Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kcraget (Hon) sat upright and gave a thumbs-up as he crossed the line, and he still had close to 11 seconds on Euro Shop Waco's Ryan Andrews, who ran the second the whole race. Third was a shootout, Cummings HD's Taylor Knapp holding off the charging Steve Genter. The win was Krcaget's second of the weekend, his second national WERA 125 title, and fourth 125cc title of the year. He won the 125ccc GP Sportsman race and title on Thursday. He'd earlier won the Championship Cup Series 125 crown as well as the USGPRU title. Krcaget also won the Aprilia Cup Challenge at last week's Daytona Race of Champion CCS final. "It's all due to the guy helping me out, Phil Dodd,' Krcaget said. "The bike was screaming this weekend. I was just hanging on." Butler Machinery's Robert Jensen took the lead from Arclight Suzuki's Scott Harwell in the downhill esses on the fifth of eight laps in the Dunlop 600 Superstock race and went on to win, the margin 1.402 seconds. Brian Stokes displaced Harwell for second on the final lap. Jensen explained that his Suzuki GSX-R600 was down on power because he'd detuned the bike to comply with Suzuki Cup rules. "It's a little slow," Jensen said, "lacking acceleration. I had to go on the brakes pretty hard." Stokes felt differently. "His bike was fast," Stokes, whose move to second was memorable, said. He and Scott Harwell turned in to turn 10A on the brakes at the same time and almost touched. "He backed out of it. I held the throttle on." Vesrah Suzuki's John Jacobi, who finished fourth, won the National title, topping Harwell by 38 points, 159121. Stokes was third at 114. In the first of Friday's five sprint races, all run in a light rain, Brian Stokes overcame a stop-and-go penalty to win the B Superb ike Expert race. The Georgian explained that, from his 14th row starting spot, he couldn't see the start, a problem compounded by a blurry visor. "I barely crept and they called me for a stop-and-go," he said. Lapping three seconds faster than the race leader, Giovanni Rojas, Stokes caught and passed Rojas on the downhill run to the final corner ending the seventh of eight laps. "I saw what I thought was the leader," Stokes said. "I didn't know for sure. I put my head down and rode as hard as I could." Stokes attributed part of his success to his stint on the Vesrah Suzuki II GSX-RI000 that he rode to second place in the earlier rain-sodden WERA/G.M.D. Computrack National Endurance Series Four Hours. That gave Stokes his first chance to use Pirelli rain tires and the experience was evident when the sprints started. "I went two seconds a lap faster than on the endurance bike," Stokes said. "I had one moment in the race. It would slide a little bit, but it was predictable. " Back two races later in the six-lap C Superbike Expert, Stokes led from start to finish and won by 28 seconds. Second went to Steven Breckenridge, with Street 'N' Trail Motorsports' Charles Ivey third. All three were aboard Suzuki GSX-R600s. Stokes said that blurred vision was again an issue. "Until I got to tum five, I couldn't see out my faceshield," he said. "It was a little unnerving the first couple of comers. " Though he had a 4.5-second lead on the first lap, and 17 plus on the third, Stokes didn't back off. "I didn't slow down for two reasons: Saturday and Sunday, there's the possibility of rain," and Stokes needed the rain experience. The other was that he got into a rhythm that he didn't want to disrupt. "It never really pays to slow down because you're going to lose your concentration." Mike Smith didn't have far to go to win a few races. Smith made the drive from Conyers, Georgia, to win two races on Thursday, B Superstock Expert and C Superstock Expert. Smith was also entered in three of the Suzuki Cup Finals, as well as Saturday's Supermotard race in what serves at the pits for the AMA races. Having three road racers under his tent proved to be challenging, with Smith working through Sunday's practice session to work out handling problems on his Marietta Motorsports/1800FASTLAP Suzuki that he was running out of the Moto Britalia trailer. Because he hadn't done any of the regional races, Smith was forced to start from the back in both races, which didn't prove to be an impediment. It meant he had to pass riders he normally wouldn't be racing with, but he was generous in his assessment. "These guys are riding harder than they rode all year," he said. "They're taking different lines. Guys, even in the back, they're pretty smooth." Smith found many to be quick studies. Once he passed them, Smith found they'd latch on to his tail and learn the fast way around. Vesrah Suzuki's Batey made short work of the Expert Heavyweight Twins race, lapping about three seconds a lap faster than anyone else to pull out nearly 13 seconds at the halfway mark in the eight lap race. For the final four laps Batey used the booming TL-I000 to continue to stretch his lead, finishing with over 20 seconds on second place. Project Monza's Bill St. John's ended up second, chased by a few riders and finishing in front of Scott Brown. Then came Touring Sport BMW's Frank Shockley (Apr) and the Suzuki of Doug Glass. The win clinched the class title for Batey who finished the nine-race campaign with 160 points, 30 more than St. John. Batey's second win came in the 750 Superstock Expert race on Saturday, a class whose title he'd already sewn up. Batey and Stokes got away together with Batey breaking the draft, then opening the gap. The margin at the end was 3.72 seconds with Robert Jensen third. Batey finished the year with 161 points, 39 more than John Jacobi, fifth today, with Stokes third at 103. I:N IIlIIId au.1Ila Braultu, &eorgia Results: IIctDber 25-27, 20DZ 125 GP: 1. Bri.n KJ=get (Hon); 2. Log.n Myers (Hon); 3. Steve Genter (Hon); 4. Teylor Knapp (Hon); 5. Ryon Andrew. (Apr). Distance: 81lJlps, 20.16 miles. B S

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