Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

NASB Cycle Fest, Round 3: Buttonwillow Raceway Park r Wisconsin's Billy Graef co ntinued his streak of success In North American Sport Bike racing when the series headed to Buttonw illow. Graef won both the HarleyDavidson Twin Spo rt and Buell Lightning classes. By Jenn ifer Gardine r File photo by Brian Nelson 28 BUTIONWILLOW, CA, JULY4-5 orth A merica n Sport Bike held its third race of the 1998 seaso n . a t Butt o nwillow Ra ceway Park in Ce nt ra l Califo rnia o ver the Fou rth of Jul y wee kend , with th e EI lino-d elayed sum mer finally ar riving and bring in g temperatures in the l OO-degree range o n race dav . Wh ile the weather wa s ho t, no one was hotter than Billy Graef. Gra ef co llected 53275 of the 527,000 pu rse for winning the Harl ey-David son Twin Sports an d Buell Lig htnin g Series races and for taking a sixth-place finish in EBC Brakes Spo rt Bike a bo a rd hi s H a l' s H a rl ey -Da v id s on m a ch in e s . Shawn Co nrad and Brian Parri ott, w ho won th e EBC Bra kes Sport Bike fina l, earned $2000 wi th a pair of podiu m finish es each. . Billy Graef nail ed th e holeshot on his Buell 1200 to lead th e EBC Brakes Sport Bike pack into turn one on the 2.8-mil e Buttonwill ow cou rs e, but James Ran dolph qu ick ly drove into the lead w hen Graef went wide in tu rn tw o. By the end of the firs t lap, Brian Parriott had moved up to m ou nt a challenge fo r th e lea d . Graef hung on in third, ahead of Bryan Kovari ck. Randolph and Parriott beg an pulling away as Graef had his hand s full hold ing off Ko varick a n d a cl osing Bria n Liven good . On th e fou rth la p, Pa rriott m o ved a ro u nd Randol ph for the lead and Graef fell victim to passes by Kovarick and Liven good. On th e fifth la p, Liven good moved into th e thi rd -pla ce spo t as Pa rri ott bega n s tr etc h ing a margin o ve r Ra ndolp h. Th ose top three positions we re held to th e en d of th e 13-lap, 35- m ile race. Livengood 's show po sit io n was good enough to put him in front of the EBC Brakes Sport Bike poi nts sta ndings wit h 79 poi nt s. After fini sh ing th e race in the sixth spot, Gr aef m oved int o second wi th 59 po ints. Graef kept his perfect season ali ve in the Har ley clas s, wi nn ing his third race of the yea r. Graef had clearly master ed th e track , as he pulled away fro m the start wit h laps two seconds qu icker than the rest of the field . Dayt ona Beach H-D' s Richi e Morris and Newcastl e H -D' s Brian Bodi ne follow ed Gra ef in to tu rn o ne a t the sta rt. Grae f put a sa fe d ist an ce be tw een himself and Morris right aw ay, and Morris pu lled out a ga p over Bod ine. Sha w n Co nrad had to start from the back of the grid because of a horsepower violation in his heat race, but he w asted no time moving up on Bodin e to cha llenge for third . Conrad finall y made his move on the eigh th lap in the n in e-la p ra ce and m o ved in to th ird . M orris, who had cra shed hard on Friday and was nursing a swollen ha nd , slo w ed just enough to let Co nrad reel him in, and Conrad's H MC Racing Sportster dra fted past for se co n d ju s t fee t in front of th e check ered flag . Co nr ad was first off the line in the Buell race, bu t it wa s Grae f in fro nt by th e end of th e o pe n ing la p , w it h Va lley Racing' s Brian Conley in third . Both Gra ef and Conrad estab lished the m s elv es im med ia te ly in th e fro n t tw o s po ts as th ey bo th rod e so li ta ry races fo r most of th e nin e la ps . The battle for third wa s the tightest race, with Conley, Morris and Bodine raci ng in a tight group. Morris go t up in to third on the seco nd lap and held it u ntil he w ent off the track on the last la p and d ropped back to fifth. Co nley moved up to take the final podium finish. Graef lea ds th e Buell cha m pion ship sta nd ings wi th 102 poi nts. Conley sits in seco nd with 88 . Fourth-place finish er ' Bodine is third w ith 78. Th e I AS B 125cc GP cl a s s go t its thi rd w inn er in as man y races as Rod ney Fee top ped a 19-rid er field at Butto nwillow. Vicky Jackso n-Bell, making her first NASB start of the year, grabbed the holes hot but was passed by Rolando Quintero , which gave him the lead after o ne lap, w it h Jackson- Bell second a nd Fee third . Fee m oved to the front o n lap tw o, wi th Jackson-Bell holding on to second a head of Qui n te ro , w ho d ropped o u t one lap later with mech an ical probl em s. Carlos Neves m oved up to thi rd , and the top three po sit ion s were held to the end . Toby Jorgen sen , wi nne r of the last ro und at Road Am eri ca, fini shed fourth. LaV aug h n M ontgo m ery, who had co me into the Buttonwillow race w it h th e points lead ; had a miserabl e w eekend, w ith mech an ical grem lins kn ocking her ou t of Saturday's heat ra ce a/ld Sund ay' s fina l. Ste wart Ait ken -Cad e, w ho fin ished seventh, took o ve r th e points lea d w ith 80. Montgomery held o n to second in the stand ings wi th 73. Quintero is third with 68. it, A fter earnin g th e p ol e p osit ion in qu alifying for both th e Sunoc o GTO and GTU classes, Pa rriott se t hims elf up as the man tobeat d uring Sunda y's finals. In the 'GTU class, Pa rri ott chased early lea d er Rand o lp h fo r a la p a nd a half before moving in front. But the pass di d not stick, as he we nt down on th e sa me lap wh il e und er pressu re from Ra nd olph. Brian Liven good moved up to seco nd an d was ru nning la p times equal to Rand olph' s, wit h a small ga p be tween the fro nt-ru nning pair. A crash involvi ng M arc Sherw ood and James Pr in ce o n la p four broug ht ou t a red flag and a rest art. j either rid er was inju red , bu t th ey both mi ssed the rest art with broken and bent machines. Randolph and Livengood moved to the fron t right away when the race go t ba ck under w ay , wi th Liven good passin g for the lead thr ee times going into turn one . He mad e it stick with his final a tte m pt right after the w hi te flag and beat Rand olp h to the finish line by a second and a half -. Bryan Kova rick finis hed thi rd. r Jeff Sho rt won the GTO class on Su nda y, going wire to wire w ith a com fo rtable mar gin over Parriott, w ho d ro pped back fro m seco nd to fourth mid ra ce before workin g back u p to second by the finis h. Mark Ledesma finished third . Led es ma was also a winner o n the' weekend . earni ng the victory in the GT Lights final o n Sa tu rday afternoon. Joe Carillo was second; Bill Wachholder fin1:\ ished third. Buttonwillow Race way Park Buttonwillow, Californ ia Res ults : July 4-5, 1998 ERC SPT /BK: 1. Bria n Parriott (H'o n) ; 2. Jam es Randolp h (Su z): 3. Brian Livengood (Su z): 4. Bryan Kovarick (Suz ); 5. Mike Noschese (Yam) . H-D TW SPT: 1. Billy G r.lef ; 2. Shawn Conr",d;,3~ Richie Morris; 4. Brian Bod ine; 5. Micha el Fribe rg. BUELL LIGHT NING, 1. B;lIy G raef; 2. Shawn Co nrad; 3. Bria n Con ley: 4. Bri a n Bodine; 5. Rich ie Moms. ' ARC G P: I. Rodney Fee (Ho n); 2. Vicky jackso nBell (Hu n); 3. Ca r lo!' Ne ves (Ho n): 4. Toby jorge nsen (H e n ): 5. Gav in Seekamp (Hon). S UNOCO GTO : 1. jeff Short (Suz): 2. Brian Pa rrio tt (Hon): 3. Mark Ledesma (KdW); 4 . Bru ce Gross.. (5u z ); 5. Bryan Kova rick (502) . SUNOCO GTU: 1. Bria n Livengood (5uz) ; 2. james Randol p h (Suz): 3. Bryan Kovarick (5uz) ; 4. Kris Cl ubb (Ka w). 5. David Mcl'herson (Kaw). I SUNOCO GT LIGHTS, I. Ma r~ L..'

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