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race start to be aborted as the rider's awaited the green on the grid. A lengthy delay was required to clean up oil in turns seven, eight and nine, most of the field hiding from the midday sun in the shade of the NASCAR scoring tower. Barnes was slow off the line on the second start attempt, third on the grid Mark Reynolds grabbing the hole shot aboard his Buell of Boston entry. But Barnes was on Reynolds tail as they exited the tight, right hand tum leading back on to the NASCAR start/finish, Barnes grabbing the lead just before the line. From there, Barnes immediately started styling in the lead and was six seconds clear of the pack at the end of four laps. As Reynolds faded back to an eventual seventh-place finish, Daytona favorite Richie Morris moved up to second on his Hal's H-D with Jason Smith's Smith Brothers entry following him up to third. On lap six, 11 th-place runner Tim Johnson tucked the front-end heading into turn one, sliding for about 100red yards before encountering a well-placed Air Fence. As. tum workers dug the uninjured Johnson out form under the barrier, waved flags caused Barnes pursuers to bunch, setting up a battle for second. Second-placed Johnson now had Smith and Morris all over his tail, while a further second back Anthony Farina Jr. and Reynolds were coming on strong from their fight for fifth. Johnson rebuilt his second place edge, but the fight for third featured an ever-changing group composed of Morris, Smith, Fania, Reynolds and Bemisderfer, the latter up form last starting spot on his back up machine after oiling the track. Still riding with an arm brace due to his horrific start line Daytona 200 crash, Morris looked to be in control of the mob fighting for the final podium step. But in the last-lap dash to the line, Fania just edged Bemisderfer and Morris for third, with Smith a close sixth from Reynolds. On the rostrum, KSW Cycle Insurance backed Fania Jr. explained that, "this is a tough class, and I really djdn't expect to do so well. The bikes are really equal out there, and that makes it tough to pass. The team did their job, we put it on the box, and now it looks like we're going to Daytona!" ~lIKeway ~ PDud, Pe_ylvuUl IInlIlts: August Z&, zaOl BUElL UGHllNG: I. Mlch.el B.mes; 2. Jeffery Johnson; 3. Anthony Fanla Jr.; 4. Bryan Bemisderfer; 5. Richie Morris: 6. Jason Smith; 7. Mark Reynolds; 8. Daniel Bilansky; 9. Jeff Vermeulen; 10. Brien Bodine; 11. Brian Frank; 12. Gregory Avella: 13. Doug Burton; 14. Patrick Wakefield; 15. Timothy Johnson; 16. Steve Luxman. BUEll UGHTNING SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 4 of 6 round.): 1. Mich.el B.mes (95/3 wins); 2. Jeffrey John.on (60); 3. Richie Morris (44); 4. Jason Smith (40); 5. Tripp Nobles 136); 6. Brian Bodine (32); 7. B,),.n Bemisderler 29); 8. (TIE) Justin McReynolds (25/1 wln)jBrian Frank (25); 10. M.rk Reynold. (24); 11. D.niel BiI.n.ky (21); 12. Steve Luxem (19); 13. Ch.d He.ly (18); 14. Anthony F.ni. Jr. (16); 15. Timothy Johnson (12); 16. (TIE) Joseph H.mmond/Gregory Avello (11); 18. (TIE) Jeff Vermeulen/William Finnerty (7); 20. P8lrlck W.keroeld (6). Formula lISA Aprilia Cup Challe ge Round 4: Poco 0 Raceway .Ieff Wood flies his Aprtlia around Poc:ono en route to winning the Aprtlla Cup Challenge. STORY AND PHOTO BY COLIN FRASER LONG POND, PA, AUG. 26 fter Aprilia Cup qualifying, it looked like the 12-lap Pocono final was a forgone conclusion. Jeffrey Wood had his Bitwrech/Dunlopbacked 250 over two seconds clear of the second-placed starter. Wood did win, but not before resisting a surprising amount qf pressure from fellow front row starters Brian Kcraget and Dan Fischer. Second quickest qualifier Kcraget, the victor in the previous round at Virginia International Raceway in his Aprilia National debut, hounded Wood most of the way. But on lap eight the Speed Works/Roach Enterprises backed rider ran off track, handing what looked like a safe second to points leader Dan Fischer's Copier Discount Warehouse/Pro Italia entry. Then Fischer fell from second but in the grand tradition of Aprilia racing - remounted to salvage third. Wood wound up 24 seconds ahead of second-placed Kcraget, not surprising given the fact that Wood was the only runner to stay on the narrow Pocono infield pavement all race! Wood had a rough start to the race, sitting on the grid while his older brother Eric received trackside attention for a race ending Superbike crash. At the green, Wood got a poor start, lucky to get inside a couple of racers to salvage fourth through turn one. Quickly on the move, Wood took over first near the end of lap one, chased hard by Kcraget and Fischer, a gap opening up to the next A Halsmer and Hopkins was decided when Halsmer, trying to take fourth from Holcomb, ran off track in the middle of turn one. Halsmer, motocrossing at high speed, hit a gravel path over a culvert and was ejected over the bars, lucky not to be seriously injured. New England Motorsports-acked Holcomb took fourth by just feet over Hopkins after a lengthy and entertaining dice, with Mark Reynolds working his way up from 10th at the start to earn sixth. Third quickest qualifier Shannon Silva crashed on the first lap, and looked to be a DNF. But Silva got his two-stroke refired and charged throughout the race, making up ground at an impressive rate. Riding without a windscreen or a tail section, Silva made it through to 11 th out of 22 finishers on his Blackmans mount. Formerly second in the series, Shannon now holds third in points with 49, behind second placed Wood at 54 points and leader Fischer's 52-point total. CN group made up of Joshua Sortor, Paul Hopkins, Gus Holcomb and Thad Halsmer. As the race progressed, Kcraget stuck to leader Woods tail section, as Fischer remained just within sight from third, the top three setting a blazing pace. On lap seven, Kcraget made his move on the back straight, briefly into first, but Wood immediately struck back. "I passed him on the back stretch, but I couldn't get a lap in without making a mistake," explained Kcraget from the podium. Kcraget's run on Wood netted the fastest Aprilia lap of the weekend, a 1:49.7, the only sub 1:50 official Aprilia tour other than Wood's 1:49.9 pole effort. Wood added that, "I knew he was close, but not that close. Once I saw him, I just picked up the pace a bit. He passed me on the straight, then just ran wide in the next turn. He's about 40 pounds lighter than me, so I knew I needed to open up a gap.' The gap came when Kcraget ran off in turn one, dropping to third. This put Fischer into what should have been a solid second, now eight seconds behind Wood. Then on lap nine Fischer came to grief in the tight, clutch slipping turn the leads onto the NASCAR oval. "I crashed going onto the banking, man, I thought it was over," explained the points leader. "There was enough of a gap for me to get going without loosing too much." On the last lap, a race-long battle over fourth between Holcomb, cue •• n '-0 II8ceway I.DIIg PoDd, PenMylvllllUl Results: August Z6, ZOOl Al'RIWA COP CHALLENGE: 1. Jeffery Wood; 2. Brilln Kcrllgel; 3. Don Fischer, 4. Gus Holcomb; 5. Peul Hopkins; 6. Mark. Reynolds: 7. John Lemllk; 8. Timothy Felcone; 9. Brilln ROllCh; 10. Thorn", Fournier, 11. Shannon SilVll; 12. Joshua Sortor; 13. Dennis Nourry; 14. Thlld Halsmer; 15. Jeremy Bonnett; 16. Rllymond Chilson Jr.; 17. Bob Robbins; 18. Mark Wissel. APRILIA CUP CHALLENGE SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 4 01 6 round.): 1. D.n Fi.cher (62/1 win); 2. Jeffrey Wood (54/1 Win); 3. Sh.nnon Silva (49/1 win); 4. Brilln Kcraget (45/1 win); 5. Jo.hu. Sortor (39); 6. Derek King (36); 7. Th.d Halsmer (33); 8. Gus Holcomb (23); 9. Andre C••t.no. (21); 10. A.ron CI.rk (20); 11. Vicky J.ckson-Bell (18); 12. Tim Knutson (16); 13. (TIE) Brl.n Ro.ch/John Lem.k (12); 15. (TIE) P.ul Hopklns/M:ichllel Hannas/Jllson Morse (11); 18. Mark Reynold. (10); 19. (TIE) Oliver Ch.mi/P.ge G.things (9). Ell _ s • SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 59