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/128623
A MA 20CXJ R o a d R a c in g Gra nd Championships (Left) Ken Little (6 0 8 ) reeled off four w ins at the AMA 2000 Road Racing Grand Championships. (A b ove) Nicky Hayden (right) presents the AMA Horizon Award to Ben Spies. (Below ) J im Doerfler (10 ) on way to winning Thursday' s GT1 Expert race. Doerfler won the race on Wednesday. He also fi nish e d second three times and third once. By H E N N Y RA Y ABR AMS LEXINGTON, OH, JQLY 13 he day before the AMA 2000 Ro a d Racing Grand Championships began, Te xan B e n Sp ies turned 16. This was a good thing for the Valvoline Emgo Suzuki rider, not so good for the others. On h is fi rst v isit to the Mid -Ohio Sports Car Cou rse, Spies co llecte d a trio of wins over th e two-day event, inc luding t wo in th e A M A Prem ier classes, and earned th e AMA Horizon A w a rd , an ho no r g iven t o the r ide r with th e bright est fut ure . " It's g reat t o w i n an aw a rd li k e th is, but yo u ca n 't let it go t o yo ur head : Sp ies said. "I know that riding against th e p ros is go ing to m ean I have to bring m y ri di ng to a new level. It does g ive m e a certain amoun t of co nfi dence kn ow ing t ha t I' ve put a g ood n um ber of pr etty decent laps on the track before th e pro weekend sta rts." It wo ul d be hard to argue with th e ch oic e of Sp ies, though he was n't the most domin ant racer. That would be Rich Con ic elli , bu t at 2 7 yea rs of age he k new his cha nces of w in ning the Ho rizon Award were slim . "I realize he's 16-years o ld and I'm a b it of a l ate bl o omer : Con ice ll i , wh o mostl y out-rode Sp ies, said. On ma ch iner y sp ons o r ed by Honda-Suzuk i -A rcti c Cat of San fo rd , North Carolina , the sho p where he wo rks , Con ic elli also won three ra ces, in c lu d in g two of t h e AMA Pr e m ier classes , beating Sp ies in two of th e thre e win s . Th e on l y t im e h e wa s be at en b y th e t e enag er wa s i n W edne sd a y ' s S up erb i k e 750 c c Expert wh ere he fini shed th ird to th e winner Sp ies. 34 J ULY 26.2000 ยท e ye I e Interestingly, Conicelli ha s far less rac ing experience than Spi es . He wasn 't even aware of road ra cing until 1996 and didn 't compete much until 1998. ri d ing in the Southea st Region Ch ampionship Cup Seri es races. He earned hi s Expert li cense in 1999 and ran hi s first AMA nationa l rac e at Road Atlanta just over a month ago. Spies bega n racing Yamaha YSR-50' s when he was eight years old and ha s bee n successful at every level. This was th e fo urt h running of the Gran d C ha m pio n sh ips , a tw o - d a y affa ir ru n und e r th e a us pices , t h i s year, of Fasttrax, wh ich run s m ost of its rac es at Ne l so n Ledg es in Oh io . On We d nes day th e r e w e r e eig h t r a c es , a ll w ith Exp er t a nd No vice classes and some w ith multiple desig nati on s, ru n o n W ednesday , w ith th e same eig ht ru n aga in on T hursd ay . Not su rp ris i ngly, m o st of Wed nes day's w inn ers were to ps o n Thu rsday. A t t he e nd of ea ch da y t he re w e re three AMA Premier cla sses, with differe nt classes eac h d ay . a total of six different races. The sprint races got off to a rocky sta rt on W ednesd ay . T he combined GT II Expert and N o vic e races were red- fl ag g ed on t he fi r st lap twice before th ey m ad e a clea n start . When th e y fi n ally ma de it to te rm, t he Expert winn er was Mike Gra ham, a F a stt r ax i ns t r ucto r fro m n e ar b y Del awar e , Oh io wh o wou ld rac k up four wins on the weekend, bo th runs of th e GT II Expert and both Supe rbik e Lite Expert races . In all fou r he rod e hi s reli abl e 1988 Yamah a FZR400. Grah am , th e t w o -t ime defen ding F ast t rax overa ll c ha mpion, sai d h is m ain co m pe tition, Rob ert N eese, was hurt, so it took some ofthe pressure off. n e _ s "I was getting m y p it boards and j ust ridi ng around : Graham , w h o ' s sponsored by Iron Pony , Bridgest on e, Rom e Pe r f o rm ance , a n d Pho en i x Cycles, said, afte r his stri ng of domi nant wins. Eq u a ll y d om inant wa s t h e GT II N o v i c e win ner, M at Wissel. W i ss el to o k t he GT II c la ss on both d a y s , do ing the sam e in th e Superb ike Lite class . H e a l so add ed a se c ond in Wed nes d ay's Sup e rt w ins No v i c e race. The fir st ra ce on Thursday set the p att ern , a f te r Gr aham and W i ss el defended th eir class wins . After winn ing on Wedn esday, Ken Snyd er rode hi s Yam aha FZR-60 0 to Thursd ay ' s Supe rbi k e 600 E xp ert win . Som e of the other rep eat w inn er s were Don Treich in the Vet A Exp ert class , Rick Burdy sh aw in th e GT 111 Novic e cl ass, Don Motley in Medium Tw ins Exp e rt , Bob W eb er in Lite Twins Expert , and J im Do erfl er in th e GT I Expert. T eam F.E.A .R.M 's Ken Little was a rider who repeated some wins an d took others , which he'd fought hard for on We dnesda y , coming up short. The New Haven, Connecticut rider took the first of his four vi ctories in Wednesda y 's Superbike 600 Novice race runn ing all by him self with Matt Frick fin ishing sec ond . Littl e and Frick would b a tt l e i n most of the other races , Little finishing second to Frick in two, one of which was memora ble. " We d iced the w hole race : Little said , after sh adow ing Fri ck home in T h urs day' s Superbike 6 0 0 Novice race . " W e c hang ed th e l ea d ev er y lap ." Little rac es for T eam F .E.A .R.M , an acron ym fo r the t eam members whose f irst nam es a re Fran k , E ri c, Ada m , and Ray , and mostl y c am-