AMA Sanctioned

ASRA Sprint Series Presented by Pirelli Tire

June 12, 2016

Virginia International Raceway

Alton, VA

Miller, Heckles and Kcraget Master VIR

Alton, VA– The AMA sanctioned ASRA Team Sprint Series presented by Pirelli Tire was hot at Virginia International Raceway. With temperatures in the mid 90’s and heat indexes exceeding 98°, the only question left was whether it was the weather or the racing that would be the story during the 14th Annual Paul Farrell Memorial weekend. Starting with qualifying on Saturday and then the racing action on Sunday, the ASRA competitors showed they meant business.

On Saturday afternoon, Mark Heckles took his Yamaha R-1 and captured the pole with a 1:28.750, just over 2 seconds faster than next quickest time in qualifying. Conventional wisdom would have it that Heckles would be cruising to the win since his performance was dominating. From the green flag Heckles jumped out and only made it half way to turn one before a mechanical failure slowed him dramatically on the straight and unfortunately right into contact with the hard charging Jonathan Thomas on his R-1. The contact stopped the race before it started and unfortunately for both riders, ended their SuperStock experience for the day. That meant the door was open for the rest of the field on the restart and Craig Miller grabbed the opportunity with his R-1 to take a 3.95 second victory from Ned “Peanut” Brown also on an R-1. Finishing on the final step of the podium was David Loikits on the lone Suzuki GSXR 1000 at the front of the field and the third place gives Loikits a 19 point lead in the championship with 4 rounds remaining.

After the SuperStock malfunction, Mark Heckles was ready to cash in on his hard fought pole for the SportBike class and maintain his winning streak. From the outset it looked like Richard O’Hare was set on ruining the rest of Heckles day as he took the hole-shot on his Yamaha R-6 and held off the point leader for 2 laps before Heckles could finally clear the challenger. Once in the clear, Heckles built a solid lead and cruised to the victory over O’Hare, preserving his ASRA SportBike winning steak with his R-6. Veteran racer and former AMA Champion Arnold Hastings secured third position on his Suzuki GSXR 600 and now sits in 4th in the championship. Heckles 4th win of the season leaves him with a 62 point lead in the SportBike championship for 2016.

While the ThunderBike class was light in entries, the field still gave each other all they had and that created a problem in turn 3 on the first lap. Keith Draghi and William Coats tangled and caused both riders to slide off into the grass damaging the machines enough they could not be removed without stopping the race. So the field reset into original positions minus the two riders and started again. Unfortunately for Christian Crosslin and eventual third place finisher Arnold Hastings, it was VIR ace Brian Kcraget lined up next to them on the pole position. While Crosslin, Hastings and eventual 4th place rider Russell Masecar tried their best, they were not a match for Kcraget who flew to victory by 14.901 seconds. All four of the top riders were aboard Suzuki SV650s.

For the Amateur classes it was William Gawler with lap records for qualifying and the race along with the win SuperStock. In another qualifying record performance and a second win for Bailey Cox in SportBike.

Next race for the ASRA Sprint Series Presented by Pirelli Tire is July 1-3, 2016 at Elkhart Lake’s Road America in Elkhart Lake WI.

For complete qualifying, results and point standing, please visit our website at www.asraracing.com and follow the links.

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 2016. 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 2016 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.