Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Ch e vy Truck s Superbi k e Cha mpio n ship Rou nd 8 /8 : Mid-Ohio Sports C a r C o urs e watching his p it board and mak ing sure he was secure. "It wou ld be nice to be able to run with Rich this weekend, but we weren't quite there with the times ," Sorensen said. "We just have to keep our heads down and get some consistent finish es." Co nsistency has be e n Sore nsen 's strength this year with podium finishes in every one of the s ix rounds. On e of his teammates, Chris Ulrich (Yam), fin is hed third , 10 s e c o n d s bac k, to earn his first podium finish of the year. To get there, he had to hold back GP Tec h 's Michael Barn es (Yam ), who made it close unt il falling back with about four la ps to go . Kurtis Roberts kept his perfect Fonnula Xtreme season al ive with his f ifth win In a row at Mid-Ohio. AMAleSportbike.comFormula Xtreme Round5: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course STORY A N D P HO TOS "Micha e l [Barnes], he was pushing me rea lly ha rd ," Ulric h said . "I just tried to n o t m ak e a ny m istak e s . I not ic e d h e could get a littl e b ett er dr ive on me coming out of the key hole , I th ink m y gear choice for that turn wasn't op tim um . I just made sure ) got on the gas as soon as I could. I knew I could out -brake him going into tum six. So I knew he wasn't go ing to get by me the re. I just tried to put together some clea n laps ." Barnes dropped about nine seconds behind Ulric h to ta ke fourth , six seconds in ha nd on the battle for fifth , decided in favor of the Aprilia of Blackman's Cycles' William Him me ls ba ch. Himm elsba ch ran m os tl y at th e By LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 15 ith th e unfailing re gula rity of a postman, Erion Racin g 's Kurtis Robe rts just keeps de liver ing , neit he r c lo uds, nor ra in, nor the re s t o f th e field able to keep him from the s uc cessfu l co m ple tio n of h is a ppo inted ro unds . Rob e rts ha s be e n perfect this season , winn ing a ll five e S po rtb ike .c om Fo rm ula Xtre me ra ce s, this one co ming und e r a ligh t sprinkle on a dark a nd disma l Sa turday afternoon at the Mid-O hio Sports Car Co urse . As us ua l, Roberts p u t h is E rion Honda CBR929RR out front right from the start, pulling away at about a se c ond a lap. The n the ra in began to fa ll on a bout the th ird of 16 laps , and it wo u ld in te nsif y to th e p oint t h a t Ro berts had to slow d own , cutt ing away fro m a lead tha t was over fou r seconds a t one po int. "I was riding really mellow bec ause it started to s prinkle a nd it ju st ke pt messing with m y mind ," the younger of the Roberts broth er s said . "Beca use I'd see it s p rinkling a nd the y wouldn' t ha ve t he o il flag s u p in that co rn e r, th ey'd have it up in th e next one and I ke pt see ing pe o p le , gi rls an d g uys, with yellow s hi rts on s ta ndi ng rig ht ne a r .t he flag s tation , a n d the n I' d think the re wa s a ye llow flag . "Ea rly on , it just sta rte d to s prink le, es pecially in th e do uble righ t coming into the valley. They never ha d the oil flag the re a nd it wou ld s prink le there a nd I'd keep losing th e re ar go ing in . You neve r k new wh at it wa s do ing that la p that wa s th e pr oblem . Th e y s tarted t o c lose th e gap up a n d I wasn't go ing to let that happen , so I turned it back o n and p ulle d out the di stan ce I n e ed e d a nd ro d e h o m e from the re ." And that was tha t. With five wins , and the extra cham pionshi p po int tha t goes with leading t he m os t la p s in fo u r o f t he wins , Roberts leads the cha m p ions hip by a yaw ning 45 po ints, 18 5 -14 0 , o ve r J a k e Zemke , a ft er fiv e o f e ig h t ro u nds . T h e Bru c e T ran s p o rt a t ion Gro up rider was fifth toda y. Bec au se th e race was run on a wet tr a c k , with Rob erts ' tim e of 24 m inu t e s , 14 . 7 4 2 seco n ds, ave rag ing 9 5. 028 m ph , was ab out nine seconds off the record tim e . Th e margin of v ictory was 2 .20 1 seconds , with s ec ond pla ce going to 14 nevus H EN N Y RAY A B RA M S W JULY 26.2000 ' cue I e back of a th re e wa y fight for the s pot until the last few laps when he moved up to fifth , hol ding off World Sports Imports' Perry Melneciuc (Yam) by just over a second at th e stri pe. The th ird partner in the figh t, GP Tec h's Der ek King (Hon ), came home seventh. Fabwe ld's Gre g Esser (Hon) ju st bea t Ste phens Mo t o r s p o rt s ' Eric S t eph e ns (Ho n) ac ross t he lin e t o take eig hth. CN Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Oh io Results: July 16, 2000 IRound 6 of 91 MB NA 250 GP: 1. Rich O liver (Yam ); 2. Charles Sorensen (Yam) : 3 . Chr is Ulr ich (Yam) ; 4 . Micha el Barn es ( Yam) ; 5 . Micha el Himmelsbach ( A p r); 6 . Perry Melneciuc (Yam ); 7. Derek King (Hon) ; 8. Greg Esser ( Hon ); 9 . Er ic St ep hens ( Ho n ); 10 . Ed w ar d Sorbo (Yam) : 11. Jo hn Fr ance (Hon); 12 . Th om as Dinardo (Yam); 13 . J ames Bonne r (Ya m) ; 14 . J ames Robert s ' teammate Josh Hayes. Hayes finis hed the first la p in fourth p lace and pla yed catc h up to the e nd . He did n 't m a ke h is way into second un t il t he s ix t h lap , a n d b y th en , Roberts was we ll awa y. It was raining ha rd e noug h to be a conc e rn at that point , whic h was when Roberts s lowed a nd Ha yes s ped up , not both e red by the co nd itions. "I ke pt wa tch ing the windscre en ," Hayes said . "I had som e te ar-o ffs on my he lmet so I co uldn 't really tell ho w hard it wa s rai n in g . I' d lo o k at t h e screen on m y b ike to see wh at was goi ng on. I neve r saw a nyth ing th at I tho ug ht was going to be a prob lem." Hayes ree led Robe rts in a bit by the m idd le of the ra ce and held the ga p c onsta nt , but used up his ma chine ry in the p roces s . . "I had b e a t o n t h e bi ke a p retty go od b it to get up to wh er e I wa s a nd ' had m y s ha re of pro blems from the re o n out, " Ha ye s sai d . "I co uldn't ma inta in e ve n th e pa c e tha t I ha d ru n to g et up to h im, a nd the two of those things he just pulled right back a wa y, so I just sta rte d wa tc hing th e split a nd try ing to ride s ma rt a nd try to finis h the ra ce whe re I wa s." Haye s ' o n ly e x citeme nt c a me in the fina l stages whe n he m is se d look ing for the white flag , watc hing h is pit boa rd instead . '" c ame a ro und th ink ing it was the las t lap, and s aw plus one; he ga ine d two seco nds," Hayes said . "And I we nt into panic mode and I put in the best lap that I could, came a ro und thinking it wa s t he checke re d fla g, a nd' g o through there a nd I seen m y pit boar d o ut again with a p lus one and Kurtis was still going a nd I was like , 'O h , no , I've got to do it aga in.' " By then he rea lize d th e track wa s a proble m and he s lowed down co ns iderab ly at t he e nd , b ut sti ll ha d 2.4 seconds on Val volin e EMGO Suzuk i's Grant Lo pez in third . Lop ez led his team mate J oh n Hop kins hom e a nd it wa s his teamma te who 'd kept him from ma king a run at the lea ders . Lope z sa id he wa ited too lon g t o mak e a run o n the S uz uk i GSX-R750-moun te d Hopkins , who he Worthi ngt on (A pr) ; 15. Bruce Lind (Yam ); 16. Stuart. Nad ell (Hon) ; 17. J ohn Burg oyne (Hon); 18. Chri s Kno wle s (Ho n) ; 19 . Geo ff rey Ma loney ( Yam) ; 20. T yler Wads wort h (Yam): 2 1. Chr i stop her Hol sk e (Yam) ; 22. Chris Hamilton (Han); 23 . Richard Memar ( Yam) ; 24 . A n dr ew Edwa rd s ( Yam); 25. Mur ph y And erson (Yam) ; 26. William Himmelsbach (Yam) ; 27. Kory Gill (Yam ); 28 . Anth ony Whit e (Yam) ; 29 . Leon Hor (Yam ). TIm e: 25 m in ., 2550 sec. Distance: 16 lap s, 38.4 mil es. Average speed: 92 .004 mph . Margin of victory: 9 .84 4 sec. MBN A 250 GP C'S HIP POI NT STANDINGS (A fter 6 o f 9 round s ) : 1. Cha rles Sorensen (1 83 ); 2. Rich Oliver (160/ 4 wi ns) ; 3. Perr y Meln eciu c (1 46) ; 4. Micha el Himmelsbach ( 13 2); 5 . Quenni Kin g ( 111) ; 6 . Chris Ulri ch ( 105 ) ; 7 . Mich ael Barn es (1 04) ; 8 . Derek Ki ng ( 100) ; 9 . Greg Esser (97 ); 10. Roland Sands (9 6); 11. Ed w ard Sorbo (9 5) ; 12 . Wi lliam Himmelsbach (8 7) ; 13. J ohn Franc e (8 0); 14. Eri c Steph ens (70) ; 15. Thom as Dinardo (66 ); 16. J im my Filice (63/1 ); 17. Edward Marchi ni (6 1) ; 18. J ames Bonner (56 ) : 19 . (T IE) Geoffrey Ma loney / Rand y Renfrow (5 4) . Upcoming rounds: Round 6 - Brainerd, Minnesota, JUly 31 Round 7 - Founta in, Colo rado, August 13 finall y pa ssed on th e ninth of 16 laps. "I showed him a whe el thre e or four tim es and ju st didn 't reall y make it st ick, just wa sn ' t re all y as s erti ve e noug h ," Lopez sa id . "T hat allowed J osh to get on away ." Lopez tho ught he 'd m a ke a run at the e nd , th en thought better of it as the s pr ink le inte ns ified . "By th e tim e we wen t through the esses it was sprinkling pr etty go od ," he said. '" d idn 't wa nt to e nd up like Migu e l [DuH a m el - w h o ' d c ra s he d while in second in th e S uper bike ra ce a few turns from the e nd] ." Hop kins was fourth a nd m ore both e red b y t h e rai n tha n t he o t he rs , Hay es th ought. "He s e em ed very tenta tiv e in the ra in ," sa id Ha yes , who wa s b eh in d him for th e first fou r la ps . "Whe n the rai n sta rted sprinkling he s lowed do wn a lot. " Beh ind t he t o p fo u r ca m e J a ke Ze m ke, who pa ss ed Gra ves Yama ha 's Steve Martin on the fina l la p . Gr igg Ele c t ric ' s S t e ve Grigg was sevent h on his 850cc Kaw asaki, holding off th e Ha ya bus a of Ra d Greav es un til Greaves c ra shed in the final cor ner , e nd ing up ninth behi nd Fasttrax Racing 's J im Doerfle r (S uz) . G re e nfie ld' s T u rf's Ch ris Voe lker wa s 10th on a Hon da CBR900 RR. CN Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio Results: July 15, 2000 IRound5 of 81 ESPORTBI K E. COM FO RMU LA XT REME ; I . Kurtis Robe rt s ( Hon) ; 2. Gabriel Hennin g (S uz); 3. Grant Lopez (S uz); 4 . J ohn Hopk ins (Suz); 5 . Jake Zemke (Hon) ; 6. Steve Martin (Yam); 7. Steve Grigg (Kaw) ; 8 . Ja m es Doerfl er (S uz) ; 9 . Re d Greaves (S uz); 10 . Chri s Voe lker ( Ho n ); 11 . Ce cil Myers (Ya m); 12. Chuck A llen (Suz); 13 . Gregor y Wh ite (Suz) : 14. Tod d Snyde r {Suz}: 15. Mark Mill er (Yam ); 16 . Mon te Nic hol s (Ducati); 17 . J onath an Glaefk e (Suz) ; 18. Keith Marquez (Yam ); 19. Mic hael Ev ilsizer (Suz) ; 20. Kevin Lacombe (Hen). Time: 24 m in.• 14.742 sec. Di stan ce: 16 lap s. 38 .4 m iles. Average speed: 95.028 m ph. M.a in of victory: 2.20 J sec. rg ESP ORTBIK E.COM FO RMULA XTR EME C' S HIP POINT STANDING S (After 5 of 8 rounds) ; 1. Kurtis Roberts ( 185 / 5 wins); 2. Jos h Hayes ( 150); 3. J ake Zemke (1 40) ; 4. Jo hn Hopkin s ( 125) ; 5. Steve Grigg (122) ; 6. Rad Greaves (J 15); 7. Grant Lopez (96); 8. Ma rk Mill er (90); 9. Chris Voel ker (8 0) ; 10 . Cecil M y er s (7 9); 11. Gr egor y White (73); 12 . Kevi n Lacombe (64 ); 13 . Steve Marti n (5 1); 14. Clint Bretz (47) ; 15. Gabriel Henning (44 ); 16. J am es Doerfl er (3 9) ; 17. Scot Dorm ier (37 ); 18. Paul Mumford J r. (3 2); 19 .Paul Harrell (2 7) ; 20. Char les Chouinard (2 5). Upcoming rounds: Round 6 - Brainerd, Minnesota, July 30 Round 7 - Fountain, Colorado, August 12

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