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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127807
ROAD RACE
Sunoco Race Fuels Formula USA Series.
Final Round: Daytona International Speedway
Ben Bostrom (B). leads Matt Walt (1), Eric
Bostrom (21) and eventual winner Dave
EstOK In the Harley-Davidson TwinSports
class at Daytona.
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age speed of 103.642 mph. Second was
inherited by David Lillard.
,
"There's nothing wrong with second
place behind Mike Ciccotto," Lillard
said. "If you've watched him all weekend, he's hauled butt."
Ciccotto did it on the Luke's
Honda/KWS machine, but on his borrowed bike he was suddenly vincible.
While he struggled to catch up, the competition out front in the Amateur Middleweight Supersport was intense.
Glen Goldman took over first early,
with Keith Wilson going with him and
Ciccotto moving into third on the second lap.
As the top two sped away, Ciccotto
got hauled in front behind and was
passed on the fourth lap by Kenny Allen
on the Peter Allen Electric Honda 600.
Goldman used the brakes to get Wilson in one on the final lap, Wilson closing up in the chicane, then going low on
the banking and using a slingshot pass
for the win.
"1 tell you, that was a little too close,"
Wilson said. "1 came together with him
on the straightaway on the next-ta-Iast
lap and almost wrecked him. He came
up in his draft pretty quick (on the final
lap) and 1 just dove down and tried to
get away from him."
Wood got away from the 49-rider
Expert Middleweight Supersport field
early on, clearing out with Mooney as
Luke gave chase.
Halfway in, the margin was better
than two seconds, not much, but enough
to keep anyone from catching Wood's
draft. He crossed the line 2.541 seconds
in front, winning the five-lap race in 10
minutes 11.540 seconds at an average
speed of 104.785 mph.
Second was decided on the fourth lap
when Luke went by Mooney and tried
to get away, only to get run down by
Mooney before holding on to win by
about a wheel. Mid Cities Motorsports'
Glenn Curtiss was fourth in front of
Marietta Motorsports' Drew Lincoln.
Lincoln was the first Honda after four
Kawasakis.
Grigg led the Expert Heavyweight
Superbike race for the first two laps,
Wood second and Eric Moe moving into
third as the lead trio split on the third
lap. Wood took over the lead on the
backstraight and then Grigg low-sided
going into the chicane trying to re-pass
him. That left it to Moe to get after
Wood, after watching Grigg crash, and
he was up on him going into the first
tum to start the final lap.
Wood made sure he never got any
farther. Even though he was in the perfect spot for the last lap draft pass, Moe
. couldn't make the best of it after Wood
used all of the banking to take the win.
The pace was hot, Wood winning the
five lap race in nine minutes, 38.403 seconds at an average speed of 110.788
mph. The margin of victory was 0.201
seconds.
Third was a three-rider shootout,
with number-one plate holder King
holding off Cordero and Real, all three
South Floridians.
Wood's toughest fight was in the
Expert Middleweight Superbike where
he had to deal with Luke and Mooney
again. Unlike the earlier r~ce, this one
was a battle all the way.
Wood didn't get the best of starts,
un;lble to use his second-row position to
jet into the lead, instead hitting the
banking on the first lap in fifth place. He
picked off another pair of riders and
was in third entering turn one on the
second of fi ve laps. By the time he got to
the first horseshoe he was in second,
n~arly crashing and losing a number of
spots.
Again, he would go through the
field, up into second in the chicane later
that lap and trailing Mooney until they
hit the banking on the third lap when he
drafted by for the lead. Mooney struck
back, but Wood used his brakes to take
it back in the chicane and Luke was also
by Mooney soon after, blitzing him on
the East Banking and getting Wood
soon after.
Late on the fourth lap, the top two
pulled away to settle their feud. After
going back and forth, it came down to
the final lap, with Luke blowing by on
the West Banking, Wood reeling him in,
the pair side by side with Luke getting it
by the width of a tire after going low on
the banking.
"1 think you just saw a preview of
tomorrow's EBC Brakes Sport Bike
race," Wood said. "We've got about 10
of us that are going that fast. That was
just a mad drafting war."
Wood won his third race after having
run third on his Kawasaki ZX7R in the
Unlimited GP. The first attempt at a
start was red-flagged, a gift to Dutchman's Kling. He'd started on the 10th
row, but was up to fourth when the red
flag was thrown on the third lap and
Kling would begin the restart from the
front row.
Making good use of his good fortune,
Kling was immediately out front, with
Hough by in one and two, Kling by on
the West Banking, Hough in front at the
stripe. The race was three laps this time
and Hough was in front into the chicane
on the final lap. Kling went low to take
the lead, Hough came back even lower
and took the win by a scant 0.020 seconds, less than half a bike-length.
Woods was a close third, then Moe getting the better of Ken Krebs for fourth.
Because the race was red-flagged,
there was no accurate time of race or
average speed.
Hough's first win had come in Friday's Expert Solo GTO, a race in which
he took the lead on the second lap and
held the spot pretty much the entire
race. On the 11 th of 15 laps, Steve Grigg
was in front with Custom Glass Company's Shane Prieto a trailing third.
Hough retook the lead in the first
horseshoe on the 12th lap, the pair
swapping again before the lap was out
with Prieto biding his time. Three wide
on the banking the next lap, Hough held
onto the lead, but Grigg was in front
going into tum one on the 14th lap, the
same lap that Prieto's race ended. He
had a frightening rear tire blowout on
the front straight, the rear wheellocl

