MRA: Thornton, Yee Continue To Dominate
Thornton and Yee Triumphant in MRA Round Two at Pikes Peak International Raceway
Fountain, CO – The second round of the 2023 MRA Championship Series took place at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, CO over the weekend of June 3-4. PPIR is the shortest track on the MRA calendar with the infield course being only 1.3 miles long. The oval banking and dropping onto the apron area of the track makes for some very exciting racing with Turn One being one of the highest speed corners of the Colorado series.
The weather for the weekend was very unpredictable as the area had rain showers throughout the day Saturday and most of the morning on Sunday. Despite the weather challenges, all the races throughout the weekend ran without a hitch. Race of The Rockies (RoR) qualifying on Sunday morning was conducted on a partially damp track which caused some racers to use their rain tires while others gambled on slicks. Unfortunately, the track was too damp for the racers using slicks to take full advantage of the sticky rubber. Ken Yee took pole position on his Kawasaki ZX-6R running on intermediate rain tires with a time of 1:03.8 followed by Alex Cusick (1:04.22) and David Lambert (1:04.29).
The start of RoR GTO race saw Brad Hendry get an incredible start coming from 14th to take the lead by the end of lap one. By lap two the number one plate holder Mike Applegate had made up eight positions and was sitting in third behind James Wilkerson. Applegate, Wilkerson, and Lambert were hot on the tail of Hendry, but Hendry managed to hold them of until lap six when Applegate made an impressive pass to take the lead. Lambert had the best pace of the group, clicking off mid to high 57’s and by lap 10 he overtook Applegate for the lead. Once out in front he put his head down and started to break free from the rest of the field. Lambert was looking like he was going repeat his victory from here last year but unfortunately a mechanical issue on lap 16 caused him to retire from the race. By this point with only two laps remaining, the leading trio was Applegate, Ray Thornton, and Wilkerson. Thornton was looking for any opportunity to strike and he finally made his move on the final lap of the race to take the lead and secure the victory. Applegate managed to maintain his second place, while Wilkerson took third, rounding off a tense and exciting race.
In Race of the Rockies GTU, Yee took the lead and proceeded to mix it up with the liter bikes for first few laps of the race. Meanwhile, trailing closely behind were Salvatore Rizzo and Tyrel Diekemann, who held their ground through the initial 11 laps. Colton Wulf wasn’t far behind and continued to claw his way up the field eventually stealing third place from Diekemann on lap 12. Despite valiant efforts from all contenders, no one could keep up with Yee’s remarkable pace, consistently clocking low to mid 1:00 laps. Ultimately, Rizzo secured a valiant second place finish, with Wulf rounding out the podium in third.
Next up, the MRA returns to High Plains Raceway in Byers, CO for Round Three on June 24-25. Once again, the SuperStreet class will be held on Saturday afternoon, giving street riders a chance to try real track motorcycle road racing with minimal cost & preparation. See SuperStreet Information – Motorcycle Roadracing Association (mra-racing.org) for details.
