Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

kind of settled into a pace." Acree came next, content with fourth, and a second title. "I figured that as long as Paul wasn't in the lead pack I didn't have to be super conservative, so I wanted to go with them," Acree said. "But I got separated from the guys that were on the go, once I was out of their draft. I did everything I could. I tried running around the short way around the bottom. Without the bottom I just kind of held where I was." Ball was just over a second back with Wood on his rear after a racelong fight with Greenwood. "We race at home all the time," Wood said of he and Greenwood. "We're really comfortable being real close to each other." Wood said he came out of the chicane on the last lap on Shannon Ball's rear tire, "and just every time I'd pull out of the draft I kept going backwards. We actually were catching Lee the last three laps. The Pirellis, it seems to me, are good at the beginning of the race, then drop off at the end. Lee was a lot different in the last half of the race than he was in the beginning. He was really outdriving at the start and in the end we could get him." Acree's teammate, Brian Parriott, had qualified fourth, but was sent to the back of the field for a horsepower violation. From the 10th row, Parriott couldn't make much ground and spent the race in unfamiliar territory. "They had a lot of horsepower and were holding me up everywhere and then you get up onto the banking and they're just all over the place," Parriott said after finishing lIth. "I just let them go every time. I couldn't draft up on them, their bikes were too fast. I'm not going to kill myself. I'm not it in for any points. I wanted to win the race, but you can't do that from the last row." eN Fonnala USA Sportbike Series Final Roand: Daytona International Speedway tlrnes utsmarts By the eighth lap Ciccotto was starting to lose ground, Hayes and Barnes swapping the lead, the pair setting up for a last-lap dash. Into turn one on the final lap Hayes led with Barnes second, the order maintaining through the infield. As they rounded the barrel turn, turn six, up onto the banking, Hayes slowed, shaking his head. It looked like he was trying to snooker Barnes into leading, but claims it wasn't so. STORY AND PHOTO BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS G'lhe previous 11 laps didn't mean a thing. The Formula USA Sportbike final would be decided on the final tour of Daytona International Speedway, likely out of the final turn, the uphill off-camber turn 10 exiting the chicane. In a close two-rider battle, the leader out of the chicane almost always gets the second place trophy. Michael Barnes knows that because he's been around Daytona more than any other rider in the field. Seeing Josh Hayes ahead of him was a good thing. The finish would be all about timing and Barnes timed it perfectly. "It was exactly where I wanted to be, far enough ahead of third and perfectly set up behind first and I was able to maintain the right gap and get on the gas at the right moment," the Hooters Suzuki rider said. "I don't think I've ever timed it that perfect here before. I could have done it earlier, but I couldn't have done it a split second later." The result was a .042 of a second victory, his second of the year in the Sportbike class. "I tried every trick in the book on the last lap to play the game right," said Hayes, in his first weekend back with the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team. "I even got a tow off a lapper and played some games in the chicane. 1 tried to sit up and keep the gas on for a while." Michael Bames leads .Josh Hayes and Mike Clccotto In the Sportblke final. Bames ended up beating Hayes by Just .042 of a second at the finish. eJ Third, about six seconds back, was Barnes' teammate Mike Ciccotto, who'd run with the leaders for much of the race before his tire went off, with fourth going to Arclight Suzuki's Lee Acree. Acree's finish, along with an off day by Shogun Motorsports' Paul Harrell, who came to Daytona with a mathematical chance of taking the title, guaranteed that Acree would retain the number one Sportbike plate. "All I needed to do, even if Paul [Harrell] won, was finish lIth," Acree said after compiling 112 points to Harrell's 78. "So fourth place was plenty of what we needed to win the championship. " Acree crossed the line in front of a battling trio - Dallas Cycle Sports' Shannon Ball, 14K the Movie's Eric Wood, and Loudon 600cc Supersport winner, Scott Greenwood of New England Performance. The next nine riders all crossed the line on the same second, led by rookie expert Pedro Valiente in eighth. Acree led qualifying ahead of Hayes, Barnes, and Wood with Barnes getting the jump on the field, taking Hayes with him and soon Ciccotto. Those three dominated the race, each taking turns at the front with Acree just off the lead trio. "I made a mistake," Hayes said. "I got in there hot and I was more shaking my head because I was trying ~o run. And I'd blown it. I messed it all up. I said, well, I got enough confidence that I can get a good run out of the chicane, maybe I can time everything right and beat him to the line. So I was just trying to win the thing." Barnes saw Hayes slow and wasn't sure what to make of it. "He did that and I was like, 'Did you do that on purpose?' " he said. "I just backed off and maintained that gap. I figured if I don't lose that gap, I don't care what he does, I'm going to keep this gap. He knew that, but I think he might have felt he had a strong enough run. I knew that I could stay with him out of the chicane as well." Hayes led into the chicane and caught a break on the East Banking. A lapper was in the right place and Hayes was able to catch his draft. Barnes was about eight bikelengths back, but on the move, soon to suck Hayes up and take the win. "Michael's bike, I don't know if it's just weight or what, but I couldn't believe how fast it was," Hayes said. "I looked back a couple of times and he sure could hunt me down from a long way out. I was a little disappointed." Barnes completed the 12-lap, 47.72-mile race in 23 minutes, 29.386 seconds at an average speed of 109.120 mph. Ciccotto came third, his strategy of conserving his tires not quite paying off. "About halfway in I just got into a pretty big slide coming out of the International Horseshoe again and I lost the draft," Ciccotto said. "I put my head down and started going at them again, but missed a downshift going into one. Ran a little wide. I just cue' • Daytona International Speedway D8ytona 1IudI, Aoridll Resuhs:~er19,2DDl (Round II SPORTBIKE: 1. M.iChll~1 Barnes (Suz); 2. Josh Hayes (502); 3. Mike Ciccotto (Suz); 4. Lee Acree (Suz); 5. Shannon Ball (Suz); 6. Eric wood (Suz); 7. Scott Greenwood (Suz); 8. Pedro Valienle (Yam); 9. Roland Williams (Suz); 10. Larry Denning (Yam); 11. Brian Parriott (Yam); 12. Charles Chouinllrd (Suz);13. Ty Howard (Yam); 14. Eoin Smith (Yam); 15. Shawn Conrad (Suz); 16. Paul HarTell (Yam); 17. Troy Green (Yam); 18. Brett Champagne (Suz); 19. Marco Martinez (502): 20. Chris Ulrich (Suz); 21. Ray Bowman (Hon); 22. Chad Simons (Suz); 23. Owen Richey (Yam); 24. Jeff Purk (Yam); 25. Johno Bowman (Suz); 26. Dennis King (Yam); 27. Thomas Pfuner (Suz); 28. Steve Luxern (Yam); 29. Christopher Cummings (Yam); 30. David McPherson (Yam); 31. David Alley (Suz); 32. Robb Martin (Yam); 33. Deborah Venega (Due); 34. Michael Martire (Kaw); 35. Sloney Landers (Suz). Time: 23 mins., 29.386 mph. Distance: 12 laps, 47.72 miles. Average speed: 109.120 mph. M.argin of victory: .042 sec, SPORTBIKE C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (Afler 6 of 6 rounds): 1. Lee Acree (112/2 wins); 2. Paul Harrell (78/1); 3. Michael Barnes (66/2); 4. Mike Ci«otto (63/1); 5. Shannon Ball (42); 6. Sloney Landers (35); 7. Roland Williams (33); 8. Charles Chouinard (31); 9. (TIE) Marc Palazzo/Shawn Conradrry Howard (30); 12. Brian Parriott (28); ] 3. (TIE) Josh Hayes/John Hopkins/Joseph Gill (20); 16. (TIE) Eric Wood/Scott Greenwood (16); 18. (TIE) Owen Weichel/Shane Prieto (13); 20. Bri~m Slokes (12). n __ S • OCTOBER 31, 2001 15

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