Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Bnldley Champion 1401 helel on to win the SV-UO Cup final. DnId YaPov (31) ended up fifth with .101m Under l71a) fInIShIng .-.cI to ChampIon. race, Batey won by 12.5 seconds. Second place was decided on the eighth lap when Blue Ridge Collision's Shawn Stinnett crashed, bringing out a red flag. The spot went to Scott Brown with Fred Farzanegan coming out of a three-way battle to take third. Richmond Suzuki's Bradley Champion had a rough road to the winner's circle of the Suzuki SV -650 Cup Final. Champion blew up his engine early in practice and had to borrow a well-used street engine. It may have had as many as 12,000 miles on it. No matter. In the final, Champion was in the mix from the start, taking then losing the lead, before finally getting it back with two laps to go. "I didn't look back. I didn't want to know," he said. Second went to RTM Motorcycles' John Linder, who Champion had passed for the lead, with third going to Ricochet Racing's Brian Suffridge. TL·1000 The first Suzuki Cup Final of the day was the least interesting. By the end of the first lap, it wasn't a question of who would win, but by how much. Vesrah Suzuki's Batey made sure of that. The Tennessean led the slim, seven-rider, field by nearly 1.5 seconds on the first lap, added a second on the next lap, was up by nearly six seconds at the halfway mark of the 10-lap race, and stretched his lead at will. When a crash on the eighth lap caused a red flag, and the race was declared official, Batey had about 12 seconds in hand. Batey had won his heat race handily and knew what to expect in the final, so he used it as a test session for the more important Suzuki Cup races later in the afternoon. "I hate to downplay this race, because it's important for me, but this year there's not a lot of entries in the class," said Batey, who earned $1500 for the win. That said, he was tuning up for the 750cc race, "trying . to tighten my lines here and there and be more tidy about what I'm doing. Sometimes with a lead like that, hopefully you can learn something. The tires are fresh, the brakes are fresh, the track's not crowded." Second place was a race for a lap or two, then Blue Ridge Collision's Shawn Stinnett opened up a slight gap on Scott Brown which Brown couldn't close, though he lost no further ground. On the eighth lap it all changed, Stinnett crashing and causing a red flag, and handing second to Brown. "It looks like he just stepped the rear out coming out of 10," Brown said, adding that he hadn't given up. "I was keeping my eye on him. I could tell I was slowly gaining on him." There was a highly entertaining fight for fourth, three riders in close contact, not much position swapping, but the imminent threat of change. At the midpoint of the race Fred Farzanegan led Russell Masecar and Tim Brewer, with Brewer trying him in turn one to start the second half of the race, only to be rebuffed. Brewer was persistent and, on the next lap, would take over fourth to Farzanegan's third. "Russell [Masecar] and I were going back and forth," Farzanegan said. "It was a blast." GSX·R600 CUP Smith began the first race fuming and his mood never improved. Smith mistakenly thought that his heat race win had earned him the pole position. The front positions are held by the regional winners of the Suzuki Cup, and Smith never looked at the posted grid. "I can't begin to tell you how confused and upsetting it is when you better acceleration, and got the better drive. He weighted his right footpeg to gain traction and run by Smith out of turn II, up the hill, and under the bridge. Protecting his line in the final corner, the fast turn 12 right-hander, Haskovec won by .95 of a second. "I didn't get a drive, he run it up the inside," Smith said, adding that the race was his, "and I gave it back." Stokes was a close third, just .172 of a second behind Haskovec in a race he described as the " best race of my life." Stokes had won a couple of the WERA sprint races and it boosted his confidence. In the race he was biding his time, hoping for the best, trying to get to the front. His best chance was entering turn 10 late in the race, but there wasn't enough room. "I'd have taken the three of us out," he said. John Jacobi finished alone in fourth, 5.089 seconds behind, with fifth going to Shannon Ball and sixth to Butler Machinery's Robert Jensen, the trio covered by exactly one second. Then there was a gap to Hayward Suzuki's Jeff Tigert in seventh. pull up on the grid and they tell you to go to the back, what that might do to your heart rate," Smith said. So he went back to his seventh place starting spot, on the third row, from where he'd have to work. Smith finished the first lap well back, but was up to fourth by the second lap and closing. The third lap would be his fastest of the race, .3 of a second faster than any other, and enough to put him up to third into turn one starting the fourth lap. Using a draft pass on the back straight, Smith took the lead from SGl's Vincent Haskovec, setting up a duel that would go to the end, the pair joined by Brian Stokes who turned the fastest lap of the race on the seventh when he left fourth-placed John Jacobi and his Vesrah Suzuki behind. Smith was in front at the time, Haskovec and Stokes pressing, Jacobi alone, then a gap to three more. Haskovec was in front on the eighth lap and waiting for Smith to counter. "We passed each other it must be 10 times," Haskovec said. The question was when? It came on the ninth lap; with Haskovec countering on lap 10. "On the last lap I got him in turn one and he stayed behind me all the way," Haskovec said. Smith made his move exiting turn seven, the start of the backstretch. "I looked over my shoulder where he is and he's right on my bike. And he touched me going by me and he wanted to take my line." In the final crucial sequence, turns 10 through 12, Haskovec had a plan. Smith was on the inside with Haskovec taking a wider line, with cue I ... SV·650 CUP Bradley Champion got reacquainted with Road Atlanta during the sprint races earlier in the weekend. He hadn't been here for a year. When the Suzuki SV -650 Cup Final rolled around, he was ready, but so were others, and he was in for a dogfight. Champion got the jump, but CAD Racing's David Yaakov was soon in front and leading, in name only. There were five riders running nose to tail, then four on the fourth lap. At the halfway mark, John Linder was the leader over Yaakov and Champion; the trio were side by side for the lead, which Yaakov took on the sixth lap. The next lap, Linder was back in front, then Champion, who was loath to give it up. The top two were slightly better over the final two laps, and Champion was the better of the two, just holding Linder at bay at the line, the margin .28 of a second. "I was glad I could run there with him," Linder said. "I didn't think f could." n ... _ so • NOVEMBER 6, 2002 9

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