Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Che vy Truck s U .S . S u p erbike Champ ionsh ip out to like 2.5 seconds right there on th e first lap. I was slid ing around a little bit - it took me a li ttl e bit to get the tires heated up a little bit. I don't know, last year I k ind of j um ped out and got a little ahead of myself and made some mistakes and wen t down. I didn't want to ma k e the same mis t ak e as last year, so I definitely took the time to heat up the tires ." With both Buckmaster and Hop kins breaking free, Gobert was back in a trio wh ich was heavily involved in a fight for the f inal pod ium spo t. Bruce Transportation Group 's Roger Lee Ha yden and Tom K ipp, subbing fo r the inj ured J ason Pridmore on the Atta ck Suzuki , we re rac ing with Gob ert in the early gOing . Go bert was into th ird o n the th ird lap , th en made a m is take in turn six on the fifth lap , and the pair go t by . It w o u l d take ano ther lap before Gobert made h is permanent mark on third. then began to stretch th e gap, en di ng up about fou r seco nds in fro nt of Hayden , who drafted Ki pp at the line to take fou rth by .0 11 seconds. "I sort of got into th ird there at the sta rt , and I was settling in ," sa id Gobert, in his first seaso n of racing Formu la Xtrem e. "I co uld see John [H op k ins], and it wasn 't too bad. I thought maybe I'd settle into a pace an d start closing the gap a little bit , and I nearly ran off the track in six .•lt' s a tricky corner; you can make a m ist ak e pret ty e asy , a nd I di d . So the n t hat's w hen [T o m] Kipp a n d Ro g er L e e [Hayden], th ey got pa st . So th en I just pu t m y hea d do w n , took a lap , and got back by them · brok e away ." Th e fi rst Ho ndas c rossed the fin ish li ne seven seconds after Ki pp , Erion Rac ing 's Miller tak ing sixth in front of a rapidly closing Josh Hayes of Bruce Transpo rt at i o n Group . Va lv olin e EMGO Suzu k i's Gran t Lo pe z was well back in eighth. E rion Racing 's Ja k e Zem ke was eli mi n ated ea rly wi th a bu rnt clutch . CN RoadAmerica E1kbaJ1lJ1ke, WISCOnsin Results: June 10, ZOOI LO CKHA RT ·PH I LLIP S U SA FO RMU L A XT REME: 1. Demon Bu ckmast er (Y am) ; 2 . John Hopk ins (Suz ); 3. Aaro n Gobert (V. m ); 4. Roger t.ee Ha yd en ( Han ); 5 . Tom Ki pp (SU2) ; 6 . Mark Mill er (Hon); 7. Josh Hay es (Hon); 8. Grant Lopez ( Suz): 9. Chris Voelke r (Hon) ; 10. Owen Richey (Suz) ; 11. PGu! Du cato (Ya m); 12 . M ic h eel Ra wli ngs (Han ); 13. Jamie Thompson (Suz); 14 . Chuck All en (Suz) ; 15. Brian Boyd (Yam); 16 . Ja mes Bonn er (Yam ): 17. Rich A lexander (Suz): 18. J ake Zemk e (Han ). Time: 22 min.• 8.4 J 2 sees. Dista nce: 10 la ps. 40 miles . Avera ge s pe ed: 109. 7 m ph . Marg in of victory: 5.503 sec. LOCKHART · PH ILL I PS USA FORMU LA XT REME C 'SHIP POI NTS STA NDINGS ( Afte r 3 o f 10 rounds): 1. Damon Buckmaster (97/1 win); 2. Aa ron Gobert (8 1) : 3. Grant Lop ez (7 8); 4 . John Hopk ins (68/1 win) ; 5. Mark Mill er (66) ; 6. Jo sh Hayes (58) : 7 . .Je ke Zemke (5 2 ) ; 8 . Rich Alex ander ( 49) ; 9 . Roge r L ee He y d en ( 4 2): 10 . (T IE) Ch u c k A ll en / Ja mi e Th ompson (3 8 ); 12. Ja son Pridmore (37/1 win ); 13. Ja mes Bonn er (32) : 14. Tom Kipp (26): 15. Micha el Barnes (24 ): 16. M.rk Foster (23) ; 17. ( TIE ) Billy Eth ridge/ Rob ert M. sa/Chris Voelker e (22) : 20 . (TIE) Joseph Gill /Ow en Richey (21) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 17 Round 5 - Monterey, California, July 7 16 JUNE 20,20 0 1 • cue I e MBNA 250cc G rand Prix Round 4: Road America Rich Oliver sprays the bubbly after t otally domi nating the wet 250c c Grand Prill fi nal. STORV A ND PHOTO S B V HENNV R A V AB RA M S ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUN. 11 ich Oliver spent a fair portion of the 250cc GP rac e on the rain soak ed Road Americ q, rac e c o u rse thinkin g about h is t ax return s. Two things stand out here: One i s that they were du e abo ut tw o m on ths ago , and th e second is, why? The answer is boredom . D esp ite rid ing hard o n the wet track at the beg inning , O li ver had only a 2 .2 -sec o nd lead end ing the first la p . Ending th e last lap it was over 4 7 . "I like ridi ng here in the rain ," the Sti c k er solu t ion .com rid e r after h is third MBNA 25 0c c Grand Prix win in fo u r races t hi s sea son . " Th is is a world -c la ss tra c k wi t h a world-class su rfac e , an d t he grip ou t there was j us t sup erior fo r wha t I was used to rid ing on in th e rain . Th e Dunlop rain ti res are reall y excell ent ti res , and I j u st u sed t h em to . I th in k . th ei r m aximum fo r a co up le of laps. Then I realized that I wa s pu ll in g away , so I tr ied t o be as smooth as possibl e, and then I started to dayd ream at about the halfway point. I just had to refocus and got into some lapped tr affic and worked m y wa y through th ere. And then I st art ed thinking abou t m y R nevv s tax retu rn , and I' m go ing , 'It 's probe bly not th e best time to think about yo ur tax return.' So I kept rid ing and I fin ish ed and c am e in an d every thing worked out j ust fi ne ." There was a br ief hi ccup at th e end wh ich got O li ver's attentio n wh en his Te am O liver Ya m ah a TZ -250 began making noises on the l ast la p . "I' m like, 'Man if this th ing ru ns out of gas , I' m j ust going to k eep walking off in th e fo re st an d never come ba ck ;' " Ol iver joked. Oliver is coming back and coming on. The win , coupled w ith the sec ond-place finish by Co rb in ' s J immy Filice, allowed O li ver to close in on Filice's championship lead. After four of 1 1 races, Filice has a five -poi n t lead, 1 19 to 114 . PJ 1's Michael Hannas, fo urth at Road A merica, is thir d with 104 poi nts. F ili ce hadn 't ri dden a ro ad rac er in the rai n since 1993 and was a po loge tic. " T he co n d iti o ns j u st r e all y di dn 't a llow us t o put o n a rac e fo r you guys ," Fi l i c e sai d . " Ri c h wa s awe so me in t he ra in , and h e had a better setup than I di d . At the beqin ning of it , I wen t down the h ill there and about lost it going down . I tried to follow him, but I just couldn't run th rough t he co rn ers as qu ic k as he was. I sho ul d have put another tooth o n the b ike [sp rocket]. I was pretty happy with the result. Rich is tough , he's going to be tough all y ear. "Loudon [site of the next round] is one of my best race tracks , orie of rny favorite places to go to , so I'm looking forward to going there and then Laguna. Hopefully we can have some heads-up racing and have some fun out there." Filice 's second wa s a flag -to-flag performance , as was the th ird place o f Perry Meln ec iu c. The Sunsports b a cked Yama h a r ider was a very popular visito r to th e podium , his first tr ip th ere this ye ar. He was on ly 13 second s b ehin d Fi l ice with 24 o n Hann as in fo urth , though he wanted m o re. "I j ust want ed to try an d hang with Rich and J im m y if I co uld and try no t to make too many m istak es ; be as sm ooth as I could ," Mel neciuc, wh o Oliver has been helping w ith his race prepa ration , said. "I had a co uple of problems toward the end. My electric sh ifter stop ped wo rking and for a seco nd I sort of panicked. I th ou gh t, man is thi ng running out of g as. It was hiccu ppi ng . I was going, no way . I shut t he sh i fter o ff a n d th e thing ke p t go ing and here we are. " Defending c h a m pi o n Chuck Sorensen had a bad day, which could have been worse. His GP Tech Yarnaha develo ped a misfi re on th e siting lap , forcing him to pit for his " B" b i k e. B y the time the brake discs were swappe d for t he prope r ra in un its , Sorensen was late for the grid . It would get worse. T ry ing to m ak e up for lost ti m e, So ren sen lost the fro nt end and slid into the hay bales going under the br id ge in tu rn 13. The bik e was largel y undam ag ed, and he remounted , his helm et and w ind screen full of grass. Fighting his way through the pack , he fini shed 10th . RoadAmerica SkbaJ1lJ1ke, WISConsin Results : June 11, ZOO [Round 41 I MBNA 250cc GP ; I. Ric h Oliver (V .m ) ; 2 . J im m y Fil ice ( Yam ); 3. Perry Me lneci uc (Yam) ; 4 . M.ichael Hannas II (Yam) ; 5. Eric Stephens (Hon); 6. Chris Pyles (YllIm) ; 7. Willi lllm Himmelsbach (Yam); 8. Cory Denton West (Yam ); 9. Roy De Groot (Yam ); to. Charles Sorensen (Y. m); II. Greg Es ser (Hon); 12. Chris Hamilton (Han) ; 13 . J ohn Fr ance (Han ); 14 . Ja mes Worthin gton ( A p r) ; 15 . Simon Turner (ve m ): 16. Richard Merha r (Yern) : 17. Edwa rd Sorbo ( Yam) ; 18. James Bonn er ( Yam); 19. Ty David PIz (Ya m ); 20 . Shawn M. rr ay (Hon ); 21. Sandy Noce u (Yam ); 22. An drew Edwards (Yam) ; 23 . Hal Keegan (Han ); 2 4. Mark Vanderwerf ( Yam ); 25 . Bruce Und (Yam ); 26 . Leon Hor (Yam) ; 27. Sean Wray (Yam) ; 28. Edward March ini (Yam); 29 . Mark Stil es (Yam ); 30 . Gery Berbaum (V. m) . lime : 19 min.• .077 sees. Dist ance: 10 laps. 40 mil es. Average speed: 111.968 mph Mar gin of vict ory: .29 7 sees. M B NA 250cc GP C'S H IP PO I NTS STANDI NGS ( A ft er 4 of 11 rounds) ; I. Jimmy Fili ce (1 19); 2. Rich O liver ( 114/ 3 wins); 3. Mich ael Hennes II (1 04) ; 4 . Sim on Turner (9 2) : 5 . Perry Meln ec luc (78) ; 6. (T IE) Edw ard M.arch ini / Charles Sor en sen (7 5); 8. Rola nd Sands (7 4/1 w in ) : 9. Ch ris Pyle s (64 ); 10. Co ry De n t on West ( 6 3): 11. (T I E) T y Devld Piz/Edward Sorbo (58) ; 13. J ohn Fran ce (57): 14. Greg Esser (54 ); 15. William Him m elsbach (48) ; 16. Bru ce Und (4 3) ; 17. Derek King (39) ; 18. Roy De Gr oo t (36 ) ; 19 . St ev e Reeve s (3 0 ) ; 20 . Randy Renfro w (29) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 • Loudon, New Hampshire, June 18 Round 6 - Monterey, California, July 7

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