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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128623
paigns on a sho estring budget in th e Loudon Road Race Ser ies. His mount was a 1996 Honda F -3 , which he said he'd race " as long as m y money will take me." The only problem he ra n into came at the end of the race meet when his tires , the same set of Dun lop 501 intermediates he used for all of his racing, were well used. " It handled great at the beginning and I got down to th e 39 's ," Little said. "The last couple of races the tires went away." In addition to winning Wednesday's Superbike 600 Novice. Little also won the GT I Novice on Wednesday and Thursda y , and too k Thursday 's Superbike 750 Novice. He finish ed second to the Kawasaki -mounted Frick in Wednesday 's Superbike 750 Novice and Thursday's Superbi ke 600 N ovi ce. The AMA Prem ier Classes were the prem ier cl asses , w ith all eye s on the f i na l t h r ee races b oth days . Th e y we re d om in at ed by Sp ies and Coni ce ll i, wit h Con ic elli co m ing o ut on top the m ost. W armi ng u p for those rac es, bo th riders had ridden in th e sp rin ts, with Sp ies ta ki ng th e fi rst rou nd , beat ing F asttra x Raci ng 's J im Doerfler and Co nicelli in the Wednesday 's Superbike 75 0 Exp ert rac e. Spies led fro m the start, with Doe rfle r m ostly c lose by , th en makin g a hard run at him at the end, co m ing up about five bik elength s short . Conic ell i was well ba ck in th ird . Doerfler too k his lon e w in o n the day in the GT I Expert race. check ing ing to learn th e trac k for [the AMA out early on Doug Duane. By th e end of the weekend Doerfler would total two wins , repeat ing his GT I Expert win on Thursday , and added thre e seconds and third . Conicelli and Doerfler went head to head in the AMA Prem ier H eavy weight Superbike Expert class , Doerfler leading on lap one before Coni celli took over for the next three. They'd swap again, Conicelli tak ing the lead for good on the eighth of 10 laps and w inning by about 10 bikelengths. " T h i s is the fi r s t t im e I've ever been here, " ConiceIli , who mostly races in th e southeast , said . " M y first time ev er on Michelins. I'm try - Sp ies would figure in the final two rac es, finishing second to Dega Rac in g 's Br ian G ibson i n the Prem ier Middleweight Grand Prix Expert after G ibson snookered him in the f inal comer. " I think he kind of bobbled midcorner," Gibson sa id, after threading his nimble Yamaha TZ-250 under the Suzuki GSXR -600 of Spies in the fina l corner. Gibson was lucky to get to the finish . On the first lap he was nearly high -s ided and ended up with a boot mark on his seat. "That's why I decided to take my time going through the IAbovel M ichael Gra ha m 111 ri de s his 19 88 Yamaha FZR· 400 to the fourt h of his four w ins In Thursday's Superbike Lite pack," he said. Hi s patience paid off, as he was ab le to g radually reel Sp ies in and pass him . Th e fina l rac e on Wednesday went to Spi es, the Texan holding off D oerfler at the line by less tha n a second , with Gibson well back in th ird . "My t ire s h ad 40 o r 50 la p s o n the m by th e last race," Spies sai d. "I de cid ed to co nserv e the m as mu ch as I c ould until the last few laps. I think he [Doerfler] g ot a little nervou s when ra c e s]. " he heard m e c o m ing . He m issed a shift and I wa s able to put a gap on him." Sp ies and Conicelli were at it again i n Thursda y 's Superb ike 750c c Expert race, Sp ies leading for the fir st four laps b ef ore Con icelli took the lead and edged away , racking up nearly a three-second margin at the end of the 10-lap race. Doerfler was third . Doerfler would rebound with a win in the GT I Expert class , comfortably beating Gibson. In the Premier Heavyweight Supersport Expert race, Spies again got the jump, but not for long. His teammate John Hopkins was using the race for practice and showed the field wh at a pro can do , easily outpacing the field fo r w ha t w ould ha ve bee n an easy wi n , until he pu lled in on th e fin al lap. The r ace b etw een Co n i celli and Sp i es , whi c h had b een for seco nd , was fo r the win , an d it went to Con i c ell i. He'd m ov ed in fro nt of Sp ies on t h e f ou rth o f 10 l a ps a nd l eft h im beh ind in the ensui ng six , ta k ing his sec ond Premi er w in . " I w as a j ust a li ttl e b it m or e aggressive ," Co n icelli said of his wi nnin g streak. " I really wanted t o bea t those guys." Co nicelli does m ost of th e work o n his 2000 Suzuki GSXR -750 , add ing a Penske sho c k befo re t he weekend , but having little tim e to work on set up. "We ca me here and just put tires o n it and it fel t rea ll y good," he said. Spies ca me bac k in th e final race to dom inat e , w inning th e Pr emi er M iddlew ei ght Supers p ort Expert by abou t si x se c ond s o ve r Yamab a mounted Ken Snyder. " I wa nted to race th is eve nt m ainl y to ge t rea dy fo r m y pro debu t. but in the ba ck of my m ind I was th in k ing abo ut wi n ning the Ho r izon Award," Sp ies said after his fi nal win . " I found out that some p retty good ri ders. like N i c k y Hayden, ha v e wo n i t in t h e past , so it' s n ic e to ha ve m y nam e in eN there w ith some of th ose guys." race. ILeftl Rich Conicelli 1781 wheelies after winning Wednesday's Heavyweight Superbike race. (Rightl Ken Little (6081 goes around Matt Frick 1 51 in 2 Wednesday's Superbike 600cc Novice rac e . Frick won Th ursday's Supe rb ike 6 00cc an d the Sup erbike 7 5 0 cc Novice cl ass. eye I e n e _ S • JULY 26 .2000 35