Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dayeona Seach. FL. Ms'rch 6. 2QCX) Wrenchead.com National Road Race Series Round 1 : Daytona Intp' -' al Speedway (Above) Pole-sitter Shawn Higbee (19) leads the pack into tum one at the start of the Formula USA Unlimited Superbike class at Daytona. Higbee is being chased by John Hopkins (21). Lee Acree (84). Larry Pegram (72) and the rest of the 145-horsepower field. (Left) Larry Pegram ended up getting second in the race. topping Acree (84) and Damon Buckmaster (61). At the end of the two races, one run about 40 minutes after the other, Grant Lopez was declared the big winner. The Valvoline EMGO Suzuki rider did what he had to do on the track, and his crew had done what they had to do off the track. After taking second to fellow Suzuki GSX-R750 mounted teammate John Hopkins in the first 12-lap, 47.72-mile race, Lopez took another second in the second race, this time to Zlock Racing's newest recruit, Michael Barnes. But Barnes' Zlock Kawasaki ZX9 was found to be illegal when it was put on the post-race dyno, and he was disqualified from both races. That moved Lopez up to the top spot, putting him atop the championship point standings with 45 points. "' knew Barnes' bike was substantially faster than mine," Lopez said after he was elevated to second-race By HENNY RAY ABRAMS he road-racing world has been looking forward to this date _ ever since PACE Motor Sports announced last fall that they were moving into road racing. Daytona International Speedway would be the arena for the debut of the Wrenchead.com National Road Race Series, the Supercross promoter's entry into the world of asphalt. What was known about the series was that it was extremely well funded, with a generous purse, points fund, and contingency programs, and that attraction was evident by the size of the fields in the non-spec classes - the Formula USA Sportbike and the premier Formula USA Unlimited Superbike. Unlimited Superbike would be the showcase, and the racing was superb, but it wasn't decided at the line, and it wasn't done at full speed - not with the tire troubles the front-runners encountered riding 145-horsepower motorcycles on DOT tires on the torturous high banks of Daytona. 6 MARCH 15, 2000' eye I winner. "' didn't really know what mine had. When we came here we were way over power. So we had to cut the power back quite a bit." e n e vw s Barnes bike was rated at '145.3 horsepower on the dyno, just over the 145 hp limit. Lopez's was just over 138 hp. Zlock Racing team owner Dan Zlock said his machine had measured 137 hp when it was checked at 11 :30 that morning, well before the first race. "I figured we had a lot of room to play with, so we were good," he said. There was some controversy because, when they checked it after the race, the engine had cooled off and it twice tested over the limit. "But once it was up to operating temperature it actually ran below the limit," Zlock said. Formula USA officials said the testing process was well known to the teams and was standard procedure. "We spin them until they start to lose power," Formula USA's Scott Beasley said. "And it went up and up and up and up and it was over. And we spun it twice to make sure it was over, and it was over." Following Lopez in the second race were Competition Accessories Larry Pegram and Lee Acree. Pegram was one of the riders who was hamstrung by his Dunlop tires in the first race, where he finished a non-competitive fourth behind three Michelin pilots, but he was able to make a stronger run in the second. "We weren't competitive in the first leg," Dunlop's Jim Allen said, adding that Dunlop gave a number of the top riders a development version of the D207GP for the second race. "The second leg we made a change and we were pretty competitive. It was decidedly better than we used in the first leg." Millennium Technologies' Shawn Higbee - who'd qualified on the pole for the first leg, then crashed in the second turn - was one of the riders whose times improved. Unofficially, he turned the fastest laps of the weekend, touring in the mid 1:53 range. But, after crashing in the first one and being relegated to the back of the 59-rider grid, he had to start so far back in the second race that, even with those times, he was only able to make his way to ninth. Both Barnes and Lopez said the key to victory was conserving tires. Barnes said he knew where he could go fast and that you had to make sacrifices. Lopez said that he had "major concerns about tire problems" when you fit treaded Supersport tires on 145 horsepower machines, adding that his tire "showed severe signs of wear and blistering. The tires were pretty ragged. but they held up," Lopez said, adding that he believed he was using a dual-compound tire. The points standings at the end of the day showed Lopez tops with 45, then Pegram with 33, and Lee Acree. third in both races, with 32. Both races paid equal points, but the first leg paid 25 percent of the purse, with 75 percent going to the second race. Lopez earned $1750 for the first leg and $7500 for the second. Higbee had gotten the holeshot in race one, winning the $300 Barnett Holeshot award. It wouldn't last. John Hopkins took over the lead until Pegram came by entering turn one on the second of 12 laps. Those two were nominally at the front of the field, but there were seven riders running nose to tail, with another four lurking with intent. Barnes made the big move into turn one on the fourth lap, holding the spot long enough that he, and three others, were able to make a slight brea k from a second qua rtet. Barnes used what was determined to be the superior power of the Zlock Racing bike to hold the point until the eighth lap when Hopkins came back by. Barnes got shuffled back a few spots and pretty soon Grant Lopez was in second. The teammates then tried to make a break, but Barnes hung with them, the trio making the final run to the line as a trio, all three Michelin mounted. Hopkins braked early for the chicane on the last lap, putting a scare into Lopez, who was following closely. '" didn't expect Hopkins to let up going into the chicane on the last lap like he did," Lopez said. "It really messed up what I wanted to do. My bike is running good, but Hopkins

• Cover