Denning Dominates at Nelson Ledges 7/30 - 31.

Domination best describes the racing action at the WERA Mid-Atlantic/North Central Regional Sportsman races this past July 30-31. Dega Racing's Larry Denning had never been to Nelson Ledges before this weekend, but he left the track with 5 wins and a track record. Needless to say, his performance was incredible.
Speaking of incredible, Saturday's racing action was just that. Lifecycle's Steve Steinman jumped the start of the Mediumweight Solo 20 Expert race and lead the 4 rider freight train ahead of Quentin Mise, Paramount Racing's Mike Mashewske, and Dega Racing's Larry Denning. The meatball flag came out and Steinman took the stop and go penalty on his R6 and reentered the race far behind a Mise/Mashewske/Denning battle. Mise lead on his Yamaha R6, but was being hounded by 17 year old Kawasaki rider Mashewske, and Denning. 8 laps in, and Denning pulled out with unknown problems. This left Mise and Mashewske to battle with a rapidly closing Steinman. Despite the stop and go, Steinman was hard on the gas and riding like a man possessed. Soon he was on the tail end of Mise, who had fallen victim to Mashewske. When the white flag flew at start finish line, you could have thrown a blanket over these three riders. Mashewske won, barely holding off Steinman. Mise's bike hardly had power at the line and he parked it at pit out. When interviewed later, Mise said "I ran out of gas! We forgot to fill it up after fixing the crash damage from this morning's practice!".
The Heavyweight Solo 20 Expert race did not disappoint. Fasttrax's Doug Duane lead early on his 2000 GSX-R 750 but was being rapidly reeled in by Denning on his Yamaha R1. Denning soon passed the orange bike of Duane, and it was apparent that he had the bumpy Nelson circuit figured out. Duane, who has more laps around Nelson than most of the field combined, repassed Denning and brought the pace up to another level. Incredibly, Denning went to school on Duane's track knowledge and took over the lead for good at just past halfway. From then on, it was all Denning. Duane ran comfortablely in 2nd, followed by a 600cc war of Steinman and Mashewske. Behind them Archlight's Scott Harwell battled motoheaven.com's Dan Fleet in a TL1000 vs. Yamaha R6 fight. Fleet would close on Harwell in the turn 13 area, only to be blown away on the exit by the power of Harwell's TL. It was a sight to see Harwell sideways on the gas with a crossed up wheelie out of T13 with Fleet attempting to pass on the outside each lap. At the checkered flag it was Denning followed by Duane, Steinman, Mashewske, Harwell, and Fleet.
Sunday's action was even better, with Denning breaking Bill Mrklas's 1998 track record of 1:09.4 with a stunning lap of 1:09.19 on his Pirelli shod Yamaha R1 in the Formula 1 race.
Stay tuned for a full report of Sunday's Action!

Steve Bell