May 26 - Vesrah Suzuki wins Miller 6 hour
VESRAH SUZUKI WINS MILLER MOTORSPORTS PARK 6 HOUR ENDURANCE RACE & NATIONAL CHALLENGE SUPERSTOCK RACES.
Vesrah Suzuki won the 4th round of the 2009 WERA National Endurance Series at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele Utah. In the series only appearance on the west coast this year, the team brought its Tony Pogue prepared Suzuki GSXR 1000 Heavyweight Superbikes to contest the 6 hour race.
Tray Batey started the race for the team slotting into 2nd place while another team set the pace. After pitting with Cory West taking the controls of the Vesrah GSXR 1000 while the leading team ran into problems, the team took over the top position which it would never relinquish. John Jacobi rode next and at the end of the 3rd hour the team had a 3 lap lead. The team cycled the riders in the same order for their second stints and emerged at the end of 6 hours with a 5 lap victory. The Vesrah Suzuki crew was timed at 11 seconds, by an independent source, for several pit stops changing both the front and rear wheels and refueling the team’s Suzuki GSXR 1000. The quick pit stops combined with perfect riding by Tray, Cory, and John resulted in the teams 4th consecutive victory of 2009 in the team’s quest for an 8th WERA National Endurance Series championship.
Sunday dawned with tricky conditions which complicated set up issues for the team’s riders competing in the National Challenge sprint races. Many thanks have to go to CT Racing, the Pirelli vendor at MMP, for all the tire changes necessary with switching over to the rain tires required for the conditions.
In the first race of the day, Open Superstock, held in pouring rain, Vesrah riders Cory West, Tray Batey, and Team Owner Mark Junge took the top 3 spots sweeping the podium for Vesrah Suzuki. The next race the team competed in, 600 Superstock, had Cory West taking the win with former Vesrah Suzuki development riders Russ Wikle and Jimmy Wood taking finishing 2nd and 3rd. Nick McFadden, the development rider with Vesrah for 2009, had an eventful Formula 2 race with a highside while competing for 2nd place with a much larger motorcycle then the one he was mounted on.
The next race that the team competed in, 750 Superstock was complicated with drying conditions which caught out several of the team riders with the wrong set up for the conditions. Cory West still managed to secure the win for the team with former development rider Russ Wikle in 2nd and Team Owner Mark Junge in 3rd. In Formula 1, Tray Batey took 2nd place after switching to a dry setup and Team Owner Mark Junge took 3rd place after switching to his 2009 GSXR 1000 which had a dry setup after running his GSXR 750 in the previous races. 125 Grand Prix would be the final race of the day in which a Vesrah rider competed and Nick McFadden came back from his previous crash to take 2nd place showing the determination and drive that will take him far in his road racing future.
Vesrah Suzuki had a great event at MMP with the overall win and Heavyweight Superbike class victory in Saturday’s Endurance race along with Cory West winning all 3 of the Superstock sprint classes that Suzuki GSXRs compete in. Team Owner Mark Junge finished on the podium in all 3 races he competed in and the podiums for the Open, 600, and 750 Superstock races were filled with either current Vesrah Suzuki riders or former team development riders.
Vesrah Suzuki wants to thank all of their sponsors for their support during the 2009 season – Vesrah Brakes, American Suzuki, Nielsen Enterprises Suzuki, Pirelli Tires, Traxxion Dynamics Fork Components, Dainese Leathers, Boots and Golves, AGV Helmets, Graves Exhaust, Hotbodies Racing Bodywork, Bazzaz Performance, Factory Pro, Maxima Racing Oils, Vortex, DID Chain, Penske Racing Shocks, R-Tech Fuel, GPR Dampeners, Trek Bicycles, GP Tech, Active