FMRRA: Florida Motorcycle Road Racing Association
Round 8: Homestead Miami Speedway
July 27-28, 2019
A three-peat champion, one-point victories, tie-breakers for the championship, and photo-finishes! What else could you want from the penultimate round of the season?!
Florida Motorcycle Road Racing Association wrapped up their season in style at the United States’ southernmost race track Homestead Miami-Speedway.
The day started out with a packed grid in the SuperStock 600 Grande Corsa. Christian Miranda took home the top spot on the Expert podium followed by Jamie Starace and Robert Fisher. With Miranda’s win, he inches within fourteen points of Starace in the SuperStock 600 Overall Expert championship. As we know, there is no guarantees in racing. Two months ago, bad luck visited Starace’s pits, and he was plagued with mechanical issues. This afternoon’s sprint race will determine the champ!
Dustin Richards set the tone for the day dropping the Amateur class record with a 1:30.895 on lap three while taking home the Amateur win. Richards was joined by Frank Custureri and Adrian Mitchell on Victory Lane. With Richards’ victory, he retakes the top spot in the SuperStock 600 Overall Amateur standings by four points over Custureri.
The SuperStreet 300/Moto3 Grande Corsa saw some of the best racing of the day with three of the series’ young guns setting records left and right. Fabian Alvarez dropped the Moto3 Expert class record with a 1:43.256 on lap two. Reyne passed Alvarez for the lead in lap three promptly besting Alvarez’s best lap with a 1:42.710. On the next lap, Yvette LaMar moved pass class leader Andres Mejia to take the Amateur class position. Alvarez and Gabriel DaSilva moved past Reyne on lap six after a small mistake in the back side of the track. The top three continued their battle lap after lap, exchanging the lead multiple times over the next six laps. In the final lap, Alvarez dug down and was able to get past DaSilva and Reyne. They came three wide onto the front straight with Alvarez taking the victory by .005 seconds over DaSilva, and Reyne .092 behind. Alvarez also set his best lap (and a new class record) 1:42.138 on the final lap. Roger Morissette won the SuperStreet 300 Amateur Class followed by Luis Collante and Jerry Pellegrino. The Moto3 Amateur division saw another youngster, in Yandel Medina, taking home the top honors. Fellow Hurricane Racing teammates, Yvette LaMar and Dustin Richards, took second and third respectively, which now gives LaMar an eight-point lead over Richards in the Moto3 Overall Amateur champsionship. This afternoon’s Sprint race will decide the winner!
Sean Dwyer started from the pole in front of 15 SuperStock 1000 bikes in the Grande Corsa. Dwyer set a new Expert class record with a 1:26.670, while Alejandro Nieves set the Amateur class record with a 1:29.103 on lap six. Dwyer took home the win followed by Black Ops Racing teammate, Todd Wagner and Alejandro Nieves (Amateur) in the top three overall. Shannon Andrus met Dwyer and Wagner on the Expert Podium in third. Meanwhile, Nieves stood on top of the Amateur class with George Vazeos Jr in second and Gabriel Figueroa in third.
The Sunoco SuperBike 600 Grande Corsa saw Fabian Alvarez back on top and starting from the pole. Max Angles set a new class record (with a 1:26.8) on the way to the Expert win. Wayne Reyne and Robert Fisher were close behind rounding out the awards. Dustin Richards took the Amateur victory followed by Adrian Mitchell and Andrea Diotallevi.
The Twins Grande Corsa saw new class track lap records in the Formula Twin Expert (Lee Farmer with a 1:35.562) and Production Twin Expert (Jonathan Pellnitz with a 1:39.476) classes during the race. Farmer unfortunately was forced to retire with a mechanical issue in lap 8 after a fantastic early half of the race. Clint Russell took the overall win followed by Mark Tenn and Derek Newcomer (Amateur). Gino Angella took third in the Formula Twin Expert class behind Russell and Tenn, while Shawn McAlees and Brandon Gindlesperger rounded out the Formula Twin Amateur podium behind Newcomer.
Production Twin Amateur was won by Thomas Hannigan with Jarrod Wilson and Sam Purkis taking second and third. Jonathan Pellnitz was trying out some new parts and setup in the Production Twin Expert class in hopes to topple his season long rival, Carl Cohen, but after a hard drive Cohen took the win. With Cohen’s win, his dynasty continues as he three-peats as the Production Twin Grande Corsa Expert champion!
Alejandro Nieves set another Amateur class track lap record in the Sunoco SuperBike 1000 Grande Corsa with a 1:29.342 and grabbed some payout money in the process taking third overall. Expert Max Angles took the win and largest payout of the day, followed by Dwyer (and Nieves). Josh Anderson took third in the Expert class, while Nieves was followed by Amateurs Romulo Ruiz and Alban Bonilla into the Victory circle after twelve laps.
Max Angles was unstoppable in the SuperStock 600 Sprint. Starting from the pole, setting a new class record (with a 1:26.640) and taking the win. Christian Miranda and Jamie Starace took the number two and three spots in the Expert Class. Amateur Dustin Richards had another great battle with Adrian Mitchell taking the victory with Andrea Diotallevi right behind them in tow across the line for the top three in class.
Wayne Reyne took the Moto3 Sprint win over Gabriel DaSilva with a narrow 0.158 margin. Charlie Ohana rounded out the Expert podium. Yandel Medina continued his age-defying performance taking the Moto3 Amateur victory followed by Dustin Richards and Andrea Mejia. Richards second place finish was not enough to overtake teammate Yvette LaMar in the standings. LaMar’s fourth place finish was just enough to secure her the Moto3 Overall Amateur Championship by two points over teammate Richards.
Roger Morissette, Luis Collante and Jerry Pellegrino made up the SuperStreet300 Amateur sprint podium. German Vacca was back in form after a few races of due to an injury taking the SuperStreet 300 victory over Jonathan Pellnitz.
The SuperStock 1000 Sprint saw Sean Dwyer back on the pole and leading the field across the finish line six laps later followed by Experts Todd Wagner and Shannon Andrus. Romulo Ruiz worked his way through the field after a poor starting position and ultimately took the Amateur win. Alejandro Nieves took second in class with by Gabriel Zolczer in third.
Jamie Starace was down three points to Alejandro Rei in the Formula 40 600 championship. Once lights went out, Starace rode hard and took no prisoners. Going wheel to wheel and swapping spots with his season long rival Alejandro Rei, Starace set a new class track record with a 1:30.870 and took the win in the process. Rei followed shortly behind with Expert Drew Daly in tow. In 2018 season, Rei came up eleven points short of the championship. From the opening round, Rei showed that he wanted that championship, and he successfully achieve his goal by a tiny ONE-point gap over Starace!
In the Formula 40 Amateur class, Andrea Diotallevi continued his season log dominance by taking the Amateur win (right behind Rei), with Maykel Peres and Yesey Marrero in second and third.
The Euro Cup Sprint saw a wide variety of European metal on the track. Romulo Ruiz and George Vazeos Jr took the top two spots (and Euro Max Am victory), while Lee Farmer took third overall and won the Euro Lite Expert Class. Sardis Campodonico secured the win and set a new class record (1:36.629) in the Euro Lite Amateur class on his new Ducati, followed by Brandon Gindlesperger and Alfie Luzzi in class. Jon Foy took home the Euro Max Expert class win.
The Formula 40-1000 sprint featured an impressive win by JM Padron. Expert Lisandro Garcia took second, while Alejandro Rei narrowly held third by .036 over Jose Sojo. The Amateur class top three were George Vazeos Jr, John Sackett, and Gabriel Figueroa.
The spec-tire Bridgestone Cup had a number of class track records breaking lap after lap. Ruiz first set the 1000cc record, and then Shannon Andrus broke it with a 1:30.689. Steven Gutierrez took the 600cc victory while lowering the class record three times (ultimately with a 1:33.631. Romulo Ruiz won the 1000cc class followed by Shannon Andrus and Gabriel Zolczer. Gutierrez, not surprisingly, took the 600cc victory followed by Kevin Soltis and JM Padron.
Clint Russell took the overall (and Formula Twin Expert) checkered flag over Lee Farmer with a narrow 0.083 gap. Shawn McAlees won the Formula Twin Amateur division with Brandon Gindlesperger taking silver, and Gabriel Figueroa returning to the podium again for bronze. Production Twin Amateur saw the top three of: Stephen Bolden, Thomas Hannigan, and Henry Alvarez.
Coming into the final race of the Production Twins class, Jonathan Pellnitz trails Carl Cohen by two points in the Production Twins Sprint Expert championship. This will be Pellnitz’s last chance to end the Cohen dynasty in the Production Twins class. Pellnitz got his revenge from the Grande race earlier in the day, besting Carl Cohen for the Production Twin Expert win. The two rivals were joined by Job Foy in the victory circle, rounding out the top three in class. Carl Cohen’s second place finish in the Sprint gave him a one-point lead over Pellnitz to become a three-time Production Twin Expert Sprint Champion and also three-peat as the Production Twin Overall Expert Champion!
Formula50-1000 Sprint saw Expert Alejandro Rei taking the checkered flag with Drew Daly and Jose Sojo in tow. John Sackett took his second podium (and Amateur win) of the day after returning from an injury at Roebling, while Michael Zumbrum took second in the division.
Max Angles showed perfect form yet again in the Sunoco SuperBike600 Sprint taking the Expert win followed by Wayne Reyne and Daryan Martin. Dustin Richards won the Amateur class while welcoming Samir Suarez and Andrea Diotallevi back onto the podium rounding out the class top three.
The Sunoco SuperBIke1000 Sprint was won by Sean Dwyer (starting from the pole), but most impressively was Max Angles starting from pit lane and working his way through the whole field to take second. Todd Wagner took third in the Expert Class. Alejandro Nieves wrapped up his impressive day with the Amateur win, joined by Gabriel Zolczer and Dustin Richards on the podium.
Season Championship Results:
Sean Dwyer took home the Overall Expert Championship with a massive 701 points this season, reclaiming his Florida region throne. Meanwhile the rest of the Top Ten was mostly decided in the final weekend’s race. Christian Miranda narrowly secured Second overall from Shannon Andrus by 5 points.
After an impressive season, Dustin Richards handily secured the Overall Amateur Championship with 1089 points. It will be exciting to see him going head to head with the Experts for points next season. Alejandro Nieves took second Overall, while Adrian Mitchell just narrowly grabbed third over Gabriel Figueroa with 546 points to Figueroa’s 524.
FMRRA thanks all of our 2019 sponsors for their support of our racers’ passion and the sport. Our Sponsors, Racers, and Fans make it possible to continue to deliver professional, safe, and fun race weekends to the South Eastern motorcycle community
Sunoco Racing Fuels
Southern Racing Fuels
Palm Beach County Sports Commission
MotorcycleRaceTires.com
Bridgestone Tires
Continental Tires
Vanson Leathers
MYLAPS Sports Timing
Florida Track Days
Full Season Championship Results and Individual Race Results are conveniently available online at:
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