Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

intensity, but it didn't have to. Earlier in the day, a sidecar had blown up, then dropped oil around almost the entire track. Though it was cleaned up, there was still a slickness to the track which spooked the riders. Pegram put his hand up on the 11 th lap and the race was stopped. Formula USA officials convened and decided, in short order, to call the race complete after lOaf 18 laps. In an impromptu meeting on pit road, FUSA's race director Kenny Abbott mistakenly told the riders that 12 laps had been completed. In fact, Pegram was about to start the 12th lap and the entire field hadn't completed 11. "I had a moment in one, two and three the lap before they red-flagged it, n said Pegram, who would win the race by .389 of a second. "For some reason, this place, just a little bit of moisture made it just ice. I assume it was the oil that was down earlier, and all of a sudden you add a drop of water to it.. : The rain stopped after a few minutes, but the race had already been called complete. After only a brief delay, the Thunderbikes took to the track, running to term without incident. A few riders thought the timing of the stoppage was correct, but that the race should have been restarted for the final eight laps. Barnes, leading Connell and Higbee at the stoppage, thought they stopped the race about a lap late, "Even though that's why I was getting the lead because J knew the red flag was coming out. It's hard because we don't know anyway with experience with rain here. n ILeft) Geoff May 1991 leads Himmelsbach 121 and Eric Wood In the second race. May ended up ,-11th. (Below) Pegram leads Bames, Connell and Higbee onto the front straight In the second of two Unlimltecl Superblke races. RACE TWO Pegram told Barnes he could get away in the second race and Barnes could come with him. It sort of worked out. Pegram did get away, half a second in hand at one point, and Barnes went with him, for a while. Then he lost the tow and fell back into a three-way tussle with Connell and Higbee. Pegram was enjoying his largest lead of the season when rain drops began to fall on the ninth lap. The rain didn't significantly increase in BRIEFLY••• Australian Craig Connell confirmed that he's switching brands and series next year. The points leader in FUSA Sportbike and Unlimited Superbike will be competing aboard Annandale Racing Hondas next year in the AMA's Sportbike and Formula Xtreme classes. Honda, which has a new 600 coming out in 2003. is making a major push in the class, backing Annandale, Erion Racing, Bruce Transportation Group, and No limits. Acree's teammate, Lee Acree, said his racing plans for next year haven't been finalized. Who would have thought that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of trucking concern Consolidated Freightways (CFJ would impact the Formula USA weekend at Portiand International Raceway? But it did. A Consolidated Freightways truck with a shipment of tires was headed from Dunlop's headquarters in Buffalo, New York, to Portland when CF ceased operations and announced lay.offs of 15.500 people on Labor Day. Terry Newby. one of the principles of Sport Tires Services, the exclusive distributor of Dunlop Motorcycle Race Tires to licensed racers west of the Mississippi, made repeated calls to CF, and got only a recording. "To their credit. Dunlop put the tires on a truck and drove them out here,' said Newby, who wasn't originally planning on attending the race. "To this day, we have no idea where the tires are or if we'll ever see them," Newby said. CF also stranded a shipment of 460 tires meant for the September 15 2oo-mile race of Willow Springs. Those tires have also been replaced. There was a possible glimmer of hope on Friday when CF said they would call back laid-off workers to continue delivery of the stranded freight. Tom Kipp came to Portland, but not to nde. Instead, he was helping Motor Racing Outreach's Tim Griffin, the chaplain for this weekend's event who's also MRO's chaplain for the AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship. Kipp will be taking over the role as chaplain for next year's Formula USA National Road Race Series. But that doesn't mean he's given up on racing. "We're searching for a ride right now," Kipp said of he and manager Vic Karshner. "I definitely want to ride next season." Kipp said for 2003 he'd like to race the AMA series while taking on the chaplain's role for FUSA. "I can do both. This year, there were con· flicting events." Kipp said he was in the middle of a five-year transition period. He just began his second year at Malone College. in Canton, Ohio, where he's working toward a degree in Bible and Theology. • I sold my cylinder-sleevlng company two years ago. When that happened. it opened up my schedule.• Michael Barnes may have had a flawless weekend at PIR, but that doesn't mean he left Portland unscathed. Barnes got into a bumping match with his mechanic, Tony Pogue, and a friend during a go·kart race on Friday night. The trio went three·wide into a narrow bend, with Pogue's kart climbing up Barnes' leg. ''I've got a nice bruise, It's sore. Hard to downshift," Barnes said. The karting race was won by Eric Wood. Barnes broke two of his own lap records en route to taking the pole position for all three classes at PIR. "I just go out and do my strong laps right at the beginning. and there' s a little bit of a clear track at the beginning and you can get by guys when they're getting up to speed. and it really worked out in most sections,Barnes said. Of the three, the Unlimited Superbike pole was the most nerve-wracking. Barnes set a new lap record of 1:06.709 in the first 10 minutes of the 40-minute session, then sat back to watch. The strategy seemed wise until his Hooters/Mountain Dew Suzuki teammate, Larry Pegram, attacked in the waning moments. Pegram came close, but ended up .13 of a second shy. ·1 knew it was going to be close," Pegram said. "My board said a .690 the lap before and it [the lap! wasn't right. The next lap was almost right." Pegram said he hit a bump in a left·hander. "The rest of it was perfect. I knew it was going to be perfect. My board said 809. I said, 'I don't think that's going to do it." Pegram's final time was 1:06.839. "Both in the Sportbike and the Unlimited, I put my strong lap in and the one in my Sportbike was two tenths faster than I did yesterday morning, which I did an 8.3, and I hadn't been able to touch that.' Barnes said. "So, when I did an 8.1 , I knew it was good • Team Embry's GeoR May won the Expert Unlimited Grand Prix, further adding to his points lead in the class. May beat Synergy Racing Technologies' Brian Parriott and Blackmans Cycles Aprilia's Michael Himmelsbach. May leads Eric Wood, 92-74, with one race remaining. The Thunderbike win went to Washingtonian Alan Schwen by .111 of a second over Kosco H-D/Buell's David Estok, with Hal's Performance Advantage/Daytona H-D/Buell's Richie Morris third. The sidecars did themselves proud again at PIR. There were two red flags in Saturday's timed qualifying, one of which resulted in the monkey being thrown, the other ending in flames. Sunday they were back at it. causing over an hour delay after one blew up and oiled up almost the entire track, forcing FUSA officials to considerably alter the schedule, moving the Unlimited Superbike practice to later in the day, and delay start of racing by 45 min· utes. After the delay, the Unlimited Superbike riders made one lap before all pitting and converging en masse on FUSA officials to voice their collective displeasure. More cleanup was ordered and racing eventually got under way, but over an hour late. The snowball effect meant that the second Unlimited Superbike race ran well late, and into a light afternoon rain, which caused it to be shortened from 18 iaps to 10, no doubt impacting the championship. Barnes, for one, was hoping for a chance to improve on his second-place finish. The very lightly subscribed Engine Ice 200·Mile Team Challenge went to Beaverton Honda, who completed 104 laps to take GTO honors, with Big Show Racing completing 103 laps, five more than second place, to take the GTU honors. Matt Wait and Brian Salazar rode a Suzuki GSX-R600 to the GTU title. There were six GTO teams qualified for the grid, five starters, four finishers, and one DQ. The GTU class began with seven qualifiers, six on the grid, four finishers, and two DQs. The DQs were intentional. Synergy Racing Technologies using the time to dial in the Hondas. Italy beckons. Michael Barnes has two races there prior to the FUSA season finale at Daytona's Race of Champions. First up is a possible World Supersport ride aboard a Honda at the Septem· ber 29 World Superbike season finale at Imola. "We're waiting on word of gelling a wild-card slot." he said. The follOWing weekend, Barnes will race the Herman Verboven Suzuki In a 200-miler at Vallelunga, the final round of the World Endurance Championship. Bryan Semisderter, whose hope of winning the Buell Lightning Series title were dashed when he and his team split prior to Portland, hopes to be at Daytona after splitting with Harley-Davidson of Frederick. Bemisderfer has had preliminary discussions with New Castle Harley-Davidson about racing their machine in the final round. Bemisderfer only found out on Monday that he wouldn't be racing at Portiand. "It makes me sick not to be out there,' Bemisderfer said ''(' m pianning on being at Daytona to try to salvage the season. At least get third." This was the second season that the Pennsylvanian had a taste of title fever, and he enjoyed it. "Last year was the first time I chased a title and came away with the Thunderbike title. Both of these IThunderbike and Buell Lightning! were looking for the end of the year. The lightning title was going to be iffy. [Michaell Barnes IS hard to beat. I don't know if it will ever come again." "That's probably the saddest part of my weekend," Barnes said. "I got the most respect for that guy, he's a true racer. For a guy who's got 80 pounds on me to be competitive. he's got a lot of heart, and whatever troubles he had. I hope they work it out. I hope he can be at Daytona because I enjoy racing with him. " Arclight Suzuki's L_ Ac.- was forced to use hiS AMA Superstock GSX-R750 In the second leg after his FUSA bike made ominous noises during the first race. "The motor still starts, but it makes a real nasty noise." Acree said. "There doesn't seem to be an attachment between the countershaft and the engine." Acree said the Arclight team hadn't touched hiS Superstock machine since the AMA season finale at Virginia International Raceway a month ago. "The gearing was really short. It was hitting the rev limiter at the 500 mark. That motor was bulletproof because I was on the rev limiter to tum one. I was pushing so hard in turns one, two, three. The tire wasn't doing anything crazy, but it was starting to slide after seven, eight laps. All things considered, if the gearing was taller. we'd have had a chance." Acree said his Formula USA machine definitely had more power. The triple clamps were also different, so the handling was differ· ent. Acree was one of the few who was hoping the second leg, which was stopped by rain, would be restarted, "because we'd have had different gearing.' Washingtonian Mike Sullivan, a former FUSA Superbike Champion, and PIR regular, was at the track, but only as a spectator. Sullivan said he didn't think his 600 would be competitive and there were no Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) support races. Sullivan has been spending much of the summer conducting a road racing school at three tracks in the Pacific Northwest. Three schools remain at Spokane Raceway Park in Washington, September 13 and 27. and October 11. You can sign up online at www.sullivanraceschool.com. cue. e n e _ S • SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 27

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