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., AMA Grand Championships Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course field that would bring it respectability. This year proved to be a breakthrough for the championships. Entries were doubled from the previous year, and riders from more clubs across the country participated. STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY LAWRENCE LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 23-24 he 2003 AMA Road Race Grand Championships might be remembered for being the year that the AMA's gathering of the top club and aspiring Pro racers from across the country finally began to meet some of the goals the AMA had for the championships when it was inaugurated in 1997. Prior to this year, the ambitiously named Grand Championships have struggled to draw the type of T The Grand Championships were highlighted by the performance of Georgian Brian Stokes, who made dramatic last-turn passes in two of the Premier races on his Team Embry Suzukis and earned the prestigious AMA Horizon Award, and the WERA Nationals team of Reuben Frankenfield, Matt Furtek and Greg Moore won the inaugural AMA Road Race Club Challenge. John Dugan, an AMA Pro rider from Washougal, Washington, took the first Premier class victory on Wednesday in the Superstock class. Stokes took the early lead, with Matt Furtek heading up a big pack battling for second. Halfway through, Dugan emerged after starting at the back of the grid to break out of the secondplace pack. Two laps later, Dugan chased down and passed Stokes, who had run wide in a turn, losing valuable time. In the closing laps, Texan Mike Sanchez moved up to make it a three-way battle for the lead. Dugan held off Sanchez and Brian Stokes (above, left) became the seventh winner of the AMA Road Race Horizon Award. The Georgian follows in the footsteps of past Horizon Award winners such as Jason DiSalvo, Ben Spies and Chris Caylor. 34 AUGUST 13, 2003' eye I e n e vw sa Stokes, in that order, to take a hardfought victory. Sanchez came back to win the second Premier race on Wednesday, the Mediumweight Superbike final, over Stokes and Furtek. Sanchez, who is an up-and-coming CMRA club racer, was turning in surprisingly strong performances against Pro riders like Dugan, Furtek and Stokes and became an instant candidate for the Horizon Award. The battle for the Horizon really took off on Thursday's schedule, which was packed with five Premier events. Stokes opened the day making a strong case for the Horizon with an inspired run in the Supers port final. Hoosier native Scotty Van Scoik took the point early in the race, holding off a tightly packed group of riders that included Stokes, Furtek and Jason Temme. Van Scoik, however, crashed out, and the race developed into a duel between Stokes and Furtek. The two swapped the lead several times and it was Furtek, an 18-year-old Chicago-area native who rides with support from Valvoline/ EMGO Suzuki, who held first on the final lap with Stokes breathing down his neck. The intensity between the two ratcheted up in the final set of turns. Furtek tried to protect the inside line coming on to the finish-