DUNLOP/WERA National Endurance Series, Round 6

Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point, WV

July 31, 2004 by Dan Schmitt

 Tray Batey on the Vesrah Suzuki 1000 blasted off the line with the flip of the green flag by WERA’s east coast starter, Al Wilcox.  By the third lap, he held a 15-second advantage over the Yamaha R-1 of Team Velocity Racing’s Bradley Champion. Scotty Van Scoik on the CherokeeChallenge.net R-6 ran third, 10 seconds behind Champion. For the next ten laps, five bikes contested fourth place; William Lindsey on the Eagle Racing R-6, Chris Pyles on the Neighbor of the Beast R-6, Scott Brown on the Army of Darkness GSXR-600, Steve Smith on the Ridge Racing ZX-10 and Mark Crozier on the Team Xtreme/Maxxis Tires GSXR-1000 As Eagle and Ridge made the break on the seventeenth lap, Steve Karson totaled the Team Chicago ’04 Yamaha R-6 in turn ten. With the rider up, the race continued on.

When Batey finally pitted eighty-seven minutes in the race, and with a two-lap advantage over Velocity, the rear axle nut stripped and Vesrah lost their two laps. With the larger SuperBike gas tank, Army charged to third overall during the second hour as both Velocity and Eagle made their normal hourly fuel stops. Bell’s Suzuki II on the SV led the Lightweight class with Dixie Mafia second.

 John Jacobi continued leading for Vesrah at the halfway point. After the second switch of the day, Batey continued to lay down 1:16 laps ‘til disaster struck. Crashing the leading bike, Batey limped back to the pits. Vesrah lost the lead as the team scrambled to put things together again. Steve Breckinridge, now on the Team Velocity R-1, upped the pace and put three laps on second place Eagle Racing. Melissa Berkoff moved the Neighbor of the Beast R-6 to third overall.

Dropping back to eighth overall, Vesrah began their renewed charge to the front. Velocity Crew Racing on their GSXR-600 continued on in fourth place overall, leading the Middleweight SuperBike class. Army threw a chain during the third hour, losing too many laps. They charged up to eleventh during this fifth hour. Neighbor grabbed second overall, first in class. D & D Racing, Arnchu Racing and Fast Lane Bodywork continued their private battle for sixth.  

 As this six-hour skirmish came to an end, Vesrah Suzuki moved to fourth, replacing Velocity Crew. Eagle slipped by Neighbor to take second and Arnchu secured sixth. Bell’s Suzuki II took home another win in the Lightweight class, Blue Ridge Performance snatched second from Dixie. With the checkered flag, Team Velocity gave Yamaha their first overall win in the last few years. With Eagle and Neighbor taking second and third, Yamaha dominated the trophy stage. Melissa Berkoff, owner of and rider for Neighbor became the first woman to stand on the prestigious WERA National Endurance podium.

 Winning their first overall, Team Velocity’s Chuck Ivey said, “The key was consistency, everyone riding within their ability and keeping a good pace. All the pit stops were flawless; everyone did their job right.”  Melissa just added, “We rode pretty fast and only did one tire change, that’s it.” 

 RESULTS:

1.Team Velocity Racing, Yam 1000, 2. Eagle Racing Team, Yam 600, 3. Neighbor of the Beast, Yam 600, 4. Vesrah Suzuki, Suz 1000, 5. Velocity Crew Racing, Suz 600, 6. Arnchu Racing, Suz 600, 7. D & D Racing, Yam 600, 8. Fast Lane Bodywork, Yam 1000, 9. Army of Darkness, Suz 600, 10. Ridge Racing, Kaw 1000.

By Class:

HW/SBK: 1. Vesrah Suzuki, 2. Ridge Racing, 3.Velocity Crew Two

HW/STK: 1. Team Velocity Racing, 2. Fast Lane Bodywork, 3. Need a Sponsor

MW/SBK: 1. Velocity Crew Racing, 2. Arnchu Racing, 3. Army of Darkness

MW/STK: 1. Eagle Team Racing, 2. Neighbor of the Beast, 3. D & D Racing.

LW/SBK: 1. Bell’s Suzuki II, 2 Blue Ridge Performance, 3. Dixie Mafia

POINTS  OVERALL (after 6 rounds)

1,Vesrah Suzuki, 650, 2. Army of Darkness, 608, 3. Team Velocity Racing, 502, 4.CherokeeChallenge.net, 496, 5. Neighbor of the Beast, 492, 6. Bell’s Suzuki II, 457, 7. B & S Roadracing, 433,  8. Blue Ridge Performance, 390, 9. FDK, 369, 10. Dixie Mafia, 368, 11. Team Xtreme/Maxxis, 363, 12. Arnchu Racing, 325, 13. Team HMR I, 303 14. Yeager Racing, 291, 15. Velocity Crew Racing, 269 

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