BRASELTON, Ga. The WERA Cycle Jam returns to Road Atlanta next week for one of the biggest amateur races of the season, bringing together the WERA National, Sportsman and Vintage series for a total of 29 races over three days. WERA is anticipating between four and five hundred racers, totaling more than 1500 entries throughout the weekend.
The on-track action gets started on Thursday, June 29 with practice for all competitors and qualifying for the Formula 1 and Superstock classes of the WERA/Michelin National Challenge Series.
Friday’s feature event will be the six-hour WERA/Bridgestone National Endurance Series race, which gets underway at 11:00 a.m. EDT. Up until round four at Miller Motorsports Park two weeks ago, Vesrah Suzuki had won every race this season overall and in the Heavyweight Superbike class. Their win streak was upset by local team Rave Yamaha Racing, but at Road Atlanta they will face a challenge from Team Velocity Racing. The Heavyweight Superstock team calls Road Atlanta their home track and they clinched their first WERA National Series overall championship there last October. Red Star will again be the Mediumweight Superbike team to beat, and they will be looking for redemption after their last appearance at Road Atlanta, when a blown motor dropped them not only out of the race, but out of the class championship lead.
Seventeen races will be the highlight on Saturday as the WERA/Pirelli Sportsman Series races get underway at noon. Between the expert and novice classes and several races that feature more than one class, there will be a total of 33 first-place trophies awarded throughout the day. On Sunday, the WERA/Michelin National Challenge Series competitors suit up for their eight-lap sprint races, beginning at noon. While the points battle is still close in many of the classes, Open Superstock and Formula 1 have turned into a dueling ground for Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey and Butler Machinery’s Robert Jensen. Batey and Jensen are tied with 60 points each in Open Superstock after four rounds. In Formula 1, Batey holds the top spot with just two points over Jensen. Batey and Jensen will have to contend with AMA Pro Racing’s Matt Lynn, who will be going for the win in both classes. The 21-year-old Lynn, who got his start in WERA, finished fifth in last weekend’s AMA Superstock race at Miller Motorsports Park.
Tickets for the WERA Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta are $30 for all three days of racing, $20 for Saturday and Sunday, and $15 for Sunday’s National Challenge Series races. Camping is also available for $25 for the weekend.
Directions and more information about Road Atlanta can be found at www.RoadAtlanta.com. A full schedule of the WERA Cycle Jam schedule can be found online at www.RoadAtlanta.com.