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onship a few ro unds ag o, Joe Prussiano
III is still dominating the class and rod e
to anothe r win . Tray Batey walked away
w it h th e Formul a O ne -class victo ry,
while Michael Himmelsbach top ped the
12Sec Grand Prix class.
In the Michelin 750cc Supersport race,
Arclight Racin g' s Prussi a no too k th e
holeshot and led the field ar ound the 1.8mil e course. Eve n thou gh th e sun w as
shining, the two clouds over Prussiano
we re Nielsen Racing 's Mark Junge and
Em go Va lvo lin e Su zuki rider Grant
Lopez. Pruss iano didn't succumb to the
pressure that Jun ge and Lopez were
applying and led the trio as they pulled
. away from pursuing Marietta Motorsports rider Billy Eisenacher,
However, on lap six, Lopez decided
to m ake his m ove, and he sneaked by
Junge coming out of tum nine.
"Th ey were both really going good."
Lopez said . "I wa s hanging back, wa tching Jun ge challenge Prussiano. I couldn't
stick it in because Junge was always taking the line. I found a better way around
to get the d ri ve o u t of (t urn) nine, and
with that and a good draft I was able to
get by. I passed Prussiano the same wa y."
Lopez did indeed pass Prussiano the
sam e wa y on th e las t lap. "Lopez outdrafted me d own th e front st ra ight,"
Prussiano said. "I was goi ng as ha rd as I
cou ld, and we had a really good race."
Junge had to settle for third because
he could never find a wa y around Prussta no ; "l waited 'for Joe to make a m istake," Junge said. "He didn't. We were
dead e ven o n the brakes and I wasn't
going to run in to him. Then all of a sud-.
den Lopez flew by me . I had absolutely
nothing for Lopez. He wa s gone."
On lap seven, Greg Leffler got by
Billy Eisenac hc r for fourth and Eisenach- '
er settled for fifth.
As th e acti on got hea ted up du ring
th e 750cc race, it spilled over into the
500cc Su persport race. Triple R Racing's
Ma rk Reed jumped o ut to the lead and
led a long freight train of riders around
the 1.8-mBc road cou rse. Howev er, on
la p three , Ju nge ou tb ra ke d Reed into
turn o ne a n d to o k o ve r th e lead . As
Junge led , Team Fury's Brian Lantz cam e
from nowhere and started to shadow the'
lead p ack.
"I got a horrible start but was able to
outbrake qu ite a few peo ple goi ng into
turn one:' La ntz said . " I wo rked m y
way to fifth place and got behin d Billy
Eisenacher and Rick Kirk. I need to pass
them before Reed a nd Junge checked
out, so I passed them as fast as I could."
La n tz got by both Eisenache r and
Kirk on the same lap and w as in third as
he ran down Reed and Junge by lap six.
The lead pack bu ilt a lead and pulled
away; however, Nielsen Racing's Darryl
Saylor was also on the m ove. He prog resse d from se v en th down to fifth
place, passing M arietta Moto rsports '
Eisenacher on lap seven. Kirk was challenged by Say lor but held on to fourth
place.
(Lell) Joe
Prusslano III (2)
leads the way In the
Michelin 750Cc
Superstock race.
Mark J unge (57)
and Grant Lopez (1)
gi ve ch ase. Lo ~z
took the win with
Prusslano and
Ju nge following.
As the riders in the chase pack sorted
ou t their positions, Lantz was still on the
mo ve, trying to find a wa y around Reed.
On the last lap of the race, Lantz found
it.
" I saw that Reed w a s re all y s lo w
through the midcomer of tum on e and
two," Lantz sa id. " I easily got around
him on the outside, but Junge had too
much for me and I couldn't touch him."
After Reed got passed in turn one,
there wasn't eno ugh tim e for him to put
together a counterattack.
"We were going through one," Reed
said. "I was faster than Mark Junge and I
p assed him a couple of tim es on the
d rive ou t of one, and I was going to set
him u p for th e checkered-flag lap and
pass him. Somehow he missed a shift or
slid a little bit and I kind of balked it a
little and lost the drive. Then Lantz went
aro un d me."
Wh en the chec kered flag fell, Junge
led the way and Lantz took over second
place. Reed settled for third. Rick Kirk
held on to fourth, and Saylor settled for
fifth as he ran ou t of laps and time to
make any m ore passes . Eisenacher
wound up in sixth.
The 1100 Supersp ort rac e provided
its share o f action, but th e most excit ing th in g came durin g practice, when
Josh Hayes too k another tumble down
th e tra ck. Ha ye s cras hed th e Emgo
Valv oline Suzuki d uring practice when
a valve stem erupted and flattened the
front tire. As a result, Hayes went int o
the grass at 100 m ph . He re co vered
and started th e IIOOcc Supersport race
on h is 750. Haye s go t the holeshot but
had jumped th e start an d was forced to
co me in for a s top-and -go penalty. As
Ha ye s pulled in, Lo p ez m oved into
first and never looked back. Hayes reen tered th e tra ck .and w orked his w ay
back to fifth at the checkered. Ardight
Racing's Prussiano wrapped up second
place all alone, and Greg Leffler took
the last podium spot. Rooki e Pro rider
Lu ke Yarbrough put the 360 Co m municatio n s Suzuki in fourth, ahead of
Hayes.
In the Formula Two race, Prussiano
checked outfrom the beginning and
won the race by a two-second margin.
Behind Prussiano was a torrid battle
between Team Fury's Lantz and Tri Gty
Honda's Lee Acree. Lantz was on a four stroke Kawasaki while Acree was on a
H onda RS250 two-stroke. Lantz led
Acree aro u n d, but Acree could carry
m ore corner speed and passed Lantz
through turn one. Lantz ac tually outbraked Acree ' s Honda en te ri ng tum
nine and would draft behind Lantz to
tum one and get back by through m id corner. But Acree had o ther problems
besides Lantz.
"I ma de the wrong call with th e jettin g," Acree said . "The bike hesitated
a nd sputtered. exiting the co rners, and
Lantz (and) then Darryl Saylor got by
me. I we nt with the wrong jets."
At the checkered, it w as Pr ussiano
leadi ng Lan tz, who was running a lonely
secon d. Saylor got by Acree to take third,
and Acree settled for fou rt h . Still so re
fro m his earlier crashes, Hayes settled
for fifth.
Th e masterful Tray Batey won the
Formula One class, with Emgo Valvoline
Su zuki teammate Grant Lopez in second. Acree rod e his Honda RS250 into
th ird after sorting out his jetting prob lem . Dean Hayes took fourth and Texan
Kelly Moody landed in fifth.
Michael Himmelsbach just came off a
125cc G P wi n at the Formul a
USA /NASB round at Poco no and contin ued his winning ways at Mem phis as
he walked away fro m the fie ld . Kids:
Don' t Smoke! rider Chris Ulrich was seco nd. The m ain attraction. ho wever, was
watching I4-year-old Roger Lee Ha yden
- yo u nger br other of Mu zzy Kawasaki
ri d er To m m y Hayde n . It was the
yo u nge r H ayd en ' s profession al d ebut,
an d he took an im pressive third.
'"
Memphis Motorsports Park
Millington, Tennessee
Results: September 7,1997 (Round 8 of 10)
1100 SlSPRT: 1. Grant Lopez (Suz); 2. Joe Prussl ano
m (Suz); 3. Gnos Lt>ff1",r (Suz); 4. Luke Yarbrough (Suz );
5. J~hUd Hayes (Suz); 6. R.. y Hickm an (Suz); 7. Scutt
Brown (K. w); B. Orian [on es (Suz).; 9. Darrell Do lso n