Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
By Beth Wyse
Tray Batey, John Jacobi and Mark Junge won a 4-hour WERA National Endurance Series race Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, riding the Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a three lap margin of victory, in spite of sustaining broken front fork internals due to the harsh transitions between the speedway oval and the infield road course.
The Army of Darkness (AOD) group of teams, including AOD, Neighbor of the Beast (NOTB) and Dixie Mafia, each won in their respective classes.
In spite of losing fifth gear, Scott Brown and Ben Walters rode the AOD Suzuki GSX-R600 to the Mediumweight Superbike win. They earned second overall after FDK crashed out of the position late in the race.
Melissa Berkoff, Scott Fisher and Chris Pyles put the NOTB Yamaha YZF-R6 at the front of the Mediumweight Superstock class, finishing eighth overall.
Dixie Mafia’s Bruce Stanford, Bo Morgan and Derek Kayes won in the Lightweight Superbike class on a Suzuki SV650, finishing seventh overall. Bells Suzuki II had the class lead, and was second overall at one point, when the engine of its SV650 blew up with just eight minutes remaining in the race.
Billy Ethridge, Mark Edwards and Mark Crozier put the Team Xtreme/Maxxis Suzuki GSX-R1000 on the top of the Heavyweight Superstock podium, finishing fifth overall.
There were three red flags during the race.
At a rider’s meeting before the start of practice on race day, riders were asked to vote on whether they wanted to keep using part of the NASCAR speedway oval as the front straight or to change to using pit lane as the front straight, using one side for pit stops and the other for the racing surface. Nearly all of the riders present voted to keep running on the banked oval rather than having only a few practice sessions to learn a new configuration.
RESULTS:
1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey/Mark Junge/John Jacobi), Heavyweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R1000, 159 laps
2. Army of Darkness (Scott Brown/Ben Walters), Mediumweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R600, 156 laps
3. FDK (Matt Lynn/Ryan Elleby), Mediumweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R600, 154 laps
4. Canton Racing I (Dale Davenport/David Davis/Sean Dillon/Rob Palmieri), Heavyweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R1000, 154 laps
5. Team Xtreme/Maxxis (Billy Ethridge/Mark Edwards/Mark Crozier), Heavyweight Superstock, Suz GSX-R1000, 154 laps
6. Canton Racing II (Sean Dillon/Rob Palmieri), Mediumweight Superbike, Yam YZF-R6, 154 laps
7. Dixie Mafia (Bruce Stanford/Bo Morgan/Derek Keyes), Lightweight Superbike, Suz SV650, 152 laps
8. Neighbor of the Beast (Melissa Berkoff/Scott Fisher/Chris Pyles), Mediumweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 152 laps
9. B&S Roadracing (Brian Dalke/Josh Smith-Moore), Mediumweight Superstock, Suz GSX-R600, 152 laps
10. Rapid Transit (Michael Killingsworth/Robert M. Hutcherson), Lightweight Superbike, Suz SV650, 151 laps