ASRA National Roadracing Sprint Series
Round 3
Alton, VA – The weather this fine Sunday afternoon provided a very pleasant setting for Round 3 of the ASRA Sprint Series at VIRginia International Raceway. With overcast skies and 70 degrees a dry track met four grids of ASRA riders. Although the track looked a little patchy in spots, there were no complaints about traction. Saturday ASRA qualifying was plagued by rain producing some mixed grid positions as might be expected.
Mid-day, ASRA competition began with Moto3 and a nice performance from Ralph Staropoli on his Rossi-inspired livery aboard a Honda 250. Staropoli won with a commanding lead. His best lap a 1:43.380, about 4.5 seconds better than any competitor in the class. Ryne Snooks and Juan Gooch trailed respectively from Staropoli for the podium. Amateur Colin Brogan put in a nice showing by finishing his first ASRA Moto3 in fourth overall.
In ASRA SuperStock, Vasiliy Zhulin put on a show with his Metric Devil Moto Yamaha R1. Only one rider escaped his complete domination today; Greg Ludt showed the grit to stay close, if but 5.6-seconds down to the leader at the checkered flag. Dave Loikits trailed; he was a distant third. The real race in SuperStock went down between Antonio Rodriguez and Lloyd Bayley for fourth place. Rodriguez paced the mid-field early, Bayley getting by him on lap eight after a two-lap tussle sent Rodriguez wide at turn four. But persistence can pay off. Despite Rodriguez’s miscue, he managed to just clip Bayley at the checkered flag. Jay Gray took the top amateur slot in SuperStock ahead of Jason Beauchamp and Bryan Archer.
Ryan Jones used a KTM 790 Duke to knock down the top spot in ThunderBike over Ralph Staropoli aboard his trusty, but tiny Honda 250. Jones’ margin of victory was 23-seconds. Austin Miller was third.
Finally, in ASRA SportBike Ryan Jones got the holeshot leading Arnold Hastings, Arthur Azuuyan, Justin Jones and Arthur Aznavuryan down to turn one. By the end of the opening lap, Greg Melka had worked his way up to second place with Hastings, Jones and Azuuyan trailing. On lap five Aznavuryan was past Hastings to move into fourth. On the final lap Justin Jones pushed Hastings out of the top five. At the checkered flag, Jones was out to a 12-second lead on Melka, who lead from Azuuyan by 24 seconds. Ronald Shoffner took the Amateur Sportbike with Colin Brogan just 3-seconds in arears.
ASRA and CCS motorcycle road racing are sanctioned and operated by the American Sportbike Racing Association of Fort Worth, Texas. For more information about riding with the series’ that train more riders for professional roadracing careers go to our websites at www.ccsracing.us and www.ccsracing.us.