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WERA Sportsman and Vintage Finals passed Barnes on the first lap and held on to second, trying to put some ground on Barnes as the Floridian struggled with the unfamiliar machine. "I had a really bad front-end push that set in early," Barnes said. This was his first time ever on the Hal's Buell, and it wasn't "personalized," he said. The seating position was wrong and Barnes was never comfortable, but neither was Montano. He'd developed a front-end chatter about halfway into the race. "I played it safe. I watched my board and knew where Barnes was," Montano said. There was never a challenge put to Ciccotto. "I didn't look back until halfway," he said. "I looked back halfway and then I cruised." Ciccotto knew that Montano had to finish worse than third and had told his pit crew to signal him only if he was a threat in the race. It never happened and Ciccotto took the easy win, looking over his shoulder as he crossed the stripe. There was no one there, but Barnes woald soon cross the line, having passed Montano on the finaJ lap, with Montano, the new champion, in his wake. "I know what I had to do, so that's what I did," Montano said. "I was in second for a long time. And we had a pretty good battle; I had a bit of a chatter in the front. I think we were just a littie soft on the front suspension. So I didn't know if I was going to crash, so I thought I'd just bring it on home. I knew Barnes was back there and sooner or later he was going to come. He finally did at the end. We could have had a braking battle into turn 10, but I thought, 'I don't need to do that. I just need to finish. God knows I've crashed out of the lead before.' That's all." Fourth on the day went to Tilley's H-D/Buell's Tripp Nobles, 22 seconds behind Montano with about that on Harley-Davidson of Fredericks' Bryan Bemisderfer in fifth. Bemisderfer got the better of Belgian Jeff VermeuJen after tussling the whole race. Alan Schwen was alone in seventh, then came an entertaining battle for eighth among three Suzukis. Robert Fisher got the nod over Jeff Wood with Bud Lawter 10th, the trio fInishing within half a second of each other. 1:11 WERA SPOrts an & Vintage Finals STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAM5 BRASELTON, GA, OCT. 25-27 week after dominating the Formula USA Race of Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Georgian Giovanni Rojas did the same in the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta, winning five sprints in the Sportsman Series Finals on Saturday. Unlike at Daytona, where he was occasionally beaten, in Atlanta the 28-year-old Georgian was unbeatable in the Sportsman races, riding his Pro-South Cycles/Giovanni's Hardwood Flooring/Reptilian Racing Suzukis to wins in each of his five appearances. In order to qualify for the GNF's Sportsman National finals, you had to finish in the top 15 in points in one of the six WERA Regional championships. The finals were winner-takeall events, unlike the National Challenge Series, which consisted of nine events throughout the year, with the GNF events being the final races of the series. Rojas, who lives in Dacula, Georgia, began his winning ways in the second race, the B Superstock Novice final, after passing the early leader on the first lap. The lead kept growing and growing until the race was red-flagged on the seventh of eight laps with Rojas well out front. "The guy leading the race out of turn seven almost highsided," Rojas said of the start. The bobble caused the rider's kill switch to get thrown, giVing Rojas an opening. "I was able to take off from there. After that I was pulling away." Shawn Stinnett was second with David Kagan third, both riders well out of challenging range. The top three 'were Suzuki GSX-R750-mounted. Because of that red flag, and another earlier one, all of the subsequent races were shortened from IIoalI AtIMtlI BnuIl8n, lieorIia eight laps to six. Results: lIcIalIer Z7, ZOOl lRaund IJ Rojas was back for more in race BUELL PRO THUNDER: I. Mike Cicco"" (Buo): seven, C Superstock Novice, but this 2. Mich21el B8mes (Bue); 3. Thomes Montano (Duc); 4. Tripp Noblos (Buo): 5. Bryon Bemisderfor (Buo): one wasn't as easy. Direcway's 6. Jeff Vermeulen (Bue); 7. Alen Schwen (Suz); 8. Robert Fisher (5u,): g. Jeff Wood (5u,): 10. Bud Thomas Bauchiero and his Yamaha LoMer (5u,): 11. John Linder (5""): 12. 6tove Clork (5uz): 13. John Jacobi (5uz): 14. Shown Higbee led off the start and for the first four (Bue): 15. Dove Estok (5",,). laps, Rojas second and Jason Stroud Time: 20 mlns., 22.298 sec. Distance: 12121ps, 30.24 miles. third. Rojas made a successful bid for Average speed: 88.358 mph. Margin of victory: 3.902 sec. the lead with an inside move in turn BUELL PRO THUNDER C'SHIP POINT 5TANDING5 (After 10 of 10 rounds): 1. Thomas Montano (256/2 one on the fifth lap, with Bauchiero wins): 2. Mike Ciccotto (255{2); 3. Jeff Nash taking it back, the scene playing out (218/1 ). n • _ s 10 NOVEMBER 7. 2001 • c u e • • A identically a lap later. Only this time, Rojas would make it stick and held off Bauchiero by .36 of a second. "We battied back and forth," Rojas said. "I passed him twice going into one. The lap before the final one I passed him into one and from there I led the race." Rojas expected a challenge in tum 10, the hard-braking left at the end of the back straight and defended it. "Going into lOon the final lap I covered the inside of the tum," he said. Bauchiero was second with James Stroud third on a Honda. On the Suzuki GSX-R600 again for the C Superbike Novice race, Rojas was again at the front early in the race, late on the first lap, and wouJd strengthen his position definitively. He cruised to victory by 2.95 seconds while four riders battled over second. "I had a great start and I took off," he said. "I had a big lead and I didn't have any problems. Once I took the lead in tum 10, I was able to check out." Bauchiero was again second, with Mf,C Racing's Richard Ford third, followed quickly by Gregory Moore and Dehond Cycle's Sam Gaige. Rojas had his easiest race in B Superbike Novice. After a nearly perfect launch, which put in second into turn one, Rojas took advantage of the miscue of the leader to move to the front with a strong run through turns two and three. Three laps into the sixlap race, Rojas had such a big lead that he was into turn one before the second placed rider had approached the final tum. He'd win by 9.74 seconds with Shawn Stinnett second and Brian Crane holding off Sam Gaige for third. "At the end, my pit signals showed me how far out I was, so [ slowed the pace down," Rojas said. The Formula 1 Novice would be his final race and final win of the day. Rojas began at the front with Stinnett going out with him, the pair separating from the 24-rider field. Stinnett was the equal of Rojas for much of the race and Rojas knew it. "I knew he was behind me," Rojas said. "Every time I came out of turn seven, he was right behind me." Rojas said that he was stronger on Giovanni Rojas (319) leads Tomas Bauchiero In C Superslock Novice racln9. Rojas won with Bauchlero second. the brakes and had to short-shift his Suzuki GSX-R750 to keep it from wheelieing out of the slower corners. "Going down in five was giving me a problem," he said. But in the final two laps he was able to pull away, winning his fifth race by 1.95 seconds. Expert Bradley Champion wasn't as successful as Rojas, but he wasn't far off. Unlike Rojas, who was familiar with Road Atlanta, the Richmond Cycles-backed rider was making his first visit to the track from his home in Houston, Texas and found it a little intimidating, but quickly adapted. "I learn tracks quick," Champion said. "It's just a matter of learning the reference points going that fast through turns 12, 10, and one. The others are pretty basic." Champion's first win came in the sixth race on Thursday, the D Superbike Expert class of the WERA Sportsman series. Riding his Suzuki SV-650, with Ducati bodywork, the Texan got into a battle with Yamaha FZR400-mounted Jason Temme. "It was back and forth the whole race," Champion said. Using the power advantage of the four-cylinder Yamaha, "he'd get by me on the straights. We kept going back and forth." But Champion did have an advantage that he knew would be decisive. "I was later and better on the brakes in turn 10 [the hard right at the end of the fast back straightaway. The leader through 10 holds the advantage in the final few corners and the short run from the final corner to the finish line]." On the final lap, Champion was in the lead going into 10 and intent on keeping it. "I knew I could keep it if J went in deeper," he said. Champion won the eight-lap sprint by .28 of a second with Temme second and David Yaakov third. Later on Thursday Champion was back in a tight battIe for the lead, this time against Yaakov and Chris Caylor in the Expert Lightweight Twins final.