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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127865
ROAD RACE
NORTH AMERICAN
SUPERBIKE
Daytona International Speedway.
H
arley-D
avidson TwinS W Finals
ports orld
Cheaters
mle!
By Henny Ray Abrams
DAYTOI'IA 8EACH, n, NOV. 2
ill er Electrical Construc tion's
Eric Bostrom added another title
to a n already su ccessful season
by winning the Harley-Davidson Twin
Spo rts World Finals, held ove r two days
a t Dayto na In tern at ion al Speed way.
Bost rom didn't actually win on the track
- he won by being legal in the postrace
teardown, somet hing a few of his fellow
com petitors could n' t qui te hand le.
Most ludicro us was the case of Mike
Ciccotto. Riding a Jimmy Steven s Racing
Harley , C icco tto, in h is first for ay in to
this highly com peti tive class, won both
races, an d both times he wa s d isqualified. In Sa turday's race, he was taken
d own for havi ng an adjustable throt tle.
NASB officials said that the throttle hod
a mechanis m whic h prevented it from
being opened completely, in an effort to
show less th an the maximum h orsepower when it was te s ted o n the
d yna mometer alter the race . One official
sa id that it s ho wed 55 horsepo wer in
pre-race d yno testing and 63 a fte r the
ra ce. At least o ne rid er claims to hav e
seen Ciccotto and his mechanic ad justing
the throttle immediately after the race.
In the second race, when the throttle
could be properly opened, his bike measured 70 hp on the Dynojet dyna mometer - 5 hp over the maximum class limit.
Though Ciccotto can't be held responsib le fo r the actions of his tu ner, it was
clearly a black mark on his career. But
he wasn' t the on ly one w ho got caught
cheating.
Ha nsen Motorcycles' Billy G raef,
w ho finis hed third in the first leg, and
[ess Roed er , who finished fourth on the
Las Vegas H-D mou nt , w er e both disqua lified for havin g motors wh ich produ ced in excess o f th e 65 -h p limit.
Graef's machine meas ured 69.2 hp, and
Roeder's put out 65.6.
T h a t s h uffled the o rde r behi nd
Bostrom, elevating Mo des to 's H -D' s
Shawn Higbee, who was aboard a borrowed Hal' s Ha rley -Davidson, into seco nd, wi th Mc N o log y Ra cing's Dav e
Estok moving up to third .
The second race wa s given to Gr aef
a ft er Cicco tto wa s taken down, wit h
Higbee seco nd and Bostrom third after
he switc he d s tra tegies in th e second
race.
"I tried leading out of the chicane all
wee ke nd," Bostrom sa id, "a nd th at
d idn' t work. So we tried followi ng out,
a nd th at did n ' t w ork e it he r. I do n't
know what I' m doing wrong ."
Bostro m's victory and third-place finish added u p to 65 poi n ts, one more
than Higbee earned for his pair of second s. Sh a wn Ru ssell, wh o fi ni shed
fou rth an d sixth, was th ird with 53.
"I'm just real happy to wi n th e World
Final," Bostrom said . "I thou ght Shawn
bea t us. He ran really well, as did everyo ne. Bu t, in th e end , w e were able to
hold on."
The first race was red-fl agged after a
lap when Greg Hutcheson crashed off of
N ASC A R Tu rn Four, h is Kerstin gs
Cycle Cen ter machine ending up a third
of the wa y d o wn p it row. Hutcheson
wa s taken to H a lifa x Medical Center
with a suspected broken right leg.
M
EBC Brakes SportbikeS
eries
Final Round: DaytonaInternational Speedway
Alexander
the.Great
By Henny Ray Abrams
DAYTONA BEACH, n, NOV
.2
ic ha r d Al e xand er Jr . d id w ha t
you' re supposed to do when you
borrow something from someone
- you repay them in kind. In Alexander's
case, he did it one be tt er, takin g the
Su z uk i GSXR600 he' d been loaned by
Da vid McGrath of McGrat h Racing to a
su rprisingly un contested wi n in the EBC
Brakes Spor tbik e final on a sunny day at
Daytona Int erna tional Speedway > su rprisin g, because thi s is a cla ss which
typically features so me of th e closest
racing of the weeke nd , but not this time .
Alexa nder too k the lead in the chicane o n the firs t of 10 laps and never
re lented . Early on, there was pressure
from Todd Har rington and Owen
Weiche l. But from the halfway point on,
when Alexander held a 35-scco nd lead,
this one wasn't in d oubt.
In win ning for the first time, in only
his second appearan ce in the class this
year, Alexander completed the 10-lap,
35.6-mile race in 19 minu tes, 52.106 secon ds, averaging 107.507 mph. The margin of victory over the Kawasaki ZX-6mounted Harrington was 6.029 seconds.
Th ird we nt to Owen We ichel ; w ho
foug ht Harrington right to the flag, wit h
th e pair being ca ug h t a t the e n d by
ano ther aggressive duo.
Nicky Hayd en recovered from ove rshooti ng th e chica ne ea rly o n to take
fou rt h o n the 2nd Cha nce Auto Sales'
Kawasaki. Penguin Racing Schoo l's Eric
Wood, who'd clinched the class title at
the previous race in Loudon, was fifth.
R
Wo od e nd s th e se ason w ith 22 0
points! well in front of Mar k Reed, wh o
didn't take part this week end and en ds
the yea r with 146. Alexander's benefactor, McGrath, is third with 109.
Making another return to th e race
track, journalist a nd former 250cc GP
rider Nic k lenatsch go t the jump on the
field aboa rd a Fast by Ferracci Du cati
748. Alexander was second off the line,
with Wei chel third o n the Hyd -Mech
Saws Suzuki,
By th e tim e th ey hit th e c hicane,
Alexa nder was in the lead , wit h a pack
of fOU T swa rming over h im, a nd then a
small gap to the res t of the 46-rider field
- but soon th at pack wo u ld brea k up
into tw os and threes.
Wh ile Alexander pulled away, Harringt o n an d Weich el hooked up, wit h
Mi ke Velasco Racin g' s Jason Fra ser in
fro nt of Eric Wood . Then came a pack
with Ha yd en in front, but on ly until he
oversho t the chicane and fell back a few
spots.
On the fourth lap, Fraser tucked the
fro n t e nd goi ng in to the ch icane a nd
cr ashed , m ostly u nh urt except for a
sc raped -Up fo rea rm. That gave Wood
so me br ea thing room, and he went off
after Weichel and Harrington.
Alexande r was unaffec ted by all the
turmoil behind him and romped to an
uncon tested victory.
Seco nd place was swapped at least
tw ice on th e fi nal lap, with Weic hel :
attacking in the In terna ti o nal Horse. shoe, then Harringt on taking it back , the
pair now joined by both Wood and Harrington . They ran nose to tail out of the
chicane the final time with Harrington
drafti ng by Weichel for second, a nd
Hayden getting the better of Wood .
"Daytona is a race track of strategy, "
Weichel said. "Tod d was trying to play
ther e at the finis h line. I knew (by) the
m iddl e of th e race I co uld n' t run him
down. The last lap we wer e playin g cat
and mouse . He didn't know those othe r
guy s were running us down."
"It d idn't work ou t quite the way I
Richard Alexander Jr. (56) leads Todd
Harrington (146) en route to victory in the
EBCSportbike final at Daytona.
wanted ," Harrington sa id . "I was thinking about the guys behind me and lagging a little. I was worried about a double slingshot. I've go t a pr etty good idea
w hat to d o on th e la st lap. I co ul dn' t
keep up with Alexa nder. His' bik e was
too fast."
Hayd en and Wood were fourth and
fifth; then there was a gap to Lu ke 's
Kawasaki's Mik e Ciccotto, who passed
Ienatsch on the final lap for sixth .
Ste ve Rapp wa s eigh th; then ca me
C h icago Perform an ce Ra ci ng 's Ken
Kr ebs, w ho passed C ycles of Palm
Bea ch 's Mike Luke two laps fro m th e
~nd.
t:\
Daytona Intern ati on al Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Results: November 2, 1997 (Round 7 of 7)
EDC BRAKES SrTBK: 1. Richard Alexandl,. (Suz);
'I'
2. Todd Harrington (Kaw ): 3. Ow en weichel (Suz); 4.
Nicky Hay de n (Kaw) ; S. Erk Wood (Ka w); 6. Mike
Ciccotto (Su:t); 7. Nic k len atsch (Oue) ; 8. Sle w Rap p
(Suz ); Q . Ken Krc b!. (Sw:); 10. Micha el Luke (Ka wl ; 11.
Rid. Kirl. (SUL); 12. RdY Yode r (Kaw); 13. David Yaa kcv
(Kol W); 14. Crrg Kolh e (Kaw); 15 . Bria n Li vt"ng.o oJ
l
(Suz); 16. Kri~ Clubb lKaw); 17. Scot t Diedrich (Suz); 18.
lett Will iam! IKa w); 19. Iett Cu rtis (Kaw ); 20. Rubt-n
Fr an kcnhl,.· ld tSuz) ; 21. Da vid Rose {Hcn j: 22. Eoin
SlTUth (Hon); 23. Lcs White (Du e); 24. Da vid McPtk.-n;on
(K.1w ); 25. Will iam Tavlor (Suz); 26. [)now Lincoln (Suz);
27. Jos h uJi HJi Y~ (5.1z); 28. Mark Lawso n (Ha n); 29.
Mark McC ormi ck (Ho n ); 30. Jam es Prince (Han); 3l.
Ma rt y Sdull> (SUL); 32. Todd Tro xel l (Su z) ; 33. Mar c
Sh e rwood (S uL); 34. Rica rd o Sune (Kaw); 35 . D al e
, o.mJwiI (St u), 36. EriC' G rily (Hu n); ~. Edw ard 8d m..l:t
(Su7.) :I8. Byron D.trbour (507.); 39. John Ak.