Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE S NOCOR EFUELS U AC FORMULA U SER . SA IES By Aaron Mintz Photos by Lee Rigozzi LONG POND, PA, AUG.31 a Be ll e Racing d ebuted it s new Muzzy Rap tor and Dav e Sadows- : ki "Rap ped " u p both legs of th e Formula USA race on his new Kawasaki-bas ed rac er. H owe ver, Sad o wski' s victories did not come with ease, as he accommoda ted a red flag at the start of each leg. Tea mmate to Sadowski is the youthful and talent ed Jason Frase r, who took second place in th e first leg after Emgo Valvoline Suzuki rider Tray Batey . low-sided in turn five and was pitched Rouna 6: Pocono International Raceway Formula USA raci ng get s under way at Poc ono International Racew ay. Jason Fraser (28), Fritz Kling (2). Tray Batey (1 ) and D~ve Sadows ki (25) lead the way. L I:'... 0\ 0\ ,..... 1:'...' ,..... ... OJ ..0 E OJ .... 0... OJ (j) 28 into the g rass . Batey's inciden t took him ou t of the race; he wat ched the action as he picked the dirt out from the Suzuki's ra m-air ducts. Behind Fraser was Grant Lopez, who is al so an Emgo Valvoline Suz uki ride r. Lope z went on to take two th ir d-place fini sh es fo r the day in a n impressive d isp lay of consiste nt rid ing. The first red flag came at the start of lap two when Lee Shierts of Lee Perfo rm ance in Cha r lo tte , Nor th Carolina, high-sided his Suz uki an d slammed into the concre te wa ll exiting the ban kin g o nto the back s traightaway . How ever , Shierts was no t injured. and resta rted the race with his backu p bike. Dave Sadowski went o ut in the seco n d leg a nd sw e p t u nder tea mma te Fraser to take the lead in the first lap but wa s qu ic kly halted as th e second red flag of th e day stopped the ra ci n g . Amb ulan ce cr ews s cr am ble d to th e entrance of the fr on t s traight. where Dutchman Racing's Fritz Kling lay after he hi gh -sid ed the Du tch ma n Yamaha. Kling was struc k by Michae l Fitzpa trick as Fitzpa trick 'attem p ted to a vo id th e accident. . At the restart, Sadowski went right ou t and took the lead as he swept under teamm ate Jason Fraser in tum two. "My strategy was to haul ass," Sad owski said . "1 just tha nk the Lord for providing me the s tre ngt h. Fu rthermore, I knew Bat ey would be cha rging and I d id n' t wa nt to ma ke any mistakes. This is a very tricky track and it has many co rne rs that w ill screw yo u u p if you ru sh them. I just made sure to transfer the bike sm oo thly." If Sadowski had looked back during Brief/r---,-,~, ·•• Labelle ' team and 'o ther teems that hav~ , pur- : 'c hased, the ,Raptor . " W e love the newbike." .' , team owner Bru·ce LabeU~ said. "W~ 've fought . the chassis in the Hondas fo rever'and It is nice to heve equ ipment that IS engineered for rae- ' Dave Sado'w ski took hom e -0 to tal of $5000 In. pur se mon ey for his double wtn in' th e F4 ing rather than tbe st reet. The motor.is st ill in : .USA class . Jason , Fra&sr and T r a y Ba te y , the fimid stage s of developme nt as we and othe~ searc h ~~r a fe'.:." ~ore ponies. eachcot $ 1600 for their respective.iseccndft the seco nd race, he would have seen the determ ined eyes of Tra y Batey. After his rnc~- on e crash, Batey was g rid ded o n the last row for race two bu t wasted no time in chargi ng toward the fro nt. "I had to ge t a good start if I wa nted to conten d for first," Batey sai d. "From the start, I mo ved through to catch Sadowski. I knew 1 only had a little time to position myself or else he wou ld check out on me." Batey took second p lace in a photo finish as he tried but failed to draft by Sadowski head ing for the finish . Collectin g his se cond third place of th e day was Grant lopez on the Emg o Suzuk i. RACE ONE Th e firs t of tw o ra ces go t off to a sketchy star t when tw o sepa ra te incid ents broug ht o u t th e r ed fl ag a nd s top p ed the r ace . Em e r gency crews respond ed to multi pl e incid ents with th ree di fferent bi kes down. In the first in cid e n t, M ic hael Fitzpa tr ick a n d An thony Fania ca me togeth er in tu rn one on th e first lap. N either rid er wa s injured and both restarted the race a fter the red fla g. Sh ierts crashed in to the banking, which stopped the race as his bike ca me to rest in th e middle of the back straight. . " I ca me a round in fo urth gear," Shierts sa id . "Th e rea r end broke loose and th e bike high-sided . I collected it, but the rear kept sliding until I hit the wa ll; then it fell over and skidded down the banking." At the restart, it wa s Bat ey, takin g th e ho les hot to tu rn o ne , w ith Sadowski close behind. As the two pus hed each other away from the res t of the field, it looked as if it wo uld be a two-way battle, but this all changed on the fourt h lap wh en Batey lost the front en d . "Tray was really setti ng a fast pace," Sad o w ski sa id . " It appeared that th e front en d was not doing what he wan ted , an d it did n' t look like the Tray Batey place fi nishes. and Grant Lopez, who fin· is hed third both times ou t, wa s awarded a to tal' ·of $2200. ' . . . : Fast By Ferracci was on 'M l'!d to debut 'its win Duca ti 748 racer that co mpete , in 'next' ye ars -Fo rmcla USA'.600cc clas s. ~We. are here strictly for prc mc tic nal .purpo ses." larry , F·USA had its ' bigg est 'specta to r wee kend Fe rra c ci said. ~ W e w ont e d t o offer Steve ever . with nearly 30.0 0 0 speCtators quoted , G rigg an opp ortunity to ride , and check.out the ·as.att ending aver the co urse of the weekend . . bike . We picked him because he leased a bike' . last year ,and .my father IEraldo) has gotten, to lt's .offtctal: Fo ;",ulaUSA a'n d N A S B are know Steve . N ick le nat ach willalso test the splitting and will run indepe nde nt se ries next bike and po s s ib ly , rid e It In. on e o f the las t ·season, Doug ' Gond a. who he ads and ow ns nghts to the Formu la USA series . said several . rounds ." But we are mos tly he re rep resenting Dueati and serv ing ~thejr inte rests pr omoting . cha nges wi ll into effec t for the 1998. seathe bi,ke. ~ Gngg. w ho c ort:lpnigris 0 Muzzy Rop: ' 'son. " Fo rmu la USA' and NASB wiil not be ' tor in t he' F-U5 A seri es , s uff ered a bro ken opera ting (toge ther) o~ a ' re gul ar ba~is n ex t : femur duri ng pra cti ce and wa s not able to ride' year, -, Gon da said. "Formula .USA w ill develop , the D ucef in Sun day 's EBC Brake s .Spc rtbrke oth er class es to add to tts.feeture. like horseroce. ... power and weight rest riction s and ,G P classes. How ever. in' conjunction with the Formula USA . Sunoco , Fuels' representa tive Art Brown ' feat ure series, we will work w it h reg ional orgawas 0 (1 hand to te st a new fuel that the companizations and run t heir race s prior to- ou r pr o' ny' Will introduce 'next ye ar: that" is .specrftcally series to cr eate bigger events . For next year , deslqned fo'r mc tcrcycle e., H The' new fuel is we w ill be naving round s in Canada . and in the ' de signed "fo r' small-bore. high-reW ing motors. years to co me . in Austroha, Europe 'and Japan, , Bro wn-said . '" C urrently , our fuels are designed ' Our Formu la ' USA Series focuses on bringing for e uto mobdee . 'and the ' new motorcycle f)Jel '.profit to team s, and that the teams that" particiw ill beapeclftcahy for this sport, The new fuel pate rave equal acc ess to' part s and equip- : will have .an octa nelevel -of 113 and l tellored ·ment. I do not 'w ant to see a fact ory team w ith the distillation ran ge ' to com ple tely burn at . part s th3t only they can obtain, lwent a series . higher rpm." where team sponso rs know that they are get-, ting an equal chance wi n. Last ly, we will be Scott "Z-Man" Zampac:h was on hand arid haVing · 'Sport bt ke' Frid ay s- wh ic h atlowt he Iscurrently ma naging' Hanson Raci ng' for M itch . .crowda to partici pate in nding on the track and Hanson . Z ampe ch wo n the Harle y -D avid son receiving rider-e ducation traininq." . Sup er'Iwm s c las s and t he Triumph Sp e ed by go ft, to ' Triple Challenqedunnqthe same day -that he ' Roger Edmonson also' ac knowledg ed . the suffere d ,a nearly' fatal c ras h at the , Formula' · split between the two entit ies .and said that the . USA round in Lo udo n las t season - a cras h N ASB ."w ill be holding its own profe ss ion al" , that left himwtth crus hed' ve rte brae and in 0' · sonee. Edmonson we nt 'o n to soy th at ' he' IS' · coma. Proving that his stre ngth .and dete rmtna-. fo cu sing on ' th e actua l eve nt and spect ator . tion.are not reserved for being on a mo torcy·participation. C~ will remain unchanqed and . . cl e , Z ani pac h has go ne thro ugh e xtens ive ,', NASB will ,still host the Daytona event. rehabilitation ' and has returned to the trac k as ' the team ' manager' fo r Hanso n . Racing . ," Last L~ be ll'~ Ra c ing re c en tly ' pu r c hased ~ n d : year, w e w orked ve ry w ell wi th Scott, " . Mi td i receIved 'it s. new Mu zzy Raptor. The .new Hanson said. ~Scott cou ld never be out of raemotorcycle 'r eplaces Dave Sad ow ski' s Honda ing :' and what better place ' for him to be? He's C BR9DORH and on e .wtl l also replace Jason 'our rtder ment or, team manager and- PR direc· Fraser' s Honda 900 next ye ar : Team ow ner tor . ~ Zampach .has also sta'rt ed his ow n riding · Bruce Labelle said that -the timing of the bike's sc hool c alled Scott .Z vme n Z ampac h Ri9 in'9 . arrival is poor .iwr th the A M A Superbike sertes '. School . wh ic h is des ign ed to help pe opl e co rning to -a Clo se wlth D oug C han dler ' s ' , be come bettersportbike ride rs by spending . · Mu zzy Kawasaki atthe front: how ever , Rob . time ,on the t rack. -Zarnpach's next school w ill M uziy'wil! be on hand' in Daytona to assist the ' be offered September J ~ , 1H9 7.. ' 1

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