Copyright 2001 Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Beth Wyse

Team Pennzoil’s Chris “Opie” Caylor and Jamie Lane won the first of two WERA/GMD Computrack Endurance races at Virginia International Raceway Saturday. Loudoun Motorsports finished second overall and first in the Heavyweight Superstock class, followed by Vesrah Suzuki in third. Both Pennzoil and Vesrah compete in the Heavyweight Superbike class.

The field consisted of 26 teams.

Team Pennzoil skipped the podium ceremonies following the race, and said later that the team had to work on the bike.

At the green flag, Tray Batey on the Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R1000 quickly pulled ahead of Caylor on the Team Pennzoil Suzuki GSX-R750. But after an-hour-and-a-half of building a runaway lead, Vesrah saw the red flag came out for fluid on the track.

At the race restart, Batey again built a lead of over one lap. But Glen Szarek crashed during his stint on the bike, forcing him into the pits for repairs and dropping Vesrah Suzuki down to 8th overall. Team Pennzoil jumped into the lead, and lost it only briefly to Loudoun Motorsports after a round of pit stops.

Team Chaos used a Suzuki GSX-R600 to take first in the Middleweight Supersport class, at fourth overall. Triad Racing won in the Mediumweight Superbike class at sixth place overall.

Speedwerks Racing took first place in Lightweight Superbike on a Suzuki SV650.


Overall Results
1. Team Pennzoil, Suzuki GSX-R750, Heavyweight Superbike, 120 laps
2. Loudoun Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Heavyweight Superstock, 119 laps
3. Vesrah Suzuki, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Heavyweight Superbike, 118 laps
4. Team Chaos, Suzuki GSX-R600, Mediumweight Superstock, 118 laps
5. Thermosman Suspension (formerly Clinton Cycles), Yamaha R6, Mediumweight Superstock, 118 laps
6. Triad Racing, Suzuki GSX-R 600, Mediumweight Superbike, 117 lap
7. Army of Darkness, Suzuki GSX-R600, Mediumweight Superbike, 117 laps
8. J&J Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R750, Heavyweight Superstock, 114 laps
9. Leaning Lizards, Kawasaki ZX-6R, Mediumweight Superbike, 114 laps
10. XLR Racing, Suzuki GSX-R750, Heavyweight Superstock, 114 laps

Overall points after this morning’s race, with throw-aways taken out:
Vesrah, 619.305 points
AOD, 550.12 points
Pennzoil, 592.975 points
Loudoun, 529.775 points

A second endurance race is scheduled for this afternoon at VIR, following additional practice sessions.