Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MBNA 25D G cc rand Prix STORY A N D PH O TO S By H E N NY R A Y ABRA M S LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 16 ich Oliver came to Mid-Ohio without m uch of a team. After the pre viou s week's race at Laguna Seca , the Team Oliver Yam aha owner /r id e r released his two mech an ics , deciding that he co uld do it hims elf, with some help from his girlfriend, J oce lin, a racer an d mechanic in he r own right. Con sid ering how th ings we nt in Mid-Ohio, it's a co m b in a tio n th ey m ight con sider making permanent. Oliver was Oliver , crossing the line with a 2.6 69 -second lead on the first of 16 la ps a nd piling it on . At no point was his su ccess in doubt, though he tho ught there might be s omething wrong his tires based on a n insecu re feeling they we re tra nsmitti ng from th e tr a c k , a track which had been washed green by showers late on Satu rday aftemoon . "I a lmost pulled in thinking maybe I ha d a tir e going down or so mething , but it sta rted to get better," Oliver sa id. "And every lap it got better a nd better and better, and I figured , well, I gue ss everything's okay now, so we just kept go ing." And goin g a nd going, right into the MBNA 250c c Grand Prix vict or y lan e for the fourth time this year and 4 5th of his ca reer. "My gir lfriend J ocelin came out to this race, gave up riding , worke d on m y b ik e - s he' s my o nl y mec ha nic worked on my b ike a ll weekend lon g a nd did a perfect jo b and lowe th is race e ntire ly to her ," Oliver said afte r beating Wo rld Sports Im ports ' Chu c k Sorensen (Yam) by 9.944 seconds. "If it wasn 't for her I'd be doing this race a ll by myself, and who knows how it wou ld have turned out? She just did a super jo b . l owe he r th is win and hopefully getting her ba ck up to speed at Brain e rd . Let her ra c e th e re . I' m going to R it ed a t Lag u n a Se c a th e pr e vi ou s week , but h is tea m m a te Dam on Buckmaster had other plans. Buc km aste r h ad made a few bad d e cision s befor e th e ra c e and t hey cost him. Be c aus e h e th ough t th e s urfac e m ig ht still be partl y wet, he d e cided to de -tune his Suzuki GSX R750 by using fuel that made his bike ea s ie r to ride, but at a cost of a bout four ' horsepower. And he a lso used the s a m e front tire he rod e with last year. Rig ht o ff the bat he kn ew the fuel de cision was a bad one. "In s t a nta ne o us ly , s ome thing was wro ng with the bike ," he said , in the p o st-ra c e pr e s s co n fe rence . "I ju st ha d no s pe ed at a ll. They ju st hos ed me at th e lin e and d o wn t he b a ck stra ig ht I g ot overtaken aga in by a co uple of the gu ys, and even the guys t h a t were in the fro n t yank ed lik e pr obably e a sy five s ix b ikelengths on me . I kn ew something was wrong ." As the ra c e wore o n, Buckmaster 's lap tim es re m ai ne d cons ta nt, a nd his last three laps we re his faste st. "I th ou ght I' d ju st h a ng in th e re keep tryi ng ," Buc kma st er said . "I ke pt the guy , at lea st the third place rider , whoev er th at wa s at th e tim e , I ke pt him in sight a ll the time a nd was jus t lucky, re a lly, th at th ose guys sort of wor ked th eir tires re ally hard and the ir b ikes we re wo rk ing re a lly tou g h . I kne w I could stay co ns iste nt with th e ho rsepower I had and I just kept goi ng a nd got th e o p port u nit y to ov ertake a ll of the m and wa s lucky to get th ird, so I'm ple ased to be he re , really." Hayden would b e a c lo se fourth , followed by Moor e , C ic cotto a nd Ben Grant Lopez celebrates his f irst 7 5 0cc Supersport win of the year w ith a wheelie across t h e f i nish line. Sp ies , th e 16- y e a r- old ma k ing h is AMA professio na l debut on the t hird Valv oline EMGO Su zu ki. That p a c k of five spe nt th e ra c e swapping spots three through seven . Farther ba ck, Hon da -Suzuk i-Arcti c Ca t of Sanford 's Rich Con icell i, who starred in the 2000 AMA Road Racing Grand Nati onal Champion ships ea rlier in the week , was alone in seventh. J ohn Jacobi and Bria n Livengood , Co nicell i's te amm ate , followed Coni celli home in a pr oce s s ion . eN Mid-Ohio Sports car Course Lexington, Ohio Results: July 15, 2000 IRound 5 of 91 LO CKHART· PHILLIPS USA 7S 0 c c SU PERS POR T : 1. Gra nt L op ez (S u z) ; 2 . Jo hn Hopk i ns (S u z) ; 3 . Damon Bu ckma ste r ( S uz) ; 4 . Roger Lee Hayden (Suz); 5. J imm y Moore (Suz) ; 6. Mike Ciccott o (S uz ) ; 7 . Be n Spi es (S uz) ; 8. Rich Co n ice lli (S UI ) ; 9 . J ohn Ja c ob i (S uz) ; 10 . Br ian Livengood (Suz) ; 11. Em anu el Manu suthak is ( Suz); 12. Travi s King (Suz ); 13 . Jason Late (Yamaha) ; 14 . Damon Patton (Suz); 15. Mik e Mashewske (Kaw); 16. Nelson Perez (Han) ; 17. Chuck Allen (Suz); 18. Rob Bowe rma n J r. (Suz) ; 19. Mic ha el Evilsize r (S uz); 20 . Ju stin Blak e (Hon). TIm e: 24 m in.• 47.080 sec. Dist ance: 16 laps. 38.4 mile s. Average speed: 9 2.861 mph . Margin victory: 10.253 sec. LOCKHART-PH ILLIPS USA 750cc SUPER SPO RT C'SHIP POINT STAND INGS (Aft er 5 of 9 rou nds): 1. John Ho pk in s ( 179/ 3 win s) ; 2 . G rant L op ez ( 17 4 / 1) ; 3 . J i mm y Mo or e ( 17 0 ); 4 . Ro ger L ee Hayd en (1 59 ) ; 5. Damon Buckm aster ( 154 /1 ); 6 . Mik e Cic cotto ( 118) ; 7. Ja m ie Bowman ( 117/1 ); 8. Rob Bowerman Jr . (74 ); 9 . David O rtega (66); 10. Justin Blak e (59) ; 11. Rich Conicelli (47 ): 12. Shane Clark e (46) ; 13. Randall Menn enga (44 ); 14. Chris Arbo r (40); 15 . (TIE) Mik e Mashewske/C had Simons (36) ; 17. SCOll Gooch (35 ); 18 , J ason Late (34 ): 19 . Richard Shaw (33); 20 . Byron Barbour (31 ). or Upcoming rounds: Round 6 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 29 Round 7 - Fountain, Colorado, August 12 eye. e race too , but I'm go ing to work on he r bike and he lp her out in return for th e fa vor." Because the track wasn 't o ptima l, Oliver didn't be a t h is thr e e - ye a r-ol d race re cord, c ompleting the 16- lap , 38.4 mile race in 25 m in ute s , 2.550 seconds at an average speed of 92.004 mph. Aside from winning four times, Olive r has suffered a number of mechanical pro ble m s t hi s s eas on, including a seizure in Daytona and a fouled plug at Loudo n. Th e m os t pot ent iall y d isa s trous was whe n his front brak e ca lipers fell out a t the end o f the lo ng Road America front straight a nd he' crashed heavily , but was mostly unhurt. That type of probl em never happened during his unmatchable 20 -race tear th roug h the 1996 and '97 seasons, a time when his reliability was legenda ry. Whe th er th is new pair ing wo rks rema ins to be seen , but the early results are im pre ssive, even if it means more work for the four- time clas s cha m pion. With three races to go, Oliver needs so me help to win his fifth title. Sorensen leads with 183 points , 23 more than Oliver, with three races to go. "Right now it's between Chuckle and m yself, I think , and so we'll just have to see how th ings work out the next couple of races," Olive r sa id . "Th e way the points ar e it's still hard to say . With one bad race for Ch uck, where he m igh t ge t a fifth or sixth , have a pro blem , or one bad race for me , a nd I'm out of it. We 'll see. We're still hopefu l tho ugh." S or en s e n noted th at bo th he a nd Oliver we re wa ry of the tra ck surface. "I noticed that in especia lly the initial lap s the track wa s greasie r than yeste rday an d there was a lot less grip than the previous da ys," th e reigning class cha mpio n sa id. "And even I tho ug ht since this morning. Th er e wa s so mething different. " As strong as O liver was , So re nsen was equall y dominant in second , n e _ S • JULY 26,2000 13

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