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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127406
Texan Colin Edwards was impressive. winning five races during the AMA/CCS Race of Champions at Daytona. Robert Meister won three class titles an d finished second in two others. Texan Edwards wins record five crowns By Henny R ay Abrams ocr. 18-20 olin Edwards won hi s first of eight races at the AMAlCCS Rac e of Champions on th e high banks of Dayt ona impressively. Starting from the 10th row he survived a few close call s and ' was quickly to the front, eventually winning the Amateur Solo GTO race by an even 40 seconds. It was an impressive start, but the 17year-old from Conroe, T exas, wa s unfazed. " I've got another race today and then six more tomorrow, " the Conroe High School senio r said. " We came here to win, win a ll eig h t if we can . 1 hope I can; I'v e got to be a ble to j us tify taking off from school." DAYTONABEACH, FL, C 20 Despite punishing grid posit ions assigned because he dosen 't regularl y co m p e te in AMA /CCS ra ces Edwards won four more tim es. hi s total of five a new AMAlCCS record. In the Amateur Heavyweight Superbike race, he started from the l l th row and went on to win th e seven -lap , 25mil e race ,by 26.010 seconds aboard a Honda RC30. In the Amateur Midd leweight GP he started from the eigh th row aboard a TZ250 Yam ah a and beat a CBR600 F-2 Honda that started on the front row by 1.840 seconds. And in the Amateur Heavyweigh t Supersport, he took his H onda CBRGOO F2 from a 10th row start, to beat a Suzuki GSX R 750 that sta rted on the front row . Desp ite his impressive week end, Edwards was proba bly the most un impressed witness to his achievements . " It 's hard for me to get exci ted. I came here to win all eig ht and had som e had gri d positio ns. In two that 1did n 't win I was in th e seco nd wave," of a two-wave sta rt , he said. Edwards teamed with Ch ris D'Alu sio to finis h th ird in the EBC End uran ce Challenge GTO class and it looks lik e they'll be team mates agai n nex t year. The pair will likely campaign Dave Harold-machinery with backin g by Oil Tech no logy Services, o ne of Edwa rds' current sponso rs. Edwards pla ns to ri de all of the AMA Nationals and the WERA Nation als that don 't conflict . Though Edwards was the biggest winner on the brilliantly sun-fille d RoC weekend, there were a number of o ther notable performan ces am ong th e 25, seven-la p sprint races. "Dr. Bob" Meister, the racing dentist from New Berlin, Wiscconsin, took three class titl es and fin ished seco nd in two o thers aboard a pair of Two Brothers Hondas backed by Honda Man , Shoei, Tsubaki, and Power Bar. H is first win of the weekend cam e o n Friday when he beat James Lesli e to the line by 1.740 seconds in th e Expert Solo GTU class. Both were Honda GOO-mounted. On Saturday, he took part in th e . closest finish of th e weekend, nipping GiaCaMoto's Jimmy Adamo at th e line by .010 seconds in the Expert H eavyweight Supertwin s. Adamo a ppea red to be toying with Meister, able to use the power advantage of the Ducati 851 Superbike to pull away from Meister's Honda Hawk 750 at any tim e, but the Ducati suffered a fuel starvation problem on the last lap and the win went to Meister. His final wi n ca me on Sunday morning and it proved to be the easiest. Back on the Honda 600, he took the Expert Middleweight Superbi ke crown by beating Yamaha FZR600 mo unted Mark Schellinger by 11.990 seconds. Meister ca me clo se to winning th e Expert Lightweight Supertwins, crossing the stripe .650 seconds behind James McNulty. His' o ther runner-up pl acing cam e in ' the Expert Middleweight GP where he ch ased th e Yamaha TZ250 of Jimmy Mosley to th e finish . coming up 13.670 seconds sho rt. " Wi n ni ng three National champ ionships, actually four, was a dream wh en I go t here," th e personable Meister said. " Now three are a reality. Wh at I'v e learned th is weekend is tha t the race isn 't over until you're on the cool-off lap.". Mosley al so won the Expert Lightweight GP, the Mississippian aga in aboard the Line Boring Inc, Shoei, Mosley Mach in e-sponsored Yamaha 12 An oth er o f the multiple class winners was 25-year-old Floridian Laney Cobb. The Orl ando resident topped th e Amateur Middleweight Supersport, Amateur Middleweight Superbike, and Amateur Solo GTU a boa rd . a T . B. R . Ra cin g, Bad Boy Ra cing-supported Honda CBR600 F2. Cobb came close in the Ama teur Midd lew eig ht GP, despite having crashed o n th e warm -up la p . H e finished second to Colin Edwards. " I didn 't really think I had a chance to win this many titl es when we first got here," Cobb, wh o trains by surfing every day , said. " No w, hey, I'm really happy." Todd Henning and Max Autry al so took a pair of wins each, Henning riding an old Yamah a 350 to wins in th e Ex pert Sportsm an a nd Expert Lightweight Su perbike classes and Autry taking hi s Yamah a 400 to win s in the Amateur Li ghtweight Su persport a nd Am at eu r Li ghtweight Su perb ike classes. Though Adamo finished second to Meis ter, he cam e back to win th e Expe rt Heavyweight Su perbike, and take another second in the Expert Unli mi ted G P wh en he was slowed wi th tire trouble after leading until half way th rough the fin al lap . Don ald J acks took the wi n o n the American Eagle Racin g, River City H onda / Su zu ki, Del Amo S u zu ki -backed Suzuki GSXRlIOO The race was the . fastest of the weekend, J acks averagi ng 109.336 mph in com pleting th e race in 13:40.520 rnin s. In the Expert Solo GTO, Rick Kirk was th e winner, topping Ja cks by 15.310 second s. With classes drawing over 50 ent ries, and limited modifications allowed in many of the clas ses, traffi c would be a big probl em and passing a t a premium. That didn't deter Edwards. In the Amateur Heavyweight Superbik e. he came quickly from th e 11th ro w, moving into the top five by the end of th e first lap then drafting his way into second on th e west banking. By th e tim e the pack headed off the east banking, he was in the lead and the lead began to grow. Damian Weber was a safe seco nd with Jamie Bowman. a 16-year-old from Del ray Beach, Florida, third. " I want to thank Chris D'Alusio and Dave Harold for setting the bike up," Edwards said. D'Alusio had tested the RC30 in endurance practice and had made significant modifications to the suspension, front and rear. " I'd also like to thank OTS for giving me the bike. " Once I got out front, I just concentrated on running a stead y pace. I feel good," he continued. " I hope the rest of my races today go as good. " . The Amateur Mi dd leweight GP certainly did. From the eighth row, he was into second by the second la p , taking the lo w lin e on th e start-finish banking to pass Laney Cobb for the lead. Lapping in the high 2:05 range, he and Cobb pulled away from the pack and. he was able to pull out 1.840 seconds at th e end. Eri c Ochs of Old Bridge, New Jersey, was third on th e Action Yamaha FZR600.