|
The American Motorcyclist Association Posted September 22, 2007 |
|
Southwestern riders make their mark as the 2007 AMA Road Race Grand Championships fire up at Mid-OhioBy Lance Oliver Stars of tomorrow hoping to earn the prestigious AMA Horizon Award made their first moves in competition Saturday at the AMA Road Race Grand Championships at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Several fast riders from Texas and Oklahoma dominated podium spots on the opening day. The first green flags of the championships dropped under near-perfect conditions for racing, with temperatures in the low 80s under sunny skies and no threat of rain. 750cc Superbike Novice
On the second try, four riders broke away (right) from the field: Woody Heimann (#802), Horton (#477), Dustin Doucet (#928) and Shawn Malone (#109). Once Doucet moved into the lead, he gradually pulled away on his Suzuki GSX-R600 for the win, followed by Heimann, Malone and Horton. Michael Books moved up all the way from his starting position in the second wave to fifth place at the finish. 750cc Superbike Expert
Meanwhile, Derek Wagnon and Dane Westby fought over third place, with neither gaining an advantage of more than a couple of bike-lengths. In the closing laps, Chapman, who just turned 18 this month, opened up a gap of a couple of seconds and took the win, followed by Dominguez, Wagnon and Westby. All four of the top riders come from Texas and Oklahoma. Tony Kasper, of Becker, Minnesota, rounded out the top five. Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert/Novice Fourteen-year-old Tyler Odom, of Torrance, California, jumped from his third-row starting spot to the lead in less than half a lap of Mid-Ohio on his Ducati and steadily pulled away. Behind him, David Podolsky, on a Ducati 1098, and Scott Rosey, on a Triumph Daytona 675, battled nose-to-tail for third. Rosey was finally able to make a pass at the halfway point when Podolsky bobbled slightly, and they finished in that order. In the second-wave Novice class race, Todd Urig won convincingly and passed several Expert riders in the process. 125cc GP (USGPRU) The 125s proved you don't need big bikes to produce exciting racing. Despite qualifying more than a second faster than the rest of the field, Nobi Iso couldn't drop the competition at the start. Instead, a four-rider pack broke away, led by Iso, with Benny Solis, Scott Smallwood and Chase Vivion in the tiny wake of his 125cc GP bike. The four-way battle became a two-way fight when Solis and Smallwood went down while the four bikes fought side-by-side. A red flag halted the battle when a lapped rider crashed while being passed by Iso and Vivion. On the restart, Iso and Vivion again quickly put a gap on the field. Iso comfortably held the lead to the end while 12-year-old Royce McLean emerged from a multi-rider battle to take the third spot on the podium. 1,000cc Superbike Expert/Novice Dustin Dominguez took the lead on the first lap but had to pull into the pits with a mechanical problem a lap later, handing the lead over to Seth Starnes. Starnes then ran away to the win, finishing more than 16 seconds ahead of Sam Gaige in second. Chris Courtney finished third. In the Novice class, Dustin Doucet won his second championship of the afternoon, once again finishing ahead of Woody Heimann.
Zac Chapman (#3, right) took the holeshot off the start, but both Derek Wagnon (#111) and Dane Westby (#213, obscured) were able to seize the lead momentarily in the early laps, while Tony Kasper (#122) lurked just a few bike-lengths behind in the four-way battle. Just past the half-way point, Wagnon went off the track in the keyhole turn, leaving Westby and Chapman to challenge for the lead with Kasper drifting back.
"We're both CMRA (members) so we race each other every week back home," Chapman said of his dice with Westby. "But this is the first time we're doing it for a national championship. Everybody has definitely stepped it up a bit."
Dustin Doucet (#928, right) and Woody Heimann continued their pattern of one-two finishes in the Novice classes. Jeff Wrobel finished third and Michael Books once again moved up from a second-wave starting position to finish fourth. Clubman Expert/Novice David Podolsky pulled away on his 426cc Yamaha to win the battle of the singles, with Erin Higinbotham and Peter Cline fighting over second until Cline crashed with two laps to go. In the Novice class, Ricky Crist, on a KTM, left the other riders more than 21 seconds behind, passing everyone except the top two Expert riders. Formula 1000 Expert/Novice North Carolina rider Seth Starnes rode off to his second championship of the day, leaving Danny Kelsey and Sam Gaige to fight over second in the Expert class. Dustin Doucet continued his domination of the Novice classes with another win on his Suzuki GSX-R600. Starnes was third off the start, but moved into the lead with two passes on the first lap, then motored home to victory on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. "I'm pretty happy to be in the 1:30 range since this is just my third day here," said Starnes, who had not ridden at Mid-Ohio before. "I'm just working on being smooth. The big bike has bit me a couple of times, so I'm trying to avoid that." Lightweight Twins Superbike Expert/Novice Zac Chapman and Dane Westby renewed their Texas-Oklahoma rivalry for the third time in the afternoon, but this time Westby finished first, beating Chapman to the line by less than two tenths of a second, with both riders on Suzuki SV650s. Dustin Dominguez finished third in Expert. In the Novice class, Allan Edwards took the win. Senior Superbike Expert/Novice Matthias Schaub pulled away on his Suzuki GSX-R750 to a solid win. Scott Evans and Darnell Dorsey diced all race long for second, with Evans holding on to take the spot by less than a tenth of a second. Ronald Manchin won the Novice class. Pro-Am Superbike 1,000cc With time running out, the Pro-Am race was shortened from 12 laps to a six-lap sprint.
Mid-Ohio was the scene of Thompson's pole position in AMA Superbike in the weather-disrupted 2006 season-ending round, and he steadily pulled away by turning the fastest laps of the opening day of the Road Race Grand Championships, dropping into the 1:28 range. The only battle for position was a race-long dice between Sam Gaige and Tyler Odom, who finished fourth and fifth in that order. © 2007, American Motorcyclist Association |
Email
Print
