A WIN IN OHIO

Caleb Odom, Jess Sarti, Brandon Salyer, Mark Faulkner, Doug Royce

Garrettsville, OH - Topbox Road Racing took their second middleweight victory of the season at Nelson Ledges finishing 4th overall out of all classes.

After a miserable showing at Nelson Ledges in 2020, crashing out on lap 4 due to a surprise mechanical, Topbox showed up with a score to settle at the Ohio track.

Unlike last year Friday practice provided beautiful conditions which allowed the team ample time to learn the track. Riders Brandon Salyer, Mark Faulkner, Caleb Odom, and crew chief Doug Royce went to work focusing on race pace using well worn tires. That setup would pay off come Saturday morning qualifying when Odom put it on class pole position (4th overall) setting a 1:08.996 on a flipped Dunlop takeoff with 87 laps on it.

Faulkner would be the lead off rider to start the 4hr long endurance race, settling in early behind the class leaders but focusing on a pace to stay ahead of championship rivals. A red flag on lap 33 then bunched the field up again and upon the first round of pit stops he took the class lead on lap 59.

They fell to 2nd upon their first stop for fuel and a rear Dunlop tire change but the team performed flawlessly and that allowed Odom to retake the lead only 2 laps later. Odom would go on to lap the other teams in class before handing the bike off to Salyer who would go on to maintain that 1.5 lap lead until taking the checkered flag.

With the victory Topbox Road Racing moves into the middleweight championship lead with a 54 point advantage over rivals Chasing Shade and Indy United SBK.

Team Owner Doug Royce: “I’m proud of the way these guys performed today. We all worked really hard during the offseason and we learned a few things last year with all the bad luck we had. I think that’s showing through so far this season. Other than the bike not wanting to restart after our 2nd pitstop, it was a perfect race for us.”

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