August
29th - 31st
VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Alton, VA
AMA Chevy Trucks U.S.
Superbike Championship Suzuki Lightening Nationals -- MBNA 250GP
Qualified
for the AMA Pro Racing MBNA 250GP Main Event (which was ultimately
rained out and postponed)
Virginia
is for lovers? Lovers of rain maybe. Sunday's action from Virginia Int'l
Raceway was put on hold most of the afternoon as everyone played the waiting
game while rains washed in and out of the facility. Throw in a leaking
600cc race bike that oiled pretty much the entire track, and VIR had a
mess on their hands.
As
such, racing was called for Sunday, and was run Monday morning. On tap
for Monday, was three classes of action: Superbike, 250 Grand Prix and
Formula Xtreme. Starting at 8 a.m., with about an hour of practice, starting
with Superbike, then 250s, then Formula Xtreme. At roughly 9 a.m., the
second Superbike race was run, followed immediately by the 250 race and
then Formula Xtreme. Having a 12 hour drive home in front of us, the MFG-Racing.com
team was forced to forgo the 250GP final.
MFG-Racing.com
would like to extend a "thank you" to all of the pro 250 guys that helped
us out as a first year expert team trying to make the main at our first
AMA 250GP pro race last weekend at VIR. It was a weekend that we'll never
forget as, unfortunately, we'll never have another opportunity to run again
after the AMA drops the 250s next year. Special thanks go out to Rick Merhar,
Steve Scott, Sean Wray, Rich Oliver, Joji Tokumoto and many others for
their help, and even Ed Sorbo for his blunt but ultimately helpful "advice".
MFG-Racing.com and Team Speedbike would also like to thank
our mechanic, spotter, and team member Rich Guilbault for his help throughout
the weekend at VIR.
250GP pilot Matt Guilbault said, "To think that I was running a 30-year old RZ350 in the novice class after taking the Penguin Road Racing school in 2001
and was able to qualify for my first AMA Pro 250GP race in 2003 exceeded
all of my goals and made a lifetime dream come true. I literally went from
running around the track wondering which way the next turn goes (if in
doubt, VIR goes to the right ;-) ) to learning the lines in just a few
sessions and achieving my goal of "making the main" by running 40 flats
to be within the 114% of Rich Oliver's 29's. Thanks again, and good luck
to all for the final round."
250cc Grand Prix Qualifying
1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 1:28.976
2. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 1:29.752
3. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 1:31.100
4. Simon Turner, Honda, 1:31.201
5. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 1:33.439
6. Barrett Long, Yamaha, 1:33.468
7. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 1:33.944
8. Sandy Noce, Yamaha, 1:34.089
9. Ed Marchini, Yamaha, 1:34.498
10. John France, Honda, 1:34.624
11. Chris Pyles, Yamaha, 1:34.637
12. Sean Wray, Yamaha, 1:35.787
13. Steve Scott, Yamaha, 1:36.138
14. Bill Himmelsbach, Yamaha, 1:35.537
15. Shawn Murray, Honda, 1:35.746
16. Jim Bonner, Yamaha, 1:37.142
17. Sean McNew, Honda, 1:37.226
18. Stephen Bowline, Honda, 1:37.641
19. Rick Merhar, Yamaha, 1:38.584
20. Glen Christianson, Yamaha, 1:38.660
21. Mark Stiles, Yamaha, 1:39.189
22. Bruce Lind, Yamaha, 1:39.298
23. Keith Floyd, Yamaha, 1:39.589
24. Justin Long, Yamaha, 1:39.676
25. Joji Tokumoto, Yamaha, 1:40.139
26. Matt Guilbault, Yamaha, 1:40.409
27. Bryan Hoelzer, Honda, 1:40.468
28. Craig Secosan, Honda, 1:41.119
29. Paul Hoyt Nelson, Honda, 1:41.602
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