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F-USA Championship Cup Series Finale STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS DAYTONA BEACH, FL, OCT 21 t was not a breakout performance, but Georgian Giovanni Rojas had a career weekend nonetheless during the Formula USA Championship Cup Series Race of Champions National Finals held over three days of vastly changing weather at Daytona International Speedway. Rojas was the top amateur and the top rider, with no Expert able to match his total podium output. The sum total of podium placings was three wins, a second, and three thirds, all on a pair of Suzukis, a GSX-R750 and a GSX-R600. Fellow Amateur Darren Luck came close, matching his win total at three, plus a second, despite spending time in the hospital with salmonella poisoning. Expert Scott Harwell rode the Arclight Suzukis to three Expert wins and a second. The winning began for Rojas in the very first of the CCS races, the 30minute Amateur GTO, shortened to 25 minutes by the weather. Rojas completed 12 laps of the 3.56-mile road course on his Suzuki GSX-R750, easing away to win by 6.750 seconds after 24 minutes, 37.620 seconds of racing. Second went to Tomas Bauchiero, also GSX-R750-mounted, with Chris Murray-Audain third on a Yamaha R-l. Bauchiero would exact a small measure of revenge on Rojas, but not until Sunday. Saturday was the most productive day of the weekend for Rojas, and the first of two days of five-lap sprint races. Starting from the fifth row of the Amateur Middleweight Superbike race, he was up to the leaders on the third of five laps, into second in the chicane on the fourth lap, then into the lead. Out of NASCAR Turn Four Rojas Glowannni Rojas (319) leads Darren Luck (405) in Amateur Heavyweight Superblke action during CCS racing at Daytona. I held the point, but he and his Suzuki GSX-R600 couldn't hold off the charge of Matthew Hartlieb and his Honda F -4i, and the win went to Hartlieb by .300 of a second. David Sanders made it three different brands in the winner's circle finishing a close third on his Yamaha R-6. Rojas explained that he'd blown up his "A" bike on Friday and had to rebuild it. That wasn't the bigger problem, he admitted. "I know I should never have come out of the chicane in first place," he said. "I should've waited." Hartlieb had made the same mistake on Friday and wasn't going to do it again. "I made the mistake yesterday pulling out of the draft too soon," he said. "I just got out in the nick of time and beat him to the line." From his starting position on the third row of the Amateur Heavyweight Superbike race, Rojas was in the top five early on and into second by the end of the first of five laps. The first challenge for the lead came in the International Horseshoe on lap three, with Rojas passing early leader Darren Luck for the lead in the dogleg left. From there he set sail, winning handily by 3.340 seconds. "He rode a great race there," Luck said before disclosing health problems. "I went to the hospital last night for salmonella poisoning. I'm out here trying not to crash." Third was a 'three-way fight that went to the line with Paul Sherer just ahead of Travis Lee and Nathan Kern. The top four were Suzuki GSX-R750mounted, with Kern on a GSX-R600. A few races later Rojas was back in front, this time in the Amateur Unlimited Supersport run in conjunction with the Expert Unlimited Supersport. Rojas was up to third on lap two, then into the lead on the third lap. After that he sped away to win, Paul Sherer using the power advantage of his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 to pass the Suzuki GSX-R-750 mounted Travis Lee Pepin for second on the final lap. "It's been a great, great, weekend for me," Rojas said after his final victory. For the rest of his races, third would be his best, a trio of them behind riders he'd earlier beaten. Luck won the final race on Saturday, the Amateur Heavyweight Supersport by little more than a few bikelengths, officially .290 of a second. Paul Sherer was second with Rojas a close third, from the sixth row. The three !:tad battled the whole race, Luck leading from lap two on with Sherer and Rojas closing on the fmal lap. They were three wide out of the final comer with Sherer trying the bottom of the racetrack, but running out of time. "First thing to say is that my salmonella medication kicked in about 2 today, my stomach no longer hurts," he said. "I never even looked over my shoulder. I just gave it everything I had and tried my hardest." "I was right behind him and I could see the number one and we were catching him and catching him and I was like keep going, keep going," Rojas said. "It was real close racing to the checkered flag." Bauchie(o, who'd finished fourth in the Amateur Heavyweight Supersport race, took his lone win on Sunday morning in the Amateur Middleweight Grand Prix. Coming from row six, two spots behind Rojas, the pair methodically made their way to the front. Early leader Christopher Beck had over two seconds on the second lap, but Rojas and Bauchiero were closing, Rojas taking the lead in the West End Horseshoe on the fourth lap, Bauchiero second and Beck third, then fourth in the draft of David Sanders. On the last lap Rojas again led out of the chicane and Bauchiero made a cue. e n run at him, closing quickly to win by .370 of a second in a photo finish. Rojas thought he might have gotten the nod. "It was real close at the line," he said. "I know when I went through it he was it he was right there to my right. I could see his front wheel." "That was tough trying to keep up with Giovanni [Rojas]," Bauchiero said. "He's got some moves in the infield. I just stuck behind him and got him in the draft. It works well at Daytona. No one wanted to lead in the chicane." The last race of the weekend was less of a race and more of a water slide. Torrential downpours began soon after the final F -USA Unlimited Superbike race, just as the Amateur 600cc Supersport was gridded. Rojas came away third in that race, with Chris Beck winning and Joseph Rozynski taking second. The top three all rode Suzuki GSXR600's, with Beck averaging 85.124 mph in completing the five lap race in 12 minutes, 30.660 seconds. The average was about 19 mph down on the fastest 600cc amateur races of the weekend. The Experts were even faster. New England PerformaRce's Scott Greenwood averaged 107.234 mph in winning Saturday's first five-lap sprint, the Expert Middleweight Supersport. While Greenwood was setting the pace, six riders were fighting over second, and slowing each other down, allowing Greenwood to win by 5.780 seconds. Arclight Suzuki's Harwell was one of the riders in the fight over second, despite starting on the 10th row. He'd moved to the front of the pack on the fourth lap and held the spot, though by the barest of margins over Pedro Valiente (Yam). "I just wanted to go for it," Greenwood said. "I got away from everybody and rode my own race." "I started back on row 10 and put in as hard a ride as I could on the first lap," Harwell said. "Scott was already gone." Scott Harwell tries to hold off tonner Daytona 200 winner John Ashmead In Expert Heavywel9ht Supersport. e _ so • OCTOBER 31,2001 17