Nelson, Skellenger and Stall Win CRA’s 3-Hour Team Challenge
The Central Roadracing Association’s third round of 2017 took place on Brainerd International Raceway’s Competition Course July 21-23 and the most anticipated race of the weekend was undoubtedly the return of the 3-Hour Team Challenge. After a brief hiatus, the multi-rider relay race made a triumphant return and saw 27 teams take to the grid. In the run-up to the weekend, there was no clear favorite with Billy Goats (Jake Schmotter, Billy Vossberg and Lucas Wygant), Full Nelson (Jesse Nelson, Kris Skellenger and Scott Stall), Fully Stroked Jamokes (Aaron Anderson, Bell Helmets rider Shane Keaveny and Christian Schmidt) and Middleweight Express (Brian Hebeisen, Kyle Ohnsorg, Drew See) all capable of taking the overall win.
At the start of the race, Full Nelson took hold of the lead (get it? Because of the wrestling move?) over Middleweight Express, Billy Goats and the rest of the field. Surprisingly, Fully Stroked Jamokes – uniquely named after the latest frappalatteccino from a well-known Seattle-based coffee chain – struggled at the start, only crossing the line in fifth place on the first lap but they moved into a solid second during the first stint. What followed was a rather hectic race featuring a large amount of close racing as the GP3 and GP4 front-runners flowed through the lapped traffic like water through the cardboard box of shop towels that was left out in the rain last night. In the final hour, the race seemed to be shaping up to be a duel between Fully Stroked Jamokes and Middleweight Express, who sent reigning CRA champion Kyle Ohnsorg out for the last 90-minutes of the race with a full tank of fuel and an order to ride it to the end, hoping their extra-large fuel tank would allow them to finish the race without another pit stop. With 45-minutes left, the red flag flew with Fully Stroked Jamokes lead of more than one minute instantly erased and Middleweight Express fully aware that their shot at victory was over. With a full restart scheduled and a misunderstanding in the pits, Full Nelson threw a new tire and a Scott Stall onto their ZX-10R, filled the fuel tank and told Stall that he had 25 minutes to unlap himself, catch the leader and win the race. At the start, Stall put the hammer down and clicked off numerous laps quicker than every rider other than Christian Schmidt turned during the entire weekend. Unbeknownst to Stall, but knownst to others, he was in the lead and pulling away, eventually taking the victory over Billy Goats and Fully Stroked Jamokes.
The sprint races had their fair share of action as well with semi-pro talker Kris Skellenger’s award for Rider of the weekend going to Jake Hennen, with a VERY close second to Jon Champ and an honorable mention to Sam Burke. Jake Hennen has shown his form on his Kawasaki ZX-10R during previous rounds this season but he apparently forgot to pack that in the rush to get to the track. Luckily for him, he found form on his Honda CBR600RR hidden in a drawer in the trailer and turned up ready for battle.
In the Unlimited Expert class, Scott Stall collected two wins compared to Christian Schmidt’s one. The Unlimited Supersport race was hands down the best of the weekend with Schmidt pulling a phenomenal last-lap pass three corners from the end, only to be out-dragged the line by Scott Stall, with Stall claiming victory by .009 seconds. Later in the weekend, Schmidt grabbed the Unlimited GP win after Stall DNF’ed and Kyle Ohnsorg threw the hammer down, only to forget to let go of the hammer when he threw it down at the apex of turn 11 unceremoniously falling down with it. Luckily, Ohnsorg walked away uninjured from the crash which the crowd was very happy to see as his bones are seemingly as fragile as peanut brittle. Or Tostitos. Seriously, every time I open a bag of it looks like someone filled it with beach sand instead of delectable tortilla chips. Anyway, I digress…
Before Kyle “Peanut Brittle” Ohnsorg ended the weekend in the dirt, he grabbed multiple wins in Middleweight and Heavyweight Expert and was seemingly never troubled on his way to victory, although Fisk Brothers Racing/Dryject, Inc’s Brian Hebeisen was coming home second in every Middleweight and Heavyweight race but one, getting snookered by Aaron Anderson in Heavyweight Superbike. The aforementioned Sam Burke had it all his way in Middleweight/Heavyweight Novice, romping away to six victories in all six of his races. Eric Hjelter brought his A-game in July, impressing many on his way to multiple podium finishes as well as two race wins. The question on everyone’s lips… well, a few people’s lips… okay, the question that no one has yet asked (but probably should) is “will Sam Burke make the jump to Expert before the season is over?” To find out, tune in to the next episode of “Novice No More: The Life and Times of Samuel (or is his legal name Seamus?) Burke”, coming to you live on the CRA’s unofficial radio station, KRIS, August 25-27.
While Jake Hennen received the award for Rider of the Weekend (and with it an expired coupon for a 12-pack of Pepsi Clear), Jon Champ truly made waves in the Lightweight class when he set a new personal best lap time of 1:42.436. To put that in perspective, that lap on his Suzuki SV650 (which was built WAY before anyone had ever heard of Justin Bieber) would have put him seventh quickest out of 28 riders in the Middleweight Superbike race. Champ was in a different league all weekend and while he was seen celebrating with champagne, his competition was seen suffering from Champ-pain. Oooof, that was so bad it was difficult to type.
The Ultralight class failed to live up to some of the hype surrounding the class as Mark Praska and Jack Barton only finished one race crossing the line side-by-side. The show that Praska and Barton have put on in almost every race throughout the season means their fan (yes, there’s only one) has very high expectations when it comes to what constitutes a close finish. If the gap doesn’t start with .0, they can’t be bothered. Hopefully Praska and Barton will up their game during the August weekend, or perhaps another rider will show up on one of the beautiful Krämer HKR Evo 2’s to join the party.
The Featherweight class saw a new addition to the fold when Kyle Ohnsorg hopped astride Ewa Kalinsky’s Yamaha R3 to attempt to win the Battle of the Brads and break the class domination by Brad Kreller and Brad Zajic. Unfortunately, a fairly hard crash in the Ultralight Supberbike race put Zajic out of the action for the weekend and the three-rider battle never materialized. Ohnsorg took advantage of Zajic’s absence pulling a large gap on Kreller and bringing home the win in his first “small-bike” race.
The CRA returns to action on Brainerd International Raceway’s Competition Course August 25-27, for more information on racing, spectating or volunteering with the CRA please visit www.cra-mn.com or email [email protected].
RESULTS
Endurance GP4
1 Full Nelson (Jesse Nelson, Kris Skellenger, Scott Stall)
2 Billy Goats (Jake Schmotter, Billy Vossberg, Lucas Wygant)
3 Fully Stroked Jamokes (Aaron Anderson, Shane Keaveny, Christian Schmidt)
4 Midnight Motorcycle (Glenn Hinton, Matthew Nardo, Austin Tschida)
Endurance GP3
1 Middleweight Express (Brian Hebeisen, Kyle Ohnsorg, Drew See)
2 Lazy Union Racers (Josh Harein, Jake Hennen)
3 #tracklivesmatter (Mark Dargis, Nathan Dotson, Scott Masterton)
4 The Gorillas (Martin Holte, Ken Nielsen)
5 Team Meatball (Eric Hjelter, Steve Horsfield, Dave Stone)
Endurance GP2
1 Sagan’s Elbow Grease (Chris Mattson, Brian Rogers)
2 Wild Bill and Jesse James (Bill Plucky, Jesse VanderWeide)
3 Hamburglars (Matt Cina, Harry Jensen, Andy Palmer)
4 Scandinavian Heat (Jon Champ, Ephtephan Johnson)
5 2 Bikes No Souls (Aaron Foss, Leif Nadeau)
6 Beeg Deeks Antique Furniture (Adam Harrison, Bradley George Kreller, James Michaelson)
Endurance GP1
1 The Knobs (Trevor Treviranus, Where’s Luke Trombley)
2 Tech Tres (Mike Knoll, Kurt Mosher, Dwayne Stroman)
3 Where’s Jayme (Tom Conroy, Justin Miest, Jayme Schmit)
4 Creepy Cripples (Dave Juntunen, Jonathan Myers)
5 Darkhorse Motorsports (Lawrence Lin, Sean Stettnichs)
6 3 Cubed (Billy Lachmiller, William Miller)
Unlimited SS Expert
1 Scott Stall (Kaw ZX-10R)
2 Christian Schmidt (Kaw ZX-10R)
3 Shane Keaveny (Kaw ZX-10R)
4 Kyle Ohnsorg(Yam YZF-R6)
5 Jake Schmotter (Yam YZF-R1)
6 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
Unlimited SS Novice
1 David Stone (Hon CBR1000RR)
Unlimited SB Expert
1 Scott Stall (Kaw ZX-10R)
2 Kyle Ohnsorg (BMW S1000RR)
3 Christian Schmidt (Kaw ZX-10R)
4 Shane Keaveny (Kaw ZX-10R)
5 Lucas Wygant (Yam YZF-R1)
6 Jake Schmotter (Yam YZF-R1)
Unlimited SB Novice
1 Eric Hjelter (MV F3)
Unlimited GP Expert
1 Christian Schmidt (Kaw ZX-10R)
2 Lucas Wygant (Yam YZF-R1)
3 Jake Schmotter (Yam YZF-R1)
4 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Kyle Ohnsorg (BMW S1000RR)
Unlimited GP Novice
1 Eric Hjelter (MV F3)
Heavyweight SS Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Aaron Anderson (Suz GSX-R750)
5 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR)
6 Mark Dargis (Yam YZF-R6)
Heavyweight SS Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Eric Hjelter (MV F3)
3 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Steve Horsfield (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Jeff Somers (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
Heavyweight SB Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Aaron Anderson (Suz GSX-R750)
3 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Jesse Nelson (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Brett Donahue (Suz GSX-R750)
6 Josh Harein (Yam YZF-R6)
Heavyweight SB Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Eric Hjelter (MV F3)
3 Jeff Somers (Yam YZF-R6)
4 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Kyle Franz (Duc 899)
6 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
Heavyweight GP Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Aaron Anderson (Suz GSX-R750)
4 Brett Donahue (Suz GSX-R750)
5 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR)
6 Aaron Duchon (Yam YZF-R6)
Heavyweight GP Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Eric Hjelter (MV F3)
3 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Kyle Franz (Duc 899)
5 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
6 Jared Thompson (Yam YZF-R6)
Middleweight SS Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Jesse Nelson (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR)
6 Josh Harein (Yam YZF-R6)
Middleweight SS Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Eric Hjelter (Tri 675)
3 Jeff Somers (Yam YZF-R6)
4 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Steve Horsfield (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Francois Yang (Hon CBR600RR)
Middleweight SB Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Jacob Hennen (Hon CBR600RR)
4 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Jesse Nelson (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR)
Middleweight SB Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Francois Yang (Hon CBR600RR)
4 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
5 Jeff Somers (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Jared Thompson (Yam YZF-R6)
Middleweight GP Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Jacob Hennen (Hon CBR600RR)
4 Jesse Nelson (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Josh Harein (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR)
Middleweight GP Novice
1 Sam Burke (Yam YZF-R6)
2 David Stone (Yam YZF-R6)
3 Francois Yang (Hon CBR600RR)
4 Jeff Somers (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Jared Thompson (Yam YZF-R6)
6 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
Lightweight SS Expert
1 Chris Mattson (Suz SV650)
2 Stephen Johnson (Suz SV650)
3 Katie Champ (Suz SV650)
4 Anthony Marcinek (Suz SV650)
Lightweight SS Novice
1 Brian Rogers (Suz SV650)
2 Jesse Vanderweide (Suz SV650)
3 Leif Nadeau (Suz SV650)
4 Sonia Pond (Suz SV650)
5 Nathan Jessup (Suz SV650)
Lightweight GP Expert
1 Jon Champ (Suz SV650)
2 Bill Plucky (Suz SV650)
3 Matt Cina (Yam FZ-07)
4 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
5 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
6 James Michaelson (Hon CBR600F2)
Lightweight GP Novice
1 Brian Rogers (Suz SV650)
2 Jesse Vanderweide (Suz SV650)
3 Wayne Minnichsoffer (Hon CBR600F2)
4 Kyle Franz (Yam FZ-07)
5 Sonia Pond (Suz SV650)
6 Jeff Franz (Yam FZ-07)
Formula 40 – F2
1 Shane Keaveny (Kaw ZX-10R)
2 Mark Dargis (Kaw ZX-10R)
3 Brett Donahue (Suz GSX-R750)
4 Karl Rehpohl (Kaw ZX-6R)
5 Bill Plucky (Suz SV650)
6 Tate Guckin (Kaw ZX-6R)
Formula 40 – F1
1 Matt Cina (Yam FZ-07)
2 Jeff Franz (Yam FZ-07)
3 Denyse Brooks (Yam FZ-07)
4 David Juntunen (KTM RC390)
Supertwins Expert
1 Jon Champ (Suz SV650)
2 Bill Plucky (Suz SV650)
3 Matt Cina (Yam FZ-07)
4 Aaron Foss (Suz SV650)
5 Anthony Marcinek (Suz SV650)
Supertwins Novice
1 Jesse Vanderweide (Suz SV650)
2 Brian Rogers (Suz SV650)
3 Sonia Pond (Suz SV650)
4 Jeff Franz (Duc 899)
5 Nathan Jessup (Suz SV650)
6 Kyle Franz (Duc 899)
Sportsman Middleweight Expert
1 Ken Nielsen (Yam YZF-R6)
2 Martin Holte (Hon CBR600RR)
Sportsman Lightweight Expert
1 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
2 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
3 James Michaelson (Hon CBR600F2)
4 Bradley Kreller (Hon CBR600F2)
5 Adam Harrison (Hon CBR600F2)
Sportsman Lightweight Novice
1 Wayne Minnichsoffer (Hon CBR600F2)
Sportsman Middleweight Novice
1 Si Klien (Yam YZF-R6)
Ultralight #2 Expert
1 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
2 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
3 Trevor Treviranus (Yam YZ450F)
Featherweight SB Expert
1 Bradley Kreller (Yam YZF-R3)
2 Mike Knoll (Yam YZF-R3)
3 Jesse Nelson (Kaw EX250)
4 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw EX250)
5 William Miller (Yam YZF-R3)
6 Robin Schmidt (Kaw EX250)
Featherweight SB Novice
1 Sean Stettnichs (Yam YZF-R3)
2 Lawrence Lin (Yam YZF-R3)
3 Justin Miest (Yam YZF-R3)
4 David Juntunen (KTM RC390)
5 Jayme Schmit (Kaw EX250)
6 Ewa Kalinsky (Yam YZF-R3)
Lightweight SB Expert
1 Jon Champ (Suz SV650)
2 Bill Plucky (Suz SV650)
3 Matt Cina (Yam FZ-07)
4 Aaron Foss (Suz SV650)
5 Stephen Johnson (Suz SV650)
6 Katie Champ (Suz SV650)
Lightweight SB Novice
1 Brian Rogers (Suz SV650)
2 Jesse Vanderweide (Suz SV650)
3 Kyle Franz (Yam FZ-07)
4 Sonia Pond (Suz SV650)
5 Jeff Franz (Yam FZ-07)
6 Nathan Jessup (Suz SV650)
250GP Expert
1 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
2 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
Ultralight #3 Expert
1 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
2 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
3 Trevor Treviranus (Yam YZ450F)
Featherweight GP Expert
1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R3)
2 Bradley Kreller (Yam YZF-R3)
3 Jesse Nelson (Kaw EX250)
4 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw EX250)
5 William Miller (Yam YZF-R3)
Featherweight GP Novice
1 Justin Miest (Yam YZF-R3)
2 David Juntunen (KTM RC390)
3 Jayme Schmit (KTM RC390)
4 Sarah Boughton (Yam YZF-R3)
5 Roy Konicek (Yam YZF-R3)
Ultralight #1 Expert
1 Mark Praska (Krä HKR-Evo2)
2 Jack Barton (Krä HKR-Evo2)
Featherweight SS Expert
1 Bradley Kreller (Yam YZF-R3)
2 Brad Zajic (Yam YZF-R3)
3 Dwayne Stroman (Yam YZF-R3)
4 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw EX250)
5 William Miller (Yam YZF-R3)
6 Mike Knoll (Yam YZF-R3)
Featherweight SS Novice
1 Sean Stettnichs (Yam YZF-R3)
2 Justin Miest (Yam YZF-R3)
3 Dave Juntunen (KTM RC390)
4 Ewa Kalinsky (Yam YZF-R3)
5 Tom Conroy (Yam YZF-R3)
6 Jayme Schmit (Kaw EX250)
Last Chance Qualifier
1 Alex Peterson (Hon CBR600RR)
2 Brandon Connett (Tri 675)
3 Ryan Alvar (Yam YZF-R6)
4 Jon Durant (Yam YZF-R6)
5 Anthony Marcinek (Suz SV650)
6 Nathan Jessup (Suz SV650)
New Rider Race
1 Boyd Hedstrom (Yam YZF-R1)
2 Jeff Kandt (Tri 675)
3 Forrest Allen (Kaw ZX-6RR)
4 Sarah Boughten (Yam YZF-R3)