Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Round 1 1 : Colonels Brainerd International Raceway Sorensen ended up 5.6 seconds in front of third place, and it might have been more had he come closer on his set-up. "We haven't been to a top-speed track since Daytona, and weren't prepared for the big long straights, so that's something that we've got some more work to do," he said. Filice ended up third, his path less rosy than that of Oliver and Sorensen. Filice got in with Renfrow, GP Tech's Simon Turner, and Sunsports' Perry Melneciuc for most of the race. It would take until the eighth lap for Filice to move into third, and then with little comfort. Renfrow was able to stay with him until the final few laps when he dropped off, finishing about two seconds behind. Filice said he rode conservatively for the first few laps, waiting to see self from the 18-rider field early in the race. After disposing of Randy Renfrow early in the race, Sorensen's run was as lonely as Oliver's and nearly as rewarding. "I was watching my pit board and I wanted to make sure that I got in front of mainly Randy [Renfrow]. Him and I just have really different styles," Sorensen said. "And a lot of other people know on an entrance corner, coming in you'll run right into the back of him, and if you don't get away then you're stuck there and there's nothing you can do, especially if he's motoring you down the straight. I wanted to make sure that I got out first in front of him and then just tried to set into some good fast laps, and I went faster than I'd gone all weekend." where Renfrow offered an opening. Once through, he worked to break the draft, which he did, but by then there was no hope. "There was no way of catching Chuck or Rich," Filice said. "Kind of had to settle. We struggled all weekend here with basically engine set-up. No excuses, these guys rode really good." Turner was fifth, Melneciuc shadowing him across the line. Then there was a significant gap to' The Universe's Ty David Piz and Ed Sorbo. The gap from Filice to Oliver closed to 21 points, 254-233, with three races to go. "It'll be hard the rest of the year to catch up the rest of the way in the championship, but we really are going to try our best to make it at least a fight at the last race," Oliver said. I:N Calnnel's Bninerd l..-tianelllKewsy Brainerd, Mi_ _ Results: July 29, 2001 (Round 8) MBNA 250« GRAND PRIX: 1, Rich Oliver (Yam); 2. Charles Sorensen (Yam); 3. Jimmy Filice (Yam); 4. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 5. Simon Turner (Yam); 6. Perry Melneciuc (Yarn); 7. Ty David Piz (Yam); 8. Edward Sorbo (Yam); 9. Cory Denton West (Yam); 10. John France (Hon); 11. Mark Dargis (Yam); 12. Glen Christianson (Yam); 13. Sean Wray (Yam); 14. Mark V~mderwerf (Yam); 15. Hal Keegan (Han); 16. Michael Hannas II (Yam); 17. Greg Esser (Han); 18. David Mendonca (Yam). Time: 22 min., 22.009 sec. Distance: 13 laps, 39 miles. Average speed: 104.620 mph. Margin of victory: 10.082 sec. 'MBNA 250« GRAND PRIX C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 11 rounds): 1. Jimmy Filice (254/2 wins); 2. Rich Oliver (233/5); 3. Michael Hannas II (198): 4. Simon Turner (195); 5. Perry Melneciuc (183); 6. Charles Sorensen (168); 7. Edward Sorbo (133); 8. Greg Esser (126); 9. Ty David Piz (123); 10. Johnrrance (119); 11. Cory Denton West (113): 12. Chris Pyles (106); 13. Edward Marchini (95); 14. WlIliam Himmelsbach (90); 15. Randy Renfrow (81); 16. Roland Sands (73/1): 17. Derek King (63); 18, Bruce Lind (57); 19. Sean Wray (54); 20. JelTWood (50). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Fountain, Colorado, August 26 Round 10 - Rosamond, Califomia, September 16 AMAIBuell Pro Thunder Series Round &: Colonels Brainerd International Raceway five it would go away. Besides that, the bikes ran perfect all weekend." Though he was out front, Estok wasn't all that comfortable. "These guys definitely kept me honest the whole time," he said. "I was looking back and I wasn't making up any time on them. I just think I got a real good start and jumped and then they were battling each other, so that allowed me run up front at the same pace." Estok was glad to have a small gap when his motor was sputtering. "I just put my head back down the laps that it would sputter and try to ride at least real hard laps to try to make up that time that I lost a little bit. It worked great." At the finish of the 13-lap, 39-mile race, Estok took the checkered flag with a cushion of 1.274 seconds. He completed the race in 22 minutes, 48.969 seconds at an average speed of 102.559 mph. Advanced Motorsports' Jeff Nash took the long route to second. Seventh after the first lap, Nash used a combination of skill, luck, and patience to move up. Luck in the race and luck before the race. He'd crashed hard in Formula Xtreme practice and the team had to rebuild his Ducati. In the race there was more luck. He passed Hal's Performance Buell's Mike Ciccotto on the second lap with Ciccotto soon to hit bad luck. On the fifth lap Ciccotto's Buell began to sputter badly and he pitted. The culprit was a loose spark plug lead. The lead was re-attached and he By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, MN, JULY 29 "It was just one of those lucky weekends," Tilley's H-D/Buell's Dave Estok said after sailing to the Buell Pro Thunder win at the Colonel's Brainerd International Raceway. There was plenty of drama behind him, but Estok's race was mostly trouble-free, with the exception of the occasional burble out of his carburetors. That barely slowed him, and he rode to his second win in a row. "Sometimes when you win it's almost easier than when you're running in second or third you've got to ride your ass off. It's the same thing at Portland. It just seemed like we had the set-up right off the bat." Estok showed his strength in his heat race. He beat teammate Tripp Nobles by nearly six seconds with lap times close to a second faster than the second heat winner, Shawn Conrad of Corse Superbikes. The second heat was red-flagged on the fourth lap. Estok and Conrad dominated the early going, Estok more so. The Floridian eased away from Conrad, despite the occasional troubling sound out of his Buell. "I don't know, sometimes I'd get my knee in front of one of the carburetors, but it starts to sputter and break up and I'd pull the clutch and keep revving it," Estok said. "And I was like, man, but then it would start pulling again and it would only do it in turn four, and by the time I'd go through 20 AUGUST 8,2001 • eye • e n e _ s Dave Estok won the Pro Thunder final at Brainerd, topping Jeff Nash (1) and Thomas Montano. rejoined the race, but not before losing seven spots. Now he was in 13th and had to work his way back up to seventh at the end. Nash was up on Tripp Nobles on the third lap, passing the Tilley's HDI Buell rider on the seventh. Nobles got him back on the ninth, the pair passing Shawn Conrad on the 10th, then Nobles engine expired. Team owner Don Tilley said it was a broken push rod. "It just popped," Tripp said, according to TilJey. It was now the 11 th lap and Nash was in second, which is where he'd finish, but not before making a serious run at Estok. "Dave [Estok] was quite a ways ahead and I could see him up there and Tripp [Nobles] and I were swapping the lead and we were looking over each other as we were going down the straightaway and I was like, 'Come on, let's go and use each other and try to catch these guys,' which we started to do," Nash said. "The next thing we're on Conrad and both passed him at once and thought maybe Dave's possible. I was trying really hard and I was closing up on him on the last lap I just had a real moment Dave got past him coming out of six I think and I caught him right in seven. I was way going too fast. So I was really lucky I didn't go off into the grass." Like Nash, Munroe Motors' Tom Montano had machine problems before the race, but his .were more dire and more immediate. In the morning practice his motor broke and the team had to thrash to make the start. Estok was gone by the time Montano got going and he found himself dicing hard with Conrad. Montano went to pass Conrad on the outside' of turn three and Conrad blocked him. It would happen again later in the lap and Montano waited until they got to the front straight to make his feelings known. "I went down the front straight and I was going to move over on him and then my leg came off and I kicked at him for a minute, like 'What do you think you're doing?' Then after that I lost the drive on Jeff [Nash] anyway,

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