Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

David McGrath came away from the Road Atlanta round of the NASB Cycle Fest with a victory in the EBC Brakes Sport Bike final, but he still trails Brian Livengood in the se ries point standings, .Gibbs went straight from the podiu m for the EBC Brakes Sport Bike race to the sta rting grid for th e Sunoco GTO race a n d apparently kept hi s a d re na li ne pumping as he ran away to a 14-second win in th e race. Jona than Bolto n gave chase for the first six laps before he blew his motor and pulled off the track. The Sunoco GTU race, held ear lier in the day , w as a preview of the top runners for th e EBC con test. In th e end it was a th ree-r id er ba tt le, w ith Gibbs , Harrin gton and Livengood dici ng ' from start to finish . On the last lap, Ha rri ngton moved in front of Gibbs and as the two fought for the' lead spot, Liveng ood used th e double-bik e draf t to swoop past and take the wi n. Jason, Clay' s ye llow Amateur p late looked ou t of place on the starting line for the Sunoco GT Lights race and had I ra ce watch ers really scra tchi ng the ir head s when he bro ke to the front early and ran away fro m the field of Expe rt riders . At the finish, he had an 11-second lead ove r s eco n d -p la ce fi n is he r l~ Sean McNew. ' -By Jenn ifer Gardi ner File photos by Br ian Nelson BRASELTON, GA. AUG. 30 o u th Caro li na 's David McGrath fu r t her pro ved during th e EBC Brake s Sp o r t Bik e final a t Road Atlanta that it's not where you start the race, but wh er e you finish it that counts. After all, it was Mike Ciccotto w ho gra bbed tw o holesh ots in the red -flagin terrupted EBC Brakes Spo rt Bike race at Road Atlanta, but the record books will only show him with a 19t h-place finish - well behind McGrath. At the origi na l start of the race, Cicco t to go t o ff the line a hea d o f Brian Livengood, McGrath and Brian Gibbs. Gibbs, though , was in fro nt by the end of the first lap, but the race was stop ped on lap thr ee wh en Bud Lawter cras hed in tum 12. On the rest art, it was Cicco tto once a g a in in front o f Li v eng o od a n d McGra th . That didn't las t long, as Ciccotto we nt tu mbling off the track on lap three, and Gibb s took ov er the lead wit h McGrath, Livengood and Todd Harringto n all rig ht on his heels. By the n the front-running foursome had brok en free of the rest of th e field , though no one within the gro up see med to have mu ch of an ad vantage. McG rath moved to the front on lap four a nd while he was th e official la p lead er fo r the res t o f th e rac e, Gi bbs moved by a coup le of times on the back sectio n of th e track, on ly to surrend er the lead pos ition befor e the start / finish line. For the last cou ple of laps in the 11lap race, Gibbs, Ha rrington and Livengood all swapped position s. At the finish lin e , it was McGrath le a d in g Harrington and Gibbs. For the fi rst tim e thi s yea r, Billy Graef did no t win the Harley Sportster race, but it wasn't throu gh lack of effor t S ' ~ ~ , , t.:: 66 on his part, as he had a race-long battle w it h eve n tua l w inner Mike Cicco tto . Thr ough mu ch of the nine-lap race, the pair cres ted the hill to charge tow ard the final turn side by side, wit h both rid ers taking turns in the lead spot at one point or another . Brian Bodine ra n a lon e in th ird through the first part of the race before being pas sed by Shawn Conrad on la p four. Conrad ended up third at the end . Bodine' s fourth -pl ace finis h wa s good enough to keep him in second place in the series point standings, behind Graef. It was Ciccotto's first start in the class this year, but he mentioned in the winner's circle that he would stick with it for the final two races at Homestead and Daytona. Buell Lightning poin ts leader Grae f had to mak e an eng ine cha nge before the start of the race and chose to start fro m th e b a ck of th e 13- ri d er fi eld ins tead of his ea rned s tarting position on the front row . It may not have mad e a dif feren ce, as pole sitter Chad Healy bro ke away fro m the field at the sta rt and neve r looked back on his way to his first win in the series:' Richie Morris challenged Healy early in the race u nti l his ai r clean er came off on the sixth lap. He held the runner-up spot for one more lap un til he go t reeled in by Shawn Conrad on lap eight. Morris held on for third . Graef sta rted slow, bu t once he got comfortabl e with his new engine, he began to make up time. He wasable to pa ss his way u p toward the fron t, bu t the slow start was too mu ch to ov er come an d he finished the race in fou rt h, ahead of Brian Conley. Graef continues to lead the series stand ings over Conley and Brian Bod ine. Bu ttonwi llow HRC Ind em itsu 125cc GP ra ce winner Rodney Fee made the trek from California to Geo rgia to record his second win of the season . Unlike his runaway victory on the West Coast, he had his hands full throu gh out this one, w it h Mike Himmelsbach passing him several times on the back section of the course . Ro lan do Quinter o ,w a s w ell b ack from the lead duo, but also well ahead o f a tig h t ba ttle for four th between La Vaug h n Mont gom ery and C h r is Pyles. It was Pyles' first start of the year, but he clearl y has been developing his GP racing talen ts in local com petition, as he held his grou nd to the end, finishing . fourt h on the day. O hi o' s Stewart Ait ke n -Ca d e had a di sappointing eig hth- p lac e finish, but was still ab le to hold on to a slight lead in the series point stand ings . Mon tgo mery, w h o ha d th e le ad before her forgetful weekend at Buttonwillow, closed to w ithi n tw o points of th e lea der. Q ui n te ro is third , another th ree poin ts back. Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: August 30, 1998 ERC SPT / BI( : 1. Dav id McGrath (5u z) ; 2. Todd Ha rr in g to n (5 uz ); 3 . Bri an G ib b s (S uz ): 4 . Bria n Liven good (Suz); 5. Kris O ub b (Kaw). H ~D TW SI'T: 1. Mike Ciccotto; 2. Billy Graef; 3. Sha wn Co nrad; 4, Bria n Bod ine; 5. Kris Clubb. BUELL LIGHTN IN G, 1. C had Hea ly; 2. Shawn Conrad; 3. Richie Morri s: 4. Billy Graef; 5. Brian Conley. HRC G P: 1. Rodney Fee (H e n ): 2. Mike Hi m mels bach (Hon ); 3. Rolan d o Qu in tero (He n): 4. LaVau gh n Mon tgomery (Ho n);5. Chris Pyles (He n). SUNOCO GTO: 1. Brian Gibbs (Su z): 2. Kevin H un t (5 uz ); 3. Richard Con ile ll i ( He n): 4. Da vtd McGrath (Suz): 5. M ark Ed wards (Suz). SUNOCO GTU: 1. Brian Livengood (Suz); 2. Brian Gibbs (Suz ): 3. Todd Harrin gton (Ka w); 4. Kris Clubb (Kaw); 5. Richard Corulelli (Hon ). SUNOCO GT LIGHTS: 1, ja so n Cla y (Ya m): 2. Sea n McNe w (Hun); 3. Ron Per ry (Yam); 4. Pau l Wright t (Yam); 5. Brad Duncan (Yam). Rodney Fee made the trip east from California well worth it by winning the HRCGrand Prix by Idemitsu final on his World Sports Honda,

• Cover