Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 3: Willow Springs International Raceway (Left) Chuck Sorensen celebrates his win in the 250cc Grand Prix class. (Above) The Formula Xtreme race gels under way with Mark Miller (24) leading the pack. Race winner Nicky Hayden (69) and runner-up Kurtis Roberts (SO) give chase. AMAIMazda Trucks 250cc Grand Prix series Round 3: Willow Springs Inl'l Raceway Sorellsell deserts them By Henny Ray Abrams ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 18 ntil further notice, the Mazda 2S0cc Grand Prix class belongs to Chuck Sorensen. The World Sports Imports rider blasted off from the start of the IS-lap race in the high desert at Willow Springs International Raceway and added nearly a second per lap to his lead. At the end of the 37.S-mile race, Sorensen had a 13.240-second cushion. His race time and average speed weren't records, falling short of the mark set last year by Performance Machines' Roland Sands. Sands wasn't here today, as he is still recovering from the arm injuries he suffered at Daytona six weeks ago. Until he returns, there doesn't appear to be anyone to keep Sorensen from owning the class. "We had it pretty smooth all weekend," Sorensen said after his second win in a row, and the sixth of his career. "The bike ran fairly consistent. We tried a few different combinations for more power. I think Friday was our peak, when we found a good setup. Going into the race today, AI (Salaverria) this morning was getting into the 23s and Nick (lenatsch) was right there. He's th~ dark horse. I was still very wary that I was going to have to race with these guys seriously, then wait it out and see what I could do. Luckily, I got a real good start and just put my head down for a few laps and looked at my board. At that point I had four, and then I thought, 'Go four or five more laps hard like that and then look at the board again.' I did that then and I had like plus six and plus seven. And at that point I started to take it easy in the lapped traffic." As far as the championship goes, 00 after three of 12 races, Sorensen has a N 24-point lead over Fabweld's Greg '[ Esser, ninth today, with Broward Motore sport's Quenni King, seventh today, 22 third with 74 points. lJ Asked about the championship during the postrace press conference, Sorensen chose the cautious approach, but he was interrupted by TechStar's AI Salaverria, second today on his aging Aprilia. "He's got the championship," said Salaverria, who added that he might not finish the s.eason. "My team makes me very aware of the championship before I go out," Sorensen said. "I really enjoy winning races. It's a great feeling. Yes, the chaJllpionship is in mind. It's still so early. I have to remind myself of that. It's still way early in the year." For the first time this season, Salaverria's 1997 Aprilia RSV250 didn't let him down. After a seizure at Daytona and a blown head gasket at Phoenix, which watered his rear tire and threw him down, the bike held together while the San Franciscan babied it home. Early in the weekend, he wasn't sure it would finish. It was sucking water into the engine, whose cylinders are filled with epoxy patches and stress cracks. "It barely ran," said Salaverria, still nursing a pulled groin muscle from the Phoenix spill. "I was lucky I finished the heat race." At one point early on, he thought he might make a run at Sorensen, then thought better of it. Sorensen had nearly an eight-sec~nd lead atthe halfway mark and there was little chance that Salaverria could make a dent in it, especially at the conservative pace he chose to TUn. "It looked like I was reeling him in just a little bit, and then we got to a point where I just couldn't do it and I just settled for second," SaIaverria said, aqding that the engine problems meant that he didn't ha ve time to set up the suspension properly. "Baby it home, started riding it easier and easier just to make it home." The top two spots were settled very early on. Third was decided in a slugfest at the line. The race for third was mostly between Terranova Painting's Geep Terranova and Nick lenatsch, making his return to AMA racing on a Steve Biganski-tuned, Jim Stewart-owned 1995 Yamaha TZ. lenatsch's lone AMA 250cc win came at Willow Springs nine years ago. He knows the track well, especially turn nine. Terranova knew that and knew he had to be smart through there. "These guys are checked out - they're out of my range," Terranova said of Sorensen and Salaverria. "No need to worry about the guys tha t are long gone. If I get them, then I get them. My race was with Nick (Ienatsch) and I knew that, and to settle down into a comfortable pace and not ruin my tires and give it everything that I had. [ knew I had two guys en my tail going for the rest of the race." The second guy he was referring to was Team Race Against Cancer 4 Kids' Joseph Cubbage, the Monterey, California, rider who had to start from the back of the grid after ignoring a stop-and-go penalty flag.in his heat race. Cubbage joined the battle for third with a little more than five laps to go. Terranova was back in front of lenatsch at this point, though not for long. lenatsch used a backmarker to reclaim the spot in turn one on lap 10, with' Terranova getting it back soon after, and Cubbage trying lenatsch in one on the next lap. He would try again on lap 12, with £he pair shutting him down, and he nearly had an off in turn three on lap 13 while going around a lapper. The last lap started with lenatsch getting under Terranova in one, while Cubbage sat on their back door. The order didn't change until turn nine, when they encountered a backmarker as they made the run to the flag. "On that last lap," related Terranova, "I got a backmarker and I didn't really think I was going to get the drive, and I somehow got the speed back up. He (the lapper) took a wide line and I came underneath the backmarker and somehow it ended up being the line that I needed to get the draft. I got behind him and he (Ienatsch) swerved over and he grabbed my clutch and my bike went into a neutral and took off again, weaving down the straightaway to the finish - and it was an incredible, lucky deal. I was in the right place at the right time. My motor, my Swede Tech motor, was , absolutely awesome. The motor was doing the job today and my tires were working excellent, The job just doesn't get easier when stuff works just like that." Terranova said the impact of the collision with Ienatsch caused the clutch lever to bend backwards, putting him momentarily in neutral. "But it only happened for a real quick second," he said, "so I was able to gap it back on and get going and we were kind of weaving on each other and [ just had the better of the drives down the straight to get him and it was a matter of luck at that point." Ienatsch was a shadow fourth, with Cubbage about two lengths back in illth. _ Willow Springs International Raceway Rosamond, California Resulls: April 18, 1999 (Round 3 of 12) . MAZDA 2SOcc GRAND PRIX: 1. Chuck Sorensen (Yam): 2. A1 SalilvCrr'in (Apr); 3. Geep Terranova (Yam); 4. Nick lenotsch (Yam); 5. Joseph Cubbage (Yam); 6. Chris Ulrich (Yam); 7. Quenni King (Yam); 8. Edward Sorbo (Yam); 9, Greg Esser (Hon); 10, Jeffrey Vos (lion); 11. Gary Georges (Yam); 12. Perry Melneciuc (Hon); 13, Jason Candelaria (Yam); 14. Bruce Lind (Yam); 15. Glen Jeffrey (Hon); 16. Derek King (Hon); 17. Colin Jensen (Apr); 18. John France (Hon); 19. Rolando Quintero (Hon); 20, Keller King (yam); 21. John Burgoyne (Hon); 22. Roy De Groot (Hon); 23. Thomas Grier (Hon); 24. Philip Snowden (Hon); 25. Andre Castanos (Apr); 26. Richard Denman (Hon); 27. Andrew Edwards (Yam); 28. Kevin McCrea (Yam); 29. Sarnan Perera (Hon); 30. Duncan Griffiths (Yam); 31. Adam Neal (Yam); 32. Larry Roberts (Yam); 33. Ralph Staropoli (Hon); 34. Gavin Seekamp (Yam); 35. Mark Sweeney (Yam); 36. Mark Dipetro (Yam); 37. Scott Jones (Yam); 38. Mark Foster (Hon); 39. Richard Snowden (Han). Time: 20 min., 56.710 sec. Distance: 151aps, 37.5 miles Average speed: 107.424 mph Margin of victory: 13.240 sec. MAZDA 250c< GRAND PRIX C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 3 of 12 rounds): 1. Chuck Sorensen (l03/2 wins); 2. Greg Esser (78); 3. Quenni King (71); 4. Jeffrey Vos (71); 5, Derek King (69); 6, (TIE) Edward Sorbo/Geep Terranova (61); 8. Joseph Cubbage (55); 9, Rolando Quintero (52); 10, Chris Ulrich (411); 11, John France (47); 12. John McGuiness (37/1); 13. Al Salaverria (35); 14. Bruce Lind (34); 15. Gary Georges (33); 16, Colin Jensen (32); 17, Keller King (30); 18. Nick lenatseh (27); 19. Colin Gilbert (26); 20, Gavin Lee (23), Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Sonoma, California, April 25 Round 5 - Monterey, California, May 2 AMAISunoco Fuels Formula Xlreme Series Round 2: Willow Springs Inl'l Raceway AII-llighter pays off By Henny Ray Abrams ...roblems invariably lead to solutions. "Sometimes it just takes time. For the • Erion Racing crew, it took all night. After a Friday on which both Nicky Hayden and Kurtis Roberts had problems on their Erion Honda CBR900s, the team loaded up the bikes and took them back to their race shop in Anaheim, a solid two-hour drive from Willow Springs. After working clear through the night, the team showed up on Saturday with most of the bugs worked out, though a few remained. It didn't seem to matter.

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