Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

PHOTOS BY LOUIS GAGNEAN YOUR FACE PHOTOGRAPHY Dunlop/WERA National Endurance Series Round 7 : Talladega Gran Prix Vesrah Takes Talladega! By DAN SCHMITT TAUADEGA, AL, AUG. 21 0rty.two teams lined up to take th e start F on w ha t may b e t he las t Nati o na l Endurance event on this very technical 1.3-m ile ro ad cou rse. Wit h t he Alaba ma H igh w ay De par tm e nt tak ing part s of tu rns seven and eight . hopefully this hist o ric road course will be expanded to over two miles by ne xt year. Under the threat of rain, the green flag new at 12:45 p.m . Rue be n Fran ke nfie ld , on t he Team Velocity R I, snatched the start and led for two laps. Tray Batey moved into the lead on the Vesrah Suzuki, with Be n Wa lters . on the Army of Darkness Suzuki 600 , in th ird . Roge r Bell had the Bell's Suzuki II SV in fourth, whi le C he rokeeChalienge .ne t an d Neighbor o f t he Beast battled for fifth. The hard-charging Deals Gap Resort team, on the Yamaha R6. blew the first corner and went down in the mud as they lo st their front brakes at the 40-minute mark. Bell's Suzuki II came in t o the pits w ith a sertous -scundlng eng ine no ise; th is class-leading team tried to nurse the bike around but. had to reti re after a few mo re laps. At the one-hour po int, Vesrah Suzuki led , Team Veloc ity held se co nd, and Army and Neighbor ba ttled for third. Wit h Bell's Suzuki out of the race , Dixie Mafia began to pou r on t he coa ls. T his SVmounted team from Gr ay, Georgia, ran eighth overall during the second hour. Team Velocity Racing , a Supers tock team w ith a stock gas tank , made its first of three pit stops and maintai ned second overall . Army and Neighbor co nt inue d on in t hird and fourth , although Neighbor had to pit early. During the third hour, the Superbike teams be gan to move up, as they mad e on e less pit stop . Army grabbed second from Te a m Velocity Racing. Velocity Crew Racing, C ant on Racing a nd Di xie all g o t by Neig hbor. ( 12- 15) and 85 cc Se nior ( 12- 15) classes, taking all four mota w ins o n a Suspen sion Plus KTM. Kiefe r Ba nt e r (4- 2) fin ish e d second in th e Sup erm inis o n h is KTM, edging out Yamaha rider N ick Kersey (3-3). Dustin Boc kover (2-4) fin is hed fo ur t h o n a Dun lo p/F MF/Sp litfi r e Kawa saki, and Kawa saki jockey An d r e w Dewees (6-5) finished fifth. Bante r finished second in both 8Scc Senior motes , w ith Adam Haines (6- 3) taking third o n a Moo se RacingiNo -Toil/ lndy Cy cle Kawasaki. Math ew Arnold (S-4) finished fo urth on a BelAir RacinglWats e ka Hond a-Kaw asaki -b ac ked Suzuki, edging out Dewees (4-5). Colton Chapman dom inated all six motos in the 65cc (7-1 1), 80c c Outlaw (7- 11) and 85cc Junior (7- 1I) classes o n a Tho r/DP Brakes/F lat O ut Mo torcycle s KTM. Taylor Rou th finish ed second in all four motos of th e 65cc (7- 11) and B5cc Jun ior (7- 11) classe s, but he was edged o ut for second place in the BOcc O ut law class by Yamaha rider Nathan Campbell (3· 2). KTMmo unted Tyler Phillips finishe d fourth in bo t h rno ros , followed by Suzu ki jockey Brandon C rabtre e . C amp bell finished third in both 85cc 46 Chero keeChalienge.net moved up to challeng e Neighbor fo r the le ad in t he Mid dleweigh t Superstock class. Running a solid second in the Lig h tweight Su perbike cl a ss , Blue Ridge Perfo rman ce cras hed in turn fo ur 's U-t urn , dropping back to 10t h in class by th e time they go t going again. As the su n began to break t h ro ugh t he clouds, Canton Racing II, on the Yamaha R6 Superbike, upped t he pace and finally go t by Su zu ki GSX- R600· m o u n te d Veloci ty Crew Raci ng , taking second in class and fo u r t h overall. Vesrah Suzuki continued to lead with a fo u r- lap ad va nt age over Army. By ru nning consis tent I:0 2s all day, Suzuki SV6oo-mounted Dixie Mafia came home sixth overall , tak ing its se cond victory in the Ughtweight class. Melissa Be rko ff's Neighbor of the Beas t tea m too k its second consecutive victory in th e Middleweight Superstock class; Neigh bor is no w o n ly 16 poi nt s shy of the class le ad , and Berkoff has again proved that she's the coun try' s fas te st female road racer. When asked about another overall victory for t he N ie lsen Enterprises-spo nsored Vesrah Suzuki, team owner Mar k Junge replied: "We like this track , but it is very busy out there: you barely have time to look at your lap counter. Tray ran flat I:00., wh ile John ran I:015 allday.· eN TALlADEGA GRAN PRIX TALlADEGA, ALABAMA RESULTS: AUGUST 21, 20D4 (ROUND 7) L/ W S/ B K : I . D ill ie Maf ia (SU1); 2. C ollegiate Bookst ores; 3.Perf o rmanc e Psycle Racing. M/W S/O K: I. Army of Dar kness (Suz) ; 2. Canton Racing II (Yam); 3. Velodty Cr ew Racing (SU1). H/W Sl B K: I . Vesrah Suzuki (Suz); 2. Elli ay Racing (Suz); 3. Tou ring Sport Racing M/W j . 5 / S T K: I. N ei ghbo r o f t he Beast (Ya m); 2. Che rokeeChal lenge .net (Yam): 3. Te am Chicago (Yam). HfW S /ST K: I. Team Ve locity Racing (Yam) ; 2. Tea m Xtreme/Maxxis (Suz); 3. Team Eclipse (Suz). O /A:. l. Vesrah Suzuki (Suz): 2. Army of Darkn ess (Suz); 3. Team Vekx:ity Racing (Yam); -<4 . Canton Racing II (Yam): S. Velocity Crew Racing (Suz); 6. Dixie Mafia (SuI ): 7. Neighbor of the Beast (Yam); 8. CherokeeChallenge .net (Yam); 9. Arocho Racing (Above) Team Velocity Racing (3) leads aff the line, with Army of Darkness (991, Dixie Mafia (98), Bell's Suzuki II (71) and the rest of the pack following in Talladega, Alabama. (Left) Di xie Mafia runs away with the Lightweight Superbike w in. (Suz) ; 10 . Te am XtremeJMaxxls (5u z); II. Team Ecl ipse (Suz): 12. Ellijay Racing (Suz); 13. Need a Sponsor (Yam); 14. Team Ch icago (Yam); 15. Legion o f Zoom (Suz). Junio r motos, in fron t of Yama ha rider W illiam Read e r an d Suz u ki r ide r Alexande r Du tto n. KTM rider Levi Arno ld finished third in the 65cc (7- 11) class, ahead of Reade r and Phillips. RESULTS 50 AUTO O IL·I NJ (4. 8), I . Megan Campbell (Yom); 2. (Kaw) . 25 + A: I. Donald Baker (Ho n): 2. Joseph Beber (Yam 1. Phillip Hardy (Yam); 4. Nick Yod (Hon). 25 + B: ); er I. Thomas Smith (Hon); 2. Jason Nichols (Y am). 30 + A: I. Donald Baker (Hon); 2. Joseph Beber (Y am): J. Phillip Hardy (Y ); ... Terry Stru nk (Hon). 30 + B: I. Tho mas Sm ith am (Hon); 2. Tim Graves (Y am); 3. Jason Nichols (Y am); 4. Jerry Barber ( KT M); S. Scott D it m ir e (H us). 4 0+: I . Bill Nann e nga (Hon); 2. Mike Brown (Yam); 3. Je rry Barb er (KTM). Karste n Ker sey (KTM). SO JR (4 -6): I. Zachary Malone (KTH): 2. Christian Arnold (KTM). SO SR (7-8): I. Jacob INhite (Pol): 2. Alex Marion (Cob): 3. Zactwy Grider (KTM); 4 . Ethan Compton (KTM); S. Da llas Wolfe (KTM). 6S (7 - 11): I. Colton Chapman (KTH ): 2. Taylor Routh (KTM); 3. levi Arn old (KTN); 4. W illiam Reader (KT M): 5. Tyler Phillips (KTM 80 OUTLAW (7-15): I. Colton Chapman (KTH) ; 2. ). Naha n Campbell (Yam ); 3. Taylor Routh (Yam); 4 . Tyler Phillips (KTM ); 5. Brandon Crabt ree (Suz). 85 JR (7- 11): I. Colto n Chapm an (KTM): 2. Taylor Routh (KTH); 3. Nathan Campbell (Yam ): 4. William Reader (Yam) ; 5 . Alex ander Dutton (Suz). 85 SR (12- 15): I. Clayton Knox (KTM); 2. Kiefer Banter (KT M): 3. Ad am H aines [Kaw] : 4. Matth ew Arnold (Soz); 5. Andrew Dewees (!

• Cover