Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Buell Pro Thunder Series Round 1 : Daytona International Speedway STORY AND PHOTOS By HENNY RAY ABRAMS NA BEACH, FL, MAR 11 he Buell Pro Thunder race was one of triumph and tragedy. Jeffrey Nash, the New Zealander who won the class title last year without winning a race, earned his first victory with a bit of luck. Coloradan Dirk Piz, who, at 45, was in his first AMA professional race, lost his life in an accident in the chicane. The II-lap race had made it to the fourth lap when it was red-flagged because of the incident involving Piz and Kiyoshige Watanabe. John Long, who finished 17th in the race, said on the track public address system that on the lap prior to the crash he'd seen oil coming out of the back of Watanabe's bike and had pointed to it as he went by. Watanabe didn't appear to react, Long said, and the next time he went into the chicane the oiled up rear tire caused him to crash horrifically, with Piz also involved. According to the publicity department of Daytona International Speedway, "Piz suffered internal injuries, but the cause of death is unknown pending the medical examiner's report." The race was restarted with the original grid and eight laps to go. The original grid placings were used because the field had only completed three full laps. Daytona is uniquely covered in the AMA's supplemental regulations, which state that the original grid in the l1-lap race would be used if less than four laps were completed. Four different riders led at different times, with Nash taking the win, confidently using th.e power of the Advanced Motorsports Ducati to lead from the chicane to the checkered flag, holding off Hal's Performance's Mike Ciccotto by 0.196 seconds. "This is my dream to win here at Daytona, so it's absolutely fantastic, I'm overjoyed," Nash said. Last year he won the Buell Pro Thunder title with consistency, never winning a race, but finishing on the podium every time. He was one of two riders to score points in every race last year. This year, he came in more prepared. "I've been physically preparing myself, working really hard at it since the off-season, trying to be fitter than I've ever been. Organizing the team this year. Once again got a great crew. It's a fantastic thing for us to achieve. It's a dream come true to win here at Daytona. I'm excited about it. I just hope we can have some good races with these guys and have a good season also." Nash had caught a break when the race was red-flagged. On the first lap of the original start, he'd gotten tangled up with a bunch of other riders in turn one and had to make an escape down an access road. Just before stopping, the Ducati tipped over undamaged. "I was really thankful for a restart," Nash s.aid. "Even though I was working my way back up, obviously I was never going to catch the leaders. To have a restart and have an opportunity to prove what I could do was a good thing." Off the restart, a lead pack of seven soon became six, then five, then four when Tripp Nobles rolled through the chicane with an electrical problem on the seventh lap while at the tail of the lead five. The bike had been misfiring the whole race and he'd asked the AMA if he could use his back:up bike after the restart, but was refused. (In the later Superbike race, a number of riders were allowed to use their spares.) AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said that replacing a machine under the red flag was "allowed in Superbike by our rules, and only Superbike. It's been that way for many years." The four out front were a mix of Buells and Ducatis, Ciccotto and Tilley's H-D/Buell's David Estok, who was making something of a return to racing, and the Ducatis of Nash and Munroe Motors' Tom Montano. The order was ever changing, Ciccotto good on the brakes, and good on top speed. Into the chicane on the final lap, they were four wide, Nash boldly moving to the front, then powering up and out of the chicane on the run to the flag. With three riders trailing him, Nash decided to try to lead from the front, normally a costly mistake, but this time a Winning strategy. Nash used a' speed wiggle to shake the draft and hold on for the win, his first in AMA competition. "I knew that I really couldn't beat Mike in top end," Nash said. "We'd been having duels the whole race around that tri-oval and it just wasn't going to work for me, so I had to sort of try and come up with another plan. I let Montano through going into the infield and thought those guys might give me a bit of a draft to pass them both before the chicane, which is what I was trying to achieve, which worked quite well. Made a block move coming into the chicane and got a good drive coming out. I just wrung the neck of that Ducati aU the way to the line. I was just lying under 30 MARCH 21. 2001 • e y e . e n _. - _- ~ .... e .. _ s Jeffrey Nash (1) won last year's Pro Thunder title without scoring a victory. He changed that In a hurry In 2001 by winning the opening round of the series at Daytona. the paint. Just hoping that Mike wasn't too close, because I could hear him." Nash's win put him in the championship lead with 36 points, four more than Ciccotto. Ciccotto had been through a lot on the weekend. He'd high-sided the Hooters Suzuki while in the lead pack of the 750cc Supersport race, landing on his backside and pulling some ligaments. Of the final eight laps, Ciccotto led the most with three, including the sixth and seventh. On the final lap he was right behind Nash coming out of the chicane, seemingly the ideal position. "The last lap came down to a draft war, which I knew it was going to," Ciccotto said. "I was hoping I would be able to lead into the chicane, but Jeff got drafted by me down towards the chicane, so I decided to follow him in. I probably didn't make the best decision to go high when he went low, but I was maybe thinking I would get down the incline and catch some speed on him. Dave [Estok] got me right there at the line and we had a little draft-fest back and forth with each other. I was lucky enough to get by him." Estok wasn't a presence on the AMA circuit last year. This year he's back with the Tilley team, a team which is trying to put last year's reliability problems behind them, though the weekend wasn't bug-free. There were oil-leakage problems in qualifying and a" few blown motors, plus he was well off the pace, but Estok persevered. In the race, the Tilley Buell was the equal of the field and Estok led the fourth lap. Out of the chicane he was third, which is where he'd finish. "I don't really like the bottom of the box, but I'll take it," the Floridian said. The team had struggled all weekend, finally hitting on a set-up fix in the morning warm-up that worked. "I dropped all the time with just one change - just loosening up the rear end. I have to thank Dunlop. They gave me a new tire that we tried out and it worked awesome and it's what gave me the traction to stay up here." Just behind Estok came Montano, then a gap to another battle, this one waged among the Buell-mounted Barnes, and the Ducati 748s of Dean Mizdal and Italian Dario Marchetti, with Dunbar Eurosports Thomas Fournier just off the rear. Barnes led on the white-flag lap, but a mistake dropped him back to eighth, with Mizdal getting fourth in front of Marchetti and Fournier. CN II8ytanIIlntemational SpeedwlY Daytlml Bnch, Flori'" He.ulls: March 11, 2001 (Round 1 of 11) BUELL PRO THUNDER: 1. Jeffrey Nash (Due): 2. Mike Clccotto (Sue); 3. DllVid Estok (Sue); 4. Thomas Montano (Duc); 5. Dean Mizdal (Duc); 6. Dario Marchetti (Duc); 7. Thomas Fournier (Duc); 8. Michael Sllmes (Sue); 9. Paul Vitale (Duc); 10. Scot Dormier (Duc); 11. John Dierickx (Sue); 12. Mike Krynoek (Due): 13. Wyeth Jackson (Due): 14. Charlie Hewett (Due); 15. Greg Zanghi (Due); 16. Deborah Venega (Due); 17. John Long (Due); 18. John Caleb Under (Suz); 19. Tripp Nobles (Bue); 20. Michael Hardin (Due); 21. John Costa (Bue): 22. Sadahori Hikita (H-D); 23. Kiyoshige W&tanabe (Hon); 24. Dirk Pi' (Due). Time: 15 min" 57.047 sec. Distance: 11 laps, 39.16 miles. Average speed: 107.108 mph. Margin or victory: 0.196 sec. BUELL PRO THUNDER C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 1 of 11 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Nosh (36/1 win); 2. Mike CiccOllO (34); 3. David Estok (29); 4. Thomas Montano (27); 5. Dean Mizdal (26); 6. Darie Marchetti (25); 7. Thomas Foumier (24); 8. Michael Barnes (23); 9. Paul Vitale (22); 10. Scot Dormier (21): 11. John Dierielo< (20): 12. Mike Krynock (19); 13. Wyeth Jackson (18); 14. Charlie Hewett (17); 15. Greg Zanghi (16); 16. Deborah Venega (15); 17. John Long (14); 18. John Caleb Linder (13); 19. Tripp Nobles (12); 20. Michael Hardin (11); 21. John Costa (lO); 22. Sadllhori Hikita (9); 23. Kiyoshige Watanabe (8); 24. Dirk Pi' (7). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Sonoma, California, May 5 Round 3 - Braselton, Georgia, May 19

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