Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Beth Wyse

Vesrah Suzuki won round eight of the Dunlop/WERA National Endurance Series, a six-hour event at Nelson Ledges, with Mark Junge, John Jacobi and Tray Batey on a Heavyweight Superbike-class Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Kevin Perkins and Paul Youngman finished 11 laps behind Vesrah to take second overall and first in Mediumweight Superbike on the Velocity Crew Racing Suzuki GSX-R600. Neighbor of the Beast (NOTB) finished just 4.9 seconds behind them, giving Melissa Berkoff, Chris Pyles and Scott Fisher third overall and the Mediumweight Superstock class win on their Yamaha YZF-R6.

Dixie Mafia took the Lightweight Superbike class win as Bruce Stanford, Derek Keyes and Bo Morgan rode to a finish of fourth overall on a Suzuki SV650. Mark Edwards, Billy Etheridge and Jeff Walker won in the Heavyweight Superstock class, finishing sixth overall on the Team Xtreme/Maxxis Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Team Velocity Racing took the lead at the start, with Reuben Frankenfield on a Yamaha YZF-R1. He led for the first 50 minutes before Vesrah Suzuki’s Batey took over the position and never relinquished it.

Army of Darkness ran in third overall for most of the first hour, leading Mediumweight Superbike on a Suzuki GSX-R600, before engine problems forced the team to switch to their backup bike and they had to settle for a finish of 17th.

CherokeeChallenge.net took over third until their own problems caused them to fall back to ninth. Neighbor of the Beast then assumed third overall and first in Mediumweight Superstock.

As Vesrah Suzuki continued to run flawlessly, Team Velocity Racing held down a solid second overall until the end of the fifth hour, when Frankenfield crashed in the high-speed kink on the back straight. Frankenfield suffered a suspected broken scapula, but the team was able to return to the track after making extensive repairs, finishing 11th overall.

Velocity Crew moved into second after Team Velocity’s crash, followed by NOTB. With half-an-hour remaining, Pyles passed for second on the NOTB Yamaha, but a late-race stop for a splash of gas gave the position back to Velocity Crew.

There were no red flags during the race, giving the series a total of 25 consecutive red-flag-free hours.

RESULTS
1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey/Mark Junge/John Jacobi), Heavyweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R1000, 303 laps.

2. Velocity Crew Racing (Kevin Perkins/Paul Youngman), Mediumweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R600, 292 laps.

3. Neighbor of the Beast (Melissa Berkoff/Chris Pyles/Scott Fisher), Mediumweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 292 laps.

4. Dixie Mafia (Bruce Stanford/Bo Morgan/Derek Keyes), Lightweight Superbike, Suz SV650, 289 laps.

5. B&S Roadracing (Brian Dalke/Josh Smith-Moore/Larry Denning), Mediumweight Superstock, Suz GSX-R600, 286 laps.

6. Team Xtreme/Maxxis (Mark Edwards/Billy Etheridge/Jeff Walker), Heavyweight Superstock, Suz GSX-R1000, 285 laps.

7. Touring Sport Racing (Frank Shockley/Pete Friedland), Mediumweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 281 laps.

8. Ridge Racing II (Brad Baumgardner/Steve Smith/Greg Taylor/Todd Stoner), Heavyweight Superbike, Kaw ZX10R, 281 laps.

9. CherokeeChallenge.net (Scotty VanScoik/JP Tache/Steve Steinman), Mediumweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 280 laps.

10. SMP Racing (Michael Shallcross/Mike Roeser), Mediumweight Superbike, Yam YZF-R6, 279 laps.