I felt pretty decent, but I couldn't switch direction on the bike like 1 wanted to, which has a real big effect in the esses. In nine and 10, I couldn't brake like I usually brake and 1 lost a couple seconds in there:' In the end Sands' inability to brake hard turned out to be a factor, at least according to third-place finisher Roberts, who held third at the stripe for most of the race. "I wasn't sure 1 was going to hold them off (Mori, Sands and Terranova)," Roberts said. "I knew 1 was the best of the bunch in braking so 1 knew that if they got by me hopefully I could get them back. I always led it across because I always got them back in 11. There wasn't actually much because every time they'd pass me they'd just run wide. So 1 basically just held the position the whole time." The battle carried on for most of the race, but lost one player on the 13th lap, when Mori low-sided in front of Sands, though Sands was puzzled as to why the HRC rider crashed. "He just kooked out," Sands said. "I don't know what he does. He like tries to lean the bike over too far. It almost looked like he dragged the pipe. He just threw it in there, and I was going the same speed as he was. I just turned it in a little harder a little earlier. He turned it in and he just kept leaning the thing over until he fell. I just said, 'Hey, there goes second place in the championship. He's down, so I better just chill:" While the guy who was second in the championship did indeed fall right in front of him, Sands didn't exactly chill. He was still running with Roberts and looking for a podium spot as the laps ran down, but a mistake suddenly let Terranova by. "I kind of thought 1 might ha ve third in the bag," Sands said. '1 just kind of followed Kurtis around on the last cou- Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Braselton, Georgia, May 31 Round 7· Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 14 AMAIPirelli Formula XIreme Series Round 4: sears Point Raceway pie of laps. 1 came into after the chicane, this last comer here, pretty good on the last lap, just right behind him, probably only a couple bike lengths. And my shoulder gave out on me on the brakes, and I just ran wide and Kurtis got away and Geep Terranova got under me, and I just kind of got pissed off, a little bummed at myself and said to myself, 'Hey, just try to get Geep back, and if you can catch Kurtis by the last comer, get him on the brakes, but, you know, don't pu h, you've got to finish this race.'" Finish he did, and Sands even qImost got pa t Roberts at the line but came up just short. '1 got Geep back and I was about a corner too short to get Kurtis," Sands said. "It was like half a wheel length at the line. I should be really happy with fourth place, and I should be really happy that I walked out of this place tad ay and with a bigger Lead in the championship." Terranova had been lurking at the tail end of the battle for third for most of the race, waiting to see what would happen and his strategy almost paid off. '1ust hanging in there trying to get a feel for the race," Terranova said. '1ust watching Mori and Roland making it tight and I just didn't want to take any chances and I couldn't really get up to Kurtis. Mori fell, and on the last lap 1 tried really hard, got by Roland and then I was setting up or Kurtis. Bu t I overshot seven and Roland got under me and that was it, about all I could do. I was just trying to play smart and feel out everybody and what they were doing. I thought I had a really good shot at the podium on the final lap but I made a mistake and it cost me." Renfrow followed a great distance behind, alone in sixth after slowing his pace toward the end of the race. "I'm just beat up," Renfrow said. "My forearms pumped up, my right forearm in particular, so I didn't have any throttle control, I didn't have any brake control and I couldn't continue to ride that quick. The lap times were way off at the end. 1 added two seconds a lap (at the end of the race):' n Sears Point Raceway Sonoma, california Results: May 3, 1998 (Round 5 of 13) 2SOcc GP FINAl" 1. Chuck Sorensen (Yam); 2. AI Salaverria (Apr); 3. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 4. Roland Boss-tram By Mark Hoyer Photo by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, MAY 2 espite his best efforts to the contrary, Erion Racing's Eric Bostrom managed to score yet another will his third this season - Pirelli Formula Xtreme racing. Bostrom has shown that he's clearly the class of the field - once he gets going, that is. Much like at the la t round at Willow Springs, Bostrom botched his start, but also much like the last round, he'was soon into a lead he would never relinquish. "I got off to a pretty shaky start there," Bostrom said of his smoky startline burnout and fishtail.. "I anticipated that it was going to be slippery, but I had no idea ... I mean, that 900 makes so much power, a.nd the thqg just went back and forth and back and forth, and then I finally took off and I got driving around these guys." Bostrom moved to the lead in tum seven on the second lap, and from there on out he would pull away from the rest of the field. Despite taking so little time to move to the lead, it wasn't without its difficulties. "I think the first lap was pretty hairball," Bostrom said. "Everybody was riding really well. I kept trying to put it in on the brakes, and then I'd get in a little too hot myself and not be able to make the turn, and we were going back and forth." One of those he had to contend with was his Erion teammate Tripp Nobles. The Georgian started on pole by virtue of his points lead in the class - qualifying was rained out and riders were gridded by championship points - but in a virtual replay of last week's race, early leader Nobles once again dropped off the pace to finish fourth, with both Graves Motorsports' Mark Miller and Canadian Kawasaki's Michael Taylor getting by D him. Miller actually had taken over the lead briefly on the first lap, though Nobles quickly powered back by with Bostrom coming through as well. Miller said he was unable to stay on the throttle, a situation that left him short on, straight-line speed. And one thing you don't want to be when racing with an

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