Lopez, Batey Maintain Points Advantage At Portland

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki teammates Grant Lopez and Tray Batey maintained their advantage at the top of the Formula USA Championship Point Standings with strong finishes in two races at Portland International Raceway. Lopez finished fifth in the first race, at the end of a line of riders battling for third, then came back to take third place in the second race. Batey was fourth in the first race and sixth in the second race. Lopez and Batey are still first and second in series points based on provisional results, Lopez leading with 221 points and Batey second with 192 after three events and six races, with two events and four races left in the 1998 series. The third-place rider in the series has 184 points. Meanwhile Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Josh Hayes rode his hybrid GSXR600/GSXR750 racebike to second place in the 103 HP race, inches behind the winner after a thrilling battle that saw Hayes lead most of the laps. Hayes also finished third in the 126 HP race and rode his underdog machine to 11th and eighth in the two Formula USA races at Portland. The team’s next event is a Formula USA round at Loudon, New Hampshire on August 7-9, followed by the 1998 F-USA season finale at Pocono, Pennsylvania on August 28-30.