Fillmore’s Race, Fillmore’s Title

Henny Ray Abrams | September 4, 2011

MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 4 –

Bruce Rossmeyers Daytona Racing’s Chris Fillmore won the Vance & Hines XR1200 Championship with his fifth win of the season on a sunny day at New Jersey Motorsports Park.Fillmore had come to New Jersey with a 12 point lead on Parts Unlimited/Vance & Hines Steve Rapp, which he increased to 13 by taking the pole position. If Rapp won the race, Fillmore would win the title by finishing fourth or better. It wouldn’t come to that.Rapp started at the back of the grid because of a machine issue. His XR1200 wasn’t running well and the team had to replace the fuel pump for the warm-up lap. Knowing his machine wasn’t competitive, he moved to the back rather than impact the championship.

 That more or less handed Fillmore a free pass. Still, Fillmore raced hard for the win under pressure from Michael Beck (Vance & Hines/J&P Cycles), who pushed him to the finish.The margin of victory was .134 sec.In addition to his five wins, Fillmore had five poles two seconds and a third.Tyler OHara was an early second and challenging Fillmore when he ran off the track at the apex of turn eight. OHara made it all the way to the guardrail before getting the bike stopped and turned around. He was able to rejoin the race in third, but too far back to be a factor.And in fact he would be passed by Kyle Wyman (Richie Morris Racing/Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing) on the final lap to lose the last podium spot.Latus Motors Racing’s Chase McFarland was fifth with Rapp sixth.Fillmore’s final points tally was 231 to 202 for Rapp.Vance & Hines XR1200 Results:1. Chris Fillmore

2. Michael Beck

3. Kyle Wyman

4. Tyler OHara

5. Chase McFarland

6. Steve Rapp

7. Shane Narbonne

8. Gerry Signorelli

9. Mike Morgan

10. Michael Corbino

 

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.