By Beth Dolgner

Tray Batey, John Jacobi and Lee Acree gave Vesrah Suzuki its second win in as many WERA/Bridgestone National Endurance Series races, finishing four laps ahead of the field in a 4-hour race at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway on Saturday.

Team 5150 took the early lead after Vesrah Suzuki missed the warm-up lap, but once Batey got his tires up to temperature he took over the lead and began to pull away. Red Star’s Ben Thompson followed in third on a Mediumweight Superbike Yamaha YZF-R6, pursued by Chuck Ivey on Team Velocity Racing’s Heavyweight Superstock Yamaha YZF-R1.

After the first of two crashes for 5150, Red Star took over second just before the first red flag came out at 42 minutes for three bikes down in turn one. The 30-second lead that Batey had built up disappeared, and on the restart the leaders were all still on the same lap.

The race restarted at the one-hour mark, and Vesrah’s lead was soon challenged by Thompson on the Red Star Yamaha. After chasing for 18 minutes, Thompson got past Batey for the overall lead.

All of the leaders except Red Star pitted before the second red flag came out for a bike down in turn one 36 minutes into hour two. Red Star and Vesrah had a lap on the entire field, so when the race restarted with eight minutes left before the halfway mark, Vesrah retook the lead while Red Star had to pit. The pit stop dropped the team down one lap, but still second overall.

The third hour was quiet, and Vesrah maintaining a one-lap lead over Red Star, while Red Star built up a two-lap lead over Team Velocity Racing.

Vesrah Suzuki’s overall victory also gave the team the Heavyweight Superbike class win. Red Star’s Thompson, Ben Walters and Brett Champagne took the team’s second consecutive Mediumweight Superbike class win with their second spot on the overall podium. Red Star ran the entire race on one set of Dunlops, and slowing lap times combined with a final push from Batey gave Vesrah the additional three laps over Red Star.

Team Velocity Racing crossed the finish line with the Heavyweight Superstock class lead and third overall for Ivey, Reuben Frankenfield and Andrew Nelson. The team’s Mediumweight Superstock entry of James Stroud and Steven Breckenridge, TVR II, wound up with the win in class and a fourth-place overall finish. Triple R Racing led the class most of the day, but a crash two laps from the end dropped Triple R to second.

Neighbor of the Beast had a long battle with Ghetto Customs for the Lightweight Superbike lead, and at the finish line the Neighbor of the Beast Suzuki SV650 ridden by Melissa Berkoff, Scott Fisher and Bruce Stanford was just 13.719 seconds ahead of Ghetto.

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey/John Jacobi/Lee Acree), Suz GSX-R1000, Heavyweight Superbike, 198 laps.

2. Red Star (Ben Thompson/Ben Walters/Brett Champagne), Yam YZF-R6, Mediumweight Superbike, 194 laps.

3. Team Velocity Racing (Chuck Ivey/Reuben Frankenfield), Yam YZF-R1, Heavyweight Superstock, 192 laps.

4. TVR II (James Stroud/Steven Breckenridge), Yam YZF-R6, Mediumweight Superstock, 192 laps.

5. Velocity Crew Racing (Kevin Perkins/Paul Youngman), Suz GSX-R600, Mediumweight Superbike, 191 laps.

6. Triple R Racing (Brian Stokes/Mike Reed), Yam YZF-R6, Mediumweight Superstock, 190 laps.

7. ARNCHU Racing (Nathan Dressman/Randy Sherman/Troy Meikle), Suz GSX-R1000, Heavyweight Superstock, 189 laps.

8. Wizard Racing (Jim McConnell/Dave Giradin/Tim Rinaldi/Skip Salenius), Suz GSX-R1000, Heavyweight Superbike, 188 laps.

9. Ed Bargy Racing School Endurance (Jeff Selbert/Seth Starnes/Blake Jones/Lee Fields), Suz GSX-R750, Heavyweight Superbike, 188 laps.

10. Dalke Motorsports (Josh Smith-Moore/Brian Dalke/Gio Rojas/Daniel Parkerson), Suz GSX-R600, Mediumweight Superstock, 187 laps.