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/128637
Formula USAlWrench e ad . c om N a tional R o a d Race Serie s F inal R ou nd : D a ytona International Speedway in the red -fl agg ed Amateu r GT O . O n Saturday he was prol ific , back on the 750 to win th e Amat eur Unlimit ed Supersport, th e Amat eur Heavyweight Superbik e (by 23 .704 seconds ) and th e Amateur Heav yw eight Super sport (by 15 .08 5 seconds). M anusu th a k is' near -w in came in 3D-mi nute Ex pert GTO , held early on a dark and glo omy Frid ay aft ern oo n . Racing hi s Suzuk i GSX -R750 aga in st un limite d m ach ine ry , Ma nusu tha kis was in th e lead on the sixth of 15 laps when he tucked the front end in the West Ho rseshoe. "Th e front tire wasn't hot enough ," Manusuthakis expla ined . The win went to fellow Floridian Gabriel Henning. who broke away on the fina l lap to narrowly beat the battling duo of Vin cent H ask o vec and Byron Barbour by .300 of a second. There were no mistakes in the 30 minute Expert GTU . N ow aboard his Yam aha R-6 . Manusuthak is did battle early with New Eng land Performance 's Sc ott Gre enw ood b efor e bre a k ing away on the 11th of 15 laps to win by 5 .65 7 seco nds. "I was with him for a while and th e only place he co uld pass m e was in tu rn o ne ." Ma nus utha kis said . "I ju st k e pt goi ng dee per a nd d eep er into turn one until they couldn 't pass me al y more. " Gr e e n w o o d took second with S"og u n Motorsports' Ryan Land er s in the Intemational Horseshoe, turning it into a tw o -m an race. The pair went back and fo rth , Pri eto lead ing on th e last la p out of th e chi can e, Manusuthakis runnin g him down with bett er gearing for th e front-stretch ta ilwind. "Shane [Prie to ] was running out of gea r ing , but th e way th e wind was bl ow ing we were ab le to pull a higher g ear o ut th ere ," Ma n usuth ak i s sai d after hi s third win of the weekend. this one by .220 of a second . It was again Pr ieto and Manusuthakis a few races later in th e Expert Middleweight Grand Prix cl ass, only th is tim e Manusuthakis was ab le to make a more comfortable race of it . Pr ieto led lap one , th en i t wa s Manusuthakis pull ing awa y as Prieto got c aught up with New En gl and Per formance's Scott Greenwood and Dos Racing's Jeffrey Purk . By lap three. it was Greenw ood and Prieto, t hen the order reversed , and tha t's how th ey 'd finish, Priet o 1.185 seconds behind Manusuthak is. "I knew these guys were right on m y h eels," Manu suthak i s said , "a n d I wasn't about to g ive them a chance to get up th ere and ta ke it away from m e: Prieto had go tten his lone Saturday wi n in th e earlie r Exper t Unlimited Supers po rt race . T he first att empt was red-flagged with Man usut hak is in the lead . He took the point again o n the re-s tart, tea mmate Marco Martinez and Boston Cycle's Charles Ch oui nard off with hi m , Prie to making his way through the field from his fourth -row starting spot. He was into sec ond by the fourth of five laps . then ran down the leader Manusuthakis in th e chicane and took the lead. John A sh mead took second with Manusuthakis a close th ird. The m ultiple winner later explained th at he'd rem oved his to rso bra ce for th e race and it "hurt like hell : No suc h probl em in the final race of th e d a y , th e S100 0 Unl im it ed GP . A ft er th e first atte m pt at the start was red -fl a g g ed , Pri eto go t away fast , Marco Ma rtinez and Gabri el Henning going with him , along with Ma nusuthakis. Stea ming through the field from th e 44 th sta rti ng position on th e 11 th row was KWS Mot o rsport s' Shawn Higb ee. th ird . The last w in of the day came in the five - la p E x pert Heavyweight Superbik e sprint. Starting from the eighth ro w. Man usuthakis blazed through the fie ld to tak e over the lead on the seco nd lap , then pulled away to a com fo rt able win. Arcli g h t S uzu k i ' s Sc o tt H a rw e ll c am e from the 11th row to tak e sec o nd. 4 .3 1 seconds back, wit h Ti re Slic k Racing 's Chad Sim on s third . Saturday dawned bri gh t and sunny. thoug h it wou ld turn dark and drizzle inte rmi t ten tly l at e in the afte rnoo n . Ma nus utha k is d id n't le t th e weather affect him . In th e Ex pert Middlewe ig ht Superbike race . th e Palm Beach. Flor ida . resident got away with Fo rt Lauderd a le 's Sh a n e Pr i et o a nd Cycles 128 's Jim Lester. Th ey stuck togeth er until th e th ird lap when Lester cr ashed 12 NOVEMBER 1 . 2000 ' cue I e nevvs (Above left) Manusuthakls (4) leads Shane Prieto (9x) In the Expert Middleweight Grand Prix. (Above) Ed Cobb was the most successful of the Amateur road racers at Daytona. Pr i et o h e ld th e lea d f r om Manusutha k is o n lap three. Henn ing and Martinez part of the group, then a gap to Higbee and the rest. Higbee got Henn ing on the banking , then Henning took it back , but it would end up in Higbee's hands. Manusuthakis took the lead on the fourth lap and tried to make a break. Prieto sta yed close, but had to fend off the adva ncing Higbee. who took him on the back straight only to lose it into the chicane. But Higbee was soon by and after Manusuthakis on the run to the stripe, coming up just short. " l was ac tually surprised , " Manusuthakis said after his fifth win. "I' ve reall y been looking forward to thi s ever sin c e March, to tr y and get up here an do better th an I did back th en ." Sund a y' s E x p ert Midd l ew ei ght Superspo rt race wa s in itially a threerider b reakaway with Ma nu suth aki s lead ing J im Lester and New Eng land Performa nce's Scott Green wood . The three stuck together until the third lap when G reen wo od crashed going up onto the banking out of tum six after tak ing the lead. Manusuthakis . just behind . had to back out of the throttle and Lester had a break . But not for long. Manusuthakis ran him down on the fourth lap, th e pair going at it for the final lap . Out of the chicane it was Les te r . then Man us u t hakis pu ll e d alongside. we nt down low , and took the wi n by 1.9 7 seco nds. • " T hat was a h a rd one , Manusutha kis said. After Greenwood high -sided in front of him, Ma nusuthakis said he "had to go around him and stop. I was n't sure I was going to be able t o c at c h hi m [Lester]. " The fina l sho t to t ie the record came in the E x p e r t H e av y w e i g h t Supersport race, th e penultim ate CCS rac e o n Sunda y , but Manusuthakis came up short. Starting from the sixth row , Manusuth ak i s had to work his way into second and didn 't get there until the final lap. By then, Byron Bar bour had th e race well in hand , ta k ing his lo ne w in of t he w e ekend . Manusuth ak is fin ished 1.747 -seconds back , w ith Pet er Brady Racing's John Ashmead th ird. Ed Cobb started winning in th e sec ond race of the meet. coming from th e ninth row in Friday 's 3D-minute A ma teur GTO. It was scheduled for half an hour. b ut was red -flagged , and o nly seven lap s were completed. " I' m just glad the ra in held off," Co bb sa id . " Co m ing from the n in th row wasn't easy. " He was on the fifth row for Ama teur Heavyweight Superbik e and was into the lead on the second lap, speeding away so quickly that he'd have 23 .704 seco nds in hand at the end of the slightly wet race. "I needed an umbrell a ," Cobb said . "It started rain ing out there the last two laps and it got hairy ." Pat Mo one y J r. , on th e Jon Roberts Motorsports' Suzu k i, re -took sec ond fr om Fa st Lan e Cycl es' W illiam T or bert on the final lap. Stu ck on the six th row for th e Ama teur Unlimit ed Supersport race , Co bb sliced th rou gh the field to move into second on the second lap, then went after race leader Pat Mooney. The lead cha n ged on the th ird la p an d Cobb held it over Mooney to the end. Far th er back came Cycles Sports Cen ters ' J a m e s Hooper in th ir d on hi s Suzuk i 750 . C obb ' s final win was agai n at Mooney's ex pense and it came in the Amateu r Hea v y w e i ght Su p er sp ort rac e. Lea vin g from row fou r, Cobb bl ew into th e lead on the first lap and disappear ed , wi nni ng by 15.085 seconds . M o on e y w a s seco n d a n d Shogun Motor sports' T roy Green was third . " It ' s been a grea t seaso n." Cobb said. "T hat puts us at 9 7 wins for th e ye ar. It's been incred ible." E xp e rt D a v i d D o e a nd a ma teur A lan Nelson both doubled up in th eir re spectiv e cla sse s , w hich were run together in two d ifferent ra ces . both