Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAILock h a rt Phill ips USA F o r mu la Xtreme S eries R o u nd 1 : S ears P o in t R a c e way Montano ' s last shot at a pod ium came at Laguna Seca last year. On the penultimate lap , he crashed with a 20-second lead. "T hi s time around , I thought if I get anywhere cl ose and it 's not a fu ll-out battle , I' m just going to stay there ," he said . E st o k' s p ath t o the pod ium was problema ti c . A ll weekend long he'd had prob l ems w ith his " A " bike , believing it was a cracked sw ingarm. " W e could never g et the wobble out of it," he said. That put him on his "B " bike. The first attempt at a st ar t had been redflagged on the fi rst lap. It turn ed out to be a bles sing fo r Estok. There was a problem w ith th e throttle cable and t h e battery was dead . He got awa y several seconds after the rest of the fie ld and lik ely would n't have finishe d th e race. The red fl ag allowed him to straighten o ut hi s bik e problems . Estok too k o ver the lead when Nobles went out on the fifth lap , holding it fo r two b efore Cicc otto c am e b y . There was a vibration in his T ill ey 's H-D/Buell and on the fifth lap it was hard to feel the hand lebars and Esto k began to tire. " It see med l ike t h e b i ke w asn ' t handlin g as g o od towa rds the en d , bu t I' m sure that wasn't me, becaus e I co uldn't m uscl e it around any more. After b reak ing on the first start and g ett ing th at re d fl ag, I was j ust happy t o be b a c k in it a n d definitely ge t back he re on th e pod iu m ." What didn 't please him was getting beat en by his fellow Floridian Ciccotto from the back row . " I' m pretty e m b arra sse d g ett ing beat by Mik e here , sta rting from th e last row ," he said. "I' m going t o ha ve to g o home and train m y ass off o r something. " Nash was fourth , ab o ut 3 .5-se c onds behind Est o k , t h en came MB Mot orsports' Zoran Vujasinov ic on a Suzuki SY -650. eN Sears Paint Raceway Sonoma, California Results: May 6, Zool (Round Z of III BUELL PRO THU NDER: I. Mike Clccotto (Bue); 2. Thoma s Monta no (Duc ); 3. Dav id Estok (Bue); 4 . Jeffrey Nash (Du c): 5. Zoran vu jes tnovlc (Suz); 6. Rick y Lundgr en (Duc ); 7 . Mik e Kry nock (Duc) ; 8 . David Kieffe r (Duc) ; 9 . Mic hael Hardin (Duc ); 10. Cha rlie Hew ett ( D uc ); 11. Brien Long (Suz) ; 12 . Michael Mo ndo (Duc) ; 13. Mich ael Ellsworth (Suz) ; 14. Dale Pa lmer (Suz): 15. Stephe n Ulliott (Duc) ; 16. Tom Chauncey (Duc); 17. Steve n Wadsworth (Duc); 18. Jay Jacobson (Suz); 19. Richard Haas (Duc) ; 20 . Colvin Spre nger (Due); 2 1. Timothy Kelly ( ATK); 22 . Cory Denton West (Suz); 23 . Chris LaCruze (Due) : 24 . Howard Shemp p (Suz) ; 25 . Dean Mizdal (Duc) ; 26 . Tri pp Nobl es (Bue) ; 27 . Da vid Whit e (Honda ); 28 . J ust in McR e yno ld s (B ue); 29 . Scot Dorm ier (Due) . TIme : 26 m ins., 40. 170 sec. Di stan ce: 16 laps, 37 .12 mi les. Average speed: 90.7 11 mph . Mar gin of vict ory : 8.830 sec. BUELL PRO TH UNDER C'S HI P POINT STA NDIN GS (A ft er 2 of 11 rounds) : I. Mike Ciccono (71 / 1 win ); 2. Jeffrey Nash (63/1 ); 3 . Thom es Monton o (60); 4. David Estok (5 8) ; 5. Mik e Kry noc k (4 3) ; 6. Charlie Hewett (38); 7. Michael Hardin (33) ; 8. Dean Mizdll l (3 2 ); 9. Zoron Vujo sin ovi c (2 6) ; 10 . (T IE ) Ric ky Lund grenlDario Marchetti (25 ); 12. Thomas Fourni er (24 ); 13. (Tl E) Michael Barn es/Scot Dormier/David Kieffer (23) ; 16 . Paul vnare (22 ) ; 17 . (TIE ) J ohn Dieri ckx /Brian Long (20); 19 . Mich ael Mondo (19) ; 20 . (TIE) Mic hael ElisworthiWyeth J ockson ( 18) . Upcoming Rounds; Round 3 - Braselton, Georgia. May 20 Round 4 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 8 S T O RY AN D PH O T O S BY HEN NY R A Y AB RA M S SONOMA, CA, MAY 5 O ne race does not a season ma k e, but the message sent by Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore was unmis takable. T he new Suzuki GSX-R l000 is the bike to have, and Pridmore, in his debut on the class , is the man to bea t . In h is clas s debut on a b ik e he hadn't ridden before th e start of practice on Friday , th e form er Yosh imura Suzuk i rider dominated, w inning th e Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtr em e race handily. Pridm or e took t h e le ad by t h e fourth turn and pulled away to win th e 16 -lap, 37 .12-mile race by 4 .249 sec onds, beating fellow Suzu k i ride r Grant Lop ez of the of the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team , and Graves Motorsports Yamaha 's D am o n Buc k m a st er , who made a bad ti re choice which prevented hi m from mat chin g his quali fying effort. Pridmore ave rag ed 93.695 mph in w in ning t he race in 2 5 m in utes , 4 9.2 seconds. As n ot e w ort h y as the S u zu k i s ' prow ess, was the lack o f success of th e d om in a n t E rio n Raci ng H o n d a tea m . T h e most succes sful team in Formula Xtreme history , and wi nner of every Formula Xtreme title and nea rly every race, fin ished off the podium for the first time in team his tory with Mark Miller tak ing fourth and Jake Zemke sixth. Sandw ich ed in between w a s Buckmaster's te ammate, fe ll ow A us tralian Aaron Gobert - the young er br other of Yamaha 's An thony Gob ert . In Saturda y's sho rt , 20-minute Formula Xtrem e qu alifying session, Prid more had ma chine tro uble. The Suzuk i had an intermittent m iss and he had to pull out with sev en minutes rem ain ing and never got a chance to fit a qu alifying t ire, ending up fourth fa ste s t. Buck m aster took the po le with a lap of 1:34 .572, nearly a second faster than Bruce T ran sp o rt at io n G rou p's Josh Hayes at 1:35.530. Pridmore saw how fast the times were and was impressed, but not worried . "You see other guys out the re riding an d yo u g o ' Go sh , it's going to be to ugh,'" Pridm ore said, "but the bike is so good we we re able to get it run nin g on F rid ay morni ng and we were fast right out of the cr ate. I didn't even tou ch th e sus pe nsion of the b ike all weekend . I di dn 't turn anything - the bike's just th at good ." Morni ng warm -up affirmed his fai th . "Th is morning, I just ran a stri ng of 35s," Pridmore said . "I th o ught that's pretty strong and these guys sitting next to m e [Lopez and Buckmaster] are the two that I thought would be there as the day wor e on and they were. But we were just able to get away from them a little bit at the beginning. I got a good start, had a good firs t lap, and that was th e difference." Buckmaster hadn't used slicks since 1998 and was still getting acclimated . When i t came time to race , he made the wrong choice , he felt , and str uggled to keep up with Pridmore as Ha yes pressed h im from behind, Lopez in fourth . Ha yes for ge d his wa y b y Bu ckmaster in turn 11 on the fifth lap to ta ke over second, a spot he held onl y b riefly. On the next lap, he tr ied th e same mo v e , but with d isas tr ous results , losing th e front end and crashing. " He w as pushing pretty hard into there and th ere's a little seam in the track just before yo u tip int o that turn ," Buckm aster said. "H e went in that last ti me and I thi nk he tri ed to j ust brake a little hard and hold m e, because I ke pt passing h im on the exi t of 1 1. Un fortunately, he we nt down. " T hat en ded th e da y for the B ruce Trans portatio n Group team. O n th e seco nd lap, Rog er Lee Hayden got into t u rn 11 t o o h o t a nd crashed i nto Yalvoline EMGO Suzuk i's John Hopkins, taking bo th out. " It w as totally my fault ," Ha yden said. " I wish when I crashed I would have just taken myself ou t and not J ohn [Hopkins] ." Wi th H ay e s o u t, Buckmaster's m o r e immed iate c o n c ern became Lope z, who 'd had a bad start before slicing throu gh to c atch up t o Bu ckmaster and press h im on the seventh lap. Lopez was planning on making hi s m ove when he had a bad wobble com ing out of the carousel tu rn . "And when I went fo r the brak es, no brakes," Lopez sa id . " It was pretty ugl y . Just th e pucks got sp re ad in from the tank -slap situation . I th ink that kind of spooked me a little bit and I sat behind hi m there for a good two laps. I di dn't really sit behind the re. It was harder t ha n I anticipated to get by . I really had to just stick it in going up the hill there. I got by him. Then I saw plus zero fo r a wh il e. I was af raid he was g o in g to come and get m e back. I think lapped traffic did help me out. " Buckmaster agreed t hat tapper s were o ne probl em - his rear ti re was another. "I ma de the wrong tire choice," he said . "I'd rather get thi rd th an risk too much and crash ." Beh ind the lead thr ee ca me a pa ir of races: Miller a nd Gobert fig hti ng cue I e J a so n Pridmore wheelies h is Attack Suzuki GSX-R1000 after w inning the Fonnula Xtreme final in what was his first-ever ride on the bike and his debut in the class. over fou rt h, and Zemke an d Attack Suzuki's Ric h A lexa nd er contesti ng sixth. M iller got the better of Gob ert on the 10 th l a p , Gobe rt fi n d i n g h e couldn 't match his practice pace . " I w as fighting tra cti on all rac e ," Gobert said. "We were two seco nds a l ap faster in p rac tice tha n the w hole race. I c o u ldn 't work it out. It didn 't make any sense ." Gobert had a ls o irr it ate d the left co ll arbone he'd broken in a motocross accident in J anuary in a near cras h during 600c c Su p ers port p ra ctice . M ill er too k fo urt h by nearly tw o sec onds in the end. Sev en-sec onds back c am e Zemke and Alexander , th e pair running noseto-tai l for th e distan ce, with Zem k e ta king sixth by .0 17 of a sec ond. Sears Paint Raceway Sonoma, California Results:May5, Zool (Round I of lo J FORMULA XTREME FINAL: 1. Je sc n Pridmore (Suz); 2. Grant Lopez (Suz); 3. Dam on Buckmas ter (Yom) ; 4. Mork Miller (Hon); 5. Aaro n Gobert (Yom); 6 . Jake Zem ke ( Hen) ; 7. Rich Ale xande r (Suz); 8. Mark Foster (Kaw); 9. Robert Mesa (Yam); 10. Joseph Gill ( Yam) ; 11. Shawn Reilly (Suz); 12. James Kin g (Suz): 13. Kim Nak ashim a (Suz); 14. Kenyon Kluge (Suz); 15 . Edward Mil hausen (Suz); 16. Eri c Erlin g Haugo (Suz); 17. Brian Long (Suz); 18. Frank Aragakl (Kaw); 19. Thom as Montll.no (Due); 20 . Ty Al exander (Suz); 21. J osh Hayes (Han) ; 22. Chris Voelker (Hon ); 23. David Estok (Sue); 24 . J ohn Hopk ins (Suz); 25. Chad Sutton (Yam) ; 26 . Roger Lee Hayden (Hen). TIme: 25 mlns.. 49.200 sec . Dista nce: 16 laps. 37.12 m iles. Avera ge speed: 93.695 mp h. Mar gin of vict ory: 4.249 sec. A MA FORMU L A X T RE M E C'SH IP POI NT STANDIN OS ( After 1 of 10 ro un ds ): 1. J a son Pridmore (3 7/1 win); 2. Grant Lopez (32); 3. Dem on Buckma ster (30); 4. Mork Miller (27); 5. Aoron Gobert (26) ; 6. Ja ke Zemke (25) ; 7. Rich A lexonder (24); 8. Mork Foster (23) ; g. Robert Meso (22); 10. Jo seph Gill (21 ); 11. Shown Reilly (20); 12. Jomes King ( I g); 13. Kim Naka shima ( 18) ; 14 . Keny on Klu ge (17) ; 15. Edward Milhausen (16 ); 16. Eri c Erl ing Haugo ( 15) ; 17. Bria n Lo ng ( 14 ); 18. Fra nk Ar agaki ( 13 ); 19 . Thoma s Montano ( 12); 20. Ty Alexander (1 1). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Braselton, Georgia, May 19 Round 3 - Elkhart Lake. Wisconsin, June 9 n e _ s • M AV1 6, 2 0 0 1 15

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