Vesrah Wins Rainy Endurance, Batey Top Expert in WERA Nationals at Talladega OXFORD, Ala. This past weekend marked the first time that the WERA/Bridgestone National Endurance Series and the WERA/Michelin National Challenge Series have competed on the newly-reconfigured Talladega Gran Prix Raceway road course, but it was many of the same Talladega aces who won. Saturday’s endurance race, originally scheduled for four hours, was cut slightly short due to lightning in the near vicinity. It rained for nearly an hour before the red flag came out, but the wet track was not enough to slow down Vesrah Suzuki. The Heavyweight Superbike team took the win with Tray Batey, John Jacobi and Mark Junge on a Suzuki GSX-R1000, and they had a comfortable five laps over the rest of the field. Brand X got on the overall podium again, taking second overall and in Heavyweight Superbike. Riders Ben Walters and Brett Champagne shared the Suzuki GSX-R1000. Third overall and first in Mediumweight Superbike were Reuben Frankenfield, Mark Junge and Russell Wikle on the Suzuki Rider Development Suzuki GSX-R600, finishing on the same lap as Brand X. Team Moe’s/TVR’s fourth-place finish gave Chuck Ivey, Joshua Day and James Stroud first in Heavyweight Superstock on their Yamaha YZF-R1. Dalke Motorsports had a three-lap margin of victory in the Mediumweight Superstock class thanks to Giovanni Rojas, Ryan Clay, Wrenn Smith and Brian Dalke, who shared a Suzuki GSX-R600. Blue Ridge Performance earned their first Lightweight Superbike win of the season on a Kawasaki 650R. Daniel Parkerson, Lyles Sanders and Ben Probst also had a three-lap margin over the rest of their class field. The National Challenge expert sprint races on Sunday were a chance for Tray Batey to earn three more trophies. He got his Suzuki GSX-R1000 through Talladega’s tight layout to win both Open Superstock and Formula One, and he was victorious in Heavyweight Twins Superstock. Joshua Day’s performance was one of the surprises of the day. In his first visit to Talladega, he took the top spot in both 600 Superstock and 600 Superbike. Opie Caylor proved that he can still get around the Alabama track at fast pace, winning 750 Superstock by just 0.38-second over Lee Acree in one of the closest races of the day. Dane Westby won both Lightweight Twins Superstock and Formula 2, and Jimmy Wood won 750 Superbike. In the novice division, Russell Wikle was back to his winning ways, taking top honors in 600 and 750 Superstock, as well as 600 and 750 Superbike. Chad Clifton won Open Superstock novice, Josh Reed won Heavyweight Twins, Luke Echols finished first in Lightweight Twins and Jake Morman won Formula 2. The next round of the WERA National Series is in three weeks at Nelson Ledges Road Course in Ohio. More information about WERA, including updated championship points, can be found at www.WERA.com. More, from a press release issed by Rockwall Honda: TOUGH WEEKEND FOR ROCKWALL HONDA IN VIRGINIA Rockwall Honda racers Ryan Andrews and Ryan Elleby had a challenging weekend at the Big Kahuna Nationals in Alton, Virginia last weekend. Andrews finished in 14th in Supersport and 14th in Formula Xtreme. Elleby was 17th in Supersport and did not finish the Formula Xtreme race. The weekend was already a difficult one for Andrews when he was involved in a Thursday practice crash. Through no fault of his own, Ryan saw his Formula Xtreme race bike destroyed when another rider ran off the track and returned to the circuit, collecting Andrews mid-corner and damaging his CBR600RR beyond repair. For the rest of the weekend, Ryan was forced to use a previous generation bike he had not ridden since last year. “I didn’t have any time to react,” said Andrews. “I was really sore immediately. I couldn’t catch my breath and my elbow swelled up really fast. I ended up going to the hospital to get checked out, but fortunately nothing was broken. It really messed up my weekend because I was sore all three days, my leg, my elbow, my neck … everything, really. All three days I was so sore I could barely walk.” In Saturday’s Formula Xtreme race, Andrews finished fourteenth while Elleby retired with a clutch issue. “The team did a great job of getting the old bike ready for me to race,” said Andrews. “I did the best I could, considering how sore I was. I just wanted to finish the race. Considering the circumstances, it went pretty well. We got some points and made it through okay.” In a wild Supersport race, both riders fought through a red-flagged contest. Andrews finished 14th. “All weekend, I was sore and everyone was dealing with how slick the track was. We were searching for side grip the whole time. On Sunday morning, our crewchief Robert Ward said ‘Hey, let’s try a different direction with the setup.’ It was something new and it worked in the warm-up. I was confident going in, and got a killer start. We picked off a few guys, but then the red flag came out. I didn’t quite get the start I wanted and at that point, we were looking to survive some of the carnage that was going on out there.” For Ryan Elleby, a 17th place finish masked the gains he made on the weekend. “In Supersport, the pace was fast all weekend and we kept progressing,” said Ryan. “It was looking like we would get a good result, but on the second restart, I got pushed wide into the grass. So I was down in 20-something place and spent the rest of the race working my way back up to 17th. That really doesn’t show what we were capable of doing and it’s too bad because the crew worked hard all weekend.” The next race will be held at Road Atlanta Aug 30 through Sept 2. It’s the home track for Powder Springs Georgia resident Elleby. “It’s my home track, but I don’t have much track time out there,” said Elleby. “I haven’t ridden it that many times. Still, I’m stoked to be racing close to home.” More, from a press release issued by Scott Charlton: The Australian Superbike Championship finale was held at Eastern Creek last weekend, where we saw a beautiful racing weekend turn into a treachorous weekend for racing, as Mother Nature turned the rain on Sunday, causing many of the Championships to wrap up one race short of their full season. Saturday brought a superb day, with some of the best conditions for qualifying and we saw Superbikes set a cracking pace in qualifying with a 1.30.9 pole position time. The battle for grid positions in the Superbike class was fierce, and Scott was somewhat disappointed to qualify in 10th place, just over a second off the pole time. In the Naked Bike Class, Scott qualified on Pole position and managed to set a new qualifying lap record. In the Naked Bike Class, Scott was delighted to secure the Australian Naked Bike Title on Saturday after winning Race 1 on his Yamaha FZ1, and smashing the lap record by close to 1 second. Scott continued his winning form and went on to win Race 2 in the wet conditions on Sunday, finishing with a perfect score in the final round and finalising his 1st place in the Championship by a clear 73 point margin. Due to the weather conditions on Sunday, the Superbike Class ran only one race, in what was some of the slipperiest conditions Scott has ever ridden in. A number of competitors crashed in morning warm up and some riders crashed on the warm up lap before the race. It truly was a battle for survival, just to complete the race was an achievement! With Championship points in mind, Scott put the Yamaha R1 through its paces and kept the bike upright, crossing the line in 6th place. At the conclusion of one of the most competitive seasons in the Australian Superbike Championship, Scott cemented his 8th place in the Championship and was 2nd placed Privateer. More, from a press release issued by Team EMGO USA: Team EMGO USA’s Opie Caylor won his first WERA National Challenge Series race of 2007 this past weekend at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway. But it didn’t happen until after some drama! The weekend started off well enough. Opie qualified 5th in Formula One, with a 58.2, despite unbearably hot temperatures. Opie later explained that the ultra-hot temperatures along with a soft rear Dunlop N-Tech slick caused a bit of wheelspin. For 750 and 1000 Superstock qualifying, Opie decided to go to a harder compound rear Dunlop N-Tech to regain some of the grip. The adjustment made a big diference. In 750cc Superstock, Opie took his sixth pole position of the season with a 57.7. Then, at the end of the day, Opie went back out on the same set of Dunlops and qualified second in Open Superstock with a 57.8. On Sunday, things would go downhill quickly. Opie was second off the line in Open Superstock, and was quickly relegated to fourth place. On lap four, the top four started to encounter lapped novice riders in the combined expert and novice race. Caylor said “Going into turn four, we started coming up on lappers and there was this one guy down low on the inside of the corner. I decided to overtake him on the outside and just ride around him. At the last minute I guess the guy finally figured out where the line was and just started coming over on me. I had no where to go – I was already out so far wide to give the guy plenty of space but it didn’t matter. I went down but at least I was able to pick the bike up and finish the race and salvage some points. Luckily, for me, I was wearing my Komodo leathers, boots and gloves and an Arai helmet, which kept me from getting hurt!” Caylor was scored in 9th position after picking up and reteching the bike and re-entering the race. A little fired up after the Open Superstock race, Opie got a good start in 750cc Superstock and followed Robert Jensen into turn one. On lap two, Lee Acree dove up underneath Caylor coming off the back straight. In doing so, Opie’s drive onto the front straight wasn’t that good, which in turn allowed Chad Lewin to come by going into turn one. Clearly frustrated yet bitterly determined, Opie gathered his thoughts and calmly set about winning the race. On the next lap, Opie drove past Chad Lewin on the back straight and moved back into third. Opie then jumped the small gap to Robert Jensen and drove past him exiting the fast turn one and moved into second. On the next lap, Opie jumped the gap from Jensen up to Lee Acree and then dove underneath Acree coming onto the front straight to take the lead. From there, with four laps left, Opie was able to open up a small gap to go on to win the race. “That has been a long time comin! Lee and Robbie and Chad have been ridin’ hard all year and really making it tough on me! These guys don’t play! But neither do I! Huey back at the Marietta Motorsports has spent so much time tuning my 750. We’ve been working with different VP Fuels to try to figure out what works best in this engine. We found a really good combination of octane and oxygenation with VP’s MRX01 and the motor just loves that stuff. All that power along with Dunlops unbelievable N-Tech tires was an unbeatable combination today!” In the last race of the day, Formula One, Opie chose to ride his Pit Bull-sponsored Team EMGO USA Suzuki GSXR750 due to the 1000’s crash damage from the Open Superstock race. Opie got off the line OK but got swallowed up by a couple of 1000’s going down the first straightaway. Sixth on lap one, Opie ran down, caught and passed James Stroud. He got around Stroud and set off after Acree in fourth. Opie ran a 57.2 to catch Acree but had to work harder to make a pass. The three leaders had pulled a small gap that was insurmountable once Opie had gotten past Lee. Opie would finish the race in fourth position. To wrap up the weekend, Opie had this to say, “Overall, it was a good weekend. I finished 9th in the Open Superstock race even after the crash and I was lucky to do that! If I didn’t have those really strong Vortex rearsets, I bet the peg and shifter would’ve gotten completely ripped off! But the Vortex Componets did a great job! At least I was able to salvage some points! I love 750’s! I am really pleased with the way that bike is working right now. Thermosman really has the suspension dialed in and I feel like I can put that bike anywhere I want to at anytime. And actually Robert Jensen put it best after the 750 race. He said, ‘It’s about time you won a 750 race!’ I couldn’t agree more. And in F1, I got fourth. I made some Suzuki money and picked up some points.” More, from a press release issued by West Coast GP Cycles: West Coast GP Cycles-backed riders headed up to northern California and put on a strong showing at the AFM race event this weekend at Infineon Raceway, with one of the shop’s riders now leading the chase for a class title and West Coast GP Cycles’ newest racer turning heads. Reigning Willow Springs Motorcycle Club Champion Brant Wiwi took a big step toward his goal of winning a 600-class championship at AFM this season. Riding his Yamaha YZF-R6, Wiwi took a pair of second places and moved into first place in 600 Production and into second in 600 Superbike. Newcomer Drew Price, 16, a former mini road race champion who moved up to full-sized bikes this season, continued to demonstrate an ability to run strongly at new tracks. Riding his West Coast GP Cycles-tuned Suzuki SV650, he started the Middleweight Clubman race (mostly filled with inline-fours) in 20th and crossed the finish line first, although a red flag reverted scoring back to the previous lap and moved Price back to third in the final finishing order. In Formula IV, Price started at the back of a 40-bike grid and finished 20th; in 650 Twins, Price started at the back of a 45-bike field and finished 15th. West Coast GP Cycles is located at 11900 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, 90064, and offers performance tuning and accessories for street and race motorcycles. For more information, contact the shop at 310.477.0997.