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didn't call that, they can't call anything.
A waving yellow is a waving yellow.
They need to have a stop-and-go penalty for those thinl;S and for-other things."
Lopez's pulling away didn't bother
Roberts.
'1 wasn't going to go after him," said
Roberts. "I was just racing with Paul
(Harrell) after Nicky (Hayden) had a
problem, and I had a pretty good handle
on it. I wasn't even really trying too
hard."
Once in the lead, Lopez pulled away,
holding a seven-second lead on the 23rd
lap when he crashed, less than two laps
from the end. At that point, Roberts was
second and Graves Motorsports' Paul
Harrell was third, but he probably
shouldn't have been.
On the 14th Lap, Harrell overshot
turn one, riding around the bowl of the
oval and rejoining the pack in turn nine,
where the track joins the back straight,
in third place behind Roberts. Harrell
expected a stop-and-go penalty and
watched for one at the start-finish line,
but it .never came. So he soldiered on,
fighting Roberts all the way to the line
and getting second.
"What happened is, Kurtis (Roberts)
basically pushed me up against the wall
and I had nowhere to go and I basically 1
got shoved off the end," Harrell said. "So
1 continued around and waited to rejoin
the race. 1 waited at .the exit - waited for
Kurtis, basically 7 waited until he came
back by us, figuring that the call was
later to be seen on television and whatever and it would be seen that I was actUally pushed off. Then I kept watching for a
stop-and-go penalty, just in case. It never
came out. So 1 figured what 1 did was
proper. 1 was going to come back onto
the grass and into one and I thought that
would be very dangerous, so 1 just basically parked it over in the hairpin and
waited and then re-joined the race."
Roberts thought Harrell would be
punished and wasn't going to take any
chances to pass him.
."1 figured there would be something
done," Roberts said, and there was, but
not until a day later.
After reviewing the videotape and.
talking with other AMA officials, Barrick added time to Harrell's finishing
time, dropping him to fifth place.
"He tried to do the right thing by
stopping back there and waiting for the
group he was racing with to come back
around, but he did come out in front of
that group and not after that group,"
Barrick said. "I don't have any way of
verifying his story of actually being
bumped off and having to be forced up
there. The corner workers can't confirm
that, the video doesn't confirm that, the
official that was down there doesn't
confirm that."
As for why it took so long to make
the decision, Barrick said, "Our tower
didn't call that in as a short cut; it's partly our fault for not catching it right
away."
Before the punishment had been
assessed, Harrell said, "Whatever the
AMA decides is good enough for me."
Valvo line EMGO Suzuki's Josh
Hayes ended up second after a harrowing day. Riding with a broken left
scaphoid, Hayes crashed in 750cc Supersport practice, abrading his right arm
and forcing a trip to the hospital. Ten
stitches were needed to close two
wounds, and the work was done quickly at Hayes' request so that he could
make it back to the track in time for the
race. He did, but just barely, missing the
warmup lap.
Hayes worked his way through the
field, joined the pack. fighting for second, and then settled in until he made a
mistake, which made hin1 rethink his
plan.
"There was a group of four guys - 1
think these two guys (Harrell and
Roberts) were in it - they were all kind of
battling with each other and I made a little time on 'them for a little while," Hayes
sai9-. "Then I had a pretty bad slide and
kind of snatched this arm a little bit. And
that kind of slowed.me down and I kind
of settled down then and kind of worked
my way up by attrition."
Behind Hayes came Zlock Racing's
Mike Sullivan, who'd been in with
Dutchman Racing's Michael Barnes, and
Rad Greaves. Sullivan took over fourth
at the midpoint of the race and pulled
away, and he ended up third. Greaves
went by BarJ:1es on lap 15 and took a
secure fourth. Harrell sLotted into fifth,
with Barnes ending up sixth.
Who didn't finish? Erion Racing's
Nicky Hayden was one nonfinisher. He
pitted on the 12th lap with wlspecified
engine problems. Attack Performance
Yamaha's Mark Miller also didn't make
the finish, tucking the front end in turn
nine after fighting a warped front-brake
disc the whole race.
'1t had a real bad oscillation," Miller
said of his ninth-lap fall while running
in the tight pack of five contesting second. "1 wanted to stay with him. Unfortunately, [ asked for a little too much
lean angle and it spilled over."
_
Phoenix International Raceway
Goodyear, Arizona
Results: MllI'ch 20, 1999 (Round 1 of 11)
FORMULA XTREME FINAL: 1. Kurtis Roberts
(Hon); 2. Joshua Hayes (Suz); 3. Mike Sullivan (Kaw); 4.
Rad Greaves (SUZ)i 5. Paul Harrell (Yam): 6. Michael
Barnes (Yam); 7. Sean Sweeney CHon); 8. Grant Lopez
(Suz); 9. Chris Voelker (Bon); 10. Cory Call (Suz); 11.
Robb Martin (Suz); 12. Omar Isaak (Yam); 13. johnny
Rock Page (Yam); 14. Michael Rawlings (Hon); 15.
WilJiam Bush (Yam); 16. James Romero (Suz); 17.
. Dennis Burke (So2); 18. Devin Battiey (Yam); 19. Nicky
Hayden (Hon); 20. Michael Gage (Tn); 21. Steve Grigg
O