Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I think one of the problems in Atlanta with me [was that] I wasn't even nervous for that race in Atlanta," Pridmore said. "I fell off the day before and broke a collarbone and I went into the race just saying, 'I'm going to score points and ride around,' and whenever that happens, something bad usually happens. And that's what happened to me. It caught me out. And today I was in the truck with my trainer and said, you know, I'm nervous. I mean, I'm nervous. It was good to have that feeling back and I knew these two up here next to me were going to be the two." The two up with Pridmore were his teammate Kipp and Erion Honda's Zemke. Kipp and Zemke battled most of the race, Kipp always in front, Zemke always probing. The short, tight PPIR road course meant that traffic would come into play, and it did. "I was able to close in on Tom [Kipp] a couple of times, and really where I could gain time on him was coming out of two and down the back straightaway," Zemke said after STORV AND PHOTO BV HENNV RAV ABRAMS FOUNTAIN, CO, AUG 26 his was the racing equivalent of "Survivor" with Rich Oliver taking home the top prize after surviving a series of challenges his fellow cast members, all former champions, couldn't. Oliver emerged from the front-running pack of four to win the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix at Pikes Peak International Raceway by 4.539 seconds by staying upright and out of trouble, something only he was able to do. Former champion and current part-timer Roland Sands, of Performance Machines Yamaha, failed the braking challenge at the end of the back stretch, running off the course, T finishing 1.2 seconds behind Kipp. "I was really strong through there. It wasn't enough to get up there next to him. And I was just getting to the point to where I thought I was going to be close enough to make a braking move on him going into three, and we caught some more lappers and it seemed like every time we'd get by one and it would just balk me up, slow me up just a little bit and then he'd gap me again and it seemed like it was a seesaw battIe back and forth. I kept getting right back up to his rear tire and then he'd pull away again. That pretty much was the end of it for me." Kipp said he'd battled a number of set-up problems all weekend, finally finding a cure for the race. He, too, thought Pridmore and Zemke were the ones to beat. He couldn't get the win, but a good start meant he could stay with the leaders and finish second. "It came down to getting a good start so I just concentrated as much as I could on getting a good start and getting a good first lap which we did Rich Oliver (7) was able to run a mistake-tree race and go on to win the 250 Grand PrIx race at Pikes Peak. His competitors, Including Jimmy Filice (3), Roland Sands (10), and Chuck Sorensen (1) weren't so lucky, all either crashing or running off the track at one time or another. but not crashing. He recovered to finish second. Corbin Racing's Jimmy Filice failed the gravity challenge, tucking the front in the same corner. He remounted to finish third. And current class champion Chuck Sorensen, of the GP Tech Yamaha team, failed the stay-out-of-trouble challenge, high-siding spectacularly after trying to occupy the same part of the track as a lapped rider. He and I think that played a pretty big role for me," Kipp said. The drama behind the lead trio was intense after Buckmaster dropped out. There was a five-rider battle, with the Bruce Transportation Group and Valvoline EMGO Suzuki teams battling, and Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Aaron Gobert in the mix. Among the riders was John Hopkins, who came into the series trailing Damon Buckmaster by 14 points. Buckmaster had been running in fourth when his machine suddenly slowed. "I just come off of turn three and opened the accelerator and it had a flutter," Buckmaster said. "It gave me an indication that it was a valve." Hopkins didn't exactly run with the gift, but then he couldn't. Battling setup problems all weekend, he couldn't extricate himself from the pack, running early behind Roger Lee Hayden before dropping back for a number of laps, then recovering to move into fourth in the final stages. But Hayden was having none of it, stuffing his way under Hopkins in the Carousel didn't recover. It was as wild and wacky a race as anyone could remember, including Oliver. "Any time that Roland [Sands] shows up it's guaranteed to be wild," he said. "And now that Chuckie's [Sorensen] out of the points, he doesn't care anymore, so he rides real hard now. And Jimmy [Filice] always rides hard. He likes to win, he doesn't care about his points as much as he does winning and I'm going for the win too, so it puts a great mix of old guys and young guys and medium guys." They're a distinguished group which has won the last eight 250 GP titles, with Oliver, who just turned 40, leading the pack with four. Those titles aren't the ones he's interested in. It's the present where he's focused, and his win, coupled with Filice's third, cut his gap on the points leader Filice to 13 points with only Willow Springs and Virginia International Raceway remaining. "When Jimmy [Filice] fell, I thought, boy, okay, here we go, now you're racing for a championship point lead and, what a professional rider Jimmy is, he picks the thing up and still gets on the box," Oliver said. "I mean, I wish I could have done that at Sears Point, but my handlebar was broken off. Things like that, that's just the way this year's been for us. We get a break, but we're not really able to capitalize on it 100 percent because we're racing such .good guys." From the start there were the four champions going at it, quickly separating themselves from the pack. Oliver had little comfort in leading with Filice, Sands, and Sorensen in his shadow. So it would go until the c U a I .. on the final lap to secure fourth. Hopkins took fifth, less than a tenth back, with Grant Lopez and Aaron Gobert crossing the line in short order, followed by Josh Hayes. CN Pikes PuIc InterIIlItionaillaceway Fountain, Colorado Results: August Z5, ZOOI LOCKHART-PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREM.E: 1. Jason Pridmore (Suz): 2. Tom Kipp (Suz); 3. Joke Zemke (Han); 4. Roger Lee Hoyden (Han); 5. John Hopkins (Suz); 6. Gront Lopez (Suz); 7. Aonon Gobert (Vom); 8. Josh Haye. (Han); 9. Mor!< Miller (Han); 10. Mouno Ceredo (SU1); 11. John Dugon (SU1); 12. Dougla. Viekery (Vam); 13. Jeffrey Ahner (SU1); 14. Rieky Ortando (Suz); 15. Erte Erting Hllugo (Suz); 16. Scott Jensen (Suz); 17. Robert Christman (Suz); 18. Ricky Lundgren (Due); 19. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 20. Travis Grllham (Vern); 21. David Kieffer (Due); 22. Benjemin Fox (Due); 23. Thomo. Montano (Due). TIme: 27 mins., 4.206 sec. Distance: 29 laps, 38 miles. Average speed: 84.525 mph. Margin of victory: 5.004 sec. LOCKHART·PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 8 of 10 nounds): 1. (TIE) Damon Buekmoster/John Hopkin. (229/2 win.); 3. Grant Lopez (200); 4. Joke Zemke (197/1); 5. Josh Hayes (191); 6. Aaron Gobert (182); 7. (TIE) Roger Lee Hayden/Mork Miller (160); 9. Tom Kipp (124/1); 10. Joson Pridmore (74/2); II. Rich Alexander (71); 12. Chris Voelker (55); 13. Chuek Allen (54); 14. Jamie Thompson (52); 15. Erte Erting Heugo (50); 16. James Bonner (45); 17. Andrew Deatherage (44); 18. Robert Me.. (42); 19. Mauno Coneda (41); 20. Owen Richey (39). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Rosamond, Cal~omia, september 15 Round 10 - Danville. Virginia, September eighth lap when Filice took the lead going into turn three. He'd hold the spot until the 18th lap when Oliver took the lead going into turn one. Filice rushed into turn three to try to move out front on the 21 st lap, only to lose the front end. He remounted in sixth and recovered for third. "I was just a little too anxious," Filice said. "I wanted the lead again and I was good on the brakes there on him and I just pushed it a little too hard. It was my mistake and I crashed. Lucky that nothing broke, I got back up, I didn't know where I was at, and I just charged. Every guy I seen in front of me, lapped guy or not, I didn't know where he was." Sands had earlier run off the course in turn three. He didn't lose his fourth place, but he lost considerable time. The misfortune of others netted him a second after Filice and Sorensen both crashed. "I don't think I got the bike set up as well as I should have this weekend," he said. "I just couldn't carry the corner speed that everyone else was carrying and I kept losing the front coming onto the front straightaway here probably four or five times, real big. And these guys actually slowed down a little bit and I was able to catch back up to them and was ready to make my move on Chuck [Sorensen] and missed a brake lever going in there. And my second grab I managed to grab just these two fingers and I started to get the thing slowed down and I saw I was going to collect either Rich or Jimmy going in there, so I just let go of the brakes and ran off." He added, "These guys were all riding good and if it wasn't for their misfortune I probably wouldn't be here." n .... S • SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 13

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