MRA: Thornton inches Closer to Race of the Rockies Championship
Dear Trail, CO – Colorado’s Motorcycle Roadracing Association (MRA)
continued its 2021 championship series with the latest round 6 at High
Plains Raceway – North Course over the weekend of August 28-29
Coming into round 6 Mike Applegate trailed Ray Thornton by five points.
Applegate needed to beat Thornton this round to force a winner-take-all
showdown at the season finale. When the lights went out Applegate got off to
an amazing start with Thornton close behind. The two riders pulled a gap on
the rest of the field, lapping almost a second a lap faster than everyone
else making this a two rider showdown for the victory. With 6 laps to go
Thornton was still harassing Applegate waiting on an opportunity to strike,
when a mechanical took Applegate out of the race. Applegate later reported
it was because of a faulty fuel line. Ray Thornton seemingly cruised to
victory winning by more than 20 seconds.
The battle to be best of the rest was extremely intense as James Wilkerson,
Phillip Hergenrader, Jason Martinez and Jim Hinton battled the entire race.
All four riders having an opportunity for their career-first Race of the
Rockies GTO podium. As the laps wound down Wilkerson and Hergenrader were
able to weather the storm and secured their first podiums in the premier
class. Which gives us Thornton, Wilkerson, and Hergenrader on the Race of
the Rockies GTO podium.
In Race of the Rockies GTU the exciting racing continued. Jared Dear got off
to a great start with Dennis Stowers in tow. Stowers was able to put
together some fantastic laps managing to catch and pass Dear for the lead.
Undeterred Dear got back around Stowers and put his head down waiting for
Stowers to remount an attack. Stowers was never able to mount an attack
suffering a mechanical putting him out of the race with just 2 laps to go.
Jared Dear took the victory in GTU, followed by Alex Greenman in second who
also got his first career Race of the Rockies Podium and Scott Morrison who
finished third edging out Ken Yee at the finish line by a tenth of a second.
Which gives us Dear, Greenman and Morrison on the Race of the Rockies GTU
podium.
Every year the MRA racers get faster and this round was no exception.
Claiming new HPR-West track records were Tom Dixon with a 1:34.339 in 350
Superbike and 1:34.013 in 350 Supersport, Justen Behmer claimed a 1:24.100
in 500 Superbike and a 1:19.223 in Premier Amateur. Craig Gomulka took the
500 Supersport record with a 1:25. 049, Ryan Smith bested the Lightweight GP
time with a 1:18.995 and the Lightweight Endurance with 1:19.782. Finally,
Dennis Stowers pulled a 1:16.229 in Modern Vintage GTO and Alex Greenman
scored a 1:17.512 for Modern Vintage GTU.
For Round 7, the MRA returns to High Plains Raceway which will feature the
MRA’s SuperStreet class and race program for only $100. For more
information on SuperStreet 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 pages of the race results.
