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Formula USA S er ies - Sportbike
bobble and had a good run out of the highspeed right, and he got alongside of me
going into the left and I got back on the
inside of him com ing out of the left. We
were side by side down the straightaway
trying to move each other out of the way I was trying to move him up, he was trying
to move me down. He made a bold move
going into the last tum and got a little ahead
of me , come down and then I tried to come
back on him over here. We were within
inches for quite a while."
Just behind came Himmelsbach in sixth.
"In the middle of the race they were
faster than I was, and then those two got
fighting it out and Iwas able to come back,"
Himmelsbach said. "I pretty much ran the
same pace the whole way through . I was
pretty happy. I ran as fast throughout the
The Fo rmula USA Sportbike final at
Homestead-Miami Speedway gets under
way with Robert Jensen (52), Scott Harwell (2),
Scott Greenwood (1), Jeff Woad (9) and Mike
Himmelsbach (10) launchin
line.
Winner-take-all battle goes to Robert Jensen
'--By
HENNY
RAy
ABRAMS
maha. mounte d Robert Jensen
earned the pole position for the
final Fonnula USASportbike race
of the ye ar in Saturday's ISminute qualifying sess ion. The
point he earned meant that Sunday's final at
Homestead·Miami Speedway would be
winner-take-all. Only he and Arelight Raeing's Jeff Wood , the points leader by four,
had a reasonable shot at the prem ier title.
Championsonline.com 's Michael Barnes
got the hoIeshot and held the lead until lap
three , when Wood came by. Jensen was on
him by the sixth lapand into the leada lap later,
"I didn't think he was going as fast as we
needed to get away from Barney," Jensen
said. "I didn't want to have to dice it out
with three guys, I just wanted one. The race
wason."
There was little comfort in Jensen's lead.
Wood was riding tandem.
"Jeff was riding really good . He was
faster in a couple of sections," Jensen said.
Wood was ready to take advantage, but
the advantage would go to Jensen.
On the 13th of 18 laps, the North
Dakotan caught a break in traffic, gapping
Wood . Just when Wood thought he had
caught back up, another lapper thwarted his
charge . Jensen rolled to the victory and the
title, his second of the day.
"This is what we came here for," Jensen
said. "We came here this weekend, we
needed to get pole, we needed to win the
race to get the Sportbike Championship."
It had been an eventful week for Jensen .
The previous Sunday, he had won the over all title at the World Suzuki Cup finals at
Y
_
Road Atlanta.
"This is pretty much top of the cake ," he
said. "I guess the World Cup championship,
that's pretty good too. No , it's been really
good . Been having good fun. I'm enjoying
myself, and a lot of it's thanks to Michelin
and Mike Fitzgerald. They did everyth ingfor
me this weekend."
Jensen said at no time was the lead big
enough.
"We were really going to have to battle
it out. Ithink it just so happened that we got
into a lapper and I was t here first and it was
in a good spot, I thought, to get by. And as
soon as I got by that lapper, I put my head
down and I knew I had to go as fast as
everyth ing I had right then and there to
maximize that gap so he couldn't draft me
any more," Jensen said.
According to his lap time s, Je nsen
matched his qualifying time after passingthe
lapper.
"I mean, this is like 14 laps into the race
and I nailed the fastest lap," Jensen said.
"He got them through a fast spot, he got
by at speed," Wood said. "I got stuck. So it's
just the way it worked out. I didn't want to
lead the whole race because I knew Iwasn't
going to get away from him. It was all going
pretty much according to plan, he stretched
it a little bit, I e10sed it back up, Igot right on
his rear tire. We hit the lapper, I got a gap,
and it was getting near the end then and
maybe made a little bit of the ground back.
then I hit another Iapper and it was over."
Jensen took the title by one point, 137 to
136. Argo Cyele's Scott Greenwood, who
came fifthjust behind Arelight Racing's Scott
CLE NEWS
Harwell, flnished
third
with
105
points.
Ba r nes
lost touch with
the top two by
the midway point.
From then on, he was
alone. The race may have
been the final F-USA event
for Barnes. He 's planning on
running a reduced schedule in
2005, though he wants to keep his AMA
Formula Xtreme ride. This race gave the
Floridian a chance to race in front of friends
and family and to give longtime tuner Tony
,
Pogue a proper send-off
"My familycoming dow n and I got a lot
of support here and Tony's help this whole
year has just been so invaluable, I can't even
describe it in words," Barnes said. "The Iactories ought to be jumping allover him, but
he's got a rea llygood gig with Vesrah Suzuki
next year and I wish him a lot of luck. I'm
sure I'll be able to steal him away for some
special events."
Greenwood took over fourth from Mike
Himmelsbach on the IOth lap and hoped to
escape. Harwell had other plans. The
Arelight Suzuki rider took over fourth on
the 16th lap, Greenwood taking it back on
the final lap.
"lt came down to white flag and I knew
where I was going to pass; I passed him a
couple of tums before that hairpin in the
right hander," Harwell said of the tum at the
end of the infield straight. "Made a little
40th Ann iversary
Je nsen (52) leads Wood (9) e n ro ute
to winning the race and th e
Sportbike title in Florida .
entire race as I qualified. That was as good
as we were going to do today."
Behind Himmelsbach came Geoff May,
the Prieto Racing Suzuki rider having lost
touch with the battle for fourth at twothirds distance.
eN
HOMtSTtAD-MIAMI
SPfEDWAY
HOMImAD, FLORIDA
RESUlTS OcTosE R
:
24, 2004 (ROUND 6)
SPORTBI"" I. IlobertJerom (Yom); 2.jelIv.bod (Suz 3.
);
Mo