Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Formula USA Thunderbike Series my home track in Daytona. and they felt bad for me, so they gave me a bike to ride. It was last minute. and with the weather this weekend, we were struggling, but it's always nice to win at my home track, and I like winning for Buell because they have been supporting me since 1996. I like to always be able to win for them." Round 1 : Daytona International Speedway USGPRU 125 GP By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTO By HENNY RAY ABRAMS DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 2 T ypically, oiling your own back tire in a road race locks you into disaster, but for Kosco Harley-Davidson/Buell rider Dave Estok, it was the key to victory in the Formula USA Thunderbike feature at Daytona International Speedway. The 29-year-old Estok of nearby New Smyrna Beach, Florida, led all but the first of what was scheduled to be a nine-lap opening race at round one of the Formula USA National Road Race Series, but the rainsoaked event was cut to seven laps after oil - which was leaking from Estok's Buell 1200 - covered the racing line from turn two through turn six. Upon discovering the oil, officials waved the red flag, but not before Harding Harley-Davidson rider Bryan Bemisderfer ran across one of the slick patches and crashed in the lefthander that leads onto the West Banking. The race was called official, reverting back to lap seven, which showed Estok in the lead. If you can't beat 'em, oil 'em. "I got the oil leak on my second lap," Estok said. "My left foot kept sliding off the peg, and in left-hand corners I was real sketchy. I was even sliding around the banking. You know, 1000s, big bikes do that on the banking, but not usually these. There was a pretty good rainbow of oil out there on the track, which was probably caused by me. I was just trying to keep it upright and finish as best I could, and I just got saved by the red flag." Estok sta rted the race th ird. Derek Keyes of Jacksonville, Florida, grabbed the holeshot aboard his Suzuki SV650, only to see Tilley's Harley-Davidson/Buell rider Tripp Nobles blow past him when they hit the West Banking. Nobles had already built a comfortable lead by the time he came through the tri-oval to start lap two. Estok managed to pass Keyes, while Bemisderfer ran fourth, ahead of a pack that included Richie Morris, Joseph Rozynski and Honda-mounted Arthur Wagner of Bloomingburg, New York. It seemed as though Nobles was going to get away clean, but an errant run through a puddle in the chicane spelled disaster. Nobles crashed hard into the safety fence that lines the outside wall on the superspeedway. He was immediately up but also immediately out. "I hit one of those puddles," Nobles said. "It wasn't nothing that I didn't do on the warm-up lap. I was straight up and down when I went across it. It just hydroplaned, and once it spun up and came around ... It was my fault. I didn't know how far out in front I was, but then after I fell and I was sliding, I looked up, and nobody came up there right away. It was like, 'Damn.' But I didn't feel like I was trying all that hard." Instead of first, Nobles would be scored 33rd. Estok said that he saw Nobles crash. "There're a lot of puddles there, and you can't see them in the new pavement coming out of the chicane," Estok said. "It's real black, and you can't see them. I got into a couple of good slides coming out of there. I think if Tripp hadn't crashed, he would have won it. He was the class of the field." Estok went on to build a lead of just over eight seconds while the Defending USGPRU 125 GP Champion Brian Kcraget gambled that the Daytona International Speedway tarmac would be dry enough to provide grip for a rear slick when Kcraget knew that his competition would be running rain tires. The gamble paid off, with Kcraget's winning the class easily after his main rival, polesitter Scott Moxey, crashed while chasing Kcraget out of the International Horseshoe on lap two. "It [the slick tire] was definitely a gamble," Kcraget, 37, said. "I was sitting over there debating it in the pits. Then, last minute, third call, I decided to change. It was the right call. I knew Scott Moxey would be really, really tough in the wet conditions. I had a little horsepower on him, so I decided to pass him. It was unfortunate that he fell down in the Horseshoe." The Speedworks-backed Kcraget snatched the lead away from Moxey at the start of the nine-lap 125 GP race, and the two qUickly pulled away to settle matters between them. Their tussle lasted only two laps, however. as Moxey got loose coming out of the International Horseshoe and highsided spectacularly. Moxey was unhurt in the crash, but he left Kcraget with a 14-second lead on new runner-up Steve Wenner, who in turn had already pulled clear of Honda rider Mark Johnson. Kcraget went on to win by a whopping 45.607 seconds - roughly a quarter of a lap on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course. "Actually, the track was in great shape except for the chicane," Kcraget said. "Each time I was just trying to be real careful through there, and j'd just try to make up time everywhere else. Other than the chicane, it had a dry line just about everywhere... scrap for second continued. Bemisderfer was still a factor, but then he blew the entrance to turn one and went straight. He was climbing his way back through the top 10 when his second crash occurred. Before the red flag, however, Rozynski and Morris caught back up to Estok, whose machine started to go sour. Both riders appeared set to pounce when the race was halted. Rozynski was credited with second place, making for a Kosco one-two. It was a tough battle," Rozynski said. "Me and Richie Morris were going at it. There was a little bit of oil going out onto the back banking. I guess that's why they stopped the race. There was a lot of water on the track today, but I was really comfortable. I like riding in the rain. You just had to be careful going through the chicane because there was so much rain out there that you had to hold it steady or it would jump right out from under you." Morris said that he was right where he wanted to be before the red flag spoiled his chance to improve his position. "Hey, I'm happy," Morris said. "I didn't even know I was going to race two days ago. I made one lap on this thing before the race. Man, it was crazy out there. We were just going all over the place. It was banzai laps. You couldn't see anything. The oil was up in everybody's visors. It was pretty hairy, but everyone ran a good race. In the rain, you just have to be smooth." Winner Estok, likewise. took his ride on short notice. "Just like Richie, I didn't get this ride until a couple of weeks ago," Estok said. "People called me up and knew that I wasn't doing anything at ...... KCI'lI9ft lift wlnnlllO USGPIIU 1 cue I e n e _ S • to ..... MARCH 12.2003 25

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