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/128615
Formula U S A Round 3: Road A meric a Fifth-placed Owen We lchel (18), second-placed Brian Parriott (46) and fourth placed Mark Junge (57) battle It out late In the race. crossed t he li ne he had 2 .7 29 seconds on HMC Racin g ' s Shawn Conrad , who w asn 't long for t he pod ium. In what is rap id ly bec om ing a c om ical t r adi tion at the W ren c head .com races , di sq ualifications st ruck at t he top and Co nrad was the first casualt y. It w asn' t that his bik e made too much h o r s ep o w e r , q uite the op posi te; it made no horsepower at all . When he ro ll ed his Duc ati 748 up to the dyn o , it refus ed t o start, and , because the horsepower couldn 't be measured, he was rem oved from second place. T oo bad , beca use he'd earned it . Second place was a four- rid er fight - Conrad sc rapping with Vesrah Rac - i ng 's Ma rk Jung e (Y am ). Hy d -Mech Sa ws' O wen W eich el (Hon), and Par rio tt Ho nda Raci ng 's Br ian Parriott. Jun g e an d Weichel were at the f ro nt o f th e gr o u p in the early goi ng, wi t h Par r i o tt and C o n r a d close b eh i n d - t he r ide rs i n close f o rmati on . T h er e were spo ra d ic pos iti on changes, but th e pa ck was tight eno ug h that an yth ing c o u l d happen as the rac e pla yed out. That was how t hey ra n , n o se -to tail , even ending the ei g hth l ap four a b reast as the y crossed the sta rt finish line for the fina l t wo l aps . Jung e and Co nrad i nc he d ahea d early o n the ei g hth l ap , m arg in a ll y ahea d of Weic hel an d Par riott, w ith Co nrad braking hi s way into second in turn fi ve . That's when Arclight Raci ng's Lee . A cree j o ined t he m . A cree c ame in to the race lead ing t he champi onship and ha d quali fied third . But he d id n 't get ou t of the bl ocks very well and strug gled to m ak e hi s way through th e 27ride r fie ld . Acree m ade his w ay up to fi f t h, pass ing Wei chel as the white flag flew, with Conrad now in front of Junge and Parriott and looking like he had j ust enough to negate th e affect of th e draft on t he final run . The pack chased him, but Co nrad, of nearby Sh ebo yg an Fall s, was second with a cush ion of better tha n sixtenths of a second. Parrio tt was able to separate h im sel f fr om th e fig h t for fo u rth, taking th ird, or iginally, b y 1.3 sec onds . Acree an d J un e were .2 2 of a sec ond apart, with Weichel falli ng off the pace. Then came t he po st -race scrutiny and Conrad was gone. "That was a war an d I lo ve racing lik e that, l ast l ap four wi de c om i ng over th e st art fin ish," Parriott began. "I thought, 'Th is is it." A lread y he knew whe re he was strong er than t h e others and knew where to attack at the end . "I knew [Mark] Junge was a little bit we ak in turn number seven," Parr iott sa id . " I took th at to point. T hat was my game plan to fin d out eve rybody 's weak spots. I got up in there under neath hi m on t he brak es a bit better th an he did and got in th at positi o n, and Conrad , at t hat point, wa s a bit far out so I said , well , he can ha ve it. " H avin g w o n two of the th ree races , Hopk ins lea ds th e six - race championshi p by a si ngle point , 50 49 , ove r A c ree . Chapa rral /Mazda Suzuki's Damon Bu ck m ast er, whose t ea m di d n ' t r ace at Road America , is th i rd w it h 45 , two in fr ont of Par riott. eN Road Ameri. . Elkhert LIke , Wiscans ln Results:Mey21, 2000 SPO RTBIKE: 1. J ohn Hopk in s (Suz ); 2 . Brien Perrl ott (Han ); 3. Lee Acre e (Suz) ; 4 . MlI rk Junge (Yom): 5. Owen Welchel (Hon); 6. Joseph Prusslono (Ye m ) : 7 . J as on Farrell ( K aw): 8 . J es s Ro eder (Yom) ; 9. Mi choel Clcc ollo ( Bue) : 10. Jeff Purk (Yam); 11. RYlIn Len ders (Suz) ; 12. Clinton Brotz (Yo m ) ; 13 . N ic k Donlels (Yom ) : 14 . K rl. Cl ub b (Ke w }: 15. Ad em Coco (Han) ; 16. Edw ard Berndt (Yem) : 17. Dav e Rosno (Ke w) ; 18. Page Gath ing s (Han); 19. Ja mes Prince (Yam) ; 20 . Kurt Wry (Kew) ; 2 1. Eric Dooyern e (Yom) ; 22 .Ty Howard (Kow) ; 23. Perry Prich ord ( Yom ); 24 . Dove Ebben (Yom ) : 25. Olli e Corser (Due ); 26 . Lucas Beus (Yam) . TIme: 23 min ., 38.144 sec. Distance: 10 laps, 40 miles. Margin of victory: 3 .364 sec. SPORTBIKE C'S HIP POINT STA NDINGS (After 3 of 6 rounds) : 1. Joh n Hopkins (50/2 wins); 2. Lee Acr ee (46 ); 3. Damon Buckm aster (45/ 1); 4. Brian Perrlctt (39 ): 5. Joseph Prusslane (25); 6 . Rich ord Ale xander (23 ): 7. Owen Welchel (20): 8. Eric Wood ( 16) ; 9 . Roger Hoyden ( 14): 10. (TIE) J eee Roeder/ Mark Ju nge (13); 12. (TIE) Bryce Gross/ Brilln Gibbs ( 11): 14 . (TIE) veclev Haskcvec/Ty Hewar d ( 10); 16. Jason Farrell (9) ; 17. Mic hael Clccotto (7); 18. (TIE) Kori Lowry / Jeffre y Purk (5) ; 20. Ryon Lenders (5) . Upcom ing Rounds: Round 4 - Portland, Oregon , August 6 Round 5 - Pocono. Pennsylvania. August 27 F o r m u la U S A Aprilia Cup C halleng e R ound 3 : Road Amer ica By H EN NY RA Y A B RA MS ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 21 t sh ould c ome as no su rprise t h at the bes t r ac e o f the day at Road Ame ri c a w as t h e on e c on t est ed on the closest t hin g to a p ure race bike . The fie ld of A p rilia Cu p ' Ch all eng e riders only numbered 17 , bu t the to p fo ur RS250- m ount ed riders all tho ught the y deserved to be fi rst and they ro de t hat way . As t he rac e wore down , the lead ers k new it would come to a cl assic draft pass finish, whic h it nearl y di d . Only a power edge by the lead rider pre v ented a change at th e fron t . Com ing out o n to p was C ann on Racing 's Aa ron Clark , but o n ly b y .073 of a second , half a bike length , with the top four co v ere d by less than a sec ond. " It w as p r etty inte nse , " th e N ew Zea lander Cla rk sa id. " So m e of the st uff th at wa s ha pp en ing out t h ere wa s a bit sk etch y ." After t aki ng seve nth at D ay t o na , C l a r k w o n at Willow S p r i n g s a n d k new what he was in fo r. " It j ust come down to anothe r ha rd rac e," he sai d . "It' s eig ht laps. I'll just hang ar o und and see wha t happens on th e last lap. " On th e last lap, Clark he ld the lea d over GP Motorcycles' Bal z Rengg li , a Sw iss now li ving in San D iego . Reng gli was in the right place to ta k e the w in , but his RS250 wasn 't the equal of Cl ark 's. Kn owing t hat had kept him 26 M AY 3 1 , 2000' a nevvs I U c I e Aprili. CI!P chaHenge winner Aaron CIartt ('-) holds off IkIIz ........ (103) and Derek KIng (80). from making a move earlier. " W ell , I k new it wa s go i ng t o be cl ose between three or fo ur riders and w ith t h is t r ac k , at le as t on th es e bik es , it p retty m uch comes down to d raft ing," Reng gli sa id . "A ll of us fou r at front were in the lead a couple of times, I guess, at some point. "I didn 't really wan t to go int o th e l ea d . 1 had a g ood d ra ft on Aaron