Vesrah Suzuki’ s Tray Batey, Lee Acree and John Jacobi won the seventh round of the Bridgestone/WERA National Endurance Series, a 6-hour event at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia Saturday. Team Velocity Racing finished eight laps back, taking second overall and first in the Heavyweight Superstock class on a YZF-R1 Yamaha while Red Star finished third overall and first in the Middleweight Superbike class on a Yamaha YZF-R6, nine laps behind the winner. Team Velocity Racing II was fourth overall and first in the Middleweight Superstock class with a Yamaha YZF-R6, while Blue Ridge Performance won in the Lightweight Superbike class at ninth overall on a Kawasaki Ninja 650R.

The race got off to an exciting start with Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey and ARNCHU Racing’ s Mark Crozier battling for the lead until Crozier pitted 51 minutes into the 6-hour race. However ARNCHU’s challenge for the overall came to an end when the team’s bike was hit from behind by a lapped rider in turn one 17 minutes into the second hour. Vesrah Suzuki remained unchallenged for the remainder of the race.

The 6-hour event was stopped twice, once at 3:56 to clean up oil after Double Vision Racing’s GSX-R600 blew up entering the last corner, laying down oil and causing three riders to crash. After a 35-minute clean-up the race was restarted only to have the red flag come out again at 5:02 when 358 Specials crashed exiting turn five and the bike ended up in the middle of the track. All teams restarted except for Double Vision Racing.

The win stretched Vesrah’s overall points lead and contributed to the team’s quest to regain the WERA National Endurance Championship it lost to TVR last season.

Overall Race Results

1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey, Lee Acree, John Jacobi), Heavyweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R1000, 233 Laps

2. Team Velocity Racing (Scott Harwell, Rueben Frankenfield, Chuck Ivey), Heavyweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R1, 225 Laps

3. RED STAR (William Lindsey, Joe Prussiano, Brian Gibbs, Ben Walters), Middleweight Superbike, Yam YZF-R6, 224 Laps

4. Team Velocity Racing II (Steve Breckenridge, Joshua Day, Chuck Ivey), Middleweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 221 Laps

5. Wikle Racing (Luther Wikle, Russell Wikle, Chris Ulrich), Middleweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R600, 220 laps

6. Velocity Crew Racing (Kevin Perkins, Paul Youngman) Middleweight Superbike, Suz GSX-R600, 220 Laps

7. Rausch Creek (Art Diaz, Mike Swank, Dennis King), Heavyweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R1, 219 Laps

8. LOC Endurance (Joe Hayes, James Vanderhaar, Dan Carr, Bill Strananhan), Middleweight Superstock, Yam YZF-R6, 219 Laps

9. Blue Ridge Performance (Martin Musil, Matt LaPham, Mark Biletnikoff), Lightweight Superbike, Kaw 650R, 217 laps

10. Ridge Racing (Todd Stoner, Steve Smith, Brad Bomgarner), Heavyweight Superbike, Kaw ZX-10R, 217 laps

Fastest Overall Lap Times 1. Vesrah Suzuki, HSB GSX-R1000, 1:15.058 2. ARHNCHU Racing, HSS GSX-R1000, 1:15.637 3. 5150 Racing, HSS GSX-R1000, 1:16.201 4. Team Velocity Racing, HSS YZF-R1, 1:16.272 5. Macheca Motorsports, HSB ZX-10R, 1:17.147 6. Wikle Racing, MSB GSX-R600, 1:17.314 7. Wizard Racing, HSB GSX-R1000, 1:17.418 8. Rausch Creek, HSS YZF-R1, 1:18.393 9. Red Star, MSB YZF-R6, 1:18.616 10. Ridge Racing, HSB ZX-10R, 1:19.000

More, from a press release issued by Blue Ridge Performance:

Kawasaki Team Green’s Blue Ridge Performance Ninja 650R captured its 2nd Lightweight Superbike class win of the season, during the WERA National Endurance Series 6-hour endurance race at Summit Point.

Lead rider Martin Musil took the start and swapped the class lead with 2005 National Champions Ghetto Customs, until an off-track excursion handed the lead back to BRP. Flawless riding by co-riders Mark Biletnikoff and young gun Matt LaPham along with picture-perfect pit stops led by team owner/crew chief Gary [G Dawg] Schilling helped Team BRP to gain a full lap on 2nd place Weapons of Worship.

At the final restart, again with Martin at the controls, a rider three rows ahead nearly fipped his bike, causing Martin to check up. This allowing the rest of the field by. Instead of trying to chase the field down to mantain the lap lead, Martin decided to play it safe and bring home the win.

In the past our bikes have been down on power to the SVs, but with the help from Jeff Walker of Performance Powersports, we gain just enough new power to match up with them.

This win puts us right back in the hunt for a National Championship.