Barnes, Jensen, Stokes, Yaakov Take F-USA Pole Positions At Summit Point

Barnes, Jensen, Stokes, Yaakov Take F-USA Pole Positions At Summit Point

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Michael Barnes, Robert Jensen, Brian Stokes and Dave Yaakov earned pole positions for their respective classes during Formula USA qualifying Sunday at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, West Virginia.

Formula USA races will be held on Memorial Day Monday.

Barnes used most of the 15-minute Superbike qualifier to try some last-minute set-up changes on his Championsonline.com Yamaha YZF-R6, before mounting a soft race tire and setting the fastest time, 1:15.766.

Minutes later, Barnes was fastest again in the Sportbike qualifying session, with a 1:15.292, but went 1.7 horsepower over the class’ 100 horsepower limit (as tested on a Factory Eddy Current dynamometer) in post-qualifying checks. Barnes was bumped down seven qualifying positions for the infraction.

This gave the Sportbike pole position to Butler Machinery’s Robert Jensen, who turned a time of 1:15.621 on his Michelin-fitted Yamaha, one lap before highsiding in fast turn three. Jensen was uninjured, and his damaged Yamaha still passed post-qualifying horsepower and weight checks.

Arclight Suzuki’s Scott Harwell, third-fastest in Sportbike at 1:16.301, also crashed, exiting turn 10 late in the session. Harwell was not injured in the fall, but his crew was seen completely rebuilding his GSX-R600 from the frame up.

Summit Point ace Dave Yaakov surprised the National regulars by taking pole position in the Buell Superbike-dominated Thunderbike class with a time of 1:20.518 on his Suzuki SV650.

Defending Thunderbike National Champion Dave Estok qualified a lowly 13th on his Harding Buell XB9R Superbike, the worst qualifying position he’s ever earned in his career, according to Estok. The Florida rider said last-minute tuning to reduce the horsepower of his bike caused it to “cut out” through the tighter portions of the course.

Saying he was advised that rain was coming, Vesrah Suzuki’s Brian Stokes quickly went out in Formula Sportbike (750cc) qualifying and immediately put in a fast lap of 1:15.597. Less than five minutes into the session, rain began to fall, quickly soaking the track.

The session was stopped, and F-USA officials conferred with Formula Sportbike racers on pit lane. Offered the choice of re-starting the session completely and qualifying in the wet or taking the times already completed in the first few dry minutes, most racers chose to take the qualifying position they had earned in the dry.

Arclight Suzuki team co-owner Chuck Warren, however, told Roadracingworld.com that he was never consulted on the choices by F-USA and feels like his riders, Harwell (ninth-fastest, 1:21.501) and Chris Ulrich (sixth-fastest, 1:20.318), did not get a legitimate chance to qualify.

Robert Jensen missed the short Formula Sportbike qualifying session due to mechanical issues with his 2002-model Suzuki GSX-R750 and will have to start from the back of the grid, which he said would be “no problem.”

Formula USA officials said they also consulted with riders in the Unlimited Grand Prix qualifying session, which was scheduled to take place after Formula Sportbike and was to be the last on-track event of the day, and offered them the choice of qualifying on the wet track or gridding them by their order of entry. According to officials, the majority of riders chose to grid by order of entry.

Earlier on a dry track, NESBA.com’s Brian Kcraget and Brian Surtees took the pole positions for USGPRU’s 125cc GP and 250cc GP classes, respectively.

USGPRU’s 125cc class has drawn 32 entries, and its 250cc class had 18 qualifiers.

Sportbike:

1. Robert Jensen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:15.621
2. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:15.786
3. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.301
4. Scott Greenwood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.548
5. Michael Himmelsbach, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:16.595
6. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.975
7. Michael Barnes, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:15.292*
8. Jeff Wood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:17.533
9. Joe Spina, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:17.675
10. Dave Ebben, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:17.718
11. Tim Bemisderfer, Honda CBR600RR, 1:17.787
12. J. Moss, 1:17.814
13. unknown, 1:17.816
14. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:17.950
15. Geoff Allen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.312
16. Gus Holcomb, Honda CBR600RR, 1:18.329
17. Donny Kelley, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.467
18. Jason Smith, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.618
19. William Meyers, III, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.718
20. Ned Brown, 1:18.767
21. Randy Rega, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.786
22. Dave Rosno, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.791
23. Brian Baker, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:18.900
24. Hector Jimenez, 1:19.403
25. R. Lettich, 1:19.586
26. B. McLain, 1:19.961
27. J. Lilburn, 1:21.590
28. Calvin Martinez, 1:22.721
29. W. Stoltz, 1:23.233

*Demoted seven positions for being over horsepower.

Superbike:

1. Michael Barnes, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:15.766
2. Michael Himmelsbach, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:15.872
3. Robert Jensen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:15.988
4. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.117
5. Scott Greenwood, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:16.524
6. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.548
7. Jeff Wood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:16.921
8. Joe Spina, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:17.255
9. Des Conboy, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:17.874
10. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:17.992
11. Tim Bemisderfer, Honda CBR600RR, 1:18.018
12. J. Moss, 1:18.049
13. Donny Kelley, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.193
14. Dave Ebben, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:18.331
15. Jason Smith, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:18.383
16. Ryan Patterson, 1:18.566
17. Brian Surtees, Yamaha TZ250, 1:19.069
18. Brian Baker, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:19.099
19. N. Brown, 1:19.243
20. Dave Rosno, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:19.309
21. Hector Jimenez, 1:19.712
22. J. Lilburn, 1:21.062
23. Adam Vella, 1:22.977
24. S. Santiago, 1:23.909

Formula Sportbike:

1. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:15.597
2. Scott Greenwood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:17.580
3. Joe Ribeiro, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:18.900
4. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:19.535
5. Brian Baker, Suzuki, 1:19.911
6. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:20.318
7. Greg Harrison, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:19.028*
8. Dave Rosno, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:20.803
9. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:21.501
10. Matt Malterer, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:22.450
11. E. Bingham, 1:23.334
12. T. Bibeau, 1:23.628
13. S. Santiago, 1:24.980
14. J. Farrell, 1:26.071

*Demoted three positions for being over horsepower.

Thunderbike:

1. Dave Yaakov, Suzuki SV650, 1:20.518
2. Art Diaz, Buell XB9R, 1:20.576
3. Bryan Bemisderfer, Buell XB9R, 1:20.706
4. Edward Repkoe, Suzuki SV650, 1:21.096
5. Darren Danilowicz, Suzuki SV650, 1:21.217
6. Dan Bilansky, Buell XB9R, 1:21.635
7. Walt Sipp, Buell 1200, 1:21.995
8. Randy Rega, Buell XB12R, 1:22.015
9. Jeff Johnson, Buell XB9R, 1:22.508
10. Clint Brotz, Buell XB9R, 1:22.693
11. Nate Kern, BMW R1100S, 1:22.738
12. Jeff Harding, Buell XB9R, 1:22.862
13. Dave Estok, Buell XB9R, 1:23.213
14. Joseph Rozynski, Buell X1, 1:23.283
15. Joey Thomas, Suzuki SV650, 1:23.382
16. J. Gochenour, 1:23.897
17. Kurt Miller, Buell XB9R, 1:23.989
18. M. Evry, 1:24.909
19. Sam Rozynski, Buell X1, 1:25.978
20. C. Kalb, 1:26.805
21. D. Watson, 1:27.931
22. D. Riter, 1:28.034
23. J. Rosco, 1:28.906
24. A. Cheese, 1:29.147

USGPRU 250cc Grand Prix:

1. Brian Surtees, Yamaha TZ250, 1:19.014
2. Brian Kcraget, 1:19.864
3. Steve Wenner, 1:21.331
4. Brian Roach, Yamaha TZ250, 1:21.567
5. Sean McNew, Honda RS250, 1:21.936
6. Stewart Aitken-Cade, 1:23.752
7. Chad Wasileski, Honda RS125, 1:23.963
8. Josh Herrin, 1:23.967
9. Garrett Carter, Honda RS125, 1:24.048
10. John Klaras, 1:24.623
11. J.P. Bartlett, 1:25.260
12. D. Celenton, 1:25.557
13. M. Eschman, 1:27.106
14. A. Surber, 1:27.334
15. Chris Doktor, 1:27.658
16. Dennis Woods, 1:28.404
17. R. Henn, 1:30.247
18. Frank Pate, 1:38.909

USGPRU 125cc Grand Prix:

1. Brian Kcraget, Honda RS125, 1:20.509
2. Scott Moxey, Honda RS125, 1:21.633
3. Todd Puckett, Honda RS125, 1:22.714
4. Sean McNew, Honda RS125, 1:23.007
5. Steve Gorrell, Honda RS125, 1:23.289
6. Josh Herrin, Honda RS125, 1:23.633
7. Steve Wenner, Honda RS125, 1:23.974
8. John Hjelm, Honda RS125, 1:24.049
9. Stewart Aitken-Cade, Honda RS125, 1:24.309
10. John Klaras, Honda RS125, 1:24.536
11. Dale Greenwood, Honda RS125, 1:24.839
12. Chris Cosentino, Honda RS125, 1:24.892
13. James Lovejoy, Honda RS125, 1:25.059
14. B. Cole, 1:25.247
15. Michael Santelia, Honda RS125, 1:25.593
16. Brian Roach, Honda RS125, 1:25.745
17. M. Eschman, 1:26.357
18. Turu Illgen, Honda RS125, 1:26.278
19. D. Celeton, 1:26.645
20. Mark Johnson, Honda RS125, 1:27.126
21. Chris Doktor, Yamaha TZ125, 1:27.168
22. Dennis Woods, Honda RS125, 1:27.183
23. Chris Vest, Honda RS125, 1:27.214
24. Glen Pison, 1:27.788
25. F. Gilsenan, 1:28.389
26. Bill Clery, Honda RS125, 1:28.500
27. Scott Bourke, Honda RS125, 1:28.845
28. E. Tucker, 1:29.449
29. R. Henn, 1:29.514
30. P. Bangle, 1:30.293
31. Frank Pate, Honda RS125, 1:41.756
32. Garrett Carter, Honda RS125, 1:22.868*

*Qualifying times disqualified for being under the minimum weight limit.

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