Brian Stokes wins the prestigious AMA Road Racing Horizon Award

July 24 – With some hard-fought victories, including at least one last-second pass at the finish line for the win, Brian Stokes earned the prestigious Horizon Award at the AMA Road Race Grand Championships that ended Thursday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

The Horizon Award is given to the road-racer at the Grand Championships who shows promise for a professional road-racing career. Past winners of the award include Jason DiSalvo, Ben Spies, Chris Caylor and Doug Duane.

"Right now it’s one of the greatest accomplishments of my roadracing career," a beaming Stokes said after receiving the award. "I can’t describe the feeling."

The AMA Road Race Grand Championships were held Wednesday and Thursday on Mid-Ohio’s technical 2.4-mile, 15-turn course. Club-level road racers from around the nation took part to pit their racing skills against each other and to compete for the AMA Horizon Award.

Racers earned No. 1 plates for winning their classes. Plus, a Club of Aces was named – The WERA Nationals team of Ruben Frankenfield, Matt Furtek and Greg Moore – in a new feature of the Road Race Grand Championships called the AMA Club Road Racing Challenge. The club team with the best finish among those entered in the Club Road Racing Challenge earned the top honor. This year, eight teams competed.

Winning the award wasn’t easy for Stokes, 29, of Kingston, Georgia. He faced stiff competition from John Dugan (left), 32, of Washougal, Washington, and Mike Sanchez, 26, of Austin, Texas.

"Dugan’s a really great rider," Stoke said. "Sanchez and Dugan gave me great battles on the track all day."

Dugan was disappointed in his showing on the final day of competition.

"It was a rough day," said Dugan, who found himself far back on the starting grid in most of his races. "In the Formula Extreme race I got through the traffic fast. I ran Brian down and made a pass. But then the right air duct came loose."

So Dugan was struggling with that problem and couldn’t get a good drive off the corners as a result.

"I tried to get through the last corner and right at the checker he (Stokes) got by by a foot," Dugan said. "I couldn’t believe it."

Sanchez (right) felt really good about his day.

"I’m real happy with how I rode today," he said. "I feel I was able to run with guys who run the AMA races and that felt good."

Stokes went into the final day of racing feeling good about his chances even though the day before he lost the Mediumweight Superbike Expert race to Sanchez by milliseconds.

"That was a fun race," Stokes said. "It was one of the closest races I’ve had in a year."

Sanchez said he knew that Stokes was right on his tail the entire race.

"My goal was to not fall down," Sanchez said before racing began on Thursday. "I rode a comfortable race, took different lines and learned a lot about the track. I’m ready to take it to a higher level today. If I see a guy going really good I’m going to get behind him and go."

Sanchez only learned how to ride a motorcycle in late 2000. His first full season of amateur racing was last year.

Stokes knew that today would be extremely competitive so, to try to get an edge, he walked the track and talked to some pro roadracers, including Rich Oliver and Jason DiSalvo, to get some tips on handling the technical track.

"I think I have something for him (Sanchez) today," Stokes said before the racing began. "I used takeoffs for that race yesterday. I have new tires, and everything is running good."

Dugan, meanwhile, also was gunning for the Horizon Award. He battled Stokes and Sanchez head to head in the Superstock Expert Final the day before and won, despite starting on the 11^th row.

Dugan says he passed a bunch of guys at the start. Later he passed Sanchez and Stokes and held on for the win.

There were seven "Premier" races that figured in the decision for this year’s Horizon Award. Stokes got on the podium in every premier race he entered, getting two first place finishes, two seconds an one third.

Dugan had one first place finish but also had a second and a fifth.

Sanchez, meanwhile, won one race, had one second, and then had a fifth-place finish, a 10^th and a 12^th.

"It was a tough decision this year," Douglas Neubauer, head of AMA Sports, said just before he made the announcement of thee 2003 AMA Road Race Horizon Award winner: Brian Stokes.

WERA awarded points for its Northcentral and Northwestern Championships and provided the nucleus of the event’s officiating team.