Array ( [0] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 215691 [post_author] => 21 [post_date] => 2023-07-18 09:29:53 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-07-18 16:29:53 [post_content] => Byers, CO – The fourth race of the 2023 MRA Championship Series took place at High Plains Raceway over the weekend of July 15-16th on their 2.55-mile Full Course configuration. This was a special weekend as the MRA conducted their 14th Annual 4-hour endurance race on Saturday. The event saw many out-of-town racers drive hundreds of miles to try and steal victories and capture the prize money that was up for grabs. The 4-hour endurance race was unfortunately cut short by 50 minutes as a storm brought lightning and hail into the area. Team Racing for Ray Ray took the victory in the Pony Express category (multiple riders, multiple bikes) with 99 laps completed, team Mother Lovers won the True Endurance category (multiple riders, one bike) with 96 laps, and team Legion’s Lance won the Titanium Butt category (one rider, one bike) with 86 laps. The Race of the Rockies (RoR) Qualifying on Sunday was conducted under excellent conditions as temperatures were around 75 degrees for most of the morning. Ray Thornton claimed pole position with a best time of (1:47.58) followed by Anthony Norton (1:47.792) and Mike Applegate (1:48.428). The start of RoR saw Applegate get the holeshot going into Turn One, followed by Brad Hendry and Norton. Applegate was looking strong as he got an excellent drive down the backstraight, however somewhere between Turns Five and 10 he made a mistake and dropped back to sixth position. Hendry led the pack after lap two and was followed closely by Norton and Thornton. By lap six Hendry had opened a three-second lead on the trailing pair, and it looked as if he had the pace to break away. By lap 11 Thornton had passed Norton and was slowly chipping away at Hendry’s lead, dropping the gap to less than half a second. Thornton was hot on Hendry’s tail by lap 13 and was piling on the pressure. With only a few corners left in the race, Hendry made a mistake and unfortunately crashed out of the lead giving Thornton his fourth consecutive RoR win of the season. Rounding out the podium was Norton in second and Applegate in third. In Race of the Rockies GTU, Jeremiah Downing took the lead from the start and never looked back as he consistently clicked off 1:49’s on his 600. For the entirety of the race he was followed by John Borst, who was running some impressive lap times but couldn’t quite match the blistering pace of Downing. Justin Behmer carved his way through the pack and ended up in third place. Behmer had the pace to secure a second-place victory but ran out of laps before he got the chance to put a move on Borst. Next up, the MRA heads to Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, CO for Round 5 on July 29-30 for a full weekend of racing including the SuperStreet event on Saturday afternoon. SuperStreet gives street riders the opportunity to experience motorcycle road racing with minimal cost and preparation. See https://www.mra-racing.org/superstreet/superstreet-information for details. The MRA welcomes racers from other clubs across the nation. If you’re a currently licensed racer, we have several reciprocity agreements in place along with very competitive pricing on license & entries to our 20 classes. Click here for MRA membership & entry information. The Motorcycle Roadracing Association is dedicated to promoting safe and competitive motorcycle road racing events for enthusiasts in Colorado and the surrounding area. For more information go to http://www.mra-racing.org/.   [pdf-embedder url="https://www.roadracingworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/RRW-2023-MRA-Final-Results-Round-4.pdf" title="RRW 2023 MRA Final Results Round 4"] [post_title] => MRA: Thornton, Downing Wins Premier Classes At Round Four (Updated) [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => mra-thornton-downing-wins-premier-classes-at-round-four [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-07-19 08:03:54 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-07-19 15:03:54 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.roadracingworld.com/?p=215691 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 214609 [post_author] => 21 [post_date] => 2023-06-27 13:02:21 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-06-27 20:02:21 [post_content] => Byers, CO – The third race of the 2023 MRA Championship Series took place at High Plains Raceway over the weekend of June 24-25th. For the first and only time this season, racers used the two-mile West Course configuration. The Race of the Rockies (RoR) Qualifying on Sunday was conducted under clear blue skies, which was a nice change from the previous round which saw mostly damp conditions. Ray Thornton claimed pole position with a best time of 1:23.75 followed by Mike Applegate (1:24.37) and James Wilkerson (1:25.15). The Start of RoR saw Wilkerson get the holeshot going into turn one, Applegate was in close pursuit followed by Thornton and Brad Hendry. On the exit of Turn Five, a rider further back in the field suffered a highside, and unfortunately their bike was on the racing surface, which brought out a red flag on lap one. The second start of the race saw Wilkerson once again get an incredible start and secure the lead going into Turn One. Applegate was close behind and lined up his move nicely on the exit of Turn Three to take the lead going down the back straight. Applegate, Wilkerson, Hendry, and Thornton started to break away from the rest of the field as they all were clicking on times in the 1:25’s. At the halfway point, Hendry made his way through the pack and executed an excellent pass to take the lead from Applegate. However, on lap 10, Applegate fired back and reclaimed the lead from Hendry. Thornton was biding his time and on lap 12 he decided it was time to strike. Thornton seized his opportunity, took the lead, and stayed out front for the final two laps, claiming his third RoR GTO victory of the season. Applegate managed to maintain his second place, while Hendry took third, rounding off a tense and exciting race. In Race of the Rockies (RoR) GTU, Ken Yee took the lead and was followed closely by Jeremiah Downing and Salvatore Rizzo. Downing was putting up a good fight and was doing his best to take the lead and prevent a third successive victory from Yee. Rizzo was maintaining his third position by throwing down some impressive lap times ensuring a sizable gap to fourth place. Downing was unable to pass Yee and maintained his second position until the final lap of the race when he ran off in Turn Eight. This moved Rizzo up to second position and Tyrel Diekmann to third. Diekmann fought hard with Dennis Stowers and just narrowly beat him across the finish line by three hundredths of a second. Yee was able to claim his third straight RoR GTU win of the season, followed by Rizzo in second, and Diekmann in third. Next up, the MRA returns to High Plains Raceway in Byers, CO for Round 4 on July 15-16. The highly anticipated 4-hour endurance race will take place this weekend running on the full course configuration. There will be no Superstreet this weekend due to the endurance race. See https://www.mra-racing.org/racers/come-race-with-us/ for details.   [pdf-embedder url="https://www.roadracingworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/RRW-2023-MRA-Final-Results-Round-3.pdf" title="RRW 2023 MRA Final Results Round 3"] [post_title] => MRA: Thornton, Yee Extend Championship Leads At High Plains Raceway [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => mra-thornton-yee-extend-championship-leads-at-high-plains-raceway [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-06-27 13:02:21 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-06-27 20:02:21 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.roadracingworld.com/?p=214609 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 213675 [post_author] => 21 [post_date] => 2023-06-13 09:29:35 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-06-13 16:29:35 [post_content] => Rayburn & Chewning Elected to Race Director & Rider Rep. Press and Communications

Denver, CO - The Motorcycle Roadracing Association (MRA) held a special election on July 2^nd to fill two vacant board positions and help ensure a successful 50^th Anniversary Season. Former Race Director John McKown resigned just before the start of the season, and Tim David, former Rider Representative for Press and Communications, stepped down right after the first round so he could focus on ensuring the success of the MRA selling Dunlop tires trackside for 2023.

Katie Rayburn, with over 10 years experience on the MRA Safety Crew, was the only candidate for Race Director, and Codey Chewning, who started racing with the MRA in 2019 was the only candidate for the Rider Rep. position. Despite both candidates running unopposed, the MRA decided to run the election to completion, and approximately one-third of the membership voted via secure electronic ballot. The positions were filled just in time for the MRA’s second race event of the season

The MRA would like to thank High Plains Raceway (HPR) for their assistance with corner staffing during the club’s first race event of the season, May 6-5, at HPR, helping ensure a successful event while Rayburn was acting Race Director.

The Motorcycle Roadracing Association is dedicated to promoting safe and competitive motorcycle road racing events for enthusiasts in Colorado and the surrounding area. For more information go to http://www.mra-racing.org/.

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Fountain, CO – The second round of the 2023 MRA Championship Series took place at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, CO over the weekend of June 3-4. PPIR is the shortest track on the MRA calendar with the infield course being only 1.3 miles long.   The oval banking and dropping onto the apron area of the track makes for some very exciting racing with Turn One being one of the highest speed corners of the Colorado series.

The weather for the weekend was very unpredictable as the area had rain showers throughout the day Saturday and most of the morning on Sunday. Despite the weather challenges, all the races throughout the weekend ran without a hitch. Race of The Rockies (RoR) qualifying on Sunday morning was conducted on a partially damp track which caused some racers to use their rain tires while others gambled on slicks. Unfortunately, the track was too damp for the racers using slicks to take full advantage of the sticky rubber. Ken Yee took pole position on his Kawasaki ZX-6R running on intermediate rain tires with a time of 1:03.8 followed by Alex Cusick (1:04.22) and David Lambert (1:04.29).

The start of RoR GTO race saw Brad Hendry get an incredible start coming from 14^th to take the lead by the end of lap one. By lap two the number one plate holder Mike Applegate had made up eight positions and was sitting in third behind James Wilkerson. Applegate, Wilkerson, and Lambert were hot on the tail of Hendry, but Hendry managed to hold them of until lap six when Applegate made an impressive pass to take the lead. Lambert had the best pace of the group, clicking off mid to high 57’s and by lap 10 he overtook Applegate for the lead. Once out in front he put his head down and started to break free from the rest of the field. Lambert was looking like he was going repeat his victory from here last year but unfortunately a mechanical issue on lap 16 caused him to retire from the race. By this point with only two laps remaining, the leading trio was Applegate, Ray Thornton, and Wilkerson.  Thornton was looking for any opportunity to strike and he finally made his move on the final lap of the race to take the lead and secure the victory. Applegate managed to maintain his second place, while Wilkerson took third, rounding off a tense and exciting race.

In Race of the Rockies GTU, Yee took the lead and proceeded to mix it up with the liter bikes for first few laps of the race. Meanwhile, trailing closely behind were Salvatore Rizzo and Tyrel Diekemann, who held their ground through the initial 11 laps. Colton Wulf wasn’t far behind and continued to claw his way up the field eventually stealing third place from Diekemann on lap 12. Despite valiant efforts from all contenders, no one could keep up with Yee's remarkable pace, consistently clocking low to mid 1:00 laps. Ultimately, Rizzo secured a valiant second place finish, with Wulf rounding out the podium in third.

Next up, the MRA returns to High Plains Raceway in Byers, CO for Round Three on June 24-25. Once again, the SuperStreet class will be held on Saturday afternoon, giving street riders a chance to try real track motorcycle road racing with minimal cost & preparation.  See SuperStreet Information – Motorcycle Roadracing Association (mra-racing.org) for details.

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