Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

S u z u k i Cup 2003 Fina l R ou n d : R o a d A t lan ta Reuben Frankenfield of Team Velocity Rac ing (131 ) le ads Bradley Champion of Te am Info Tech (3 1), Jeff Wal ker of Neighbor of the Beast (66 7) and the rest of the field on the second restart of the Four-H our National in Braselton, Geo rgia. Te am Info Tech finished third overall an d won the Middlew eight Superstock c lass; Team Velocity Racing finished f ourth overall an d second in iddleweight Superstock. Bridge , F ini sh Li ne Racing go t punte d off t he t rack , w it h t he ir bik e res ti ng on the ret urn road . Th is brou ght o ut a no ther r ed flag . Dur in g a l l t his ac tio n , Ve sr ah Suz u ki was ha v in g p robl ems of t he i r ow n. J o hn Ja c ob i pitt ed r igh t afte r t he fi rs t red fl a g . Wh en th ey we nt to rem ov e the rear axle , they fo und it had seized in the c ar rier fo r the rea r sprocket. The crew had to stop working when the red fl ag ca me out, so th ey ana lyzed t he ir sit u at ion and cha nged t he en ti re c arrier unit after the second green flag . T hey d idn' t l ose a lap in t he p rocess . It on ly took them 10 m in utes to fix th e Ves rah Su zu ki II bik e, b ut t hey lost four laps in the p its. Du r i n g t he fi nal h ou r , T e am Xtr eme m ad e up t he lost time in th e pit s and m o ved to eighth overall , seco n d in c lass. Je ff W yl e r/Blue M ota took fift h p ve rall and won the Heavyweight cl ass. Deal's Gap Raci ng ran a perfect rac e and claim ed th e light w ei gh t S u per b ike c ha m pi o ns hi p . T eam Ve l o ci t y Ra c i n g d e c i d e d to cha nge both t ires and sent Ca y lor ou t to hunt down Team Info Te ch /Valt er M ot a. C ha mpio n r o d e a f a st b ut st e a d y race a nd wo n t he Mi d d le weig ht Sup er st o c k r ac e o n t he t rack by 22 seconds an d ga ine d t he 10 po i nts n eed ed fo r t he c hampi onship . A rm y of Darkn ess agai n won th ei r c lass (maki ng it 10 straight wins ), finishing second overa ll. W ith a pe rfec t s ea so n, V e sr ah Suzuki cla imed th eir t h i rd o vera ll t itl e an d th e Heavyweig ht Superbike champi ons hip . " It all ca me down to w hoeve r ca me pre pa red and which team co uld pe rfo r m b ot h o n t he t r ack a nd in t h e pits." J oe Sch o ch of Deal's Ga p said . "I would like to t hank WER A , Dunlop T i res a nd D eal ' s G ap M o t o r c y cl e Resort; we would not be here withou t t heir he lp." "F irst, we were no t sure that w e wou ld make it here," said Champio n, " beca use the t eam's equ ipment was so ld t o Mi k e Hendry . His so n Brad is r iding with u s. T e a m V el o c i t y w a s t ak in g this v e ry se rio usly, and th ey brou gh t in O p ie Cay lor to he lp out. We told ourselves t ha t we woul d ha ve to run ou r own ra ce. W ith th e two red flags , we were luck y and go t ahe ad of V e lo c ity a s t hey made a t w o - t i r e change. W ith abo ut 15 m inutes left in the rac e, the fu el lig ht c ame on . I j ust p ra y ed that I would make it t o th e en d . W e made it, a n d we w on t h e cham pionship ." "We ran t wo teams tod ay ," Mark Edwards from Xtreme sai d , " and we did w in the Heavyweig ht Superstock ch am pio ns hi p fo r M ichelin with t he Yamaha . We ha d a little bad luck wit h th e c rash , bu t we o nly lost fo ur laps in t he pi ts, so we d id okay w it h t he Suzuki." " F o r 20 0 4, " E th e rid g e a d ded , "Team Xtreme w ill be 'Team Xtreme M a x x i s Raci ng. ' M ax xis T i r es h as c o m e o n bo ard fo r a two - y ear cont ract to do t he R&D for their DOT rac ing t ires. W e w ill h elp to de ve lop a new-gen er ation racing tire for Ma xx is. It w ill be a new look; everything w ill be o rang e, blac k and si lver. Plu s, we are going to add two new rid er s to t he tea m , bu t I'll h ave t o let yo u know wh o these ride rs ar e at a lat er dat e. It will be a gre at ye ar next yea r. " Winn in g th e ti tle and 10 st r ai g h t races, Mark Junge said the y did not pan ic wit h th e seized ca rrier. "We j ust changed it ou t and on ly lost about 40 seconds," Junge said , ad d i ng , " we inten d t o be bac k ne xt year w it h t he sam e ri ders and crew CN and same wi fe." RoadAtLanta BrasellDn, Georgia Results: October 31, 20D3 [ Round 10 of 10J O / A : 1 . Ve sr a h Suz uki (S u e) : 2 . Army o f Dark ne s s (5 uz) ; 3 . Tea m In fo Tech/Va lt e r Mot o (Y am ) ; 4 . Team Vel o c it y Ra cing (Sua) : 5 . J eff Wyler/B lue Mato (Suz); 6 . Team Xtreme II (Ya m) ; 7. Neighbo r of the Bea st. (Yam ); 8 . Team Xtre me (Suz) ; 9 . Bf, S Endura nce (5uz) ; 10 . Veloci ty Cre w Raci ng (502.) ; 1 1. Be ll's Suzuki II (Hon) ; J 2 . Bf,S End urance 2 (Suz ); 13 . Te am Bear (Kaw) ; 14 . Team Chic ago (Yam) ; 15 . Vesrah Suzuki II (Suz) . L/ W S /BK: 1. T w in Wo rk s Fa ctory ( Suz); 2 . Rapid Tra ns it (Suz); 3. Deal's Gap Racin g (Suz); 4. Tight Squeeze U (Suz); 5 . SV Performance (Suz). M/W S /BK : I . Army o f Da rkne ss (Suz) ; 2 . Ve locity Cre w Raci ng (Suz) ; 3 . B &S End urance 2 (Suz) : 4 . TeamBear (Kaw): 5. Deals Gap III (Suz) . H/ W S /BK : 1. Vesr ah Suzuki (Suz) ; 2. Team Xtre m e (S uz ) ; 3 Team El ijay (S uz) ; 4 . No rth ern Geta way (Suz) ; 5. Oute r Xtremes (Suz) . M/W S /STK: I. T eam Info Tech/Va lte r Moto (Yam); 2. Tea m Velocity Racing (Suz ); 3. Neighbor of the Bea st (Yam); 4 . Bf,S End urance (Suz); 5. Bell ' s Suzuk i II (Hon ). H/W S/STK: I. Jeff Wyler/Blue Molo (Suz) 2. Team Xt rem e II (Yam) ; 3 . Vesrah Suzuk i II (502) ; 4. Tea m Revo lution (Suz) ; 5. Te am Ta chyon (502). W ERA NATIONAL ENDURANCE SE RIES FINAL PO INTS STAND INGS (After 10 of 10 rounds) : O / A : I. Vesrah Suzuk i (10 19/10 wins) ; 2. Army of Dar k ness (9 05 ); 3. Team Velocity Racing (768 ); 4. Team Info Tech/velter Mo to ( 755 ); 5. Veloc ity Crew Racin g (74 5 ); 6 . Team Xtreme II (718) ; 7 . Ricochet Racing ( 6 46 ); 8 . N eighbo r of th e Beast (631); 9 . Te Chicag (566 ): 10. Bf,S Racing am o (505). l./W S/BK : I. Deal' s Gap Racing (827 ); 2 Ti ght Squeeze II ( 8 18); 3 . Tig ht Sq ueeze (7 6 1) : 4 . B lue Ridge Performance (618); 5 . Sirens (507 ). M /W S / B K : I. Army o f Darkness (1 0 1 1) ; 2 . Velocity Crew Racing (912) ; 3 . T eam Bear (435 ); 4. Deal s Gap Racing III (410); 5 . TFS Racing (32 1). H/W S/BK: 1. Vesrah Suzuki ( 1019/10 wins); 2. Te am Xtre me (612); 3 . Northern Getaway (595) ; 4. T earn Xt rerne II (22 0 ); 5 . Red Bull Racing (1 t 7) . M /W S / STK: 1. Te a m Inf o T ec h/Va lter Moto (9 03 ); 2. Tea m Veloc ity Rec inq (90 1); 3. Ricochet Racing (807 ) ; 4 . Neighbor of the Beast (788 ); 5 . T eam Ch icago ( 71 8 ). H/W S/S11(: I. Team Xtr eme II (81 2 ); 2 . Tea m HMR (490) : 3 . JeffW yler/Blue Moto (354) : 4. Team Tac hyon (321 ); 5 . E1ija y Racin g (296) . WE R A N a t io n a l C h a lle n g e S e r ie s B Y D AN SCHMITT PHOTOS BY STEVE STARNES/ TS A DRENALINE SPOR PHOTOGRAPHY LLC F in a l R o u n d : R oad Atla nta BRASELTON, GA, NOV. 1-2 he weat her at Road A tl an ta was perfect fo r t he two -day sh ootout f inale of the WERA N ationa l Ch al lenge Ser ies. K icking off the act ion, Mar k Junge continu ed his domina ti on of the O pen Superst ock class on t he Pire lli/ V esrah Suzuki 1000 . G r eg M o o r e w as there t o chall en ge him, bu t M o or e r a n off th e t r ack a n d dropped to fi fth. Scott Carp enter fini she d sec o n d , w it h Byro n B arbou r third an d J ohn J acobi fo urth. A s M a t t- Lyn n, on the Mi ch eli n / Blaze C y c l e W e rk s Suzu k i , b attl ed w it h Ben Thom pson , on th e Sh ogun Motorsp orts/Ancho rag e Suzuki, in th e St ar Sch oo l 600 cc Su perstock Novice fina l, a b a tt l e fo r t hi rd de ve lope d among Chri s Kessler, M a rk D el ano an d Cale Sw iger. Ly nn took t he titl e, and Sw iger m oved to third. W ith hi s M i c he lin / T eam Xtrem e 750c c Suzuki, George Gentle had the ad va ntage ove r hi s neighbo r Lynn, on T Matt Lynn (5 4 9 ) leads th "' "Charge i nto Road Atlanta's fiv!! in the Star School'600cc Superslock Novice final at the last round of the WERA Natlonar Challenge Series. 26 NOVEMBER 1 9 , 2003 ' cue I e nevvs

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