Greenwood Earns LRRS MWGP Win with Late Pass
Scott Greenwood earned his third win of the year in the premier class of the Loudon Road Race Series on Saturday by virtue of the late race pass of Eric Wood. Greenwood stalked the No. 5 of Wood for much of the race before getting around him in Turn 10 as the two headed toward the white flag in the Middleweight Grand Prix.
The race winner took the hole shot, but was passed by Wood early on the first lap. From there, the race was on between those two and Shane Narbonne, who had won the previous two races in the class.
Wood paced the other two on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, and Narbonne snuck around Greenwood for second place and pushed his Yamaha R6 in an effort to take over the lead. Midway through the race, Narbonne attempted to make a move inside on Turn 7, but hit the bump and lost control of his motorcycle.
“He got a piece of that curb, either his foot peg or his case, and crashed out,” said Greenwood, who saw the incident happen right in front of him. “It actually hesitated me for a second because I thought he was taking Eric (Wood) with him; they were pretty tight together through that turn.”
Narbonne’s misfortune gave Greenwood the opportunity to chase down the lead on his Yamaha YZF-R6.
“I ran Eric (Wood) back down and was trying to find my way by him,” Greenwood said of the pass for the lead. “He was struggling in some spots, and I was able to go around the outside of him in (Turn) 10, and get the lead going to the white flag and hold it to the finish.”
Wood hasn’t won in the MWGP since May 2014 and thought that his ability to run up front in this event should translate to a win soon.
“I’m happy to be there at the very end,” said Wood. “That was the whole goal. I wanted to be in the fight. So, now that we’re there, we need to take one more step forward, and I think we can probably win one of these things before the end of the year.
Kristofer Knopf earned his first career podium in the class with a third-place finish. The top-10 behind him consisted of Joel Allen, Cory Hildebrand, Kip Peterson, Trevor Arvidson, Angel Nunez, Michael Weyant, and Matthew Gendron. Narbonne was scored in 11th, and Cole Hall was the top-finishing Amateur.
The race winner receives 36 points, and Greenwood opened up his standings lead to 168 points. Wood is second with 142, and Knopf and Narbonne are tied in third with 112.
Narbonne Falls Just Short of Track Record in Unlimited GP
While he might not have registered his desired finish in the Middleweight Grand Prix, Shane Narbonne impressed in the Unlimited Grand Prix earlier on Saturday and fell just one-tenth of a second shy of setting the NHMS motorcycle track record with a best lap of 1:10.526.
“I’ve just been feeling it for sure,” Narbonne said of his comfort level on his Yamaha YZF-R1, which he uses in MotoAmerica races. “Me and my dad and Dunlop tires have been definitely putting this thing together to see if we can, definitely, beat the track record.”
Narbonne’s best lap topped that of second-place finishing Cory Hildebrand by nearly four seconds. The two were joined on the podium by class points leader Michael Weyant in third. Matthew Gendron, Houk Nichols, Justin Torres, Trevor Arvidson, Mike Clark, John van Lenten, and Paul Grimes rounded out the top-10. Cole Hall was the top-finishing Amateur.
Weyant sits comfortably atop the standings with 138 points. He is followed by Hildebrand with 119 and Narbonne with 108.