Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128103
Formula USA National Road R ace S e r ie s . R o u n d 2 : Wi llow Springs R a c e w a y Shawn Higbee do m inated the Unlimited Superbike class at Willow Springs. taking home the lion 's share of the prize money. B y BLAK E C O NN E R PH OTOS BY B RIA N NELSO N ROSAMOND, CA, APR. 22 esp it e the fact that few big-name team s showed up to contest the Willow Springs round of the Form ula USA Nationa l Road Race Series, the fans we re trea ted to a day of ult ra close racing with Millenium Technologies ' Shawn Higbee taking full advan ta ge of being the meeting's brightest star to emerge as the top money earner. Higbee, riding a Dunlop -shod Suzu k i GS X - R7 5 0 , was qu ic k throughout the weekend . The former AMA Pro Thunder Champion earned po le position on Saturday, then wen t out and finished second in the first of D two Unlimited Superbike races on a bright and sunny Sunday. He con clud ed his successful weekend by winning the second , red -nag -shortened Unlimited Superbike race later that same day, taking home the secon d -leg purse of $3750 to go with the $925 he 'd earned in race one . "I didn 't get a very good start in leg one ," Higbee said. "I whee lied off the st art and got shuffled bac k in to fifth or so. I felt tha t I could make it through th e field , so I was just picking my way through , but I was gett ing a little an x ious in a coup le of areas . I spun it up , got sideways and had to back off the throttle. As competitive as th e field was today , as soon as I had to ch ec k ou t of the throttle for just an instant, I'd get passed . We were swapping back and fourth , and it was getting frust rat ing . So in leg two, I knew that, if I could just calm down and be a little bit smoother, get a good start and then get out front, I k new tha t I wou ld be abl e to sta y th ere.Both le gs of th e Un limited Superbike cl ass were bambume rs. Race two was the better of the pair with as many (Below left! Craig Connell proved at Willow that a bike other than a GSX-R750 could be competitive in Unlimited Superblke by taking his Ducat! 996 to victory in race one. (Below right) These are the only five names you need to k now fro m the Willow Sp rings Unlimited Superblke races: Higbee (14), Co n n e ll (153). Grant Lopez (1). Ji m my Moore (8 6) and Kenneth C has e (2 4) - they dominated both le gs. as 10 bik es running nose to tail, but the fi rst rac e didn 't lack in the drama department either . Five riders dominated both races, shuffl ing back and forth in the ord er of the t w o events. Draft passes and late braking into tum one were the orders of bus iness , as th e ent ire front o f t he pack passed and repa ssed each other lap after lap . If Higbee's perfo rmance was the best on the da y , then White T ip Rac ing 's K en Chase was definitely sec ond best. Riding a Suzuki GSX- R750 , Cha se fi nis hed third in th e first race and then followed that up with a second to Higbee in race two. Aft er tak ing o v er t h e t hird positi o n in r ace on e, Chase n ever fell lo w er tha n a podium position in either race. "I n ra ce one , I got off to a slow sta rt ,- Ch ase said . "My stra teg y w as to try to get a few good laps in, and j u st see what ha p p en s . Th e guy s we ren 't runn ing inc redib ly fa st , so I tr ied to fo ll ow them around and save my tires for a little bit. About halfway t h ro ugh , I sta rt ed p utt ing my h ead down and got aro un d the gu ys. I go t into t he lea d for about a lap an d [I made a) rook ie m istake. I starte d th inking too much and I ma de a couple of mistakes and they got me back. I was setting the guy up for the win , coming ou t of turn nine on the last lap, and I m issed a shift into fifth gear coming out of nine and went from first to third in one shift. " Chase's strong outing moved him from sixth to fourt h in th e series po ints standings (he was sixth in the lone Unlimited Superbike race at Daytona last month). Craig Conn ell t o ok h is D u n l o p sho d Advanced Motorsports Ducati 996 to a race -one v ict o ry . Runn ing nea r the front th e entire race , Connell fina ll y moved into first fo r good on the last l ap . The Austra lian led the f in al la p through the all -important turns eight and n ine , and had just enough of a gap to keep Higbee out of his draft at the line.