ASRA Team Challenge Series Presented by Michelin Tire
August 24, 2014
Summit Point Raceway
Summit Point, WV
Grease Monkey Racing Wins Second Consecutive 200 Mile Team Challenge
Summit Point, WV– The AMA sanctioned ASRA Team Challenge Series presented by Michelin Tire at Summit Point Raceway had a rough start when Seth Starnes of the Mavros & Boy team fell in turn 5 and the ensuing clean stopped the event before it could complete the first lap. Following a short delay, the green flag flew and so did the 30-bike field with the TOBC 1000 team (Scott Harwell, Jon Couch) leading the majority of the early laps while constantly getting pressure from Push Racing (Tony Leong) and Martinez Racing (Calvin Martinez, Kaleb DeKeyrel). The first to fall by the wayside was Martinez Racing when fuel delivery problems began to plague the team at lap 10, taking them out of contention. Then on lap 21, Push Racing dropped out of the event leaving TOBC 1000 alone in front of the field until lap 45 when they made their first pit stop and encountered their own problems on lap 46. This gave the lead to the Grease Monkey Racing (Eric Helmbach, Alex Shaw) who held that position until lap 56 when MRP Motorsports GTO (Alan Nelson, David Rose) caught the leaders and moved to the front. After trading pit stops and riders for both teams around lap 70, GMR set to work on the lead MRP gained on their quicker pit stop. On lap 85 of the 100 lap contest, GMR passed MRP and led the final 15 laps to take the victory by 17.446 seconds over MRP with the TOBC 600 (Curtis Murray, Chris Crosslin, Donny Kelley) finishing in third Overall with 98 laps complete. The win also gives 5-time ASRA Team Challenge Champion Grease Monkey Racing a 52-point lead in the Overall standings with just 2 rounds left in 2014.
With Grease Monkey Racing wining the Overall, they also are credited with the GTO class win, followed by MRP Motorsports, second Overall and GTO then the TOBC 1000 came back finishing 97 laps to secure third in GTO, fifth Overall at the checkered flag. GMR enjoys a 41-point lead in the GTO Championship over Barry Motorsports (Jim Barry, Jeremy Cook)
In addition to their third place Overall, TOBC 600 won the GTU class by 19.626 seconds over RnR Cycles Racing (Jason Gibbens, Joe Cotterino) with both teams finishing 98 laps. The final podium position was taken by MRP Motorsports GTU (Ian Tetrick) with 97 laps complete. Current class point leader, RnR Repsol Racing (Rick Beggs, Jason Gibbens, Terry Taylor) struggled to a seventh place finish and their lead is now just one point in the championship over Pure Action Sports (Jason Kania, Dustin Young, Jim Fontinopolis) who finished fourth in the class.
The biggest surprise was the GTL class, as the Mavros & Boy team (J Seth Starnes, Mary Evry) crashed on the opening lap and took the team out of the event without scoring a single point. This left the door open for Faceplant/Ducati Depot (Tom Eubank, Greg Melka, Charlie Long, David Hanig) to really secure the GTL Championship but motor problems 25 laps into the event left them on the sidelines and a seventh-place finish. The TOBC 650 team (Brian Kcraget, Curtis Murray) took off and led the class until a crash on lap 15 ended their hopes of victory. From that point on it was Rawspeed Racing (David Hanig, Charlie Long, Anthony Strippoli) in command as they completed 94 laps to win the class. Finishing second place was Well Seasoned Racing (David Hockenberry , Bart DeFrancesco, George Demetropolis) with 93 laps followed by LWT Racing 171 (Todd Alberico, Benjamin Loyle) in third position. The Faceplant/Ducati Depot team now has a 30-point lead over Mavros & Boy Racing for the GTL class with 2 rounds to go.
For complete results and point standings, please visit our website at www.asraracing.com and follow the links.
The next event for the ASRA Team Challenge Presented by Michelin Tire is September 21 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton Virginia for the final 200 mile event of the season. For more information on upcoming events, please visit www.asraracing.com or www.ccsracing.us.
The American SportBike Racing Association (ASRA) is the parent organization to the Championship Cup Series (CCS), the largest amateur motorcycle road racing organization in the United States issuing over 3,000 licenses per year. ASRA promotes eight AMA sanctioned Sprint Series and eight AMA sanctioned Team Challenge road racing events for 2014. The CCS Series sanctions 45 events at popular tracks around the United States, including Daytona International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Road America, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Virginia International Raceway among other fine venues. In 2014 ASRA and CCS will provide riders with access to millions of dollars of sponsorship awards through participation in its sanctioned events.
Join CCS and ASRA in the greatest road racing experience available today. Race CCS! To learn more visit our website at http://www.ccsracing.us or call us at (817) 246-1127.