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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127968
ROAD RACE' CCS RACE OF C HAMPIONS (Left) Eric Wood gets his knee down in the grass while leading Todd Harrington in the Sunoco Fuels GTU class. Wood took the win, with Harrington finish ing second. (Above) David McGrath had reason to ce lebrate after taking the GTO class final, his second class win on the day at Daytona. (Below) Billy Graef leads David McGrath in the Buell Lightning final at Daytona. Graef won the race and the series title, with McGrath failing to finish. ,..... ,..... ~ l-< C.J ..0 E C.J :> o Z 10 giving it up, he wasn't giving anyone any hope that they might take it from him. . So fro m th e th ird la p o n, this cla ss belo n g e d t o Er ic Wood, a n d th e Kawa sa ki rid er w ou ld ta ke that lead right to th e checke re d flag . He w ould get there 3.352 seco nds in fro n t of 4&6 Cycle's Todd Harrington. "We had a really grea t bike," Wood sa id after his second win in th e clas s; h e'd won the season opene r h ere in March . "All I had to do is ho ld o n for the rid e. It was fairly easy." At least he coul d hold on . Mike Luk e had taken the ea rly lead, but he crashed in tu rn one w hile in the midst of a furi ou s four- rider scr ap. That occu rred at the start of th e second lap, and it gave the lea d to H arrin gt on . Wood wa n te d it wo rse, th ough, an d after crossin g the line three wide to end the second lap, he held it on longer than the oth ers in to turn one to take control. He br iefly relinquish ed the point on the second lap but was back ou t fro nt for good o n th e th ird lap, gra d ually easing away right to the end of the se venlap, 25-mile race . Harringt o n was second for muc h of th e ra ce , but he was u nder consta nt p ressu re fro m 16-year-old Ryan La nders. Th e Suzuki rid er ha d led a t o ne point before slo tti ng in behind Harrin gton , whom he was able to chase until the very final stages of the race, when Ha r- ' ri ng to n ga i ne d the s lig h tes t b i t of breathing room . "H ey, th at wa s fas t," the Kaw asak imoun ted Harringt on sa id . "Eric (Wood) really ha d some horsepower on me an d ma de it tough. But it was a good race." "(Th a t was) the fas test I' ve go ne all weekend," Landers said. "Eric jus t sort of took off from us there. I tried to stav u p the re with those guys, but I couldn;t hold on." The pac k beh ind the lead er was tight fo r a few laps , a n d th en it q uic kly s p re ad o u t. Brian Livengood , w ho'd already w rap ped up the class title, tan g led with Kris Cl ubb th e whole w ay , get ting th e better of him in the end . Kaw asaki-mounted Club b was fifth . Th e n ca rne Kawa saki rid er Ja m es Milroy Jr. by himself. M an ny M an u sutha ki s p a s s ed Ed wa rd Bar toli on the fina l la p for seventh, wi th a pair of Hondas belon gin g to Gabriel Henning and Mark Law son filling ou t the top 10. Livengood ends th e six- ra ce se ries with 181 points - 54 more than Clu bb , w ho, in turn, has 25 on Wood. l~ Daytona International Spee dway Daytona Beac h, Florida Res ults : November 1, 1998 (Rou nd 6 of 6) SUNOCO GTU : 1. Eri c Woo d (Ka w): 2. Tod d Ha rri n gton (Ka w ): 3. Ryan Land ers (Suz ): 4, Bria n Livengood (Suz): 5. Kris Clubb (K"w ); 6. James Milroy Jr. (Kaw) : 7. Emanuel Manusu thakis (Kaw j: 8. Ed ward Bartoli ISuz.): 9. Gabriel Henn ing (Hen) : 10. Mark Law son (H on} : 11. Iep Pal mou r (Kaw) : 12. Byr o n Barbour (Suz ): 13. John Bo wman (He n) : 14 . Jim Dicken son (Su z) ; 15. Mich ae l Fitz pat ric k (Kaw): 16. Wood row Cepharg (Han); 17. Davie Mcl' berson ( Kaw): 18. Mark McConnick ( Kaw): 19. Ken Stafford (Hon): 20. Lan e Bent sen (Suz): 21. Geoffrey Mal on ey (He n): 22. Thomas Son nenberg (Suz); 23. Wa yne W.l tts (Suz) : 24. Jeff Coo per (Suz); 25. James Prin ce C Hon); 26. Mik e Luke .. (Kaw). Time: 13 m in., 57.141 M.. . 'C Distance : Seven laps, 2S miles Average speed: 107.165 mph Margin of victory: 3.352 Sl.' C. • SUNOCO GTU C' SH IP POI NT STANDINGS (Afl. r 6 of 6 ro u n ds) : 1. Brian Livengood (181/2 wins ); 2. Kris Clu bb (1 27); 3. Eric Wood (102 /2) ; 4. (T IE) Todd Har rin gt o n / Davi d McPh erso n (97/1); 6. Clint Bre tz (95); 7. Mark Lawso n (88); &. Michael Fitzpa trick 187); 9. Emanuel Ma nu su tha kis (82) 10. James Pri nce (79); 11. Jim Dickenson (74); 12. Mark McCorm ick (58); 13. John • Bowman (56); 14. Geo ffrey Maloney (46); 15. Gab riel He nning (H ) ; 16. j os eph G ill (ol3); 17 . (T IE) Mark Jun ge /Br yan Barbour (35/1) ; lQ. (T IE) Ja mes Randolph /Brian Gibbs/Bobb y Ludlum (32). NASB/Sunoco Race F GTO Series uels Final Round: Daytona International Speedway McGrath's secondo' the dar By Henny Ray Ab ram s DAYTONA BEACH, FL, NOV. J W S M o to rs p o r ts ' David Mc G rath s tarted on the po le p ositi on fo r the Sunoco Race Fue ls GTO class. It wasn't long, tho ug h, before he found himself in fift h pl ace, with th e lead er, New England Perform ance' s John Sche ehser, d isappearing in to the d istance. . McGrath was patient. O n th e third lap he made up tw o spo ts, moving up to th ir d ; th en he sto rmed in to second o n th e fourth lap and in to the lead on the fifth. Fro m ther e Scheehse r had no answer and, despite racing his Suzuki GSX-R750 K aga inst the more pow erfu l Yamaha R-l o r Scheehser, M cGrath was ab le to motor away, with a little help fro m traffic, to tak e his second win of the day to go with his EBC Brakes Sport Bike title. " I tell you what: I could get used to this ," McGrath sa id . " It has been a fantastic weekend for me this weekend." Indeed it was, but it didn' t co me easily. McGra th watched earl y as Scheehser wen t by Jamie Bo wman fo r th e lead , with Rue Racing's John Ash mead right in the mi x' and G rig g Ele ctri c' s St ev e Grigg fill ing o u t th e to p four on hi s Mu zzy Raptor 850. Scheehse r loo ked like he wa s ge tting away until As hmea d drew him in on the fourt h lap w hile McGrath wa s now u p to third . It w asn 't just those two closi ng in - the w ho le pack was. An d they'd ca tch him. McGr ath d id so firs t, on the insi de enteri ng the International Horseshoe on the fifth of seven la ps. Scheehser used his decided horsepower advantage to close righ t u p in the chicane, but he d idn 't ge t by - though he would continue his pu rsuit. It was the sa me on the fina l lap , but th is tim e McG rath again used tr affi c, and it was enough to secu re his win. " Its bee n n u m be r t wo for u s all weekend ," Scheehser said . "We go t into so me traffic in th e chicane and (Dave) go t away fro m me. [ th ough t we had it in the bag, but I can' t com plain." Grigg moved u p on As hme ad in the chicane on the fina l lap, with Ashmea d goi ng low in NASCAR turn four to try to avoid the inevitable draft-pa ss, whi ch he cou ld n't d o, and Gri gg had his third . Ashmead was fourt h. Then there was