WERA National at Summit Point

For the weekend race results, go to these WERA pages:
WERA 4-Hour Endurance
WERA National Challenge events
WERA Regional Sportsman events

The WERA National is always an event circled on Summit Point locals' calendars early in the season. The reasons are many. It's a three day weekend. National caliber riders stretching their legs and a chance for those not on the circuit to find out how they stack up. A 4-hour endurance round so that friends can race as a team rather than each other.

Perhaps the last reason is the most popular. A total of 42 teams competed in the Summit Point 4-Hour Endurance race, and roughly 22 were one-off teams of locals sharing a bike for a day. That's a lot of teams for an endurance race. And it meant that the Summit Point cold pit lane, which is usually left vacant for riders to pre-grid before races, was filled with canopies, toolboxes, spare parts, chairs, coolers, and the usual assortment of people and equipment normally found in the paddock. The hot pit was lined with bikes and pit boards from one end to the other. The wall separating the track from the hot pit had shoulder-to-shoulder inhabitants, taking lap times and signalling to their riders. In short, it was the biggest event of the year. It was great.

Friday practice sessions typically start slowly. The first sessions are sparsely attended. Most riders are still registering for the weekend, and some are just arriving. Most are already intimate with the Summit Point's 2-mile layout, and there was little rushing to get a few extra laps. The weather was spectacular, and by the end of the day, the track was full of riders testing new setups or adapting to a friend's bike for the endurance round on Saturday. Few crashes occurred on Friday, and no one was transported to the hospital. As the day closed out endurance teams staked their claims on pit lane and began moving their canopies and equipment.

Saturday morning Summit Point saw beautiful weather - clear skies, low humidity, and a slight breeze. As the day went on, the humidity began to rise. So did the temperature. Although the weather was not as oppressive as it has been in the past, it was still hot, and riders took the necessary precautions not to over heat before the race.

Arclight Racing jumped out to the early lead with Tray Batey taking the first stint. Batey has raced at Summit Point on the endurace circuit for many years, and knows the track well. So well, in fact, that he set a new track record of 1:16.227 near the end of the first hour! Other endurance regulars such as Team Pennzoil and Army of Darkness stayed near the lead, but couldn't match Arclight's pace. Local favorite and defending series champion Semoff Brothers Racing/SBR quickly worked their way to the second place after starting near the back of the first wave. After running in 2nd place until Arclight's pit stop, SBR took first place. A collision with another team in the 3rd hour put Arclight down two laps and SBR went on to win by a 3 lap margin.

A red flag late in Hour 3 for a crash in Turn 10 put a halt to racing for nearly 20 minutes. Fortunately, it was not the severity of the crash that caused the red flag, but an ambulance request that used the last ambulance at the track. Rules require that when the last ambulance goes on duty, the racing must stop until another is available. Fortunately, the 2nd ambualance returned from a trip to Jefferson Hospital and the racing was able to resume as soon as new grid positions could be posted.

Special mention go to locals Team Clinton, who finished first in MW Superstock and 11th overall, with local riders William Lindsay and Timothy Stevens. Of course, what would an endurance race be without Army of Darkness? Although they finished 3rd in the MW Superbike and lost some ground to class winner Paramount racing, they still hold a comfortable lead in the class championship. Also deserving special mention is M&M Racing, with novice riders Michael Garofalo and Mark Reeser along with Donnie Tingle, who finished a respectable 16th overall and 3rd in MW Superstock.

It was also interesting to see several teams field Suzuki SV650s in MW Supersport, with Fearless Racing posting the best finish of the SVs, a respectable 26th overall and 12th in class. CycleShark.com also fielded two teams, along with Cyberlogtech.com to respectible finishes proving that slow and steady can win the race.

The weather report for Sunday did not look good. A 70 percent chance of rain and cloudy skies did not put much faith into racers hoping for a dry track. And by the end of the first practice round, the rain had already started. Lunch was called early by WERA officials, giving racers time to change to rain tires and see if the rain would pass. Many riders decided to call it quits and began packing their gear as the rain showed no signs of stopping. Summit Point has definitely improved during wet conditions with its new pavement, but most riders opted not to get wet or run the risk of damaging themselves or their machinery. WERA decided to move some races forward in the day to make sure that they would have time to run some of the purse paying national events.

The rain stayed steady until during the 125 GP National when it began to slacken off. Jason Peters rode a great race, using the rain to his advantage and built a comfortable lead on championship leader Chris Pyles. Pyles rode steady and took second place and maintained his position at the top of the championship. As the day wore on the track began to dry out, and at 4:00pm the sun even began peeking through the clouds. By the last race of the day, B Superbike Expert, the track was nearly dry, although no one was about to change their rain tires with the low temperatures and the clouds still hanging over the track.

The cornerworkers had a tough job for the three day weekend. Besides living through the extremes of a hot and humid Saturday, volunteers braved a cold and wet Sunday. Even though the workforce was small, every cornerworker did an outstanding job to keep the racing action safe. Thanks go to all of their hard work for making it a successful weekend.

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. Thanks also to member Jeannie Dalmas for her photos too.

Top photos of the weekend:

	Arclight rider and new Summit Point track record-holder Tray Batey just after the awards ceremony. Batey set the new record during the first hour of the endurance race, lowering the old mark to an amazing 1:16.227 on his GSXR750 superbike. Photo by Jeannie Dalmas.
	Glenn Szarek aboard the SBR Yamaha R1. Although Szarek admitted that he couldn't match Tray Batey's pace, he never lost sight of the Suzuki mounted rider, and eventually used his bike's oversize fuel tank to SBR's advantage and took the lead after Arclight's first pit stop. The lead swapped again after SBR's first pit stop, but SBR moved to the top for good when Arclight pitted during the 2nd hour. Photo by Glen Ouye.
	This is the view that everyone on the track during the first hour saw of Tray Batey. Batey led the race during his first stint from the start until his pit stop. Photo by Glenn Ouye.
	At the start of the race everyone in the first wave wants to be the guy to get to Turn 1 first. To do so, takes skill, determination, and a good grid position. Team Pennzoil's Wade Buffington (#22) tries to get out ahead of holeshot winner Tray Batey (#2) but has to run wide in the turn. SBR's Glenn Szarek (#1) did an outstanding job of working his way to the front after a mid-wave starting position and gluing himself to Batey's tailsection. Photo by Glenn Ouye.
	The top three teams from the 4-Hour Endurance race. On the left is 2nd overall Arclight Suzuki, who also got 2nd in HW Superbike. In the center is Brian Stokes, the rider paired with Glenn Szarek and the lone representative for race winner Semoff Brothers Racing/SBR. On the right is Loudoun Motorsports II. They were 3rd overall and the first in HW Superstock. Representing Loudoun is team owner/rider Greg Harrison, Ken Snyder, and Dave Yaakov. Photo by Jeannie Dalmas.
	What's the MARRC website without some photos of a local? Here MARRC member Brian Summers shoots his Yamaha R6 through the Carousel during the 4-Hour race. Summers and Team Charm took 22nd overall and 8th is MW Superstock after a crash repairs midway through the race lost time for the team. Photo by Glenn Ouye.
	Loudoun Motorsports team veteran Mark Whitehurst guides his Honda 600 through Turn 5 en route to the team's outstanding 10th overall finish, 5th in MW Superbike. Note the stopwatch taped to the top of the tank so the rider can track his own lap times during the race. Photo by Glenn Ouye.

We can always use help reporting on what happens over the weekend, since there really is so much that happens. If you have stories you would like to share, any pictures or race reports send them to

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