Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dunlop/WERA Natio na l Endur a nce S er ies Round 8 : Nelson Ledges Roadcours e PHOTOS BY PETE R SMAKULNMOTORSPORTS PHOTOS Vesrah Victorious Again in Ohio! By DAN SCHMITT GARRmSVILlE, OH, SEPT. 11 T he WE RA Nat ional End ur anc e Ser ies ret ur ne d to Nel so n Ledges after an absence of 10 years . Ne lson Ledges is part of W ERA folklore. as it was the site of many 24· hour races in the I980s and '90s. In fact , Army Of Darkness got its start at the infamous 1993 24- ho ur eve nt . A ft er a moment o f silence in remembrance o f th e victims of the September I I attack, the six-ho ur skirmish got under way in eas tern O hio. Rueben Frankenfie ld took the Team Velocity RI to the ea rly lead. with Tray Batey close behind on the Vesra h SuzukI. Be n Walters had the Anny O f Darkness GSX-R600 in t hird, w ith J.P. Tache running fo urt h on the Cher okeeCh aJ lenge.net R6. Larry Denning, on t he B&S Racing Suzuki , was fifth and closing fast. A racelong scuffle began between Veloc ity Cre w 's Paul Youngman and Ne ighbor Of The Be ast 's Ch ris Pyles. vying for sixth . Running in seventh, and leading the Lightweight Superb ike class, was Dixie Mafia. Dur ing the sec o nd ho ur, th e Army team lost its fr ont brakes. Going immediately to the bac kup bike , Army lost t he first- hou r laps . Ves rah too k a two-lap lead over Velocity as this Sup erst ock bike mad e th e first of five sched uled pit st o ps. Dixie Mafia was flying in fifth overall. Velocity C rew was now lead ing t he Midd lewe ight Sup e r bike class, w ith 4&6 Racing's Team SMP second in class. Che rokee led the Middlewe ight Super stock class. During the fourth hou r. Franke nfie ld made a major mista ke , missing a shift in the kink, go ing Sideways a nd crash ing in t he ou t sid e gr ass. Afte r stri pping the busted bodywork, Ch uck Ivey returned to t he fight with just a gas tank and a seat on the bike. With only one hou r to go, Vesrah held a 10lap advantage ove r second-placed Velocity Crew Racing Neighbor held third, w ith Dixie in fourth. , With 20 minutes to go, CherokeeC hailenge.net was in the pits with a worn- o ut rear sprocket. After changing the rear w hee l. read justing the ch ai n, an d getting t he c hain on the fr ont sprocket, Scotty Van Scoik ret umed to act ion, trying to reta in some points. After six hours, Vesrah was victorious again. "T he pit stops all we nt fine ," Mark Junge stated. "Tray and Joh n rode two stints each, and we always had a good Pirelli rtre , there is ple nty of traction here." "The ra ce we nt re ally sm oot h, but we chewed up many tires ," Ve locity Crew's Kevin Pe r kins sa id of w inning t he Middl e w e ight Superbike class . "Paul stayed o ut for his two full stints, w hich put us into second overall. "We have good rhyth m." the first lady of roa d raci ng and own er of Ne ighbo r, Me lissa Be rkoff, decl ared . "Yo u have to make good rhyth m. We push and we have a good crew. We have fast riders. and they make a big fight and we win." " This layout is really fu n, " sa id Billy Et he ridge of Te am Xt re me, w inners o f t he Heavyweight Sup erstoc k c lass . " I like the layout. We r o de t he e nt ire six hours o n a IOOOcc Suzuki w ith one set of Maxxis tire s. We we nt 562 miles on tires just like the on es you eN can buy at you r loca l dea ler." II NELSON UDGES ROADCOURS E GARRmSVILLE, OHIO RESULTS: SEPTEMBER 11 , 2004 (ROUND The first la d y af road racing and the awner of Neighbor Of The 8east, Melis sa 8erkoff, charges to victory in the Middleweight Superstock class at the Nelson Ledges Roadcourse. Suzu ki II (Suz ); I" . Team Ch kago (Y am); IS. The Not orious P..G. (SuI) . l/W Sl B K : 1. Dixie Mafia (Suz); 2. Bell's Suzuki 1 II (Suz); 1. T he Notorious P.I.G , (Suz). M/W S/BK: I . Velocity Crew Racing (Suz); 2. SMP Racing (Y ); 3. Arm y o f am Darkness (Suz) . HfW S/BK: I . Vesrah Suzu ki (SUI); 2. Ridge Racing II (Kaw) ; 3. Te m pe r Me ntal Racing . H/W SlSTK: I. N e ighbor Of The Beast (Yam); 2. B&S Road rac.i g n (Suz); 3. Touring Sport Racing (Yam). H/W 5/S TK: I. Team am Xtreme/Maxxis (Suz); 2 Team Velocity Racing (Y ); 3. Team HMR (Ho n). 8) OIA: I. Vesrah Suzuki (Suz); 2. Ve locity Crew Racing (Suz) ; 3. Ne ighbor Of The Beast (Yam); ... Dixie Mafia (Suz) 5 . B&S Roadracing (Suz ); 6. Team Xtreme/Maxxis (Suz); 7. Tou ring Spo rt Rac.ing (Yam); 8 . Ridge Racing II (Kaw); 9 . am); II. C herokeeChalle nge .ne t (Yam ); 10. SMP Racing (Y Team Vl!tocity Racing (Yam); 12. Team HMR (Hon); 13. Bell's ". ,- ---= . .!: " '=-----------------------n>-~ ---. Paul Youngman, on the Velocity Crew Racing GSXR-600 (12), ba"les with Chris Pyles, on the Neighbor Of The 8east Yamaha R6 (667), for second overall in Garre"sville, Ohia. DUNLOPjWERA NATIONAL ENDURANCE SERIES OVERALL POINTS STA N DI N GS (A fter 8 rounds): I . Ve sr a h Suz u ki (890) ; 2. Army Of D ar kne ss (118); 3. N e ighbor Of The Beast (68 I); .ot . Team Velocity Ra cing (677); S. CherokeeChalienge .ne t (6 S7); 6. B&S Road r.lClng (581); 7. D ixie Mafia ( S56 ); 8 . Bell's Suzu ki II (5<16) ; 9. Te am Xtr e me/Max xis (528); 10. Veloc ity Crew Racing (" 72); II. Blue Ridge Perfo rmance (466 ); 12. Dea ls Gap Racing (" S") ; 13. Te am H MR 1 (42<1); 14 . FDK (" 08); IS. Team Ch icago (40J). Sco" USA Motocross Cha mp io nship Series Round 38: Mila n Cycle City 0: -- Wilson Waxin' Nostalgic >- at Cycle City ::> :>:: b= « OJ ~ a. By ARTHUR MABRY MILAN, MI, SEPT. 3 P Dusty Simpson placed third in the 250cc Intermediate class ot round 3 8 of th e Sco" USA Motocross Cha m pio ns hip Series in Mila n, Michigan. 40 oaOBER 27, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS ro fe ssio nal mot ocrosser Jim my Wil son returned to his roots and gave back some time to the young stars at the very place whe re Wilson started his career some 20 years ago. Ou t of t he o utd oor Nationals due to a back injury, W ilson spe nt the evening at the loca l trac k where he began racing on a 60cc Yamaha four -wheeler. Aside from racing and w inning the 2S0cc Expert class, Wilson too k the time to en co urage the Yout h race rs who are making t he ir sta r t s, jus t as he did m ore tha n tw o deca des ago , T he SOcc program has its ow n race track and holds an awards ceremony after eac h event. The SOce racers then visited Wilson at his pit area, w her e the Nicholson's Enterpris- 40th Anniversary es- sponsored pro aut ographed eve rything the young future stars prese nted. T he curre nt Sco tt USA 20 04 High po int le a d e r, Jacob Ed ison , was th e star o f t he nig ht 's p rogra m, wi nni ng t he SOcc Sup er Mod ifie d (4-6) and 50cc Advanced Modified (4-6) classes. Mitchell Harrison gave Edison the st iffest cha llenge. taking second overall in the Advanced Mod ified class. In his roo kie ye ar, Ha r r iso n is very busy r aci ng and w in ni ng multiple classes at nearly all of the 46 round s of th e champio nsh ip . Alt ho ugh Mitche ll was second in the Advanced Modified class, he was the wi nne r of t he XR50 (4-6) class. Harr ison not only races a Yamaha PWSO but also a Cobra and an X RSO. H arr ison is ex pe cte d to be a futu re star. showing e ndura nce and the ability to adapt to a variety of moto rcycles.

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