Or, a press release illustrating how to make finishing second sound really good:

Corbin Grand Prix Continues Championship roll

Corbin Grand Prix’s Jimmy Filice rode his Yamaha TZ250 to second place in the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix race held Sunday at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The race set an all-time record for spectator attendance at a motorcycle race in North America with close to 100,000 spectators.

The 250cc teams were slated to be up against it from the start as available practice would be limited to half of what the teams are used to, the reduction coming as a result of the busy schedule of the combined AMA and World Superbike weekend. The team worked hard to find the right settings for the race, and were still doing so for the qualifying heat race. The first heat was stacked with probably the best four 250cc riders in the country, Jimmy Filice, Rich Oliver, Chuck Sorensen and Roland Sands, who, between them, have won nine AMA 250cc GP titles over the past 10 years. In fact, the only man to win a U.S. 250cc GP title in the last 10 years who was not among these four is reigning World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards, who won the U.S. 250cc GP title in 1992.

The pace in the heat race was fast and furious, with the riders dipping into the low 1:30s. Jim finished fourth with a bike that was not yet right.

The race proved to be what everyone anticipated, with the magnificent four breaking away from the start to square off for a shootout. Sands took the early lead but was overtaken by Oliver in turn two on the second lap, with Sorensen and Jimmy in tow. Sands may have pushed too hard to close the gap in turn three, as he was highsided from his machine in dramatic fashion. Sorensen’s concentration may have been broken as he crashed in a virtual carbon-copy crash in the following corner. This left Oliver with a two-second gap, which Jim immediately set about closing. As Jim upped the pace, though, he found the front end suspension setting would not allow him to push harder and he was forced to settle for second place, rather than crash overriding the front end.

With his wise second place, Filice retains his lead in the championship standings, holding a 26-point lead over Rich Oliver with 188 to Oliver’s 162, with six rounds complete and five to go.

The team now heads for back-to-back race weekends at Mid-Ohio and Brainerd in two and three weeks time.

Corbin Grand Prix’s Success is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, who include Corbin, Yamaha, Red Line Oil, Dunlop, Motion Pro, Swedetech Racing Engines, Scuderia West, Fox Racing Shox, Supertech, Tiger Angel, Arai, Alpinestars, Z Gallerie, Hap Jones, Mike Vail Enterprises, Nutec, DID Chain, Aim Sports, and Roadracing World.

For More Information about Corbin Grand Prix, contact James Siddall on (415)401-6250