Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128102
W ERA/GMO Computrack National Endur ance Ser ies Round 1: Texas World Speedway the o ne -ho u r m ar k. Rac e le a d e r Ves rah Ra cing pulled in a few m in ute s la ter and th e c rew mem bers swarmed around the bi ke like an g r y a n t s , work ing fur iousl y to g et Glenn Szarek o ut o f th e p its in under 10 seconds. Fujimo Racing waited on e lap too long to pit and ra n o ut of ga s , coasting out of turn 12. At th e end of hour one , only four tea m s were o n t he lea d la p . T h e ord er wa s Vesrah Racin g, Te am Pennzo il and Ra ce rS up ply.com. Loudoun Motor s p o rt s fo llowed ne xt , ah e a d of Bent Rac ing , Arm y of Darkness and Team Clinton Cycles. (Above) Vesrah Racing's Chris Ul rich celebrates taking first p lace with h is teammates in the Texas World Speedw ay winner's c ircle. He Is fla n k ed by secondplace finishers Team Pennzoil (le ft) and third-place finishers RacerSupply.com. By (Left) Team Pennzoll leads Team Clinton Cycles (hIdden), Anny of Darkness (99) and Loudoun Motorsports around the Infield en route to a strong second-place finish at the first round of the WERAlGMD Computrack National Endurance Series. M A RK LOPEZ P HO T O S BY J AM E S H E RS E Y COLlEGE STAn ON, TX, MAR. 31 -1) o u n d one o f th e WERA /G MD '4/"\ Computrack Nat io na l Endurance Se rie s was d om ina ted by the Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Vesrah Racing . Reigning Hea vywei ght Superstoc k -c!ass champion s Te a m Pe nnzoil to o k second o ve ra ll, a n d t hi rd bel onged to Ra c erSupp ly . c om . Th e top th re e overa ll a lso clai med top three Hea vyweight Superbike honors . First in th e Hea v ywe ight Sup e rst o ck d iv is ion w ent to fourth- o v e rall Lo udo u n Motorsports. Reigning Med iumweight Superbike cha m p ions Arm y of Dark ness finished fifth ove ra ll a nd first in class to lead the po ints ra ce he a ding into round two . Arm y of Darkness got a great sta rt from pole position a t 11 :4 5 a .m. to lead lap one. Ra c erSupp ly. c om got he ld up in th e bo ttl e ne c k filing into turn o ne , but t he y we re fast o n the recove ry a nd sliced tho ug h the le a d ers to ta ke first on lap two . Arm y of Darkness tried hold ing on to se con d . ahead of Te a m Clinton Cycles a nd Ve s ra h Racing's Mark Junge , but AOD q u ic kly fe ll back over the next c o u p le of laps as the bigge r bi k e s s im p ly o utpowered th e ir GSX -R600. J f:,J Motorsports had a terrible start to thei r da y when their transm iss ion faile d on lap one, causing a cra sh . 48 MAY 2 , 2001 • c u e • e Rac erSupply.c om los t th e lead to Ve sra h Ra cing on the fifth lap. On lap s ix , t he lea d gr oup b r o k e away. Ves rah Rac ing led th e way , follow ed by Team Clint on Cycle s , Ra c e rSup p ly.co m o n a GS X-R 100 0 , C ras h Clin ic , Te am Pennzoil and Lou d oun Motorsports . By lap seven , Ves rah Racing had pulled a small gap ove r second and was alr eady e ncounte ring lappers. Team Clinton Cycles brought their Yamaha R6 in to begin the first round of pits stops a bout 15 mi nut es before ne VIl' s Midwa y thr ou gh the race , Roadrac ing World 's Chr is Ulrich was running well in his first yea r e ndura nce-raci ng a "big b ike" a nd he ha d th e Vesrah Rac ing Suzu ki 100 0 still in th e lea d . Te am Pennzoil an d RacerSupply.com s till held s eco nd and th ird. At 3:30 p.m ., Ulrich came in for a scheduled stop and handed off to Junge. La te in the ra ce , Team Chaos Racing had a spir ited tussle for fo ur th place in Medium we igh t Superstock against Neig hb or of the Be ast. Team Chaos had the be tter line o ut of the chi cane onto the front st raight, but Neighbo r of the Be ast came knocking on their door, sweeping into the fifth g ear le ft - h a n der a t t h e e nd of the front stra ight. Th e two battled until the Df:,D Racing ra c er, running second in Hea v yw e igh t Supe rstock , we dged h imself betwe en the two. At the finish , fourth in the Med iumweight Supe rs tock class we n t t o T e am Chaos , and Neighbor of the Beast settled for fifth in class. .In the fourth h ou r , Pensacola Motorsports , who had been ho lding down fifth in Hea vywe ight Superbike , low -sided in turn one , tak ing them selves out of co nte ntio n. At 5 p.m ., Fujimo Racing 's Russell Williams re ti re d th e R6 with what looked like e le ct ric a l problems. The crew tried to use th e bla ck box from a s par e ma chin e to kick -start the engine and ke e p t he ir third -place s po t in Medium we ight Superstock class , but their day was don e. In the end , Vesrah Racing fla s he d pa st th e scorers ' box first to take the season 's first vic to ry. Team Pennzoil kept the second -p la ce seat th ey held a ll da y , and Rac erSuppl y.com followed in third . Arm y of Da rkness was the first 600 to c ross the line , taking fifth overall a nd first in Medi umw eight Supe rb ike . F ir s t in t h e Medi umwe ig ht Superstock class went to Team Clinton Cycles, in six th overal l. Rob in's Roost took first in the Lightwe ight Superbike c lass , over Champion Rac ing. CN Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas Results:March 31, 2001 (Round 11 (Ab ove leftl Vesrah Racing 157) sizes up RacerSupply.com (7) for a pass int o the lead exi ting tum n ine. Team Clinton Cycles (145) gets a bird's-eye view of the fight for first. (Above) Vesrah Racing (57) takes the all-new GSX-R1000 to Its first-ever WERA National Endurance win In Co llege Station , T exa s. H/W S/BK: I. Vesreh Racing (Suz); 2. Team Pennzoi l (S uz) ; 3 . RacerS up ply.com (Suz ); 4 . Crash Cl inic (Suz); 5. ACE Racing (Yam). H/W S/STK : 1. Loud oun Mot orsport s (Suz) ; 2. D!;D Racin g (Yam ); 3 . J!;J Motorsports (SOl) . M / W S / B K ; 1. Ar m y of Dar kn e ss ( Suz ) : 2 . Leaning Lizard Racing (Kaw); 3. Clubracer dot com (Yam) ; 4 . RadioActive Raci ng (Hon) . M/W S/ST K : 1. Team Cli nton Cycl es (Yam); 2. Bent Racing (Suz); 3 . Team Chicago (Yam) ; 4. Team Cha os Ra cing (Ka w); 5. Neighbor of the Beast (Sw.). UW S/BK: 1. Robin 's Roo st (Suz); 2. Champion Racing (SOl); 3. Cycle I Raci ng (SOl); 4 . Maryland Motorsports (SOl) ; 5. Team Speed y Gonzales (SOl) .