Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dan F is ch e r w as a l on e fourth , th en T in ting Techonlo g ies ' Shannon S il v a , wh o b e st e d X tre me Mo to r s po rts / Kevi n Li n k and Su pe r Moto Italia ' s J a mes M o n so n after t he t h ree hoo ked up mid -race . CN Pocono Inte rnational Raceway Lang Pond, Pennsylvan ia Results : August 27, 2000 [ Round 5) AP RIUA CUP CHA LL ENGE: 1. Derek King : 2. A aron Cla rk: 3 . J eff Wo od ; 4 . Da n Fi sc h er ; 5 . Shannon Silva; 6. Kevin Link: 7. James Monson; 8. Jo sh Brya n; 9 . Eric Stevenson ; 10. Mark Black m an; 11. Rodney Hel sen s; 12 . B alz Ren g gli; 13 . Gus Conrade s: 14. A lex Merrell ; 15. Sterling Strau ser; 16. J on ath an Sweene y ; 17. Dav e Mo on; 18 . Mo rgan Broadh ead; 19 . Brendan Clarke; 20 . Carlos Bon ds; 2 1. Richa rd Fu lts; 22 . Bob Robbins; 23. Tam ir Hirt ; 24. Tho mas Pete rso n; 25 . Da vid McPherso n ; 26 . Cha rles Sandoz; 27 . Clayto n Chapman ; 28 . Gus Holco mb; 29. Mik e Himmelsbach; 30 . Brian Saieva: 31. Chip Larkby: 32 . Cory West. Time: 18 m in.• 27 .203 sec. Di st ance: 10 laps , 25 m iles. Averag e speed: 81.286 m ph. Margin of victory: 14.316 sec. C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (A rt er 5 or 6 round s): 1. Aaro n Clark (10 4/3) ; 2. Derek King (97/1); 3 . Balz Renggti (64) ; 4 . Shanno n Silva (44); 5 . Jos h Bryan (4 1); 6. (TIE) Geep Terranova/ Dan Fischer (36 ); 8. J eff Wood (27): 9 . (TIE) Mike Him m elsbach/ J am es Monson /E ric Steve nson ( 25 ); 12. (TIE ) Ken t K uni tsug u/Cory Tusc he rer ( 13); 14 . ( T I E) Page Gath ings/J ustin Desterhou se ( 12) ; 16. Chi p Lerk by (1 I ); 17. (TIE) Clayto n Chapm an/Kevin Lin k/Phillip Unhola (10 ); 20 . Louis Hlousek (8) . Upcoming Round: Round 6 - Daytona Beach, Florida, October 22 " So m e litt le se cret R&D the y 've e ased away fr om Smith , a n d Morris bee n d oi ng at th e sho p t h is w eek - r ode j u st hard e n o u g h to take the end, " C ic c otto sa id . fi na l rostrum p os it ion . t w i c e , and s ec ond th e thre e oth e r " T h ey were just back t here all the time , r ight n ipp ing ," Morris sa id . " l t imes, in the five round s ru n so fa r. It j u st tried to r em a in c al m , hold my a d d s up t o a 1 10 to 98 p o int l e a d over H igbee going int o Daytona . Day - li n e . If they came b y m e I was going to step it up , but if they d idn 't come t ona Harl ey -Davidson/Buel l's Rich ie Morris is th ird w ith 69. by me, I was just g o ing to try to ride th e sam e pa c e ." Morris' ra ce d idn't start o ut well . Reynolds took fourth , t h en a long c a m e S m it h , Precision Woodwork ' s Jason D 'A m ic o , and Bo d ine . eN Th e F l o r idian has fin i sh ed fir st Trying to ge t some hea t into his t ires on the warm - u p l a p , he ran off t he track and o nto the w et g ras s and mud Pocono International Racewa y Lang Pond, Pennsylvania Results: August 27, 2000 [Round 51 on th e o utside of t urn n i ne . It took considerab le effo rt t o s tay u pri ght. Buell Ughtning Series Round 5: Pocono International Raceway BU ELl. UQHTNINQ SERIES : I . Mik e Cicco tto; 2. Shawn Higbee; 3. Richi e Morris ; 4. Mark Reynold s; 5. Jason Sm ith: 6. Ja son D'Amico; 7. Brian Bodine : 8. Gregory Avello: 9. Bri an Frank : 10. Jeffrey Jo hnson : 11. Dea n Hagem ann ; 12 . Ti moth y J ohnso n; 13 . Robert A rms trong; 14 . Stephen Helm ers: 15. Chr is Decelles: 16. Scott Korol ; 17. Chri stopher Young; 18. Jose ph Bennard i; 19 . Chad Healy . Ti me: 17 mi n.• 53.061 sec. Dist ance : 10 laps. 25 mil es. Av erage speed: 83.872 mph. Margin of victory: t 9.428 sec. B UELL LIGHTN I NG S ER IES C 'S H IP POIN T STA NDI NGS (A ft er 5 of 6 roun ds) : 1. Mik e Clccottc (1 10 / 2 w ins ): 2 . Sh own Higb ee (9 8/3) : 3 . Ric hie Morri s (69) ; 4 . J effrey J ohnson (5 8); 5. Brian Frank (43) : 6. Brion Bodine (41): 7. Jo son Smith (35) : 8. Mark Reynolds (31 ); 9 . Ja son D'Amic o (26); 10 . (TIE) Chad Heoly/M ic hoe' Fri berg (25): 12. Gregory Avella (19) ; 13. Dean Hag em ann (16 ) ; 14. Jess Roeder ( 13): 15. Scott Korol (10): 16. J ohn Snell (8) : 17. (TIE) Darren Conrad/Chris Decell es (7); 19. Paul James (6): 20 . Russ McAllister (5). Wh en the race started , he was worried abo ut hi s tires and c o u ld n' t k eep pa ce. " It k ind o f messed w ith m e t h e first couple of laps ," h e said . " I w anted to ho o k up with Sh awn and M ik e , but I st ill had mud on my t ires. I was k ind of worried." Once the lead pair got away , Morris had his hands full with a few other r iders , m ostl y H -D/Buell of Boston 's M ark Re y n old s and Sm i th Bros . H arley -Buell's Jason Sm it h , with N ew Ca stle H -D /Bu e l l's Brian B o d ine i n the g r ou p unt il a mista k e d r opped h im fro m t he mix. Upcoming Round: Round 6 - Daytona Beach, Florida, October 22 G r a du a ll y Mo r r is a n d R e y n old s B y H E N N Y R A Y A B RA M S LONG POND, PA, AUG 27 M i k e Ci c c ott o didn't l e t a little thing lik e a broken s ho u l de r blade slow him down. T h r e e weeks after cra ck ing his left scapula at Portlan d Intern at io na l Rac ewa y , where he finish ed second , th e Ha l' s H-D/Buell r i d er was nearly bac k up t o f ull speed, ma k ing the Buell Lightning Se ri es Final his ma in focus of the weekend . T h e effort paid o ff handsomely . Ciccotto not only won the fifth round of the Wrenchead .com National Road Race Series, b u t he also extended his points lead to 12 over N ew Castle B uell ' s Shawn H ig b ee , his only championship challenger , with j ust one race to run . " W e really put o ur head s together at t he beg inn in g of the weekend an d found that we w ere going to try our hard est to win t h is weekend , an d j ust r e a ll y foc us o n t h e B u e ll , " Ciccotto said after th e win . " W e di d n 't ru n the Sp ortb ik e t his w e e k end , w h i ch we u sua ll y do." J etting f ro m t h e fro n t , Ci c co t t o qu i c kl y d r op p e d H i g b e e , wh o w a s hav in g phy sic al p roblems of his own . T h e Wiscons inite had inj u re d his ribs at La gu na Sec a in early July , but was M ike Ciccotto (1) extended h is points le ad over Shawn Higbee (19) with a dominating win in the Buell Lighting race. Clccotto crossed the line almost 20 seconds i n front of seco nd-placed Higbee. most ly rec ove red . Then h e c rashed in t he first turn o f the second leg of th e Unl imited Superbike rac e , run ea rlier in the day , and the rib injury flared up a ne w . " I didn 't think I was that hurt," Hig bee said . " I knew I w as bruised , but when I got o ut there, and th en I started push ing , it st a rted hurting really bad , a sha rp pain in my ribs. So I tried to put the pressure on M i ke [Cic cotto ] early on . I thought maybe if I put pressure on hi m, he 'd make a mistake . But h e rode re ally good . T h o se guys have that bike work ing really good . I just wasn't up to it this weekend ." It added up to Ciccotto w inn ing by 19 .428 seconds, even though h e was feeli ng the p ain later in t he ra c e. " After about ha lfway on the B uell I' m g la d I got a li ttle gap be cause I needed it ," Ciccotto said . " I needed to back o ff. M y shou l der f e l t lik e it's co m ing apart. I don' t th in k it' s back together yet. " What a llowed h im to gap H igbee was so me newfo u n d torque i n the engine. D y n oj et ' s Mi k e Belch er h as the fi nal say o n wh o as c ends the pod ium s at th e Wr ench ead.c om Nati on al Road Rac e Series. As Dynoj et 's Director of Fuel Inj ect ion Equipment Sales and Develop ment. Belch er runs the Dynoj et dynamo meters at the Form ula USA series. What he says goes, and a lot of riders have been caught out when the dyno revealed num bers that were outs ide the legal limits. Talking to Belch er you quick ly leam that he makes every effort to make certain that the tests are run fairly and without discrim inat ion. The dyno doesn't lie, regardless of what those who get caught out choose to believe. In order to insure consistency, Belcher said that the two trackside dyno s are delegated for use by specific classes, and the dyno oper ators remai n with those mac hin es. The Buells and Unlimited Superbikes use one dyno and the A prilias and Sportbi kes use the other. Time of day and weather, two inter-related matters, are among the most conte ntious issues. Both have been factor ed into the Dynojet tests. The bigger issue is je tti ng . "If the jetting's lean in the moming, it won't ma ke good power , so most peop le think if it gets hotte r out the bike will make less power ," Belcher said. "But if it' s too lean in the moming when it 's cold, then in the afternoon , when it gets hot , now the jetting is more perfect, where in the mom ing it 's too lean. So it will make more power even though the air is hotter. So the guy's like 'th is morning it dyno'ed at this.' Well it could . and it cou ld make more later on only because if the weather changes tha t affects the changes." As for atmospheric changes, Belcher said: "We use the SAE standard for weather correctio ns so it monitors all the barometric pressures and the temperatures and keeps track of it. So it corrects it down to a standard, say at sea level. But it still doesn't fix the jetting. If the jetting's wrong in one part of the day the dyno corrects to what the actual horsepower woul d be at sea level. But that doesn't change that the bike may make more power later in the day because the jetting is better for that condition of air. Som e guys get caught out like that because they play it really close and then the weather shifts and now they're way over. We've had a few people accid entally grab the wrong j ug of fuel and fill the bik e up before the race and before th ey were 103. now they're 106.1, because the fuel is enough to cha nge the situation. Most of the teams are pretty cognizant of the weather, they keep track of all that. But some of the guys that only do this , like club guys that com e in, they don't always kno w what the whole deal's about, so they get caught out that way." The rid ers o n the pod ium at Poc on o Int erna ti onal Raceway were the ones who deserved to be there. After a large num ber of disqualificatio ns at the previous round of the Wrenchead.com Nati onal Road Race Series at Portland Intema tional Raceway , PACE officials changed the post- race protocol. Instead of waiting until after the podium celebration, the top five finishers were all weigh ed and dyno'ed before the rostrum ceremony at Pocono. PACE's Director of Road Racing Bill Syfan said that the riders who were elev ated to th e top th ree after the me asurements were taken were, "sort of got gypped out of a podium ceremo ny, So we're going to go do dyno and scales first, then do the podi um . It's a com prom ise because it takes away from the excitement. but we want to have the right guys there." At Portland , the second- , third- and fourth-place finis hers in the Sport bike race were disqualified . No doubt that having CBS Sports televising the race was a factor in making sure that there was no post -pod ium embar rassment. CBS cameras covered every aspect of the inspection process, so if there were any changes, the viewers would know why. c u e I e n e _ S • SEPTEMBER 6 , 2000 2 5

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