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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128332
DunloplWERA National Endurance Series
Round 4 : California Speedway
PHOTOS BV ED DELLISIPOWER SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY
Vesrah Ousts the Army
B y DAN SCHMln
FONTANA, CA, JUNE 12
or the fou rt h round of the Dunlo plWERA
National Endurance Series, the temperatures were in th e mid-80s as t he green nag
new for the start of this six-hour event. Tray
Batey took the Vesrah Suzuki to the lead, with
F
Bradley Champion in second on th e Veloc ity
Racing Yamaha RI. HST Racing, also RI-mounted , was working through traffic, bringing current points leader Ar my of Darkness and
CherokeeChalienge,com along with them.
Forty-five m inu tes in, Cherokee
Challenge .com clipped one of the fake curbings
in the first-tum chicane. W ith the bike dow n in
the racing line, the red nag new.
Vesrah Suzuki took the lead again with the
gree n. A batt le for second overall developed
between Velocity and HST. When th es e tw o
Superstock-Iegal RIs stopped for fuel, Arm y
mov ed to second.
At the top o f the second hou r, Veloc ity ran
down Army to take second, and FDK grabbed
fourt h , w ith Neighbor of the Beast now
running fifth.
Fifteen mi nutes int o the third hour. one of
the Honda boys of HMR Racing lows ided in
tum six. This brought out the second red nag
of the day. After a brief break in the action . the
green flag flew again . Aga in , N ielsen
Enterprises ' Vesnh Suzuki took the lead .
Disaster struck, and Velocity Racingwas off the
trac k, head ing back to the pits. After analyzing
the situation . the Ve loc ity crew decided to go
to the backup R I, lo sing the 63 lap s ga ined
d uring the first two hours.
At halfway, the tw o tight skirm ishes on the
track were in the Lig htwe ight Superb ike class
and the Middlewe ight Supe rstock class, Bell's
Suzuki II held a on e- lap advantage over Dixie
Mafia. with Blue Ridge Performance clos ing
fast , all SV Suzuk i-mounted . R6 Yamaha mo unted Cherokee was two minutes ahead of
Neighbor. with B&S Road racing ano the r lap
back in third . Team Chicago he ld fourth in
class, back a few more laps.
Vesrah continued to pour on the coals,
gaining a three-lap advantage over Army du ring
the fourth hour. Bell's Suzuki had a problem
that le t D ixie Mafia ga in the lead in the
Lightweight Superbike class . Te a m Cycle
World , on a stock Kawasaki 1000, ran fast and
steady to le ad the Heavyweight Superstock
class, with Team Xcreme/Maxxis Tires one lap
back. running second in class.
With the end in sight, HST began a quest for
the pod ium, Jay Tanner and Corey Eaton rode
the last two hours. turning up the wick. After
running down Che rokee, they chased after
FDK. In the Lightweight Superbike class, Dixie
Mafia dropped out, and Bell's regained the lead,
with Blue Ridge second and Deal's Gap third .
Te am Xtreme/ Maxxis recaptu red the lead in
the He avywe ight Superstock cla ss . Ve sr ah
continued to lead overall, with Army seco nd.
During the final hou r, HST moved to third
ove ra ll. Cherokee moved to fo urt h. passing
FDK. Ve srah took the ove rall win, tak ing the
points lead from Army.
"We accom plis hed mo re than we came
do, " said HST's Jay Tanner. · We finished third
overall and sec ond in class. We had a lot of fun.
CN
It was a great ride ."
C AUfORNIA SPEEDWAY
FONTANA, CAUfORNIA
R ESULTS: JUNE
12, 2004
(ROUND 4)
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