Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128164
AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Round 12: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca seconds ahead of a three-way battle that went to JensenStern.com's Colin Jensen, who took the spot back from Melneciuc on the 13th of 17 laps. Ed Sorbo was seventh. CN MudlIlIlIceway Momrey. Califomia IIlIsults: July 14, 2002 MBNA 250 GRAND PRIX: 1. Rich Oliver (Yam): 2. Roland Sands (Yam); 3. Simon Turner (Yam); 4. Jason Disalvo (Han); 5. Colin Jensen (Apr): 6. Perry Melneciuc (Yam); 7. Ed Sorbo (Yam); 8. Michael Ellsworth (Kaw); 9. Ty David Piz (Yam); 10. Adrian Webb (VlIrn); 11. Nobi Iso (Apr); 12. Darren Fulce (Yam); 13. John Williams (Yam); 14, Ben Welch (Yam); 15. Mark Watts (Han); 16. Barrett Long (Vam); 17. R. Graham Vates (Vam); 18. Stephen Bowline (Han); 19. Edward Marchini (Yllm); 20. Jason Candelaria (Yllm); 21. Frank Aragaki (Y8m); 22. John France (Han); 23. Jonah Miller (Apr). Time: NI A due to red flag. Distance: 17 laps, 37.4 miles. Average speed: N/A due to red flag. Margin of victory: 5.1170 sees. MBNA 250 GRAND PRIX C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 10 rounds): I. Chuck Sorensen (235/4 wins); 2. Perry Melnedue (210); 3. Jason Disalvo (204); 4. Simon Turner (195); 5. Ed Sorbo (186); 6. Rich Oliver (179/3 win); 7. (TIE) Ty David Plz/Colin Jensen (166); 9. Darren Fulce (140); AMA Buell Pro Thunder Round 7: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca Bv BLAKE CONNER PHOTO BV HENNY RAV ABRAMS MONTEREY, CA, JULY 12 n the final Buell Pro Thunder race held in conjunction with the AMA Superbike Series, a Buell motorcycle finally sat atop the victory podium in the hands of Mike Ciccotto. However, it was Ducati-mounted Kirk McCarthy taking the championship after a dominating season in which he took maximum points in three of the five races, winning four, and finishing second here at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. The only chance that Ciccotto had of winning the title was if McCarthy broke or crashed. Neither happened. Instead, it looked as though McCarthy was going to win for a fifth time on the season. He took the lead on the opening lap and pulled away quite easily. Thinking of his championship more than a race victory, McCarthy ended up slowing his pace, and that allowed Ciccotto the opportunity to fight back. And he did, not only catching McCarthy, but passing him as well. He would hold off the Australian to win by .712 of a second. Third place went to defending series champion Thomas Montano, well clear of Vincent Haskovec. Dean Mizdal ended up fifth. It was Tripp Nobles getting the jump on the field into turn one, with polesitter Haskovec getting a poor launch after almost jumping the start. AMS Ducati's McCarthy didn't waste any time and was quickly around Nobles into turn two, wh·i1e Montano was another who didn't exactly get off the line with authority. Montano was fifth at the end of lap one. By lap two, McCarthy was already ahead of Nobles by over two seconds, with Ciccotto and Tilley's HarleyDavidson's David Estok and Montano giving chase. On lap three, Nobles crashed out of second in turn four, his bike catching fire. By the fourth lap, McCarthy had completely checked out on the field, leading by over six and a half seconds. With Nobles out, Ciccotto assumed second place while Montano worked his way around Estok. MizdaJ 26 JULY 24, 2002' e: U e: I e I held on to fourth position, as the three at the front started to gap the pack by a decent margin. Over the next couple of laps, Montano started to pressure Ciccotto while McCarthy completely buried the field with a string of laps in the one-minute, 31second range. "I started to pick off a few of the guys," Montano said. "I saw Kirk getting away and then I caught up to Mike and we battled. You know it was a giant slalom out there, sometimes it benefited me and sometimes it benefited Mike, but we kept it going for a while. Then I developed a bit of chatter in the front. His [Ciccotto] bike was definitely faster off of the corners. Eventually, he distanced me in the traffic." By lap six, the leaders were already deep into lapped traffic. Estok started his gradual slide backward, which eventually ended in a crash on lap 11 at the top of the Corkscrew. This moved Heath Small up into the fifth position, but the fastest rider on the track was Haskovec, who turned his fastest lap on lap 10 of 17. Ciccotto started to reel in McCarthy with nine la'ps to go, cutting the gap down to just over five seconds as McCarthy played it a little too conservatively through lapped traffic. Laps nine through 12 saw McCarthy fall off the pace after he had a couple of huge slides as his tires starting to go off. He was running around two seconds a lap slower than the chasing Ciccotto and a second a lap slower than Montano. McCarthy appeared to be having a problem as he looked down at the rear of the bike on the front straight. "I was too worried about the championship," McCarthy said. "I just backed it off after I had a few moments there, and I couldn't believe how easy it went away there, about halfway through the race. I thought I should back it off because I didn't know who was there in second." Ciccotto and Montano decided to turn up the heat with seven laps remaining as McCarthy was doing the opposite. Ciccotto turned his fastest lap of the race on lap 13, a 1:31.955 n e _ s to McCarthy's 1:33.312, moving him right up into his wheel tracks. "I was able to open up a little bit of a gap on Montano," Ciccotto said. "I then saw a red bike coming back to me and, once I saw it was Kirk, I made a really hard run for about a lap and a half." By this time, Ha·skovec had moved around Mizdal and into fourth, but he was still 30 seconds behind the threerider pack at the front. It was a position he would hold to the finish. Laps 13 and 14 were the most exciting laps of the race, with Ciccotto right on McCarthy's tail, showing him a wheel on the brakes into almost every corner. The leaders were into a huge group of lappers at that point, with Montano getting held up the most and falling further behind the leading pair. On lap 14, Ciccotto tried to get by McCarthy going into turn five but couldn't quite get inside him. As they ran down the hill from Rainey Corner into turn 10, Ciccotto put a beautiful pass on the leader in one of the fastest corners on the track. "I was able to run him down," Ciccotto said. "I stayed behind him, for half a lap. Once I got around him, I pushed for a little bit, once I saw I had opened up a gap. Then I had a couple of big sUdes and hit some traffic that wasn't to my liking. I looked back and he was right there. I saw the white flag, and knew then I was going to have to put in a good lap, and I held him off." McCarthy appeared at first to relinquish the position, but fought hard all the way to the finish - almost capitalizing on a few of Ciccotto's huge slides in the last two laps. At the finish, it was Ciccotto by .712 of a second over McCarthy, with Montano 6.154 seconds behind. "I saw Mike go by and I figured if I could have a go I would," McCarthy said. "I ·10. John Williams (128); 11. Roland Sands (103/1 win); 12. John France (93); 13. Frank Aragaki (85); 14. Chris Pyles (79); 15. Stephen Bowline (72); 16. Cory Denton West (56); 17. AI Salaverria (55); 18. (TIE) William Himmelsbach/Barrett Long (46); 20. Thad Halsmer (44). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Lexington, Ohio, July 28 Round 10 - Alton, Virginia, August 11 caught up a little bit with the traffic. Then I thought I better not try it at the end and risk loosing the championship." Ciccotto's win was the first victory for the Buell Thunderbolt, and the first for the company in the series in which they are the title sponsor. McCarthy's final points haul of 184 points secured the Australian's first AMA pro title, with Ciccotto second with 158, and Montano in third with 131. CN Mazda IIlIclwey Mumrey, Califomla Results: July 12, 2002 BUELL PRO THUNDER: 1: Mike Ciccotto (Bue); 2. Kirk McCarthy (Due); 3. Thomas Montano (Due); 4. Vincent Haskovee (Due); 5. Dean Mizdal (Due); 6. Heath Small (Due); 7. Shane Turpin (Due); 8. Steve Smith (Due); 9. Kurt Marmor (Due); 10. Ben Welch (Yam); 11. Bradley Champion (Suz); 12. Wendell Phillips (Due); 13, Clark Freatman (Due); 14. Charlie Hewett (Due); 15. Paul Wood (Due); 16. Josh Bryan (Bue); 17. Reagan Jobe (Due); 18. Norman Dehm (Due): 19. Tom Hull (M-G); 20. Jody Hendley (H-D); 21. David Mones (Hon); 22. Tyler Sandell (SU2); 23. Michael Hardin (Due); 24. Paul Bergstrom (Due); 25. Ryan Meskimen (Suz); 26. Jason Butler (Suz); 27. Dale Pestes (Due); 28. Jay Jacobson (Suz); 29. John Fisher (Due); 30. Ch8r1es Sipp (Sue); 31. Tom Ch8uneey (Due); 32. Jessica Z81usky (Yam); 33. C8lvin Sprenger (Due); 34. Leo Venegll (Due). Time: 26 min. 27.380 sees. Average speed:86.284 mph M.argin of vietory:.712 sees. Fastest lap: Kirk MeClIrthy, lap 3, 1:31.408 BUELL PRO THUNDER C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 5 rounds): 1. Kirk McCarthy (184/4 wins); 2. Mike Ciceotto (158/1 win); 3. Thomas Montano (131); 4. Josh Bryan (112); 5. Clark Freatman (105): 6. Heath Small (93): 7. Charlie Hewett (87); 8. David Estok (82); 9. Jessicll Zalusky (60); 10. Tripp Nobles (56); 11. Tom Hull (52); 12. Shane Turpin (51). Kirk McCarthy didn't win the Pro Thunder final, but he did win the championship.