(Left) Billy
Graef took the
HaneyDavidson
Twin Sports
win and
wrapped up
the
cha mpionship
in the
pr ocess .
(Right) Riding
with his usu al
dominance in
the Buell
Lightning
race, Shaw n
said . "He carried more speed than me
and went by. 1followed him and tried to
make a few braking mo ve> on him but
he w as ju s t a s late on th e brakes (as
Quintero) ."
Beh ind Del Gu idice a nd Qu intero
was Vicki jackson-Bell and Kids : Don ' t
Smoke's Chris Ulrich. Ulrich stuck close
to jackson-Bell a nd challenged her on
th e brake s down the same hill where
Del Gu id ice passed Quintero.
"1 tried to stu ff by her but 1 could n't
make the pass," Ulrich said. "I go t side
by sid e with her up the hill but s he' d
eve n tu a lly ou tpower me. Sh e is al so
cons iderably lighter than me a nd that
also helped her get better d rive up the
hill. Co mi ng d own the hill, I am comfortable passing there, and on the last
lap I tried to pass her there and I almost
hit her. I-was so late on the,brakes, but I
cou ld n't get by her a nd s he'd p ower
away again."
Ulrich's las t-lap attack wasn't th e
only action, as Qu in tero executed the
move th a t it wou ld take to pa ss De l
Gu id ice for seco nd p lace.
"Once I passed Qui ntero, 1 nev er
looked back until he passed me," Del
Guidice said. "He had a little motor on
me a nd go t th e drive o n to th e fro nt
stra igh t and took seco nd place."
" I a m rea ll y h a p p y," Ii z u ka sa id .
"This w~s a very important race for the
championship. I flatted a tire at Pocon o
and los t importan t po ints. I am very
happy."
jackson -Bell fended off the tena ciou s
onslaugh t o f Ulric h to fin ish fourth .
Phillip Unhola took a di stant sixth place
behind Ulrich.
IeNew Hamp shi re Int ern ati onal Speedway
Loudon, New Hampsh ire
Results: October 5, 1997 (Round 7 of 8)
HR C A M ER ICAN G P FINA L: 1. Mhiru Iiz uka
( H OIl); 2. Rn l. I1Ju Q u inlt>ro (Honl; :\ Mo1rni·lIn Dl"I
1
Guidict" (Ho n): 4. Vick i ja ckson-Bell (BOIl); 5. Chri..
Ulrich If-ion): 6. Ph illip Unhola (Hon); 7. Eric Gustafson
(Hen): B. Richard Newman Jr. (Bo n).
Upcoming Round:
Round 8 - Daytona Beach, FL, November 2
N S arley·D
A BH
avidson Twin S
ports
Round 7: N Hampshire Inlemal'lSpeedway
ew
By Aaron Mintz
Photo by J ohn Flo ry
W UDON, NH, OCT. 5
an son Racing's Billy Gra ef d idn't
let th e overca st s kies keep th e
li ght off his being crowned the
Ha rley-Davids on Twin Sports champion. Graef jumped out to an early lead
and s imp ly motored away fro m the
chase pack to take the win by ove r nine
secon ds on the damp track. Wood stock
C ycl e Ba rn Ra cin g' s Mark Reynolds
took second and Kerstings Cycle Cen ter
Ra ci n g ' s Gregg Hu tche son fi nis hed
third.
N ASB ' s Pat M urph y, a lo ng w i th
Scott "Z- Ma n" Za m p ac h , who w as
seriously injured here las t year and is
now ru nning the Ha nsen Racin g team
for w hich Gr aef rid es, handed Gr aef
his newly acq ui red number-on e plate
on the podium a t the post -race celebration.
As th e H arl ey-David sons rumbled
away like a squadron of B-17 bombers,
Graef led the way into turn one . Flying
in format ion, the chase pack of five
remained tight throu gh turn one - no
one would surrender any gro u nd on the
d amp track surface.
Chris Bliss got the best line throu gh
tu rn two and took second with a bike
length to spare over Hanso n Racing's
Sha wn Conrad, tho ugh Bliss would be
forced to pu ll in shortly wit h an exp loded mas ter cylinder. Rig ht behind Conrad was Hu tcheson in fourth. Also part
of the lead pack was Brian Bodine on his
ew Castle H-D.
Th e d a m p tr ack contributed to the
field s p reading o u t ea rly in th e ra ce
as some ride rs found more tr a ction
than others. On lap five of the race,
Mar k Reynold s made hi s m o ve o n
Conr ad .
Reynolds never surrende red second
pl ace and ma de u p a little ground on
Gr aef late in the race, but was not able
to break into his nine-second lead .
Hutch eson was th e next to find a
smoo th line with not too much slid ing
and wen t to work on Con ra d . Entering
into tur n o ne, Hutche son mad e his
mo ve and go t und er Conra d to tak e
o ve r th ird pl ace, a nd Con ra d w ould
ha ve to settle for fourth pl ace in th e
end .
After the race was ove r, Gra ef wa s all
smiles as he he ld up the nu mb er-one
pla te.
" I was frus tra ted with not mak in g
an y p oints in the Buell ra ce ," Graef
said . " I clea red m v head beca use I
knew the Harl ey race wa s what I rea lly needed to co ncen tra te o n. Once I
go t o u t fro nt, I wa n ted to ge t a head
and not have to be fig hti ng with others, tr yin g to outb rake on this s li p per y track. I di dn't wan t to be in the
mi d dle of anything. I' m rea lly happy
to brin g th e Harle y-Da v id son Tw in
Sports Natio nal Cha m pions h ip hom e
to Hanso n Ra cing . Everyo ne on the
team really put in a terrifi c effo r t a nd
I co u ldn 't have d on e it wit h out
them."
...
New Hampshire International Speed way
Loudon. New Hampshire
Results: October 5, 1997 (Round 7 of 7)
H· D TWIN SPO RTS FINAL: 1. Billy G roef; 2. M.1rk
Reyn old s: 3. G~g Hut chenscn: 4. Shawn Conrad; 5.
Brian Bodi ne; 6. Bria n Co nley ; 7. Michael Friberg; 8.
Arth ur Wagner; 9. Jason Kmlting; 10. Mathew Jensen;
11. Scott Korol. 12. Chri s Blhos; 13. Todd Evans; 14. Ken
Tes·.ier .
Higbee rode
t o another win
- th is on e wit h
bette r tha n a
44-sec ond
margin ov er
second place.
fiNAL H·D T WI N S P O RT S C S H I P POINT
STAND INGS (Afte r 7 of 7 ro u nds); 1. Billv G raef
(199 /3 wi ns ); 2. Shawn Co nrad (184); 3. Todd Eva ns
(182); 4. Gff!K Hutcheso n (78); S. Brian Bodine (176); 6.
Michael Fr iberg (148); 7. Scott Ko rol (124); 8. Eric
Bost rom (105 /4); 9. Brian Conley (%); 10. (TIE) Chris
BIi-.s/ MdUnl'w [en-en (83); 12. Shawn Mc.."'Jdry (7Q); 13.
Jao;n n Kt"Ninl (77); 14 Arthur Wo1gnt'r (n ); 15. Mark
Reynold ( 57).
~
NS
A BBuell Ughtning Series
R
ound7: New H
ampshire In m S
le al'l peedway
ar
a ay
By Aa ro n Mintz
Photo by J ohn Flory
LOUDON, NH, OCT. 5
uch as he' s done at the p revious
r ound s of th e Buell Lightnin g
Se ri e s . Mo to rcy cle Onli ne's
Sha w n Higbee pot on a masterful d ispla y of rid ing that carried him to a hu ge
wi n over the sparse, nin e-rid er field . On
the damp tr ack, H igbee led fro m th e
start and crossed the line 44.580 seconds
ahead of Hansen Racin g's Sha wn Conrad . Valley Racing's Brian Conley was
third.
Conra d worked his way throug h the
field and ev entuall y inhe ri ted sec ond
place after teammate Billy Graef DNFed
with a mech ani cal failure.
When the gree n flag dropped, Higbee pulled the tri gger first and led the
pa ck int o turn one . Slid ing aro und on
the wet su rface, Higbee navi ga ted his
Buell thro ug h the co rners like he was
flat-trackin g.
"My plan was to check ou t," Higbee
said . "I didn' t know what the track cond itions would be like . [ wanted to pull
aw ay fro m th e field a nd le t the guys
fight it o ut for seco nd."
And tha t's jus t w ha t he d id . End of
story.
Looking set to ru n the race in a lonely seco nd place, Hanso n Racing's Billy
Graef tu cked in so me d ist an ce behind
Hi gbee. But three-quarter s of the wa y
through the race, Graef' s motor suddenly went south and he glided the Buell to
the side of the track, wh ere he stayed to
watched the finis h.
•
'The bike let go at the wrong time,"
Graef said. "I was comfortably in second
place an d then su d d en ly my d ay was
over . I don 't know what went."
Chasing afte r Graef at the time was
New Castle H-D /Buell Racing's Brian
Bodine. Bodine had co m pa ny in the
form of Valley Racing 's Brian Conley as
the pair traded fourth place on a regu lar
basis.
Shawn Co nrad go t a lou sy start but
got in behind Bodine an d Conley. However, Conra d was second in points and
needed to ge t up w ith h is teamma te
Graef to stay in the hu nt for the champions hip points race.
"I have to keep my finge r o n the
brake at the start because the bike likes
to creep at the line," Conra d said . "I also
have to pr ot ect my poin ts, an d knew I
had to catch up wi th Billy."
Conrad rode the edge of his tires and
slipped throu gh the wet po rtio ns of the
course. He passed both Conley and Bodine under brakes.
Also ge tti ng lousy starts were jeff
Wood, who ro de the in ju red Dave
McGra th's Buell , a n d Tod d Evans .
Wood had never been on a Buell befo re
the qua lifying session and impressively
turned in the second-fastest lap . Unfortunately for Wood , hi s motor star te d
sputtering and he was never able to contend for pos ition. Evans wasted. no time
passing Wood and started to dose in on
Bodine and Conley.
Graef's mechanical problem pu t Conrad in second place, bu t the ba ttle for
third was s till u nse ttl ed. Bodi ne a nd
Co n le y w ere in separable , b u t one of
them had to take third - and it was Conley.
"Bod ine must have had problems,"
Conley said. "He cau ght me in one, bu t
I go t ba ck by him in three. He went
wi de and I tucked und erneath hi m . I
think I just wanted it a little more."
On the second-to- las t lap, Hal's HD's Evans worked his way around Bodine, too, a nd took fourt h place at the
checkcncd. Bodine finis hed fifth.
n
New Hampshire Int ernati on al Speedway
Loudon, New Hamps hire
Res ults: October 5, 1997 (Round 7 of 8)
BUEll LIGHTNING ANA~ 1. Sha l'lo'll Higbee; 2.
Sh3wn Conrad ; 3. Bri.l.nConky; 4. Tod d Evan.'l: 5. Brian
Bod lIle; e . Michael Fnbcrg; 7. Scott Kor'OI; 8. Billy Gra ef;
9. Jeff Wood.
BUELL L1CHTNING SERIES C 'SHI P POINT
STAl'o'DINGS (After 7 of 8 rou nds}: 1. Shawn Higbee
(205/ 5 wi ns ); 2. Shawn Co nrad (198); 3. Billy G ra ef
(1M ); 4. Tod d Evaml (178 ); 5. Brian Bodi ne (165); 6.
Michat>1 Fri bt:-rg (I58); 1 . Scutt Korol (140); 8. David
McG rath (128); 9 . Todd Henneeo y (11 7); 10 . Eri c
Bostrom (1 15 /1); 11 . Bri...n Co nley 105); 12. Shawn
McNary (6fI) ; 13 . JdJ.. t> Zem ke (66 ); 14. T ripp No bles
(54/1); 15. Robert 8u~o;ey (46).
Upcoming Round:
Round 8 - Daytona Beach, FL, November 2
r-,
0000-
......
N
N
l-<
CIJ
.g
.....
U
o
21
