Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128348
Champi ons hip Cup Series e traditional end of season Formula USA Championship Cup Series Race o f Champions was anything but traditional this year. First was the location. Construction of a new tunnel and infield road course at Daytona Internat ional Speedway meant the year-ender had to be moved. Homestead -Miami Speedway was the obvious choice . The move diminished the field in size by about 20 percent, though the F-USA and AMAregulars inject ed some life into the 2S races , mostly sprints, many of which were red-flagged. There were nine stoppages in all, including four of Sunday's five sprints. In the past, the Race of Champions weekend has produced a rider of the future. Co lin Edwards made his mark here, winning five National titles at Daytona in T 199 1. There was no Colin Edwards this week end, but two riders did emerge from the field, one rewarded for his persistence, the other for his ascent. Expert Ed Key and Amateur Brandon Parrish provided the stand-out perfo rmances. Key is no stranger to the CCS winner 's circle, but this weekend was his best ever. "This is the finals of a lifetime," said the veteran Key, whose fIVe wins gave him 18 National titles total. "I can't believe what 's happening here. We've been trying to pull something like this off for many, many years . One thing or another has always gone wrong, little bike problems or big bike problems or rain. It's one thing or another. It's been a dream , more than we ever could have hoped for." Luck was on his side in his first victory, Friday's 30-minute Expert GT Ughts. The team properly calculated the fuel but failed to add the right amou nt. Key caught a break when a third of the race was redflagged. That gave him barely enough fuel to finish. '~ it was , it started sputtering with two laps to go. Darn near didn't bring it home," he said of the nearly two-second margin of victory over Stephen Se rvis. The other four wins were in eight-lap sprints. First was a win by 2.316 seconds over Dave Estok in the Expert Thunderbike final. Friday's final success came over Randy Rega in Expert Lightweight Formula 40. O n Saturday, Key who's backed by , Motorcycle Performance, Pirelli, Trackside Racers Supply, EBC and Vortex, came out on top after a good scrap with Floridian Robert Fisher in the Expert Lightweight Supersport race . Fisher and john Linder, another local rider, helped Key with the subtleties of the track he was visiting for the first time. "I can't thank them enough," he said. Finally came the Expert Ughtweight Superbike victory over Servis, the same rider he'd beaten in Friday's Expert GT Lights. "I'm from the Madison, Wisconsin, area, so my home track is Blackhawk Farms, and we run Road America, Gingerman, St. Louis; occasionally we drive out to Topeka," Key said. "Every once in a wh ile Grattan. I don't travel nearly as much as I used to. I kind of stick at home and save it up for one long race of the year and it' s always been the Race of Champions." Key's final chance at success on Sunday was thwarted by local rider Barrett Long. Riding the light and nimble YamahaTZ2S0, Long took control early after the race was restarted and he sped to an easy win. Key finished second. Parrish was second his first time out , riding his Dryer Yamaha R-6 to the runner-up spot beh ind Ryan johnson in the 30-minute Acropovic GTU Amateur race on Friday. He came back to win three e ight-lap sprints on Saturday, two more on Sunday and threw away at least one other one - all that on top of winning four www.cuclenews.com cham pionships at W ERA the previous week at Road Atlanta. jonny Moore and Ryan joh nson are his norma l co mpetition, but Moore was riding with a broken collarbone and johnson crashed when Parrish didn't. Parrish had two spills of his own , including one while leading the GTO race. Parrish, again on the Yamaha, beat Moore in Saturday's Amateur Middleweight Supersport race, w ith Moore second. In Amateur Heavyweight Supersport it was Parrish, now on a Commonwealth Suzuki GSX-R7S0, winning big over Dave Gygax. Finish Line Motorcycles helps with