Tatrai Is Near Finish of Race With Big Lead

Gerry Tatrai was on the brink of victory in the Race Across America Friday, passing through Guyton, Ga. at 7:30 p.m., 30 miles from the finish of the transcontinental bicycle race.

Tatrai of Australia was one of four previous winners that held down the first four positions in the event that started July 23 in Irvine and ends in Savannah, Ga.

Tatrai, who won in 1993, held about a 80-mile lead over second-place Wolfgang Fasching of Austria, who won the race in 1997. Fasching was slowed early by desert heat but made up time mostly in the hills of Tennessee.

Rob Kish, a three-time winner from Port Orange, Fla., was in third about 100 miles behind Fasching. Kish won in 1992, 1994-95.

Danny Chew of Pittsburgh, the 1996 RAAM winner, was in fourth place, four hours behind Kish.

Seana Hogan, the only female solo rider, was 650 miles from the finish.