Jensen, Vesrah Suzuki Big Winners During WERA National at Talladega

OXFORD, Ala. Talladega Gran Prix Raceway hosted round two of the WERA National Series last weekend, where Vesrah Suzuki dominated in endurance and Robert Jensen was the only expert to win more than one sprint race.

Saturday turned out to be a sunny, warm day for the WERA/Bridgestone National Endurance Series four-hour race, despite heavy storms the night before that resulted in tornadoes. Racers who camped at the track found themselves taking shelter in the control tower at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, but the raceway made it through unscathed.

Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey, Lee Acree and John Jacobi led nearly the entire race, finishing four laps ahead of the field and taking the Heavyweight Superbike class win on a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Ben Thompson, Ben Walters and Brett Champagne gave Red Star the Mediumweight Superbike class win and second overall on a Yamaha YZF-R6. They were followed by Heavyweight Superstock winners Team Velocity Racing, with Chuck Ivey, Reuben Frankenfield and Andrew Nelson on a Yamaha YZF-R1.

TVRII finished fourth overall and just 21 seconds behind their sister team, giving Steven Breckenridge and James Stroud the Mediumweight Superstock win.

Neighbor of the Beast made their way to the top of the Lightweight Superbike podium with Melissa Berkoff, Bruce Stanford and Scott Fisher on a Suzuki SV650. The team finished 11th overall.

In addition to the regular endurance teams, Team UK made their WERA endurance debut with riders Andrew Notman and Barry Teasdale. Notman rode for the Phase One World Endurance team, and helped them take the championship in 2003. He and Teasdale rode to a finish of third in Heavyweight Superstock on a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Sunday’s WERA/Michelin National Challenge Series 12-lap sprint races were just as competitive as round one at Jennings GP, and Butler Machinery’s Robert Jensen was the only expert who got to take home more than one winner’s trophy. Jensen won both Open Superstock and 600 Superstock, winning the latter by just 0.069-second.

Vesrah Suzuki’s Lee Acree won 750 Superstock after a race-long battle with Jensen, who crashed on the final lap. Ben Thompson led Formula 1 from start to finish, holding off a challenge from Acree.

Garrett Carter took the 600 Superbike lead late in the race and held on for victory, while Team Embry’s Keith Marshall won 750 Superbike by nearly six seconds.

Tray Batey, another Vesrah rider, was at the top of his game in Heavyweight Twins Superstock with a dominant victory. Brian Suffridge was equally impressive with a solid win in Lightweight Twins Superstock, while Jeff Walker left the field behind in Formula 2.

In the Novice classes, Seth Starnes continued to lead the way with an impressive four wins. Starnes was the first to cross the finish line in Open, 600 and 750 Superstock, as well as 600 Superbike.

Robert Wilkey held Starnes off to win 750 Superbike. Scott Morris was virtually unchallenged for the Heavyweight Twins Superstock win, as was Blake Dircks in Lightweight Twins Superstock. Dircks also won Formula 2.

More information about WERA, including a link to complete race results, can be found online at www.WERA.com.

More, from a press release issued by Wizard Racing:

Wizard Racing scores another podium finish at Talladega, WERA National Endurance Round 2.

Wizard Racing’s Heavyweight Superbike finished 2nd in class and 8th overall at Talladega to match their round 1 success. With rider Timmy Ranaldi not able to make the trip and Skip Salenius injured at Jennings GP, It left Dave Girardin doing most of the rider duties with team owner/captain Jim McConnell filling in to give Dave a needed break. Girardin road the first hour and a half, putting the bike in position for another podium. McConnell took over the Proline Race prepped GSXR 1000 to give Dave a much need rest. While running consistent lap time he managed to get together with another rider, breaking off part of the clutch lever and bending the shifter to the peg. Managing to get the bike in 3rd gear to finish his stint the bike was handed back to Giradin to make a run to the finish. McConnell off the bikes as rider, and right to pit help to change the rear tire, and the crew attempted to straighten the shifter, only to have it break. Dave re-entered the race in 5th place on the same lap as the 2nd through 5th. Dave caught and passed them to bring the bike home in 2nd place behind Vesrah.

The Middleweight Superbike team Wizard Racing II. Ridden by Mike Daniels, Ed Sullivan and John Fraschilla finish 4th in class. The middleweight team was headed for another podium when the motor on the team GSXR 600 quit pulling above 10,000 rpm. Mike Daniels continued to ride the ill running bike to nurse it home in 4th, forced to give up 3rd right at the end of the race.

The all female Lightweight Superbike team Wizard Racing III, had a tough day, crashing the team SV650 two times in turn one. A lot of credit goes out to the Sarah Irvin, Cathy White and Jen Garner for getting back up and finishing the race.

The Middleweight Superstock Team Twisted Wizard, with rider Aaron Aaronson onboard set out turning fast laps to make a run at the front of the pack. Shawn Hill took over the controls only to go down in turn one. With the bike repaired and back out on track they suffered a mechanical and DNF.

I know we are looking forward to Round 3 at Autobahn Country Club, Joliet, IL, Wizard Racing II knows they belong on the podium and are ready to storm to the front. The team 600 is on its way to Vinnie at Pro-Line Race Prep to have the motor sorted out. The riders are more than ready, they know they have had one taken away from them. Wizard racing III, these ladies want a podium so bad, they WILL be there. Twisted Wizard our satellite team just needs a bit of luck to go their way, with tire problems at Jennings, making a switch to Dunlop with the rest of the team only to have the bike quit on them in the last hour. Wizard Racing hopes to have Timmy or Skip back onboard the 1000. “Having the pit help ride is not always a good thing”.

More, from a press release issued by ARNCHU Racing:

ARNCHU Racing finishes 2nd in Heavyweight Superstock Endurance Class.

This past weekend at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway, ARNCHU Racing’s Nathan Dressman, Randy Sherman and Troy Meikle rode up through the field to finish second in class aboard their Pirelli-shod 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Dressman’s quick start brought him to the back of the first wave by turn 3 and into 7th by the first pitstop, “The bike is incredible and makes short work of traffic. We’ve got some work to do in the pitstop department, but we came away this weekend with many lessons learned.”

After Team 5150 crashed and retired, ARNCHU Racing only needed to maintain an overall position, which Sherman and Meikle accomplished with relative ease. Dressman then remounted for a final stint to the finish.

The team’s quick riding was offset by pitstops that consumed time. Sherman said, “Well, we all rode fast and its great to finish on the class podium. We know the necessary adjustments to stand on the overall podium, so we’re really focused on that.”

The entire ARNCHU Racing crew will be at Round 3 of the WERA National Endurance Series at Autobahn Country Club on May 12-14.

More, from a press release issued by Pirelli:

At the “little” Talladega Grand Prix track in Alabama, Pirelli took the WERA National Endurance overall win with Team Vesrah Suzuki. Round 2 of the series saw a full field of teams competing in five classes in the four-hour WERA national event.

Team Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey, John Jacobi, and Lee Acree were joined on the overall podium by Team Velocity Racing’s Chuck Ivey and Reuben Frankenfield, who brought their Yamaha R1 home in third-place overall.

With the overall win, Team Vesrah Suzuki also claimed the Heavyweight Superbike class win, while Team Velocity took the class win in Heavyweight Superstock with Team TVR II winning Mediumweight Superstock and taking fourth overall, giving Pirelli two spots on the podium, three of the top four spots, and three wins in the series five classes.

In the hotly contested WERA National Challenge Series, sprint wins and podiums went to Pirelli riders in Heavyweight Twins Expert with Tray Batey of Team Vesrah Suzuki

Taking the top prize, 750 Superstock Expert with Lee Acree of Team Vesrah Suzuki winning, joined in second by teammate Mark Junge and third by Daniel Parkerson of Dalke Motorsports, giving Pirelli a sweep of the podium. The Lightweight Twins Expert was won by Pirelli rider Brian Suffridge, with Jeff Walker and Steve Green taking second and third, again giving Pirelli a podium sweep.