Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

PHOTOS BY AORENAUNE SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY Dunlop/WERA National Endurance Series Round 2: Nashville SuperSpeedway uc Vesrah Records a Winner in Nashville By DAN SCHMln NASHVILLE, TN, MAY I U nder bright. sunny skies , and with tem peratures in the mid -70s , the green flag new to start the second round of the Dun10pIWERA National Endurance Series . Tray Batey took the early lead on the Vesrah Suzuki, with Bradley Champion, on the Team Velocity Racing Yamaha RI, breathing down his neck. Three laps into this four-hour event , Champion highs ided coming ou t of the ultras low turn two, allowing Batey to stretch his lead unchal lenged. Roger Bell was tea ring up me track on the Bell's Suzuki Sv. making his way through the pack . AU of the Georgia boys were on th e gas, with both of the Canton Racing teams and the Team Xtreme/Maxxis T ires running In the top 10. The riders in black, Army of Darkness and Ne ighbor of the Beast, ran together, jock eying toward the front. Within t he first 20 m inutes , Batey was lapping through the field, tum ing his fastest lap at I :0 3 :8 6. Th is SuperSpeedway trac k meas ured I 1/2 miles, w ith the first fast co rner leading to four tight, slow corners in the infield. Add the chicane off the back straight. and the 33 teams were making hundreds of shifts per lap. At the first -hour mark , Vesrah he ld a onelap advantage over the 600cc Suzuki of FDK. with Matt Lynn aboard. Bell's Suzuki ran third , and Xtreme/Maxxis was fourth . Taylor Knapp Rac ing lost its lead in the Middleweight Superstock division when the chain came off. Thirty-five minutes into the second hour. two bikes went down. bringing out the first of ~ ~ " in 5 three red flags. On the restart, Vesrah again took the lead. as Anny of Darkness moved to second. Bell's Suzuki held third , Xt reme Maxxis was fourth , and CherokeeChallenge .com grabbed fifth. Vesrah continued to run a perfect race , with a flawless pit stop. as John Jacobi took control. Bell's Suzuki II moved to second. with FDK third . CherokeeChalienge fell and dropped back to 15th, as Neighbor of the Beast moved to eighth, first in Middleweight Supers tack. The Canton Racing team s ran together in sixth and seventh. Dan Schmitt . on the Team Chicago R6. got booted off into the center-field grass at 100 mph wh en T-Bone Racing turned into the pits without signaling. Josh Holley broke his arm and br ought out the third red flag. With less than one hour left in th e race , it be came a sprint to the finish. The battl es for class wins hea ted up. with Army battling w ith FDK for Middl ewe ight Superbike . N eighbor and B&S Road rac ing contested Middleweight Super-stock. Vesrah Suzuki had the ir class win w rap ped up, as did Team X t re me/ Max x is in the Heavywe ight Superstock class . Lynn dropped the FDK Suzuki in turn two , losing the ir one-lap advantage to Anny of Darkness . Bell's Suzuki II SV qu it com ing off the front stra ight with seve n mi n ut e s to go . ha nd ing the w in in the Ughtw eight Superbike class to Dixie Mafia. It came down to checkered flag, as Neighbor of the Beast triumphed over B&S Roadracing. Vesrah Suzuki too k the win . but Army of Darkness leads in the overall points. eN NASHVIW SUPERSPEEDWAY NASHVIW, TENNESSEE RESULTS: MAy I, 2004 (ROUND OI~ 2) I. Vevoh SuwId (Son ('f.un): 12. Bel> S, ($on (Yom). lJW SiB'" I. Oixie Mar.. (SuI): 2. Ropid T"",,, (Sus); J. Bell'. Suzuld II(Sus). AMP Sp ring Series Round 4: AMP National Track at Prairie Cily Pearson Perseveres at Prairie J: By JIM AND FARRIHN ENOS Q. RANCHO CORDOVA, CA, APR. 18 VTM-mo unted Connor Pearson rode a pair motes on the day and earned the SOcc Open Main Track-class win at round four of the Swift Dodge of Sacramento/Yamaha of Modesto/DH Cycies/Aipinestars-backed AMP Spring Series . The event on the AMP National Track at Prairie City drew a crowd of more than 600 riders on the day, including nearly 60 Pee Wees who envisioned maybe some day lining up on the same start gate at an AMA OU[4 door National. But for now, the business at hand was piloting a 10-inch-wheeled rocket. and for Pearson the result was satisfying. A pair of holeshots on the day for Pearson in the SOce Ma in Track Open class saw the speedster open up a quick gap on the field both times out. With just the elimination of the two uphill sections. the field took on the full track, and Pearson handled the rough track conditions like a pro en route to the wins . Giving chase was Cobra pilot Derrick Silva, w ho found I'Df solid Conner Pearson sco red the SOcc Open victory at round four of the AMP Sp ring Se ries in Rancho Cordova, California . The men in black - Army of Darkness' Ben Walters (99) and Neighbor of the Beast's Sco" Fischer (667) • ba"le it aut at the second round of the Dun lop/WERA National Endurance Series. 76 MAY 26, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Pearson's pace just a little too much yet still checked in with the runner-up spot via a 2-3 effort. Travis Burrough. who suffered a DN F in the first mo ta, rebo unded in mota two wit h a so lid second-place finish fo r third overall on the day, followed by Luke Dazey, who checked in with a 3-4 score on the day for the fourth spot. In the SOcc (7-8 ) Main Track class. Justin Uddell bested a IS-rider field for the overall on the day. Uddell utilized good starts both times out for a 1-2 mota score. which was go od enough for the w in . while James Sacher followed up with a 2-4 e ffort, earning second overall on the day. J.T. Blatt man o ve rc am e problems in mota one to finish sixth and the n roared back in mota two for a convincing win , and the effort paid off, as he rounded out the top three on the day with a 6-1 score. Sammy Bell and Bruno Moreda swapped mota w ins in the SOcc (4-6) Main Track class, but it was Bell who came out on top with a class-winning 2-1 score. Moreda settled fo r the second spot o n the day after posting a 1-2 40th Anniversa ry score, while Clayton Tucker rounded out the top three with a cons istent 3-3 tally. In the 50cc Pee Wee Track classes, Blatt man be sted his earlier effort w ith an overall win via a 2- 1 score for the top honors in the 50cc (7-8) class , fo llow e d by Kyle Greener ( 1-3) and Nathan Sams (4 -4). In t he SOcc (4- 6) class , it was once again Bell coming through. this time with a perfect I-I effort, over Jayson Harting (2-2) and Tucker (3-3). In the Pee Wee Junior class, Justin Bye came away a winner on the day , riding to a I -I score, followed by Logan Hall (2-2) and Javier Loera (3-3). RESULTS Pee Wee Tra ck 50 p!W JR (~~6): I. Justin Bye (KTM); 2. l ogan Hall (KTN); 3. Ja v;er Loera (Yam); 4. Owen 'Nhitecotton (Suz). SO F(T: I. Stn, ton Vlahos (Hen) ; 2. Marciano Zapien (KTM) 3. ; H""'l' Mono (Hon). SO (4-6) ST'" I. Sommy Bell (Pol) : 2. jAyson Haning (KTH); J. CloY'on Tud

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