Team Velocity Racing Wins WERA Endurance at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. Team Velocity Racing won big at Las Vegas, taking the overall and Heavyweight Superstock class victory during round five of the WERA National Endurance Series, held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Classic Course on Saturday, June 25.

A crash during last year’s Western round sent the Augusta, Georgia-based team home in low spirits. “It’s a much better drive home this year,” said team owner and rider Chuck Ivey, who shared the Team Velocity Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 with Mark Crozier and Reuben Frankenfield.

Crozier started the four-hour race, and at the end of the first hour the team was in second place overall. Ivey rode second, followed by Frankenfield. Thanks to the Yamaha’s good gas mileage, each rider was able to stay on the bike for just over an hour.

As other teams suffered mechanical problems, Team Velocity Racing ran a steady race and took over the race lead in the fourth hour. Crozier rode the final stint of the race, crossing the finish line with a two-lap lead on the field.

“This is my first overall win in a WERA endurance race,” said Crozier. “I’ve been second 18 or 19 times; always a bridesmaid. It felt really good to finally get an overall win and stand on top of the podium. The team did an awesome job.”

Ivey commented that, “I was nervous about my lap times because we only got a few laps of practice. The bikes were running really hot out here, and we tried to save them for the race. After a couple of laps my times came down and I could sustain a good pace. We had a lot of consistency on track and in the pits. All three pit stops were pretty much flawless.”

“It was really competitive,” said Frankenfield of the race against the local teams at Las Vegas. “I love it because it keeps us on our toes. I always look at competition as a positive thing. It’s always good to win an endurance race. I’ve competed in 11 full endurance seasons and only won overall about five times.”

Team Velocity Racing, who moved ahead in the Heavyweight Superstock points lead with their victory at Las Vegas, will next race on July 16 at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway.

Fans can keep up with Team Velocity Racing at www.TeamVelocityRacing.com.

More, from a press release issued by WERA:

Local Racers Shine; Challenging Endurance Race during WERA National at Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. The WERA National Series completed its western tour with last weekend’s event as Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The fifth round of the season featured races for the WERA West championship, as well, and a large number of racers turned out for the competition.

Saturday’s four-hour WERA Dunlop National Endurance Series race was the first round of the season that hasn’t seen Vesrah Suzuki in first at the checkered flag. A persistent mechanical problem dropped them out of contention, and Team Velocity Racing took their first win of the season with riders Chuck Ivey, Reuben Frankenfield and Mark Crozier.

Team Velocity Racing’s overall victory also gave them the Heavyweight Superstock class win. Local team Advanced Kawasaki with Stuart Smith, Robbie Dowie and Will Eikenberry finished second overall and in class, and Bell’s ARNCHU Racing riders Randy Sherman and Nathan Dressman took third overall and first in Heavyweight Superbike.

Army of Darkness overcame a crash during the race to win the Mediumweight Superbike class with Sam Fleming, Ben Walters and Scott Fisher. They finished fifth overall. Just behind Army of Darkness was their sister team Dixie Mafia, with Bruce Stanford, Derek Keyes and Chris Pyles, who took the Mediumweight Superstock victory.

Martin Musil and Zoran Vujasinovic gave Blue Ridge Performance the Lightweight Superbike class win, finishing 12th overall.

During Sunday’s WERA Michelin National Challenge Series and WERA West sprint races, only two expert-division racers were able to win more than once. Local rider Dale Keiffer won both A/Open Superstock and Formula 1, and Tray Batey won B/750 Superstock and Heavyweight Twins Superstock.

John Ulrich came over from California to win Formula 2 and WERA West regular Chris Siglin won C/600 Superstock. National Series regulars took some wins, too, with Josh Herrin in C/600 Superbike, Ben Thompson in B/750 Superbike and Gary Schilling in Lightweight Twins Superstock.

In the novice division, West Coast racers Jon Lawson and Nick Scoggins took home more than one first-place trophy. Lawson won both A/Open Superstock and Formula 1, and Scoggins was victorious in C/600 Superstock and C/600 Superbike.

Other local racers who earned novice wins included Peter Bilicki III in Formula 2 and David Nguyen in Heavyweight Twins Superstock.

J.B. Layman won B/750 Superstock and Tony Palarie won B/750 Superbike.

The WERA National Series heads to Michigan next month for round six at Grattan Raceway from July 16-17.

More information, including schedules and championship standings, can be found online at www.WERA.com.

More, from a press release issued by USGPRU:

Better late than never! USGPRU VIR results from last weekend

Odenton, MD. June 29, 2005 The USGPRU powered by AlwaysOnline.net held the second East coast regional event at Virginia International Raceway last weekend. VIR, USGPRU, and Kcraget are becoming synonymous, as Kcraget clinched podiums in both 125GP and 250GP events. The RedBull Mobile Energy Team was on hand to present trophies and beverages at the award ceremonies.

Although no records were broken, a few casualties occurred throughout the weekend. Garret Carter on former AMA racer Chuck Sorensons’ TZ250 tangled with Bruce Lind during qualifying on Saturday leaving Bruce with a broken scapula and ribs. “Well, at least I’ve never broken that bone before” quipped Lind.

The 125GP had Kcraget with a two second lead with Nobi Iso in tow. Carter and Iso used each others’ drafts to catch up to Kcraget and at one point in the race managed to get past Kcraget and take the lead. Kcraget masterfully used lapped traffic to foil the Iso/Carter attempt at dethroning him from the lead and captured first place. As in most 125GP events, a tight 5-way race ensued for 4th place.

Kcraget took the 250GP on his Honda RS250 with Sean Wray less than 4 tenths of a second behind him. Bill Himmelsbach sewed up the podium in third. Nobi Iso, making a valiant effort for fourth on an All Japan TZ250 crashed out on the last lap.

See all the details on this event and others at www.usgpru.net

125GP Results 1. Brian Kcraget (Hon RS125), 1:36.265 2. Garrett Carter (Apr RS125), 1:36.707 3. John Hjelm (Hon RS125), 1:38.654 4. Nobi Iso (Apr RS125), 1:38.789 5. Ryan Clay (Apr RS125), 1:38.844 6. Josh Day (Hon RS125), 1:39.042 7. David Celento (Hon RS125), 1:39.496 8. Michael Santelia (Hon RS125), 1:40.230 9. Steve Gorrell (Hon RS125), 1:40.751 10. Matthew Cooper (Hon RS125), 1:40.830 11. Glen Pison (Hon RS125), 1:40.978 12. John Klaras (Hon RS125), 1:41.113 13. Merel Eschiman (Hon RS125), 1:41.123 14. Joanne Sawyer (Hon RS125), 1:41.465 15. Bruce Lind (Yam TZ125), 1:41.694 16. Dennis Woods (Hon RS125), 1:42.656 17. Steve Wenner (Hon RS125), 1:42.842 18. Chris Marshall (Hon RS125), 1:42.957 19. Kyurim Rhee (Hon RS125), 1:43.239 20. Joseph Melchionda (Hon RS125), 1:43.361 21. Paul Hoyt Nelson (Hon RS125), 1:43.975 22. Brian Burton (Hon RS125), 1:44.245 23. Mark Dennis (Hon RS125), 1:45.194 24. Andre Esser (Hon RS125), 1:45.870 25. Richie Kjar (Hon RS125), 1:46.270 26. Chris Vest (Hon RS125), 1:46.695 27. Darrin Kuebler (Hon RS125), 1:48.410 28. Rebecca Henn (Hon RS125), 1:48.784 29. Lee Hollimon (Hon RS125), 1:48.880 30. Duane Hixon (Hon RS125), 1:49.129 31. Dane Walther (Hon RS125), 1:49.347 32. Shellie Matthews (Hon RS125), 1:50.623 33. Phillip Bangle (Hon RS125), 1:52.128 34. Bill Clery (Hon RS125), 1:52.158 35. James Bergey (Hon RS125), 1:52.646 36. Alessandro Acquisti (Yam TZ125), 1:57.001 37. Scott Rush (Hon RS125), 2:14.749

250GP 1. Brian Kcraget (Hon RS125), 1:34.081 2. Sean Wray (Yam TZ250), 1:34.464 3. Bill Himmelsbach (Yam TZ250), 1:35.754 4. Josh Day (Yam TZ250), 1:36.263 5. Nobi Iso (Yam TZ250), 1:36.959 6. J. Pat Bartlett (Yam TZ250), 1:38.685 7. Ryan Clay (Apr RSV250), 1:38.760 8. Kory Gill (Yam TZ250), 1:38.870 9. Jim Bonner (Yam TZ250), 1:39.210 10. John Klaras (Hon RS125), 1:39.592 11. Mike Wright (Yam TZ250), 1:39.615 12. Dennis Woods (Hon RS125), 1:40.876 13. Zach Lee (Hon RS250), 1:40.996 14. Paul Hoyt Nelson (Hon RS250), 1:41.109 15. James Whitaker (Hon RS250), 1:41.109 16. Todd Illgen (Yam TZ250), 1:41.901 17. Joseph Melchionda (Yam TZ250), 1:43.053 18. David Matthews (Yam TZ250), 1:43.665 19. Andre Esser (Hon RS250), 1:45.061 20. Shellie Matthews (Hon RS125), 1:49.808 21. Darrin Kuebler (Hon RS125), 1:49.911