Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/ChevyTrucks U .S S u p e r b ik e C h am p ionship R o u n d 1 1 : P ike s P eak International R aceway saved his race and his season , but he was n' t o n th e trac k whe n the fl ag was shown , "I didn 't th ink I got in th er e th at hot ," Lopez sa id, " O bv io usly , it wa s hot because ev eryone was bottled up - it was too hot for the traffic , [After the footpeg ass emb ly broke] I k ept hitting a f alse neutral and I ha d no re ar bra k e , 1 didn 't wa nt to get hu rt so I c ame in , I m ad e a poo r decision, I shou ld 've just slowe d d own . M i stakes are made and people are peo ple ." Hopkins was th e rid er wh o ben efit ed the most from th e melee, He ro de smart to finish th ird, taking over th e cham pionship points l ead in t h e pro c ess, Wit h one race rema ining in th e series, Ho pkins now leads Moore, 237 -2 24 , B u c km ast er is th ir d wi th 222 po ints. " It' s been a reall y g ood season, " Hopkin s said , "I' ve been tryin g reall y har d , Th ere are a lot of good riders in it w i t h Dam on [Buckma st er] a n d Roger [Ha yden ] and my t eamm at e Grant [L op ez] , He was three poi nt s ahead of m e goi ng into th is race and he crashed him self out, unfortun atel y fo r him , It was a grea t race , There at the beginning, I sta rte d to slide aro und a little bit. I'd seen tha t G ran t and Jim my [M oore] had gone d own so I started to t ake it easy . I th ought I had seco nd plac e th ere becau se Ro g er [Ha yden] had thrown it down , Th en th e red flag c am e out and it was a restart, Sin ce it was a sprint race, I was go ing to go a little harder and I did , but I got ou t there and started sliding around a li ttle bit. I realized the cha m pionsh ip was a little m ore im po rt ant to me tha n j us t w in n ing th e rac e, I j u st t oo k it easy and finis hed third ." Fi fth place went t o the youngest m emb e r o f t he V alv ol in e EMGO Suzu k i t eam , 16 -y ear -o ld Ben Sp ies, J ap an ' s D ai g or o Suzu k i , Randall Menn enga , Da vid Ortega , Danny Hart J r. and Al an Schm idt roun ded ou t th e to p 10 finishers. Crashers i n cl u d ed Shane Cl a r k and Aa ro n Clark, w ith th e pa ir goin g down toget her an d bring ing o ut the second red fla g, Nei ther we re inj ur ed in th e incident . eN Pikes Peak Inte rnati onal Racewa y Founta in, Colorado Res ults : August 12. 2000 750cc SUPERSPORT: 1. Damon Buckmaster (Suz); 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Suz); 3. J ohn Hop kin s (Suz); 4 . Jimmy Moo re (Suz); S. Ben Spies (Suz); 6. Daigo ro Suzuki (Suz); 7. Randall Mennenga {Suz): 8. David Ortega ( Kaw); 9 . Danny Hart Jr. (Su z) ; 10 . Ala n S ch midt (Yam) ; I I. S cott J en se n (Suz) ; 12 . Rory Palmer (Suz); 13 . Mich ael Cusano Jr. (Yam); 14 . Jason Chis um ( Kaw); 15. Frank Cesena (Hon); 16. Tob y Trainer (Yam); 17. Eric Dooyema (Yam ); 18 . J o shu a Hop son ( Kaw } : 19 . Kenn eth Co ntee n . (Suz) ; 20 . Ju stin Bl ak e ( Hon ); 2 1. Sha ne Cl arke (Suz); 22 . Aa ron Clark (Suz); 23. Eric Erlin g Haugo (Suz) ; 24 . Robe rt Ch ristma n (Ya m); 25 . Grant Lopez (502). Tim e: nf a due to red fl ag Dista nc e: 29 laps. 3 7.89 miles A MA 7S0cc SlJPERSPORT C 'SH IP PO I NT STANDINGS (A ft er 8 of 9 rounds ) : 1. Joh n Hopk ins (2 3 7/ 3 wins ) ; 2 . J im m y Moo re (2 2 4 ); 3 . Dam on Buc kmaste r (222 / 2); 4 . (TIE ) Rog er Lee Hayden (2 17)/ Gron' Lopez (21712): 6. Mike Ciccotto ( 144): 7. Ja mie Bowman ( 117/1): 8. David Ort ega ( 102) : 9. Rob Bowerman Jr. (93 ); 10. Randall Mennenga (89): 11. J ustin Blak e (79 ); 12. Sha ne Cl arke (75 ): 13. Ben Spies ( 7 3); 14 . Scott Gooch (50) : 15 . Rich Conicelli (47). Upcoming Round Round 9 - Rosamond. Califomia, September 29 AMAIMBNA 250cc Grand Prix Series Round 8: Pikes Peak International Raceway Oliver's Proposal By Se con d p lace was 19 ,6 2 0 second s back. " Once I go t up into the 20 -second lead point, at that point you start to be re lativ el y conservative and just k ind of cru ised it home," Oliver said after dominating and be fore ex pl aining h is approa ch th is yea r. " I don 't kno w if yo u gu ys can t ell. o r if it' s apparent , but I feel that I' v e rea lly improved over th e co urse of th e season . I've b een r id ing w ith less a nd less and less effo rt and going faster a nd f a st er a n d fa st er and ki nd of bringing back m y oid sk il ls , But I' ve bee n able to comb ine all m y Superb ike bag of tricks in there too a nd I' ve come up with a reall y neat style and it was reall y effective her e w it h th e hi gh he at and o ff ca m ber cor ners ," "It was so easy to ride," he said of th e T eam O li ver Yam aha, "When th at b ik e is working the way it's supposed to work , it rid es it self, yo u don 't do an ything , Yo u ju st sit on it and turn th e throttl e ope n and clo sed and pull on the brak e lev er and it does eve ryth ing els e for yo u , It was working li ke that toda y ," The race wa s as th robbin gl y in ter min abl e a n d a s p rocess io n al as a Ma y Day Parad e with about as ma ny posit ion changes, One of the few real races was for second and th e ac tual fig ht, o nce the co mbatants squared off, didn 't last long, GP Te ch ' s M i cha el B arn e s go t away se c ond o n hi s Yam ah a with W or ld Sp or t Im p o r t s ' Chuck Sorens en , also TZ250-mounted , f arther back aft er cra sh ing in h is heat r ac e a n d b e ing for ced t o w ar d t he fourth row of the five -r ow grid , It w a s o n the th ird l a p t h a t H EN NY R A Y ABRAMS FoaNT~N,CO, AaG I 3 n t h e morning of the M BNA O 2 50cc G r a n d Pr ix race, Rich O li v e r go t down on one knee and asked his mechanic t o marry him, T he proposal was m ad e in a quiet mom ent at th e top of t he g r a nd stands at Pik es Pea k Internationa l Rac ewa y, He'd th ought about pop ping th e question in th e w inn er 's c ir cl e afte r th e ra ce , l ater th at a fte rnoon , th en thought be tter of it. " I ' d b e en th ink in g a bo u t it fo r q uite a while and I was really ner vou s," O liver said , " I w as th in king about it, [it] m ight be k ind of cool to do it in the w inner' s ci rcl e, an d th en I rad ic all y re -c on sid ered t h at id ea in cas e it d id n 't go well . either 1 d idn 't g et in the w inner's circle o r she 'd say no." Oli ver w on th e rac e, his sixth o f the year and 48th of h is career, and his mechanic agreed t o be his wife, "I proposed t o J oceli n and luc kil y she sai d yes ," O liv er said of his fel low ra c er, mechan ic , and now fian ce, "T hat went well. Th at was w hat I was mai nl y worried abo ut. The rac e was kind of ant i -clim at i c a ft e r tha t. " Indeed it was , The race was a s tem -dunk . w ith O li ver bo lting from th e sec ond row, a sp ot he wa s rel eg at ed t o aft er h is Team Oliver Yamaha ate a reed pe t al during his Saturday h eat race , He'd been able to nu rse the TZ250 hom e in third and sta rt ed six th on the grid, Lapping up to th e sixth place fin ish er , Oliver broke his o w n three year-old record by over 30 sec onds, w inning the 29 -lap, 30 -mile race at an ave rage spe ed of 83 ,392 mph . 12 A UGUST 23,20 0 0 · cue I e n eVIl's Rich Oliver (7 ) got the hardest part of h is weekend out of the way early, asking his girlfriend, mechanic and fellow rac er, Jocelin, to many h im In t he morning, and then easily w inning the 250cc Grand Prix race by almost 20 seconds. So rensen took over second wit h we hi t traffic I kept the ha m me r down Barn es some d ist an c e in fron t , and and M ichae l got held up a littl e b it So re nse n would spend mu ch o f th e and th at let m e get right o n them and race in pur su it. It wa sn 't until the at that point we w e re bo th slid ing 2 6th of 2 9 l ap s t h at So ren sen was aro und a whol e lot," So rensen sai d , able to get by , but, o nce in fro nt, he " M i c h a e l threw h im self o u t of the qu ickl y left Barnes behind , sa d d l e a c oupl e of t imes . I h ad i t "Towa rd the halfway fla gs I wa sn 't c rac k ed sid ew ays , but I had all m y mak ing a wh o le lo t of gain , but wh en attent i on focus ed o n rear t raction

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