Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Buell Lightning Series Round 4: Portland International Raceway Higbee Rules Buells By Aprilia Cup C hallenge Round4: Portland International R aceway HENN Y RAY ABR AM S PORTLAND, OR, AUG 6 . . ew Zealander Aaron Clark was in , . ... ,. the lead in the April ia Cup Chal lenge final when Australian Brendan Clarke crashed in the final turn on the third of 10 laps while still in pu rsuit. That all owed Clark to run much of the race at his own pa ce, on ly to find himself under late pressure from anoth er Au ssie, Clayt on " C h a p p o" C hapma n . Cha pman in ch ed close r with eac h passi ng lap . making his move on the fina l go-around only to run off the track and drop back to sixth , leaving Clark now ho me free. Propa c 's Derek Kin g, of Folly Beach , South Carolin a, was second, 3 .746 seconds back , wit h expa triate Sw iss rider Ba lz Renggli th ird on the GP Motorcycl es entry . "I knew Chappo was going to be hard work ," Cannon Rac in g 's A ar on Clark said. "He's an agg ressive rider and he's got the speed . It was one of those races like Brendan [Clarke] got a good start and that kid's got a lot of ta lent and a lot of speed. But he m ayb e pu shed a littl e bit too hard too early . My tires stuck. his didn't. I m ean , yo u've go t to ride with your head, but quite often if you back off and try to pace your self, th at' s when yo u ma k e m ist ak es. So wh en I got to t he front I j ust kept down and went for it." Li k e Aaron Clark . Br end an Clark e rides for Cann on Racin g and he was out fro nt for the first two laps, losin g the spot early on th e th ird lap. then drop ping back to second in fr ont of Ch apman . Tum nine would be his undoing . Chap man 's strateg y was t o c h i p awa y at the lead and wait for the end . "I j ust sort of sat there," Chapma n said. "I knew we didn't have the halfway lap yet. My fast lap was lap five . It came down to tacti cs. I didn't have the hors epower to drive by on the straight." Instead he would try Clark at the end of th e back straight. PORTLAND, OR, AUG 6 h awn Higbee was worn out from rac ing two U n li m it ed Su perb ike races . the seco nd of whic h seemed to go on forever. T hen c am e th e Bu ell Lightning Series race, th e class whe re H i gb e e h a s th e g reatest cham p ionship ho pes, and somehow the Bue ll t est rider summoned the en ergy t o win his t hi rd Buell final of the year. " I re a lly didn 't run as fast as I probably did in p r actice ," said H ig b ee . w ho' d qu alifi ed over two mph f a st e r th an a n yo n e els e . " I p r ett y mu ch u sed eve r y t h in g I had in the Superbike ra c es to run u p front and was worn out and just rod e aro und in th e Bu ell rac e as best I co uld ." H is b e s t was m or e t h an good eno ug h. Lead in g all I 0 laps. and 19 .2 miles . th e New Castle Bu ell- back ed Wisconsin ite stea dily pulled away and cru ise d hom e to wi n b y 6 .4 19 seco nd s. Th e ra c e was n't with ou t inc ident, however. On th e seco n d lap h e r an int o curbi ng and kn o ck ed hi s ri g ht foot peg off, "so that wa s kind of a bum m er. but it d id n't sto p m e fro m co nti nu ing th e ra ce ." he said. Hig bee ' s ph y sic al problems co u ld have been more da unting : He's st i ll on th e m end from br eak in g his rig ht sho ul der at Laguna Seca last month . T he sho u lder w a s so re during t h e Un limit ed Superb ik e ra c es , run j us t be fo re th e Bu ell race. Yet he was bet t er off t h an Hal ' s H -D / B ue ll ' s Mike Ciccotto. Cic c otto c r as he d in pra ct ic e o n Friday, but tho ught noth ing .of it. By S a t u r day m orn in g h e was fee li ng eno ug h p ain in h is left sh o uld er t o seek m ed ic al atte nt io n . A trip to th e ho spital co nfirmed t ha t it was a broke n left shou ld er blade. That didn 't sto p h im fr om qua li fying third afte r putting in o n ly t hree laps. " I was o n ly ab l e to put i n three laps in q ualifying before the pain j ust g ot t oo bad , " th e c ha m p io ns h i p lead er said . " I don' t k now what I'm go ing to do tom orro w ." What he did was slot himself into an ea rly . and s ecure seco n d , an d S Internatienal Fla"er By hold it t here thr oughout, k eeping his gr asp o n th e top spot , though with less assurance. " It kind of bummed m e out a little b ec a use I wanted to win this week end." Ciccotto said . With two ra ces left in t he six -race series. Ciccotto leads Higbee , 8 5 -7 8 . D a yt on a H ar l e y -D a v id s on /Bu ell ' s Rich ie M orris is th ird in po int s, at 53 , and thi rd today . M orris h o o k ed u p w ith Ho b an ' s Cycle 's Jeff J o hnso n and La s Vega s H- D 's J ess Roeder in the second half of t he race. the tr io constantly on t he make. M orris has a fair amo un t of d raft- H E N N Y R A Y A B RA M S "I thought, 'Now' s the time to do it," Chap ma n said of his strong m ove in tum seven at the end of the back stra ight that went awry. Chapman ran over the rumble strips. saved it, and then did a bit of m otocrossing through the grass. "I was a littl e tr igg er happy on the throttl e." His m istake m eant Derek King wa s hom e fre e in sec ond. all alone . with Rengg li also flyin g solo in thi rd . " Ba lz was ridin g well ." Kin g sai d . " Exce p t I was ju st a li ttl e b it f ast er through the infie ld and thos e first couple of laps trying to get through traffic really split ev erybody, Chapm an and Aaron Clark seemed to get a littl e bit of a draft and th ose two ran t he draft an d they took out a lot of distance on us. I rode as well as I co uld to stay with those guys." Clark help ed hi s own championship cause with the win. After fin ishing seventh in the first race at Dayt on a. Clark has won three in a row and now lead s King by 12 points. 84- 72 , with Renggli th ird at 60 . with two races to go . Behind th e lead three c ame T inting T echnol og ies ' Sha nnon Silva well in front of VFR T echno logies' Chi p Lark b y . Th en ca me Cha pma n in six th . CN Portland Intern ational Racewa y Portland. Oregon Results: August 6, 2000 IRound 4 of 61 APR ILIA c a p CHA LLENGE: I. Aaron Clark: 2. Derek K ing ; 3. Balz Renggli; 4 . Sha nno n Silva ; 5. Chip Larkby; 6 . Clayton Cha pma n; 7 . J osh Bryan; 8. Louis Hlou s ek ; 9 . Eric S teve ns o n: 10 . Alex Flor e a ; 1 1. C h a rlie He wett : 12. Pa g e Gat hi ng s; 13 . Co r y T uc hschere r; 14 . Da vid Moore; 15 . And rew Moor e; 16. Chris Arbor ; 17. Brend an Clark e ; 18 . Dan Fischer ; 19. J am es Mon son . Time : 12 min.. 52.404 sec . Distan ce : 10 laps. 19 .2 miles. M.argi n of vict ory: 3 .746 se c . APR ILIA ca p CHALLENGE C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (A fter 4 of 6 round s): I. Aaron Clark (84/3 wins): 2. Derek King (72): 3. Ball Renggh (60 ): 4 . Geep Terranova (36); 5. (TIE) Shannon Silva/ Josh Bry an (3 3 ); 7 . Mike Himmel sba ch (25 / 1); 8 . Da n Fi sc h er (23 ); 9 . Eric Steven so n ( 18) ; 10. Jam es M on so n ( 16 ) ; 1 1. (T I E ) Ken t K un i t su g u / C o r y Tuchsch erer ( 13 ); 13. (TIE) Page Gathings /Justin Dest erhou se (12); 15. (T IE) Chip La rkby/Jeff rey Wood ( I I ): 17 . (T IE ) Cla yto n Chapman /P hi llip Unhol e ( 10) : 19 . Loui s Hlou sek (8): 20. (TIE) A lex Florea/Ryan Meyer (6) . Upcomi g Rounds: n Round 5 - Long Pond. Pennsylvania. August 27 Round 6 • Daytona Beach. Ronda, October 22 cue I e ing ex pe rience fr om his ye ars at Da yt on a an d he used it t o good effec t , narrowly shading J oh nson and Roed er at th e line. " It was d own to a d raft i ng bat tl e and on t he last lap Je ff J ohnson got in vo lved with m e and J ess [Roeder ], we ' d b e en t og eth er . " M or ri s s ai d . "J eff ca me b y and I c aug ht his dr aft and I was abl e to p i ck up a ba ck marker th ere at th e end and put th e backmarker between us. I think that's what made the differ en ce." Joh nson wa s fo urth . Roed er fi fth , . th en ca me H a l' s H -D /Bu ell 's Br ian F ran k. at so me distance, with Ill inois H -D /Bu ell ' s M i ch a el Frib erg next across. Shumate M ot orsp orts ' John Snell a n d S m it h B r o th ers H arl ey-Bu ell 's Ja son Smith wer e the fin al two finish ers in the slim nine-r ider field . CN Portla nd International Race way Portlan d, Oregon Results: August 6, 2000 [Round 4 of 61 BaELL LIGHTNING SERIES: I . Shawn Higbee: 2. Mik e Cic cotto ; 3. Richie Morr is; 4 . J eff J ohnson ; 5. J ess Roeder; 6. Brian Fr ank : 7. Micha el Friberg: 8. J ohn Snell ; 9. Jason Sm ith. Tim e: t 2 m in .. 14.500 sec. Di st ance: 10 la ps. 19.2 m iles. Margin or vict ory : 6.4 19 sec. BaELL LIGHTNING SERIES C 'SH IP PO I NT STA NDINGS (Aft er 4 of 6 rounds ): 1. Mike Clc cotto (85/1 win); 2. Shawn Higbee (78 / 3): 3. Rich ie Morris (53 ): 4. Je rf J ohnson (52) : 5. Brian Frank (36): 6. Brian Bod ine (3 2) ; 7 . (T IE) Ch ad Heal y / Mi cha el Fri berg (25 ): 9. Ja son Sm ith (2 4) ; to . Ma rk Reynold s ( 18) ; 11. Ja son D'Am ico ( 16) ; 12. Je ss Roeder ( 13) ; 13. Dean Hagem ann/ Gregory Av ella ( 11); 15. Scott Kor ol ( 10 ); 16. John Snell (8) ; 17. Dar ren Co nrad (7 ): 18. (TIE) Pau l Jam es/Chris Decelle s (6) : 20 . Russ McAllister (5) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 • Long Pond. Pennsylvania. August 27 Round 6 - Daytona Beach, Ronda. October22 n e VV S • A U G U S T 16, 2 0 0 0 15

• Cover