Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Bruce Wilkins

After what many described as an overnight monsoon, racing action returned to high gear for the second day of the Formula USA/CCS National at Virginia International Raceway, Saturday.

Qualifying for Sunday’s F-USA National races saw Jeff Wood take pole in Sportbike ahead of Rob Jensen and Brian Stokes while Jensen was fastest in Superbike from Wood and Chris Ulrich.

Stokes qualified on pole for Formula Sportbike, ahead of Scott Harwell and Scott Carpenter. Tripp Nobles took pole in Thunderbike, and Chuck Sorensen was fastest in USGPRU 250cc Grand Prix qualifying on his Stargel Racing Aprilia RSV250. Brian Kcraget took the USGPRU 125cc Grand Prix pole ahead of California young gun Josh Herrin.

Wood, Stokes, Yaakov, and Kcraget recorded CCS race wins, after an intermittent sprinkling of rain ended around 11:00 a.m. As the day progressed, the concerns about having to suddenly mount rain tires dissipated and the green track soon became wicked fast for most classes.

The closest action of the day came in the Expert Heavyweight Supersport race with Stokes and his Suzuki holding off Yamaha pilot Jenson at the finish line, winning by less than a bikelength or officially, with an 0.048-second gap. Arclight Suzuki’s Harwell came in third.

Stokes started the race on tires that already had recorded 10 laps and by mid-race, “my tires started sliding pretty good,” Stokes pointed out. “On the last two laps in Turn 1 and going underneath the bridge I just blocked inside and ran it really deep. I knew either Harwell or Jensen was coming.”

Jensen described a scenario where he should have waited just a little sooner before making his move through the hog pen and down the front stretch.

“I think if I had backed off just a little bit and got a better run at him, I might have been able to get him by the line,” Jensen said.

A surprise of the day was the spirited riding of Nate Kern on his BMW, finishing second in the Expert Lightweight SuperSport race behind Yaakov on a SV650 Suzuki. Just back from racing the Boxer Cup Series in Europe and headed back for two races there in July, Kern powered his 500-pound bike around VIR’s technical North Course so smoothly that many of the SV naysayers at the beginning of the race were shaking their heads in astonishment.

“Today from the start, I was like Row 5 and 20th position, but it didn’t bother me at all,” reflected Kern. “What I’ve learned in Europe is when you go into Turn 1 at the start of a race, it’s like lap number 10. You’ve got to get it from the get-go.” Kern was 4th by Turn 1 at the start and methodically worked his way up to second by race’s end.

In what has become a VIR tradition in GP125 action, a young racer traveled from afar to the rolling hills of Southside Virginia to do battle with GP125 ace Kcraget of nearby Danville. Last year it was Ryan Andrews of Texas and the year before it was Chris Peris of Canada. This year, the fast upstart is 14-year-old Josh Herrin of Glendale, California.

Herrin took the lead of the 125 Grand Prix race in Turn 1 of the first lap, then diced with Kcraget until the third turn of the second lap when Kcraget took over the lead for good. Coming down the roller-coaster, Herrin missed a gear, which created a wide gap to Kcraget. “After that I let him go,” Herrin said. “I didn’t want to try hard to get back to him because it wasn’t the main race yet.”

That race will be the USGPRU 125cc Grand Prix National that will be held tomorrow.

Anthony Dowless of Pineville, North Carolina won the Amateur Heavyweight SuperSport race, while Kenny Rodriguez of Summerville, South Carolina won the Amateur Middleweight SuperSport Superbike races.

F-USA Sportbike Qualifying
1. Jeff Wood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:29.951
2. Rob Jensen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.051
3. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.437
4. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.624
5. Mike Himmelsbach, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.647
6. Simon Turner, 1:31.228
7. Des Conboy, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.234
8. David Weber, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.600
9. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.155
10. Trey Yonce, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.600

F-USA Superbike Qualifying
1. Rob Jensen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.027
2. Jeff Wood, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.905
3. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.931
4. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSx-R600, 1:31.108
5. Mike Himmelsbach, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.112
6. David Weber, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.349
7. Chuck Sorensen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.355
8. Des Conboy, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:31.406
9. Simon Turner, 1:31.584
10. Joe Spina, Suzuki GSX-R600 1:31.927

F-USA Formula Sportbike Qualifying
1. Brian Stokes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.586
2. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.199
3. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.854
4. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.967
5. Dave Ebben, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.934
6. John McGarity, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.032
7. Brian Baker, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.273
8. Rob Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.936*
9. Tripp Nobles, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.526
10. Joe Ribeiro, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:34.698

F-USA Thunderbike Qualifying
1. Tripp Nobles, Buell XB9R, 1:34.491
2. Dave Yaakov, Suzuki SV650, 1:34.870
3. Derek Keyes, Suzuki SV650, 1:35.077
4. Bryan Bemisderfer, Buell XB9R, 1:35.788
5. Jeff Johnson, Buell XB9R, 1:35.997
6. Dave Estok, Buell XB9R, 1:36.169
7. Nate Kern, BMW R1000S, 1:36.681
8. Dan Bilansky, Buell XB9R, 1:36.776
9. Darren Danilowicz, Suzuki SV650, 1:36.816
10. Josh Guyer, Buell, 1:36.894

USGPRU 250cc Qualifying
1. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia RSV250, 1:31.152
2. Josh Herrin, Honda RS125, 1:36.003
3. Sean Wray, Yamaha TZ250, 1:36.040
4. Steve Wenner, Honda RS125, 1:37.023
5. Brian Kcraget, Honda RS125, 1:37.757
6. Bruce Lind, Yamaha TZ250, 1:38.054
7. Sean McNew, Honda RS250, 1:38.105
8. Mark Stiles, Yamaha TZ250, 1:38.255
9. P. Dowd, 1:39.639
10. B. Bruner, 1:39.655

USGPRU 125cc Qualifying
1. Brian Kcraget, Honda RS125, 1:34.688
2. Josh Herrin, Honda RS125, 1:35.357
3. Steve Wenner, Honda RS125, 1:37.335
4. Todd Puckett, Honda RS125, 1:37.375
5. John Hjelm, Honda RS125, 1:38.074