Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/ChevyTru c k s U .S Superbik e Championship Round 1 1 : P ik e s Peak In t e r n a t io n al Racew a y Buell Pro Thunder Series Robe rts in th e lead allowed Lopez to eva lua te Roberts tires . He liked wha t he saw. "I did see him s liding around qui te a b it and knew th at he p ro b a bl y couldn 't get too far and I wasn' t going to let him go," Lopez s aid . "If I saw a ch ance he re a nd there I was going to take it, and he let the door open a little a nd I s lid o n thro ugh th e re." That m ov e c a me o n la p 18 a nd fro m then o n it was a ll Lo p e z. His onl y c on c e rn c a me late in t he ra c e wh en the dr izzle int en s ified , th o ugh he s aid it wasn ' t a pr obl em on the tra ck. Accord ing to him , it was mostly a m enta l thing . Rob erts s aid he "ju s t kin d of let him go and ju st pla yed around , a nd those last 10 la ps we re qu ite lo ng, but it wor ke d out. " Third throu g h fifth we re m o s t ly tog eth e r t hro ug hou t, with Zemk e m aking good us e of tra ffic to m a inta in third to the end . "I got through traffic re all y we ll," Zemke said. "Actua lly I tim ed a lot of it. I cou ld see where I wa s g oing to catch those guys in the back section c om ing into the esses or something , so I'd basica lly just park it in the right hander because no one 's go ing to go m ound you right there. " Zemk e sa id he kept a n ey e on his p it bo ard and as soon as h is lead on fou rth we nt down to zero , he st a rted riding m o re defensively because he knew he couldn 't get off the corners . Still, h e wa s a ble to ho ld off Attack Pe rform an c e Ya ma ha 's Ma rk Miller a nd Erion Ra ci ng's Josh Hayes . Th en ca me th e G raves Motor sports ' Yam ah a of Ste ve Martin , followed b y Atta ck Performan ce 's Shawn Higb ee . CN Round 8: Pikes Peak International Raceway Smith's Race, Nash's Title By H E N NY FOONTAIN, co, AOG 13 s a ma ybe not so wis e m an once said, "Th is was a ra c e of nut rition. " Mike Smith dev oured the Bue ll Pro Th under field , Jeff Nash supped on his first AMA title , m or e than a few bikes ingested their engine parts, a nd a cou ple of riders just plain ate it. First th ings first. A few patterns ha ve e merged thi s year. If Duc shop/B eaudry Motorsports' Mike Smith finishes th e ra ce , he wins . It's happen ed four times, today bei ng the most recent case . In the last race on a hot and sunny rac e da y, Sm ith bolte d from the pole po s itio n a t Pike s Pea k International Ra cewa y and made short work of the 22 -rider field, winning by 25.886 seconds in a ra c e tha t wasn 't even tha t close. "My c a re e r, I've spent more tim e los ing than I have winning, but th ese wins a re rea lly s weet, " t h e Duc a t imounted Smith sa id. Sm ith s a id that h e didn 't ha ve a stra te gy. He 'jum ped to th e front and kept looking bac k until he realized how m uch of a distraction it was . After he saw how far ba ck the -competiti on was - at various times four different riders held second place . he sai d it was hard to ba ck dow n. "' like to s lide a bike so well, or so mu ch , I like to rea lly gas on it, it's no t someth ing I enjoy doi ng to save the mo tor ," Smith said . "It's ha rder to win these wins than it is to ba ck down, so I wanted to ge t another win for sure ." Anothe r recurr in g t he me is t he unfailing co ns istency of Advanced Motorsports ' Jeff Nash . The Duca ti mounted Nash ha s been on the podium at everyone of the seven races, a streak that ea rned h im the Buell Pro Thu nder title when he finished second to S m ith tod ay. Nas h was patient , bid ing his time a nd riding consistently as a trio of ride rs in fron t of him were gradua lly elimina ted . "I was not aware that I even won the thing , to be ho nest with you , it was just most imp ortant to m e to put in consistent races e ve ry ra c e and end of th e . se ason let's tall y it up a nd see what ha ppens, " the New Zea lander sai d of th e p rem a ture e nd to th e c hampions hip season hunt. With Willow Spring s to run, Nash lea ds defending class cha mpion Shawn Conrad, 215-1 70. Conrad was 10th today, but more on that later . Na s h ex pla ine d that he 'd go tten a bad start and had to pick riders off one at a time once he got into a rhythm. By the 12th lap h e fe lt his tires getting greas y and he a djus t e d his t e m p o. A Pike's PeakInternati onal Raceway Fountain, Colorado Results: Auoust 1Z, ZOOO [Round 7 of 8J ES POR TB I K E.C O M FORMaLA XT REME: I . Gra nt Lopez (Suz) ; 2 . Kurtis Roberts (Hen) ; 3 . J ak e Zemk e (Han) ; 4. Mark Mill er (Yam) ; 5. J osh Hay es ( Ha n) ; 6 . Steve Martin (Yam); 7 . Shaw n Hi g bee ( Yam); 8. J o sh Grah am (Yam) ; 9 . D ani el Turner ( Yam) ; 10 . Stev e Gr igg ( Ka w) ; 11. Rad Greaves (Suz); 12. Ricky Orland o (Kaw); 13. Bryan Kovari ck (Yam); 14 . Aaron T urner (S uz) : 15. Chris Voelker (Hen) ; 16 . Dou glas Vickery (Yam ); 17. Martin Sim s (Yam ) ; 18 . Ma rk Ledesma (Su z); 19 . Er ic Erli ng Ha ugo (S uz); 20. Rory Palme r (S uz) ; 2 1. J effr ey A hner (Yam ); 22. Scott J ensen (Suz); 23. Gregory White (Suz) ; 24. J am es Mil roy J r. (Kaw) ; 25 . Wes Pogu e (Ya m) ; 26 . Joh n Hopkin s (Suz) ; 27 . Danny Hart J r. (Sua): 28 . J ohn ny Rock Page ( Yam); 29 . Kevin Lacom be (Han) ; 30 . Mark Nudelm an (Han). TIme : 27 m in .• 7.460 sec. Di st anc e: 29 lap s. 38 mil es. Averag e speed: 84.3 56 mph . Marg in of victory: 6.109 sec. ESPORTBIKE.COM FORMaLA XTREME C' S HIP POINT STANDINGS (A fte r 7 of 8 round s): 1. Kurt is Robert s (25 4/ 6 wins); 2. Jake Zemke (1 96): 3 . Jos h Hayes (19 0 ); 4 . Steve Grig g ( 168) ; 5. Grant Lop ez (1 65/1 ) ; 6 . Jo hn Hopk in s ( 159) ; 7 . Rad Greaves ( 145) : 8 . Mark Miller ( 125 ); 9. Chris Voelker (1 18) ; 10. Steve Martin (1 02) : I I. Ceci l My ers (95) : 12. Gregory Wh ite (92 ); 13. Kevin Lacombe (9 0) ; 14 . Clin t Brotz (47) ; 15. Gabri el Henni ng (44 ); 16. Paul Ducato (42 ): 17. J am es Doerfle r (3 9): 18. (TIE) Scot Dorm ier/Rlcky Orlando (37); 20 . Eri c Erling Haugo (34). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 . Rosamond, Calitornia, September 30 14 AUGUST 23 ,2000' c u e I R A Y ABR AM S e n e vv s Then Coyle Bros .' Mark Ledes ma came a lon g and the ra ce was on . Nash would win it, but not for lack of effort on Led esma 's part. "So I was re ally co ncent rating on trying to stay s mooth, trying to get a s mooth d rive ou t of the turns , not open the throttle ha rd beca use I kne w I had no tire s left and tr y a nd win my race a n d see if m y plan co uld beat Ma rk' s ," Nash sa id after finishi ng 1.6 se conds in fron t of him . Nash, 37, cre di t e d hi s Advanced Motorsports team for buil ding grea t e n g ine s in his qu est for the title. Th at , a nd consiste nt riding , ea rned him the number one plate, a plat e which wasn't present sin ce the AMA h ad t roubl e wi t h t hei r number -plate supplier. "I wo uld ha ve like to have wo n a ra ce , but it hasn 't ' co me to me so far , a nd that's th e wa y ra c ing go e s, " Nash s a id . "But t o win a c ha m pi onship is wha t I set out to do and that' s what I've ach ieved and that's a goal I've wanted to do m y wh ol e life and I'm very, very happy about it." Led e sma finis hed th ird o n a T L1000R downsized to 700cc for reliab ility. He gave away power, but the bike kept running , and he im proved his only othe r finish of the yea r by one spot. Th e Arizon an s ai d that he h a d a plan to make a run at Nash late in the ra ce , then saw that Shawn Higbe e was o ut, and decided to ta ke the s e c ur e third . Higbee 's trava ils have been another c o n s t a nt in the 2000 Pro Th un d er chase . Exc e pt fo r a second at Road Atla nta , his season has be en a write off. Today was no exception. Running a se c ure second to S mi t h , Higbee slowed and pulled out on the 25th la p. "It overheated and started sq uealing re a lly ba d ," Higbee said . "l ha ve no ide a what it was ." Ano ther rider who he ld second was Na sh's AMS teammate Cra ig Conne ll. Th e Aust ralia n c ame th rou gh th e field to move into second before his Duc ati began le a k ing oil, eve nt ua lly for ci ng him to ret ire on the 16th lap . HMC Racing 's Sh awn Conrad (Duc) ha s b e en co ns is tently inco ns is tent , ne ver abl e to sustain an y momentum . Toda y tha t p att ern c ontinu ed , but it wasn't entire ly his fault. As he ca me up on some lapper s while ch a s ing Ledesma , Con rad took a full bod y blow from the left by KMC Te lecom's Richie Morris , who, himse lf, was punted off the Mike Sm ith (right) showers J eff Nash with champagne on the p o d ium after the Pro Thund er race. Smith w on the battle, but Nash won the war, taking his first AMA title with a race to spare. tra ck from behind, c ras hing and hurt ing his left knee. Th e for c e of the im p a ct knocked Conr ad 's faces hield off and drove his left foot peg into his cha in , knocking it off. He rolled to a stop on the fron t stretch and his m e c h a n ic pulled th e peg out and re -mo un te d th e cha in. Bec au se he received he lp on the track he was pena lize d five p o ints by the AMA, gua ra nteeing Na sh his title. Con rad lost a lap fixing th e c hai n a nd ended up 10th. T o m Hu ll en ded u p fo u rt h o n a Du c at i wit h Po gu e Ra c in g ' s We s eN Pog ue (Duc ) fifth. Pike's PeakInternational Raceway Fountain, Colorado Results: Auoust 13. ZOUO [Round7 of 8J BaELL PRO THaNDER: I. Mike Sm ith (Due) : 2. J effrey Nash (Duc ); 3. Mark Ledesm a (Suz); 4 . Tom Hull (D uc ); 5 . We s Pogu e (D uc) ; 6 . Dale Co rser (D uc ) ; 7. Robert B radlaw (S uz) ; 8 . Dean Mi zd al (Suz); 9. David Roy (Duc) ; to. Shawn Conrad (Duc) ; I I. David Kieffer (Sue); 12. Michael Solis (Suz); 13. Tom O rell a ( Duc) ; 14 . Sco t Do rm ie r (D uc) ; 15 . Stephen Ulliott (Du c ); 16. Mic hael Kludt (Bue) ; 17. Shaw n Higb ee (Bue) ; 18. Rich ie Mo rris (Due) ; 19. Craig Connell (Duc) ; 20. Dav id White (Honda) ; 2 1. Jurgen Wim bauer (Suz) ; 22 . Bill St. Jo hn (Duc) . TIm e: 28 m in. 16.257 sec. Dist ance: 29 laps. 38 miles. Average speed: 80.936 mph. Margin of vict ory: 25. 886 sec. BaELL PRO THaNDER C'S HIP POINT STANDINGS (After 7 of 8 round s) : I. J eff rey Nash (2 15); 2 . Shawn Conr ad ( 174/2 wins); 3. Dale Corser (163 ); 4. Mi ke Smith ( 162 / 4) ; 5 . Tom Hull (14 7 ) : 6 . Wes Pogue (1 42) ; 7. David Roy (134) ; 8 . Richi e Morr is ( 120); 9. Bill St. J ohn (1 15 ); 10. Th oma s Montan o (87) ; 11. J am es Li ckwar (7 4) ; 12 . Monte Nic ho ls (7 0 ) : 13 . Sc ot Do rm ier (69) ; 14 . (T I E) Sha w n Higbee/ Mike Krynock (6 5); 16. Mar k Ledesma (5 6); 17. Tom Chaun cey (53) ; 18. Ju stin Garvin (50 ); 19. Crai9 Conne ll (4 9/1) : 20. (TI E) Robert Bradlaw/Mike Cic cott o/Thomas Fournier (48) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Rosamond, California. October 1

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