Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"He helped them build the motors through the telephone, and they came over to the house to work," Himmelsbach said. At Pocono, the elder Himmelsbach was either on crutches or in a golf cart. Himmelsbach explained that the hair color was the result of a bet lost to a group of the children, one of whom asked Himmelsbach to sign his forehead, which he did. Arclight Suzuki's Lee Acree was second, Wood third, then Pegram and Higbee. Not in the top five were points leader Craig Connell, of the Arclight Suzuki team, and Barnes. Barnes crashed hard, bringing out the second red flag and race stoppage after 13 of 18 laps. Connell, who'd crashed in the first leg, was eighth in the second leg. With two rounds and four races remaining, Connell leads Barnes, 169-158. Higbee is third at 148. RACE ONE Six riders got the jump in the first leg, but the front four would get away after a bumping incident three turns into the race. Connell bumped into Pegram, with both having to check up, slowing the riders just behind and allowing the lead four to get away. "Connell drilled me in that right," Pegram said. "He came in, 'boom.' If I didn't pick up, we were both going down. Then he gave me the 'I'm sorry' wave. Yeah, good job, now we're ninth and 10th. Good job." Connell admitted the gaffe, saying "I've got to apologize to him." At the front, it was Higbee leading Himmelsbach, Barnes and Wood. Wood would be the first to lose touch, his Suzuki not able to keep pace with the more robust Suzukis of Higbee and Barnes and the torquey Aprilia of Himmelsbach. "We're lacking top speed by a lot," Wood said. "We lose 20 bikelengths on the back straightaway and 10 down the front every lap, so I just tried to override the bike. I passed all three of the guys who were up front in the infield at different times in the course of the race. I must have passed Shawn [Higbee] on the brakes eight laps in a row on the back straightaway. " Himmelsbach took the lead on the third lap, then it was Barnes' turn, a few laps later, with his grasp tighter, especially after Himmelsbach blew up on lap 17 while second. "The motor blew up and something came out the side of the bike," Himmelsbach said while directing the preparation of his back-up bike for the second leg. "It was running great up to that point. We had a strong engine and the handling was awesome. It was the best showing for the Aprilia all year. It was a phenomenal bike. This is the back-up bike. It's good, but it's not as good. "I felt like we could win the race. There was no question. We hung back for a while. I saw the four-Iapsto-go sign, I tried to close it back in. I Pegram chases Acree In their battle In race one. Acree ended up fourth, with Pegram fifth. was ready for it. I know Barney [Barnes] was probably saving his tire too, and I'm sure we were both playing the same game, but I thought we could win it." Higbee had made a mistake while running just behind the leaders and slipped back to fourth. It turned out to be advantageous, giving him a chance to go to school on Barnes and Wood. "Eric Wood was really hard on the brakes," Higbee said. "I picked up on that, used that to get by Barnes on the last lap." Higbee made his run at Barnes on the final lap, taking him on the brakes in tum seven at the end of the back straight. From there, he had to protect his line through the final sequence, which he did, cutting the last corner close and beating Barnes on the run to the flag by .615 of a second. "I knew if I could make that pass stick over there, coming off the banking, I could hold him off to the checkers," Higbee said. "It worked out great. " Barnes said he was having trouble getting off the back straightaway and Acree (84) leads Wood (4) and Higbee In the first race, a battle that ultimately went to Higbee, the defending series champion. the others knew it. "It's just getting too upset with the bumps going in there, and [I don't have] enough confidence just to get on the gas through them. So I'm just slowing down, trying to square it off, but it's real awkward because you've got to get real tight on the exit." Barnes said that as he was squirming onto the banking, Higbee made his run, outbraking him and keeping the momentum up to the final corner. "He went through the water in the last corner and laid a black mark and I was like, 'Well, that's a lot more than I'm willing to do,'" Barnes said, while taking stock of the big picture. "And he's behind me in points. Again, I beat the guy in front of me. Now Higbee's behind me, I've just got to beat him." Fourth was a three-way battle, then two when Connell went off on the seventh lap. "I had a little bit of bike trouble and I was trying to make up a lot of time in corners because I couldn't get off the corners, and I made a mistake," Connell said. "I rolled in there too hard, I lost the front. I got it back, but in doing that I sort of semi fell off the side of the bike, stood it up, ran off, couldn't stop in the wet grass, ran into that fence. Then the thing got stuck underneath that fence." That left the fight to be waged between Connell's teammate Acree c U a I II! and Pegram. The pair swapped the spot all race long, nothing in it for either one. Pegram led on lap 17, but it was Acree at the line, by just over .3 of a second. "His bike was coming off corners really well, mine seemed to have some legs up top," Acree said. "There were places he was stronger than me and places I was stronger than him. Just a give-and-take race. Luckily, I just came out in front of him." Sixth went to Brian Parriott in his first ride on the Synergy Racing Technologies' Honda. Parriott passed New England Performances' Scott Greenwood on the sixth lap and was 10 seconds in front of him at the flag. Team Embry's Geoff May was eighth. RACE TWO Most of the same riders who'd jumped into the lead in the first leg did it again in the second - Barnes leading Wood, Higbee, Pegram, Acree, and Connell, with Himmelsbach moving up from the back of the field. Barnes' time at the front didn't last long. He crashed on the second lap, remounted, and cut through the field. By the time the race was stopped, he was up to ninth. "For some reason, I'm having a ground-clearance problem," Barnes said. "I hit my left cases a couple of times and I'm using too much travel." Out front, it was Acree for the duration, Wood holding second in front of Higbee, Pegram and Himmelsbach, who took over fifth on the sixth lap. That same lap, Connell, who was running just inside the top 10, ran off the track just before the front straight, dropping farther back. Not much was happening among the leaders, all seeming content to maintain their equal pace and save their tires for the end. The end came early when a red flag came out on the 12th lap. "Barney [Barnes] was going good and he had his mishap, and that put me out front and I just tried to control n i l ! " 55 • SEPTEMBER 4. 2002 21

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