Team Velocity Racing Clinches HSS Championship and Wins Two Classes at Barber
LEEDS, Ala. With one round left in the WERA National Endurance Series season, Team Velocity Racing clinched the Heavyweight Superstock title with their class win during Saturday’s four-hour race at Barber Motorsports Park. Mark Crozier and Reuben Frankenfield rode the Yamaha YZF-R1 to a finish of third overall despite an electrical problem that developed in the final ten minutes of the race.
For the first time this season, Team Velocity Racing (TVR) entered a Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Mediumweight Superstock class as TVR2. Team owner Chuck Ivey paired with David Weber to give the team the class victory, winning by two laps and finishing sixth overall.
Crozier started the race on the R1, leading in the opening minutes before settling into second. He and Frankenfield each rode two stints, trading the second spot with Army of Darkness throughout the race.
With ten minutes to go, Frankenfield had built up a one-lap lead over Army, but with just seven minutes left in the race an electrical problem developed. A loose wire in the starter switch left the bike without power, and Frankenfield coasted into pit lane. From there, a number of teams pitched in to help push the R1 to TVR’s pits.
The crew got to work fixing the switch, but the time in the pits was enough to drop TVR down to third overall. Frankenfield crossed the finish line just 19.895 seconds behind second place.
The win clinched the Heavyweight Superstock championship for TVR, who have won the class in all but one round this season. It is the second consecutive class championship for the team.
“The crew did a great job and we did well on the bike,” said Crozier. “The problem at the end kept us out of second overall, but we’re still in the hunt for the overall championship. But we clinched our class championship, which was our main goal.”
“After losing what seems like an eternity in the pits- even though it was only about 30 seconds longer than a normal stop- I went out and tried to get a tenth here and a tenth there, and tried to keep going as fast as I could,” said Frankenfield of the last few minutes of the race.
In Mediumweight Superstock, Ivey and Weber rode a consistent race on the TVR2 R6, taking over the class lead in the second hour and never relinquishing it. They rode the entire race on one set of Pirelli DOTs.
Ivey said that, “David did a great job riding the bike. The tires held up really well and were still good at the end. The team did a great job handling the double pit stops. It was their first time for that and we learned a lot about timing the pit stops. Having two bikes out there is completely different.”
“The bike was really well set up, and I was comfortable as soon as I got on it,” said Weber. “The team was great; they’re easy to work with. They had everything ready to go and all I had to do was jump on and ride. I just want to thank Chuck for letting me ride.”
The final round of the season for TVR will be on Friday, October 14 during the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta. Fans can get news and information about TVR at www.TeamVelocityRacing.com.