TEAM WORLDWIDE TAKES TOP HONORS IN CRA 5-HOUR ENDURANCE RACE

The final event of the 2013 Central Roadracing Association season was held on Brainerd International Raceway’s Donnybrooke Course September 13-15 and featured the traditional end-of-season 5-hour endurance race in addition to the regular program of sprint races.

This was the first weekend motorcycles competed on the repaved Donnybrooke “long course” since its repaving and the addition of a new chicane section dubbed “turn 8.5”, or “the riddler.”

Going into the 5-hour, reigning champions Identity Crisis/Team Ballistic (Aaron Anderson, Shane Keaveny, Christian Schmidt) were the favorites to win the GP4 class and the Overall race with the GP3 class battle set to resume between Team Hoff (Mark Dargis, Brian Hebeisen, Josh Pangier, Mike Smith) and Team WorldWide (Drew See, Kris Skellenger, Scott Stall, Pat Stewart). GP2 looked to be the most unpredictable with 3 Men & a Baby (Jon Champ, Steve Johnson, Cole Naymark), Blockhead Skunkworx (Kyle Dahl, Eric Fox, Derek Gallion) and Team Little Blue Pill (Brent Bixby, Kyle Knutson, Brad Zajic) all capable of taking the win.

A slight drizzle was in the air when the green flag dropped, and while Christian Schmidt got the holeshot, it didn’t last past turn three as his slick tires reacted quite unfavorably in the damp infield section of the track. The wet conditions gave Brad Zajic the opportunity to stun the field by leading the first lap on the Team Little Blue Pill Suzuki SV650, but natural running order resumed at the beginning of lap two when Jesse Nelson took the lead, followed closely by Scott Stall and Christian Schmidt. The less than ideal conditions allowed many GP2 riders to shine as multiple GP3 teams were shuffled down the order during the first hour, with Cole Naymark putting in a fantastic performance to move into third overall on the 3 Men & a Baby Suzuki SV650.

Pit stops started early as conditions deteriorated and Scott Stall was the first of the leaders to pit as Team WorldWide chose to mount a set of Michelin DOT’s and put Kris Skellenger on the bike. Bell Helmets rider Shane Keaveny took over from Schmidt and continued to pull away from Big Red, which Nelson had handed off to Cole Speer, until the Identity Crisis/Team Ballistic Suzuki GSX-R1000 had a breakdown and was parked before star rider Aaron Anderson had the opportunity to turn a lap in the race.

A timely red flag allowed the GP4 Big Red team (Jesse Nelson and Cole Speer) to perform a tire change without losing time to the quick-change equipped Team WorldWide Yamaha R6 and the dry track gave Nelson the chance to put in some fast laps to build a gap over Drew See.

At the halfway point, it was becoming clear that the laptime advantage that Big Red had over Team WorldWide added up to close to the same time advantage Team WorldWide had over Big Red during pit stops. Calculations and strategies started to unfold and all signs pointed to an excitingly close finish.

In the GP2 class, Team Little Blue Pill held the lead at the halfway point after taking advantage of the red flag and performing a minor fix on their Suzuki SV650. From that point on, the race was theirs to win as Blockhead Skunkworx ran into mechanical issues. Even a spirited charge from Jon Champ toward the end of the race while setting the GP2 class fastest-lap on four-hour old tires wasn’t enough to topple the mighty Team Little Blue Pill.

As the laps wore down, Team WorldWide’s strategy of short-stinting Drew See, Pat Stewart and Scott Stall paid off when Stall took the lead from Big Red during their final pit stop. When Jesse Nelson rejoined the race on the Big Red Suzuki GSX-R1000, he was 15 seconds behind Stall and despite a valiant effort, he was never able to cut into the Team WorldWide rider’s lead as he powered to the overall victory.

When asked about the unexpected overall victory, Team WorldWide owner John Anderson said, “I’m really pleased, we didn’t expect this at all. We knew that if we kept it upright we would finish well, but we never expected the overall win. We couldn’t have done it without the help of WorldWide Machining & Welding, Mason Racin/Michelin Tires, RJ Sport & Cycle, KWS Motorsports, Sharkskinz and Maxima Racing Oils.”

The CRA’s regular program of sprint racing was held Saturday, September 14 and saw some great riding by some new faces at the front of the pack in the novice races.

The Ultralight Expert races were dominated by Christian Schmidt on his Kawasaki Ninja 300 while Trevor Treviranus capped off a fantastic rookie season with multiple wins in the Ultralight Novice class. An honorable mention in this class goes to Jon Graus who put in a fantastic ride to run with the lead group in only his second race weekend.

Lightweight Expert saw an old face on a new bike, as two-time CRA Champion Christian Schmidt mounted a Suzuki SV650 and absolutely dominated proceedings, leaving regular frontrunners Jon Champ, Kyle Knutson and Cole Naymark wondering what they were doing wrong all day. The Lightweight Supersport Novice class produced some of the closest racing of the weekend, with Chris Henkel, Drew Sivertsen, Dave Burke and Luke Trombley all crossing the line less than .8 seconds apart.

In the Middleweight and Heavyweight Expert classes, Kyle Ohnsorg and Jordan Imrie traded wins as Ohnsorg brought home four victories (in only his seventh road racing event) with Jordan Imrie taking the top honor in the Middleweight and Heavyweight Grand Prix races. The Novice classes were a hard fought affair with no rider clearly outpacing the others. Christian Alvarado brought home three wins across both classes, with Michael Crotty taking two victories and Tim Ruzek making his first visit to the top of the podium in the Middleweight GP Novice race. Novice points leader Jak Schmotter took multiple podiums in the Middleweight, Heavyweight, and Ultralight sprints all day.

The Unlimited class again saw the race domination of Bell Helmets rider Shane Keaveny and the outright speed of Scott Stall’s Farrell Performance ZX-10R. Keaveny outfoxed Stall to win multiple races, while Stall again took the lap record, this time on Brainerd International Raceway’s newly reworked Donnybrooke Course, with a time of 1:43.309. An afternoon storm saw Brad Kreller take victory on his Viking Liquor Aprilia RSV4, while also having the distinction of being the last person to cross the finish line in the race, as the only other rider to make the start, Drew See, pulled into the pits with three laps remaining.

Endurance Race Results

Endurance GP3 1 Team Worldwide (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Team Hoff (Yam YZF-R6) 3 Goats N Hoes (Kaw ZX-6R) 4 2 Little 2 Late (Kaw ZX-6RR) 5 Sushi Boat (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Danger Zone (Hon CBR600RR)

Endurance GP4 1 Big Red (Suz GSX-R1000) 2 ROCC/Caztek (Suz GSX-R1000) 3 Harry Schmotty (Kaw ZX-6R) 4 Identity Crisis/Team Ballistic (Suz GSX-R1000)

Endurance GP2 1 Team Little Blue Pill (Suz SV650) 2 3 Men & a Baby (Suz SV650) 3 Blockhead Skunkworx (Hon CBR600F2) 4 Viking Liquor (Hon CBR600F2) 5 Team Kr33p3rs (Suz SV650) 6 Our Noobs Are Real (Suz SV650)

Sprint Race REsults:

Unlimited SS Expert 1 Shane Keaveny (Hon CBR1000RR) 2 Scott Stall (Kaw ZX-10R) 3 Pat Stewart (Kaw ZX-10R) 4 Aaron Anderson (Suz GSX-R1000) 5 Bradley Kreller (Apr RSV4) 6 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)

Unlimited SB Expert 1 Shane Keaveny (Hon CBR1000RR) 2 Bradley Kreller (Apr RSV4) 3 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)

Unlimited GP Expert 1 Bradley Kreller (Apr RSV4) 2 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)

Heavyweight SS Expert 1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Jordan Imrie (Hon CBR600RR) 3 Chase Sellers (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Cole Speer (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR) 6 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)

Heavyweight SS Novice 1 Christian Alvarado (Kaw ZX-6R) 2 Michael Crotty (Yam YZF-R6) 3 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Benjamin Foreman (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Greg Bambach (Kaw ZX-6RR) 6 Aaron Duchon (Yam YZF-R6)

Heavyweight SB Expert 1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Cole Speer (Yam YZF-R6) 3 Chase Sellers (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR) 5 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Chad Bakkene (Yam YZF-R6)

Heavyweight SB Novice 1 Christian Alvarado (Kaw ZX-6R) 2 Jake Schmotter (Kaw ZX-6RR) 3 Harry Jensen (Duc 848) 4 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Michael Crotty (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Kyle Dahl (Hon RC51)

Heavyweight GP Expert 1 Jordan Imrie (Hon CBR600RR) 2 William Vossberg (Kaw ZX-6RR) 3 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR) 4 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6)

Heavyweight GP Novice 1 Michael Crotty (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6)

Middleweight SS Expert 1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Jordan Imrie (Hon CBR600RR) 3 Chase Sellers (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Drew See (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Cole Speer (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)

Middleweight SS Novice 1 Michael Crotty (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 3 Benjamin Foreman (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Greg Bambach (Kaw ZX-6RR) 5 Aaron Duchon (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Luke Schmidt (Suz GSX-R600)

Middleweight SB Expert 1 Kyle Ohnsorg (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Cole Speer (Yam YZF-R6) 3 Chase Sellers (Yam YZF-R6) 4 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR) 6 Mike Schley (Kaw ZX-6RR)

Middleweight SB Novice 1 Christian Alvarado (Kaw ZX-6R) 2 Jake Schmotter (Kaw ZX-6RR) 3 Harry Jensen (Duc 848) 4 Michael Crotty (Yam YZF-R6) 5 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Luke Schmidt (Suz GSX-R600)

Middleweight GP Expert 1 Jordan Imrie (Hon CBR600RR) 2 William Vossberg (Kaw ZX-6RR) 3 Justin Ebnet (Hon CBR600RR) 4 Mike Schley (Kaw ZX-6RR) 5 Gus Aramayo (Yam YZF-R6) 6 Brian Hebeisen (Yam YZF-R6)

Middleweight GP Novice 1 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 2 Christian Alvarado (Kaw ZX-6R) 3 Chris Henkel (Suz SV650)

Lightweight SS Expert 1 Christian Schmidt (Suz SV650) 2 Jonathan Champ (Suz SV650) 3 Kyle Knutson (Suz SV650) 4 Aaron Collins (Duc 800) 5 Cole Naymark (Suz SV650) 6 J.T. Noehre (Suz SV650)

Lightweight SS Novice 1 Chris Henkel (Suz SV650) 2 Drew Sivertsen (Suz SV650) 3 David Burke (Suz SV650) 4 Lucas Trombley (Suz SV650) 5 Jack Barton (Kaw 650R) 6 Justin Gustofson (Kaw 650R)

Lightweight GP Expert 1 Cole Naymark (Suz SV650) 2 Stephen Johnson (Suz SV650)

Lightweight GP Novice 1 Chris Henkel (Suz SV650) 2 Dave Pederson (Suz SV650) 3 Adam Harrison (Hon CBR600F2) 4 Kyle Dahl (Kaw 650R)

Formula 40 – F2 1 Harry Jensen (Duc 848) 2 Tim Ruzek (Yam YZF-R6) 3 John Anderson (Yam YZF-R6)

Formula 40 – F1 1 Kyle Knutson (Suz SV650) 2 Stephen Johnson (Suz SV650) 3 J.T. Noehre (Suz SV650)

Ultralight Novice – Race 2 1 Trevor Treviranus (Yam YZ450F) 2 Jake Schmotter (Hon CRF450) 3 Jon Graus (Yam YZ450F) 4 Tim Ring (Duc 620) 5 Matt Cina (Duc 620) 6 John Roswick (Kaw EX500)

Ultralight Expert – Race 2 1 Christian Schmidt (Kaw 300R) 2 Kevin Anibas (Yam RD400)

Ninja 250 Expert – Race 2 1 Mark Dargis (Kaw 250R) 2 John Buren (Kaw 250R) 3 Jason Cheng (Kaw 250R) 4 James Roberts (Kaw 250R)

Ninja 250 Novice – Race 2 1 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw 250R) 2 Drew Sivertsen (Kaw 250R) 3 Brandon Kunimura (Kaw 250R) 4 Lucas Scanlan (Kaw 250R) 5 Tanner Hunter (Kaw 250R) 6 Ashley Stansberry (Kaw 250R)

Lightweight SB Expert 1 Christian Schmidt (Suzuki SV650) 2 Aaron Collins (Duc 800) 3 Josh Pangier (Yam FZR400)

Lightweight SB Novice 1 David Burke (Suz SV650) 2 Justin Gustofson (Kaw 650R)

Supertwins Novice 1 Harry Jensen (Duc 848) 2 Kyle Dahl (Hon RC51) 3 Lucas Trombley (Suz SV650) 4 Chris Henkel (Suz SV650) 5 Jeff Stokoe (Yam TZ250) 6 Drew Sivertsen (Suz SV650)

Supertwins Expert 1 Christian Schmidt (Suz SV650) 2 Eric Fox (Duc 900SS) 3 Brent Bixby (Suz SV650) 4 Cole Naymark (Suz SV650) 5 Jonathan Champ (Suz SV650) 6 Kyle Knutson (Suz SV650)

Sportsman Lightweight Expert 1 Josh Pangier (Yam FZR400) 2 Derek Gallion (Hon CBR600F2)

Sportsman Lightweight Novice 1 Adam Harrison (Hon CBR600F2)

Ninja 250 Novice – Race 3 1 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw 250R) 2 Tanner Hunter (Kaw 250R) 3 Ashley Stansberry (Kaw 250R)

Ultralight Novice – Race 3 1 Morgan Beving (Suz GS500) 2 Jerry Dougherty (Suz GS500)

Ninja 250 Expert – Race 3 1 James Roberts (Kaw 250R)

Ultralight Novice – Race 1 1 Trevor Treviranus (Yam YZ450F) 2 Jake Schmotter (Hon CRF450) 3 Jon Graus (Yam YZ450F) 4 Tim Ring (Duc 620) 5 Matt Cina (Duc 620) 6 John Roswick (Kaw EX500)

Ultralight Expert – Race 1 1 Christian Schmidt (Kaw 300R) 2 Kevin Anibas (Yam RD400)

Ninja 250 Novice – Race 1 1 Drew Sivertsen (Kaw 250R) 2 Bryan Lachmiller (Kaw 250R) 3 Brandon Kunimura (Kaw 250R) 4 Tanner Hunter (Kaw 250R) 5 Lucas Scanlan (Kaw 250R) 6 Ashley Stansberry (Kaw 250R)

Ninja 250 Expert – Race 1 1 Mark Dargis (Kaw 250R) 2 John Buren (Kaw 250R) 3 Troy Pierson (Kaw 250R) 4 James Roberts (Kaw 250R)

New Rider Championship – Race 1 Harry Jensen (Duc 848) 2 Joshua Auel (Suz GSX-R600) 3 Lucas Trombley (Suz SV650) 4 Dan O’Day (Kaw ZX-6R) 5 Drew Sivertsen (Suz SV650) 6 Brandon Connett (Tri 675)

More, from a press release issued by ZARS/Caztek Engineering Team:

ZARS/Caztek Engineering Team takes 2nd place in the CRA’s Annual Five Hour Endurance Race.

Brainerd, MN (Sept. 18, 2013) – The Zalusky Advanced Riding School (ZARS) and Caztek Engineering sponsored team took second place in the GP4 class of the CRA Five Hour Endurance Race on September 15.

The team members that are all ZARS Rider Coaches included Mark Miller, Gabe Blevins, Geoff Egerman, Karl Rehpohl, Gabriel Blevins and late addition Rich Nelson, who replaced Blevins after a crash during practice.

The race started under less than optimal conditions with rain and cool temperatures that quickly turned to clear skies. Miller started the race aboard the Suzuki GSXR-1000 shod in Dunlop DOT’s and experienced a slippery, damp track. The race saw several crashes and off track excursions in the first couple laps due to the poor conditions.

After a quick pit stop, Nelson took to the drying track and was able to put down fast laps and increase the team’s position and saw the 2012 reigning championship team suffer a mechanical that opened a door for the team.

Rehpohl rode third on a fully dry track until he encountered a red flag. Crew member Tom Swager swapped the rear wheel in record time and Egerman was staged to ride to next.

Egerman gridded up for a restart and rode strong until the engine stalled, starved of fuel.

With one hour and forty five minutes remaining, Miller and Nelson would each complete another forty-two minute session with Rehpohl finishing the last twenty minutes.

Team ZARS/Caztek finished with a solid 2nd Place in GP4, just behind Team Big Red. After five hours of intense racing World Wide Welding secured the Overall win by a mere thirty-seven seconds. Congratulations Team World Wide Welding on the victory.

Team ZARS/Caztech Engineering would like to thank all of the volunteers with the CRA for their time, commitment and effort this season.

Big thank you to crew members, Tom Swager, Caz Sienkiewicz, Ward Jensen, George O’Neil, Joe Sybrant, Luc Hoelscher, Krista Ubl, and Jacque Jensen.

The Team is looking forward to a return in 2014 to contend for the Championship title.

About – Caztek Engineering is in the business of providing engineering services to the aerospace, medical and motorsport industries. By coupling modern analysis and design tools with the best talent, Caztek brings innovative designs to market. We strive to make your life better through engineering, creativity and excellence in design. To learn more about Caztek Engineering visit www.caztek.com or contact Casimir Sienkiewicz at 651-291-8007

About – Zalusky Advanced Riding School and Track Days (ZARS) is a Track Day organization based in the Upper Midwest that provides riding and education opportunities for riders and racers of all skill levels. For more information, visit www.ridezars.com CRA: www.cra-mn.com