NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Doug Royce, Tyler Witoshynsky, Peyton Inge, Brandon Salyer

The fourth and final round of the N2 Trackdays / WERA Endurance Series brought us to the beautiful manicured grounds of the very technical and demanding Barber Motorsports Park. With the world’s largest motorcycle museum it is the home of motorcycle road racing in the United States and was the perfect backdrop to wrap up the season.

Topbox arrived leading the championship points by a slim margin. This final round would decide the championship! Knowing the various point outcomes the team knew they had to win or at least finish directly behind their rivals and prevent them from winning. So the team decided on a simple race strategy, stay ahead! As that was the only outcome that would guarantee the national title.

The team arrived Wednesday night with the bike fully prepped and ready for practice. The next morning the track temps were cool making for a sketchy first session but as the sun rose the times soon began to drop. The team went to work making a few adjustments to dial in the electronics but found a problem with the clutch in the final practice session. With little time to spare before qualifying they quickly pulled the clutch to check tolerances and make adjustments.

Each of the four riders would spin some laps during qualifying to get a feel for the adjustments. After finally finding some clear track it was Royce that would set the teams qualifying time placing them 6th overall and 4th in class on the starting grid.

The green flag waved at 1pm with Royce starting the race battling it out for 2nd in class while setting the teams fastest lap of the race. Knowing he had equipment capable of a longer stint and with the title rivals behind he gladly settled into 3rd and waited. It wasn’t until lap 38 that he took the lead when the front two bikes pit. The team strategy was working. It would be longer stints but it was a strategy the team prepared for. Ticking off fast lap after fast lap, Royce continued to circulate extending the lead. He would finally pull into pit lane exhausted after well over 80 minutes on the bike at a rapid pace.

Inge would take over for the second stint but not before a fueling problem with the bike caused a delay on pit road dropping the teams position from 1st to 3rd in class and behind their title rivals. The texan Inge, now frustrated, then went on the attack. Chasing down bike after bike before finally taking over the lead spot on lap 69 and moving into 2nd overall. Unfortunately two laps later there would be a red flag that reset the field grouping all the bikes up again. Completely undoing all his work. Upon the restart, Inge would again have to go on the attack. And he did, maintaining 2nd until moving into 1st just before his pit stop. Which would again hand the lead back over.

From there Salyer would take over after a stop for a rear tire change and fuel. With right at one hour remaining the team knew there wouldn’t need to be another stop. They could go the distance! But the question remained, could the other teams? Salyer would go on setting faster and faster laps trying to chase down the leader with no luck. Then with just 12 minutes to go he took over to top spot when the leader surprisingly pit for fuel. Finally on lap 137 while setting his fastest lap of the race as a stamp of approval, he took the checkered flag, 1ST in class and 3rd overall. They did it!

Topbox came into the final round leading by just 7 points and left with a win, a 59 point lead, and a national championship trophy! What a way for them to top off an incredible first season of endurance racing. Fast, consistent, reliable. Want to get to the top? Topbox Road Racing.

Click the link for the team results here:WERA results.