LWT 171 takes opening ASRA Team Challenge round victory.

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The 2016 ASRA Team Challenge series kicked off it’s 8 round series at Carolina Motorsports park this past weekend. With the 2015 lightweight class champions (Mavros Motorsports) and runner up (LWT Racer 61) both moving up to the larger classes, the lightweight class’s door was knocked wide open. We saw the return of Ducati Depot (2014 series champs) and LWT Racer 171 (2015 3rd in series) on the grid ready to take a win. As the green flag dropped it was Ducati Depot off to another flying start with Greg Melka at the grips of the 1100cc air cooled Ducati leaving Todd Alberico (#171, LWT Racer, SV650) and Simon Buric (#717, Moto Tech, SV650) fighting for 2nd. The Ducati Depot lead would not last as the team’s horrid 2015 luck continued with more mechanical issues on the 9th lap. Buric and Alberico would fight it out for 20 laps until a red flag would stop the race. No rider changed took place and the 2 GTL competitors could keep their battle going. As rider changes took place during another red flag it would separate the two teams. Michael Copoulos (Moto Tech) and Ben Loyle (LWT 171) would not find each other during their stints but as the race came close to the end, Simon Buric would hop back on the SV650 for Mototech and was right behind Loyle. Loyle would fend off Buric’s late charge on the last lap to take the win by a very narrow margin. Pheonix Racing aboard a SV650 would round out the GTL class podium.

The series 2nd round is at Blackhawk Farms Raceway on May 21st.

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