Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Suzuki Cup Final Sprint Races Champion said that he was able to make a better run down the back- nately, I saw him jamming at it. I knew if I'd have been close I'd have hit him. This is the first one I've ever won. I've done this for 13 years; I straight and into turn 10. He said, "I thought, okay, if nobody gets in front guess that's a long time." Jacobi was alone in fourth 6.4 seconds behind the winner with five seconds on Vincent Haskovec. The of me in the infield, and I can stay out in front till I get the white flag, I can pull a little bit of a gap," which he did. It was an up ending to what might have been a down weekend. "We broke a valve on Tuesday, 10 min- Czech had been put to the back row of the grid for the final after his Suzuki made 0.5 too much horsepower for class rules after his heat race. utes into the first session," Champion said. "We found a [1999] street SV motor and we've been using it ever GSX·R., 000 CUP since. We dynoed it, and it was 71 horsepower. Miles-wise it has 10- The last and most dramatic of the Cup finals was for 1000s. Darkness 12,000 miles.' Behind Linder came a three-way was descending and a light rain fight which went to Brian Suffridge, who moved from fifth to third on the would begin to fall late in the race. final lap, over 1·800·FASTLAP's Vesrah Suzuki's Mark June second Opie Caylor, who was forced to start from the back row after crashing in John Haner won the GSX·R1000 Cup race, beating Mike Smith by 3.25 seconds. John Wlliters; 12. Daryl Wichern; 13. Terry Teske; 14. Jim Furbur; 15. Mark Thomas; 16. Kyle RllY. Time: 15 mins., 59.28 sees. Distance: 10 laps, 25.2 miles. Margin of victory: 0.28 sees. GSX-R750 FlI'IAL: 1. Mike Smith; 2. Troy El>ltey; 3. Brian Stokes; 4. John Jacobi; 5. Vincent Haskovec; 6. John Duggan; 7. Robert Jensen; 8. Shllwn Conrad; 9. John Haner; 10. Tom Wertmen; 11. Scott Harwell; 12. Scott Carpenter; 13. Byron Barbour; 14. Opie Caylor; 15. Michllel Niksa; 16. Greg Harrison; 17. J.J. Roellin; 18. Shaun Fields; 19. Jeff Bostrom; 20. Chris Normand; 2]. Brian Musselmen; 22. Nathan Hester; 23. AR Hoshmandy; 24. Steve Smith; 25. Giovanni Rojas; 26. Telly Steimel; 27. Chuck Bannon; 28. Charles lvey; 29. Wes Good; 30. Russell Masee8r; 31. Brian Healea; 32. David Newmlln; 33. Shllun Fields; 34. Rick Carlisle; 35. Randy Edwards. Time: 14 mins., 45.]3 sees. Distance: 10 laps, 25.2 miles. Margin of victory: 0.13 sees. GSX-RIOOO FINAL: 1. John Honer; 2. Mike Smith; 3. Chris Caylor; 4. Robert Jensen; 5. Vincent Haskovee; 6. Geoff May; 7. John Dugan; 8. Mark Junge; 9. Scott Carpenter; 10. Fritz Kling; 11. Scott Harwell; 12. Scott Brown; 13. Greg Harrison; ]4. Wes Good; 15. Billy Ethridge; 16. Russell Mesecar; 17. Marcus McBain; 18. Mark Nudelman; 19. Travis King. TIme: 14 mins., 44.41 sees. Distance: 10 laps, 25.2 miles. Margin of victory: 3.25 sees. Arclight Suzuki's Scott Harwell in Smith was in front off the start with and Haner third, with Caylor and pursuit. Haner took over on the second lap, his heat, and Yaakov. GSX·R7S0 CUP he and Smith edging away as a light rain began to fall in turns six and Batey took the lead from Haner on the first lap, Smith and Jacobi near- seven on the sixth lap. By now Caylor by, then Brian Stokes and Caylor. By the fourth lap, four riders had make a decision, Caylor's came first. made a break: Smith, who took the lead, Batey, Haner, and Caylor. The the race, and we decided on a plan, was with them, and they all had to "I talked to Kevin Schwantz before spots changed each of the next two and 1 was going to go for it," said laps with Caylor and Haner out of the mix when they both ran off the track Caylor, who works as an instructor at the Schwantz school. "The plan was BRIEFLY••• Vesrah Suzuki's Tray Batey and .John .Jacobi completed 101 laps of the rain-sodden 2.52 mile Road Atlanta circuit. winning the Heavyweight Superbike class in the ninth and final round of the WERA/G.M.D Computrack National Endurance Series 4 Hour. A lap later came Vesrah Suzuki II, ridden by Mark Junge, Brian Stokes, and David Yaakov. Team Xtreme finished third. Vesrah had wrapped up the series title at the previous round at Texas World Speedway. Team Xtreme took second on the year. The Middleweight Superbike field was won by Velocity Crew Racing's Kevin Perkins and Paul Youngman by a lap over Team Xtreme II. The class crown went to Army of Darkness over 14K the Movie with Vesrah Suzuki II third. J&J Motorsports won the Heavyweight Supersports class at Road Atlanta, as well as the class title, in turn 10 on the seventh lap, leaving the lead three to fight it out. to get up to the first guy or two. Smith was still in front with Batey and Stokes chasing, then Stokes began to fall back as the checkered started raining. I said, 'I'm just going to hang back and get third today.' It Less than two weeks after the November 3 final Grand Prix at Valencia, Suzuki will begin their 2003 testing program with a new rider. Two years after he last rode a GP bike, Kevin Schwantz will be back in the saddle, testing Suzuki's GSV-R alongside fellow former 500cc . World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. The last GP machine Schwantz rode was the title-winning RGV-500 that Roberts rode to the 2000 500cc World Championship. The test will take place at Sepang, site of the recent Malaysian GP. got slick." Suzuki checks worth $80,000 went missing on Saturday when a computer bag that held the About the time I made my move, it flag neared. "I was a little bit tired, and I got some arm pump trying to keep up with them," Stokes said. "About three Haner felt otherwise. The ·debris checks was taken from a van in the pits. The announcement was made at Sunday's rider's meet· flags were out in six and seven, so he ing then again on the PA. Late on Sunday morning, there was a happy ending to the story: The bag had mysteriously re-appeared as mysteriously as it had disappeared. Two versions of the retum were circulating, one had the bag being stashed by a Suzuki truck driver, the other had it turning up on a table near one of the Suzuki semis. could go slow through there, knowing Smith couldn't make a pass. That laps from the end it started to pump gave him a good run down the back on me." straightaway, which, itself, was cov- Smith said that since Road Atlanta ered by rain on the final lap. has such a long back straight, it's "I just played it cool. I just concen- best to have two chances to take the trated on my drives," Haner said. Smith made his decision to end lead, and "really with the draft the way it is here you better be behind out of seven so you can get your the weekend in one piece. "I didn't want this to end badly," Smith said. momentum for the braking." Smith was there out of seven, but moving around a bit in the rear. He'd ran down Vincent Haskovec in the chosen a slightly different rear Pirelli penultimate lap to take fourth. than Batey whose tire was tracking true. Suzuki GSX-RI000. Butler Machinery's Robert Jensen Haskovec was on a Yoshimura R&D "They were using blue-compound rears, and we took a gamble and took again." he said with a smile. Warren said there were two riders under consideration for next TL1000 ANAL: 1. Tray Batey; 2. Scott Brown; 3. Fred Farzanegan; 4. Tim Brewer; 5. Russell Masecar; 6. Doug Glass. Distance: 10 laps, 25.2 miles. Margin of victory: N/A due to red flag. GSXR600 FINAL: 1. Vincent Haskovec; 2 Mike Smith; 3. Brian Stokes; 4. John Jacobi; 5. Shannon ~ll; 6. Robert Jensen; 7. Jeffrey Tigert; 8 Danny Eslick; 9. Chris Caylor; 10. Reuben Frankenfield; 11. Steven Breckenridge; 12. Richard Ford; 13. Tom Wertman; 14. Byron Barbour; 15. Scott Harwell; 16. Michael Garofalo; 17. Jason Peters; 18. Michael Diener; 19. Charles Ivey; 20. Paul Aalderks; 21. C.R. Gittere; 22. Tim Carroll; 23. Wrenn Smith; 24. Benjamin Ully; 25. Greg Herrison; 26. Kris Wall; 27. Adam Coco; 28. Russell Masecar; 29. Tomes Bauchiero; 30. Brett Wooderd. Distance: 10 laps, 25.2 miles. Margin of victory: .06 sees. SV-650 FINAL: 1. Brodley Chompion: 2. John Under; 3. Brian Suffridge; 4. Chris Caylor; 5. David Yaakov; 6. Greg Harrison; 7. Chris Normand; 8. Bradley Duncan; 9. Rod Burr; to. Bernie Huntt; 11. It became a moot point when Batey ran into shifter problems out of turn seven. "I made two up changes, stomping the shifter hard, when it went over center," Batey said of the shift lever. "I reached down and smashed it and Mike [Smith] came around. I think he was wanting to draft me." "I about ran over him, about hit him in the butt," Smith said. "Fortueye eN Braselton, Georgia ResuUs:Dctober27,2DD2 said. "I really think with the compound I had on the bike, I would've been locked in.' NOVEMBER 6,2002' Two of the more prominent Suzuki·backed team owners are waiting to see what Suzuki and FUSA do, Chuck Warren, the owner of the Arclight Suzuki team, which won the Honda Pro Oils 600cc Supersport title with Craig Connell. said that he thought the team would again con· test the FUSA series, but not the both FUSA and AMA as they did this year. "No, never. ever Road Atlanta a green; it was a little harder," Batey 10 No decisions have been made on who will receive Suzuki support next year, according to Team Suzuki Sport's Morgan Broadhead, though he said they had a broad outline on how things would look. "We're looking for a lineup very similar to what we had last year," Broadhead said at Road Atlanta. "We have a pretty good idea where we want to have everybody. We're just waiting to put all the pieces into place." Part of the deiay is due to Formula USA. Series officials haven't announced a schedule or class structure. though Clear Channel's Kenny Abbott said that CCE's Kevin Elliott was expected to announce a schedule in the next week. "We've gottentative deals that are waiting on FUSA. We need to have a presence there if it's a pro series," Broadhead said. That remains a large question. With the premier classes being run with Championship Cup Series events, Suzuki is concerned that they may not be sufficiently differentiated from the club events. • e n e _ s year, one being current rider and 2001 FUSA 600cc champion Lee Acree. Acree is currently talk· ing to other teams as well. Arclight also backed Scott Harwell in WERA but hadn't made a deci· sion on that program for 2003. Harwell was returning to racing at Road Atlanta, still recovering from wrist injuries suffered at Mid-Ohio. A fixator was removed from his wrist three weeks ago, "He just doesn't have any mobility, He's in a lot of pain." Steve DeKamp, owner of the Hooters/Mountain Dew Suzuki team which won the FUSA Lockhart-Phillips Unlimited Superbike title with Michael Barnes, didn't think he'd return to FUSA. at least in part because they've eliminated the Superbike class and DeKamp has nowhere to show the number on Suzuki. '"I" m disappointed they dropped Superbike. We have the number one and we can't use it." DeKamp said. "Ideally, we'd iike to be in 750 Superstock in AMA and we'd like to go Superbike. I think Suzuki is wellrepresented in 600 and Formula Xtreme. I think Superbike might be the place to go with our nonindustry sponsors. - In addition to displaying Barnes" title-winning Hooters/Mountain Dew Suzqki in the Suzuki display area, DeKamp was on the lookout for riders and mechanics. Scott Russell won the Maxxis Super n Exhibition, run on Saturday afternoon on a course built in the AMA pit area. Riding a KTM 660, In Supermotard trim with Maxxis tires, Russell beat Aaron Howe U

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