Mavros Motorsports Up to Challenge at Summit Point
Summit Point, WV– The AMA sanctioned ASRA Team Challenge Series presented by Michelin Tire joined the Championship Cup Series for the final event at Summit Point Motorsports Park and the racers showed up in force to close the season at Summit. Along with the 19 teams starting the Team Challenge, there were 192 CCS racers totaling 647 entries and 7 sidecar rigs to top off the party.
At the drop of the green flag it looked like another 7-lap sprint race had started, not the 100-lap Team Challenge final. Fast out of the blocks was Mavros Motorsports (Seth Starnes, Dustin Young) closely followed by Jinba Itta-Oscar Blues (Joel Lenk, Matt Brown) and the entire field. On lap 3, Jinba Itta, moved into the lead position and Mavros wasted no time in taking the spot back on lap 4. On lap 18 it was Dead Presidents (Jeremy Cook, Clinton Nawara) taking the lead for 2-laps until Mavros took it back on lap 20. Pit stops started for the front runners at lap 34 when Dead Presidents came in giving second place to Grease Monkey Racing (Eric Helmbach) and third to the RnR Racing (Rick Begs, Dean Smith, Jason Gibbens). The fuel light came on for the Mavros so they hit pit road on lap 38 for fuel and returned to the track still in the lead by 5.266 seconds over RnR Cycles. Closing in on the mid-point of the race, Dead Presidents found themselves off the track and down in turn 8 with enough damage that they retired to the paddock. This left Mavros and Grease Monkey to battle and on lap 49, Helmbach put the Grease Monkey BMW the out front at half way.
Once they hit halfway, the two rivals swapped the lead for several laps until Mavros moved into the lead for good on lap 55 and despite a 10 second stop-and-go for infractions on their last pit stop the the only question seemed to be who was going to finish second. After the penalty it was LB Sports (Lloyd Bayley) in second and RnR Racing in third Overall. When LB Sports hit pit road for the last time on lap 86, RnR moved to second and Grease Monkey up to third, both teams a full lap down to Mavros. This set up the biggest heartbreak you can have as RnR went out mechanical just 2-laps from the checkered flag allowing NJMP Overall and GTO winner LB Sports to move into third overall. The final order saw Mavros Motorsports in first, Grease Monkey in second and LB Sports in third. These three teams were also the GTO podium, making it another sweep for the liter class. With the win in the Overall class, Mavros Motorsports leads the Overall Championship by 23 points over LB Sports and they have a 15 point lead over Grease Monkey Racing I the GTO Championship with just 2 rounds remaining.
The GTU saw Jimmy Winters Motorsports (Anthony Mazziotto III, Casey Tobolewski) capitalized on the RnR Racing misfortune to take a second win of the season and Bad Wolf Brewing (Greg L’Heureux, Tommy Wilson, George Federlin) finished third behind the RnR team. The late season woes continued for GTU point leader Jinba Itta-Oscar Blues as they lost 7 laps with problems early in the contest and then losing 3 more on their final stop of the race. Even with their 5th place finish, Jinba Itta holds a 55 point lead over Bad Wolf Brewery after 6 rounds of racing.
It was definitely another banner day for the LWT Racer teams as the entire GTL Class were representing LWT Racer. The top step was class point leader LWT Racer 171 ( Todd Alberico, Benjamin Loyle) followed by LWT Racer 216 (Anthony Rossati, John Dodson, Joseph Bungoin) second and the LWT Racer 76 (Yuttichai Yasothonsrikul, Joseph Mink, Nikolas Heid) finished in third and LWT Racer 60 (Sam Wiest, William Finnerty) took fourth. The victory by LWT Racer 171 brought them up to a 43 point lead in the 2016 GTL National Championship standings heading to Virginia International Raceway for round 7 of the series.
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 Series Presented by Michelin Tire is September 18 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA. 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 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.