VESRAH SUZUKI WINS GRATTAN RACEWAY PARK 6 HOUR ENDURANCE RACE AND PODIUMS IN NATIONAL CHALLENGE SPRINT RACES. Vesrah Suzuki won the 5th round of the 2009 WERA National Endurance Series at Grattan Raceway Park in Belding, Michigan. This round is the closest one to the teams shop in Wisconsin which meant that plenty of friends and family would be in attendance and Grattan’s bumpy surface has caused issues for the team over the years. The start of the race saw Tray Batey in 2nd place right behind the leading team of BEI Racing for the entire first hour. Vesrah Suzuki quickly pitted right at the 1 hour mark putting John Jacobi on the Vesrah GSX-R 1000. A crowd of people had gathered to watch Vesrah Suzuki’s first stop and a cheer erupted after witnessing the team’s flawless execution. John was able to catch and pass BEI Racing putting Vesrah Suzuki in the lead which it would keep for the remainder of the race. Team owner Mark Junge employed a different strategy for this race by changing the rider order and having Tray Batey get back on the bike at the second pit stop. The strategy proved to be effective as Tray was able to establish a 2 lap lead during the 3rd hour of the race. Cory West ran the next stint for the team and was able to hold the gap at 2 laps and when John Jacobi got back on the bike he was able to stretch the lead to 3 laps. Cory took the bike over for the final stint and brought home the win. Mark Junge “The plan for this round was to ride a conservative race and stay out of trouble. With the sealer and bumps around the Grattan circuit it’s easy to make a mistake. The riders did great and all of our pit stops were good.” Tray Batey “Grattan’s one of the toughest tracks in the country to go fast on but I love racing here. My first visit to Grattan was in 1991 with Hall-N-Still and I was fortunate enough to have Bruce Baldus show me around the track good memories for sure. All of the team worked flawlessly preparing the bikes and during the pit stops all I had to do was ride.” John Jacobi “Grattan went really well. I had 2 stints to do and really tried to conserve my energy while still keeping up the pace. I’d like to thank my teammates Tray and Cory for such a good job riding and the whole Vesrah crew for putting such awesome bikes under us. Off to Summit and VIR” Cory West “This is my first visit to Grattan so it definitely took some time to get up to a competitive lap-time. Once I finally found the line around the track things got much easier. Tray and John both had good stints to get the team into the lead and I rode the best I could to hold the position. The track time I got on the endurance bike will definitely help for the National Challenge sprint races on Sunday and I hope to get results just as good as today.” In the WERA National Challenge Series sprint races, Vesrah Suzuki team riders got on the podium in the Open, 750, & 600 Superstock and Formula 1 races. Tray Batey got 2 second place finishes and a third place finish while Cory West placed third in 3 races and a fourth place. Mark Junge got fourth place in 750 Superstock and John Jacobi got 2 fifth place and a sixth place finishes. In his first visit to Grattan with Tray Batey walking the track with him to give pointers, development rider Nick McFadden had a tough weekend with a sixth place and a DNF due to the bumpy track knocking the carb off.