Edwards Wins Again With Sutton Close Behind at Pacific Raceways

WMRRA Round 4, Pacific Raceways, Kent, Wa.

June 16-17, 2012

This weekend the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association held the 4th round of their 2012 championship series at Pacific Raceways, returning to the club’s home track for a warm and partly sunny race weekend. Most of the WMRRA tribe’s usual suspects showed up to race, joined by several newcomers and a packed field of novice racers.

After morning practice, Saturday’s 750 Supersport racers wasted no time getting down to business, with up-and-coming Ryan “Chromie” Sutton nipping at the heels of #1 plate holder Eli Edwards. Showing the experience that has won him the club overall championship, Edwards settled in behind the hard-charging Sutton until lap 6, then took the lead and held off Sutton to the line. The 600 Supersport race was a near replay of the 750 race, with Edwards and Sutton swapping positions throughout the race, well clear of the rest of the field and Edwards again coming out in front at the finish.

Saturday’s 650 Supersport Twins race was the first of several 3-way battles for the podium between the father and son team of Bob and Eric May and challenger Rhett Halpin, all on Suzuki SV650’s. While the trio battled away, Ted Hawkins simply cleared off at the front for the win. Behind the 650 racers in the Open Singles class, John Gessner cleared away once again while Sean Galt and Mick Hart battled hard for 2nd place. In a near photo finish, Honda RS125-mounted Hart edged out the Moriwaki MD250H of Galt by .004 second at the line.

Sunday’s Ultra Lightweight Sportsman and Ninja Cup races were both displays of precision riding and corner speed from 250 Ninja-mounted Bill Cameron, with Cameron coming under pressure in the second race from Andrew Rogers and barely pulling out the win by less than a wheel.

The 600 Superbike race was yet another rematch between Edwards and Sutton, the two posting nearly identical lap times, and Edwards using all his skill and experience to keep his young challenger at bay for one more race. Mark DeGross seemed to have 3rd place locked up, but Yamaha-mounted Kevin Klemmer put his head down and chipped away at the gap, finally stealing the last podium position in the final laps.

The Sunday Vintage races saw the usual mix of rare, loud and fascinating race machinery, including the Seeley Westlake of Duncan Craick, the beautiful Honda CR750 replica of John Nilsson, and Paul Brodie took his unbelievable hand-fabricated 1919 Excelsior board-track/roadrace bike to a 2nd place finish in the 750 Vintage class.

The Lightweight Superbike class was the stage for a return to form for Shawn Becker, beating Ted Hawkins, and the 750 Superbike class featured not only the battle between Edwards and Sutton, but an incredible first podium finish in 11 years of WMRRA racing for Doug Hillius on his Suzuki GSXR750, showing the power of perseverance and his dedication to the sport.

The competition in the Formula Thunder class made Shawn Becker dig deeper than ever, trying every trick in the book to keep Ducati 848-mounted Howard Crow at bay, but at the end the effort proved too much as a last-lap mistake in P.R.’s infamous “bus stop” Turn 10 allowed Crow to get away for the win.

As always, the final race of the weekend was the Formula Ultra class, this time featuring a close 3-way fight between Eli Edwards, Mark DeGross and Allister MacKinnon. After 7 laps of drafting, passing and sliding, all 3 bikes entered Turn 10 together, with Edwards behind MacKinnon and DeGross. Edwards passed MacKinnon on the brakes at the corner entry, while DeGross held his line at the front. At the apex of the corner, the rear of Edwards’ bike lost traction, sending him over the bars and into the curbing at the exit of the turn. After the race was halted, Edwards was transported to a local hospital for treatment and released the next day. “It was a pretty aggressive move,” said MacKinnon, “Eli passed me on the brakes, and I saw him sizing up DeGross for a pass around the outside, so I backed off just a couple tenths to give them some room in case they came together so I could get a drive onto the straight. It looked like Eli’s rear tire came around and highsided him, and he ended up tumbling down the track right in front of me with curbs on both sides, so I had nowhere to go. The couple tenths I backed off was probably the difference that stopped me from hitting him.”

The Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association was formed in 1974 to organize and promote the sport of motorcycle road racing in Washington State. WMRRA Currently races at two tracks in the state, Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, and the newly constructed The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington. To learn more, go to www.wmrra.com, or contact club president Tim O’Mahony at [email protected]

WMRRA Round 4 Race Results:

Saturday June 16, 2012:

750 Supersport:

1. Eli Edwards, Yamaha YZF-R6

2. Ryan Sutton, Yamaha YZF-R6

3. Kevin Klemmer, Yamaha YZF-R6

4. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

5. Doug Hillius, Yamaha YZF-R6

6. Kyle Staples, Honda CBR600RR

Saturday Novice Race:

1. Steven Bleistein, Kawasaki ZX6R

2. Todd Ellsworth, Yamaha YZF-R6

3. Steve Kidd, Kawasaki ZX10R

4. Dan Cordon, Yamaha YZF-R6

5. Chase Glidden, Yamaha YZF-R1

6. Marlo Love, Suzuki GSXR600

600 Supersport:

1. Eli Edwards, Yamaha YZF-R6

2. Ryan Sutton, Yamaha YZF-R6

3. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

4. Doug Hillius, Yamaha YZF-R6

5. Kyle Staples, Suzuki GSXR600

6. Kevin Klemmer, Yamaha YZF-R6

650 Supersport Twins:

1. Ted Hawkins, Suzuki SV650

2. Eric May, Suzuki SV650

3. Rhett Halpin, Suzuki SV650

4. Robert May, Suzuki SV650

5. Krister Fast, Suzuki SV650

6. Erick Rostad, Suzuki SV650

Open Singles:

1. John Gessner, Honda RS125

2. Mick Hart, Honda RS125

3. Sean Galt, Moriwaki MD250H

4. Gary Ryder, Tigcraft SRX

5. Joseph Wright, Honda RS125

6. Greg Canright, KTM 560SMR

Open Supersport:

1. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

2. Cody Koth, Suzuki GSXR750

3. Tony Connell, Suzuki GSXR750, DNF

Middleweight GP Twins:

1. Ted Hawkins, Suzuki SV650

2. Brandon Knowles, Suzuki SV650

3. Eric May, Suzuki SV650

4. Rhett Halpin, Suzuki SV650

5. Robert May, Suzuki SV650

6. Krister Fast, Suzuki SV650

Sunday, June 17, 2012:

Ultra Lightweight Sportsman:

1. Bill Cameron, Kawasaki Ninja 250

2. Andrew Rogers, Kawasaki Ninja 250

3. John Floyd, Kawasaki ZZR250

4. Jack Stevens, Kawasaki Ninja 250

5. Mike Correll, Kawasaki EX250

6. Attila Denes, Kawasaki Ninja 250

Sunday Novice Race:

1. Steven Bleistein, Kawasaki ZX6R

2. Chase Glidden, Yamaha YZF-R1

3. Brian Rose, Suzuki GSXR1000

4. Steve Kidd, Kawasaki ZX10R

5. Dan Cordon, Yamaha YZF-R6

6. Christopher Larrabee, Kawasaki ZX6R

600 Superbike:

1. Eli Edwards, Yamaha YZF-R6

2. Ryan Sutton, Yamaha YZF-R6

3. Kevin Klemmer, Yamaha YZF-R6

4. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

5. Kyle Staples, Suzuki GSXR600

6. Doug Hillius, Yamaha YZF-R6

750 Vintage

1. Duncan Craick, Seeley Westlake

2. Paul Brodie, Excelsior 1000

3. John Nilsson, Honda CB750

4. Gary Ryder, Norton Commando

500 Vintage:

1. Levi Maryott, Honda CB350

2. Marc Brown, Honda CB350

3. Jim West, Honda CB350

160 Vintage:

1. Mick Hart, Honda CB175

2. Mark Etheridge, Honda CB175

3. Joseph Wright, Honda CB175

4. Arash Nadershahi, Honda CB175

5. Tim Fowler, Honda CB175

Lightweight Superbike:

1. Shawn Becker, Suzuki SV650

2. Ted Hawkins, Suzuki SV650

3. Eric May, Suzuki SV650

4. Rhett Halpin, Suzuki SV650

5. Robert May, Suzuki SV650

6. Erick Rostad, Suzuki SV650

Peter Lenz Memorial 125GP:

1. John Gessner, Honda RS125

2. Sean Galt, Moriwaki MD250H

3. Mick Hart, Honda RS125

4. Joseph Wright, Honda RS125

750 Superbike:

1. Eli Edwards, Yamaha YZF-R6

2. Ryan Sutton, Yamaha YZF-R6

3. Doug Hillius, Suzuki GSXR750

4. Kevin Klemmer, Yamaha YZF-R6

5. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

6. Cody Koth, Suzuki GSXR750

Formula Thunder:

1. Howard Crow, Ducati 848

2. Shawn Becker, Suzuki SV650

3. Don Brockett, Triumph 675

4. Ted Hawkins, Suzuki SV650

5. Brandon Knowles, Suzuki SV650

6. Richard Meyer, Triumph 675

Heavyweight Early GP:

1. Jerry Kassebaum, Suzuki GSXR1000

2. Chris Mann, Suzuki GSXR750

3. David Marod, Honda CBR1000RR

4. Anthony Bakker, Yamaha YZF-R6

5. Greg Canright, Yamaha YZF-R6

250GP:

1. John Gessner, Honda RS125

2. Gary Ryder, Tigcraft SRX

3. Sean Galt, Moriwaki MD250H

250 Ninja Cup:

1. Bill Cameron, Kawasaki Ninja 250

2. Andrew Rodgers, Kawasaki Ninja 250

3. Jack Stevens, Kawasaki Ninja 250

4. Jonathan Wood, Kawasaki Ninja 250

5. Mike Correll, Kawasaki Ninja 250

6. John Stevens, Kawasaki Ninja 250

Open Superbike:

1. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR600RR

2. Allister MacKinnon, Suzuki GSXR750

3. Cody Koth, Suzuki GSXR750

4. Mike Alton, Suzuki GSXR750

5. Donny Schultz, Suzuki GSXR1000

6. Tony Connell, Suzuki GSXR750

Open GP Twins:

1. Howard Crow, Ducati 848

2. Tony Connell, Suzuki SV1000

600 TFS:

1. Kyle Staples, Suzuki GSXR600

2. Shawn Becker, Suzuki SV650

3. Adam Granzer, Yamaha YZF-R6

4. Eric May, Suzuki SV650

5. Rhett Halpin, Suzuki SV650

6. Robert May, Suzuki SV650

Formula Ultra:

1. Mark DeGross, Honda CBR1000RR

2. Allister MacKinnon, Suzuki GSXR1000

3. Eli Edwards, Yamaha YZF-R6 (DNF)