The Aftermath – MotoAmerica Twins : 2020 NJMP – Rocco on Fire

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The 6th round of the 2020 MotoAmerica Twins Cup championship took place this past weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park. What we saw was a rider take control of the series and the rider who had a decent hold start to let go. The weekend started off wet with Friday almost a wash for most riders. The clouds parted and the weather was nearly perfect for the remaining two days of competition. Our two vets of the class would not compete in either race. Jason Madama had a motor go up in smoke early in the weekend retiring him from the rest of the series. Chris Parrish was also not on the NJMP Campus to compete . A new face to the twins cup series would take their place inside the top 10. The following riders are top 10 in the championship in the order they run in the points standings.

Rocco Landers (1st/1st – 177 points) – The 15 year old has just about taken a complete stranglehold on the series. With a dominating weekend taking victory in both races as well as a new class lap record (1:25.975), he’s established himself as top dog eating at the top of the food chain. Landers and his M4 Suzuki Sv650 now have a 19 point lead in the championship over Kaleb De Kayrel who at one point looked to be the main contender in this title. Rocco Landers goal is to have a large enough point lead going into the final round at Laguna Seca as he will miss this due to conflict with the RedBull Rookies cup championship. Rocco is in top form and looks insanely difficult to beat. Best Race Lap Time: 1:26.004

Kaleb De Keyrel (6th/4th – 158 points) – It was a rough weekend for the former series points leader. Chasing chassis set up all weekend left him way behind the 8 ball. Race 2 was much better for Kaleb and finished a very very closed 4th place behind Hayden Schultz and Dominic Doyle. De Keyrel needs his Yamaha to be on point coming into Barber this weekend. He must minimize the damage being done by Rocco Landers. Kaleb works harder than just about anyone, he will get it sorted. Best Race Lap Time: 1:26.751

Hayden Schultz (3rd/2nd – 98 Points) – Hayden needed this weekend after missing the last round in Washington. It wasn’t easy, he worked for his finishes both races. In Race 1 Schultz missed 2nd place by .020 at the line to Teagg Hobbs. Race 2 was all out gorilla warfare against De Keyrel and Doyle. Hayden would prevail against his rivals securing a 2nd place finish. The #259 Yamaha is going to be fast in the next two rounds, I can guarantee you that. Best Race Lap Time: 1:26.416

Dominic Doyle (4th/3rd – 29 Points) – Yes, I was going in order of the current point standings and even tho Dominic is not in the top 10 in points, this is where he’s going to get mentioned. The young South African made his Twins Cup debut aboard the Robem Engineering Suzuki SV650 riding in palce of the injured Dr. Carl Price. “Dom” did not disappoint. Even tho the set up never got to where he would have liked it, the Suzuki appeared to fit him very well. He looked racey both days coming away with a podium in his first weekend on the twin. Twins racers should be happy Doyle wasn’t here all year otherwise our results would have looked vastly different. Best Race Lap Time: 1:26.721

Toby Khamsouk (5th/5th – 86 points) – Even tho 4th place in the series standings is nice, if I’m Toby Khamsouk, I’m most likely a bit bummed. At times, TK27 was right there in the podium battle. He looks incredible smooth and his lap times are there. The young former JR Cup racer needs to get mean! He’s the nice guy out there which makes sense as he’s an awesomely nice person off the track as well. I’ve been waiting for Toby to reach one of those three steps, it has to happen soon! Best Race Lap Time: 1:27.286

Jackson Blackmon (DNF/6th – 77 points) – 2019, in his Twins Cup debut, Blackmon set the lap record and finished 2nd very close to Alex Dumas. This year showed two tickets for the struggle bus. Race 1 had JB looking racey but would tuck the front on a pass attempt in turn 9. Race 2, he found himself fight with Trevor Standish far from the podium position. I am very confident that Blackmon has much better results in him. Rebound is in order. Best Race Lap Time: 1:27.694

Jason Madama (DNS/DNS – 70 Points) – Coming into the weekend 3rd in points, Jason’s season plans went up in smoke. Blowing an engine early in the weekend left Jason with no bike to compete on. Madama has stated he is now done for the year. Currently 5th points, but not for much longer.

Cooper McDonald (9th/9th – 66 Points) – Cooper has had quite the up and down season but has been a very strong rider in many of the races. This weekend was more of the same. Race 1 (and I only know this because I was behind Cooper the entire race), Cooper’s lap times were off pace and didn’t look very comfortable. Race 2 (and again I only know this because I was behind Cooper the entire race) his riding was far better and looked much more comfortable on his Yamaha. Lap times were faster by a long shot. I’m not sure what changes the team made to the bike, but they worked. McDonald is going to come out swinging in the final rounds. Best Race Lap Time – 1:28.630

Teagg Hobbs (2nd/7th – 57 Points) – What a weekend for Teagg. He came out swinging by qualifying on the front row. Watching him ride out there was just beautiful, it was clear he was on a mission. Race 1 was an awesome battle with Toby, Hayden, and Kaleb. Hobbs managed to just get Schultz at the line for 2nd place. Race 2 however was an odd one. He missed the sighting lap and was forced to start from the back of the grid. With an amazing launch, found him self well inside the top 10 in the first lap but ran off track in the turn1/turn2 area. He marched his way back up to 7th. Best Race Lap Time – 1:27.066

Trevor Standish (7th/8th – 52 Points) – Trevor had a decent crash in the final turn in qualifying, which is not a place you want to crash at. He didn’t miss the races but I’m sure he wanted more. Race 2 he battled with Jackson Blackmon but at the end of race 2 he was fading fast, the checkered flag was his saving grace. He was not feeling well but had very solid riding. Best Race Lap Time – 1:27.950

Sam Wiest (8th/10th – 36 Points) – Well, I’m simply not going to say much about myself and I’m not going to write in the 3rd person. Both races were awesome battling with Cooper, simple as that. Best Race Lap Time – 1:28.690

The series has three remaining rounds with four total races left. Our current points leader will not be at the final round. Can Rocco grow his points lead enough before Laguna Seca or will Kaleb De Keyrel get back on his horse and make this interesting? Barber is this weekend, let’s hope the hurricane doesn’t make these races wet and we get treated to more amazing MotoAmerica Twins Cup action.

All photos shown here are taken by Sara Spicer. Please do not steal these images, if you do use them, give her credit.

https://sarachappellphotos.pixieset.com/

This post has already been read 746 times!