Tray Batey, Cory West, John Jacobi and Robert Jensen each won a race at the opening round of the 2007 WERA/AMA National Challenge Series held Sunday at Roebling Road Raceway, near Faulkville, Georgia.
Batey ran away with the Open Superstock win on his Pirelli-equipped Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R1000. Chris “Opie” Caylor, riding a Suzuki GSX-R750, and Canadian Clint McBain, riding a GSX-R1000, fought hard over second place. Caylor was able to earn the position by slicing through lapped traffic better on the last lap. McBain finished third.
The 600cc Superstock race featured another close battle between West on his Team Hunter Yamaha YZF-R6, Vesrah Suzuki’s Lee Acree and Butler Machinery’s Robert Jensen. West went from third to first on the final lap to take the win over Acree and Jensen.
The 750cc Superstock race was plagued by red flags. After early leader Acree was taken out by James Chance III, Jacobi took over the lead and held off Jensen and Caylor to take the win. Only 0.2-second covered Jacobi, Jensen and Caylor at the line.
Batey and Jensen battled back and forth for the lead of the Formula One final, with Jensen edging out Batey at the finish. Caylor stayed with Jensen and Batey to the end but could not make a move on his GSX-R750 and had to settled for third.
Open Superstock: 1. Tray Batey (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Clint McBain (Suz GSX-R1000) 4. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000)
600cc Superstock: 1. Cory West (Yam YZF-R6) 2. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R 600) 3. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R600) 4. James Chance III (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Joshua Day (Yam YZF-R6)
750cc Superstock: 1. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R750) 2. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R750) 4. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R600)
Formula One: 1. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Tray Batey (Suz GSX-R1000) 3. Chris “Opie” Caylor (Suz GSX-R750) 4. Clint McBain (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R1000)
More, from a press release issued by Dalke Motorsports:
Dalke Motorsports starts the 2007 WERA/AMA National Endurance Series with a track win and a pit loss.
The team put in a tremendous effort to to get the first bike ready for the track in exactly 2 weeks. Since all of us have day jobs the first Yamaha was broken in, and prepped as time allowed, and the bodywork was painted before leaving for Roebling Road Raceway. The second Yamaha was simply taken to the track in street trim just for the spare parts and wheels. The team also picked up an exhaust along the way and spent Friday installing it, the bodywork, the fuel map, the new Thermosman suspension, the radiator screen and finishing the prep work while the team riders got a half-day of practice on last year’s one remaining Suzuki. With the Yamaha R6 built and “ready” the team gambled and made the decision to go with it after the first round of morning practice. The bike was already faster than last year’s bike and easier to ride with improved suspension. The bet was placed on the pit-stops and tire wear because we had no development time for quick fueling, improved tire change equipment or experience on suspension settings for improved tire wear on the Yamaha.
The race started at 12:30 under sunny, breezy upper 50’s skies and what a start. Dalke jumped into an early class lead and 4th overall. The new Yamaha was working great, then cam the first pit-stop. The teams quick-dump fuel rig did not fit properly to the Yamaha’s tank opening and caused fuel to back-up and run out the overflow and into the belly-pan. With a half-filled tank the second rider took to the track but the team had already lost 30 seconds with the fueling. Fast lap times and pushing the tires to the limit could not make up for the fueling speed as the team had to resort to filling the tank with regular fuel jugs and one minute pit stops and then a front tire change at the half way and a rear tire change with one hour to go. The fresher tires kept the lap time faster than the competition but not enough as the race cam to a close. We were gaining about 3 seconds a lap on 3rd and 4th but came up about 30 seconds shy.
Despite taking our lumps for not using the Suzuki with its fully developed fueling and tire change equipment, we are still really excited about the Yamaha’s potential. We will be doing our homework over the next few weeks before Barber Motorsports and look forward to having all the pit-stop bugs worked out.
The team would like to give special thanks to Kevin and Chip at KWS for trading us a LeoVince exhaust as ours had not yet arrived and to the entire crew at Interstate Cycle for getting us 2 Yamaha’s in time to make the first race. See photos of the new Yamaha on the teams website www.dalkemotorsports.com (to be posted by 3/24) and learn more about the team.
More, from a press release issued by L.O.C.:
L.O.C gets on the good foot
L.O.C Endurance began their second season in WERA National endurance’s hotly contested Mediumwieght Superstock division with a class win and 7th overall finish to grab the early points lead at Roebling Road. Prospects looked poor for the L.O.C after a difficult weekend sorting out bike setup and the usual first round Chaos. New team rider J.B Layman had a nasty get off in Formula 1 qualifying and while we were relived to learn that there appeared to be no long term injuries; his loss of consciousness left him recovering for the weekend and off the bike. Adding to the pre race drama was class rival Dalke Motorsports defection from Suzuki to the L.O.C’s much loved Yamaha R6. Whether they tired of multiple engine rebuilds, or the strong Yamaha contingency program was the lure, we welcome them and look forward to the year long battle.
With J.B Layman’s Brother, Scott Layman agreeing to fill in, and the help of several Team Zyvax members in the pits Jimmy Vanderhaar took the first stint like a man on fire. Running in the 1:15 to low 1:16 range Vanderhaar battled the entire stint swapping 4th and 5th overall positions with Dalke Motorsports Giovanni Rojas in one of the days more entertaining matchups. On lap 25 Vanderhaar turned a 1:15.098 as his fastest lap of the race. With that scorching lap, one that would have qualified him 5th in a stacked 600 class in Sunday’s National Sprints, Vanderhaar took the lead in class that was never challenged for the rest of the day.
Dan Carr took the second stint after a flawless pit stop and clicked off consistent laps for 57 minutes, the Bridgestone tires working perfectly throughout the hour. Scott Layman climbed on for the third hour, the 38 second pit stop adding to the teams lead. Scott Layman put in an impressive ride on a bike he had only ridden previously in one practice session that morning. Some controlled slides from the rear tire at the end of his hour long stint signaled the need for a rear tire change and he brought the bike in more than 3 laps ahead off the nearest Mediumwieght Superstock team. The normally fast, quick change rear setup malfunctioned, with an axle problem taking 2:39 seconds to fix moving L.O.C from 5th overall to 8th. With Vanderhaar back on the bike in the next hour the two lap class lead held and he was able retake 7th overall. Dan Carr went back out in a final short stretch to the finish with the amazing Bridgestone front tire showing no signs of giving up after 4 hours of continuous red flag free racing. The team was helped greatly with logistics and pit help this weekend. To Justin Marm, Phil Caudill, “Cheese”, the Zyvax team, Gino and all the Layman’s, we could not have done it without you.