Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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S tarting in 1986, the Suzuki Cup Finals brought together some of America's leading club and pro road racers to do battle for big bucks. In 2001, the venue was Road Atlanta at a time when the country was showing major resilience and unity after the September 11 attacks. Like in previous versions of the Suzuki Cup Finals, those races were the highlights of WERA's big year- end finale. That year a surprising name emerged as the star of the show, a local Georgian named Chris Caylor, known to his friends as "Opie," who knew every twist and turn of Road Atlanta's two- and-half miles like the back of his hand. His track knowledge came in handy, and he walked away with a pair of Suzuki Cup victories as well as another podium during the weekend. His 2001 GNF per- formance instantly made Caylor one of the top up-and-coming road racers in the country. He would go on to score some impressive AMA Superstock, Supersport and even Superbike results over the next five years. As a college student Caylor started out riding his sport bike on the famous Great Smoky Mountain Road called "The Tail of the Dragon" not far from his college town of Knoxville, Tennessee. AMA Pro Racing team owner Robert Nutt helped guide Caylor off the street and onto the racetrack. What followed was a rapid as- cension in the club ranks, eventu- ally winning the AMA Horizon Award as the top up-and-coming amateur rider. He became an instructor in the Kevin Schwantz School at Road Atlanta and as a result Caylor not only had numerous race week- ends around the famous Georgia road course, but countless laps on the challenging and hilly 12- turn circuit doing instruction. So, when it came to the 2001 WERA Grand National Finals and the accompanying Suzuki Cup races, Caylor was more than pre- pared. In the Suzuki GSX-R600 race, the one thing Caylor's track experience didn't give him was a great launch. As a result, he was fifth on the first lap of the race, but very much in the lead group. But that didn't last long. On the second lap, Caylor passed the riders in front of him to take over the lead from Mark Junge. From there, Caylor inched away and took the checkered flag by two- seconds over Junge and Robert Jensen. CN III ARCHIVES P112 Caylor's Day at Road BY LARRY LAWRENCE (Left) Chris Caylor in 2005. PHOTO: LARRY LAWRENCE (Right) Chris "Opie" Caylor (7) leads Robert Jensen (52) and Mark Junge (57) en route to his Suzuki GSX-R600 Cup Final victory at Road Atlanta in November of 2001. PHOTO: HENNY RAY ABRAMS