Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A/Che vy T r uck s U .S. S u p erbik e Cha mpion s h ip R oun d s 2 & 3 : R o a d Atlanta MBNA 2 5 0 c c Grand Prix After suffering a disappointing mechanical breakdown at the season opener In Daytona, Rich Oliver smoked the field en route t o the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix win at Ro ad Atlanta. No su rprises t here. He's Back B y H E NNY R A Y A BRA MS PH O T O BY BRIAN J. N EL SO N BRASEL TON, GA, JUNE 4 T hat' s m ore like it. On a hot , hu mid, and partly w et afte rnoon at Road Atlanta, class leg end Ric h O liver did wh at everyo ne exp ected h im to do when he ret urned to the MB NA 250cc Grand Prix class this season : He decimated it. Th e w inningest rider in the history of the c la ss h ad over a 10 -se cond l ea d on the seco nd o f 15 la p s and just kept p iling it on . Th e lead got so b ig at o ne p o in t th at he decided to back off and slow the pace . But that only led to mi stak es, so he wick ed it up again and cro ssed the fin ish line 26 . 170 seco nds in f ro nt o f second pl ac e. In th e p ro c ess , th e Tea m Ol i v er Yamah a rid er a nd ow ner shattered the rac e rec ord, t ak ing 2 2 m inu t es, 3 .159 sec o n ds t o com p le te the 15 lap , 37 .8 m il e race , over 26 seco nds faste r t ha n the ra c e t im e from la st yea r. Oliver ave raged 103 .662 mph, n e a rl y 2 mp h fa st e r t h an C hu ck Sor ensen 's time in 199 9 . " A really enjoyab le rid e fo r m e ," Oliver sai d after th e race, which w as sta rte d as a wet race o n a part ly wet track, though w ith o nly slight preci pi ta t io n . " I lik e Roa d A tl anta. It was n ic e to c o me back after I g ot hurt he re and k ind of los t m y Superbik e ride, and show everybody that I could st ill rid e, tha t it' s not go in g to keep m e down . M y las t w in in a rac e was probabl y my last 250cc win in Vegas [in O ctob er 1997], so it' s bee n qu ite a lo ng ti m e." 14 J UNE 14, 2000' c ue I e As for the gaping l e ad , Ol iv er admitted to being surprised . "In fac t I kind of slowed down in th e m iddle of the race to make sure I didn 't do an yth ing stupid, then I sta rted doing stupid things, " he said. Onc e Olive r check ed o ut , th e fig ht was for seco nd and it wasn 't reall y a fair fight. In his firs t race this seaso n , Performa nce Machin es' Rol and Sands wa s se t u p on by defending c l a s s c ha mp io n C h uck So rensen on the Worl d Sp orts Yamaha. What made the fig ht u n f air wa s a mi stake So rensen h ad m ad e in tire c hoice . Bec ause the AMA declared it a w et race , and the threat of rain was immi ne nt , So rensen we nt w ith cut sli cks front and rear, while Sands, like Oliver , went wit h full slicks . Olive r had said that th e tr ack was wet enoug h in tu rn s six and se ven that the slic k s wo uld slide around . It was also sufficiently wet to ca use a cras h and re d flag o n the first lap of th e first atte mpt at a start. Sand s st ayed in front of Sorensen for most o f the race , Sorensen was ab le t o sneak by for lap s six thro ugh eight, then Sand s got bac k in front fo r th e d ur a t io n. S inc e t he track was co mp le te l y dr y , th e r e was l i tt l e chance that Sorensen would be able to pass San ds, ev en if he co uld kee p up with him. "I wa s sur pri sed Ch uck [Sorensen] was able to stay wi th m e, he rode real we ll ," Sands said. "He was ahead of m e for a few lap s. I'm not real good at the top of the hill and he was reall y pull ing m e th ere and h e go t o ut in front of me , an d I k in d of l earn ed fr om him a little bit th ere and tried to pi ck that up. On c e I go t bac k by him I fi gu red there's no wa y he's go ing to have th e balls to pass me aga in . His tires probably weren't all that gre at . I nevys was tr ying t o reall y make th e m o st o ut of m y tires, ma in ly cruis e. I k new just from th e tires tha t I co uld proba bly beat him ." S or en se n was c i rc u m s pec t i n defeat. " It was a good rac e, co nsi de ring the choices tha t I m ade ," he sa i d . " I' m really ha ppy tha t I' m still t he p o ints lea de r and I' v e got ano th er cou ple of week en ds to get back. " After two. of nine ro unds, Sorensen has a 10 -point lea d on Michae l Him m el sb ach , who was sixt h t oda y o n th e B lackman 's Cycl es Aprili a. "The choice of havi ng th e rac e be a wet race and ru n wi th the cut slicks, b ot h f ront a n d re ar , it was a b ad cho ice by myself and m y t eammate Chr is Ulr ich . He tried a cut slick too ," Sor ensen said . " If it wou ld 'v e sta rt ed rai n ing , peopl e wou ld 've go ne down a nd I co u ld ' ve p rob abl y ke p t r i ght along. " I co u l d d o t hat pace , and th en when I st arted t o wick i t u p , tha t 's w h e n it st art ed m ov i ng ar ou nd , " S or en sen ad de d . " G o i n g i n t o the f ast er stuff is whe re the c ut slicks didn 't reall y ho ok up . You co uld feel t h em slid e in t h e faste r stu ff, so it was n 't the best choice , bu t fo r w ha t was going on whe n the race started , it was a difficult ca ll. It wo ul d've been n ice to have slicks, but it 's a choice I ma de. " After Sor en sen ca me a p ro cession o f sing le riders, with ve te ra n Ra nd y Renfrow a lone fo urth, well in fro nt of Ulri ch , w ho was also by him self , as was sixth - p lace d Hi m m e lsba ch and s e venth - p l ~ c e fi nis her Derek K ing o n the GP T ech Honda . Eighth thro ugh l Oth held a d ecent sc rap , w ith PJ \'s Ed w ard Ma rc hi ni gett ing the b est o f Wor ld Sport s Yamaha 's Per ry Melneciuc an d ri der of all trades Michael Ba rnes on a GP eN Tech Yamaha. . Road Atlanta Brasehon, 6eorgia Results: June 4, ZOOO (Rou Z of 91 nd MBNA 25 '0 GP: I. Rich Olive r (Yam); 2. Roland . Sands (Yam ); 3 . Charles Sorensen (Yam) ; 4. Randy Renf ro w (Hon ); 5 . Chris Ulrich (Ya m) ; 6, Mi c hael Himm el sb ac h ( Ya m); 7 . D er ek K in g ( Hon): B. Edward Ma rchin i (Yam) ; 9 . Perry Meln eciuc (Yam) ; 10 . Michael Ba rnes (Ya m ) : 1 1. Th om as Di n ard o (Yam ); 12. William Himmelsbach (Yam ); 13. Greg Esser ( Hen ); 14 . Eric Steph en s ( Ho n ): 15 . T yl er Wad sworth (Ya m ) ; 16 . Quen ni Ki ng (Ya m ) ; 17 . Edward Sorbo ( Yam ): 18. Kell er Kin g ( Yam ) : 19. Colin J ensen (A pr) ; 20 . James Bonner (Yam) : 21. leon Corte s ( Hon ); 22 . John Fran ce ( Hon) ; 23 . Geoffrey Maloney (Yam) : 24. J ohn Burgoyne (Hon) ; 25 . Keith Floyd (Yam): 26 . Will iam Whelan (Yam) ; 27. Christopher Holske (Yam) ; 28 . And rew Edwards (Ya m); 29 . Anthon y Wh ite ( Yam) ; 3 0. l eon Ho r ( Yam) : 31. J oc elin (Ya m): 32. Ben jernln Walters (Yam): 33 . J ames Worth ingt on (A pr); 34. Kory Gill (Yam); 35. Larry Roberts (Yam). TIme: 22 min ., 3. 159 sec. Dis t ance: 15 laps. 37. 8 mil es. A verage speed: 103.66 2 m ph. Marg in of vict ory: 26. 170 sec. MBNA 250 GP POINT C'SHIP STAN DINGS (Afte r 2 of 9 roun ds): 1. Charles Sorensen (6 1) : 2. Mich ael Him m elsbach (5 1); 3. Michael Barnes (5 0) : 4. Perry Meln eciu c (4 7) ; 5 . Q ue nni King ( 42 ) : 6 . Th om es Din ardo (40 ); 7. Edwa rd Marchi ni (39 ); 8 . Ric h Olive r ( 3 8 /1 w i n ); 9 . ( T I E) Gr e g E s ser /J ohn McGuinness (36/1): 11. Roland Sands (32) ; 12. Eri c Step hens (31 ): 13. John France (3 0) : 14. Leon Cortes (29) : 15. Randy Renfrow (27) ; 16. Chris Ulrich (26 ): 17. (TIE) Derek King/ J eff Wood (2 4) : 19 . Walter Hoffman (23 ): 20. Bruce Lind (20). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 11 Round 4 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 18 AMA/ eSpo rtb ik e .c o m F o r m u la Xtreme S e r ie s Round 1 : Road Atlanta Roberts - Barelyl B y P AU L C AR RUTHER S P HOT O BY B RIA N N EL SO N BRASELTON, GA, JUNE 3 ear in and year ou t, th e battle for sup r ema c y i n th e F or m ul a Xtr eme cla ss boils down to a ri va lry betw een Erio n Raci ng tea m m at es w ith a few pret ender s throw n in fo r go o d m e a su r e . Th i s yea r d o es n ' t appear to be mu ch different, altho ug h the prete nders in 20 0 0 co uld turn out to be a maj or thr eat - at leas t if the firs t roun d o f t he series a t Ro a d Atlanta is any indi c ati on . As has become th e norm in this class , a n E r i on Racing H o n d a CB R929 RR cap tured t he vic tory at Roa d A t l an t a w ith defendi ng class cha m p ion Ku rt is Ro berts ta k ing t he w in - but th e pretenders to th e crow n were close . Very close. A nd it was n' t a 1-2 fin ish fo r Eri on Raci ng, as th e t wo Va l vo lin e EMGO S uz uki s we re able to sq ueeze there way in betw een th e t wo Ho nd as wi th tee na ger J ohn H opkin s seco nd an d h i s vete r a n t eam mate Gra nt Lo pez th i rd . Ju st beh ind th em ca me new Erion Ho nda recruit J osh Hay es, wi th the top fo ur all within th e same seco nd afte r 15 la ps of to rrid racin g. The t o p four went at it rig ht fr om th e st art , wi th G raves M otorsp o rt s' Pau l Harrell a lso in th e mix un til he cras hed on the 11th lap. That left the fou rsom e of Roberts, Hop ki ns, Hayes an d Lop ez to fig ht i t o ut b y th em selv es over the co urse of the fin al fo ur laps. Roberts held tou gh , lead in g fro m l ap fo u r o nwa rd afte r getti ng a bad jump fro m pol e pos ition at the st art. F r o m t he re, th e d efend in g ch am p carv ed his way p a st M ar k M ill e r , Hayes, Harrell and fina ll y Hopk ins. Once he got by Hop k ins , Rob erts still c ou ld n' t shake the Suzu ki rid er , wh o wa s m ak ing his debut in Formu l a Xt rem e. In f act , Ho p k in s w o ul d of t enti m es go b y the Honda o n the ba c k stra i ght, onl y to lose t he le ad und er brak ing for the chica ne. On the final lap , Hopkin s again shot by Roberts on the back str aight , but a sl ide in the fast righ t -hander prior to th e ch icane allowed Roberts to pu ll even. Then he outbrak ed him again . A nd tha t was it, as Roberts took the wi n by a sca nt . 130 of a seco nd. Behin d them, Lo pez also used th e br akes t o g et b y H a yes o n t h e entrance t o the chica ne. Agai n, th ere was n o reta liat ion, and he he ld th e spot to th e flag. Y

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