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ROAD RACE NASBIEBC SPORTBIKE SERIES ~ , Round One: Daytona International Speedway iF I NASBlSunoco Race FuelsG TLights Serie s Round 1 Daytona International S : peedw y a .Perry . untouchable By Henny Ray Abrams DA¥rONABEACH, FL, MAR. I t the start of the first-ev er Sunoco Race Fuels GT Lights , for sma llerdisplacement motorcycles, there was a th ree-r id e r break, whic h soon became two , the n one . i The survivor w as Beach Sportcycles' Ron Perry, the Yamaha FZR400-mounted Floridian taking the lead on the second lap, then overshooting turn one and handing it back to fellow Floridian Greg Doney, who was aboard a Honda 650. By the fourth of 10 laps , it was Perry out front, where he'd stay to the end gr ad ually adding to his cushion , wh ich would end up as 4.807 seconds. Doney wasn't close at the end, bu t tha t didn' t stop Perry from keep ing the gas on. . "The last lap , coming out of the chicane, wa s kind 'of scary," Perry sa id . By Henny Ray Ab rams DA¥rONAB EACH, FL, MAR. I ifty yards before the end of the EBC Brak es Sportbike race, an yone of four rid ers could have won. It was that close. Officially, the margin of victory was 0.004 of a second and officially th e winner was Cycles of Palm Beach's Mike Luke, the Floridian who had made his mark in the weekend's earlier Cha mpionship Cup Series races. "Th is is the best bike I ha ve ever had ," a ju b ila n t Luk e said o f hi s Kawasaki ZX-6 in th e w inner ' s circl e. "Everyth in g w ent perfect and th in gs could n' t have go ne better." He was right, because things cou ld have go ne horribly awry. Luke had the pow er to carry him to victory d espite bein g hounded by three others af ter tu ssling with them for the length of the 10-lap , 35.6-mile race held on a cool, gray and windy afternoon at Daytona Internati onal Speedway. Team Suzuki Rid er s School's David McGrath was a shadow second , with Hyd-Mech Saw s' Owen Weiche l third on a Suzuki in fr ont of Barnett Su zuki Ra cin g' s Rich ard Al exander Jr . in a clust er so close tha t the orde r of finish behi nd the winner was not immediately ap paren t. Lu ke w on th e race in a non -reco rd time of 19 minutes, 58.288 seconds at an avera ge speed of 106.953 mph . Ha vin g s p li t with Formu la USA , NASB officials had mad e EBC Spo rtbike the premier class an d this was the coming-o ut party. Though there was a seriou s lack of star power, there was no lack o f excitement, a nd th er e mi ght ha ve been more had defending class cha mpion Eric Wood not had an engine failure on his Pen gu in Racing School' s Kaw asaki on the warmup lap . The race beg an with a ban g, a four rid er pil eu p in the firs t hor seshoe that brought out a bela ted red flag. O n th e r e st art i t was p ol e-s itter Alexa nder Jr. out fron t, with Luk e and Hooters Suzuki's Mike Cicco tto giving chase. Cie cotto la st ed on ly th ree lap s before sto p pi ng and by th en McGr a th was out fro nt, wit h Weichel now second and Luke shuffled back to third . Alexander Jr. con trolled the pace for the next lap; th..n it was Luke's turn up fro nt. Alexander Jr. was back in front on th e seven th la p and pulling ou t w ha t looked like his biggest lead of the day, thou gh the others knew he wasn ' t going to ge t away. "On abou t lap six, (David) McGrath passed me and all of a sudden I could pull them and we drafted past the guys and I said, 'We' re in this one:" Weiche l said . Wit h a pack of four com in g at him , Alexan der Jr. was quiekly gobbled up and the five- rider string shu ffled spo ts all over the track, though he seem ed to be the first one into tu rn one u p throug h the eighth lap. McGrath took the lead ou t of tum one on that lap, wi th Alexand er Jr. righ t on hi s tail; th en ca me Lu ke and Weiehe l with those four riders leaving the rest of the 35-rider field just beh ind . Alexander A F A B ~ (Left) EBC Brakes Sportbike winner Mike Luke (19) leads second-place finisher David McGrath. (Below) Ron Perry was untouchable in the. GT Lights race. Jr . was b a ck o u t fr ont w it h a s tro ng move on the brakes en tering the Intern ational Horseshoe and he led them all the way into the chicane. McGrath was second in front of Weichel, Joshua Hayes, and Luke , wh o was temporarily in fifth. Luke used the d raft of the four riders in fro n t of him to tak e the lead on the nin th lap and he kept it for the next lap. Then it came down to the run to the finish line . In to the chicane, it wa s Luke, Alexander [r., Weichel and McGrath. The race to the line was fourwide, with Luke ge tting the nod after a perfect final lap. "I p ut my head d own on that las t lap and I knew if they passed me, I cou ld pass the m back: ' he said. "I wou ld have bee n hap p y finis hing third. I coul d n' t slow down . I had to go for the win." McGrath sai d that on the last lap he "had problems in the ch icane, bu t I was ab le to get th rou gh okay. I w as able to get by O wen (Wei ch el) an d I gu ess I caug ht a big hole behind the other guys. I rea lly thou ght I had them ." . That left third to Weic he l, who was ha ppy with t he s po t after ve ry li ttle practice. "I have been here a lot of times and every tim e I co me out of (NASCA R) turn thr ee, I ge t smok ed ," Weichel said . "I ju st tri ed to play my car ds right on that last lap, and I am just hap py to be in Day tona's Victory Lane ." Left ou t of the winner 's circle party was Alexander [r., though he was safely in front of Hayes. Su zuki-moun te d Gr ant Lopez was sixth, by himself; then came the Suzuki of Ch arles Cho ui nard , with si m ila rly mounted Brian Livengood get ting th e bet ter -of Hond a-m ou nt ed Sean Kowa lski. Ga briel Hen ni ng and hi s H on d a f '~ filled out the top 10. Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beac h, Florida Results : M arch 1, 1998 (Round 1 of 7) EBC BRAKES SPORTBIKfu 1. Mik e Lu ke (Kaw ): 2. Da v id McGr at h (Suz): 3. Owe n Wei chel (Sua): 4 . Richar d Alexa nder Jr. (Suz): S. [oshu a Hayes (SlIZ); 6. Gra nt Lopez (Suz): 7. Charles Chouinar d (Suz) : 8. Brian Liven good (Suz): 9. Scan Kowa lsk i (Hen): 10. Gab riel Henning (He n): 11. La rry Lock lea r (Kaw ): 12. Byro n Barbo u r (Suz): 13. Joh n Staska (He n): 14. Billy G rae f ( Hen) : 15 . Mar k McC o rm ic k ( Hen ): 16. Mann y Man usu thakis (Suz ): 17. Des Conboy (Ho n): 18. Brian Ta ylo r (5u7.) 19. Keith Wilso n (Su z): 20. C lint Bre tz ; (Hon): 21. Da le Dandrea (Su z): 22. Jim Dicken son (Suz): 23. Shaw n Co nr-ad (Suz ): 24. Ryan Ba n ksGf on ): 25. Ja son M orse (Su z ): 26. Brian C on ley (Bue) : 27 . Ocr Ho gd ahl (Suz ): 28. Karl. Spo oner (He n): 29. Sha ne Go nyoa (5uz) ; 30. Fred Stucky (He n): 31. Robert Smi th (Be e): 32. Micha el Fitzp a trick (K.1W); 33. Geoff Sa wyer (He n): 34. Mike Ciccone (5u7.); 35. Victor Ca rpio (Hon). Ti me: 19 min., 58.288 sec. s Di stanc e: 10 la ps, 35.6 mile . Avera ge spee d: 106.953 mph. Mar gin of victo ry: 0.004 sec. EBC BR AK ES S PO RT Il I KE C'S H IP r OINT ST ANDINCS (Aft er 1 of 8 races): 1. Mike Lu ke (35); 2. David McGrath (32); 3. Owen Weichel (30); 4. Richar d Alexande r Jr. (28); 5. Jos hua Ha yes (26); 6. Gra nt Lopez (25); 7. Cha rles Cho uinard (24); 8. Brian Liven good (23); 9. Sean Ko walski (22); to . Ga briel Hen ni ng (21); 11. Larry Loc kle ar (20); 12. Byron Barb ou r (19); 13. John Stasko (18); 14. Billy Graef (17); 15. Ma rk McCorm ick (16); 16. Manny Manu suthekls ( 5); 17. Des Co nboy (14); 18. Brian Taylor ( 3); 19, Keith Wilson (12); 20. Clint Bret z (1]) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 . May 10. Elkhart Lake. Wisconsin Round3· May 17. WalkinsGlen. New York "That's the hardest I have ever come ou t o f th er e and I mad e mi st akes co ming into it. I figured tha t Greg (Doney) was coming in on me, so I was tryin g to get th e best dri ve I co u ld co m ing ou t of there." Don ey conced ed that his Ho nda twin was no match for Perry's in-lin e four. "Ron's (Per ry) bik e is ru nning very w ell and I just d idn' t have enough to catch him:' Don ey sai d. "He has jus t a Ii ttl e m or e hor se power a nd I mad e a couple of mistakes in the infield . I tried to hang w ith him, and I thou ght I could catch him wit h some backm ar kers. I just co u ld n' t get th ere . I di d th e b es t I could ." Perry com pleted the 35.6-mile race in 21 minutes, 39.251 seconds at an ave rage spee d of 98.641 mph . The top tw o were free and clear early on, unbothered by the three riders tryin g to grab the fi nal p odium spot. Honda -m ounted Duncan Fara sh had