Peak Honda Racing @ Nelson Ledges

Round one of the WERA North Central series is officially in the books. Nelson Ledges reared its ugly head this past weekend and claimed several bikes throughout the weekend but Peak Honda Racing was able to steal a pair of wins form Nasty Nelsons.

Saturday started out with both Nicholas Lefurgey and Oliver Gooden on completely new set ups for 2011. With only two short practice sessions before the 20 lap Solo, it was difficult to find a good base line. As we took the grid, the #53 of Lefurgey made quick work to find him self in 2nd place while the #91 of Oliver Gooden found himself fighting in mid pack. The front three riders distanced themselves from the pack quickly and Nicholas settled in 3rd directly behind 2nd place. Waiting patiently for the laps to fall off to make a last lap move, the # 53 lost it on lap 16 going into T1 and ran off. The wet infield did Lefurgey no favors and he was spat off after nearly a football field of swapping in the grass. The red flag came out and Lefurgey made his way back to the pits where a crew of people swarmed the bike in spectacular fashion to make the restart. Special thanks to WitchKraft Motorsports Doug Cornett, Ice Nine Motorsports, and Pirelli’s Mark VanDongen, and Peak Honda Racings Crew Chief Quince Lefurgey for all their hard work to get back on track. Donning a fresh Scorpion helmet, the #53 made it back to the grid with seconds to spare for the remaining 4 lap shoot out. Lefurgey made his way back up to 4th place where he would finish the race, while the #91 of Oliver Gooden ran off in T4 for a DNF in the closing laps of the race.

The number #33 of Joe Ursini (new to Peak Honda Racing for 2011) started Saturday strong. With a early lead in his Solo 20, Ursini looked strong until lap 10 when he began to fade. Falling back to 4th place, the race was red flagged and had to be restarted near lap 12. With 8 to go, Ursini put on a good charge and eventually finished the race strong in 5th.

With Saturday in the books, Sunday was not looked forward to by many people in the paddock. Heavy rain over night would continue throughout Sunday for wet conditions early on. Race one had the #53 of Lefurgey girded up for C Superbike Expert. In full we conditions, Lefurgey took an early and dominate lead. After the first lap, Lefurgey found himself with nearly a 5 second lead over the field when he entered T4 a bit hot and lost it for his first ever DNF. “This was my first time riding in wet conditions, It was a learning experience finding the limits of the Pirelli rains, its just unfortunate I threw it away with a big lead”. Two crashes in one weekend would not keep Nicholas down however, as he remounted later in the day to take the victory in C Superstock Expert and A Superstock Expert. “I’m extremely proud to take two wins in my expert debut, the team worked hard in the off season and all weekend long keeping up with my mistakes and the ever changing weather conditions”

The #91 of Oliver Gooden also had his share of struggles in his Expert debut. With the changing conditions, Oliver was able to nab three second places (A Superstock Expert, Formula 1 Expert, B Superstock Expert) on the weekend and one 5th (B Superbike Expert) despite racing on a combination of fresh rain tires on the front and DOT dry tires on the rear. “The conditions were very challenging with a drying track late in the afternoon. The weather caught a lot of people out, but the team was able to make the best of it. With limited time at Nelson Ledges, I’m happy to have grabbed some valuable championship points early on”

With the novice ranks empty for Peak Honda Racing, Joe Ursini was brought on to fill the void. Sunday’s first race would not be kind to the #33. Starting very strong and in the lead, on lap 2 Ursini had a nasty high-side on the high speed right hander that sent his bike cart wheeling through the grass. Luckily, he suffered no injuries. When the bike arrived back in the pits, the team once again swarmed the bike to get it ready for his remaining 3 races. A busted fairing stay, demolished snorkel tube, broken rear set’s and clipon’s were quickly replaced and he was on his way. Ursini showed incredible grit after such a nasty crash to finish out the day strong with a 3rd, 4th and 7th place finish.

All in all not the way a team would like to begin the season. Bringing home 3 wrecked bikes was made a bit easier with the addition of 7 #1 plates from 2010 and two 1st place expert trophies accompanying the team in the motor home for the 4 hour trek back to Michigan. Special thanks to Knox Armor, Scorpion USA and Sportbike Track Gear for keeping us safe in our crashes, Hotbodies racing for the superior bodywork that held together in our off track excursions, Pitbull, Michelin, Pirelli, Vortex, GP Tech, C&S coatings, SS Shades, Uber Racing, WitchKraft Motorsports, and Swift Arrow Designs. See you at Grattan.

 

Good write up. Good luck this season.

 

Congrats on the 1/2 finishes guys. The bikes can be put together. Good to hear you guys are both alright.

 

I've honestly never been so happy to be leaving the race track. I can't count how many tire changes we did. Even with extra sets of wheels we were running back and forth to Duane with sportbike tire service and Todd the Pirelli vendor all day.

I think we are all due some predictable track conditions for Grattan.