Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA,/Ch e vy T r u c k s Superbik e National C h ampio n sh ip R o u nd 4 : New Hampshire Internat iona l Speedway Eur op e in t he la te '9 0s . Bu t h e couldn't get the ra cin g bu g out of his blood, a nd whe n the chance came to go ra cing again, he jum ped at it. "You ca n th ink a bo ut wa nti ng to ra ce ag a in, but it' s the desire and the he art that has to come th rough to do this and I felt that I still had that in me to race ," Filice sa id after notching his first victory sin c e winning at Firebird Raceway in Arizona , on September 25, 1995. It was Filice 's 23rd ca reer win , thre e of whic h c ame here. One was o n th e o ld Lou don ci rc u it in 19 82 , and the last was o n the new configuratio n in 1992. Th e ra c e itse lf wa s p retty stra igh t fo rwa rd , though with a tw is t. Cla ss leg end Rich O liv e r fou led a s park plug o n his Team Oliver Yamaha o n the warm -up la p and was stranded on the course. He made h is way ba ck to the pits to change p lugs , b~t lo st a lap in the process. He would race to 20th p lace. And the Performance Mach ine team of Ro land Sands and Randy Renfrow gave the race a pass . Penguin Racing School's Jeffre y Wood got the jump on the 34 -rider field , le a d ing Filice and Blackman 's Cycles' Michael Himmelsbach. Mak ing his wa y qu ic k ly thro ugh the field was d efending ch ampion Chuck Sorensen on the World Sports Imports Yamaha . Sorensen had crashed in hi s heat race and was forced to start from the ninth , and final , row. "I started to go through th e cente r of the pack and th en just tucked to th e inside and then aga in to t h e ins ide of turn two ," Sorensen sa id. "I th ink I was up in the top I 0 by turn thr ee." Out front, Filice took over the lead from Wood o n the fourth lap, th e pa ir clear ing out. A la p o r two later a nd F ilice wa s a lone, ru nn in g ou t t he string rig ht t o t he en d. A red fla g came o ut on th e las t lap an d scoring wa s reverted to the 22nd lap, Filice 's v ictory a s s u re d , His cus hio n wa s about four seconds at the time. It wa s a big change fro m the last two fini s he s in his c o me b ac k to ur. He 'd broken h is right wrist at Road Atlanta and had an engi ne fa ilure last wee k at Road Am e rica. "I fractured m y wrist in Atlanta , so I'm trying too be tender a nd ride as easy a s I ca n without push ing t o o ha rd a nd m aking a mi stake ," Filice said. "So it was in m y favo r th at he [Oliver] was o ut an d Ch u c k [So rensen ] had to sta rt ba ck , bec au se it wo uld ha ve be en a to ug h ra ce for me if there ha d been a battle. " Wood was able to hold onto second until the 18th lap when Sorensen went under him in tu rn one. The fin- 14 JUNE 28 ,2000 ' c ue I e is h m a t c he d Wo od ' s ca reer bes t , achieved here a ye ar ag o . "I figure d the w ho le time that there'd be so meone righ t on my ta il," Wood said. "I knew I got a grea t jum p off the line , I knew the track. I figured I could hold th e pace fo r a little while . I don 't run t he who le national circ uit so I got a little tired after... actuall y I probably got tired after like five laps. After that I put it on cruise control. I was a little sloppy at the end , I had a little off-track excurs ion. " That would come exiting turn six where he accidentally downshifted "hitti ng the dirt at like 120 m ph and jumping a few curbs." Soren s en h ad h is excitemen t o n Satu rda y when he crashed in his he at ra c e . In th e fin al he was on ra ils , loo k ing for pla c e s to pa s s and la p ping riders , some of them twice. What he most had in mind was protecting , and extending his championship lead. " I did have it in the back of m y m ind not to make a mistake given the pos it ion I was in ," S orensen s a id . "With th e th ings that happened e a rly in the ra ce - I want to win races, and th at's wh at's important to me right now . I saw J immy [Filic e ) ah ead of me with about five laps to go. I thin k I clo sed in to about three seconds, four seconds - I'm not sure. I cou ld see h im. And I kept m y lap time s fairly low , but a lso I was p icking m y wa y through traffi c. And this place , like I found out yesterday , it' ll catch yo u off gua rd ." Sorensen extended his champi onship lead to 26 points over team mate Perry Melneciuc , s ixth today. Fourth, mostly by him self, was GP Tech 's Derek King with Bla c km a n 's Cycles ' Michael Himme lsbach fifth. Himm e lsb a ch ' s brother William was seventh. AMAIeSportbike.com Formula Xtreme Series Round 3: New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Results : June 18, 2000 (Round 4 of 91 LOOOON,NH,JON EI7 MBNA 2 5 0cc GRAND PRIX : 1. J im m y Fil ice ( Yam ); 2. Ch arle s Sor en sen (Yam ) ; 3 . Jeff Wood ( Yam ); 4 . De re k K i ng ( Ho n); 5 . M ichael Him me lsbach (A pr) ; 6. Perry Me lneciuc (Yam); 7. Willi am Himmelsbach (Yam); 8. Quenni King (Yam); 9. Edward Sorbo (Vam ): 10. Steve Scott (Vam) : 11. Greg Esser (Hon); 12. John France (Hon); 13. James Bonn er ( Yam ); 14 . Ti mo thy O 'C onn or (Yam) ; 15 . Michael Zajac (Yam ); 16. Ga ry Berba um (v e rn) : 17. Geoffrey Malon ey (Yern ]: 18. Rick Moreau (Yam ); 19. J ohn Bur go yn e (Hon ); 20. Ric h O liv er (Yam); 21. Chris top her Ho l sk e (Yam ) ; 22 . Charles MacKa y (Yam); 23 . Jocelin (Vam) : 24. Kory Gm (Vam ): 25 . Kev in Mc Crea (Yam ); 26 . Sean Wray ( Yam) ; 27 . .Jem es Worth ingto n (A pr) ; 28. Jeffrey Vos (Hon); 29 . Keller Kin g (Yam) ; 3 0. Colin Gilbert (Yam) ; 31. Chris Ulr ich (Ya m) ; 3 2. Rich ard Neenan . J r. (Yam) ; 33 . Michael Bame s (Yom) ; 34 . Thom as Dinar do (Yam) . Tim e: N/ A du e to red flag Distance: 22 laps. 35.2 m iles. Average speed: N/A due to red flag . Margin of victory: 3.951 sec. MBNA 250cc GRAND PRIX C'S HIP SERIES POI NT STANDINGS ( Aller 4 01 9 r ound s ) : I. Ch u ck Sorensen ( 122 ); 2. Perry Melneciuc (96 ); 3. Quenni Kin g (88 ); 4 . Mi cha el Hlmrnel sbec h (87 ); 5 . Ric h Oliver (86/2 wins ) ; 6 . Derek Kin g (7 6 ); 7 . Roland Sand s (64); 8 . William Him melsbach (61) ; 9 . J ohn Fran ce (60); 10. Edward Sorbo (58 ): II. Greg Esser (56) ; 12. Randy Renfr ow (5 4 ); 13. J eff Wood (53) ; 14 . Chris Ulri ch (5 2 ); 15. Mic hael Barn es (50) ; 16 . Eri c Stephens (48 ); 17. Thom as Dinard o (47 ) ; 18 . Edwa rd Marchin i (39 ); 19. James Bonner (38) ; 20. J im my Filic e (37/1). Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 - Monterey, Calilomia, July 9 Round 6 - Lexington, Ohio, July 16 nevvs • Bv H E N N Y R A Y A BR A M S PH OTO BV T O M R I L E S T he ra ce wa s over by th e second lap . E r ion Ra c ing 's Ku rtis Rober t s st uffed his way unde r teammate Josh Ha yes e ntering the first turn to s tart the second la p of the eS po rtbike.com Fo rm ula Xtreme race, and th at wa s that. Ro berts pu t a second on Ha yes , then two , then thre e , a nd he got it u p over five be fore t r a ffi c and th e impendin g e nd of t he 2 4 -la p race bro ught it d own to 4 .77 7 as Roberts wheelie d hi s Hon d a CBR9 2 9RR across th e finish stripe on th e fro nt stra igh t of New Hampsh ire Int e rna tional Speedway. "It see me d lik e t he who le race , once I sta rte d to ge t away it went to a seco nd fa irly qu ickl y, a nd then two , a nd t hen it stayed aroun d two a nd th ree second s ," sai d Rober ts , who 'd c ra s he d in pr a c tic e o n Frida y, af te r winning his th ird race in a row . "Then I just ke pt m y he a d do wn and kept doing the same la p times and it got up to th ree and fou r and it was just King Kurtis Roberts celebrates his third successive victory In the Fonnula Xtreme c lass. hovering the re depend ing on th e lappers." It was a ne w race re c ord for Roberts , who avera ged 79.088 m ph in com p leting th e 24 -lap , 38.4 -m ile ra c e in 29 m in utes , 7 .9 33 sec o nd s , nea rly two m inutes unde r the existing reco rd. Hav in g le d t he most la p s in a ll thre e victo rie s , Ro berts ha s scored ma ximum po ints , I l l , whic h g ives hi m a 2 0-po in t c ushion o n Ha yes aft er three of eig ht rounds. Beh in d Rob e rt s you had to go back to fourth p lace to find a fig ht. Th ere wasn 't mu ch dr ama for second a nd th ird . Hay e s , lik e Rob e rts, had also c rashe d in p rac tice , but his was m ore seve re , both to his bod y a nd his b ike. Th e c rew was up unt il 2 a .rn. on Sat urd a y m orning re-assem b ling his bike an d Ha ye s wa s fe e ling the he a t late on Sa turda y afte rnoon . Ea rly in th e race Ha ye s was ge tting t he b re a ks in traffic , but they did n't last.

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