Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CCS R of Champio ace ns By Henny Ray Abrams . m m m M ~ '" > '" o .c E z 14 DAYTONAB EACH, FL, ocr 22-24 en yo u ro ll th e bikes ou t of th e bi g tru ck , yo u bett er be • a ble to rid e th em . Th at w a s th e sit ua tio n fa cing 16-year-old Ca liforn ian John Hopkins in his first trip to Day tona Internationa l Speedway. He'd be facing a sea of privateers aboa rd the EMGO Valvoline Suz ukis , the on ly factory-s up po rted team a t the season-end ing Champ ionship Cup Series Race of Cha mpions. It was almos t a no-wi n situa tion, but Hopkins won. A nd won so me m ore, racking up four wins over thr ee days of racing at the 3.56-mile circu it. "It' s been a grea t sea son ," H op ki ns sai d afte r w inning the fina l race of the wee kend , the Ex pe r t H e av yw e ig ht Su perbike event, on a suddenly overcast Su nday afternoon in centra l Florid a. In addition to that race, Hopkins wo n the Expe rt GTU, the Exp ert Unlimited Supersp or t, a n d the Exper t Midd lew eight Gra nd Pri x. He also finished se cond to multi-ra ce w inner Da vi d McGrath in the Un limited Gran d Pri x race and was second to Mike Ciccotto in the Expert Heavyweight Supersport race. The w inni ng began on Frida y, but it d id n' t come eas y. Because he was a late entry he was relegated to the back of the grids , beginning in the Expert GTU. Sta rti n g fro m th e ni nth row mea nt there was gro u nd to make up, bu t there (Above) John Hopk ins won four t imes over the course of the weekend du ring the CCS Race of Champions, held at Daytona Internati onal Speedway. The 16-year-old wo n Expert Unli mited Supers port, Expert GTU, Expert Midd leweight Grand Prix and Expert Heavywe ight Superbike. (Below) David McG rath leans his Suzuki ove r en route to winn ing the Unlim ited Grand Prix . McGrath also won the Expert GTO cla ss. were 30 minutes to do it. Hopkins only need ed abo u t eight. Exiting N ASCAR Tu rn Fou r on the fourth lap , Hopkins got to the front of a four-rider pack, putting Jim Lester back to second in front of Owen Weichel and Hon da RS250-mou n ted Greg Esser, the diss enting two-stroke voice among the grou p of 600s. Weichel mad e his way back in to second in sho rt order an d took the lead , but he'd need hel p to win . Weichel w as a dem on on the brakes, con sistently ou triding H opkins in the infi eld , only to lose ou t on the long s tre tches to th e faster Suzu ki. Weichel took th e lead on la p se ven and tried to get away, only to get sucked in on th e ba cks tr e tch , w ith H opkins drafting by in NASCA R Turn Four and hold ing it th rough a turn-one shu ffle. La p s nine and 10 had H opki ns in front, wi th Weichel back in front on lap 11. O n that same lap Gill took himself ou t with a spectacular crash - w hich he wa lked away from - in the infield dogleg. If there were a cha nce for Weichel, it wo u ld be by making a clea n break. It probably wouldn't work, bu t he had to try. Running hard through the in field and ga ining mor e ground on the drive out of tu rn six, Weichel gave it his best but he was d oomed . Hopkins caug ht up in the chica ne, Hopkins we nt Iow a n the ban king, and he took the win by abou t a bikelength and a half - officially .205 of a secon d. "I' m jus t lea rn in g th e track an d everything tu rn ed ou t grea t tha t race," Hop kins said . "I knew he (Weichel) was going p retty good throug h the infi eld and tha t last lap I knew I had to pick it up a no tch." Hopkins' next cha nce came in Saturda y's Exp e r t Unlimit ed Su p erspor t, where he sta rted fro m row six. By the third lap he was u p to third , and he w as second a lap lat er, chas ing Scotty Diedrich, who had di sp lacem en t on him, rid ing a Yamaha R-1 agains t the Suzuki GSX-R750. Lap five and Hopki ns was out front, and a lap later he wa s leaving Died rich be hind . Ev en wi t h th e ex tra m ot or , Diedri ch was too far back to make a ru n, thou gh he ga ve it his all. At the flag, the ma rgin of victo ry was .620 of a second . Bemisderfe r Racin g' s

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