Kcraget Wins USGPRU National Title at VIR

By Bruce Wilkins
Breeze Editor

#473 Brian Kcraget

They came from all across North America last week to race at the famed VIR road course in rural Virginia. Hotshot, young GP motorcycle road racers from Southern California beaches, from the ice hockey domains of Canada, and from the blistering plains of Texas.

The best of the "young guns." Teens on small, but extremely agile GP125 racing machines all with one goal in mind: seeing how well they stack up against a 37-year-old "country boy" named Brian Kcraget.

By early Sunday afternoon under perfect racing conditions, those young guns were left shaking their heads in awe and respect. For the fifth time in 2002, Kcraget ran away with a United State Grand Prix Riders Union race. But this fifth and final race on the USGPRU season was for the national title. And that national title and the #1 plate now belongs to Brian Kcraget.

However, while Kcraget ended with a comfortable 8.439-second margin of victory over a tight pack of four young guns, earlier in the 15-lap race he faced some of the most fierce competition he's seen all year.

He also raced in severe pain after a nasty high-side on Saturday when the piston seized in the engine on his Speedwerks RS125 Honda. The fall injured his groin muscle and he spent most of Saturday afternoon on a small mattress under the team's canopy. But on race day, he shrugged off the pain and stiffness and "taught class" to a bevy of young riders, some of whom will no doubt be national and perhaps even international star riders of the future.

"There's a whole group here today that are awesome... I'm think I'm in trouble in the next few years," Kcraget said with his usual trademark modesty. "I raced against Colin Edwards when he was a young kid and I can assure anybody that there is still no lack of great talent coming up through the ranks now."

Young guns Ryan Andrews, Scott Jackson, and Quentin Wilson

The race was red-flagged at the seven-lap mark following a crash, setting up a final eight-lap sprint to the finish. During the first segment and into the second, Kcraget and teenager Chris Peris of Calgary, Canada put on a show that had other racers at the crowded CCS event stopping what they were doing to watch.

"Chris Peris and I had a great time at the beginning, in the first segment," Kcraget said. "Unfortunately, we had the red flag and I got a good start in re-start. Chris and I were going at it again. I had the lead, but I made a little mistake under the bridge coming up the hill and he got by me."

Peris had led at the beginning of the race before being reeled in and passed by Kcraget, but his pass of Kcraget after the re-start was short-lived.

"We were at the top of the hill, at the roller coaster, and it looked like Chris went in a little bit too deep and he just trail-braked a little too long and he lost the front of it. I feel real bad for his, because obviously he's an absolutely talented kid. I would have loved to race him all the way to the checkered flag."

"I backed it off a little bit after that, but then I saw Quentin (Wilson) was closing the gap a little bit," he continued. "So, I stepped it back up and I was able to do some good lap times."

Kcraget, in fact, posted the fastest lap time of the day, recording a time of 1:33.989. He is sponsored by SpeedWerks, NESBA.com, and Kneedraggers.com. Kcraget was also quick to compliment his master tuner, Phil Dodd.

"It was my fault about the seized piston because we had heard that some of these guys were coming out here with a whole lot more horsepower, so I got Phil to make some changes," Kcraget pointed out. "But today, Phil did what he does best and he got me back to the front."

Peris had to withdraw from the race and finished 28th in the grid of 34 racers. That disappointing finish was certainly not indicative of his race prior to his crash.

"Everybody kind of got a better start than me at the beginning, so we were all pretty close going into turn one," Peris said. "I think it was two ahead of me, Brian being one and everybody got on the brakes a little earlier than me...I just drove it in a bit deeper and that got me the early lead."

"I tried to hold on and pull away (from Kcraget) as much as I could, but he was right on me the whole time," Peris said. "We were switching back and forth. It was just awesome to be in that situation."

As for the crash, Peris was disappointed but looked at it as a learning experience. "He (Kcraget) got in a bad line going up the hill and left the inside open and I got by on that right-hander," Peris explained. "Coming into that right-hander at the top of the hill, my tires weren't quite as warm as before the re-start and I didn't have the traction as I had before. I was trailing in as I normally do, but the front just started to push, so I tried to stand it up a bit, but the bars crossed and I kinda lost the race there. But I had an awesome time out there!"

After Peris' crash, Kcraget pulled away from the rest of the field, while Wilson, Scott Jackson, Ryan Andrews, and Scott Moxey diced closely together for the remainder of the race, culminating with Wilson swooping across the front stretch to protect his narrow lead. He finished second, Jackson was third, Andrews was fourth, and Moxey rounded out the top five. GP veteran Rob Rawlins was sixth.

"After Chris' crash, it was just me and Kcraget and I tried to let him pull me away from the pack because I knew these guys would be hard-core dodging for me and on that last lap I felt them there," Wilson said. "I just started riding some real defensive lines. I had motor, but not enough for Brian."

Asked what he thought about Kcraget, Wilson was in awe. "Brian Kcraget is... bionic. He is very, very smooth. It is an awesome experience to watch him. He is just... the master."