Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Brainerd International Raceway Greg Esser on the Fabweld Honda. Then came C h ris U lri ch , Ed So rbo, Br uce Lind , Perry M eln eciuc, Jeff Vos, a n d William Himmelsb ach . CN Brainerd International Race way Brainerd, Minnesota Resu lts : Augus t 1,1999 (Rou nd 10 of 11) zsc« G RAND PRIX: 1. Chuck Sorense n (Yam) ; 2. Michael Hal e (Ho n); 3. Derek King (Hen): 4. Greg Esser (Ho n): 5. Chris Ulrich (Yam); 6. Ed So rbo (Yam) ; 7. Bruce U nd (Yam); 8. Perry Mclneciuc (Hen ): 9. Jeffre y Vos (Yam); 10. William Himmelsb ach (Ya m); 11. Eric Stephen s (Ho n): 12. John Fran ce (H en ): 13. Ralph Staropoli (Hon ); 14. Rolando Quintero (Hon); 15. Coli n Jen sen (Apr) ; 16. Ja m es Bonne r (Ya m) ; 17. Ja m es Wo rt hington (Ap r); 18. Larry Roberts (Ya m); 19. Jdf japs (Yam); 20. Kory Gill (Yam); 21. Mark Dar gis (Ya m); 22. Geoffre y Maloney (Yam) ; 23. Glen C hristianson (Yam) ; 24. Ada m Nea l (Yam); 25. To m Christian (Ha n); 26. C h r is to p he r Ho ls ke (Yam); 27. Ed ward Sadva r (Yam) ; 28. Byan Ok ubo (Yam); 29. An d rew Edwa rds (Yam) ; 30. Sco tt Jon es (Ya m); 31. Randy Renfrow (Han); 32. Quenni King (Yam). Tim e-: 22 min ., 35.4 t 2 sec. D istan ce: 13 laps , 39 miles Average speeds 103.585 mph M argin of vidory: 12.788 sec. A M A 250 . . G RAN D PRI X c-S H IP P OINT STAN DINGS (A fter 10 of 11 ro u n d s): 1. Ch u ck Sorensen (308/6 wins ); 2 Derek King (237/1); 3. Chris Ulrich (222); 4. Quenni King (208); 5. Ed Sorbo (83); 6. Jeffrey Vas (179); 7. Joh n Fra nce (176); 8. Gr eg Esse r (73); 9. Ro land o Qui ntero (69); 10. Bruce U nd (36); 11. Perry Melru.. c (132); 12. Ceep Terranova (126/1); ciu 13. Roland Sands (98/ 1); 14. William Him melsbach (%); 15. AI Salave rria (93); 16. Jam es Bonne r (88); 17. Ralph Sta ropoli (85); 18. Eric Stephe ns (84); 19. Keller King (82); 20. JoeCubbage (76). Upcoming Round: Round 11 . Fountain, Colorado, September 19 = _ ~ go c:( 20 settled in to a co mforta ble pace which none of the othe rs cou ld come close to ma tching. Seco nd p lace wa s somethi ng of a surprise, bu t it sho ul d n' t have been . T h e spo t we n t to Mike Ha le , th e 500cc Gra n d Pr ix rid er o n th e m end fro m a practic e accid en t in the French GP. Hale secured a rid e o n a Wo rld Sports Im po rts Ho nda, th e sa me b ike th at So re nsen rode at Daytona before switchi ng to a Yama ha, a nd the sa me bike that Kurtis Roberts rode last year. It was good, but not that good, an d Ha le never rea lly had a chance to race for the win . Still, he was ha p p y for the tr a ck tim e after his lay off and it was a good tes t of his inju red hand and foot. " It was tou gh , I mean , Ch uck mad e th e bre ak righ t away:' sa id H ale, w ho expects to retu rn to the GP w ars a t Brn o in three weeks. "I kind of got hu ng out with the local guy ea rly on and he mad e th e break. With the lack of speed I had a ll weekend, once Chuck wa s g o ne, there wa s no hope because I w as counting on getting a tow fr om him on th e straights and try to make u p for it in the infield ." The local guy was Bryan Okubo, the Dale's Performance Yamaha rider from La ke v ill e, Mi n nesota . Okubo passed Hale for second on lap tw o and stayed in fro nt un t il la p seve n w hen Ha le p a s s ed h im ba ck . O n la p 10 Okub o d r o v e back b y H al e , o nly to co me undone a mi nute late r. "He ha d just come back by m e," Hale said. " I d o n' t w ha t he w as d o in g . He had a bit of motor , a bit of accelerati on on me, so he was able to ge t so me d rives, especially fro m two in to th ree. I don't kn ow w ha t the deal w as . He was p u lli n g so me r ea ll y wei rd li n es o u t th ere. He was just in th e corn er reall y deep and he tried to sq ua re it off, it w as just a littl e different. His lean ang le w as too much for his braking." Once Ok u bo w as ou t, Hale's seco nd w as fair ly se cu re . Eve n wi tho ut taking the win, Hale was pleased wi th th e ou ting. II] learn ed a lot here," th e Pr ot on Modenas rider said . " It woul d ' ve been ni ce if w e had m ore p arts to d ial th e bike in a little better, because it wasn 't in third on the final lap, both Ha yes and Harre ll k new he cou ld find a way to wi n, and he did. Harrell was ou t fro n t at the sta rt of th e fi nal lap in fro nt of H ayden a n d Ha yes. It w ou ld be Hayd en' s fastes t la p of the race. In th e sh u ffle at the end of the onemil e fro nt straig ht, Hayes dropped Har rell to second, wi th H ayden bri efly third - befo re d ancing the big H ond a und er Harrell in tu rn three . Then he se t ou t for Hayes. He ca u g h t h im in , turn fou r , a n d tu rned th e pressure o n , a tta cking fo r se ve ra l m o re turns b ef o re takin g th e lead in th e bus- st op co rner tw o turns fro m the end. Slid ing underneath, Hayden too k over th e lead, an d ra n a tight lin e in tu m 10 to stea l his sixth win of th e yea r. Harre ll got by Hayes to take second, wi th th e leading three covered by a blanket. "I k new it was goi n g t o hap pen , beca u se th e w hole tim e I' ve b een o ff (recoveri ng from a racing inju r y), I' ve b een w a tc hing , a n d h e alwa y s - it d oes n' t matter w he re he's at, sixth, third, w hatever - he's always going to make tha t one last ditch effo rt," Harr ell sa id af ter com ing up .220 of a seco nd sho rt an d just .133 of a second ahead of Hayes. (Above) Chick Sorensen was again in a class by himself in the 250cc Grand Prix final. So rensen clinched the title with his win. (Right) The Formula Xtreme race was close to the bitter end with J os h Hayes (131) leading event ual winner Nicky Hayden (69) and eventual runner up Paul Harrell. optimum, but it wa s good, it was a good expe rie nce ." Less than four seconds be hind Hale came Der ek King, the Champion Honda rid er w ho ' d won at Loudon . King was on the move in the early go ing w hen his engi ne tied u p . "In the beginning, I was rig ht there with the m and on abo ut the third lap I actually had a seizure, stuck a ring in th e turn tw o area in fifth gea r, rig ht · when yo u kind of have to overrev to ge t thro ugh the sho rt chu te:' King sa id . "I spe nt a lot of tha t half lap tryi ng to get th e m ot or to free up th e ring ag ai n. I caugh t th em onc e m o re, and th en th e same th in g happen ed th ree la ps lat er, because th e second I caught to th em I wa s in th eir draft and it w as pulling the overrev. I was sucking them right up a nd th e m achin e w a s revvin g a bo u t 14,000. I rode the p iss o u t of it and I should n' t have." Th e Honda RS250 ran w ell enough for King to finis h 23 seco nds in front of a string of rid ers fronted by fourth-placed AMAISunoco Race Fuels FonnulaXlremeSeries, Rou nd9:BrainerdInternation Raceway al Hayden steals one By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by To m Riles BRAINERD, MN, AUG. 1 hey knew he was coming and there was noth ing they could d o. Th at' s how good Nicky Hayden is. The Erion Racing H onda rider wa s lock ed in a fu rious three-w ay battle with Graves Mo to rspo rts' Paul Harrell and Valvo line EMGO Suzu ki's Joshua H ayes fo r most of th e I3-1ap Pirelli Fo rm u la Xtreme rac e. Each led a few laps, Ha y-den leading the most, but th er e w asn 't much in it at any time. So w he n he was T "Right at the end I kn ew that I had to get u p th ere, a nd th e last la p I go t a good run o n Paul there," sa id Hayd en, w ho turned 18 just a d ay pri o r to th e race. " I s ta rte d a few co rners ear ly . I though t if I took it too easy Jos h was going to co me back b y m e an d I ju st tri ed to build so me momentum and get under . It worked reallygood ," Hayden dedi cated the wi n to Davey Camlin , the dirt tracker w ho was killed at the Du Quoin Mile di rt tra ck a week ea rlier. " Dave y's ju st li ke th e a ll-A m erica n gu y, everybody loved h im and he go t along w ith everybody," said H ay den, a fellow d irt tracker . " It w as just a fr ea k accident that happens in racing, especially on the miles, when every body'S that tigh t. Jus t dedi cate it to him and his famil y." Fou rth on the day we n t to the resurgent Chu ck Graves on the seco nd of the Graves Mot orsports Yamahas. H e fin ish ed about six second s beh ind Hayes a nd a bo u t tw o bikelengths in fr on t of Erion Racin g's Kurtis Roberts.

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