.
U. S. Mega Series, Round 5
Bentley
busts big
Shae Bentley won
1he 125cc and
250cc Pro classes
at round five of the
U.S. Mega series at
the Pro Sports
Facility in
Wytheville,
Virginia.
By Steve and Peggy Corlee
WYTHEVILLE, VA, APR. 25
reat weather and great racing was
the order of the day as more than
400 riders were in attendance to
race· at the Pro 'Sports facility in
Wytheville. The GP-like atmosphere,
coupled with great track preparation by
Sam Gammon's Victory Sports crew,
made for a great day of racing for riders
and fans alike. The Pro classes were especially entertaining, as several top East
Coast riders carne to challenge Kevin
Walker, including SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider Shae Bentley, who
has recovered from his early-season
injuries. Also in a ttendance was Suzuki
of Gastonia's Jim Chester, hot.off the
Arenacross Series and ready to ride. Each
rider knew, however, that when you're
in Kev Walker country, ta.ki.ilg the top
honors away from the Yamaha speedster
would be difficult, to say the least.
The 125cc Pro action began with a
bang as Kevin Walker grabbed the start
ahead of the field. Chester followed, but
Bentley found himself a t the rear of the
pack, the result of a face-plant in the first
turn. Lap after lap, Walker led, with
Chester in tow, keeping him honest,
while Bentley worked his way up to the
front-runners. Finally, in the last corner,
on the last lap, Bentley made a clean pass
on Chester to take second place behind
Walker, much to the delight of the fans.
Second-moto action was also intense,
but Bentley made1to mistakes and took
the win as well as the overall, ahead of
Walker, Chester, Yamaha's Jared Black
and KTM-mounted Richard Pratl1er.
The 250cc Pro action proved to be
exciting as well, even without the drama
present in the 125cc race. Walker and
Bentley split moto wins, with Bentley
coming out on top in the second moto,
giving him the overall win ahead of
Walker, Chester, Black and Hondamounted Hans eel.
Amateur action was also hot, and the
fun track layout inspired everyone to
really hang it oat. The absence of Team
Green's Ben Riddle, who is usually
dominant at !hi event, did not mean the
"green guys" were out of the show,
because joshua Summey, Team Green
rider and son of '70s regional Pro sensation Tony Summey, tepped into the
void left by' Riddle's absence and
showed all that he was the man. Summey totally dominated both the Schoolboy and the 125cc B classes with wireto-wire wins in all four motos.
Summey did not compete in the
250cc B class, which was won by Suzuki-mounted Doug Earls, who was followed by Suzuki's Evan Owenby and
Vertimati-mounted Wes McCoy.
The 80cc action was brisk as well, as
Suzuki-mounted Matt Miller and Ohio's
William Browning II won their respective age divisions. The 60cc class was
won by KX-mounted Austin Stroupe,
and the Junior Mini class fell to Yamahamounted Jake Griffis. Stroupe was also a
winner in the 50cc (7-8) contest. .
In the Vet divisions, smart, consistent
riding was the key. Kevin Walker won
the Over 25 A cla , ahead of Jim Chester.
The Over 25 B class was headed by
Honda-mounted Billy Cox, while Gary
Slayer took the C-class honors. Over 30
G
action saw wins by Suzuki-mounted
Albert McCoy in the A division, Steve
Mason in the B division and four-strokemounted Chad Viers in the C ranks. The
Over 40 class was dominated by Ron
Jones, who also made his presence felt in
both the Over 30. A and Over 35 classes.
The Masters win went to Steven Lewis,
who was followed by Suzuki-mounted
Johnny Gibson and Georgia's Steve Corlee, also on a Suzuki.
_
Pro Sports Facility
WytheVille, Virginia
Results: April 25, 1999 (Round 5)
50 SHAFT/JR: 1. Trevor Barrett (Yam); 2. Cody
Robbins (Yam); 3. Damon Coin (Yam): 4. Gavin Trettel
(Yam); 5. Michael Holt (Vom).
50 (4-6): 1. Ian Trettel (Cob); 2. Forrest Lane (PoD; 3.
Preston Thomas (KTM); 4. Colton Tickle (Cob); 5. Cody
Robb;ns (Cob).
50 (7-8), I. Austin Stroupe (Cob); 2. Les Smith (Cob);
3. Zachary Alvear (KTM); 4. Patrick johnson (KTM); 5.
Ben~"lmill Denton (Cob).
60 (7·9): 1. Austin Stroupe (Kaw); 2. Sean Hackley
Jr. (Knw); 3. Zach Osborne (KTM); 4. Matthew Pierson
(KTM); 5. Dustin Rowe (Kaw).
60 (10·11): 1. Joshua Schmitt (Kaw): 2. Mitchell
Peters (K.iw); 3. Michael Ridge 0 (Kaw).
850: 1. Shayne jordan (Kaw); 2. Garrett Welborn; 3.
Justin Walker (suz); 4. Jeffrey Coates (Yam): 5. Cris King
(Su.).
85 (12-13): 1. Matt Miller (5uz); 2. Steven Shoaf
(Suz); 3. Douglas Thomason (Kaw); 4. Bryan Walker
(Yom); 5. Stephen Houseman Ock (Suz); 4. Tho0\3s Jennings (Suz); S. David
Tucker (Suz).
30+ Co 1. Chad Viers (Yam); 2. Johnny Gibson (Suz);
3. Michael Robinson (Suz); 4. Richmond Trexler (Kaw);
5. Kyle Grant (Vam).
35+: 1. Ron jones (So2); 2. Kerry jones (5uz); 3.
Kenneth Pross (Yam); 4. Carl Vargo (Suz); 5. Greg Price
(Hon).
.40+: 1. Ron Jones (Suz); 2. Roger Arnold (Yam): 3.
Carl Vargo (502); 4. johnny Gibson (5uz); 5. Michael
Robinson (502).
48+: 1. Steven Lewis (Yam); 2. Johnny Gibson (5ux);
3. St~ve Corlee (Suz); 4. Byron Hager Oion); 5. Ted
Shortridge (Suz).
4·STRK 1. Joseph Prather (Vam); 2. Albert McCoy
(Vam); 3. Noel HoB (Vam); 4. Gregory 5tafford (Yam); 5.
Jomes Coin (KTM).
WERA Sportsman Series
Hayden,
Junge
clean up
By Drew Lincoln
INDIANAPOLIS, IN, APR. 24-25
ark Junge brought his Vesrah/Marshall
Distributing-backed
Kawasakis to Indiana polis Raceway Park to earn the lion's share of the
Kawasaki contingency money posted at
the event. He won two of the three purse
classes, taking a second to young phenom
Roger Lee Hayden in the last. Hayden
used his 1-800-CYCLE-GEAR Suzuki
GSX-R600 and 750 to dominate all of the
Superstock races, as well as the Mediumweight and Heavyweight Solo 20
races on Saturday. That's six wins from
seven starts on the weekend; he lost only
to the talented junge in a single event.
After winning two of the Solo 20
endurance races on Saturday, the
youngest Hayden brother used his
Cycle Gear Suzuki GSX-R750 to win the
first of the five sprint races in which he
was entered on Sunday - the A-Superstock race. Hayden had to ride his Dunlop-shod 750 to the limit to beat several
of the more-powerful Yamaha R-ls that
are so dominant in Open-class Super-
M
Events
stock races. Hayden, who will turn 16 at
the end of May, is biding his time until
the AMA ational at Road Atlanta in
June so that he can begin the first year of
his two-year contract to run the AMA
ationals for Suzuki. Hayden, who
missed the WERA ational Challenge
Race at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway, .
was coming off a great weekend of racing at the newly reconfigured Gateway
International Raceway in St. Louis,
where he set the new motorcycle track
record - the first track record in his
fledgling career.
The first encounter between Hayden
and lunge was in the C Superstock race
early in the day. Hayden, with one race
and a win under his belt already,. came
out swinging. Hayden raced a similar
Suzuki GSX-R600 to second place in the
600cc Suzuki Cup Final behind josh
Hayes last year, so it was obvious that
this is a motorcycle on which he is comfortable going fast. Junge, who also
raced Suzukis last year, ha switched to
the Kawasaki ZX-6R for the 1999 season
and seems to feel right at home on the
green bikes. Junge manhandled the
competition a week earlier at the opening round of the WERA National Challenge Series in the Pirelli 600cc Superstock and 1100cc Superstock races.
Junge finished second to Hayden here at
Indy, with Alien Racing's Mike
Mashewske, back from an early-season
injury, on another Kawasaki in third.
Two races later, Hayden was back on
his GSX-R750 to win the B Superstock
class, ahead of Travis King and Steve
Campisano, also on Suzuki 750s. This
was Hayden's third win and made for a
total sweep of all the Superstock races.
The remainder of Sunday's sprint races
were all Superbike and Formula classes.
Junge and Hayden went head to head
again in the Kawasaki contingency-paying C Superbike class, but this time it
was Junge who came out on top. junge,
on his Dunlop-equipped ZX-6R, had the
measure of Hayden, n his GSX-R60.o,
and Mashewske on another Kawasaki. C
Superbike was Mashewske's second
third-place finish of the day and, along
with his third-place finish in the Mediumweight Solo 20 the day before, this
comprised an altogether successful
return to racing. This was the last Hayden/Junge battle of the event, leaving
Hayden with his first and only loss of
the weekend and Junge with his first
win and maximum Kawasaki contingency money.
Junge went on to win the Formula
One race on his Vesrah/Marshall Distributing Kawasaki ZX-9R, ahead of
William Mrklas on an Ohio Superbikebacked Yamaha R-l. lunge took advantage of the substantial horsepower. and
light weight of the new ZX-9R to win
the 1100cc Superstock race at the WERA
ational Challenge opener as well,
beating a swarm of the usually all-conquering Yamaha R-ls in the process.
More racers may want to take a look at
the big Kawasaki if Junge keeps up his
winning way .
The last race of the day, B Superbike,
would end a long weekend of racing for
Earl Hayden's youngest son, Roger Lee.
B Superbike was his fourth sprint victory
of the day and his sixth win of the weekend. We can expect this young man to
rise to national stardom as fast - or even
faster - than his two older brotI1ers.
Fifteen-year-old prodigy Jason DiSalvo continued his utter domination of the
small-bike Grand Prix cia ses with
another win in the 125cc Grand Prix
race, and in the Form ula Two class as
well, on his Alien Racing/Applied Business Systems' Honda RS125. DiSalvo,
hot off his first National win at the
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