Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127968
ROAD RACE WERAGRAND NATIONAL FINAL By Cary Luri e Photos by Andy Chadwell BRASELTON, GA, OCT. 18 oad Atla nta's new ly renovated f) 2.54 -m ile r oad co u rse h o sted rou nd 10 of the WERA Natio nal Cha llenge Series as par t of the WERA p ra n d N a ti o nal Fin a ls , a nd se ve ral champ ionships were yet to be d ecid ed . Arclight Suzuki's Mark McDaniel dominat ed the seas on with thr ee indi vidual WERA N a tio na l C ha m pions hi ps : the 1100cc Su pe rs toc k Se r ies, th e GMD C omp utra ck / A t la n ta Formu la One Series, a nd the Michelin 750cc Supers tock Seri es. McDa niel th en went ou t and finished the season with a victory in the fina l ro u nd of th e Michelin 750cc Superstock Series. "T he 750 Su perstock is th e o ne I wan ted ," McDaniel sa id. "It's the most important to me." Still u p for grabs was the Me tzele r 600cc Superstock Series title . Gulfport, Mississippi's Josh Hayes, on his Valvoline Emgo Suzuki GSX-R600, carried a narrow lead into the fina l round over loca l racer Brian Lan tz, ri d ing h is Kawasaki ZX6R. Jumpi ng to the lead early, Hayes stretched h is ad van tage over Ves rah Suzuki rider Mar k Ju nge and La ntz . Texas rid e r Ty H o w ard cras hed in turn five on the seco nd lap, w hile fellow GSX-R600-mounted David Rose passed bo th Lan tz a nd Junge for seco nd place. Lan tz and Jun ge ba ttled for thir d , w ith several passes occurring on each lap. M e a nw h ile , H a y es co n ti n ued to stre tch ou t his lead over Rose. The battle ' for . thi rd h eated up w h en 1-800 CROTCH ROCKET' s Roger Lee Hayd en ra n d ow n La n tz a nd Junge with tw o lap s to go. On the final lap , the I5-yearo ld yo u nger broth er of N ic ky a n d Tomm y Ha yd en pu sh ed h is Su z uki GSX-R600 in to the fray, forci ng Lan tz ill out wide in turn 10 and killing both riders' drives . Junge slipped past bo th of them and held on for third behind Rose. Hayes took the win and th e Me tzeler 600cc Superstock Series Na tional Cha mpions hip. "This is great," Ha yes said . "This was a d ogfi gh t all ye a r w ith Brian (Lan tz) and Mark (Junge). I reall y wanted th is one." The WERA For mu la Two Series also ca m e t o t h e fin a l roun d wit h out a crowned cha mpion. No rth Carolina' s Hond a RS250-mounted Lee Acree flew th e banner for th e tw o-strokes w h ile . battling the four-s troke Kawasaki ZX6R of La ntz. Acree qu ickly established the (Top) Mark McDan iel (36) wanted to win the 750cc Supe rs tock final at Road Atlanta and he did just that, (Right) Josh Hayes celebrates a successful weekend of racing. Hayes won three races and factored into several others. (Below) Roger Lee Hayden (69) leads Hayes (11), Owen Weichel (8) and Kenneth ' Snyder In the Suzuki Cup 600cc fina l. , .--< .--< ~ OJ ..0 a OJ :> o Z 23