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didn't have to, leading through turn 10 and across the line. Pridmore was second when he made a last-lap run at Craggill. "I almost got in the back of Marty [Craggill] on the last lap," Pridmore said. "I didn't want to hit him and take us both down, so I stood my bike up and ran wide, and unfortunately that let Jake [Zemke I back by." Zemke had to race with Rapp on the final lap. Rapp had come from five seconds back to get into the mix, not knowing he was a lap down. "Who knows what would have happened if he wouldn't have been in there?" Zemke said. "When he got in there, it just kind of separated Jason and Marty from me. Jason almost got into Marty a little bit and ran wide. That's when me and Rapp both got by him. I got by Rapp in the last corner." Buckmaster was content to leave Brainerd with a fourth. The team had struggled to find a balance all weekend and was lacking top speed. "I've got to look the big picture," he said. "We're still not that far off the lead, and there's still three to go." CN B.-inenllntemlltionel Racewey B.-inenl, Minnesatll Results: June 29, 2002 IRound &1 LOCKHART· PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME: 1. MZlrtin Craggill (Suz); 2. Jake Zemke (Hon); 3. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 4. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 5. Lance Isaacs (Y8m); 6. Ben Spies (Suz); 7. Josh Hayes (SUI); 8. Mike Hale (Hon); 9. Marco Martinez (Suz); 10. James Compton (SUI); 11. Giovanni Rojas (Suz); 12. Brian Boyd (Suz); 13. Randall Mennenga (SUI); 14. Wesley Good (Suz); 15. Steve Johnson (Apr); 16. Scott Ruehle (Yam); 17. JlIson Curtis (Yam); 18. Eric Erling Hougo (SU1): Ig. Jell Bostrom (Suz): 20. Kenyon Kluge (5uz); 21. JlImie Thompson (5uz); 22. 5leve Rlipp (5uz); 23. Eric Dooyemll (5uz); 24. Michllel Hanley (5uz); 25. Erick Hlindeglird (YlIm): 26. Adllm Fergusson (5uz); 27. Roger Lee HlIyden (Hon): 28. Tom Kipp (5u1); 29. Chod Jensen (5uz). TIme: 21 mins.• 40.751 sees. Distance: 13 11IPS, 39 miles. Margin of victory: 0.202 sees. Average speed: 107.938 mph. LOCKHART·PHIWPS USA FORMULA XTREI'IE C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 of 9 rounds): 1. JlIson Pridmore (183/2 wins); 2. Jake Zemke (180); 3. Domon Buckmaster (175/3): 4. Mike Hale (158); 5. Ben Spies (153); 6. Martin Craggill (117/1): 7. unce lsoacs (104): 8. James Compton (101); 9. Joson Curtis (98): 10. Alex Gobert (92); 11. Tom Kipp (80): 12. Roger L... Hoyden (68): 13. Jeff Bostrom (63): 14. Kenyon Kluge (61): 15. Adom Fergusson (58): 16. JlImie Thompson (55); 17. Eric Erling Haugo (48): 18. Clint McSoin (41): 19. Steve Raw (33); 20. Brian Boyd (31). Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Monterey, California, July 12 Round 8 - Lexington, Ohio, July 27 AMA/Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, MN, JUNE 30 .. don't know what happened," Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki's Jimmy Moore was saying, drenched in sweat after the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock race on a hot afternoon at Brainerd International Raceway. "The whole mission was to just try to get into the lead and try to just focus on putting good laps in, and that's really what I just felt like I did." So well, in fact, that he was able to score a rare, runaway win in the usually competitive class - a win that shot him to the top of the championship points standings. Second went to Butler Machinery's Robert Jensen, a regular at BIR, with Arclight Suzuki's Craig Connell third. Then there was a gap to Moore's teammate Adam Fergusson, Nicolodi Racing's Vincent Haskovec, and Arclight Suzuki's Lee Acree, who lost his championship lead to Moore. After seven of 10 rounds, Moore leads Acree, 199-197. Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden, 15th at Brainerd, is third with 162. The key for Moore was a setup discovery he made late in the weekend. "We figured it out right before qualifying, just boom. It was like, 'Okay, I think we found it,'" he said. Before the fix, the rear tire would start spinning and he would try to correct it, and that would cause other problems. "[We] stumbled on the right combination and it worked really, really well. We may not have done as well had we not found that." So, when the light went green, Moore was gone, adding time in bunches - three seconds after the fourth lap, more than six after the eighth. "It looked like Craig [Connell] was struggling a little bit with his tires on the first lap, and I don't know if they were cold or he wasn't' comfortable with them or what, but I could see he was not going to be feeling 100 percent and I tried to capitalize on that," Moore said. "Mine seemed to work pretty good right out of the gate, although at other races I've had the same problem where you're just like, 'What is going on?' It takes you a good lap or two. [Robert] Jensen, he looked strong but Craig [Connell] kind of pushed him wide unintentionally in turn two. I think that bunched them both up." Though he was gapping the field, Moore didn't know it. "My guys love to lie about my gap," he said. "They've told me afterwards I had a bigger gap. They just showed me plus zero for the whole race and then finally there's a big jump. I'm like, 'All right, that don't add up, because I didn't put a good lap in.'" On the final lap, he took it easy, finishing with a wheelie and a winning margin of 5.783 seconds. His winning time of 22 minutes, 11.680 seconds, was nearly 20 seconds off the twoyear-old race record. The heat and worsening track condition were contributing factors. The race for second began in eamest just before the halfway point, when Jensen and Connell moved away from Adam Fergusson and a pack of others. Jensen moved to second on the sixth lap with Connell on his rear, but not really challenging. "I struggled basically the whole race," Connell said. "I don't know whether it was a little bit hotter than what it has been for the last couple of days. Unfortunately for me, I just didn't feel like I had the setup working correctly today like it has been in the past, so third was the best I could do and I'm reasonably happy with that." Connell said he was seeing plus zero on his pit board, but the first indication that anyone was there was when Jensen passed him cleanly. "I was actually quite happy about it for a change, actually being passed because, like I said before, beauty, we might be able to catch him cue I e This Is pretty much what the entire race looked like. Jimmy Moore (11, the defending champion, ran away with the Superstock race at Brainerd, winning by over five seconds. [Moore], but I was incorrect. Jimmy's bike, it seemed to be set up awesome. When 1 was close enough to see, it looked to me as though it never stepped out once." Jensen used his local track knowledge to inch away from Connell, though he lamented having not made his move sooner. "We were going into [turn] one and I followed Craig [Connell] a couple of times, so the third time I just planned to go around him and set it up that way and it worked," said Jensen, a regular in the Central Roadracing Association series events at Brainerd. "I think if I would have tried to do that a little sooner, maybe I could have stuck with him a little longer or stayed with him or gave him a run for his money." n e _ os • JULY 10, 2002 15