Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

rid in g, T here w as n o th ing betw een Ha sk ovec tw o laps fro m th e end , h im and Fergu sso n for seve ra l laps un t il M eirin g lo st F erg usson in t he H a s k o v e c was se v enth with Sh og u n Mo torsports ' J o h n H an e r fin al t h ree la p s, eventually to fin is h eig ht h , a second in fro nt o f Bard en 10 seconds behind Hayes . Fergusso n Bearin gs/Bett enco urt s' Er ic Wood, w a s passed by Valvoli ne E M G O Virginia Internati onal Raceway Alton , Virginia Suzu k i' s St eve Ra p p two la ps from the end . Yamaha's J aso n Di Sal vo was six th o n t he Yamaha R6 after passing CN Results : August 3D, Z003 [ Round 101 S U PERST O CK F IN A L : 1. To mmy H a yd en (Kaw) ; 2 . Josh Hayes (Su z); 3 . T ony Mei ri ng (xew) : 4 . Ste ve Rapp (Suz) ; 5 . Ad am Fergusson (Suz) ; 6 . Jason Di Salv o (Yam); 7. Vince nt Hask c vec (Suz) ; 8 . J o hn Haner (Suz); 9. Er ic W ood ( Suz); 10 . J aco b Ho ld en ( Suz) ; 1 1. Ch r is Caylor ( Suz); 12 . J a m es Elli so n (Suz) : 13 . Mike C ic cotto ( Suz); 14 . Ch ris Ulrich (Suz); 15 . Lee Ac ree (Yam) ; 16. J erem y To ye (S uz); 17. Darr en Luck (Suz) ; 18 . J .J . RoetJin (Suz) ; 19 . Sco tt Harw ell (S uz) ; 20 . Corey Eat on (Suz); 2 1. M att Fu rtek (Suz) ; 22. J ason Pet ers (S UI) ; 23 . Di rk Sa nc he z ( Ka w) ; 24. Nathan Dr essm an (Yam) ; 25 . M ickey Lane (Suz); 26 . J erem ia h J ohn son (Suz) ; 27 . G iovan ni Ro ja s (T ri) ; 2 8 . Cr esh Lowe (S ua): 29 . Dan ny Eslick (Suz ) ; 3 0 . Br ia n Stokes ( Suz); 31. T om Wertman ( Su z); 32 . Ste ve Atla s (S uz) ; 33 . Ad rian Jones (Suz) . Ti me : 25 min. , 9 .77 sec . Di stance: 17 la ps , 37 .2 miles Average spee d: 9 1.6 11 m ph Margin of vict ory: 2 .046 sec . SUPERSTOC K C' SHIP POIN T STANDIN GS (A ft er 10 of 1 1 roun ds ): 1. J osh Hayes (29 8/ 2 wins); 2. T om m y Ha yden ( 2 9 0/4 ) ; 3 . Vi n c ent H a s k ov ec (279/1 ); 4. Ad am Ferg usson (25 9) ; 5. Ton y Meiring " I' m ju st reall y h appy t o be her e toda y ," Meln eciu c sai d , "Every since L ag u na m y b ike h a s b een w o rking re a lly we l l. Th e c hass i s setu p h as rea lly co me al ong , It seems like we ca n t a k e th e b ik e r i g ht o ut o f th e traile r and it work s rea ll y good from the first session on . We haven 't had t o make m an y c ha nges w ith eng ine set up or any thi ng , I'm reall y c om fo rt a b le, and I fe el like I ca n push the th ing harder and harder. " With a fe w laps to go , things had st ab ili ze d , w it h Oliver now ru nnin g o ut front by a lonely 6 ,173 seco nds o ver Turn er and M eln eciu c , T u rne r wa s ha p py to b e runn in g up fro n t afte r hurting hi s ba c k earlier in the wee ke nd du e to a re ar shock fa il u re. "I co uldn't rea ll y ride o n Thursda y or Friday ," T urner said , " I thoug ht th e dela y would help m e by gettin g m ore tr ac k t im e, but th e t rac k wa s green this m o rn ing from th e rain . It d id n 't reall y help at all. " At the fin ish it was Oli ve r beat ing Tu rner by 8 . 172 seconds , fo ll ow ed by Meln ec iuc, Soren sen , Pyl es and Barrett Lo n g who p assed No c e o n the last lap for sixth pl ace , Th e o n l y d ra m a that rema i n s in th e 250c c cl ass for the B arb er eve nt is t o see if Oliver can go out in sty le w ith his t hird p erfect seaso n inta ct. It's ha rd not t o chee r f or som eth ing like that, un less your name is Ch uck, Perry o r Sim on , CN (2 4 7/1 ); 6 . Steve Re pp (2 1 t / 2 ); 7 . Mike Cic cotto (200); 8. Ja son DiSalvo ( 196 ); 9. Chris Cay lor ( 19 5); 10 . J eff Han er ( 18 5) ; 1 1. Chris Ulrich ( 172 ) ; 12. Ji m my Moo re (1 42); 13. J .J . Roetl in (136); 14 . Brian Sto ke s ( 116 ); 15. J aco b Holden (1 0 7); 16 . ( TI E ) J er e m y Toye/ Matt Furtek (9 3): 18 . Tom Wertm a n (86) ; 19 . (TIE) Eric Wood / J ordon Szoke/C hris Pens (76 ). Upcoming Round Final Ro und - Bi rm ing ha m , A lab a ma , September 20 M BNA 250cc Grand Prix Round 1 0 : V irg inia Int ernational R a c e w a y - - -- - - - - - - - - - liver Agai B y BLAK E C ONNE R PH O T O B y B RIA N J. N ELSO N ALTON, VA, SEPT, I here is a joke among the staff at Cy cle Neuis a bo ut c o vering th e MBNA 250 c c Gran d Pri x Seri es, W e're alw ays d ar ing eac h o t he r to wr ite th e 250 st ory prior to th e race and see if w e ge t th e results fairly cl ose , th en move a couple of pa ra graph s and a coupl e of names around to fin is h it off. We 'v e never had the guts to do it , but thi s ye ar we could have at any rac e in t he ser ies for the most part, No offense to t he rest of the fie ld, bu t Ric h Olive r sim ply has the m co vered thi s yea r. Vi rgi nia Inter nation al Raceway was no exception, Las t yea r was a different situ ation, with Oliver strug gling at tim es, Case in poi nt, he lo st th e rac e at VIR t o Ch uck Soren sen afte r w inn ing it th e year befo re. Bu t in 20 03 O liver lo oks like t he O liver of 19 9 6- 9 7 w he n he won eve ry sing le race in the series fo r tw o st r aig ht se as o ns , Gu e ss w ha t ? He's ab out t o d o it again, If he w ins th e next rac e at Bar ber Moto rsp orts Park in B irmin gh am , Ala bama , in a few weeks time , he'll have the thi rd perf ect sea son of h is ca ree r. Where do y o u go fr om there? A pparen tly yo u ret ire , at least fr om AMA Pr o Ra c i n g , For t h e first time i n h is c a re e r , O li v er has sta rted to talk about hanging up the Kushitanis and conc entrating on his "M ystery" co nd i ti oning scho ol. His records will never be broken - with th e 250cc class getting th e boot for 2004 - so as Oliver said : "I might as well go o ut on top," A t VIR, Oliver dom in at ed qu ali fyin g and practic e as usu al , ru nni ng a I :28 ,976 to tak e pol e po sition almost a fu ll seco n d a h ea d o f Chu c k Sor ensen , and he th en went out an d b li t zed th e f i el d o n ce ag a in f o r h i s 61 st c areer victo ry . " It w as a diffi cult r ac e for me , " O li ver said , " I got pr etty bad cha tter f rom bo th the f ro nt and rear o f the b ik e. I th in k it had so m et hing to do with t he rainstorms and the gre en tra ck , Eventu all y towar ds the end of the ra ce I figu red out how to ride it , and eventuall y I was ab le to pull awa y and win the race." T Ra in d e l a y s pus he d th e 250cc Grand Prix ba ck to Mo nday m orning following th e sec on d leg of the Superbik e do ubl eheader. In an effort to get all of the events in befo re noon (th e trac k was bo o k ed by th e Californi a Superb ik e S c h o ol ) , the ra c e wa s sh ortened to 12 laps, Oliver j um ped out front early from his po le position , At th e end of lap o ne he had a 2,188 seco nd lead ove r Sim on Turn er on his H o n d a and Per r y Meln ec iu c o n his Yamaha, T he 2002 250 c c Grand Prix Cham pion Chuck So ren sen was in fo urth and al ready losing ground to Oliver. By the fi f th lap he was well ove r 10 seconds behind, Oliver thou ght th at someth in g was wr on g with his bike a c oup le of la ps i n as so me t h i ng c a m e l o o se a n d m ade a ve ry lo ud noise as he we nt down the fron t str aig ht. " One of the seat bolt s on my rear subf ra m e brok e," O liv er sai d, "It go t sp it in to th e rear tire and th en ejected back into the seat , and I fe lt thi s big meta lli c ban g , It didn't sound like a roc k or an yth in g , so w he n I ca me do wn th e front st ra ight o n th e nex t lap I wa s look ing down to see if th e rear tire was co m ing apart or a brake han gin g on th e groun d o r somethi ng else loose , like a chai n ad j u st er. I c ouldn't rea lly see an ything, so I kept going , and th en I had some pretty bad chatter start to develop so I j ust rode as fast as I c ould through th e se c tions where the b ike w a s g o od , which was m ostl y all of the left-hand ers a n d th en c ru ise d through the right-handers to m a k e sure I didn 't m es s up an d f a ll d ow n in m y ow n chatter." The m ost in teresting battl e in the fiel d wa s between San dy N o c e a nd Chri s Pyle s in th e battle fo r fifth p o si ti on . Th e two were run ning in c lose fo rma ti on fo r m ost o f the ra c e w ith N o c e d oing th e le a di n g , unt i l th e n in th lap w hen Py l e s ma nag ed t o m ak e t h e p a ss a nd st eal awa y th e position. Melneciuc was alone in third pla c e ' bu t happy to be back in a pod ium position aga in after mi ssing it at Mid O hi o . c yc le ne Virginia International Racew ay Alt on, Virginia Results; September I, Z003 [ Round 101 MB NA 2 S0 GRA ND PRIX ; J. Rich Oli ver ( Yam) ; 2 . Simon Tu rner (Ho n); 3 . Perry Meln eci uc (Yam); 4. Charles Sorense n (Apr) ; 5 . Chris Py le s ( Han) ; 6 . Bar rett Lon g (Yam ); 7 . Sandy Noc e ( Yam ) : 8. Ed Sorbo (Yam ) ; 9 . J o hn F r a n c e ( Ho n ); 10 . Sean McNew ( Han ); I I. Will iam Himmelsbach (Yam) ; 12 . Steve Scott (Yam ) ; 13 . Ja mes Bon ner (Ya m); 14 . Sha wn M urray ( Ha n); 15 . Stephen Bo wline ( Hon ) ; 16. Mark Stiles (Yam) ; 17 . Ric ha rd Merhar (Yam); 18. Glen Christianson (Yam) : 19 . J usti n Lo ng (Yam) ; 20 . Sean Wray (Yam ); 21. Craig Secosen ( Ha n) : 22 . Kei th Floyd (Yam): 23 . Bryan Hoelzer ( Ha n). Ti m e: 15 m in., 57 .8 79 sec. D ist an ce : 12 laps, 26 .7 mi les A verag e Sp eed : 93.43 I mph Margin of Vi ctory: 8 .172 sec . 2 5 0 GRAND PRI X C'SHIP POI NT S TANDINGS ( A ft er 10 of 1 1 r ound s ) : 1. Ric h Olive r (3 76/1 0 wins ) ; 2 . Perr y Me ln eciu c ( 26 6 ); 3 . Si mon T urn er (265 ) ; 4 . C harle s So re nsen (252); 5 . C hr is Py les (2 49) ; 6. Ed March ini (206); 7. Sandy Noce (200) ; 8. Ed So rbo ( 187 ); 9 . Ch ris Je nse n ( 166) ; 10. Greg Esser ( 160); 11. J ohn France ( 148) ; 12 . Sean Wray ( 144): 13. Step hen Bowli ne (13 9); 14 . Barre tt Lon g ( 128) ; 15 . Sea n Murr ay ( 116); 16 . D ar r en F u lce ( 110); 17. Sean McNew (108 ); 18. Steve Sco tt ( 104); 19 . J am es Bonn er (92) ; 20 . Glen Christ ianson (69) . Upcoming Round Fina l Rou nd - Birm ing ha m , A la bama, September 22 "" s S EPTEM B ER 1 0 , 2 0 0 3 19

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