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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128616
IAbove) Tommy M iceli took his third win of the season on the Franco' s Performance
Suzuki to reclaim the points lead over numbe......n e plate holder Billy Vase.
(Below) Brock Davidson recorded history at Rockingham, b ecoming the first rider
to b reak the seven -secon d barrier on a street bike, running 7 .9 7 3 on h is Team
BDEIcompetitionacc essaries.com Suzuki 1200 Bandit.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C••MAY 20-21
ommy Miceli began his quest for
a n AMA/Pros t a r Pro Mod ified
Ch ampionsh ip j u st like he
planned it. Riding the Franco's
Performance Suzuki, Miceli aced th e
first two events of the season with two
number-one qualifying e ffo rts a nd a
pair of fina l round victories over fivetime Fast By Gast Pro Mod Champion
Billy Vose. The only g litch came at
Ohio. where Miceli suffered a rare red light foul ea rly in elim inations opening
the door for Vose , who went on to win
the event and take over the points lead.
At the S c hn itz S um m e r Nationals
a t Rockingha m Dra gw ay , Miceli came
back in true championship form . With
Vose being elimina ted by Ash ley .
Owe ns early in elimi nations , the door
was thi s time opened for Mic e li, who
made th e most of th e opportunity by
ta king out Owens in th e final and reclaim ing the points le a d .
"I am very fortunate ," said Miceli,
who's wife Vanessa rec ently gave birth
to their firs t c h ild . Thomas J r. "Joe
Franco is the best tu ner in th e bus iness and our Koen ig chassis works
extremely well. I know we are going to
make a good la p every time."
Vose edged out Miceli for the num ber-one qualifying position at Rock ing ha m with a 6 .90 e lapsed time at
189 mph. During eliminations, Miceli
opened up with a pair of 6 .80 laps, as
Vose found himself on the tra iler fo l-
30
n
STO RY AND P HO T O S
B y M ATT POLITO
.JUNE 7 . 2000 '
c
ue
I
e
eVIl'
s
lowing a sec o nd -roun d lo s s to
O we ns , where bot h riders record ed
.4 5 1 react ion times an d 7 .026
elapsed times, giving Ow ens a marg in of victory of less than one th ousandth of a second.
After a s e mifinal victo ry ove r the
O rie n t E x p ress Ka wa sa k i of Da ve
Vantine. Miceli met Owens in the final
and overcame a sli ght h oleshot t o
take his t h ird victo ry of the s e ason
with a 7 .0 1 timeslip, as Owens shut
off at mid-track.
"Billy goi ng o ut early gave us the
opportunity to get some points back."
said Mice li. "But I wo uld have almost
rather raced him . He is the stiffest
c o m p e t it io n out there a n d go ing
against the best g ive s me a n o pportu nity to prove mys elf. I'm sure we ' lI be
seeing a lot of ea ch other this s e a son."
Or ie nt Express F unnybike Cha m p ion Bryan Bennett scored his first
win of the season , as he ended fo rm er
cham pion Gary C la rk 's three-ra ce
win streak . Be n ne tt. runn in g a EFI
tu rbo Kawasaki took the pole with a
6 .90 at 205 mph and ra n a s q uick as
6 .80 befo re meeting Cla rk in the final
for the second ti m e th is se a son.
Cla rk . running the injected alcohol
turbo HMP Kaw asaki, got a massive
ho le sho t in t he fin a l but got out o f
s h a p e and had to lift , as Bennett
drove around him fo r a 6. 8 6 win.
After failing to m ake the final in
the first two events of the s eason ,
Lectron Pro S t o ck C ha m pi on F re d
Co llis is ba ck on track in de fens e of
his number -one p late. scoring his
second-stra ight win on his Star Perform ance Parts Suzuki at Rock ing ham. Co llis q ua lified on the pole with
a 7 .28/184 and tumed th e quick la p
of every elimi natio n round. incl ud ing
a tight, 7 .28 to 7 .29 s emifinal ba tt le
against the Ward Performance bike of
Todd Doege to fa c e Paul Ga st in the
fi n al. Co llis got th e hol e sh ot o ver
Gast and pulled away , tumi ng on the
win light with a 7 .28/187 to Ga st' s
7.36/177 .
Just when B ro c k Dav id son
a ppeared to be the man to bea t in the
Kawa saki S uperbike class. Phill Davis
stepped out in front, setti ng a new
ela p sed t ime re c o rd a t a b liste ring
8 . 105/168 a n d ta k in g h is secondstra ight win on his '94 GSX-R.
Da vis' 8 . 10 hel d the pole and the
No rth Ca ro lina ride r backed it up for
the record with a 8 .12 semifinal win
over Mark Mo isan . Davis , who ha s
appeared in every fina l th is season.
bolstered his points lead by running
an 8.20 in the fina l agains t Davidson
who hit a red light foul.
Davidson had h is own glo ry at
Rockingham, becoming the first rider
to crack the seven-second barrier on
a street bike with a 7.97 3 in th e first
round of the Schnitz Q u ic kest Street bi k e S hoo t o u t on hi s Team
BDE/ com p e t it io n a c c es sorie s. c o m
S uzuk i 1200 Ba ndit. Davidson hel d
the nu m ber-o ne qualify in g s pot a t
8 .14 going into th e la st session when
curren t c h a m pi o n T o m my Mic e li
grabbed the pole with a n 8. 13 on the
Phil's House of Pow e r GS 11 50 E.
Da v idson backed up th e hi s toric
run with s u c c e s si ve laps of 7 .993/
177 and 7.986/1 78 before s p inni ng
th e tire to a n 8 . 18 in th e final against
J a m e s "Du ck" La uer. who too k hi s
s econd-straig ht win with a 8 .10/178
on th e F lo -Tec Raci n g GSX -R o f
Cra ig Ha ns e n.
Muzzy 's 600cc SuperSport Champ io n a nd Team G reen r ider Ma rty
Lad wig cracked into the winner's cir cle for the first tim e th is season, getting by local Rockingham ace J ohnnie
Lo c k lear in t h e fi n al. Lockl ear ,
appea ring in his first 600cc S uperSport ev e n t , too k the pol e wi t h a
10.21 /1 31 and then ra n a stunn ing
10.10/1 31 in round tw o of elimina tions on the De l's Perform ance ZX-6R
of Ma rk Th atcher.
Locklear couldn't mainta in his tor rid pace a nd ran no q uic ke r then a
10.3 5 as e lim inati o n s p rog ressed.
Both Locklear and Lad wig dodged bu llets in the semifina ls as the y adva nced
to the money round when th eir oppon e nts red - lig h ted a wa y qu icke r
el apsed times. Lock lear got by t he
Del's Performance bike of Uri Thatcher
when Thatcher fouled on the start of a
10.34 pass. and Ladwig advanced
again when Micha el Phillips hit red on
a 10.25 lap on the Cheese Stea k Racing Ka wasaki. Ladwig took over the
points lead with his 10.3 3 to 10.4 1
final round win over Locklear.
Ryan S c hn itz rema ins undefeated
in the Mickey Thompson Top Elimina to r with his fourth win of the seas o n. Schnitz ov e rcame a Matt Smith
holes hot in the fina l to take the s tr ipe.
7 .48/189 to 7.57/182.
Other sportsma n winners incl uded
Kawa sa ki's Bru c e S a uer in th e Star
Racing To p Ga s S eries, Ric ha rd Ho ld er in the APE Super Comp Series ,
O lin Go u ld in th e RC Components
S uper Gas Series a nd Jerry Hurley in
th e Pingel Pro IT Se ries.
II:N
lIadrinl" " IIragway
1I8dliap.... N
e
Besulls: May 28-ZI. ZDOD
FUNrtYBIKE: I. Bryan Bennett (5u z) ; 2 . Gary
Clark (!\aw).
PRO l'IODIAED: I. Tom Mic eli (Suz); 2. Ash ley
Owens (Suz).
PRO STOCK; 1. Fred Collis (Suz); 2. Paul Gast
(Suz).
SOPERBIKE: 1. Phi l! Davis (5uz ) ; 2. Br oc k
Davidson (Suz) .
600 5(JPERSPORT: I. Marty LBdw;g (Kaw) ; 2.
Johnnie Locklea r (Ka w).
STREETBIKE SH OO T O OT : 1. .Jemes Lauer
(Suz); 2. Brock Davidson (Suz ).
TOP EUMIl'\ATOR : I. Ryan Sch nilZ (Kaw) ; 2.
Ma tt Sm ith (Suz).
TOP GAS: 1. Bruce Sauer (Kaw) ; 2. Rod Bland
(Suz) .
S