Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA,/Prostar D rag R a c ing S eries R o und 2 /3 : Nat ional Trail R a c e w a y undefeated in the 2000 season , garn er in g a pa ir o f wi ns o n his HMP Kawasaki at Ohi o . In both finals Cla rk fac e d ro o k ie F u nny bi ke ride r Ch ip Ellis , th e fo rmer 6 0 0cc S upers port s t a n do u t who t o ok ove r t he ridin g cho res on Steve Ric e 's turbo Kawasak i ZX- 1 1 this seaso n . Whil e Ellis is s till re fini ng h is ridi ng s ty le on th e h igh h o rs e p o we r m a ch in e h e ha s s hown ple nt y of ra c e savvy by m aking two straig ht finals . St ill. he is as of yet no m atch fo r the C la rk fre ig ht train . In th e Atla nt a fina l Clar k to o k th e win , 6 .7 8 at 19 2 mph to Ellis ' 7 .2 7 /1 7 1. Th e Co lu m b us fin a l wa s (L eft) After two ye a rs of struggling, Brock Davidson fin a lly set his mark in the Superbike c lass , runn ing the a llt ime q u ickest elapsed t ime of 8. 130 seconds and taking h is fi rst w in during t he rescheduled Atlanta Pro Star finals held at Na tional Trail Raceway in Oh io. (Be l o w ) Gary Cl ark (n ea r lane), doubled up on t he weekend, w inning both the rescheduled Atlanta fin al round and the Co lumbus fin a l, taking out the factory ZX- 11 of Ch ip Ellis both times. roc k Dav id son knew it wo uld be a n up-hill battl e. Competing in the Supe rbike c lass in th e AMA/ Prosta r m otor c ycle dr a g ra c in g s e rie s , Da v id so n would b e going head -to -h e ad with th re e -tim e c h a m pi o n R ic k e y Gads on o f th e mighty Muzzy Kawasaki facto ry team. Davidson qu it his engineering job a nd mortgaged his life a way to c on cen trate on developing his ra cing c om pon ent bu s iness and h is dream of beat ing the b ig boys . He k n e w it would be tough , but he had no id ea how difficult it would turn ou t to be . Getting h is Suzu k i GSX -R750 to live on a big c harge of nitrous oxide seemed simple e nough - dra g racers hav e be en usi ng nitrous for years but Davidson was worki ng in uncha rted te rrito ry. Ther e were so me brigh t spots , a qu ic k e s t -e v er short t im e h e re , a m p h reco rd t h e re , but the 1999 season was marked more for spec tacula r failures than an ything else. Twice last season Dav idson suffered n itrous expl os ions so violent that the y b rought t he b ike to t he ground in flames. At t he Fast by Ga st Na tion a ls in C o lumbu s Ohio , Da v id s on fina lly turned th e co rne r a nd e sta bl ishe d h ims e lf as th e man to b e a t in t he class . The event fe atured the running of the rained ou t Atlanta elimi natio ns an d Dav ids on was n ear perfe ct , es tablis hi ng t wo sepa rate e la p s e d t ime re c or ds , the a ll-ti m e qu ick la p for the cla ss , a win an d a run ne r-up. Better sti ll, hi s GSX -R is mak ing a har d lap every time it goes down the rac e tra c k. "I too k a lot of lumps ," said Dav idson . "I wa s be ginn ing to th ink I was as big a n idiot as everybody thought I was . It' s q uite a red e mption t o ru n we ll." Dav id s on h ad ta ken th e At lanta fina l, bringing a Suzuki in th e Su pe rbike winner's circle for th e first time, with a record -s etting 8 .276 seco nd elapsed time at 163 mph o ver secon d -tim e fin a lis t and number on e qua lifier Phill Dav is who turned in a n 8.51 /158 on his '94 GSX-R. Da vidson then qualifi ed on the pol e for th e Columbus round wi th a stunn ing 8 .130 / 164 . The run was th e first under 8 .20 seconds a nd to o qu ick to be ba cke d up for the rec ord . In Col umbus e lim inations , Dav id son rese t h is two -day -old e la psedtime record to an 8.228 and aga in met Davis in the final. Davis got the holeshot and recorded a c ar e er -b e st 8 .280 to take his first win as Dav idson had to double shift into high gear and los t with a qu icker 8 .2 7 0 . Still, Davidson made his m a rk. "Even with th e probl ems I ha d las t s ea s on I s t uck to m y g ame p la n ," sai d Dav idson. "Wha te ver it took , I wa s go ing to lea rn how to make this bike go fast. Th er e we re a lot of peo ple who be lie ve d in m e a nd I didn 't want t o le t t h e m d o wn. I h a ve to 32 n COLUMBUS, OH, APR. 28-30 B M AY 17. 2 000 ' c ue I e e vv s th an k Do n a n d a ll th e guys a t Yoshim ura, Tim a nd Dan at Compet iti on Ac c ess or ies , S chnitz Ra c in g , MTC , R&D Transm issions , O r ient Express , Suzuki and of cou rse Marc , Tony and the re s t of my crew. It's be en a long time comi ng but I am ready to win some races . The green re ign of te rror is ove r." Davidson wa s a lmost as im press ive in th e Schnitz Quickest Streetbike Sh ootout whe re he set a new e la pse d time record of 8 .084 seconds o n his com p e tit io n a c c es s o rie s .c o m Suzu ki 1200S Bandit. Da vid son's da y ended in th e s emifinals when h e pu lled a h igh sp e ed wh e e lie and had to lift a g ai nst Dav e St ewart o n the MaxV Su zuk i. St ewart turn ed in a stout 8.09 on th e pa ss to make the fina l against J ames "Duc k" Lauer on the Flo-Tec Raci ng GSX-R. Lauer got the holeshot in the fina l a nd turned in an 8 . 18/177 to take his first Un lim ited S ho otout win as S tewart slowed to a n 8 .82. Three -tim e Orient Express Funnyb ike c ham p io n Ga ry Cla rk rema ins mu ch the same with Cla rk aga in turning on the win lig ht with a 6 .80/192 to th e 7 .21/157 of Ellis. The Fa st By Gast Pro Mod ified series is qu ickly turning into a battle between current champion Billy Vose and Brooklyn 's To mmy Miceli on the F ra nc o ' s Pe rfo rm an c e Suz u k i. T he two riders had a tenth o n the rest of the field , swa pping po le positio ns at Co lum bus . At Atlanta, Mice li took the nu mber one qualifying p o s it io n at 6.82/1 9 6 a nd be at Vose in the rain de layed fina l on a holesho t, 6.88 to 6 .86 . In the Columbus ro und Vose too k the po le on his rad ical new Koe nig Low Boy with a 6 .85/196 but the fina l round rematch never materi a lized as Micel i red lighte d in th e sec ond round of eliminations. Vose went on to win , beating first- ti m e fina list Bruce Van Sant 6 .8 7 to 6 .98. ' Fr ed Co ll is has b e en ha ving a tou gh tim e in his effo rt to repeat as Le ctron Pro Sto c k c h a m pio n . Ttle St ar Perform an c e Parts ride r is cle a rly the man to beat. but with th e level of

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