MRA Round 3 sees the return of Burke in GTO and victory for Dear in GTU
Byers, CO – The Motorcycle Roadracing Association held round
3 of the 2021 championship series at High Plains Raceway (West Course) over
the weekend of June 26-27. The MRA was able to get a full schedule of
racing done over Saturday and Sunday, but the rain prohibited the running of
SuperStreet on Saturday afternoon.
Ryan Burke made a return to HPR after missing the first two MRA rounds and
put himself on the Race of the Rockies pole with a qualifying time of
1:24.681. Mike Applegate took the middle row position with a 1:25.163 and
RoR points leader Ray Thornton filled out the front row with a 1:25.263.
The RoR GTU grid was set with Jared Dear taking the qualifying lead with a
1:27.877 followed by Brian Dobrowolski at a 1:28.319 and Scott Morrison at
1:28.551.
Applegate got a fantastic start and lead Burke and Thornton with Dave
Lambert, Phil Hergenrader and Nyles Gourlie in tow. On lap 2, Burke got
around Applegate to take the lead and went about setting the race pace.
Lambert, Hergenrader, and Gourlie were not to be shaken off easily this
time, however. While chasing the front three, Lambert set the fastest time
of the weekend with a 1:23.876. Unfortunately, Lambert had to retire on lap
7 with some mechanical issues.
Meanwhile, the front three of Burke, Applegate and Thornton were able to gap
the field but not each other. For the remainder of the race, these three
were inseparable until traffic became an issue on lap 15. Both Applegate
and Thornton lost a little touch with Burke, but Applegate ticked off his
best lap of the race to return to Burke’s tail section. Catching Burke is
one thing, passing him is another and so at the finish it was Burke,
Applegate, and Thornton.
In Race of the Rockies GTU, Jared Dear took the lead and was never
challenged. While Dear worked his way through the open class bikes, he ran
low 1:28’s to high 1:27’s consistently through the finish of the race.
Dennis Stowers and Cameron Lee got fantastic starts and chased Dear for a
handful of laps until Stowers was able to get past Lee and start after Dear
for the lead. Lee wasn’t able to hold the pace as much this weekend likely
due to a huge crash he suffered on Saturday. In the meantime, Morrison was
working his way around the open bikes and snuck up behind Stowers on lap 13.
It was clear that Morrison was on a mission and was able to get around
Stowers just before the white flag to claim the second podium spot. So it
was Dear, Morrison, and Stowers on the Race of the Rockies GTU podium.
Coming up on July 17-18, the MRA goes back to High Plains Raceway for Round
4 on the full course configuration. This round will include the annual MRA
4-hour endurance on Saturday. Endurance classes will be for Solo (Titanium
Butt), Pony Express, and True Endurance with trophies and prize money
awarded Saturday night after the races. There will not be the SuperStreet
event this weekend, but SuperStreeters are invited to come watch the 4-hour
endurance.
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 keys in the bottom left corner of the PDF viewer to better see all of the race results.
