ASRA Thunderbike from VIR, 2017

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Left to right, #60 Sam Wiest, #80 Ralph Staropoli, #25 Chris Kolster

The ASRA Thunderbike series hit the pavement at VIR but the championship leader Ray Hoffman was absent. Ralph Staropoli on his Honda RS250 would go P1 in the only qualifying session. Chris Kolster (sv650), Sam Wiest(sv650), and Adrian Jasso(tz250) would complete the front row.

Sam Wiest on the #60 SV650 would grab the hole shot and lead the first lap. Staropoli and Doane Richardson following suit. Richardson (#7 sv650) would almost highside coming out of Turn 7 handing over the postion to Kolster. It wasn’t long until the #80 RS250 would grab the lead. The chase was on as Wiest and Kolster would hound Staropoli for the remainder of the laps. The trio would run lap times in the 1:35 range. Mistakes were made by the racers but the order would remain the same until the checkered flag. Kolster would get a slingshot draft off the tail of Wiest’s SV but it was not enough to secure 2nd place, falling short .005 at the line.

1 Ralph Staropoli Honda RS250
2 Sam Wiest – Suzuki SV650
3 Chris Kolster – Suzuki SV650
4 Adrian Jasso – Yamaha TZ520
5 Doane Richardson Suzuki SV650
6 Russell Masecar Suzuki SV650
7 Mark Evry – Ducati 1000SS
8 Michael Copoulos Suzuki SV650
9 Jim Bonner – Yamaha TZ250
10 Gerald Young III – Suzuki SV650
11 David Rhodeses – Yamaha TZ250
12 Billy Pedro Suzuki – SV650
13 Ned Brown Suzuki – SV650 (DNF)

This post has already been read 4430 times!