Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Truck s U.S . Superbike Ser ies Sands wasn 't plann ing on contesting the entire series, though the win ga ve him cause to rethink . "I hav e a full-ti m e j o b, un fortun ately, so l 'rn not rea l sur e if I'm going to ma ke Atlanta at th is p oint," Sands said . "It's killing me now that I won th is race an d I' m in th e points lead . I don 't know . I' m go ing to disc us s it with my boss, wh ic h is also my father [ Pe r fo r m anc e M a ch ines owner T ed Sands] and try to ma ke t hat happen if that 's possib le. It'd be a shame to not go down.· Second and th ird on the da y were Co rbin 's Jimm y F ili ce and PJ 1' s M ich ael Han n as, the pai r also seco nd and th ird i n the poi nts sta ndings , Fi l ic e w ith 11 fewer th an Sands ' 69 . Oliv er and San ds h ad w on the ir respec t iv e heat race s. O liv er 's was faster and he was on th e pole. From th e start, he jumped int o the lead , taking Sunspo rts ' Perr y Mel neciuc with him, Sands taking m uch of the lap to get by . Oliver led across the st r ipe ending the first lap, then sli d out in turn one. "I was just go ing a little too fast: O li ver said . "I was just riding and ' it felt li k e a good st iff pace. I wen t int o the py lon turn and it fell over. I was as surprised as anyone else : The race was th e debut for Oliver's new mecha n ic , Robert Ward . After Daytona, Oliver split with Jocelin, his former m echan ic and fiance. Oliver w as rid ing hi s 2000 -model Yamaha T Z250 and it was perfe ct, whil e it last ed. San ds was away with Soren sen on him , Sore nse n tak in g the lead on the fourth la p when San d s ran wid e in two, and holding it for two laps. On lap six . Sands was again in th e lead , th e pair lea vi ng t he 3 5-r i d er f i el d behind . Sorensen hu ng with Sands until just after the m id -point , when he be ga n to slo w. " T h e spa rk pl u g , y o u l o ok at it and th e electro de an d the l ead ar e t o gether , · S o r e n s en s ai d as t he m achine beg an to fire o n only one cyli nder. "It felt prog ressively worse. I fe l t i t g o in g down th e straight aways , then it got wo rse: When Soren sen fell bac k , Sands had clear sa iling on the wa y to h is eighth ca reer 250cc GP wi n. " I got b ack by hi m an d all o f a sud d en you see a plus two o n th e boa rd an d I look be hind and Chu ck ' s way ba ck and th e nex t lap it's pl us eight," Sands said. " He broke. After that, it wa s k ind of cruise cont rol: Fi li c e and Ha nnas w ere be hi nd th e leaders runn ing together for the fi rst half of the race. T hen Filice go t go ing and left Hennas beh ind, even t ua ll y putting 11 seconds on hi m. He nna s , in turn , had 10. 5 on G P T ech 's Simon Turner , who finished nex t at th e head of a fight fo r fo urth. 14 M AV 1 6 , 2 0 0 1 ' c ue I"" Mike Clccotto started from the last row and stili won the Pro Thunder fina l at Sears Point. "I ki nd of tried to sta y with Rol and [Sands] and Chu ck [Sorensen] at the b egi n ni ng, bu t t h ey 're on the gas," Filice sai d. Th e team , l e d b y Ed Toome y , worke d on the machine all w eek end , but Filice sa id he m ight have been off on the gearing and handling. The team was going to test th e da y after the race. "T hose guys took off and I k ind of tr i ed t o push myself to stay up to p a c e , " F il i c e conti nu ed. " I knew [ M i c h a el ] Han nas was r ight there becau se he's young and hungry and I kn ow he wants to win and th ey don 't want to make an y m istak es. I tried to ke ep my pace up . I tri ed to work the t raf fic . I th ink m y ex p erience pa id off t he re b ec au se I was putting myself in some situat ions an d I was able to get o ut of th em ." Hennas had ridden 600cc Supersport bikes for the past two y ea rs. This i s h is f irst year and second race . " I' m kind of surprised to already be on the box. I'm st ill rea lly trying to learn how to ride the thing : Han nas said . He ag reed that Fi lice got the better b rea ks in traffic "and, once he got that gap, I started pushing a little b it to t r y t o keep up , and the b ik e st art ed slid ing. I knew I had th es e guys b ehind me , so I j ust figured I'd p lay it safe and bring it home th ird. " Beh ind h im was the trio of Simon Tu ner, Edward Marchini , and Perry Melneci uc. Tumer m oved Marchi ni out of fourth on the 12th lap, finishing 1.5 seconds in front at the flag, Marchini just two -tenth s in front of Melenciuc. eN Sears Paint Raceway Sonoma, C alifornia Results: May S, ZOOI [ft und Z of 11) /IIBNA 250 GRAN D PRIX: 1. Roland Sands (Ytl m); 2 . Jim Filic e (Ya m) ; 3 . Michtl eJ Henn es (Yam) ; 4. S imo n Turner (Yam) ; 5 . Edwa rd Marchini (YlIm); 6. Perry Melneciuc (Yam) ; 7. Andre Cas~nos (Hon); 8. Jeffrey Legg itt (Hon); 9. Chertee Sorensen ( Yam); 10. Cory Denton West (Yam): 1 J. Derek Kh>g ( Ho n ) ; 12 . Greg Esse r (Hon); 13 . Adrian Webb (Vam) ; 14 . Edward Sorbo (Yam); 15. Colin Jensen (Apr); 16 . J oh n Davis ( Y8m ); 17 . Roy de Groo t (Yom) ; 18. Rocky Wong ( Hon) ; 19. /IIark Smi th (Ho n) ; 20 . M ar k Watts ( Ha n) ; 2 1. John France (Hon); 22 . Ty David Piz ( Yam) ; 23 . Sean Crane (Yam) : 24. Bruce U nd (Yam ) ; 25 . Philip Snowden (Ha n ); 26 . Andrew Edw a rd s ( Yam); 27 . Ke it h Almond (Yam) : 28 . RIchard Snowden ( Han); 29 . Emil Gallant (Yam ): 30 . Tom Chri stian (Han ); 31. Stephe n Bowline (Hon); 32. Sean Wray (Yam); 33. Jason Dave (Yam) ; 34. Tim othy Hallbeck (Hon); 35. Rich Oliver (Yam). lime: 26 mins., 3.360 sec . Distanc e: 16 laps, 37.12 mi les. Averag e speed: 92 .846 mph . Margin of victory: 11.855 sec . /IIBNA 25 0 GRAND PRIX C 'SHIP POINT STANDINGS ( A rt er 2 of 11 rounds) : 1. Rol and Sonds (69 / 1 win ); 2. Jim Filice (58) ; 3. /IIlchael Hennes (52); 4. (TIE) Perry Melneciuc/S imon Turner (49); 6. Edward Marchini (46) ; 7. (TIE) Derek King / Rich ord Oliver (39 ); 9 . (T IE ) Greg Esser / Cory Denton West (34) ; 1 J. Rondy Renfro w (29) ; 12. (TIE) T y David Piz /Jaso n D i salv o ( 27) ; 14 . Th om as Palender (25) ; 15. Andre Castanos (24) ; 16. Jeffrey Leggitt (24) ; 17. (TIE ) Chuc k Sor ensen/Edward Sor bo (Yam) ; 19 . (T IE) J ohn Fra nce /J eff Wood/ Bruce U nd (2 1). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Braselton, Georgia, May 20 Round 4 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 8 n B vv S AMA Buell Pro Thunder Series Round 2: Sears Point Raceway S T O RY AND P HO T O S BY HEN N Y RAY ABRA /II S SONOMA CA, MAY 6 , ik e Ciccotto saw it com ing and there was nothing he could do about it . The Ha l's Performance r id er had won his Buell Pro Thunder heat with a time that was over 8.5 -seconds faster than th e fi r st h eat - a significan t amou nt for a five -lap race . The perform an ce put hi m on the pole for the Bu ell Pro Thunder f i n a l , whi ch i s where Ciccott o tho ug ht he sho uld be si nce he 'd been th e fa stest ri der all week end. Th en it all wen t wrong. AMA Pro Racing Technical Manag er Ro b K i n g a p p r oache d Ci cco t to with bad new s. " I k new som eth ing w a s wrong wh en he wal k ed over with kind o f a sad face ." Ciccotto said. Th e bad news was that th e fuel in Cicco tt o 's heat-winn ing Hal's Performa nce Buell wa s under specific grav ity ; illegal , in a w ord . Th at pu t the Floridian to the final spo t on th e eighth ro w of th e grid fo r th e final. "We were a lot qu ick er than m os t eve rybody all weekend long and I figured I'd j ust have to come from the back ," Ciccotto reasoned. "Our tea m does good under advers ity and they all pulled together and I just went stra ight to the front." No t qu ite straight to the fron t. It took sev en laps , b u t there was n't m u ch d oubt it wo u ld ha p pen. Ci c cotto was se ve nth o n the fi rst l ap , sixt h o n the s econ d , fifth o n t h e third, third on th e fifth , th en in to th e lead on the sev enth. Ciccotto had a near h ighside in turn 1 1 on the lap t h at he took the lead, b ut it d idn 't slow him much. O nce in front, Cic cotto quickly p u lled away , wi n n ing the 16- l ap, 37 .12 -mile race in by 8 .830 seconds i n 26 m inu t e s , 40.1 7 0 seconds at an av erage speed of 90.711 m ph . It was Ciccott o 's firs t AMA professional wi n. M "As soon as I took the lead... I just k ind of b acked it down a l ittle bi t , because I was p ushing a little b it to g et to the guys the whole time," Cicco tt o said . "Once I got around them , I set a pace for about two laps and started getting a one- or two -second lead , and then I k ind of settled in. Start ed push ing a little bit towards the end o f the race, b ut started sliding around, so I just back ed it do wn and finished." Along the wa y , Ci cco tto got one p iece of help wh en T ille y 's H -D / Buell 's Tripp Noble s damaged his motor while in th e lead on the fifth lap . " I missed a gear and o verrevv ed it, " Nobles said about th e shi ft from second to third which he missed exit ing turn seven . " I hadn 't m issed one all weekend ." The win put Ciccotto in th e cha mpionship points lead with 71, eight better than Advanced Motorsports ' Jeffrey Nash , th e defending national champion who t ook fourth , finishing off the podium for th e fi rst tim e in two seasons. Third place is a tie between Munroe Motors' Tom Montano (Duc) and T ille y 's H-D /Bue ll 's Dave Estok, th e pa ir fin ishing second and third, resp ectively . M ontano is fr om near by Berkeley and he's been around Sears Point as m uch as an yone in the class. Th ree days of practice wa sn't qu ite eno ugh to get the Munroe Motors' Du cati 748 properl y set up , and Montano strug gled. When he saw C iccotto coming on the sixth lap , he tried to hang with him " but then , I th ought, he just had a littl e bit mo re than m e. H is bi ke worked better i n som e sp o t s and m ine was a little better in others and fi nally I j us t said I' m just going t o brin g it on home in second , get some points , becau se you know it' s been a wh ile since I've been on th e box, and the last tim e I was going to get on the box, I ende d up on the hospital, so I j ust wanted to ta ke it nice and easy."

• Cover