Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race (Left) Shawn Higbee was neve r cha llenged in the Harley-Davidson Twin Sports final. (Above) The race for second went to the wire with Michael Barnes (34) beating Mike Ciccotto (11) for the sport. Ciccotto was later d isqua lified because his Harley was above the horsepower limit for the class. (Below) Ciccotto (11) leads Chad Healy (5) and Richie Morr is (55) in the Buell lightning race. Clccotto won, Healy was second and Morris didn't finish. en en en ~ 20 season-e nding race a year ago, an d the result wa s the same - Higbee won. Higbee and Don Tilley d us ted off the . bike that had sat in the Tilley H-D /Buell shop for the past year, and made short work of the field . Any thought that there might be competition was dispelled by Higbee in h is d o m ina ting heat-race wi n. When it came time for the anemic 14-rider field to take to the high banks, everyone knew who would win, as long as he finis hed. Je tting st raight to the fro nt, H igbee disa ppea red a t a n a verage of nearly th ree seconds a la p fast er than second pl ace, com pleting the seven-lap, 25-mile race nearly 20 seconds in fron t of second place. " The la st co u ple of times h ere in Dayton a, this th in g 's been awesome," H ig bee sa id of the Tilley Harley. "T he last time I w on down here w as last yea r, and the bike w orked awesom e." Second place was betw een Savannah H-D's Michael Barnes and Low Country H-D 's Michael Ciccotto . Ciccotto led th e champions hip com ing in and clinched it as soo n as the spa rse field was gri d ded. M athematica ll y, n o 'o ne co u ld touch him . Eve n so, he w an ted to show tha t he d eserv ed the crown. Th e tw o Floridians put o n a good s how , tr a d in g paint fo r th e d ist a nce wi th Barnes using the draft to squea k by Cicco tto at the flag after m aking the prudent mo ve by stayin g behind Ci ccotto on the final la p. "Th is is the first time I've been up on the box for Jimmy Stevens, Woody Kyle, and Savannah Ha rley," Barnes sai d . "It was p retty m u ch w hoever needs the mon ey worse is going to sit back on the back straight, and today it was me ." Ciccotto said that he and Barn es are frien ds. "That wasn't nothing about the cha mp ionship," he said , after clinching the title . " I want to congratulate Barney on hi s second-place finish . He got me ther e at the end ." The fina l po ints standings ha ve Ciccotto at the top wi th 320, Jeff Johnson, fifth tod ay, is seco nd with 278, and Guy Edwards, eighth tod ay on the HarleyDavidson of Gree ns boro en try , is third · w ith 277. Bef ore lon g, Cicco tto, a lo ng w it h Ke g el M o to rcycl e Co m p an y ' s D ean Hagem ann, was d isqu ali fied for being over the ho rsepower lim it. C icco tto a nd Barnes ha d fi nis hed . about 13 seconds in fron t of a fervid figh t for fourth . The fig ht was among Las Vegas H -D's Jes s Roeder, KMC Tel eco m ' s Ric hie Morris, and Hoba n Bros. Racing's Jeffrey Johnson . They h o o k ed up early and fought la te, and shuffled sp ots right down to the checkered flag, with Roeder taking third, M orri s fourth , a n d Johnson fifth - after Ciccotto was disqualified . Alone in sixth w a s New Castle HD'~ Brian Bodine . CN Daytona Internat ional Speedway Daytona Beac h, Florida Results: October 24 , 1999 H ARL EY-DAVID SON T W I N S PO RTS : 1. Shaw n Higbee; 2. Michael Barnes; 3. jes s Roeder : 4. Richie Morris; 5 . Jeffrey juhnson; 6. Bria n Bodine; 7. Alan Eadie ; 8. Guy Edward s; 9. Billy Mano r; 10. Joseph Bennard i; 11. Michael Fribe rg; 12. Curt Ellis . T ime: 15 min.• 15.505 S+.. "C. D istance: 7 la ps . 25 miles . Average speed: 97 .992 mph. M a rgin of victory: 19.621 sec . H AR LEY- DAVID SO N TWI N SP O RTS C' S H IP POI NT ST AN D IN G S (Af te r 6 of 6 race s) : 1. Mike Ctcco tto (320); 2. Jeff Johnso n (278); 3 Guy Ed wa rd s (277); 4. Brian Bodine (200); 5. Curt Ellis (18-1); 6. Billy Manor (180); 7. Richie Morris (59); 8. Michael Fribe rg (40); 9. ),'S, Roed er (12); 10. Chad Healy ( 10); II. Mark Reynold s (tOO); 12. Joseph Bennardi (99) ; 13. Randy Texter (65); 14. (TIE> Scott Korol /Frank Stroman (56); 16. Patrick Conrad (48); 17. Dean Hagemann (46); 18. Todd Evans (44). B uellLightningSeries Ciccotto timesbvo By Henny Ray Abrams DA)lUNA BEACH, FL, OCT 24 ith the Buell Lightning Series Cha mpionship on the line, Low Co un try H-D's Mik e C iccotto stepped up to the challenge and led every inc h of th e fina l round , held o n a sunny afternoon at Dayto na In tern ati onal Spe edway. There wasn' t m uch int rigu e in thi s particular event. When the 16-rider field took off, Ciccotto checked ou t, gaining ove r a seco nd a la p to win by nearly 10 seconds. At the end of the seven-lap, 25-m ile race, Ciccotto had won bv 9.980 seco nds, averaging 100.221 m ph: Need ing much ltV less to win the titl e, Cicco tto took it with autho rity. "I' m glad we cou ld wi n the cham pio ns hip for th em (Low Cou ntry H -D ) a nd w in tod a y a ls o," C icc o t to s a id , adding th at th e tea m had overcome a series of problems over the cou rse of th e we ekend to wi n his fifth ra ce of the sixra ce series. " I took the last ha lf of the season off in the AMA. 1 really focused on the Buell and some regional stu ff." Th e wi n ga ve Ciccotto a to tal of 385 po ints for the yea r, 51 more than Chad Healy, w ho w as second tod ay, w ith Jeff Johnson, third today, finishing th ird in the points, with 325. Healy's performance was nearly as dominant as Ciccotto's, Una ble to keep up wi th Ciccotto, H ealy separated himself from the field to occupy no man's land between fi rst and the pack. He never had to look back, and at the en d he had over six seconds o n the thirdplace rider. "My hat's off to Mike and his team, they rea lly ran hot this year," the Ha rleyDavi dson Buell of Boston-backed Healy said. "I couldn't catch them th is year. We'll get them next yea r." If he couldn't catch them, neither could he be ca ug ht. Third place was a th reerid er scrap that we nt right to the flag, with none of the riders ceding an inch. A tr io for med ea rly o n and s tayed la te, though its contents wo ul d cha nge. At th e b egi nni n g New Cas tle H -D' s Bria n Bod ine was in the m ix, fron ting H a rl ey -D a v id s on / Bu ell of Bosto n 's Mark Reynold s and Harley-David son of Greensboro's David McGrath. Halfway in, Bodine was consumed by the pack and fell to th e back , w ith Hoban Brother s Racing' s Jeff Johnson joining the scru m for th e durati on. . Johnson's progress w as incremental, th e M in nesota n picking off Bodine on la p fiv e, th en McGrath on la p six , and Reyn o ld s o n th e run to th e fla g, in a very close finish. In th e wi nner' s circle Joh nson sa id tha t he wa s for ced to use his "B" bike w hen hi s "A " bike d ev eloped shifti ng p roblems o n th e warm-up la p . All th e good par ts, and the w arm tires, were on the "A" bike, so he took to the track on a lesser machine wi th cold tir es. " I had to w ork my way throug h the crowd," Johnson said. "McG ra th was a pretty tou gh cha llenge." Behi nd the top five came Bodine, all by himself in six th, then anothe r trio, w ith Bria n Frank lead ing Steve Luxem and Manchester H-D's Chris Decelles to the stripe. eN Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: October 24, 1999 (Round 6 of 6) BUELL LIG HT NI NG : l. Mik e Cicrott o; 2. Cha d Hea ly; 3. Jeffrey joh nso n, 4. Ma rk Reyn old s; 5. David McGrath ; 6. Brian Bod in e; 7. Brian Fra nk ; 8. Ste v.., Lu xcm; 9 . Chris Decelles: 10. Rich Feagin; 11. C u rt Ellis; 12. Alan Dewe y: 13. Guy Smith; 14, Dav e Fer re ll; 15. Michael Friberg; 16. Richie Morris, Time: 14 mln., 55.138 St.'C. Distan ce: 7 laps, 25 m iles. Average spe ed: 100.221 mph . Marg in o f victory: 9.980 sec . BUELL LI GHT NIN G SE RIES C'S H I P P OINT ST AN D ING S: 1. Mike Cicco n e (385); 2. Chad Hea ly (334 ); 3. Jeff John son (325); 4. Mark Reyn old ' (314); 5. David McGr a th (312); 6. Brian Bod ine (291); 7. Chri s celles (242); 8. Steve Luxem (211); 9. Michael Friberg De (204); to. Richi e Morri s (179); 11. Cu rt Elli:. (126); 12. Da ve Ferrell (120); 13. Guy Smith (18); 14. Gu y Smith (80); 15. James Sweg heirncr r:J7); 16. Rich Feagin (61); 17. Rand y Texter (60); 18. Brian Conley (53); 19. Gre gory Avello (42); 20. Darren Conra d (41).

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