Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Fonnula USA Aprilia CUp Challenge Round 3: Virginia International Raceway shou ld er was . "That's the way I k ind o f wanted to kee p it: B a rn es sai d of hi s secure third. " I' m hu r t in g , m y shou lder's really hu rt ing ." B arne s w asn 't think ing of challenging for th e lead , " A n d then the adrenaline took over and I saw that I wo uld have a chance and, o ne wo uld p ass, o ne wo u ld c ras h or go off . It w as k ind of exciti ng b ack an d f o rt h and I just fig ur ed if I sta yed in there I m ight end up prett y good ." There were fou r rid ers fighting ov er fourth . Mostl y it wa s D all a s C y cl e Sports' Brett Champagn e at th e front of the pa ck , eve n pulling out a slight gap. But in the final few laps he got gobbled up , D ianetic s' Ston ey Lan ders ta king ov er th ird with less t han three lap s to go , Barry Motorsports ' Charles Chou in a rd m o ving in t o fift h w ith Syn ergy Racing ' s Marc Pal azzo e n di n g up si x t h . Champagn e w a s seventh . " We were go in g b a c k a nd f orth and the n the t ir es sta rte d to go away and then the white flag came out ," Ch ou inard said of his fight with lan ders. " It' s very hard to pass here. It's so tight. It 's almost if you want to go by it almost has to be a dirty pass ." Acree and Harrell also dominate the championship standings. Halfway into the six-race ser ies, Acree leads Har rell , 54 -45 . Hooter s Suzuki's Mike Ciccotto , a crashing DNF today , is th ir d with 38. Ci ccotto wa s u p to third -fas test in qua lifyi ng w hen he crashed . Ret urn ing t o t he p it s , h e too k hi s S uzu k i behind th e p it w all , an F -USA infrac t io n. Th e punishment w as a m o ve to th e 23 rd and fin al st arting spot o n th e bac k row of the grid. In h is qu est t o move fo rw ard, he fell victim to back markers. "I got ta ken o ut by some tap pe rs, " Ciccotto sa id . "I st arted 23rd. I wa s up to 15th and just rea ll y taking my tim e bu t a lot o f gu y s go t t o g eth er going into one and somebod y clipped me and down we went. " eN Virginia Inte m ati on I Raceway Danville, Virginia Results: July 1, 2001 (Round 31 SPORTBI KE: 1. Lee Acree (Suz) ; 2 . Paul Harrel l (Yam ); 3 . Michael Barnes (Suz); 4 . Stoney Lenders (SUI); 5. Charles Chou inard (SUI): 6. Marc Pa lazzo (Hon): 7. Brett ChampllIgne (SUI): 6. Shaw" Conrad ( Suz ) ; 9 . Rola nd Willi ams ( Suz); 10 . B r ian St okes (Suz) ; 11. Kevin Pate ( K a w); 12 . Stev e Luxem (Yam) ; 13. Shannon Ball (Suz); 14. Gregory Faiella (Yam): 15. BJ Brad ley (Suz) ; 16. Joh n Costa (Yam ); 17. Bri an Uve ngood (Yam) ; 18. Bria n Parriott (Suz) ; 19 . William Sto ltz (Kaw ): 20. Byron Barbour (Suz) ; 21. Eoin Smith (Yam); 22 . Scott Greenwood (Suz) ; 23 . Mik e Ciccotto (SUl ). TIme: 27 mins .. 35 .552 sees . Distan ce: 18 Ieps. 40 .5 mi les. Average speed: 88.067 mph . Mar gin of vict ory : 0.10 I sees. SPOR TB IK E C'S HIP POINT STA NDINGS ( A ft er 3 of 6 rounds) : I. Lee Acr ee (54/1 win ); 2. Paul Harrell (45/1) ; 3 . Mike Cfccc nc (3 8/1) ; 4 . M ore Pal azzo (26) ; 5. Roland Williams (23) ; 6 . J ohn Hopk ins (20); 7. Jos eph Gill (2 0 ); 8. Stoney Landers (18); 9. Mik e Barn es ( 16): to. (T IE) Owen Weich el/Sha ne Prieto ( 13 ) ; 12 . B r ia n St oke s (12); 13 . (T IE) L an c e lsee c a/ Ch arl es Cho ulne rd/Sh awn Conrad (1 1); 16. (T IE ) Br y an Ko var lck /B rett Cha mp agne /S ha nno n Ball (10 ); 20 . Karl lowry (8) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Long Pond, Pennsylvania, August 26 Round 5 - Portland, Oregon. September 9 Brian Kcraget (473) was a surprise winner in the Aprilla Cup Challenge. Here he leads Jeff Wood at the start of the race. By H E N N Y RA Y A BR A MS DANVILLE, VA, JULY 1 t w asn ' t hi s b ik e and it wasn't his cla ss, but it wa s his tr ack , and that made the d ifferenc e. D an v ill e , Vi rg in ia 's Bri an Kc raget bo rrowed a bik e from th e g ir lfriend of a fe llow racer and put it to good use, w inn ing th e usua ll y cl ose A prilia Cup Challeng e on hi s fir st t r y by 4 .4 75 sec o n ds at V irgi ni a In t e rn ati o n al Raceway . It wa sn't until th e Wednesda y prior t o th e race th at Kc raget fou nd o ut he had a bike to rid e. SpeedWerks Sp ort Bike Service's Brian Ro ach , a fe llow Virgin ian , had a sp a r e RS25 0 , hi s g irlfri e nd ' s b ike , and Sp eedW e.r k s prepped it for the race. K cr aget had never entered one of the Aprilia Cu p races , but he 'd been fast all week end in pr actice and q uali fying, though not th e fa stest. Ch ampion Ho nda ' s D erek K ing was on the pole, his ti m e bett er th an half a second up on Kcr aget. But K ing go t way laid in a first tum melee and Kcr aget had his tick et t o ride. From the st art onward , Kc rag et co ntrolle d th e pac e, gradually pulling away to a very com fo rt able win in the 12-lap , 27 -m ile rac e. " Ba sed o n m y lap times all weekend in qu a lifying a nd p r ac t ic e w e were pretty m uc h all together th e to p th ree fo r fo u r g uys: K c rag et said . "J ust rea di ng abo ut th e cup races , normally th ey 're 1-2 -3 -4 , nose to tail. I go t real fo rt unate, g ot so me reall y good la ps at the beginnin g and got a I little ga p on them and ro de a co ns is tent race." K in g wo uld end up second after a botch ed start m eant hard wo rk. "I didn 't ex pect the gu ys to get that dee p and th at far to th e inside: King sai d . " It was mad out there. "T he whole second row came past me on the brakes going into on e. I end ed up g etting run off the track . I ende d up leaving turn two in ninth o r tenth place . It was m iserable." From there it was all work , made m ore so by a track wh ich is difficult to pas s on . King was up to sixth on th e se c ond l a p, fifth on the third , fourth on th e fourth , but trailing Pengu in Ra cing Sc ho o l s Jeffrey Wo od an d A ct ion Motor Sports ' Thad Hals m er. The pa ir had gotten awa y behind K craget and battled to k eep up , gradua ll y losing touch , but seem ing t o have so m e space o n fourth . Ki ng wh ittled away, j o in ing th e p air o n the e i g ht h lap and so on b egan moving through. By the 10th he wa s cl ea r of the pair, but hi s time wou ld run out with the end of the race in tw o more la ps . "It took a lot of the rac e to get in to seco nd: K ing said. " T h e t o p seven g uy s are all good ri de rs. I go t throu gh the big co rn ers a little bit fast er tha n they do. It' s difficult to m ak e passes a ro un d h ere. Wi th all t h e ele v at i o n c ha n ges here, y ou 're righ t o n th e ed ge o f tr ac tio n . I'm h appy eno ug h for second. " Halsmer had passed Wood on the seve nth lap and , thoug h there wasn 't much co m fo rt in for several la ps , he c ue . e wa s ab le to pull out so me breathing room at t he end. Pushing hard near the end he was nearly tossed off the b i k e , but m a n ag ed to regro up a nd ho ld the spot . "For a secon d th ere, I didn 't th ink it was g oing to be a save ," Halsm er said. Wood was fo urt h , w e ll cle ar o f B la ckman s Racing 's Shannon S ilva who'd l eft Li b asci Racin g 's Andre Ca stanos. Advanced Au tob od y 's J oshua Sorto r w as seve nt h w it h Dan F ischer ninth. F i sche r l ea ves V irg in i a w it h the c h a m pi o nsh ip lea d , 46 -44 , over Sil va , after th ree of six rac es. K ing is th ird w ith 36 . Virginia International Raceway Danville, Virginia Results : Ju ly 1, 2001 (Round 31 APRlUA CUP CHALLENGE: I. Brien Kcrtlget: 2. Derek Kin g; 3 . Thad Helsmer: 4. Jeffrey Wood: 5. Shanno n Silva; 6. Andre Castenes : 7. Joshua Sortor ; 8. Dan Fi sc her; 9 . T im Coch ran ; 10. Tim Knutson: I I. Brian Roach ; 12. Ched Healy: 13. Jo hn Lemek : 14. Ma rk Bla ckman; 15. Eric Stevenson: 16. Mark Wissel; 17. Sterling Strauser: 18. Anthony de Greif ; 19 . Andras Wtlk ; 20 . David Mo o n : 21 . Jeremy Bonnett: 22 . Doug Barnes: 23 . Raymond Chilso n; 24 . Dennis Nourry. Tun e: 19 rnins.. 36 .60 I sec . Distance: 12 laps. 27 mil es. Averag e speed: 82 .6 11 mph . Margi n of victory : 4 .475 sec. A P RI LI A CU P CH ALLENGE C' S HI P PO INT STANDINGS (A fte r 3 of 6 round s): 1. Dan FIscher (46) ; 2 . Shan non Silva ( 44 /l win ); 3 . Derek Kin g (3 6 ); 4 . J oshua Sortor (35) ; 5. Thad Holsmer (31 ); 6. Jeffrey Wood (2 9 ); 7. Brian Kcraget (2 5/ 1); 8. And re Cast ano s (2 1) ; 9 . A ar on Cl ark (2 0) : 10 . Vi ck y Jac kson- Bell (18); II. Tim Knu tson (16); 12. (TIE ) Michae l Henne s/c la son Morse (t 1): 14. Gus Hol comb ( 10) ; 15. (TIE) O live r Chami /Poge Gathi ngs (0); 17. (T IE) Tim Coc hran/C had Healy /Charlie Hewett (7); 20. Jeremy Bonn ett (6) . Upcoming Rounds: Round4 - Long Pond, Pennsylvania, August 26 Round 5 - Portland, Oregon, September 9 n e _ S • JULv l l ,20 01 17

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