MRA 4-Hour Results; Applegate & Grant star in Race of the Rockies
Byers, CO – The Motorcycle Roadracing Association of Colorado
held its annual 4-Hour endurance race on Saturday, July 17 and followed up
on Sunday with an exciting set of sprint races including Race of the
Rockies.
The 11th annual 4-Hour endurance started off with outdoor temperatures in
the mid-90s promising to test the endurance of everyone under the heat.
With only a single red flag incident, the race went off without any delays
and at the end, it was the Pony Express team of F40+ completing 110 laps for
the overall win. The Express Team Fogeys finished 2nd at 109 laps, followed
by the True Endurance team of MotherLovers at 108 laps. In the single bike,
single rider Titanium Butt class, multi-time winner Louden Clear
Designs/Louden David was unseated by NateMo/Nathan Morales by a single lap,
NateMo completing 103 laps, Louden Clear with 102.
Sunday saw new names qualify on the front row for Race of the Rockies.
Nyles Gourlie put his Suzuki GSX-R1000 on the pole with a 1:47.853. In the
middle was returning Ray Thornton with a 1:48.239 and rounding out the front
row was Grant Motors Racing’s young gun Liam Grant on his Kawasaki ZX-6R
with a 1:48.342.
Joe Resta took the Race of the Rockies GTO hole shot on his Kawasaki ZX-10
and ripped off a 1:47.297 to get things started early. For the next 5 laps,
Resta was shadowed by Mike Applegate, Thornton, and Gourlie as those four
separated themselves from the rest of the field. By lap 5, there wasn’t
more than 0.8 seconds between first and fourth place. On lap 6, Applegate
made the pass on Resta to take the lead and Thornton followed suit the next
lap as to not let Applegate get away. Unfortunately on lap 9, Resta
crashed bringing out the red flag and the conclusion of the race. With
the scoring reverting to the previously completed lap with Resta crashing
out, Applegate took the win with Thornton second and Gourlie third.
For the Race of the Rockies GTU class, Liam Grant was all but untouchable.
At the start, he battled with the open bikes for position while clearing out
from the rest of the 600cc GTU field turning consistent high 1:49 lap times.
That left Jared Dear pretty much alone for second with a set of 1:51s and
Dennis Stowers for third running very consistent 1:52s. They finished that
way, Grant first, Dear second, and Stowers third.
A number of HPR full course track records were set during this past weekend. Notably, Tom Dixon set the track records for 350 Superbike and 350 Supersport with a 2:17.797 and 2:17.248 respectively. Justen Behmer set the 500 SuperBike and 500 SuperSport records at 2:04.358 and 2:04.576. Youngster Jayden Fernandez demolished the Formula Colorado record with a 1:56.813, Alex Greenman posted a Modern Vintage GTU record of 1:52.462, Stephen Townsend set Premier Amateur to 1:54.063, and Ryan Smith bested the SuperTwins GTU record with a 1:54.671.
Next up for the MRA is Round 5 at Pikes Peak International Raceway over the
weekend of August 7-8. Returning for that weekend is MRA’s SuperStreet
class on Saturday afternoon where, which minimal cost and preparation,
street riders can get on the track with racing instructors, learn basic
racetrack techniques, and participate in a flag to flag race all for $100.
For more information and to sign up, go to
https://www.mra-racing.org/superstreet/superstreet-information/
The Motorcycle Roadracing Association is dedicated to promoting safe and
competitive motorcycle road racing events for enthusiasts in Colorado and
the surrounding area. For more information go to http://www.mra-racing.org/.
Editorial Note: Use the scroll and zoom tools in the bottom left corner of the PDF viewer to better see all of the race results.
