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Round One: Daytona International Speedway NASB/EBC SPORTBIKE SERIES a few laps at Willow Springs prior to Daytona. "It starts from the rear and goes into a tank-slapper. It's too dangerous to try to figure out. Pegram was behind me and he could see it yesterday." Wait won one race and was on his way to winning a second when he crashed exiting the chicane in Sunday's Unlimited Grand Prix. ''I'd just pass~d Larry," Wait said, "and Larry was behind me and said I drifted wide. T leaned the right side of the tire on the edge of the dirt. It wasn't like [ lost it going in." Wait came away from the weekend knowing that he was just starting to get to the ba eline he needs to understand the Italian V-twin. '1' m getting a little bit better feel for it," Wait said. "This has been a pretty good test, other than the bike not handling right. Right now, I'm losing a second and a half on the banking." The only thing that could stop Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram in the Expert GTO class would be problems, and they very nearly did. (Above) Mike Ciccotto (11) leads Randy Texter (65) and Chad Healy (5) at the start of the Buell Lightning Series final. Ciccotto beat Texter by 5.181 seconds, with Healy finishing third. (Left) Ciccotto gives the thumbs-up after taking his Low Country H-Dbacked Buell to victory in the Buell Lightning Series final. (Right) Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram leans into the International Horseshoe en route to the Expert Heavyweight Superbike win. Pegram also won the Expert GTO and the Unlimited Grand Prix classes. It wa being waged between Morris.. a Daytona Beach resident, and Hoban Bros. Racing's Jeff Johnson. Morris was U I fourth from the time the pack hit the bankmg the first time and through to the fourth lap, when Johnson made his wa by him. Morris struck back, taking the spot at the S1art of the fifth and final lap, only to be overtaken by Johnson at the end. Brian Bodine was sixth "n the New Castle H-D-sponsored Buell, making a run on fifth before running out of time. Then cam Harley-Davidson Buell of Boston's Mark Reynolds and McGrath. C. Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida . Results: February 28, 1999 (Round 1 of 7) o ~ 16 BUELL LIGHTNING SERIES, 1. Mike Ciccotlo; 2. Randy Texter; 3. Chad Healy; 4. Jeff Johnson; 5. Richie Morris; 6. Brinn Bodine; 7. Mark Reynolds; 8. David McGrath; 9. Curt Ellis; 10. Chris Decelles; 11. Joseph Bennnrdi; 12. Michael Friberg; 13. Jnmes Swecheimer. Time: 10 min., 50.520 sec. Distance: Slaps; 17.8 miles Average speed: 98.506 mph Margin of victory: 5.181 sec Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Elkhart lake, Wisconsin, May 2 Round 3 - Summit Point, West Virginia, May 23 Championship Cup Series Euro~ean • • Invasion By Henny Ray Abrams _ DAYTONA BEACH, FL, FEB. 26-28 orwegian Thorvald Saeby and Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram dominated the three-day Championship Cup Series weekend, though they came away from the races with considerably different outlooks_ Saeby was ecstatic, while Pegram knew there was much work to be done in advance of next week's Daytona 200. Eraldo Ferracci brought his new team of Pegram and Matt Wait to Daytona early, since they hadn't been able to test tires back in December. What he quickly found out was that they were behind the curve and it would take more than this weekend to catch up. Asked what he learned from the N "Yeekend's races, Ferracci was, as always, candid. "That we have a lot of problems," he answered. "There's very Ii ttle selection of tires. They send tires and we don't know what they are. We have a new shock, new tire, new bike, new rider. We have to go back to the basics that worked last year." Ferracci also said tha t Michelin hadn't brought the lire which he used last year but had sent the tire Scott Russell used to win the 1998 Daytona 200. The problems compounded each other, and they began with a suspen ion that abused both the tires and rider. Until that gets sorted out, finding a tire will be impossible. Pegram won three races and would have won a fourth except that he'd been instructed to follow his teammate Wait to see how his bike handled - which was not at all well, as it turned out. All weekend, Wait's bike was unstable on the banking, causing him to pull in after the warmup lap in one race and early in another. "The thing shakes so bad, T can't hang on," said Wait, who had only done Jetting off from his seventh-row start in a field of 61, Pegram was in the lead by the third lap and he ran away, though he had to pit for a top-and-go penalty after it was decided he'd jumped the start. Once he got going again, he wa untouchable_ The race was eventually red-flagged about four minutes shy of the 3D-minute time limit, with Pegram firmly in command after running lap times mostly in the high 1:54 range. ' "It was great that the race was 30 minutes long." Pegram said. '1t ga ve us a lot of time to test the tires. I can't believe 1 got the meatball (stop-and-go) flag. I started way back on the seventh row and just took off really cautiously. My lap times were nothing special. We were having some problems with the bike's setup, but we have plenty of time to figure things out before next week. n Rad Greaves was second on a Suzuki 750, with Hoo.ters Suzuki's Jamie Bowman third. Wait got his revenge in Saturday's seven-lap Expert Super Twins race. After getting the ho1eshot, he was quickly passed by his FBF teammate Pegram,