Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

" I kne w I co u l d n' t get a w a y , " Ro ber ts said . " No ma tter ho w good I got throug h the infie ld, they 'd come by o n the straig ht. I was o utbraking them so bad, I knew all I needed was a d ecent drive. I had some tra nsmission problems in t u rn five a nd the chicane - I just couldn 't ge t it in g ear. I don't know if it was me or. .. but it makes you nerv ous going into turn o ne. I was c o nc e n t r at in g more on backshifting than riding ." Hop k ins, wh o had led off the line , was d i sp o sed of rath er qu i c kl y b y Harr ell , then fo ught ba ck to lead the r a c e u n t il Rob ert s took ove r . T h e yo u ng st er ne ve r gave up , however, and he stu ck to Rob erts for th e rest of th e ra c e , barel y succu m b ing at th e fin ish line. Not bad co nsi dering it was his first -ever Formula Xtr em e race. " A fte r Kurt is ca me by m e, we were j us t going back and forth ," Hop k ins said . " On th e last lap I wa s getti ng a better driv e, and the bike wa s wo rk in g great. I had hors ep ower o n him down th e b ack straight , and o n t he last lap I shot by him , bu t arou nd the rig ht-hand swee pe r I ha d a re ar t ire slide and had to let off. He [Ro bertsj was s t rong und er t h e b r i d g e and down the hill , so there was nothi ng I co uld do." On the fi nal la p, Lo pe z - wh o ha d :harged th rou g h after fin ish ing the I rst lap in seventh place - managed ,0 fi nd a way around Hayes for thi rd p lac e. " I g ot a bad start," Lopez said . "I don 't k now what I did , bu t it bog g ed and started to stall. After th at I was a bit too aggressiv e try ing to catch up, and I had some nasty sl ides. I had to chill ou t and smooth o ut, and the n I work ed m y wa y up . I wo rk ed on J osh [Ha y es] and g ot h im o n the brak es int o the chicane - th en held him o ff CN fo r third at the end ." Road Adanla Braselton, 6eorgia Results: June 3, 2000 FO RMUL A XTREME FI NA L: 1. Kurtis Rob ert s (Hon ); 2. J ohn Hop kins (Suz); 3 . Grant Lo pez (Suz); 4. J osh Hayes (Hon); 5. Steve Grigg (Kew): 6. Mark Mille r (Y8 m) : 7 . Jake Zem k e ( Hon); 8 . Gabrie l Hen n in g (5uz ): 9 . Re d Gre av e s (S ua) : 10 . Sco tt Br own (Yam) ; 11. Chris Voelk er ( Ho n) ; 12. Kr is Clubb (Kaw); 13. Paul Mum ford (Vern) ; 14 . Keith Voelk er ( Hon); 15. Ja mes Doerfler (Suz); 16 . Cec il Myers (Yam) ; 17. Wes Pogue (Yam); 18. Eri e Seward Kurtis Roberts (1) began his Fo nnula Xtreme title defense well, holding off John Hopkins (211 and Grant Lopez (p artially hidden) for the class win at Road Atlanta. 19. Paul Harrell (Ya m); 20 . Dav id Roy (Due}: 21. Kevin Lacom be (Hon ); 22 . Th oma s Montan o (Due] : 23 . Bill St. J ohn (Due); 24 . Cli nt Bretz (Yam) ; 25 . Greg White (Suz); 26 . J eff Nash (Due) . Time: 21 mi n., 47.603 sec. Distance : 15 laps. 3 5.20 m iles. Averag e speed: 104 .895 m ph Margin or vict ory : 0 . 130 sec. FORMU LA XT REME C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (A rt er 1 or 8 rounds ): 1. Kurti s Roberts (36/1 win) ; 2. John Hopkins (32 ); 3. Grant Lopez (30) ; 4 . Josh Hayes (28) ; 5. Steve Grigg (26) ; 6. Mark Miller (25); 7. Jake Zemke (24) ; 8. Gebrie t Hennin g (23); 9 . Rad Gr ea ves ( 2 2); 10. Scott B rown ( 2 1); 11. Ch ris Voelker (20) ; 12 . Kris Clubb ( 19) ; 13. Paul Mumford ( 18); 14 . Keith Voe lk er ( 17) ; 15. James Doerfler ( 16) ; 16. Cecil Myers ( 15) ; 17. Wes Pogue (1 4) ; 18. Eric Seward ( 13) ; 19. P~u l Herrell ( 12) ; 20 . Da vid Roy ( 11) ; 21. Kevin Lacombe (10 ) ; 22 . Th omas Montano (9) ; 23 . Bill 51. J ohn (8 ); 24 . Clint Brotz (7) ; 25 . Greg White (6) ; 26 . Jeff Nash (5 ). Upcoming Rounds; Round 2 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 10 Round 3 - Loudon. New Hampshire, June 17 beh ind m e my bike j ust fe lt like he Clad in his o ld , orange-and -green F ast by Ferracci leath ers , and b ac k on a Du ca ti ( thi s one a 74 8 SP back ed b y T eam Be audr y and Do cshop Du ca ti) Smith battled wi th c lass stal wart Sha wn Higbee on th e Tilley 's H D /Bu el l machine b ef o r e t a k in g advantage of th e Bu ell's problem s to pu ll o ut an i m p re ssi ve v ic t o r y , h i s first in AMA c om pet iti on in over fo ur years . " I w a s su rpr i sed , " sai d S mi th , wh o se la st win in AMA rac ing ca me i n th e 600 cc S u persp ort c las s a t Lag un a Sec a in 19 9 6 . "I c am e out here, th at th in g got m e up here on th e pod ium, so I c an than k the Lo rd for it. It' s awesome being up here , but it's just awesom e to see y o ur dreams , y o u r p rayers , everyt hi n g co m ing togeth er. " Come together with a vengeance . Smith 's rac e-record w innin g tim e - 22 m in utes, 17. 10 I secon ds for the 15lap, 37 .8 -mi le rac e - knocked 28 seconds off the prev ious ma rk. He averaged 10 2.5 8 0 mph an d beat Hig bee t o th e flag by 10 .703 second s, but not wi th out some effort. " Shaw n Higbee , he kept m e hon es t ," S m it h sa id , a dd i n g that he hoped to fin ish t h e sea son for t h e team , beg i n ni ng with next w e ek 's ra c e at Road A me r i ca i n E l k h a r t La k e , W isconsin , not f ar fro m Hig bee 's home. "T hi s is m y ho m et o wn here, so I had to beat you here. W e' re g oin g up t o you r p art of the world . Yo u ' ll p robabl y spank me up there , but it'll be good fun tr yi ng to ." was pu lling me ba ck wa rds . It w as li k e he had a two rope on me. " So w e were drafting cl o se back and forth and everything , and th e last three or fou r laps into there he d rafted and I c am e ba ck up alo ngside h im and -clipped m y brak e lever on some p a rt of h im," Hig bee sai d . " We ran into each oth er pr ett y hard. And whe n I ran into th e next co rne r, I th in k m y brak e lever w a s a ll tu rn ed up , so I re adj uste d tha t and fell back a littl e bit, th en m o unted a cha rge on him . Th at was pretty fun to c o m e back , bu t we j ust d idn 't ha ve eno ug h ti me , a nd it sta rte d l eak ing a li t t le bi t of oi l." T hat would be the end of it. "T he last tw o laps, it reall y st arte d gushing, and I was afrai d t o throw it down," Hig b ee said . " I didn 't kno w how much was going t o get o n m y t ire , so I j ust ba ck ed off a li ttle bi t. We 've been fight ing that probl em all w ee k en d . D on T ill ey ' s work ing on chasing it down, but he doesn 't q uit e ha ve it ye t ." T hird w en t t o Ad v anc ed Moto r sport's J eff rey Nash, the Ducati rid er t ak ing o ver the cha mp ionsh ip lea d aft er tw o of ni ne rac es. " I' ll take it ," he sai d on the victory pod ium. " I was tr y ing t o han g with Shawn [Conrad i ; I wa s ho pi ng to have a battle, b ut unfortunately he had a m echani cal , so I' ll tak e it. It's been a tou gh we ek end ; there ' ve bee n a fe w hassles, so we 're reall y thrill ed to be on th e box ." Conra d went o ut wi t h a m ech an i c al failu re and wa s. credited with 21 st p lace. N ash has 61 po ints , e i g ht m o re than Munroe Motors T om Monta no, fo urth toda y on a Duc ati. CN Road Adanla Braselton, 6eorgia Results: June 4, 2000 I Round Z of 91 Buell Pro Thu n d e r Homeboy Makes Good By H E N N Y R A Y A B RA M S P HOTO BY B RIA N J. N E L SO N BRASELTON, GA, JUNE 4 fairy -t ale endi ng fo r th e Buell Pro T hun d er r a c e a t Roa d At l a nta wou l d h ave Canton , Georgia 's M ike Smith takin g a triumphant vi ctory in front of fri en d s a nd fa m ily on hi s retu rn t o th e world of ra c ing . So it was. A eoeu, PRO THa NDER: I . Mik e Sm ith (Due) ; 2 . Shewn Higbee ( Bue) : 3 . J effrey Nesh (Due ); 4 . Thomas Montano (Due); 5 . Rich ie Morri s (Due) ; 6. Da vid Ro y (D ue) ; 7. Dale Cor ser (Due) ; 8 . Monte Nichol s (Due) ; 9 . Tom Hull (Due ); 10. Bill SL John ( Due); II. .Jemes Llc kwe r (D ue); 12. Wes Pog ue (Due); 13. Geoff M~ y (Due): 14. Justin Garvin (Suz); 15. Scot Donnier (Due); 16. Tom Orella (Due ); 17. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 18. Anth ony Sylvender (Due) ; 19. Tom Cha uncey (Due) ; 20 . Robert Gonzales (D ue) ; 21. Shawn Conrad (Due); 22 . David Estok (Bue); 23 . Thomas Fourn ier (Due) . Time: 22 min .• 17.101 sec. Distance: 15 laps . 37 .8 mil es. Aver age speed: 102.58 0 mph. Margin of vict ory: 10.703 sec. BUELL PRO THUNDER C'S HIP POINT STANDING S ( A ft er 2 of 9 r oun ds ) : 1. J effrey Nash (61 ); 2 . Thomas Montano (53) ; 3. David Roy (48); 4 . Shawn Conrad (47/1 win) ; 5. (TIE) Tom Hul l/ Bill St. John (46) ; 7. Dal e Corser (43); 8. M;ke Smith (3 711); 9. Ja mes Li ckwer (35 ); 10 . Sco t Dorm ier (33) ; 11. (T I E) Shaw n Hig bee/ Wes Pogu e (32 ) ; 13 . (T I E) Thoma s Foum ier/Pat Mooney (29 ); 15. Ju stin Garvi n (28); 16. Eri e Wood (27); 17. Richie Mord s (26) ; 18. Mont e Nichol s (23 ) ; 19. Paul Vitale (22) ; 20 . Douglas Gross (20) . Fonner Su perbike star M ike Sm i th (911) landed the Buell Pro Thu n d er win In f ront of his home-state crowd after passing Sh awn Higbee (3 1. O n h is wa y to second pla c e, Hig bee had m ore tha n hi s sh ar e of p rob lems. Whil e challeng ing for th e lead, he wa s so se verel y s uck ed i n b y Smi th 's draft that he collided w it h the Duc ati rider, kno ck ing t h e Bue ll 's brak e lever out of whack . " T he rea so n I droppe d ba ck ed earl y on , we w e re go ing down th e b ack st raigh t an d w e w ere drafti ng p retty close ," H ig be e said . " It w as we ir d , whe n h e wou ld c o me up behi nd me and draft m e I never felt so sucked down. I knew he was back th e re. The first ti me he came u p cue I ... Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 11 Round 4 - Loudon, New Hampshire, June 18 n III _ S • J UNE 14,2000 15

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