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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128006
Events
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(lett) David Fink (7) 01 Petoskey, Michigan, styled to second place in the Non-Current
class at M
oreland's Motocross.
(Above) Steve Bussell Jr . (689) cruises to victory in the Over 30 Beginner class at
Carlsbad Raceway In Calilomia.
46
Afte r a 3O-minu le clean-up, the race
was res tarted wi th 40 minutes remaining in th e secon d h our. SBR led th e
fiel d in to turn one again, as Arclight
finished their p it stop and took to the
tra ck w it h Joe Prussian o aboard. SBR
held a h a lf -a-tra ck adva n tage over
Arclight bu t wo uld soon need to pit to
refu el a nd cha nge rid ers . At the 1:35
mark, Szarek brough t the big Yama ha
in and han d ed off to Scott Brown, who
returned to th e track im m ed ia tely in
front of Prussiano on the Suzuki su perbike. Szar ek lat er explained the reason
for the sp ri n t- race pace was th e hope
that the Arclight Suz u ki entry, w hich is
a ra ce-kill ed GS X-R750 supe rbike ,
wo uld not last a six-ho ur race if pushed
to the lim it. The only problem with that
plan was tha t if th e Arclight bik e did
not exp ire or at least slo w down, SBR
would have to make a tw o-tire pit stop ,
which tak es close to a minute longer for
th e YZF R-1 than for th e u ltra t rick
Su zuki, effec ti ve ly givin g th e wi n to
Arclight.
After two hours, Arcl igh t Suzuki wa s
.wi nning the Pirelli Heavyweight Superbik e class as well as the overall, D&D
Ra cin g was leadin g the d e cim at ed
H ea vy w e igh t Superst ock class, a n d
Army of Darkness was in cha rge of the
M ed iumwe ight Superbike ra ce. Th e
Army of Darkness sister team, Neighbor
of the Beast, was holding down the top
positi on in the Mediu mweight Su perstock class. Neighbor of the Beas t ha d
tw o guest rid ers for the tea m at th is
race: former Team Pea rls Suzuki rid er
Darrell Saylor, and Traxxion Dynamics
owner a nd s us pensio n gen ius Max
McAlli st er w h o h elped te am ow ner
Melissa Berk hoff ru n as hi gh as thi rd
overall during th e firs t hour and lead
their class .
The second red flag of the race came
ou t at th e 2:21 mark to let the co rnerwo rkers clear a bike from turn 11, 'u nder
th e Mich elin Brid ge . La dy Lu ck was
s m ili ng on the Arcl ight Su zuki team
once more, as they had just made their
second sched u led pit stop when the race
wa s halt ed, and the restart again erased
the advantage SBR had foug h t to gain.
At the restart, the surprise of the day
occured wh en D&D Racing 's Dale Davenpo rt held off both Chris Hu gh es , on
th e Arclight -bike , and Bro wn, on th e
SBR R-1, for the holeshot, and managed
to keep them both behind him until the
com pletion of the first lap. Hu ghes and
Brown used the superior horsepower of
the ir superbikes to pass the leadin g
Super Stock machin e on the front
straightaway, but Dav en p or t stayed
behi nd th e race lea ders and le t th em
pull him away from the field 10 help
secure third overall for D&D Racing.
Ten m in ut es in to the fo urth hour,
Brown brought the big Yamaha into the
pits and return ed the bike to his teammat e Sza rek, who returned to the track,
tu rn ing 1:30s to Hughes' 1:33s, hopi ng
1 put pressu re on the ArcIight rider. At
0
th e 20-minute mark, Hughes brough t
the Suz uki in for a blazin g pit sto p - rear
tire, fuel, and rid er chan ge in 25 seconds
- and Bate y re-entered the tra ck s till in
the lead by 20 seconds. Sza rek slow ly
reeled in Bat ey until the ga p was only
three seco nds with 10 m inutes to go
before the fou r-hour mark.
"O u r plan w as to force th e p a ce
also," Arclight team ow ner Chuck Warre n ex p la ined , " beca use we w a nted
Semoff Brothers to have to make a fronttire change and lose time in the pits. Our
tire-chang ing pit stops are considerab ly
faste r than their s, an d we would ha ve
th at extra tim e ou t on th e track. Su re,
the two red flags ha ve worked in our
favo r today, but next race they probably
won' t."
Once together on t he race track,
Sza rek and Batey began an epic battle
that looked more like a ational-ealiber
sprint racethan a six -hour en durance
eve nt, wit h each exploiting the stre ngt h
of their own mo torcycle and the weaknesses of the ot hers at every tum . This
ba rnsto rming disp lay ca rried on until
the ArcIight Suz uki came to a screeching
hal t in the turn-fou r-an d -five area. Batey
tried to restart the aili ng machine, to no
avail. Ba ck in th e p it s, th e Arcligh t
sq ua d swarmed over the bike, only to
discover that , for the second tim e this
yea r, the cam cha in had broken, endi ng
their race prem aturely. With the d em ise
o f th e Arclig h t en try , local aces D&D
Racing took over th e s econd -overa ll
position , with Army of Darkness claw.
ing their way into third.
"We jus t have to wring the 750 out to
keep u p w it h th e Yamaha, and Gle n n
and Scott are riding great," Bat ey said,
back in the pits. "That's a tou gh combination ."
With Arcl ight out of th e race, SBR
pu t the YZF on cruise mod e and nursed
th e battered front tire home w i th an
e ig h t-la p le a d over Hea v yweigh t
Superstock w in n er s D&D Racing, in
seco nd . Third overa ll went to Mediumweight Superbike victors Army of
Darkness, jus t 45 seconds clear of the
figh t for second and thi rd in the Pirelli
Heavyweight Superbike class between
1-800-C RO TC H -ROC KET a n d Cycle
Speed Ra cin g . T he Me d iurnweig h t
Su pers tock wi n we nt to lo ca l tea m
Rapid Transit Racin g. Both th e Su perstock-class wi nners, Davenport of D&D
Racing and Mathews from Rapid Transit, said in the wi nne r's circle that their
team o n ly u s ed o ne se t of Mi chelin
Pilots to go th e enti re ra ce d istance
without a problem .
ell
Road Atlanta
Braselton , Georgia
Results: July 10, 1999 (Round 5)
O /A : 1. Sern off Brothers Raci ng (Yam); 2. 0 &0
Racin g (Suz) ; 3. Army of Darkn ess (Sua ): 4. 1·8 00CRITrCH· ROCKET (Suz); 5. Cycle Speed (Yam ).
H/W S/BK: 1. Semoff Brothers Racing (Yam ); 2.
.' Cycl e Speed (Yam); 3. 1-8OO-C
ROTCH·R OCKET (Suz);
.4, An:ligh t Suzuki (Suz).
HIW S/STK : 1. 0&0 Racing (Suz ); 2. Paramou nt
Ra~ g (Suz); ~. DRS Racing (Suz); 4. Penn State tKaw):
wh ich is for bikes five years and older. Sutherla nd rode a 1974 Ho nda 420cc fo u r-s tro ke .
Mu ch to the amazemen t of his fellow competi·
tors. Sut herland d id most of the jumps, includ ing the Grav ity Cavity and the Double Downhill .
In afternoon competition, Kenny Ryan of
Sheridan, Michigan. swept bo th comb ined 250cc
A and B motos on his fine-looking yellow Yamaha YZ250. In bo th more s, 250cc A rid er Craig
Stoley of Harrisville. M ichigan, took the
holes hot, only to be passed ea rly in the moto by
Rya n. Sto ley kepi right on Ryan 's ba ck wheel
but co u ld not get ba ck by. Si nce Ryan is a B
rider, he had mor e incentive to win. much to the
de light of his friends and the spectators. Ryan
had a lar ge pit crew and a cheering crowd at the
110-fool Valley jump. whic h he was clea ring
with ease.
Results
so BEG: 1. Mid \OIt.! Fon.'IJ\a n (S uz); 2. Bren en Riu t'!' (Yam ); 3.
·
Set h Crivac (Yam); 4. Rob m H.dl bc-rg (Yam>.
50 JR: 1. Kiernan M a l,unC!'y (Le m) : 2. Jacob Holt slaeder
(Yam) ; 3. Steven Ha lberstddt (Lc-m); 4. Jarrlt f't'Sd (Pol).
SOSH AFT; 1. J. mo'!> Rober ts (Yam); 2. Ad ria n Ford (Yam ); 3.
1
Sara Roberts (Yam); 4. Mid \ol Pearso n (Yam); 5. Doug las Adam !!
d
(Yam).
50 SR: 1. Jal%\e!i Rt~ (Cob); 2. Stt."'VC!' Ddly (Co b ); 3 . Chad
Coo ley (Po !); 4. M.lttht.'w f'a ri!l4.' (Cob ); 5. Talon H od eeeon (Cob ).
60: 1. Grant W. Moreland (Kaw ); 2. John JackJ;(m ( Ka w); 3.
Brando n Cooley (K,nl'); 01. Daruel Durham ( Ka w); 5. Billy Larsen
O