Corrected Post: Two More Wins For Cummings At CCS VIR

Corrected Post: Two More Wins For Cummings At CCS VIR

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Bruce Wilkins

Alton, VA — Easter Sunday saw a second day of rising young gun Nicky Cummings recording convincing wins and building momentum early in his 2004 road racing season. Adding two wins today to his two wins on Saturday, Cummings and his CBR600RR Honda capped a remarkable early-season weekend in the CCS Southeast/Mid-Atlantic event at VIRginia International Raceway.

Cummings, of Mt. Morris, Michigan, started 21st in the Expert Middleweight Superbike race, yet by the end of the first lap had already worked his way up to fifth. By the second lap he was within a few bikelengths of race leader Trey Younce of Charleston, South Carolina. On the fourth lap, Cummings passed Younce going down the front stretch and held on to a solid lead for the remainder of the race. Cummings’ fastest lap of the race was a 1:31.7.

Younce, on a YZF-R6 Yamaha, finished second, but noticed rapidly-deteriorating transmission problems when he came into the paddock. That ended his day and the possibility of a repeat of the day before when Cummings and Younce battled virtually the entire afternoon.

Finishing third in the Expert Middleweight Superbike race was Greg Ludt, a U.S. Marine Staff Sergeant from the Cherry Point Marine Air Station, in his first-ever podium finish as an Expert. Former professional skateboarding star Ned “Peanut” Brown finished fourth. Both Ludt and Brown piloted YZF-R6 Yamahas.

In the Expert Speedscreen Unlimited GP race, Cummings again started from far back on the grid. Despite racing against several riders on 1000cc and 750cc bikes, Cummings took only a couple of laps to pull up close to race leader Matt Elliott on a GSX-R1000 Suzuki.

During the intense see-saw battle, Cummings dominated on the technical side of the course on the 600, while Elliott would regain the lead on the front stretch with the 1000. On the final lap, as the two bikes headed side-by-side into Turn 1, they swapped paint hard and Cummings went into the grass. He remained upright, managed to quickly return to the track, and finished only several seconds behind Elliott. Shannon Huffman came in third on a GSX-R750 Suzuki.

While Elliott apologized to Cummings in the post-race interview over the track public address system, there apparently was no apology needed as Cummings good-naturedly took the incident as just “some hard-racing” and let it go at that. “It was a battle for the lead…that’s all, and I just went off in the grass… things like that happen,” Cummings said. “I think we were just both having a good time out there.”

While Cummings had close racing with Younce in the Middleweight Superbike race and Elliott in the Speedscreen Unlimited GP race, the Expert Middleweight SuperSport race was a different matter entirely. Cummings took very little time to work his way not only to the front, but to distance himself away from the field, taking the checkered flag while the rest of the podium finishers where still in the Hogpen turn before the beginning of the front stretch.

Jason Moss of Greensboro, North Carolina finished second on a YZF-R600 Yamaha, while Ludt earned his second podium finish of the day on his Yamaha.

Tom Cummings, father of Nicky Cummings and former holder of a National Number in AMA dirt track, was satisfied with the weekend. “I think he’s got up to speed, where we were last year, so we’re happy,” Cummings said. Keeping his son’s bike fast and together was mechanic Robert Zerbisias. The team will return to VIR for both the WERA Cycle Jam in May and the Formula USA event in June, the elder Cummings said.

In other races, Dan Burnette won the Amateur Middleweight Superbike race on a Suzuki, Tommy Eckefeldt won the Expert SuperTwins race on a Ducati; and William Baragona won the Amateur SuperTwins event on a Suzuki.

Joe Ribeiro won the Expert Heavyweight Superbike race on a Suzuki. Burnette recorded his second and third wins of the day in the Amateur Heavyweight Superbike and the Amateur Speedscreen Umlimited GP races.

Darren Danilowicz won the Expert Lightweight Grand Prix event on a SV650 Suzuki with Michael Santelia finishing second on a RS125 Honda. Meanwhile, Nicholas Colley won the Amateur Lightweight Grand Prix race on a Yamaha, with Niels Grove finishing second on a Suzuki.

The Amateur Middleweight SuperSport event was won by Kenny Rodriguez on a Honda; Danilowicz collected his second victory of the day in the Expert Lightweight Superbike race; and Baragona won the Amateur Lightweight Superbike race.

Reet Das won the 125 Grand Prix event on a Honda with Steve Scott finishing second on a Yamaha. Don Poetzsch won the Expert Ultra Light Superbike event on a MZ, while James Hillis won the Amateur Ultra Light Superbike class on an Aprilia.



More, from a press release issued by OMS Sports:

Nick Cummings Takes Four At Virginia International Raceway

Defending Formula USA Grand National Champion rebounds from a slow start at Daytona to dominate CCS expert race action at VIR – winning four classes on one bike, the Honda CBR600RR

ALTON, Va., (April 12, 2004) – Teenage flyer Nick Cummings (Mt. Morris, Mich.) survived a gnarly get off at Virginia International Raceway this past weekend to capture race wins in four separate CCS expert classes (GTO, Middleweight GP, Middleweight Supersport and Middleweight Superbike) – all on one bike, the versatile Honda CBR600RR.

“This year I was more focused, that’s for sure,” said Cummings, who raced twice at VIR last year without getting on the box. “And we tried a bunch of new things on the bike and we seemed to come up with a pretty good combination. I really just needed the seat time and it turned out to become great racing.”

Coming from behind in two of his races, Cummings did suffer a fairly spectacular accident as well. “Yeah, I went down, did a bunch of flips and my hand ended up being pretty swollen all weekend,” said Cummings. “But I had it X-rayed today and nothing’s broken. The doctor said I probably just pulled a muscle, so I’ll for sure be ready to go at the next Formula USA race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. (April 23-25).”

In his last Formula USA race at Daytona, Cummings scored two top 15 finishes in the superbike class (13th) and sportbike class (12th). He’s amped to be racing Road America, a track that’s he’s only raced on one other occasion.

“I raced 125s at Road America a while ago,” said Cummings. “All I can remember was that it was raining, I was leading, then I crashed. So I’m definitely looking forward to putting the Honda CBR600RR up on the box there. The track’s got great flow, so we’ll see how the weekend pans out. But I plan on putting some respectable times up the first day we’re there.”


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