McEnery Sets Track Record
CCS Florida Moroso Motorsports Park West Palm Beach, Florida
March 18, 2007
Dave McEnery set a new lap record at Moroso Motorsports Park during the CCS Unlimited Grand Prix race while chasing down the early leader, Santiago Villa, then went on to take the checkered flag, as well. McEnery’s teammate Greg Melka had nabbed the holeshot lead with his brand new Suzuki GSX-R1000 and led the first lap of the race. Villa was out front at the start of lap two with McEnery in hot pursuit. After exiting the chicane and charging down the back straight, McEnery made his first attempt at passing Villa on the outside of turn seven, but was unable to get around the leader. By the end of lap two, all three front-runners were less than two seconds away from the record lap time.
The race became a two-rider battle for the lead as Villa led the way around the course running at near-record pace. McEnery was later on the brakes into the corners, but still not able to get around the leader. His record-breaking lap time of 1:34.316, was set during the fourth lap of the race, less than one year after Darren Luck broke the previous record during the Memorial Day weekend event with a lap time of 1:34.60.
In the next lap, McEnery finally made his way to the front, passing Villa on the back straight as they approached turn seven. And with just over one lap to go, he started to open a gap on the former leader. As he crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap six, McEnery was about 30 bikelengths ahead of Villa. Marco Martinez finished third. McEnery also took home bonus purse monies for winning the Shootout with an open exhaust.
On the podium, McEnery commented, “It was pretty close. That start I had was less than perfect. And, Marco pushed me out of the way and he was determined. And, then, Villa was determined. Greg was on fire for the first couple of laps. He was running really well. And for a minute, I was like, ‘You just need to settle down and pick them off one at a time.’ But it wasn’t easy. It was a hell of a race and you do everything you can do. I don’t think I took a breath on the whole last lap, I was trying so hard.”
When asked about setting the lap record he remarked, “You know when Darren got that record last year, everybody was like, ‘Holy cow.’ I wanted to try for it, but I really didn’t know if it would be something to do. And, then after the GTO this morning, I’m like, you know what, I think I can try for it. But then with that start I had, I was like, you know what, I’ll just settle for trying to win, and if I get a lap record that’s fine.” McEnery also won the GTO and Unlimited Superbike events.
The Leon Backus Memorial event was also a record setter for the Ducati 1098 and pilot Barrett Long. The brand new machine made its debut as a race bike at Daytona two weeks ago, a mere three weeks after being unveiled in the United States. Long rode the bike to its first victory in America (if not the world) during the Unlimited Supersport race. He later won the SuperTwins and Heavyweight Superbike events with the DucatiMiami/Desmomaniacs sponsored machine.
Garrett Rick was the winningest expert of the weekend with four first place finishes. He won the GT Lights, Lightweight Grand Prix, Lightweight Superbike, and Thunderbike events.
RESULTS:
UNLIMITED GRAND PRIX (SHOOTOUT): 1. David McEnery (Suz GSX-R1000); 2. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R1000); 3. Marco Martinez (Suz GSX-R1000); 4. Michael Rouleau (Suz GSX-R1000); 5. Barrett Long (Duc 1098S); 6. Greg Melka (Suz GSX-R1000); 7. Lars Remsen (Suz GSX-R1000); 8. Kevin Lacombe (Yam YZF-R6); 9. Klaus Schmitt (Suz GSX-R1000).
More, from a press release issued by Longevity Racing:
First Victories for Ducati 1098 in America and Possibly the World!
WealthyMen.com’s Barrett Long rode Ducati Miami’s new 1098S to three victories at Moroso Motorsport Park on Sunday, 3/18/07.
Long’s first win was the hardest in Unlimited Supersport, as he came from eight seconds back to set a blistering 1:33.399 lap time and win by three seconds. His second win came in the SuperTwins class, where he was unchallenged.
His final win came in Heavyweight Superbike, where again he came from a back grid position to easily win. CCS Florida grid positions are determined by time of entry rather than timed qualifying.
The Ducati 1098S was raced with only a different exhaust and body work, otherwise stock.
Update: According to CCS Florida boss Henry DeGouw, Barrett Long’s best lap time during the Unlimited Supersport race was not a 1:33.399 but instead was a 1:36.399.