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David Emde (4) leads eventual winner Earl Roloff (1) in the USA action from Willow Sp rings International Raceway. . - James Domay finished third on his Suzuki GSXR 11 00; it was Domay's second third place finish in as many Formula USA rounds. WMSA Toyofa/Budweiser/Coca-Cola Formula USA Series: Round 2 Roloff pulls off surprise at Willow By Anne and Tom Van Beveren ROSAMOND, CA, MAY 3 - - Defending champion Earl Roloff scored a surprise victory in the second round of the Formula' USA Grand Prix Series at Willow Springs International Raceway. After suffering a reso unding \ series at the hands of Scott defeat in ro u nd one of the Gray, wh o set a new Formu la Last year's runner-up Jim Vreeke won the battle for fourth place over Curtis Adams. but f in ished behind Ro loff. Emde and Domay. USA lap record on hi s ultra-trick Yoshimura Suzuki GSXRllOO durin g first round practi ce, Roloff had almost resigned h im self toa string of second-place fini shes behind th e one-of-a-kind Suzuki. Bu t whe n Gray's untouchable rock etsh ip sudden ly quit halfway around th e 2.5-mile tra ck during th e war m- up sess to n j u s t m oments befo re th e start of Sunday's race, Roloff go t a nothe r shot a t keep ing h is Formula USA title. Gray, who cruised in for an easy victor y in th e first round of the runw ha t-yo u-w a nt , no -h olds-barred series, blew a fuse corning o u t of turn four a nd was still coas u ng into th e pits as th e sta rt ing flag dropped. "That 's racing - it' s the pits," said a disappointed Gray, wh o had to sit a nd watch as his rivals clocked up points in th e prestigious six-event series. " We' re looking at the long term aspects of the series and th is is reaIl y putting a damper on it. I have to win th e next four races to take th e championship. That doesn 't leave an y room for mistakes, but I think I can do it." With Grayout of contention, the battle for the early lead was a neck and-neck tussle .between Ro loff and David Emde. Emde, riding the Curtis Jordan-tuned Yamaha, was out in front for the first half of la p one but was overcome by the defending ch a m p io n on the back straight. Emde kept the power on and raced out of the first lap less than a bike leng th behind Roloff, with Pa ul Vogel pushing hard in third. In a last minute change that took the competition by surprise, Ro loff had elected to defend his ti tle on the trusty Kawasaki Ninja nicknamed "The Terminator" that carried him to victory in last year 's Formula USA series . After officiaIly retiring The Terminator after round one of -this year 's series, Ro loff put in his round two practice laps on a new Yamaha FZR IOOO, but ha d a cha nge of.heart just minutes before the start of the race. "I prepped the Yamaha for the race and then went back to myoId bike a t the last m in ute. I only ha d abou t 10 laps on the Yamaha and I didn't feel good on it," Roloff ex p lained. "The Yamaha is too new right now, but we're going to try to run it next time. We'I1 keep The T ermina tor here as a backup like we'd planned to this time." The fam iliar Kawasaki turned out to be a good cho ice and o nce he hit th e front of th e pa ck, Roloff never looked back. The reigning champ settled in for a smooth and consisten t ride that slowly extended his lead to an almost co mfor table four seconds by th e halfway point in th e 25-mile event. " David (Ernde) wa s up front for a wh ile, but once I sn uc k by him and started to puIl awa y, I just rode conserva tively," Roloff said. " T here was no sen se in riding a ny faster than I had to. The tra ck was slippery, so I just decided to be reaIl y careful. " Tucked in behind Roloff, Emde continued to hold onto second despite a stro ng challenge from Chris Steward, who had pushed his Suzuki through into third overall by the end of the second lap . Steward was right on Ernde's tai l on lap three, but his bid for second p lace bit the dust in la p four when he went down hard co m ing out of turn five, and took fourth taking Paul Vogel with him. " It 's pretty wierd when you 're -ahead and you hear this big crunch and then a whole lot of scraping coming from behind you," sa id Emde. "I was just hoping he (Steward) didn't take my back wheel out " With Steward and Vogel out of the line-up, third overall went to James Domay, who was coming on strong after a sluggish start. " O ff the start the bike fell on its face," said Domay, who piloted a Suzuki GSXR750. " It wouldn't come on hard right away, so that put me back a bit. I'm under horsepowered a nd don't have the right tires so I have to work on my drives to keep the pace up, but with all the goo fro m the cars, I cou ldn't use my regular lines to get good drives coming out of the corners. The track was a bit snotty a nd th e tires were breaking loose on the top of the other rubber - mostl y in (turns) six a nd four. It felt really, rea lly bad." As the race hit the halfway po int." at the end of lap five, Ro loff was out in front by four seconds, followed by Emde a nd Doma y, with Yamaha pilo ts Curtis Ada ms and J im Vreeke locked in a head-to-head battle for fifth overall.