Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Far left) Mark Ledesma (1) and Chris Greve (5) battle during Unlimited GP action at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona. (Left) John Plumb took a pair of wins - in Classic 5001750 and Pre-1975 Sportsman 250 - in AHRMA dirt track racing at Daytona's Municipal Stadium. Firebird Raceway Chandler, Arizona Results: March 6-7, 1999 (Round 3) Siltur:d.ay CCS Southwest Sprint Series Round 3 Ledesma Greve split • wins By Michael Ross C~DLER,AZ,NL\R.~7 acers attending the third round of racing in the CCS Southwest Sprint series were treated to something new. CCS officials arranged races at two, different Firebird tracks over the weekend, with racers tackling the short, bumpy, 1.1-mile-Iong Firebird West track on Saturday and then; racing a flip-flopped schedule, took to the longer loG-mile track on Sunday. Mark Ledesma and Chris Greve split wins in the Unlimited GP class, with Greve taking the win on Saturday and Ledesma scoring on Sunday. The most interesting thing about the weekend was that there was no one person who dominated the action at ~ither track. On Saturday, Robb Martin took the Unlimited Supersport win on his GSXR750, while Greve took second. Martin backed up his win with another in Heavyweight Supersport, but Greve came back to notch a win in Heavyweight Superbike, this time with Martin in second place. Mark Ledesma finally figured out his ZX6R and was back up to speed aiter getting off to a slow start this season. He was clearly the fastest man in the Midd leweight class, enjoying a win in both the Supersport and Superbike races, but Ledesma's domination of the Middleweight class was not complete because he elected to sit out the Middleweight GP race, in which John Jewett picked up the win. Jewett also won the Lightweight Superbike class on his 650 Laverda. Jewett might have been the dominant factor in the Lightweight class had it not been for Scott Jensen, who brought a new bike to the track on Saturday. Jensen and his sponsor, Hacienda R Harley-Davidson, are set to campaign a 1200cc Buell this season. Although the Buell was obviously not handling well, Jensen wrestled it to wins in Lightweight GP and Heavyweight Sportsman. On Sunday, racers moved to the 1.6mile track. The racing action got off to a great start with an excellent dice between Mike Noschese on his YZF600 and Jared Kapoor aboard his new CBR600F4. These two went at it hard for the entire 10-lap sprint, but Noschese held the advantage on the last lap to take the win. Uniortunately, racing then took a turn for the worse. A brief rain shower soaked the track, particularly the turn 14 area, which loses all semblance of traction when wet. Trent Feltman led the start of the Heavyweight Superbike race, but as soon as he rounded turn 14, he went down. His bike slammed into the retaining wall and the race was quickly stopped. At the restart, Robb Martin and Greg Wurster crashed as soon as they exited turn 14. The race was red-flagged again, and a lengthy riders meeting, moderated by race director Randy Stem, followed. The decision was made to break for lunch while a series of cones was set up to delineate a narrow racing line through turn 14. Riders were informed that any subsequent rain would bring out a standing yellow flag, and no passing would be permitted in 14. Stem also cut the number of laps from 10 to seven because of the lengthy delays. At the second restart, Chris Greve showed little fear of the wet track and handily won the Heavyweight Superbike race. He then scored wins in Heavyweight Supersport, ahead of Martin. In Unlimited Supersport, Greve got the holeshot, but Martin was on the gas and took the lead on lap six and held it to the end. Mark Ledesma led the first lap of the Unlimited GP race, with Chris Greve and Robb Martin close behind. These three pulled away from a good dice between Scott Willock on his TLlOOO and Mike Wiebe aboard his GSXR750. Ledesma began to ease away from Greve at the halfway point, and Martin fell back as well. When the checkered flag came out, Ledesma led Greve by three seconds, with Martin trailing Greve by eight seconds. Willock crossed t»I the finish line two seconds later. UIL S/SPT EX: 1. Rob Martin (Suz); 2. Chris Greve (SUl: ); 3. Trent Feltman (Kaw); 4. James Cox (Yam); 5. Stephen Peters (5uz). U/L 5/5PT AM: 1. Thomas Stull (Hon); 2. Mikey Haley (Suz); 3. Terry Embury (Suz); 4. Brian Schaffer (Yam); 5. Douglas Mcleod (Due). HIW S/SPT EX: 1. Robb Martin (Suz); 2. Chris Greve (5uz); 3. Trent Feltman (Knw); 4. Mike Wi.ebe (Suz); 5. Joseph Castillo (Suz). H/W S/$PT AM,: 1. Thomas Stull (Han); 2. Chad RoUand (Hon); 3. Brian Schaffer (Yam); 4. Douglas McLeod (Due); 5. Terry Embury (Suz). MIW S/SPT EX: 1. Mark Ledesma (Kaw); 2. Richard Stratton (Han); 3. John Jewett (Suz); 4. Donald Blattert (Suz); 5. Scott Jensen (Bue). M/W 5/5PT AM: 1.Thomas Stull (Hon); 2. Chad Rolland (Han); 3. Brett Felter (Han); 4. Harry Geyer (Suz); 5. Oale Nissen (Hon). UW Sl5PT EX: 1. John Jewett (Lav); 2. Scott Welch (Suz); 3. Craig Skinner (Due). UW SISPT AM 1. Greg Mariani (KTM); 2. Henry Wang (Han); 3. Ray Hymer (5U2); 4. Dave Ramsey (Yam); 5. Gary Allen (Suz). HIW SIBK EX: I. Chris Greve (So2); 2. RobbMartin (Suz); 3. Trent Feltman (Kaw); 4. Greg Wurster (502); 5. Stephen Peters (Suz). H/W S/BK AM: 1. Thomas Stull (Han); 2. Scott Nelson (Han); 3. Terry Embury (Suz); 4. Kenneth Canteen (5uz); 5. Robert Roy (Suz). M/W S/BK EX: 1. Mark Ledesma (Kaw); 2. Jared Kapoor (Han); 3. Mike Noschese (Yam); 4. Caleb Montoya (Han); 5. Richard Stratton (Han>. • MIW S/BK AM: 1. Thomas Stull (Han); 2. Brett Felter (Han); 3. Scott Nelson (Hon); 4. Dale Nissen (Han); 5. Paul Thieme (Suz). UW 5/BK EX; 1. John Jewett (Lav); 2. Michael Ross (Han); 3. CharlL>s Coyle (502); 4. Thomas Krause (Han); 5. Richard Webster

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