Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

It was Cicco tto once again out front , with Roeder , H igbee and Texter all within about th ree bike lengths of each other. Formed up just behind was a trio led by Bartel's H-D 's Shaun Russell, follow ed by Gra ef and Barnes. The shuffling out front began going onto the banking and d idn't end until th ey were clear round to turn one on the final lap. Hi gbee and Ciccotto were side by side w it h Higbee holding it on just enough longer to re-establish himself as th e lead e r - Roed er and Texte r were now just far enoug h bac k to be nonfactor s for the w in. The lea d pa ir r a ced through th e in fie ld int o th e Wes t End Horseshoe, where Ciccotto crashed, handing the win to Higbee and the final podium spot to th e wi nn er of the Roed er-Texter duel. His spill would cause Roed er to back off slightly, after he nearly got caug h t up in it. Then it would be Texter at the line by a bo u t a foot, a fter taking second and then losing it go ing into the chicane. "Tha t' s probably th e mo st fun I've had racing in a while," Higbee said. "I really feel like I w as ha vin g to rid e the bike to its limits eve ry lap. Every one was rid ing real good . 1 had to w ork reall y hard to ge t around Mike (Ciccotto). He was rea lly putting a lot of pr essure on me on the last lap until he wen t down." After the photo finish for second, Texter sa id : " 1 had no idea if I was second or third go ing across the line. Ciccotto wen t down and slowed up Jess just enough for me to catch up to his d raft." " He was putt ing up a go ? d fig h t," Roed er sa id . "They we re killing me in the horseshoes. That's some thing I've got to wo rk on. Wh en Cicco tto went d own, 1 had to ge t off it. He about took my front wheel out. That' s racing . Sh aw n w as gone. There's no doubt about it." Ru ss ell ended up in fo u rt h, with Gra ef fifth in front of Pfromrn, the German who w a s a boa rd the Low Co u n try's H-D mount. Graef jum ped to the fron t of the second ra ce, with Higbee ba ck in fifth at the start but in second by the time they hit th e b anking . H e w a s soo n in the lead . He and Graef left the field , then Higbee left Graef and was gone. He completed the seven-lap, 25-mil e race in 15 minutes, 25.474 second s at an average speed of 96.236 mph. It was the faster of the two races. G raef w as e m b ro ile d in a conflict with Ciccotto a nd Barnes, riding the Bartel' s H-D, with Texter and Roed er jus t behind . The trio con testing second was soon join ed by the pair fightiI]g for fifth, so it becam e a five-rid er pa ck that was swapping spots in every corner. Cicco tto was mostly able to stay ou t front, though Roeder displaced h im on the fifth lap befo re Ciccot to took it back. Meanwh il e , Graef was wai ti n g and plann ing, dropping as far back as fifth on the penultimate lap, a spot he was in no hurry to improve on . Starting the fina l lap, H igbee was way out fron t; then carne Barnes in fron t of Ciccotto, Texter, Roed er and Graef. Roeder d rafted h is way into second into the chicane, wit h Graef not making his move prematurely . Instea d , he'd wait until the final run to the flag, wh en he'd u se the draft of the other four rid ers' to take second. Ciccotto carne along to take third, followed by Texter a nd Roed er, wit h Barnes back in sixth. Daytona H-D's Mo rri s was aione in seventh, as was Jim 's Harl ey-Davidson of St. Petersburg's Scott Korol in eighth. Brian Bod ine and Micha el Friberg filled out the top 10. 0 (Right) Dominic Aubrey (413) leads Jason Clay (16) and eventual winner Greg Doney (hidden) at the start of the GT Lights final. A five-rider pack fought for almos t the full distance before Doney was able to edge Clay and Aubrey. (Below right) Shawn Higbee leads Billy Graef on his way to beating him in the s eco nd of three Harley-Davidso n races. Graef ended up s econd. Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Result s: October 31-November 1, 1998 • HARLEY·DAVIDSON TW IN SPORTS RACE ONE: 1. Shawn Higbee; 2. Randy Texter; 3. Ics s Roede r. -I. Sha un Russcl k S. Billy Graef; 6. Thomas Pfro mm ; 7. [cff Jo h ns on . 8. Sco tt Korol; 9. Mi c ha el Fri berg; 10. Rich ie Mor ris; I I . Matthe w Je n se n; 12. Devi n Bar tley: 13, Billy Man or: 14, C uy Edward s; 15. Nic ho la s Ca lig u ri ; 16. Mike C icco tt o; 17 , Mich a el Ba rnes; 18.,Shawn Conrad; 19. Frank Stroma n: 20. Brian B odine . 21. AI.lIl Eadie. Ti me: 15 mi n.. 33.031 S4..'C. Dista nce: Sev en 1,1pS, 25 miles Averag e speed: 96.151 mph Marg in of victory: 2.943 sec. RACE TWO: 1. Shawn Higbee; 2. Billy Graef; 3. Mike C icco t to : 4. Ra nd y Texter; 5. Je ss Ro eder: 6. Michael Barnes; 7. Richie Murri s; 8. Scutt Koro l; 9. Brian Bodine : to. Michael Fribe rg; 11, [cff Ioh nson: 12. Guy Ed war ds ; 13. Mat the w Ie nseru 14. Dev in Bartley: 15. Billy Manor: 16. Thoma s Pfromm ; 17. Shaun Russell; 18. Sha wn Conrad . Time: 15 min., 25.474 sec. Dista nce Seven laps, 25 miles Average speed: 96.936 mph Ma rgi n of victory : 10.574 Sl.-C . ' HARL EY"DAVIDSON TW IN S PORTS WORLD FINALS STANDINGS: 1. Shawn Higbee (70/2 wins); 2. Randy Texter (60); 3. Billy Graef (58); 4. Jess Roeder (56); 5. Scott Korol (46); 6. (TIE) Mike Ciccotto / Richie Morri s (45); 8. Jeff Johnso n (44); 9. Michael Friberg (43); 10. Sha u u Russelt (42); 11. Thomas Pfru mm (40); 12. Michael Barnes (39); 13. Matthew Jensen (38); 14. (TIE) Guy Edwa rds / Devin Batt ley (36); 16. Billy Manor (34); 17. Bria n Bodine (33) ; 18. Shawn Co nra d (26 ); 19. N icholas Ca liguri (16); 20. Frank Stroman (]2) . NS A BSunoco R ceFuelsGT Lights Series a F R inal ound: D ytonaInternational Speedw y a a Doner at the end By Henny Ray Abrams DA¥rONA BEACH, FL, NOV. 1 r eg Do n e y held th e Su noc o Race Fue ls GT Lights' lead for the least amount o f tim e, but his reign at th e front included the trip ac ross t h e finish line - whi ch h e crossed jus t ahead of a fight for second place to take his first cla ss win of the yea r. Doney took advan tage of a mental error by second -placed Ja son C la y , who'd led a lead pa ck of five early on before drop p ing back to fourth and then recover ed to take bac k th e lead on the final la p. Doney tho ught th ey w ere o n th e white-flag lap when in fact they w ere on t he fina l lap , so h e tim ed hi s move . badly. "What a race," Clay said. "It was a mess. I thought we had an other lap to go, so I was setting up Greg (Doney ) for a las t- la p p a s s . Bu t when I s a w th e checkers, I knew it was too la te to d o anything." " It was a har d race - a bunch of fas t guys. It was close all the way," sa id G third- placed Dominic Aubry, who'd set fast time in qu alifyin g. It was close all the wa y. Righi from the start, it wa s clear there wer e five fast guys among the 19-rid er field, and there was n 't one a mo ng them who could dominate. Aubry was right up there, along with Clay and Doney, as well as Christopher Boy and Philip Digregorio. They were on a h odgepodge of equipme nt , as th e rules allow. Do ne y was on a Honda Hawk 700, Clay was on a Ya ma ha 560, Aubry w a s aboard a Honda H awk 650, Boy rode a Ducati 750, and Digr egorio was on a Yamaha 400. . Au bry led lap on e, Clay laps two and three, Aubry was back in front for lap four, a nd th en Boy ran to the front , where he'd be on the fif th, s ixth and seven th laps - but not the entire seventh lap. Boy tu cked th e fro nt end on his Du cati in turn one on the fina l lap, relinquis hin g t h e lea d a nd ne a rly tak in g Sherry Dowling down with hi m. By no w, Digregorio was also out. Th e le ad th ree ex it ing the infield were Clay, Doney a nd Aubry, w it h a gap to Dowling, the n a bigger gap back to Sean McNew. On the run out of the chicane, it wa s Don ey using the draft to take the wi n from Clay and Aubry. His margin of victory was .354 of a second , and he comp leted th e se venla p, 25-mile race in 15 m in utes, 5.061 seconds at an a ver age speed of 99.123 mph. . " I 'm glad to d o so well after my crash yesterday," Doney sai d . . The title belonged to sixth-p laced finisher .Bill Wacholder on the Hamel Tool & Die Suzuki 400. He endsthe year with 161 points - 26 ahead of Ron Perry, who cras hed ou t on the second lap after qua lifying second . Doney en d s the year in third wit h 93 points. Behind Wacho ld er ca me Lav e rdamounted Cha rles Sander, just ahead of Yamaha 250-mounted Paul Wright. Th e Honda 650s of Ma rk Reyno lds a n d Brian Gregory fi lle d ou t th e top 10. C~ Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: November 1, 1998 (Round 6 of 6) SU Noeo GT LIG HTS, 1. Greg Don ey (He n): 2. Jason O.lY (Yam); 3. Domin ic Aubry (Hun); 4. She rry Dow li ng (Ke w ): 5 . Sea n Mc N e w IHo n) : 6. Bill w a ch old er (Su z): 7 . C ha r les Sa nder (La v): 8. Pa ul Wrig h t (Ya m ); 9. Mark Reyno ld s [He n) : 10. Brian Gr egory (H o n): 11. Brnd Dodd s (Yam) ; 12. Ge ra ld You ng (Hen), 13. Gar y Scilli a (Suz): 14. Scott Jo nes (Ha n); 15. Guenther Weickert (Du e); 16. Harold Hillar d (Yam); 17. Christopher Boy (Due); 18. Phillip Digr egorio (Ya m); 19. Sung:Ho Kim (Yam). "'C• Ti rne: 15 nun ., 5.061 St. D istance : Sewn la ps, 25 mile s Average speed: 99.123 m ph Margin of victory: 0.354 sec. SUNOeO GT LIG HTS C'S HIP POINT STAN DINGS (Afte r 6 of 6 ro unds ): 1. Bill w achold cr 061/1 wi n); 2. Ro n Pe rry (135) ; 3. Greg Don e y (9 3 / 0 ; 4 . Mark Reynolds (qo ); 5. Sean McNe w (88); 6. Sherry Dowli ng (83); 7. Mark Morrow (73 ); 8. Jason Cla y (67/1 ); 9. Do mi n ic A ub ry (62); to. Sco tt Jones (62 ); 11. (TIE ) Dun ca n Far asb / Gerald You ng (52); 13. Pa ul Wr ig ht (51); 14. Char les Sand er (47); 15. Brian Surtees (44); 16. (TIE) Chad Healy / Bred Dod ds (39); 18. David Watson (38); 19. (TIE) Chris toph er Bay/ Mark Ledesma (35/ 1). ,...... ~ ,- .... OJ .c S OJ > o z 13

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