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" It was grea t," Hay es said. "Grant is
a great rider and we wen t ba ck a nd
forth . One lap I'd pass him and the next
la p he'd dive under me in one. On the
final lap , I drafted him and passed on
the brakes under the bridge. It was really good racing."
Lope z fini shed second, a w heel
length behind Hayes.
"Josh ran a gre at race," Lopez said. "I
think his bike had a little more power,
but he ran really well."
Gregg Leffler rod e his 750cc Suzuki
to third .
"The others had a little mor e power
on me," Leffler said , "but I was able to
stay with them in the comers. I'm happy
with third."
(Above) Josh Hayes (7) leads teammate Grant Lopez (1 96), James
Randolph (6) and Tim Bemlsderler (511). Lopez finished se cond to
Hayes In l l 00cc Superstock racing. Randolph had a solid
weekend with a second plac e In th e 1100cc Suzuki Cup f inal
beh ind Haye s, w ith Be m ls der1er ta king the f inal pod ium spot in
that ra ce .
(Left) RS250 rider Lee Acree took the win In the Formula Two
class, the f irst time a twe-streke ha s ta ken t he victory all season.
(Below) Michael Himmelsbach (64) won the race and took the
c hampionship In the 125cc GP c lass. Chris Ulri ch fi nished secon d.
Ho oters rider James Ra nd olp h w as
just dialing his bike in for the Cup races
and finished fourth .
"We' re just checking ou t the bike,"
Randol ph said . "We' re makin g so me
ad justments, but tomorrow is a di fferent
story."
Luke Yarbrough finished fifth after
losing a little finger in Texas.
For the first tfme this yea r, a twostroke mo torcycle won the Formula Two
class . Arcligh t Racin gs Joe Prussia no
ha d clinc he d th e ch a m p ion sh ip a nd
wa sn't racing so he could concen tra te on
the Suzuki Cup races. RS250-mounted
Lee Acree took advantage of Prussiano's
absence to card the w in .
Brian Lantz had to borrow a bike to
race a nd Chad Bynum was nice enough
to lend him one. On foreign equipment,
Lantz las ted as long as he could, bu t
Acree passed him and then two-strokemounted Derek King got by.
The two-stroke bikes really took to
the tra ck, and they qu ickly sped away
from Lantz . Acree and King wen t back
and forth, but Acree carried more speed
and was first under the bridge as the
pair headed d own th e hill to the final
tum 12. Arcee got the ed ge on the drive
to the lin e a nd snea ked under King to
take the win, bar ely ahe ad . Lantz finished third. Hayes, who had tried unsuccessfu lly to cat ch Lantz on the last lap,
finished fourth. Saylor finished fifth.
The battle in the 12Sec GP class came
down to th e w ire, with Hi mme lsbach
and C hris Ulrich com peting fo r first
place. Himmelsbach took off a nd wa s
untouchable.
"I'm happy to bring hom e the victory
for Himmelsb ach Ra cin g," Himmelsba ch said . "I can' t thank my dad and
fami ly enough. This is just grea t."
Behind C h ris Ulrich w as
his father , John Ulrich.
Tray Batey ha s d omi nated
the Formula One class all yea r
and continued ~ d o so at the
GN F. Batey wo n by a th reesecond margin ove r Jo h n
Bolton. Grant Lopez, w ith his
injured knee from th e previo us Suzuki Cup Race, took
third . Lee Acree took fou rth
o n his two-stroke Honda and
Derek King rounded ou t the
top five.
0
Road Atlanta
Braselton, Georgia
Results: October 11-12, 1997
(Round 10 0110)
1100 SISTK
EX: 1. jol;.h Hayes (Suz); 2. Cl";lnt Lopez
{Sud; J. Gn-g t...d"f1tor (Suz); 4. J
amt'!i IUndolph (Suz); 5.
Luk Yarbrough