Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE A AIMBN U M AS PERBIKE NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP Chuck Sorensen tries to chase down Roland Sands in their battle for the 250cc Grand Prix win. Sands eventually won, with Sorensen ending up eighth after crashing and remount ing. THE SAnDS Of TImE By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by Tom Riles LOUDON, NH,JUNE 21 e rf o rm a n ce Mach ine 's Ro la nd Sands held tough under con stant pressure to win his third Elf Race Fu els /Lubricants 250cc Grand Prix final in a row, and he did it in record time on a dodgy track - all of which helped him increase his already burgeoning cham pionship lead. The title leader bided his time, taki ng th e lead from World Sports Im p ort s' Chuck Sor ens en on the ninth of 24 laps, giving it back for the 16th lap, then leadin g to the flag. Sor en sen kept the heat high but crashed over the handlebars on the 21st lap while in close pursuit. Th at g a v e Eri on Ra cing's Kurti s Robert s, wh o'd been right on Sorensen, the chance to cha se the lead er. Robert s was able to close up on Sands bu t ultimatel y finished 3.410 seconds back. Sa nds completed the 24-l ap, 38.4mile race in 30 minutes, 32.920 seconds at an average speed of 75.421 mph. The mark lowered Rich Oliver 's record from 1996 of 75.386 mph. "I'm just ou t there trying my hardest and that' s been good enou gh so far to take the win," Sands said after winning his fifth race of the yea r. "I looked back t h ere a n d 1 co u ld s till see Kurti s (Roberts) on the last lap. About the last lap was the only lap that 1 slacked off a little bit, jus t trying to take the victo ry. Becau se this is a ro ugh track - this is a hard tra ck to e ven fin ish th e rac e - it see ms like I' m just happy to be on the box today." Being on the top of the box paid off. Sands now leads Rob ert s by 50 points, 274-224, after eight of 13 races. Sorensen, who remoun ted and rode har d to finish eighth, is third with 217 points. Thir d on this day was Erion Racing's Rand y Renfrow in h is fir st podium appearance of the season. The Virginia veteran, whos e first win her e came on a Honda RS500 triple in the 1986 Formula One race (the la st one run here), was slowed w hen his forearms pumped up early in the race . "Phy sica lly , that was the toughes t race I' ve ever ridden," Renfrow said . "My forearms pumped up so bad that 1 cou ld n't even close my left hand . 1 had to ride about three-quar ters of the race wit h my left han d open. And 1 cou ldn't use the clu tch to do any downshifts, so 1 was ju st ban ging it without usin g it. The bike ran goo d and the tires stuc k great and everything was good and if 1 hadn't had the physical problems, maybe we wo uld've been there." Fourth and fifth were a pai r of firsttimer s who'd switched classes. Wo rld Sports Imports loaned Jam es Randolph the injured Rodney Fee's Ho nda RS250 for th e ra ce, a nd h e brought it hom e fourth. Fifth we nt to Ma rk Miller on a Performance Machine Yama ha . It took a w hile to get this one started . A light d rizzle caused the 1 p.m. start of th e race to be d elayed by 45 mi n ut es. Then, a t th e end of th eir warmup lap, Erion Racing' s Randy Renfrow report ed that the track was still slick. The field was sen t back to th e pits and the race P 20 was de layed again, this time for another 40 minutes. Corner wo rke rs found that there was a line of oil that the sid eca rs (which had ru n during the lun ch break, just pri or to the 250s) had put down. The su n came ou t soon after and the ri ders w ere g ive n tw o wa rm u p laps before the race was gree n-ligh ted close to 2:25 p.m. " It w a s a s ta r t nob od y wa n te d to wi n," Renfrow sa id . "Swear to Go d , I go t a terr ib le s tar t a n d was le adin g going into turn one. I was like, 'N obody wants this: " Sands also botched the sta rt. " l ' rn not used to the sho rt first that we run here for the chicane, for the 30mp h corner," he ex p la in e d . "I ju st wheelied the thing su p e r ha rd and I think I ma ybe sho uld ' ve started in second gear. I ju st ab solutely blew it on that. People coming from the third row passed me. That was rou gh . And then I blew a couple of shifts. I think I downshifted into first going in there. J was all con fused . Man , the thin g al mos t came arou nd on me going into there;" When it was all sorted out, Sore nse n was out fron t, with Renfro w second in front of Roberts and Sands. Those four quickly left the rest of the 35-rider field behind. Sand s w a s o n th e m o v e , getti ng Roberts in turn three on the secon d lap and sitting on Sore nse n for a lap befor e missing a shift and giving the spo t back. "I got in ther e kind of hot, 1 think," Sands said. "I w as just sick of gettin g pa ssed . When I p a s s ed so mebo dy , they'd pa ss me back, so I w as just really trying to get in th ere d eep so no one wou ld ev en think ab out p assin g me. And 1 grabbed first gear and I came out and nothing, my bike didn't work. Really, th ere was nothing there - nothing, abs olutely no thing . I just had to wait until the thing came back on and 1 wa s hoping th at no one w as going to ru n into the back of me . I was hop ing that no one was going to hit me : ' Roberts picked up two spots, ge tting by Sands and Renfrow. "I was going to try to ou tb r ak e Rolan d and he was 'going to ma ke sure th at no one tri ed to o u tbrak e him ," Robert s sa id . "So h e wen t in deep, 1squa re d it off behi n d and I think we might hav e been able to get him even if he did n't have a problem, beca use 1 had him set up an d then the other guy (Renfrow) just kind of wen t w ith it:' Sorensen had more than a second in hand on th e fift h la p, an d then Sa nds began to close and Roberts and Renfrow began to fade. For Ren frow , it was th e beginning of the end . . "I' d , like to ha ve been th er e," Ren frow said . "Physica lly 1 jus t wasn't up to it. My forea rms pumped u p about th e fift h la p and th ey just go t worse a nd wo rse and worse. Eve ntua lly it go t to w he re 1 co u ld n' t close m y left hand aro und the handlebar, so it mad e it real tou gh to accel er at e th e bike and stuff like that. It go t to where my ha nds felt like claws , so just thr ottl e con tro l w ent / awa y a nd br ak e co n tro l s ta r te d to go . away. It go t to where 1 could n't use the clu tch on d ownshifts. I'd reach up to gra b it, but 1 co u ld n ' t pull it in fa r enough to make it effective. Cou ld n' t go any faster at that rat e: ' So he settled int o a spo t that was safe fro m attack and rode ou t the race. When Sorense n cras hed , he inh erited the final pod iu m spo t. "I tell you , it was a goa l of mine to ge t on the bo x here; as a matter of fact, . of course it was a goal to wi n it," Renfro w sa id : "Bu t I ha ven 't been on th e box all year. We've had so me unusual luck: ' So re nsen h ad hi s hand s fu ll w it h Sands, especially w he n they hit traffic on the seven th lap. Sands took the lead on lap 10 wi th Sorense n sticking to him and Robert s closing in as his harder rear tire began to come in. On the 15th lap , firs t to thi rd w as covered by one second . Traffic helped Sorense n tak e the lead on 16, w it h Sa nds taking it ba ck, and So rensen w resti ng it aw ay before the end of th e lap, but not for lon g . Sands u sed a d raft-pass int o turn one to take over for good on the 17th lap . "Fo r a minute there 1 th ou ght th at Chuck (Sore nsen) was ma yb e going to be able to ge t away from me or Randy," Sands said . "I really tried hard a cou ple laps to catch him and Kurtis. He got by me a cou ple of time s; 1 passed him; he got me back. 1 pa ssed him and go t him back. We kind of scrap ped a cou p le of times and I was jus t trying to get by him so I could catch Chuck. 1 was probably tryin g my hardest then . After 1 pa ssed , 1 tried to relax and 1 wa s trying to get into a groove because this place w ill just take the life ou t of you if you' re trying hard and y ou ' r e rea ll y m uscling th e bike around - it rea lly ten ds to take a lot out of you . 1 was rea lly just trying to relax on the bike. A co uple of times Chuck did get by. He looked quite a bit looser than I did . He was trying a li ttle bit hard er so 1 kind of knew tha t if 1 just kept relaxing an d did not slide the bike too much 1 could probably pull the win off:' He w as tryin g to ge t away a n d Sorensen was trying to keep up when Sorensen crashed . "I' m in one piece," Sorensen sa id after th e turn-tw o crash . He sa id th e b ack end s te p ped out, h e w a s hi gh~ sided, and he did a so mersault over the ha ndlebars. "It may have been right at th e sea m in th e tra ck. 1 just wan ted to keep right th ere. If 1 h ad a ch an ce, 1 cou ld take the lead . It slid in a place that it hadn't cut loose before: ' Th e cras h n o t o nly dropped h im back, it also spooked Roberts, who was jus t beh ind . "He high-sid ed right in front 'of me," Roberts said . "That took a lot out of it: ' N ot so mu ch th at he' d give up th e hunt. With les s than fi ve laps to go, Rob er ts se t ou t for Sands, only to run into heavy traffic. "Two laps to go, I was right on him again," Roberts said . "A lapper - I don't know wh at, I guess he thinks that a race for 10th or 11th or 20th or wherever the hell he was is more important than the race for the lead . I was righ t besid e him and he cu t d own and chop pe d off my fro nt wheel going into the chicane. H e ha d to know I was there. It w as right after Roland had jus t go t around him and it fru strated me a lot because it's uncalled for w he n yo u ' re in 11th pl ace or 12th place. I don't care wh at battl e it is, you watch ou t for the lead ers. That allowed Roland on the last lap to have his lead ." And that w as that . "I saw on the second- to-the-las t lap , I look ed back and Kurtis was prett y close to me, " Sands said . "I th ink that I go t through some lappers pretty good and on the last lap I looked back and 1 had a pretty good distance; it w as as much of a diffe rence as 1 had:' Renfrow was abou t 31 seconds back, but sev en in fro nt of Randolph, who was havin g his first rid e on a 250. "It was a blast out there," the tall Californian said . "I can' t say eno ugh abou t the Wor ld Spo rts guys. They prep ar ed a great bike and put it under me. I'm just really thankful to get this opportu nity to rid e the World Sports bike: ' Miller was next acros s the lin e.rwith Ran son Street Racing's Jeffrey Vos moving b y Bobby Keith on th e 21st la p . Keith fade d to finish ninth. Pen guin Racing School's Jeff Wood , w hose fa th er , Jerry , an d brother Eric also teach and race, was seventh in his professional race debut aboard a Yamaha TZ250. Sorensen recov ered to take eig hth C~ and Chad Healy wa s 10th. New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Resu lts: June 21, 1998 (Round 8 of 13) AMA ELF RACE FUELS 250cc FINAL: 1. Roland Sa nds (Yam); 2. Kurtis Robe rts (He n): 3. Ra nd y Renfrow (Ho n): 4. Jam es Rand ol ph (Hen): 5. Ma rk Miller (Yam); 6. Jeff vos (H e n): 7. Jeff Woo d (yam); 8. Ch uck Sorense n (Yam ); 9. Bobby Keith (Ho n): 10. Ch,ld Healy (Yam); 11. Gre g Essc r .If-lon) : 12. Br uce Lin d (Ya m ); 13. Bill Himmelsba ch (Ya m ); 14. Ed Sorbo (Ya m); 15 . Perr v Meln eclu c (H o n): 16. Co lin Gilbe rt (Yam); 17. Gee p Terran o va (Ya m) ; 18. John Fran ce (Hen): 19 . Leo n Co r te s (He n): 20. Jam es Bon ner (Yam ); 21. Mu rp hy And erso n (Ya m); 22. Cha rles MacKay (Ya m); 23. Tim O'Connor (Yam); 24. Tom Ch ris tia n (He n): 25. M ike Za jac (Ya m ); 26 . Ga ry Ber baum (Ya m ); 27 . Da vid Be ttrid ge (Ya m) ; 28. Ch ris Reyn olds (Yam); 29. Rick Mor eau (Ya m) ; 30 . H an s Battle (Yam ); 3 1. Richard Nee nan (Ha n); 32. Kevin McCrea (Yam), Time: 30 mln ., 32.920 sec. Distan ce: 24 laps, 38.4 mi les. Average spee d: 75.421 mph. Margin of victory: 3.410 sec. ELF RA C E FUELS /LU BR ICANTS G RAN D PR IX C'S HIP POINT STANDINGS (Aflera of 13 rou nds): 1. Rola nd S.. ds (274/5 wins); 2. Kurtis Roberts (224); 3. m Ch uc k Sore nsen (217 / 2); 4. (TIE) Ta ka hit o MoriO )1 Ra nd y Renfrow ( 78); 6, (TIE) Gecp Terranova /Bobby Keith (64); 8. Icffr ey Vos (140); 9. Greg Esse r (39); 10, Mark Fos te r (123); 11. John France (120); 12. Perry Melneciuc (08); 13. mE) AI Selaverri a / Ed wa rd Sorbo ( 03); 15. Rodney Fee (99 ); 16. Leon Cortes (B7); 17. mE) Michael Montova /William Himmelsbac h (72); 19, Bruce Lind (63 ); 20. j oseph Cubbage (48) , Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 . Lexington, Ohio, July 19 Round 10 - Brainerd, Minnesota, August2

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