Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127719
out of the chicane and even closer at the fl ~ . Ya te s t rie d the h ig h line a n d McDaniel was righ t there off of the final tum, bu t it was Roberts at the flag by a wheel w idth, officially .020-of-a-second over Yates wi th McDani el in his shadow in third, jus t ahe ad of Church. Norway's Thorv ald Sae by was fifth about 20 seconds back. "I h ad m y h a n ds full with Gen e Church. Then Aaron Yates came up an d we had a good race," Rober ts sa id . "Going d own the ba ck straight I was leading: ' Yates sai d . "I backed off a bit and let Danny (Roberts) go by. [ figured ma ybe I could draft by him at the finis h. [ man aged to suck up on him, [ pulled out, but I d id n't ha ve enough to get on . by him ." O the r Ex per t w in ne rs incl u ded Mitchell' s Mod est o H-D's.Ma tt Wait in the crash-p lagued Ex pert U .S. Twi nSports nice, Erio n Ra cin g ' s La rry Pegram in the Unlimited GP, Nick lenatsch on th e Venator Racin g Britten in th e Expert Heavyweig h t Su pertwins, a nd Zlock Racing's Keith Pinkstaff i.n the Expert Heavyw eigh t Superb ike. Tho ugh there were few mu ltip le winners, the CCS races had a handful of ride rs w h o ra ce d each o t h er ha rd a nd a lw ays fini she d near th e fron t. To ps a mong th em was Lockhart-Phillips ' Jer ry Lawson, the Tennessean w in ning th re e r a ce s, th ou gh all were h ard fought. H is fi rst s uccess ca me in Friday'S Amateur Solo GTO w ith th e Yam aha FZR750-m ounted Lawson retaking the lead when Donald Pepin Jr. crashed at th e fro nt ju st past th e halfw ay point. Lawso n d re w out a comfortable lead , th en wa s slowed by a sli pp in g clutch near the end, win ni ng by .760-of-a-second . Rich ar d Cr o ly Jr . was second on the Flyin' Lion Racing Suzuki GSXR750 w ith ~M H G ro u p ' s Ka w a s a k i Z X7mounted Michael Sidwell thi rd . Lawson faced Pepi n Jr. and Sidwell a gain in th e Am ate u r H e a vyweight Superspor t, the tr io brea kin g away very early to m ak e th e ra ce th eir own . All th ree took turns leading with the ra ce coming down to the last lap as Lawson m ad e ju d icio us u s e o f t ra ffic in th e in fie ld to le ad on to th e banking a n d hold on across the line. The margin was .580-of-a-second at the end of the race, which Lawson averaged 100.018 mph in winning. Con's Kawa saki-backed Pepin J r . was s e co n d with Sidwell a close third . The battle began for the final time in the Am at eur Hea vywe ight Su perbi ke . Law son was the lea der for the firs t six laps befor e Sid well took over, only to slow on the fina l lap and drop to 29th . Lawson was back in' front , but still had to fe nd off the a dva nces of Pe pin Jr. which he di d, though n a rro w ly . The ma rgin at the flag was .340-of-a-second at the end of the race in which Lawson ave rage d 99.761 mph. A s econd grou p d o minated Mid dlewei ght CCS ra cing, le d by Te am 20/20 Racin g's Dav id Rose. The Belair, Maryl and , re sid ent to ok his H on d a CBR600 to tw o wins and a seco nd, but crash ed h a rd in h is final a p pearance while going for the lead . Rose began his run at the front with a seco nd in the 14-lap Am ateur Solo GTU, a Frid ay afternoon race w on by Loc khart Ph illips USA' s Darren H artung, anoth e r of th e d om inant rid ers . Rose had led on the penultimate lap, bu t his Honda CBR600 wasn' t the equal of Hartung's similar bike an d Hartung used a high line on the run to the flag to jet to the w in by .430-of-a-second . Rose was second with Lake Co unty Cycle's Gr a- (Abo ve) Anthony Fania Jr. (6) leads David Estok (123 ) and TImothy Bem isderfer (53) in Expert Solo GTU. (Left) Matt Wait (95) held off Sc ott zampach (204) to win the U.S. Tw in Sports final. ham Kimb le, one more of the consistent front-runners, about 2.5 seconds back in third. Of Rose's two victories on Satu rday, the first, in the Ama teur Midd leweight GP, was the more im pressive. Rose got the hol esh ot, bu t nearly cam e undone when he ran wide out of the dogleg and dirt-tracked alongside the sho rt ch u te up to th e West End Horseshoe. After that he settled in to a three-way struggle with Heyser Cycle's Jose f Bre nner and Margate Motorcycle World 's Jim Haraldson, all three Honda CBR600-mounted . Both Rose and Bren ner led with Haraldson never far behind . Whe n the flag fell at.the end of the seven-lap, 25-mile race, it was Rose pulling away after takin g th e lea d on th e p enultima te lap . Haraldson took over second on the final . . lap with Brenner third. Tw o rac es lat er and Rose wa s back on track in the Amateur Middleweight Supersport, this time facing K imble and Hartung, and besting them, thou gh just b arely . The trio left the 46-rider pack behind very early in the seven- lap race a n d disput ed the lea d a m ong th em selves with Kim ble lea di ng firs t, then Rose. Hartung stayed close for half of the race befo re dropping off and settling for third. Rose and Kimbl e swapped the lead back and forth with Rose in fro nt for good when Kim ble bobbled in the infield on the fina l lap to give Rose the edge he needed to get away. When it came time to catch a d raft to the flag, Kimb le was just short with Rose crossing the line 1.180 seconds in fron t. Rose's fortu ne ran out on the first lap of the Amateur Mid dleweig h t Superbike. W hile movi n g toward th e lead from fou rth place on the first lap, Rose crashed enteri ng the Wes t End Ho rse shoe - ending his day. Kimble finis hed the first lap in the lead wi th Darren Hartung an d Jose f Brenner givi ng chase. H artun g w o u ld ta ke the lead o n the fourth lap after catch ing Kimble in the ch icane . Brenn er also led the race, the tr io changing places several times a lap, setting up.a last-lap run to the flag. They crossed the line three abreast wit h Kimble winning by a scant .020-of-a-second over H artung with Brenner a clo sing third. Very earl y in th e w eeke nd, Jerry Law son sho wed that he'd be a force to be reckon ed w ith . Second on the first lap of the Am ateur Solo GTU, Lawson moved to the fro nt of a four-ri der breakaway on the second la p, then tried to leave th e o the rs behind. They were n 't bu ying it, and Lawson was back in the thick of it on the tliird lap and back in s e co n d o n the fourth when Donald Pepin Jr. took the lead . As a pair, they left th ird- p laced Richard Croly Jr. and fou rth- placed Michael Sidwell behind as the top four we re comfortably in fron t of the res t of the pack. On the eighth lap, Lawson was back at the point, but only for a lap asSidwell forged ahea d on th e ninth lap only to . cras h on the exit of turn one in full view of Lawson. "Donald (Pepin) see me d to go into a tu rn too hot trying to ge t the lead and ended up in the grass:' Lawson said . The lead was no w Lawson's and he was cle arly the be st, stre tch ing ou t to better th an a 10-second lead with tw o laps to go, only to see it almost all evapo rate a s th e rac e ran ou t. Th e gap to Cro ly Jr. an d Sidwell was down to about six secon ds wi th a lap to go, bu t Lawson held on for the win . Croly Jr. and Sid-