WERA at Summit Point

For race results, go to the WERA Results Page.

After the excitement of a WERA National coming to Summit Point earlier in the month, the weekend seemed kind of a letdown from previous races. It wasn't due to it being only a regional event, but really because it competed with the Formula USA event at Pocono Raceway just a few hours away. And with spectacular weather all up and down the coast, top WERA riders also vying for FUSA points and purses went northeast, while those battling for WERA championships took their bikes to Summit Point.

For Saturday, the Expert MW Solo20 was the best race of day, with Mark Whitehurst (#168) jumping to a quick lead on his Honda CBR600F4, and using the tight battle for second place to allow him to extend it to 7 seconds by halfway. Although Whitehurst was moving away, that was hardly the case for the rest of the pack. The battle for 2nd place raged between 5 riders, all coincidentally on Yamaha R6s - Quentin Mise (#23), John Boken (#702), Art Diaz (#83), William Lindsay (#145) and Gary Lhommedieu (#726). The riders fought for every turn, and swapped positions nearly every turn. They were frequently 3 bikes wide in Turn 1 and Turn 5 while on the brakes, each trying to gain a slight advantage and lead through the turn. When the best race of the day ended, Mise had put his head down and built a small lead to capture 2nd place, with Boken, Diaz, and Lindsay close behind in that order.

The Novice HW Solo16 saw teammates Michael Garofalo(#360) and Mark Reeser (#516) turn the race into a 2-man show, breaking away from the rest of the field early and swapping positions throughout the race. Both riders had a 12 second lead at halfway over 3rd place, and had already started slicing through backmarkers even before then. Ed Andrews (#131) was building his own lead in third place, while Rick Gentry (#115) and John Sine (#524) took the whole race to decide who would take 4th place. By the end of the race, Garofalo and Reeser were the class of the crowd, taking the checkered flag nearly 30 seconds ahead of 3rd place finisher Andrews. Both Garofalo and Reeser race with D&D Racing, and are sponsored by Dunlop, Vortex, and Silkolene.

The Whitehurst and Mise rivalry was reborn in the Expert HW Solo race. Both Whitehurst and Mise had upgraded their bikes - Whitehurst on a brand new 2000 GSXR750, and Mise on his race-tested Yamaha R1. Mise unfortunately had to start near the end of the first wave, but by the second lap had caught up to the lead group and began challenging for the lead. Brandon Bashore (#172) rode at the front for several laps, but Whitehurst soon got by with Mise close on his tail. The two riders broke away from the rest of the field, and formed their own race at the front as Bashore began to lose touch with the leaders. Mise eventually got by Whitehurst in Turn 1, and led for a brief time. Bashore had fell back a few seconds while the rest of the field became more and more strung out. At the halfway point the field was spreading out, with Mise in the lead, then Whitehurst, Bashore, Art Diaz, Mike Maschewski, and Rick Beggs. With about 5 laps to go Diaz lowsided in Turn 1 trying to make a move on Bashore, which further spread out the pack. Eventually, Mise's tires began to wear out with 4 laps to go, and he had to give up the chase for the lead. Whitehurst rode a great race and took the checkered flag with a nearly 5 second lead. Virginia-native Whitehurst is sponsored by Loudoun Motorsports, Total Auto Parts, Perfection Auto Glass, and Maryland resident Mise is sponsored by Harpoon, Yamaha, EBC, Silkolene, Bell, Metzeler, Factory Pro.

On Sunday, the one of the races to watch was LW Twins. It's now a class virtually owned by Suzuki, since out of 27 novice and expert bikes, 19 of them were SV650s. That meant close racing in a field of evenly matched machines. The expert field was led by none other than Dave Yaakov (#31) who broke away from 2nd place finisher Russell Masecar (#631) after the opening laps. Surprise podium finisher was Thane Steilow (#654) on a Honda Hawk who did a great job finishing ahead of a sea of SVs for 3rd place. In the novice race, early leader Randy Moran (#696) crashed in Turn 6 on the 2nd lap, and was fortunate to remount and continue the race. That left the lead to be determined between three evenly matched and competitve riders, Danny Thompson (#903), Scott Gowland (#886) and Matthew Wissel (#521). The top three battled on every lap, eventually with Thompson taking a close win over Gowland and Wissel. Moran was able to finish a respectable 8th place and clinch the LW Twins championship. The closest non-SV bike to finish was Randy Dalmas (#112) in 5th place on an EX500 followed by three more SVs. Next season this class will probably be even more tipped towards Suzuki filling the grids.

C Production and C Superbike Novice repeated the MW Solo battle between teammates Garofalo and Reeser with similar results. Both riders fighting in close quarters to the finish. Garofalo(#360) took the win in C Production, while Reeser (#516) proved he could beat his friend by grabbing the victory in C Superbike. No doubt those two will have plenty to talk about on the trip home to Virginia Beach.

The Formula 1 Expert race pitted class points-leader Quentin Mise against Art Diaz in a tight battle, with Mise taking the R1 versus R1 win in another close race. Mise and Diaz took their Yamahas into Turn 1 and Turn 5 side by side every lap, and were never separated by more than a few feet the entire 8-lap race. The lead was exchanged more than once each lap in a classic battle of two evenly matched riders.

Of course, the most miraculous event of the weekend was that the last race ended at 4:30pm, and the rain that had been threatening since the late afternoon held off until after the halfway flag was shown to the B Superstock field. The rain came slowly at first and the race was fortunately stopped. Within 10 minutes the skies opened up and it rained by the bucket load. Racers scrambled to get their gear loaded before it got too wet and the track was empty by 5:00pm.

Thanks go out to MARRC member Glen Ouye for the race photos. If you want Glen to get your picture and have it appear on these pages, put a MARRC sticker on your bike. That's it! For more information about Glen and see more of his outstanding work, go to his pages at www.seapup.com.

Top photos of the weekend:

	Isn't that Race Director George Mood under that helmet? What it the world is he doing out on the track? Why, he's racing Steve Clark's Suzuki SV650 during the HW Twins event on Sunday! Beneath the helmet, Mood wore a grin that didn't go away all afternoon.
	MARRC Chief Controller John Capen gets some "track time" by working in the Carousel. In this case, he helps a rider load up his Honda CBR600F4 into MARRC's pickup truck, aptly named Roadrash, for a trip back to the pits.
	WERA isn't just about racing the latest sportbikes. WERA supports some of the most dedicated and hardcore riders at the track - the vintage racers. Here Rickard Lucas of Mechanicsville, MD reminds us that Yamaha RD400 can still go really fast in teh Carousel as he goes to the lead in the Formula 500 event. Lucas went on to with this race and the Formula RD race as well.
	Mark Whitehurst (#168) gets the wholeshot in the HW Solo20 on Saturday, just ahead of Brandon Bashore(#172) and Doug Duane(#94). Whitehurst took his Loudoun Motorsports GSXR750 to the front of the pack and eventually won be several seconds.
	This is a continuation of the previous photo of Mise and Diaz. Diaz attempted an inside pass on Mise, but Mise fought back by holding his line through Turn 1 and sticking by Diaz's side.
	Mise and Diaz are still at it in the Expert Formula 1 event on Sunday through Turn 1, with Mise holding a temporary advantage over Diaz. No doubt the lead would be changing in Turns 3 and 4.
	Even after an aggressive, hard-fought race, it still comes down to two friends who respect each other as racers. Here Diaz congratulates Mise for his victory during the cool-down lap for the Expert Formula 1 event on Sunday.

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