Wright Wins Round Two Diablo Paintball Can-Am 125GP Challenge
!
19 June 2002 Ann Arbor, MI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wright Makes It Two In A Row
Round Two of the Diablo Paintball Can-Am 125GP Challenge made it's way to
the technical 2.0 mile Grattan raceway this past weekend. Thirty three
bikes took the green flag in a race that saw outstanding battles
throughout the field.
Qualifying for the Durmach Pole Position was delayed until Sunday morning
due to scheduling issues on Saturday. Local aces Jeff Chen and Mark
Gonyou were expected to be the ones battling out for the pole, but it was
round one winner Dave Wright who scored the top spot lapping the course
in 1:24.172. Corey Sherman was second on the grid with a 1:24.375 and
Stuart Nodell third with a 1:24.897. Jeff Chen was the sole American on
the front row at 1:24:915.
Row two was made up of Gonyou, Jim Struke, Ken Morrison and Darren
Womack.
Corey Sherman grabbed the holeshot at the green flag and led the field
through turn one, but ran wide in turn two and handed the lead to Mark
Gonyou. Gonyou would hold the lead for only three turns when Jeff Chen
took the lead away going over "The Jump" and into turn five. Chen held
the lead for a lap, but then tucked the front in eight, know as "The
Bowl". Chen remounted and finished the race as the last rider on the lead
lap.
With Chen out of the way it was a three way battle between Gonyou, round
one winner Dave Wright and Stuart Nodell. Gonyou lead the trio down the
3000 foot front straight. Gonyou was using his custom designed aero
bodywork to maximum advantage throughout the race as he had four to seven
miles an hour on the field down the straight. Wright though, would try to
stay in Gonyou's draft and then banzai pass into turn one, appearing not
using his brakes at all. Wright found a race strategy where he could slow
Gouyou enough mid corner so that he could not exploit his top end
advantage. Gonyou did challenge Wright though and was able to pass on the
long front straight, but would let Wright go back by to save his tires for
the end of the race.
Stuart Nodell was sitting in third all this time, watching the lead two
battle it out and waiting for his opportunity to take the lead. Nodell
had the steam to stay with the group, but try as he might, could not get
around the lead pair.
As they took the white flag, Gonyou was glued to Wright's rear wheel.
Wright made a mistake in the blind, downhill, off camber turn three, and
Gonyou was able to pull even. Wright though had the better line though
the turn and held off Gonyou's advances. Gonyou continued stalking Wright
throughout the lap waiting for him to make a mistake. As they went
through the sweeper, towards the turn nine bus stop the lead trio came
into traffic.
Wright made the banzai braking maneuver under traffic into the bus stop,
while Gonyou tried to go around the outside. Nodell, still sitting in
the cat birds seat all this time saw his chance to pounce and went under
Gonyou as well! With Gonyou and Nodell battling it out, Wright was able
to just pull enough of a gap through the up hill esses and onto the front
straight to take the checkers by three bike lengths. Gonyou got the
better drive out of the final corner and put the draft and pass on Nodell
to take second.
A solid forth place run was put in by Dark Arts Racing's Ken Morrison.
Morrison, a first year expert, has picked up his pace tremendously in the
past year. Morrison was lapping in the 1:26 range, three seconds faster
at the track than last year.
"That was a fantastic race", said Wright on the podium, "I had so much fun
out there. The last time I was here was a few years ago on a vintage
bike, and it's so much more enjoyable on a 125, this is a great track.
Mark gave me all I could handle, I feel very lucky to win today."
With his win, Wright takes a solid lead in the championship. With his two
wins, and two poles, Wright had 120 points, Stuart Nodell is second with
83. Corey Sherman is third in points with 76, Mark Gonyou fourth with 74
and Jim Struke is fifth with 56.
Round three of the series will be July 19-21 at the historic Mosport
Raceway, in conjunction with the Canadian Superbike/F-USA round.
The Diablo Paintball Can-Am 125GP Challenge is sponsored by:
Diablo Paintball, Durmach Industries, Kimpex, Supershow Events, GP Star,
The Bear Chair Company, Inside Motorcycles, Hjelm Motorsports and
SuperMotoItalia.
2002 Diablo Paintball Can-Am Challenge
$
Final Results Round #2
Qual Final
1 241 Dave Wright 10 50
2 119 Mark Gonyou 42
3 20 Stuart Nodell 4 37
4 512 Ken Morrison 32
5 114 Corey Sherman 6 29
6 191 Jim Struke 27
7 85 Darren Womack 25
8 5 Mitch Baghdoian 23
9 99 John Trautmann 21
10 241 Logan Myers 19
11 17 Matthew Dennie 17
12 131 Rob Rawlins 15
13 13 Larry Cohee 13
14 63 John Dempsey 11
15 60 Mark White 9
16 256 Larry DeVore 7
17 69 Dawn VanKampen 5
18 3 Angela Hiba 3
19 771 Andrew Hillier 2
20 510 Doug Root 1
21 46 Jeff Chen
22 79 Jamie Worthington
23 22 Paul Nelson
24 130 Eric Trytko
25 431 Glenn Thomson
26 59 Don Murfin
27 52 Dave Thompson DNF
28 4 Scott Trautmann DNF
29 51 Doug Brown DNF
30 64 Nick Cummings DNF
31 744 Taylor Knapp DNF
32 325 Hahnke DNF
33 104 Evans-Freeman DNF
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Eric A. Trytko | | |
President | Press Officer | COMPoST #130 |
Raoul Duke Media LLC | Can-Am125GP Challenge | Can-Am125gp#131 |
www.RumbleStrip.net | www.can-am125gp.com | USGPRU#131 |
www.SuperMotoItalia.com | | |
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him...
The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All
progress depends on the unreasonable man."
-George Bernard Shaw
