Hendry, Behmer Victorious At Round Four
Hendry and Behmer Dominate at Round 4 High Plains Raceway
Byers, CO – The fourth race of the 2024 MRA Championship Series took place at High Plains Raceway over the weekend of June 29-30th on the 2.55-mile Full Course configuration. This was a special weekend as the MRA conducted their 15th Annual four-hour endurance race on Saturday which featured three classes: True Endurance (one bike, multiple riders), Pony Express, (multiple bikes, multiple riders), and Titanium Butt (one bike, one rider). The event saw many out-of-town racers drive hundreds of miles to try and steal victories and capture the prize money that was up for grabs.
The annual four-hour endurance race went off without a hitch on Saturday afternoon, seeing 28 teams take the starting grid. The race went well despite two red flags. The MRA safety team did an excellent job clearing everything up very quickly which got the riders back on track with minimal downtime. Once the four-hour clock had struck 0:00, Team Mother Lovers had secured victory in the True Endurance category with a total of 97 laps. The Pony Express category was won by team Longmont Tire Co. Pirelli with a total of 97 laps. The Titanium Butt Category victory was secured by team She’ll Be Right with a total of 91 laps.
The four-hour endurance race is usually the highlight of the year for most of the racers in the MRA. Here is what some of the racers had to say about it: Brennan Rogers from Tuxedo Shirt Racing said, “After meeting each other online and building two bikes for the event from parts we had lying around the garage, we met in person for the first time at High Plains. We broke both of those bikes, bought one off Marketplace, built it Friday morning, and went racing! Even after we crashed and had to fix the bike in the pits, we had a great time, and the endurance bug has certainly bit!” Salvatore Rizzo of TRM Race Team said, “With two people, the four-hour is a lot of riding and we set out to just do the best we could with one set of tires and two guys.” Tim May-Ellis of She’ll Be Right Racing said, “My back hurt, my hands hurt, everything hurt… but it feels pretty good to have finished the whole thing.”
The Race of the Rockies Qualifying on Sunday was conducted under excellent conditions as temperatures were around 75 degrees for most of the morning. Brad Hendry claimed pole position with a best time of (1:49.442) followed by Jason Martinez (1:50.626) and Jeremy Ross (1:52.456).
The Start of Race of the Rockies GTO saw Hendry get the holeshot going into turn one, followed closely by Martinez and Ross. Hendry got an excellent drive out of turn three and pulled a sizable gap on the rest of the field. By the end of lap one, Hendry had already pulled out to a two-second lead. On lap two, Martinez put a move on Ross and took over second position. While Ross and Martinez were mixing it up, Hendry had added another two seconds on to his lead. On lap three, Ross got payback on Martinez, and passed him back for second place. On the next lap, Ross made a mistake going into turn eight where he hit a false neutral, opening the door back up for Martinez to take back over second place. After that mistake, Ross never got another chance to retake second. Hendry had checked out at this point and was well over 10 seconds ahead of the field. Hendry secured his third RoR win of the season, followed by Martinez in second and Ross in third.
In Race of the Rockies GTU, Justen Behmer got an excellent launch and took the lead going into turn one, followed closely by Ken Yee and Tyrel Diekmann. Diekmann was running well, but an early mistake put him out of the race, giving third position to Dennis Stowers. On lap two, Yee put an excellent move on Behmer to take over the lead. Yee led for the next few laps, but Behmer was determined to fight back, and overtook Yee on lap seven to reclaim the lead. Stowers was running well in third place but was overtaken by last year’s RoR GTU class champion Salvatore Rizzo near the end of lap seven. Rizzo set the fastest time of the race after passing Stowers but ran out of laps before he could catch Yee, finishing just 0.6 second off second place. Behmer secured the win, followed by Yee in second and Rizzo rounded out the Podium in third.
Next up, the MRA heads back to High Plains Raceway in Byers, CO for Round Five on July 20-21 for a full weekend of racing including the SuperStreet event on Saturday afternoon. SuperStreet gives street riders the opportunity to experience motorcycle road racing with minimal cost and preparation. See https://www.mra-racing.org/superstreet/superstreet-information for details.
The MRA welcomes racers from other clubs across the nation. If you’re a currently licensed racer, we have several reciprocity agreements in place along with very competitive pricing on license & entries to our 28 classes. Click here for MRA membership & entry 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/.
