Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2000 Suzuk i Cup Fin alNVE R A G r a nd N a t iona l F inal g et th e thi ng s a ve d b efore I ra n off the tr a c k. I go t ba c k o n th e throttle a n d h e ad ed towa rd s three . Wh en I got off the gas , the m oto r t ight e ne d up a gain and I had to s hut it down." Ha rwell t o ok th ird , but a lso e ncou nte re d tro uble . As he follo wed Ju ng e dow n th e lo ng Ro a d Atl a nt a b a ck s tra igh t so me t h ing fr om th e t ra c k boun ced up a n d struck Har well's foot. On the p odi um Ha rwe ll ex pla ine d th at his big toe was proba bly broken as a resu lt. Roun d ing out the top five were Mark Lede sm a and T a pe wor k Rac ing's Russell Ma s e ca r. O n th e do mina ting win Ba te y said, "I was just hoping t hose g uys wou ld n't ha ve their bikes figu red ou t as well as m ine was . My bike is really worki ng good. I th ought if I cou ld get away while th e tires were fresh and ev erything was working go od maybe there was hope." Batey, Ac re e , and Ha rwe ll list the ir s ponsors as Arclight Rac ing , Suzuki, Pirell i, Yoshim ura , Mot ion , EBC , Fac to ry , a nd S ilko lene . GSX·RSOO Class. With ou t an o pen -class bike to s pea k of, th e 2000 Suzu ki Cup wo uld fe atu re a TL1000R Cl a s s . T wel v e bikes wo u ld t ake to th e g rid fo r th e T L1OOOR Cup F ina l. Ar clight Rac ing 's Tr a y B a t e y dominated the WE RA 2000 He a vywe ig ht Twins sea s on , winning every race he entered in t he cl ass . Like wis e , Ba tey won t h e WE RA O pen S upers tock title o n a b ik e t h at was over m a t ch e d in t he c lass . Re sul ts like th e s e made Ba tey t he o d d s -o n fa vorite to take t h e S uz uki Cup w in. In th e TL R he at race, Ba tey s howed th a t his favo red status was we ll -deser ved . Ba t e y , starting on the s eco nd row, took the lea d e n te ri n g t urn one a nd nev er lo o ke d bac k . The Gall a ti n , T en nesse e , native wo n th e four-lap he at race b y m or e th an seven seco n ds over Arc light Suzuk i te a mmate Le e Acre e , a nd 10 sec onds ov er Ve s ra h Ra c in g ' s Mark J u ng e . The se th ree riders would m a ke up the fron t ro w of th e T Ll OOOR S uzuk i Cup Fin al tha t wo uld be run the fo llowing day , and offe r $2500 for the win. In th e final , Bate y wou ld ta ke th e lea d into t urn o ne and ne ve r look back. Dropping his lap times into th e 1:2 8 s a nd stretch ing h is le a d ou t to nearly six seconds in the first thr ee la ps . Bat ey cruised to the win , tak ing the 10 -lap final by ne arl y 12 seco nds o ve r Ac ree . Ther e wa s a dded drama in the fight for th e final podium s pot. Ma rk J unge , wh o h a d fo u g ht wit h B y J AMIE G U FFEY PH OT OS BY B RIA N N EL SON BRASELTON, GA, OCT. 15 he 2000 Suzuki Cup Final held at Road Atla nta , in Br a s e lto n , Ge org ia, was th e 15th a nnive rs a ry of the ev ent, a nd wa s run in conj unc tion with the WERA Grand Nationa l fina ls. The wee ke nd woul d belong to Lee Acr ee . After winni ng six ra ce s prior to Sund a y , in the WERA Sp ort s m an Ser ies, WERA Nat ion a l Ch all en g e Sprints, and riding o n the WERA/ G.M.D Computrack National Enduran ce rac e winning team, Acre e cleaned up in the Suzuki Cup races as well. He went onto win th e SV650, GSX-R6 0 0 and GSX-R750 races , on his Arclight Ra c ing-prepared machines. Th e 10 t h a nd fin a l round of t h e WERA Nationa l Enduranc e S e ries was a four-hour ra ce that go t underwa y at h igh n o on o n Frid a y . 3 0 teams lined up for th e start, but in the end it was Arclig ht Suzuki, complet ing 154 laps, for the ov erall a nd cla ss Victor y. Th e other big win ne r of the G NF wa s E dw ar d Cobb of Cummin g , Georg ia . Cobb went on to win four of th e WERA National Cha llenge ra ce s , a s well as fou r of the WERA Sports man e ve nts . T T L1000R Durin g the 1999 Suzuki Cup Fina ls , th e TL 1OOOR dom in a t ed th e Op e n 44 N OVE M B ER " 2000 ' eye I e n e vv s Lee Acre e D omi nat ed t he Suzuki Cup ra ces at Road Atlanta, taking w ins in the SV650, GSX-R600, and GSX-R750 events. Acre e for seco nd in the firs t ha lf of th e ra ce , began to fade . He looked to ha ve third pla c e wra p ped up whe n it b e c am e clear that a ll was not we ll with his b ike . Scott Ha rwe ll, the third m e mber of th e Arcl ight Su zu ki Ra ce Team began to c lose th e ga p ve ry qu ic kl y. On th e seve nt h lap , Harwell fo llowed Ju nge down the h ill to th e 1 2t h a n d fin al t u rn o f the Ro ad At lan t a ci rc u it. Harw ell t rail ed by only a few b ike lengths but wa s clos ing very quickl y. As the bike s race d down th e front straight, it wa s cl e a r th at Ju ng e wa s not m ainta in ing h is s peed . Har well took evasive a ctio n to avo id h itt in g th e slow in g Jung e as th e y reache d t u rn o ne . J u ng e ran very wide , na rro wly a voidi ng running off the track. As th e ye llow and bla ck T LR started u p th e hill t oward tu rn two it was o bvious tha t Junge 's race was ove r. He m a d e it to turn t h re e befo re fina lly shu tt ing it down. J unge lat e r ex p la ine d that h e rea lize d something was wrong whe n he ca me onto the fron t stretc h. "Th e bike was s low," Jung e s ai d . "I ha d n o ide a Harw ell was ev e n clos e . As I got off th e th rottle go ing into turn one , the moto r tighte ne d up and ca used the bik e to p itch si de ways . I b a rle y h ad e noug h t ime to T he GSX -R600 S uzu k i Cup Fin a l is a lway s o ne of th e high lights to a g re at we eke n d of racin g . The 2000 final was no diffe rent. Arclight Suzu ki's Le e Acree has proven h imself to b e o n e o f the bes t Priva teer GSX R600 pilo ts in Amer ica . He is the 2000 WERA 600 S uperstock Nation al Cha m pio n , a nd c urrently ru ns se c ond in the Fo rmu la USA Sportbik e Cl ass (follow ing this report , Ac re e took th e F-USA Spo rtb ike Champi ons hi p , as we ll) . The 60 0cc Cla ss, how eve r, is on e of the m ost com petitive in the Su zu ki Cup . Tal en ted riders lik e you ng gu ns Ben S p ies and Ryan La nde rs , as we ll as local tra ck vetera ns Chris "O p ie " Ca ylor, Br ian Stok e s, and Brian Gibb s would make for a n exciting final. In th e final , Acree wa s on p ol e p o s it ion follow ed b y Sp ie s . Sp ie s too k the hole shot, b ut Stokes banged his wa y pa st o n the outside. Man y of the Su zu ki Cu p com petitor s felt that Sto kes had j u m p e d the start, but WERA offic ials rul ed it le g a l. T h e possibl e jump -sta rt was co m pounded when Sto ke s hit S pie s as he we nt by. " B ria n a nd I a re fri end s , " sa id Spie s . "I ca n't be lie ve he d id that to m e . I guess that's racing, though ." Sp ie s re gained t he pac e and m o ved in to th e lea d into t u rn t wo . Acr ee was c ha rg ing , a nd stu ffed his way into th e lead as th e t r io s ped do wn through th e Es s e s se c tion o f th e tra ck. Spie s took th e le a d bac k a s th e y went into turn six, a nd th e

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