After five competitive rounds, the FMRRA 2019 championship heads to Homestead Miami Speedway. With three rounds to go including the final double points weekend, who will be crowned champion is still undecided!
Dovizioso, Rossi, and Rins…WHO?!?!? Richards, Custureri, and Wend. Those are the names you want, make that NEED, to know. After Jennings, Dustin Richards managed to increase his lead over second place Frank Custureri by two points. This season has not been easy for the South Florida Cycles teammates, Frank and William Wend. After a couple of crashes and missed races from injuries and technical issues, Frank and William are still in hunt for the championship. Frank is one round away from bumping Dustin from the top spot. Since his injury, William has been getting stronger and stronger with each round. Safe to say that William has both Dustin and Frank in his crosshairs.
What do you get when you combine the speed of the sprints with the stamina of the grande corsa? You have the Overall class champion.
The 2019 season is not going to be a walk in the park for returning champion, Daryan Martin. Daryan’s opening round was plagued with mechanical issues that resulted in a DNS. He corrected those issues and has been showing the championship form with podium finishes in every round. FMRRA newcomer, Wayne Rene, has thrown the gauntlet down with three first place finishes to let everyone know that he’s here to win. FMRRA’s 2018 Overall Expert Champion Seth Starnes has passed his ironman racing suit to his Hurricane Racing Team teammate. Even though he has not been on the grid every race, Seth has strategically placed himself in a position where he can still snatch the championship away from Wayne and Daryan. There’s still a lot of points on the table to count out 4th place Christian Miranda. Christian, on his West Side Performance R6, has been dominating the SuperStock 600 class and stepping up to take on the SuperBike 1000 class this season. With a win in round one of FMRRA’s 2019 season, Christian is only 16 points behind the leaders….Will Wayne add another win to take the the lead? Does Daryan have something up his sleeve that will get him a win and the lead? Will Seth and Christian make a return to the grid to remind the leaders that the race for the championship is still not over for them.
Six laps or twelve laps. Length doesn’t matter to these racers. When the lights go out, it’s all about who can keep going hard and finish first. Hurricane Racing Team’s Alejandro Rei has been racing hard all season, and his efforts paid off. His second place finish in round 4 gave him the points lead and increased the gap on TopBox Road Racing’s Daryan Martin by four points. Alejandro’s lead did not last long. In round five at Jennings, Daryan flexed his muscle and took back those four points from Alejandro. By winning rounds one and two, Christian Miranda is sitting in a close 3rd place in the standings. While Christian sat out rounds three and four, newcomer Wayne Reyne took advantage with two race wins to get himself in the championship hunt. Alejandro has finished ahead of Daryan three out of five times this year. Can Alejandro extend his lead with a 4th finish ahead Daryan or will Daryan close the gap by finishing ahead of Alejandro? Does Christian have the stamina to go one more grande corsa on his West Side Performance R6? The pressure is on Wayne. He needs to win in order to have a chance in the season finale to win the championship. While these four racers try to figure out how to beat each other, will we see veteran experts Sean Dwyer or Seth Starnes show up on the grid to play spoiler? The competition for the Sunoco SuperBike 600 Grande Corsa championship is a tight race that looks like it will come down to the final round. Make sure you’re at Homestead on May 18th and 19th. You don’t want to miss any of the excitement!
Are you wondering where the big bikes have been? They have been busy battling each other on the track. The SuperStock 1000 Amateur Sprint championship is turning into a close contest where any one of the racers near the top of the leader board could become champion. Gabriel Figueroa has finished on the podium three out five rounds, which has catapulted him to the front of the pack with 60 points. Gabriel’s closest competition is rookie Alban Bonilla. Alban’s FMRRA debut did not see him finish on the podium, but since then, he has managed to accumulate an impressive record over the next four rounds, two first place, one second place, and one third place finish. Gabriel and Alban have been trading places all season which is why only six points separate the two. As these two fierce competitors battle each other, Alex Nieves Jr is slowly closing the gap. Alex has not had the smoothest of seasons with a couple of DNF’s this season. Even with the difficulties he’s had, we can see that he’s racing to win by finishing on the podium in the other three races. Although Alex may be focused on the leaders ahead of him, he better be careful because Romulo Ruiz is right on his tail. Romulo’s FMRRA debut resulted in a first place finish. For a rookie, he has been an ambitious one by going after multiple class championships. Is he spreading himself thin or is he strategically put himself in position to bring home multiple championships? Any one of these racers is capable of finishing on the podium. After missing the podium at Jennings, will Gabriel return to the podium and keep Alban from closing the gap? In two weeks, Alban will be trying to extend his winning streak to three. Even though he’s close, the pressure is on Alex to win and close that gap on the leaders. Will Romulo play spoiler with a win?
The bikes may be small, but the competition is big. Only 21 points separate the top five positions in the SuperStreet 300 championship. Our veteran racers, Roger Morrissette and Justin Thorpe, currently occupy 1st and 3rd in the standings while our rookie sensations, Eric Powers, Jerry Pellegrino, and Luis B Collante, round out the remaining top five positions. Even though he missed round three and five, Roger still maintains a five point lead over Eric and Justin. Some say consistency wins championships. In all three rounds rookie Eric raced, he finished on the podium in every race. Our veteran Justin knows that if you want to win a championship that you need to race, and that’s what he has been doing by racing every round this season. This year we have a couple more rookies making their presence known. Even though he missed the opener, Jerry has finished in the top five including a couple of podiums to put himself in striking distance of the leaders. Rounding out the top five, we have another rookie sensation, Luis. Luis missed rounds one and two, but has finished on the podium in all his races. There are still a lot of points on the table for these racers. Will Roger and Justin’s experience take one of them to the number one position in the championship? Will we have a cinderella story coming out of the SuperStreet 300 class? Can a rookie take home the championship?
With age, comes wisdom. Alejandro Rei and Jamie Starace will need every ounce of wisdom they have if they want to be the champ. Between the two of them, they have nine podiums this season in the Formula 40 600 class. Alejandro has finished ahead of Jamie three out of five races. In rounds one thru three, they finished right behind each other. In round five, Brad Gordon was able to split them on the podium. In round five, Michael Rouleau was able to split them on the podium. Has Jamie learned enough about Homestead to upset and finish ahead of Alejandro? At round seven at Roebling, Alejandro will need to step up his game to pull off an upset on Jamie’s turf? Not only do these two racers have to figure out how to beat each other over the last three rounds, they now have to contend with other racers gunning for a spot on the podium. Will one of these other racers play spoiler in the race for the championship?
Chicago Bulls 1996-1998. Los Angeles Lakers 2000-2002. Carl Cohen 2017-2019??? Can Carl pull off the coveted three peat? In 2018, Jon Jon Pellnitz and Carl battled all season trading podium spots. Carl claimed seven first and eight second place finishes in 2018. Jon Jon claimed nine first place and five second place finishes. It came down to the season finale to crown the 2018 champion. The 2019 season is proving to be another close battle. Thru four rounds, Jon Jon had claimed the top spot on the podium five out of eight races to give himself a solid lead over the returning champ. After a solid round five from the two time champ, Carl claims the championship lead for the first time this season by one point. Will Jon Jon continue his dominance thru the final three rounds to prevent the three peat? Will Carl be able to complete the three peat, and once and for all, proving that his dynasty is here to stay!
Come on out to round 6 at Homestead on May 18th and 19th to see who comes out of the battle on the top spot!
