Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128145
(Left) Lee Acree (84) battles with Bames (34), with Higbee (hidden) giving chase In race two. !AbWe) Pegram _ again a fast starI8r In the second leg as the pack .......... the JntematioIlaI Horse shoe for the tlrst time. Acree (841, Barnes (34J and the rest give chase.. Aprilia's Michael Himmelsbach, • Barnes and Higbee, with Pegram and Acree just off the back. The six were now away, with Connell in seventh, in front of New England Performance's Scott Greenwood. The shuffling at the front continued on the third and 'fourth laps, with Acree in the lead entering turn one on the fourth lap, but Barnes getting into the lead soon after. Then it was Higbee's turn, with Acree second and Wood third. The fifth lap was Higbee's fastest of the race and it gave him nearly a two-second lead. He added another second on the seventh lap and was on his way to the win. "That really wasn't my game plan," Higbee said of the breakaway. "I know how the draft works here and I didn't know if I could do it or not. At the beginning, there were a lot more people running in that bunch than I figured there would be, and it made me a little nervous. I just sat back and tried to playa little strategy. When I saw Barney [Michael Barnes] pull in there [for the stop-and-go). everybody sort of lost their drive and I put my head down and turned in a couple of good laps and was able to break the draft." Higbee's win, from the pole posi"tion, was aN ~he more impressive because he had limited practice on the Suzuki. "We didn't get the Thursday practice. We're still working out the setup. That last time out [the first race], we turned the fastest times we had this weekend," Higbee said after winning by 11.320 seconds. Acree was clear about how the race was won. "Shawn definitely was a good carrot for a couple of laps, but Shawn's just quicker than I am today here so far," he said. "The bike was working really well. Shawn didn't beat me because of my bike. I had the better bike; Shawn just outrode me." The first two places were clear-cut. Third was a proper fight. Wood, Pegram, and Blackmans Racing's Michael Himmelsbach hooked up before the halfway mark, just after Barnes pitted for his stop-and-go. Of the three, Pegram clearly had the slowest bike and had to ride hard in the infield to have any chance to stay close on the banking. Wood had run into engine troubles early in the weekend and had to borrow a motor, which ran strong. Himmelsbach's Aprilia showed the results of a winter's development, running stronger than it ever had. Unfortunately, Himmelsbach wouldn't see it to the end. He'd seen Acree trying to make a break and wanted to join him, hoping Wood and Pegram would hold each other up. Himmelsbach went into turn one too tight, bitting the ripple strips on the inside after missing his brake marker. The front forks started bouncing, the front tire locked up, and he was forced to stand it up and ride it into the grass, nearly bringing it to a stop before haVing to lay it down just before the hay bales. "It was just a rider mistake," he said. The crash came at the start of the 10th lap, with Higbee and Acree well alone, Pegram chasing Wood, Synergy Racing Technology's Matt Wait alone in fifth. A few raindrops had begun to fall on the eighth lap and increased on the 11th. F-USA officials pulled the plug as the leaders were about to begin the 12th lap, the scoring reverting- to the end of the 10th, with Higbee the winner, Acree second, Wood third, and then Pegram and Wait: whose start and early race was hampered by balky clutch. "It was kind of cool," Wood began. "There was a whole bunch of us there in a drafting war. We kept passing each other back and forth; I think we slowed each other down a little bit. And then I made a little mistake in the horseshoe and that's how I lost touch with Lee [Acree] and Shawn [Higbee]. Shawn kind of put his head down and took off. I tried to reel in Lee a little bit, but I made a couple of mistakes late in the race, so I had to settle for third." Pegram didn't specify what was slowing him down. "We had a little problem with our stuff this weekend, so hopefully we'll fix it for next weekend," he said. "I would blaze through the infield and then get on the banking and give it back." Fifth place was fine with Wait, especially since the deal with Synergy only came together two weeks ago. Wait had been working construction with his father, John, when he got the call to go racing again. He hadn't ridden for nearly a year and he felt the rust. He also had to adapt to Pirelli tires after a career spent mostly on Dunlops. "It was not only a race, but a test," Wait said. "For me, [I had to] just take my time and get up to speed again just because I haven't rode in about a year. It's going well for what we got and I'm really happy with the team. I think everyone's tires are doing the same thing. It's easy on the throttle and carries some corner speed. [ think I was gradually catching them. They got a little on me as far as top speed. I think I was carrying a little bit more corner speed going into one, as well as going into the chicane. I think they were getting some spots and I was getting them, so it was almost even, but I think I was catching just a little bit on them." Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Chris Ulrich was about four seconds behind Wait and just .014 of a second in front of the charging Barnes. Then came Arclight Suzuki's Craig Connell in his debut for the team. Connell s.aid the team had a twoday test at Thunderhill in California two weeks before Daytona. Other than that, he hadn't ridden since his Portland crash. "The Suzukis are very good and the Pirellis are very good. It's just a matter of me getting used to it," he said. "Physically, I'm not strong enough push it to ten-tenths." RACE TWO Pegram got another jump on the field in the second leg, Bames, Acree, and Higbee going with him, the riders swapping on the go, Pegram losing the lead to Acree in the chicane. Acree's lead was short-lived, as Barnes took over, leading Acree, Pegram, Wood and Higbee in a fiverider breakaway. The first raindrops began to fall on the second lap as Acree took back the lead, the order behind him constantly changing. Michael Bames wheelles his Hooters Suzuki after winning the second leg of the Unllmltecl Superbike class at Daytona. a u .. I e n _ . . so • MARCH 13, 2002 9