Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Michael Barnes, Shawn Conrad and Dan Bilansky won the shortened Formula USA National races at Road America on a day plagued by weather and crash-related delays.
Barnes was definitely the star of the show, winning both the Sportbike and Superbike races on his Pirelli-shod, Tony Pogue-tuned Championsonline.com/Prieto Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
In spite of what he said was a less-than-perfect set-up on his Yamaha, Barnes fought off the challenge of 16-year-old Blake Young and former AMA Pro Thunder Champion Shawn Conrad to win the five-lap Superbike final. Young finished a close second, just in front of Conrad, Scott Harwell and Mike Himmelsbach.
Barnes improved his bike’s set-up before the Sportbike race, concentrated on getting a better start and pulled away from the first lap to win by four seconds over Young, defending Champion Scott Greenwood, Conrad and Robert Jensen.
Earlier in the day, Conrad rode his new Lake County Powersports Suzuki GSX-R750 on Pirelli tires to win in Formula Sportbike. Emerging talent Young completed an impressive performance with his third second-place of the day, just behind Conrad at the line. Greenwood was a close third on his new Suzuki GSX-R750, just ahead of Harwell.
After crashing out hard at Daytona, Hal’s Performance Buell’s Bilansky redeemed himself well in front of family and friends at his home track, winning the Thunderbike final flag-to-flag on his self-built Buell Firebolt. Bryan Bemisderfer finished second on another Buell in spite of running off the track at turn five during the short, five-lap race. Riding another Buell XB9R, Dave Estok was very pleased with finishing third after recovering from a very serious automobile accident in March and not being sure if he was going to be able to ride at Road America or not.
Fog reduced corner-to-corner visibility at the track Sunday morning, delaying the start of practice until 11:00 a.m. and the start of racing until 12:35 p.m.
In an attempt to fit the entire, crowded race schedule in on Sunday, CCS races were cut from five to three laps and the F-USA National races were cut from 10 to five laps. Still, at the end of the day, CCS had not been able to run five of the scheduled races. Those races will be made up at a later, to-be-announced date.
The temperature at Road America never reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday.
Sunday’s Formula USA Race Results From Road America:
Superbike:
1. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6)
2. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R600)
3. Shawn Conrad (Yam YZF-R6)
4. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R600)
5. Mike Himmelsbach (Yam YZF-R6)
6. Robert Jensen (Yam YZF-R6)
7. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R600)
8. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R600)
9. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R600)
10. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600)
Sportbike:
1. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6)
2. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R600)
3. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R600)
4. Shawn Conrad (Yam YZF-R6)
5. Robert Jensen (Yam YZF-R6)
6. Mike Himmelsbach (Yam YZF-R6)
7. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R600)
8. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R600)
9. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R600)
10. Nick Cummings (Hon CBR600RR)
Formula Sportbike:
1. Shawn Conrad (Suz GSX-R750)
2. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R750)
3. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R750)
4. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R750)
5. Kevin Gordon (Suz GSX-R750)
6. Brian Stokes (Suz GSX-R750)
7. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R750)
8. Matt Malterer (Suz GSX-R750)
9. John McGarity (Suz GSX-R750)
10. Joe Ribeiro (Suz GSX-R750)
16. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R750), DNF, crash
Thunderbike:
1. Dan Bilansky (Buell XB9R)
2. Bryan Bemisderfer (Buell XB9R)
3. Dave Estok (Buell XB9R)
4. Ed Key (Suz SV650)
5. Joseph Rozynski (Buell)
6. Brian Lacy (Suz SV650)
7. Randy Rega (Buell XB12R)
8. Darren Danilowicz (Suz SV650)
9. Walt Sipp (Buell)
10. Clint Brotz (Buell)