Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Formula USA National Road Race Series Formula USA Buell Lightning Series Round 1 : Daytona International Speedway Hopkins used the draft on the final lap to secure the spot. Williams held third, then came Weichel in fourth and, at a distance, 4&6 Cycle's Joseph Gill who led a pack of three riders across the line to take fifth. Byron Barbour was sixth with Lee Acree, Arclight Racing's defending national champion, seventh. CN the end there, got by Roland Williams, had a little battle with him for a little while and actually pulled out a little bit of a lead on that. And then going into the chicane, just before the white flag, I thought I actually almost lost it. Had a big sUde aImost pitched me right out of the seat. Almost threw me off, but I ended up regaining it and just finishing the race." Hopkins finished almost four seconds in front of Roland Williams, the ATR Technologies rider giving Suzuki GSX-R600s a clean sweep of the podium. Hopkins had only been on the Michelin rain tires twice before, but he'd never ridden in the rain at Daytona. The danger was in the white paint lines, which is what Barnes had hit when he slid off in the dogleg. Avoiding the dangers had thrust Hopkins into sixth on the third lap, and on the move. He took Owen Weichel at the chicane on the fifth lap and went by Williams on the east banking. Williams hung tough and passed Hopkins at one point, but lIlIytDna lnl8rMtieul Spullw., lIlIytana BeacII, Flori... Results: March 4, ZOOl [Round 1 of IJ SPORT BIKE: I. Michael Ciccotto (Suz); Z. John Hopkins (Suz); 3. Richard Williems (Suz); 4. Owen Weichel (Kaw); 5. Joseph Gill (Vam); 6. Byron Barbour (Suz): 7. Lee Acree (Suz); 8. Shllne Prieto (SUl); 9. Brian Parriott (SUl); 10. Brian Stokes (SUl): 11. Stoney Llinders (Kew); 12. Chuck Nelghoff (Vem); 13. Larry Locklear (Kaw); 14. Robert Ludlum (Hon); 15. Kevin Ulcombe (Yem); 16. Clinton Brotz (Vem): 17. Thomas Pfuner (Vem); 18. Bret Champagne (Suz); 19. Daigoro Suzuki (Suz); 20. Marc PaIZll.IO (Hon); 21. Chris Cummings (Yam); 22. Shawn Conrad (Suz); 23. Joshua Bryan (Suz); 24. 'Michael Conlon (Yem); 25. Carlos Macias (Yam); 26. Brien Gibbs (Suz); 27. Ty Strenger·Thorsen (Suz); 28. Stuart Stratton (Yam); 29. Deborah Venega (Suz); 30. Frank Wiot (Yam): 3). Marcus Winfree (Suz); 32. Scott Greenwood (Suz); 33. Caesar Gonzalez (Kaw); 34. Ryan Landers (Yam); 35. Justin Blake (Hon). TIme: 17 min.• 50.3 seconds. Distance: 8 laps, 28.48 miles. Margin of victory: 7.544 sec. Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Rosamond, California, April 22 Round 3 - Danville, Virginia, July 1 Owen Welchel (81 leads Richard Williams (301 early In the Sport Bike final. Williams finished third with Welchel ending up fourth. 16 MARCH 14,2001 • cue I • n • _ s STORV AND PHOTOS BV HENNV RAV ABRAMS DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR 4 ichael Barnes qualified nearly a second-and-a-half faster than anyone else in the 17 -rider Buell Lightning Series field. Could anyone possibly match that pace in the race? Probably not was the answer before the race, definitely not afterward. Tripp Nobles was second fastest in qualifying in his first ride for his new team, New Castle H-D. The veteran Georgian jumped to the front and tried to hold Barnes off, but that only lasted until they got to the backstretch on the first lap. From then on it was all Barnes, the Floridian flying to the victory by 9.469 seconds under dark clouds on the wet road course at Daytona International Speedway. "I really thought that Tripp [Nobles] was going to give me a little more of a run," Barnes said, "because in practice, he was right there. I was running about a secondand-a-half faster, but I figured that he could always find that extra little bit. But my bike ran real good out of the corners and my tires just stuck so well. They were just phenomenal." Barnes said it was the first time he'd raced the Pirelli wets. Earlier in the day, during the rain-sodden Lockhart-Phillips Unlimited Superbike and Sport Bike races, Barnes had gotten his first taste of the tires and track and it paid off, even though he crashed in the dogleg in the Sport Bike race when he hit the white paint. Because of the wet weather, the race had been shortened from 10 laps M to four. Barnes completed the race in nine minutes, 11.21 seconds at an average speed of 93.003 mph. What Bames found most gratifying was that this was the first time he'd ridden a Buell Lightning that didn't weep. "This is actually the first time I've ridden these things without a drop of oil on my boots," he said. "That's pretty satisfying. I wish Tripp could've hung, because we could have had some fun out there sliding around in the wet." We'll have to wait for another day for that. Nobles was honest in his assessment of the race. "I didn't have anything for him today," said Nobles, who'd gotten the ride with New Castle H-D a month earlier. "He come around me and, hell, I was barely even able to hold onto him. Mike [Barnes] was riding really well in the infield. My bike was working. I can't say nothing about the bike went wrong. Everything went just fine." The third-fastest qualifier was also the third-place finisher. The spot went to Hoban's H-D/Buell's Jeff Johnson. After Barnes and Nobles had cleared out, Johnson found himself fighting for third in a pack of five riders. Johnson broke out of the pack on the final lap to steal third from Hal's Harley-Davidson/Buell's Richie Morris. "This is the first time I was on rains, so I had to do a little bit of learning there in the first three laps," Johnson said. "I wanted to run a conservative race and at least finish."

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