Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey and John Jacobi completed a perfect 10-for-10 season of race wins Friday during the final round of the WERA National Challenge Series, a four-hour event, at Road Atlanta.
Vesrah Suzuki immediately took the race lead, lapped the field within its first riding stint, added to its lead through two red flags and won the race by three laps. The only hiccup in Vesrah Suzuki’s program at Road Atlanta was when a new, quick-change, rear hub carrier hung up during the team’s second scheduled pit stop. The reigning WERA National Endurance Champions replaced the entire rear axle assembly, losing only one lap, and rode on to another dominant win.
Vesrah Suzuki clinched its third consecutive Championship earlier in the season.
Army of Darkness (Mark Crozier/Sam Fleming) surprised themselves with a second-place overall finish on their Mediumweight Superbike class-winning Suzuki GSX-R600. AOD also won the MSB class Championship for the fifth consecutive season and finished second in the overall Championship standings.
Team Xtreme (Billy Ethridge/Robert Jensen/Mark Edwards) opened the door for AOD when it crashed out of second after the first race re-start. The team quickly made repairs to its Suzuki GSX-R1000 and re-joined the race to finish eighth overall and second in Heavyweight Superbike.
Third overall in the race, third in the overall Championship and the Mediumweight Superstock class and Championship wins came down to the last lap between Team Info Tech (Bradley Champion/Bobby Miosek/Bryan Hanson/Brad Hendry) and Team Velocity Racing (Reuben Frankenfield/Brian Stokes/Chris “Opie” Caylor).
Team Info Tech took a gamble and rode its Yamaha until its fuel tank was nearly dry to finish the race from the final red flag, while Suzuki-mounted Team Velocity made a pit stop in the final stint. In the end, Team Info Tech finished third overall in the race and won the Mediumweight Superstock race, by 22 seconds, and won the Mediumweight class Championship, by 2.3 points, over Team Velocity. Team Velocity was consoled with third in the WERA National Endurance overall Championship.
Jeff Wyler/Blue Moto’s (Mike Scruggs/Jeff Muskopf) run to the Heavyweight Superstock class win was helped by Vesrah Suzuki II, who crashed out of the class lead in the third hour of the race. With Takao Fukudo on his way to a local hospital with a suspected broken ankle, Vesrah Suzuki II made repairs, which allowed Futoshi Watanabe to get back in the race and finish third in class and 15th overall.
Twin Works Factory’s Jeff Tigert and Zoran Vujasinovic used a big-tank strategy on their new, 2003-model Suzuki SV650 to come from behind and take the Lightweight Superbike class win by four seconds over Rapid Transit. Deals Gap Racing (Joe Schoch/Corey Bowen/Chuck DiGregorio/Dale Burroughs) finished third in Lightweight Superbike at Road Atlanta, but it was good enough for the team to claim the class Championship over Tight Squeeze Racing II.
WERA National Endurance Series Round 10
4-Hour
Road Atlanta
Braselton, Georgia
October 31
RESULTS:
OVERALL: 1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey/John Jacobi), Suz GSX-R1000, HSB, 121 laps, 304.92 miles; 2. Army of Darkness (Mark Crozier/Sam Fleming), Suz GSX-R600, MSB, 118 laps; 3. Team Info Tech (Bradley Champion/Bobby Miosek/Bryan Hanson/Brad Hendry), Yam YZF-R6, MSS, 117 laps; 4. Team Velocity Racing (Reuben Frankenfield/Brian Stokes/Chris “Opie” Caylor), Suz GSX-R600, MSS, 117 laps; 5. Jeff Wyler/Blue Moto (Mike Scruggs.Jeff Muskopf), Suz GSX-R750, HSS, 117 laps; 6. Team Xtreme II (George Gentle/Mark Edwards), Yam YZF-R1, HSS, 116; 7. Neighbor of the Beast (Jeff Walker/Scott Fisher), Yam YZF-R6, MSS, 116 points; 8. Team Xtreme (Billy Ethridge/Robert Jensen), Suz GSX-R1000, HSB, 116 points; 9. B&S Endurance (Brian Dalke/Jeremy Dunn/Josh Smith-Moore/Fritz Kling/Scott Harwell) Suz GSX-R600, MSS, 115 laps; 10. Velocity Crew Racing (Paul Youngman/Kevin Perkins), Suz GSX-R600, MSB, 115 laps.
Heavyweight Superbike: 1. Vesrah Suzuki, 121 laps; 2. Team Xtreme, 116 laps; 3. Ellijay Racing, 93 laps.
Heavyweight Superstock: 1. Jeff Wyler/Blue Moto, 117 laps; 2. Team Xtreme II, 116 laps; 3. Vesrah Suzuki II, 111 laps.
Mediumweight Superbike: 1. Army of Darkness, 118 laps; 2. Velocity Crew Racing, 115 laps; 3. B&S 2, 112 laps.
Mediumweight Superstock: 1. Team Info Tech, 117 laps; 2. Team Velocity Racing, 117 laps; 3. Neighbor of the Beast, 116 laps
Lightweight Superbike: 1. Twin Works Factory, 110 laps; 2. Rapid Transit, 110 laps; 3. Deals Gap Racing, 109 laps
POINT STANDINGS (after 10 of 10 rounds, best 9 rounds count):
OVERALL: 1. Vesrah Suzuki, 1019.449 points; 2. Army of Darkness, 905.77 points; 3. Team Velocity, 768.18 points; 4. Team Info Tech/Valter Moto, 755.429 points; 5. Velocity Crew Racing, 745.395 points; 6. Team Extreme II, 718.385 points; 7. Ricochet Racing, 645.917 points; 8. Neighbor of the Beast, 631.423 points; 9. Team Chicago, 566.747 points; 10. B&S Racing, 505.432 points.
Heavyweight Superbike: 1. Vesrah Suzuki, 1019.449 points; 2. Team Xtreme, 612.02 points; 3. Northern Getaway, 595.386 points.
Heavyweight Superstock: 1. Team Xtreme II, 812.885 points; 2. Team HMR, 490.032 points; 3. Jeff Wyler/Blue Moto, 354.112 points.
Mediumweight Superbike: 1. Army of Darkness, 1010.77 points; 2. Velocity Crew Racing, 912.395 points; 3. Team Bear, 435.66 points.
Mediumweight Superstock: 1. Team Info Tech/Valter Moto, 903.429 points; 2. Team Velocity Racing, 901.18 points; 3. Ricochet Racing, 806.917 points.
Lightweight Superbike; 1. Deals Gap Racing, 827.155 points; 2. Tight Squeeze II, 818.751 points; 3. Tight Squeeze, 760.572 points.