Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROADNDNATIONAL RACE W GA ERA R F INAL (Left) Hayes (11). Hayde n, Weichel (8) and the rest of the pack race thr ough t he esses at Road Atlanta. (Abov e) Tray Batey ran with Hayes in the 11OOcc Suzuki f inal until he crashed out of the race . (Below left ) Lee Acree wo n t he Formula Two Expert fin al on his Honda RS250. lead fr om th e beginning o f the ra ce. Stretching a nea rly eig ht-second adv antage over fellow RS250-mou n ted Ryan Lande rs, Acree cruised to the wi n and the champ ions hip. The 1998 125cc Gra n d Pr ix Seri es proved to be the Michael Himm elsbach Show . With ni ne victories in 10 rac es, Hi mmelsb ach decisively d efend ed his 1997 125cc Grand Prix Na tiona l Cha mpionsh ip. Me a n whil e, TK O Ra cin g ' s Luke Yarbro ugh dominated the newest class of the WERA National Challenge Series: the Heavyweight Twi ns Expert Series. Acq ui ri ng a n ew Su zuki TL1000 R a t mid season, Yarbroug h ran off a string of five succ essive victories, includ ing one in the fina l round - despi te suffe ring a broke n foo t in th e ea rlier endurance race. Th e 13th annual Suzuk i Cu p Finals pro v id ed th e fi re wor ks fo r W ERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta . The trad ition con tinued, with Suzuki pitting the top Suzu ki racers in the United States and Ca na da in head-to-head competition. New to this season, Suzuki regul at ed the horsepower and weig ht of each class to le vel the pla ying fiel d . Dynojet was on hand to tes t for ho rsepow er at the postrace tech inspection. Val vo line Emgo Suz uki 's H a ye s d efended his 1997 titl e by winning the 1998 1100cc Suzuki Cup Fina l Champio ns h ip, a nd add ed the 600cc Su zuki Cu p Final Ch ampionshi p. With a second-place finish to Jamie Bowm an in the 750cc Suzu ki Cu p Final , Ha yes earn ed the lion's share of the pu rse by gra bbing $13,000 in Suz uki Cu p priz e mo ney . Saturda y' s Su zuki Cu p h eat ra ces w ere used to d et ermin e th e grid s fo r Sunday' s fina ls. The 1100cc Suzu ki Cup heat and final pitted teammat es Hayes and Tray Bat ey aga inst each other on tw o dist in ctly d iff e rent ma chines: Hayes' GSX-R11OQ vs. Batey' s TL1000R. Ha yes sec u re d the pol e for Su n day' s final by edging Batey to the line. Vesra h Suz uki's TLlOOOR-mo unted Mark Junge finished third . Sund ay' s 1100 Suzuk i Cup final saw the battle resume between Hayes and Bat ey. H ayes for ced Batey to use th e TL's qu icker hand ling to try to offset the GSX-R's faster top spee d. Batey dogged Hayes for the first half of the race before m a k in g a p a ss fo r th e le a d . H ayes , th ough, q u ickl y draf ted by o n Road A tla n ta's lon g ba ck s tra igh taway . On lap eigh t, in turn one, Hayes' rear tire broke loose on the exit, opening a hole for Batey. The rid er from Galla tin, Tennessee, quic kly slipped pas t Hayes, but just as quickly he los t the rear in turn three. Unab le to recover, Batey cras hed . Hayes cruised to the victory over Junge b y m o re th a n seven seco nds. Hoi stin g th e $5000 chec k overhea d , H a yes a ju bila n t t han ked Bate y fo r a grea t race. "M y goa l is a lways . to b eat T ray," sai d H a y es . " He's always th e m an to b eat o u t here. I'm glad tha t he's all right. " H a ye s a lso d omi nated the 600cc Suz u ki Cup he at race, beating David Rose, Roger Lee Ha yd en and Mike Cic- , .,..... l-< a; ..0 E a; > o z 24 Jam ie Bowman (193) won t he Suzuk i Cup 750cc fin al, to pping Hayes. Here he leads Br ian Gibbs (55) and th e res t of the pack through the famous Road Atlanta esses. Grant Lopez (196) fi ni shed th ird In th e race . cotto to the line by four seconds. Rose's GSX-R600 w as later found to be over th e 95-horsepower limit, and he was relega ted to the back ro w for Sun da y's final. Ha yden grabbed the holeshot in the restarted 600cc Su zuki Cup final , followed closely by Hayes. Canada's Owen Weic he l held third . Haye s quickly passed Hayden an d at tem pted to pull a d isappearing act. Hayd en a nd Wei ch el ba ttled back and fo r th unt il Wei ch el pitch ed h is GSX- R600 to th e pa ve men t in turn seve n. Hayden p u t it on cru ise control b u t wa s r u n d o wn b y Val v ol i n e Emgo' s Grant Lopez . Seesawing fo r the last three laps, Lopez seemed to be in co nt rol hea d in g into the las t la p. Only Hayd en' s last-d itch effo rts sa ved th e runne r-u p s p o t. Lo pez finished th ird . Hayes wo n by nearly seven second s. The 750cc Suzuki Cup final proved to be th e h ard es t-fou gh t con te st. Only Bow m a n wa s able to beat th e Hay es Express . Wh en Saturday' s hea t-ra ce winner, Mark McDan iel, crashed in tum 10 on the th ird lap, Bow ma n wa s th e only rid er left who had a cha nce to best Ha yes. Ca tchin g Hayes at the midway point, Bowm an grabbed the lead, only to lose it again. Ha yes blew h is d rive coming out of tum five on the nin th lap, a nd Bowman cap ita lized on the err or. Taking th e lead and hold ing on to the finish , Bowman broke Hayes' attemp t to become only the seco nd rider to swee p the Suzu ki Cup Finals. Wh ile in the winner's circle, Hayes' father, Kurt, pointed out to Hayes tha t his lower fairing was missin g. As tonish ed , Hayes repli ed : "I didn' t eve n know it was go ne. I thought Jamie bumped me d rafti ng on the back 1';\ straig ht." Road Atl anta Motor Sports Center Braselton. Georgia Resu lts : May 15-18, 1998 1100 5 /STK : 1. Billy Eise nac her (Yam); 2. Jos h Hayes (Suz) : 3. Rich a rd Pacella (Suz): 4. Mark Jun ge (502 ); 5. TI m Bemisderfer (502) . 600 S /S TK : 1. Jos h Ha yes (Suz); 2. Da vi d Ros e (502 ); 3. Mark Junge (Suz); 4. Roger Lee Ha yd en (Suz); 5. Kenneth Snyder (Suz). 750 SISTK: 1. Mark McDaniel (Suz); 2. Josh Hayes (Suz): 3. Mark Ju nge (Suz); 4. Sha n no n Ball (Suz) ; 5. Shane Clarke ISuz). 1100 SUZ CU P: 1. josh Ha yes (Suu; 2. Mark j unge (Suz ): 3. j am es Rand olph (Suz); 4. Mik e d eBrab ant (Suz); 5. luke Yar brou gh

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