Hot Temps Bring Track Records For Sutton at The Ridge Motorsports Park
June 24 & 25, 2017 The Ridge Motorsports Park – Shelton, WA
The Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association (WMRRA) went into its fourth round of the 2017 season ready to payout to the fastest riders of the northwest. Thank you to Triumph of Seattle, Speeddealer Motors, Noble Rush, MotoVixens, and Sixth Gear Publishing for supporting the club with purse money to push our riders to the next level!
Along with the second fast practice of the morning, came our Formula Ultra Qualifying. Ryan Sutton topped off the grid securing P1 onboard his South Sound BMW S1000RR, with a lap time of 1:39.617. Landing in P2, was Mitchell Pierce onboard his 2 Wheel Dynoworks-backed CBR1000RR, with a lap time of 1:40.655. The last spot of the front row was secured by MotoAmerica racer Marcel Irnie on board his World’s Best Motorcycles-backed BMW S1000RR, with a lap time of 1:41.078. The rest of the grid was filled with the following riders (top lap times first); Sam Verderico, Chase Glidden, Tim Kingston, David Wanzer, Scott Decker, Quentin Cyre, Micah Kudo, Zac Smith, Jeff Lane, Jeremy Johnson, Dan Manheimer, and Brittany Dickson.
Our premier 16-lap Formula Ultra race was the first of the weekend. Ryan Sutton ran a fast, consistent race dominating the rest of the field. With his fastest lap time being about 5 tenths of a second faster than any other rider on the grid, he coasted past the finish line four whole seconds ahead of second place. Coming in second place was Mitchell Pierce with a fastest lap time of 1:39.703 who had a clean, consistent race coming in nearly 30 seconds ahead of third. Sam Verderico on board his Superbike Underground-backed Yamaha R1, was slotted into the last spot on the podium at the end of this 16-lap race.
Formula Ultra Race Results:
1. Ryan Sutton
2. Mitchell Pierce
3. Sam Verderico
4. Marcel Irnie
5. Tim Kingston
6. Scott Decker
7. Quentin Cyre
8. Jeremy Johnson
9. Dan Manheimer
10. Brittany Dickson
11. Chase Glidden
Following our Formula Ultra race, was one of our biggest grids of the weekend, Clubman Qualifier. Clubman Qualifier is a two-race class with one race on Saturday and one on Sunday. With 25 racers on the Saturday grid, Matthew Wichgers flew by the finish line just ahead of John Niederegger for the number one spot. Coming in a lonely third was Anthony Noakes who actually had the fastest lap time of the race with a 1:49.929. On the Sunday race, John Niederegger finished out on the top of the podium after Nick Dudziak and Jordan Wingard were disqualified for running sub 1:49.00 lap times. Finishing out the podium on Sunday were Tim Wartchow and Bobby Hines. With combined points from both races the overall podium for this class ended with John Niederegger in first with 111 points, Tim Wartchow in second with 88 points barely beating out Bobby Hines in third with 87 points.
The next event of the weekend was our Sounds of the Past waived start race. This waived classed had two heats on Saturday including the Vintage 250, 500, and 750 classes. The first Vintage 250 race gave us Tim O’Mahony, Stephen Phillips, and Phil Cook on the podium. The second race gave us the same podium except Matthew Winter stealing that third and final spot. Overall, Tim O’Mahony took the class win, Stephen Phillips took second, and Neil Jensen rode to third. In the 500 class, the podium in both heats and the overall was Marc Brown, Jim West, and finally Dustin Knudsen. Our 750 Vintage class was consistent as well with the podium being John Nilsson, Alan Merkley, and Christopher Gray in both heats, as well as the overall.
After our first sounds of the past heat was our Middleweight Early GP, Open Singles, and Ninja 250 waived start race. In our Middleweight Early GP class, Douglas Pearson rode a lonely race to the finish line after the other two competitors in the class went down. Our Open Singles class had a bit larger grid with nine bikes. Mick Hart ended up taking the top step on the podium, with Sean Galt coming in second, and Shin Furukawa taking third. The Ninja 250 class was the biggest waive out of this race with 10 bikes on the grid. Bryce Markey rode a consistent race to a lonely first, with Rob Shoff and Jason Pierce battling it out to the finish line in second and third.
After this class, was our first 600 class of the weekend. 600 Supersport consisted of 13 riders on the grid. There were many close battles throughout the grid, but topping them all was Philip Melnyk onboard his Premium Rush backed Yamaha R6. Phil had the quickest laptime of the race with a 1:44.120. Three seconds back was Chase Glidden onboard his Speeddealer Motors backed Yamaha R6, crossing the finish line. Just behind both of them was Brian Rose onboard his Mad Hatter Motorsports backed Suzuki GSX-R600.
After this race was a combined grid of our Middleweight GP Twins and 250 GP classes. In our Middleweight GP Twins, class Dustin Walbon stormed to the front and rode a great race to the finish line securing first place. The second person to cross this finish line was Paul Gienau. In third, was Will Beebe. All racers on the grid were onboard their Suzuki SV650’s. In the 250 GP class was a smaller grid, of only five bikes. The first to cross the line was Mick Hart on his Honda RS 650. Behind him was Sean Galt on his KTM RC390. Then in third, came Shin Furukawa on his Kawasaki Ninja 300.
After this multi-class race came our first 750 class of the weekend. In our 750 Supersport class Sean Cresap on board his Cresap Orthotics backed Suzuki GSXR 750, barely beat out Philip Melnyk on board his Canright Construction Yamaha R6. Behind them was Zac Smith on his Suzuki GSX-R750. All riders on the podium ran clean races and quick lap times!
The last race of the day on Saturday included our Novice races. We have both Novice 600 and Novice 1000 classes who race both days of the weekend. On Saturday in Novice 1000 Cody Padilla rode his Yamaha R1 to the top step, with John Lafayette and Trevor Stroh behind him. Cody Padilla also won on Sunday beating out Dennis Watson and Charles (Cj) Hobbs. Overall for the weekend Cody Padilla took the number one, Charles (Cj) Hobbs taking second, and Trevor Stroh taking up third. In Novice 600 on Saturday, Anthony Noakes beat out Eddie Unsal and Jordan Wingard for the first place position. On the Sunday race Jordan Wingard took the win, with Bobby Hines and Nick Nalley behind him. Overall for the weekend Jordan Wingard takes first, Nick Nalley takes second, and Bobby Hines takes up the rear in third.
Our first race on Sunday was a waived start. The first wave was Open GP Twins, the second being 600 Classic Superbike, and the third being Formula Female. Open GP Twins was dominated by Pirelli backed Derick Clary. Andrew Fergus and Raymond Parsons followed second and third on their Ducati’s. The next waive was our 600 Classic Superbike. In this class Morgan Strobel pushed past Kent Swenseid to the top step. Behind both of them was Tim Wartchow. In the Formula Female Class Mallory Dobbs took the first step on the podium after Brittany Dickson had a mechanical on the front straight. Behind Mallory was Lacy Houghtaling onboard her Suzuki GSX-R600.
In the next race, the Lightweight Classic Superbike and 160 Vintage classes ran. In the Lightweight Superbike category Dustin Walbon won the race by an amazing 12 seconds over Will Beebe in second. The third to cross the line was Paul Gineau. In the 160 Vintage class, Tim O’Mahony won both days securing the number one spot overall. In the second position in both races Matthew Winter takes the overall number two spot. Neil Jensen took the third position in race two and in race two Tim Fowler took the third position. Overall Tim Fowler beat out Neil Jensen for the number three position.
After our classic and vintage classes, we had the big boys out on track once again. This time, it was for our MotoVixens sponsored Open Supersport class. Again Ryan Sutton dominated the field, this time by 11 seconds back to second place and 2016 #2 plate Sam Verderico. Tim Kinston stepped up to third place running onboard his Kawasaki ZX-10R. Ryan Sutton was very pleased with the $200 check for winning this class!
650 SS Twins and Ultra Lightweight Supersport were both involved in the next waived start class. Sean Galt won the Ultra Lightweight Supersport class on his KTM RC 390. Behind him were Sean and Ryan Cresap on their Yamaha R3’s. In the 650 SS Twins class Dustin won again with Paul Gineau and Will Beebe running a tight race behind him.
After this was another big race, Noble Rush’s Open Superbike. This race will go down in the record books as Ryan Sutton breaks the track record! This is the second track record that Chromie has broken this year due to the help of CT Racing, Moto G Racing, and Pirelli Tires. Coming in second was Mitchell Pierce with Marcel Irnie behind him. Chromie not only broke the track record but got to take home a $500 check from Noble Rush.
Later that day was our final 750 class. 750 Superbike was a battle to the finish as Jonathan Wood passed Philip Melnyk on the last lap to take the win. Behind them was Sean Cresap on his Suzuki GSX-R750.
Our last waived class of the weekend was LW Superbike, 125GP, and 500SBK. In Lightweight Superbike the podium ended in Dustin Walbon, Will Beebe, and Paul Gienau in positions 1, 2, and 3. In the 125GP class Mick Hart was followed by Billy White to the finish line. 500 Superbike was won by Jason Omer, followed by Bill Woods and Levi Maryott. Jimmy Ferguson Jr. just barely missed out on a podium finish by less than a second.
Our last race of the weekend was 600 Superbike. Jonathan Wood took an early lead after Philip Melnyk went down in turn 1 on the second lap. Jonathan would ride his Yamaha R6 to a commanding win over Jacob Hellstrom and Nick Dudziak.
Overall it was a great weekend with a lot of attendance and we can’t thank our riders enough for coming out to race with us!