Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Beth Wyse

Greg Moore was the top qualifier for the Festival of Speed at No Problem Raceway on Saturday, turning a time of 1:14.032 around the 1.8-mile Louisiana track on his Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The third Festival of Speed is being hosted by the Church of Speed, No Problem Raceway’s road racing organization. For qualifying, the riders were divided into two sessions. The first group was for Expert only, while the second was comprised of Novice and non-race-licensed street riders.

The two groups rotated during the afternoon, riding 20-minute sessions at a time. At the end of the day, the top times for all riders were combined. The top third will race in the Expert division on Sunday, the middle third will be grouped in the Novice division and the final third will be in the Street, or “Trophy,” class. Each group will have two races, with all sizes of bikes combined.

Mike Sanchez qualified second with a 1:14.588 on his Suzuki GSX-R750. Shogun Racing’s Heath Small was third with a time of 1:15.197 on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Jamie James is on hand this weekend to assist Small in setting his bike up and even took the bike out for some laps during the practice sessions.

Shane Stoyko was the fifth qualifier after setting a time of 1:15.930 on TheRacerSupply.com Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The Church of Speed will be a CCS affiliate for the 2004 season, hosting two events at No Problem Raceway. For this weekend’s event, CCS provided some transponders and additional AirFence modules.

Races will begin on Sunday, January 25, at 1:00 p.m. CST. The longest race of the day, and the one with the largest payout, will be a 25-lap Expert race. In addition to the three classes, there will also be an 8-lap Buell/Motard race.