Taylor Knapp won three WERA National Challenge Series races at Nelson Ledges Road Course Sunday, finishing second in a fourth race and suffering a mechanical DNF while leading a fifth.
Knapp won the Open Superstock, 750cc Superstock and Formula One races and finished second to Tray Batey in the Heavyweight Twins race, riding Suzukis. Batey said Friday that he would join Lee Acree and Robert Jensen in boycotting Sunday’s sprint races, but decided to compete on his SV1000 while he left his GSX-R1000 parked. The boycotting riders said the track was too dangerous at the fast pace they were likely to run on their GSX-R1000s.
That may have been the case for veteran Reuben Frankenfield, who crashed his GSX-R1000 while running third in the Open Superstock race behind Knapp and local ace Charlie Coleman. Frankenfield and his GSX-R1000 both hit and bounced over the tire wall outside the carousel, with Frankenfield transported to a local hospital with both legs broken; the race was red-flagged and called complete after five laps. The three leaders had been running lap times in the 1:06s.
An eyewitness said the Frankenfield’s bike flipped at least seven times; damage to the bike was so extensive that even the lower shock absorber mount was broken.
After Knapp retired, local star Brent Bennett won the 600cc Superstock race on a Yamaha YZF-R6.
Results WERA National Challenge Series Nelson Ledges Road Course Garrettsville, Ohio September 10, 2006
FORMULA ONE EXPERT: 1. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Charlie Coleman (Suz GSX-R1000) 3. Tim Bemisderfer (Hon CBR1000RR) 4. Vincent Lorusso (Kaw ZX-10R) 5. J.B. Layman (Suz GSX-R1000) 6. Jeff Agnes (Suz GSX-R750)
OPEN SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Charlie Coleman (Suz GSX-R1000) 3. Brent Bennett (Yam YZF-R1) 4. Tim Bemisderfer (Hon CBR1000RR) 5. Jeff Agnes (Suz GSX-R750) 6. Billy Ethridge (Suz GSX-R1000)
OPEN SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Allan Pett (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Matt Spannan (Suz GSX-R1000) 4. Tim Neal (Suz GSX-R750) 5. Blake Kelly (Hon CBR600RR) 6. Doug Shelfoon (GSX-R750)
750cc SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R600) 2. Jeff Agnes (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Randy Sherman (Suz GSX-R600) 4. Josh Smith-Moore (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Scott Layman (Suz GSX-R750) 6. Christian Volcko (Kaw ZX-6R 636)
750cc SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R750) 2. Allan Pett (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Corey Warner (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Thomas Rubin (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Nick Ziepfel (Kaw ZX-6R 636) 6. Matt Spannan (Suz GSX-R600)
600cc SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Brent Bennett (Yam YZF-R6) 2. Randy Sherman (Suz GSX-R600) 3. Matt LaPham (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Brian Gibbs (Yam YZF-R6) 5. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 6. Nathan Dressman (Suz GSX-R600)
600cc SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R600) 2. Allan Pett (Yam YZF-R6) 3. Thomas Rubin (Suz GSX-R600) 4. Nick Ziepfel (Kaw ZX-6R 636) 5. Corey Warner (Yam YZF-R6) 6. Matt Spannan (Suz GSX-R600)
750cc SUPERBIKE EXPERT: 1. Nathan Dressman (Suz GSX-R600) 2. Randy Sherman (Suz GSX-R600) 3. Matt LaPham (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Rhiannon Lucente (Yam YZF-R6)
750cc SUPERBIKE NOVICE: 1. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R750) 2. Allan Pett (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Terrance Johnson (Suz GSX-R600) 4. Douglas Shelfoon (Suz GSX-R750) 5. Rich Kaliber (Suz GSX-R750)
600cc SUPERBIKE EXPERT: 1. Randy Sherman (Suz GSX-R600) 2. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 3. Matt LaPham (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Nathan Dressman (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Christian Volcko (Kaw ZX-6R 636) 6. Rhiannon Lucente (Yam YZF-R6)
600cc SUPERBIKE NOVICE: 1. Seth Starnes (Suz GSX-R600) 2. Corey Warner (Yam YZF-R6) 3. Allan Pett (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Nick Ziepfel (Kaw ZX-6R 636) 5. Doug Shelfoon (Suz GSX-R600) 6. Terrance Johnson (Suz GSX-R600)
FORMULA TWO EXPERT: 1. Matt LaPham (Suz SV650) 2. Steve Green (Suz SV650) 3. Russel Stoddard (Suz SV650) 4. Jonathan Cowles (Suz SV650) 5. Jason Lawyer (Suz SV650) 6. Josh Smith-Moore (Suz SV650)
FORMULA TWO NOVICE: 1. Scott Rosey (Suz SV650) 2. Cassidy Martin (Suz SV650) 3. Andrew Clausen (Aprilia RS250)
HEAVYWEIGHT TWINS SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Tray Batey (Suz SV1000) 2. Taylor Knapp (Suz SV1000) 3. Cale Swiger (Suz SV1000) 4. Matt LaPham (Suz SV1000) 5. Steve Green (Suz SV650) 6. Sam Williams (Hon 1000)
LIGHTWEIGHT TWINS SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Jeff Walker (Suz SV650) 2. Matt LaPham (Suz SV650) 3. Steve Green (Suz SV650) 4. Jason Lawyer (Suz SV650) 5. Jonathan Cowles (Suz SV650) 6. Martin Musil (Suz SV650)
LIGHTWEIGHT TWINS SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Scott Rosey (Suz SV650) 2. Cassidy Martin (Suz SV650) 3. Richard Smith-Moore (Suz SV650) 4. Andrew Clausen (Aprilia RS250)
And now some reader feedback:
FIRST PERSON/OPINION
Via e-mail:
After crashing my GSX-R750 in 750cc Superstock qualifying while exiting turn 9 (the ‘Carousel’) I suffered a lowside which sent my bike cartwheeling over the tire wall and out of sight. Amazingly I was relatively unhurt, except for a mild concussion. With the tireless support and resources of the announcer, Michael Flis, I was able to rebuild my bike in time for Sunday’s races. I feel bad for the racers who crashed on Sunday, especially Rueben Frankenfield, who I race with on a regular basis and faired much worse than me. I hope we (racers, WERA, Nelson Ledges) can pull together and get some much-needed improvements to the track, like improved run-off in the turn 1-2 areas, but especially in the entire carousel. Jeffrey Agnes WERA Expert #7 Wooster, Ohio