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Formula USA/Lockhart-Phillips Unlimited Superbike Series Round 7: Portland International Raceway position point and wins the race, the title goes to the Australian. "The race really went pretty much to plan," Connell said after beating Kneedraggers.com/Sportbike Zone's Matt Wait by 3.671 seconds. Hooters/Mountain Dew Suzuki's Pegram was third. Barnes, who led for the first 11 laps before Connell drafted by into turn one on the 12th lap, was losing ground to Connell when he fell in turn four on the 15th lap. "I just tucked the front," Barnes said. "I was just trying to make up time. I was making up time into one and into seven on the brakes. I got a backmarker, I guess, the penultimate lap before I crashed, and I tried hard, made up a bunch in one, tried making up more in two, three, down in four..." Barnes left Portland with only the lone Sportbike point earned for the pole position. Connell went away with 25 and now leads Pegram, 115-90, going into the six-week break to Daytona. Barnes has 89 points. "I didn't want to lead from the start," Connell said of his late-race move. "Barney's been the pace-setter all weekend. I wanted to see what he could 'do. I got myself into a really good rhythm and, to be honest with you, it fell into place and become quite easy. With about five laps to go, I realized we were coming up on a bit of a group of backmarkers, and I thought, 'This is my chance.' And I tried to scoot to the front and I was going to go a little bit earlier, only there was a yellow flag in turn one, so I just pulled in behind Barney until that was gone. "My bike was actually quite a bit better down the back straights, and I was able to get that run through there and I thought if I could hold it down the straight for one lap, then I'd be all right. And we come up to those backmarkers and it was plus two. After that, it jumped to three and four seconds. It wasn't until the last lap that I saw an orange [Hooters/Mountain Dew Suzuki) bike coming out of four." After completing the 18-lap, 34.56-mile race in 20 minutes, 45.553 seconds at an average speed of 99.888 mph, Connell said he was looking forward to the final race. "I do like Daytona," he said. "I'm small too, so that helps there. My bikes are going really good. A lot of credit goes to the team, Arclight Suzuki and Pirelli. Without those two people, it never would have happened." Connell said he chose the green, medium Pirelli, after trying it in the morning for the first time. "It worked really good, and it was a worn-out one as well," he said. Matt Wait also used the green, because the soft was getting too much grip. His Yamaha R6 was slightly down on power to the Suzukis, three of which he was chasing after passing Pegram in the early going, so he had to do a lot of hard braking, work hard mid-corner, and try to drive out of the corners. "I was having trouble exiting the last corner," Wait said of the crucial run down the long front straight. "It looked like they were able to get on it a little bit earlier. Their bikes were getting a little bit more traction. I was kind of losing it on the last corner. "All in all, it was pretty even. It was a matter of setup and tire choice. I wanted to run the softer compound, but it was almost getting too much grip for the setup and I wasn't able to get the bike set up for the softer, so I had to go with the medium compound. It worked better to my riding style as well as the setup for the bike. The main thing today was to try to stay with the lead pack and be there at the end." Wait was able to do that to take second, his best Sportbike finish of the year. Not there at the end was Arclight Suzuki's Lee Acree. Acree was running third when he dropped out on the 14th lap. "It dropped a cylinder going through turn one," Acree said, suspecting a broken valve spring or retainer. Pegram also had bike problems, though his weren't fatal. Instead, he was low on power and couldn't keep up. "It started to lay down," Pegram said after finishing third. "As soon as we got to a straightaway, they'd go by me. Something was wrong. They don't know what it is." Penguin Road Racing School's Jeff Wood went back and forth with Andrew Nelson, securing fourth on the final lap. Synergy Racing Technology's Brian Parriott was sixth, by himself, with Ducati-mounted Josh Bryan seventh.CN ParUend Inbwnatio.al Raceway ParUend, lIngon Basalts: Septa.... 8, 2002 llIeund 71 HONDA PRO OILS SPORTBIKE: 1. Craig Connell (SUl); 2. Mott Walt (Vam); 3. Lorry Pegram (SUl); 4. Jeff Wood (SUl); 5. Andrew Nelson (Hon); 6. Brian Parriott (Hon); 7. Josh Bryan (Duc); 8. Cory West (Hon); 9. Oliver Jervis (Kew); 10. Matt Zurbuchen (Suz); 11. Dafrin Mitchell (Suz): 12. Paolo Meriano (Suz); 13. Ricky Frasier (Yam); 14. Craig Fablsche (SUI); \5. Luke Gaylor (SUI); 16. Dan'l Knowles (Duc); 17. Michael Barnes (SU2); 18. Lee Acree (SUl); 19. G. Hugh Pestes (SUI); 20. Mitchell Pierce (Yam); 21. Justin Wetkins (Suz); 22. Raymond Bowman (Hon); 23. Nathan Hester (Suz); 24. Jason Cinqmars (Suz). Time: 20 mins., 45.553 sees. Distance: 18 laps, 34.56 miles. Average speed: 99.888 mph. Margin of victory: 3.761' sees. HONDA PRO OILS SPORTBIKE C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 8 rounds): 1. Craig Connell (115); 2. Lorry Pegram (90); 3. Michael Bames (89); 4. Lee Acree (74); 5. Matt Wait (65); 6. Jeff Wood (51); 7. Scott Greenwood (42); 8. Andrew Nelson (37); g. Raymond Bowman (34); \0. Eric Wood (30); 11. Cory West (26); 12. Jim Lester (22); 13, John Lounsbury (21); 14. Paolo Mariano (20); 15. (TIE) Clint McBain/Tim Bemisderfer/Owen Weichel/Anthony Cammack/John Dempsey/James Kerker/Dale Dandrea/Sam Rosynski/Bryan Bemisderfer(20). Upcoming Round: Final Round - Daytona Beach, Florida, October 20 Formula USAfBuell Lightning Series Round 7: Portland International Raceway didn't disappoint. Barnes shot to the front and conHENNV RAV ABRAMS trolled the pace, Kosco H-D teamPORTLAND,OR,SEPT.8 mate, and fellow Floridian, Michael he Buell Lightning Series ChamBarnes watching his back - the pair pionship was thrown wide open speeding to a definitive win in the almost a week before the race here at Buell Lightning Series race. Brotz finPortland International Raceway. On ished third, his Hal's H-D/Buell Lightthe Monday prior to the weekend, ning not as strong as the Kosco championship leader Brian Bemisdermounts. fer was told his Harley-Davidson of "Pretty uneventful," Barnes said Frederick team wouldn't be making after taking the championship lead by the trip to Portland. That meant one point, 114-113, over Brotz with there'd be a new championship one race to go. The Buell race was leader, possibly Hal's H-D's Clint delayed for 45 minutes while almost Brotz, second coming to Portland, or the entire track was scrubbed clean maybe Kosco H-D's Michael Barnes, of oil dropped by a sidecar in an earthird and charging. Qualifying pointlier practice. "Just get through the ed to Barnes, and in the race he first couple of laps with the track the n e _ s 30 SEPTEMBER 18, 2002' c u e I e STORV AND PHOTO BV T way that it is and we didn't have tire warmers. I was just trying to heat up my tires on the two warm-up laps. I looked back and I saw Clint [Brotz] there for a couple laps and picked up the pace a little bit, and then Dave caught back up and we just kind of cruised around and brought it home." Estok, after a slow start, followed Barnes home, the pair flying in formation for the final five laps of the 12-lap race. "That was the plan," Estok said. For the first handful of laps, Barnes had a slight gap on Estok and Brotz, then Estok dropped Brotz and joined Barnes. "Everything went perfect all weekend. We were fast - one and two all weekend - and the only problem I think we had all weekend was on the dyno one time we had a head gasket go a little bit. Other than that, the bike was flawless. I didn't tum one screw on suspension. Mike's already got these bikes set up. "Then, in the race, we just went out there and had fun together and I just helped him get back the point lead. Either way, it's looking good going into Daytona. We should be able to do the same thing at Daytona." In the winner's circle, Estok said to Barnes, "As long as we're ahead of Clint, I can beat you at Daytona. As long as you beat Clint." "I've just got to stay ahead of him [Estok] and we got it," Barnes said. Brotz had been running at a deficit