The Aftermath – MotoAmerica Twins : Pittsburgh 2019
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First: All photos used are from Sara Spicer (Sara Chappell Photos) , check out her galleries from this weekend HERE
Double header means double the action and double the drama. If you didn’t watch the Twins cup races from Pittsburgh then you should really GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER and go over to MotoAmerica’s Facebook page or MotoAmerica’s Live+ website and watch the races.
The pace was pretty intense. The winner of last years race, Jason Madama, won with a 1:54.778. In 2019 that would have been good enough for 10th-14th.
Alex Dumas – Race 1 – 1st – Best Time: 1:49.850 | Race 2 – 1st- Best Time: 1:49.458
He’s now taking control of this championship. He went 1/1 this weekend winning both races pretty convincingly. What I really enjoy about Alex is that he doesn’t push the issue, he sizes up each racer and makes a good pass. While his victory at Sonoma was made a bit easier when Michael Barnes’ Ducati had a malfunction, both of these wins at Pittsburgh were all on Dumas. He put down the fastest times of the weekend, setting a new lap record, and winning both races. Race one was a victory by 5.733 seconds and race two by 9.464 seconds. He was in his own league this weekend. He leaves PIRC with a 9 point lead in the championship. What is really cool about this is that his year started off a bit slow but Alex and his M4 Suzuki team took their time to develop the bike’s power and chassis to Dumas. It’s paying off down the stretch. The bike’s power has closed the gap to the Yamahas and Alex’s mid corner speed is simply superb. I expect him to finish out the year with more victories and the title.
Draik Beauchamp – Race 1 – 2nd – Best Time: 1:50.738 | Race 2 – 2nd – Best Time: 1:50.045
The 77 is still right there in the title fight 9 points behind Alex Dumas. He’s doing what he has to do to get onto the podium pretty consistently. He pushed hard in the closing stages of race 2 to catch Barney in the last few corners to nip him at the line to secure 2nd . He’s riding that Yamaha to it’s advantage, getting the bike stopped and then using it’s monstrous power to drive hard out of the corner. I would like to see Draik get his corner speed up. If the #77 could do this, he could fight with Dumas for the wins. With out getting the mid corner speed up, he’s going to continue to just be a podium contender (not that it’s a bad thing), instead of a victory contender.
Michael Barnes – Race 1 – 3rd – Best Time: 1:50.630 | Race 2 – 3rd – Best Time: 1:49.919
Once having the championship points lead is now sitting 19 points behind. Two mechanical DNF’s (VIR & Sonoma) have absolutely destroy his title hopes. Barney is still pressing on but that Ducati isn’t the powerhouse everyone thinks it is. The racing veteran has to ride the Monster 797 insanely hard to keep up with the likes of Dumas. He killed his rear tire in both races but still managed to get some good results getting 3rd in both races. The save of the weekend award also goes to Barnes with what could have been an insanely gnarly highside tipping into turn 11… some how the #111 duc didn’t toss him to the moon… he adjusts his helmet and pushes on to manage a 3rd place.
Joseph Blasius – Race 1 – 4th – Best Time: 1:50.519 | Race 2 – DNS
Blasius was the one who really stood out to me. Race 1 he seemed to have it all together. His braking was late, his mid corner speed was awesome, his passes were leaning towards the edge of brutal but absolutely spot on. His mid corner speed caused hell for Kris Turner in the case that he was forced to check up entering turn 10 behind #77 causing Turner to smash into his rear tire. A very nice 4th place for Joe and just barely missed out on 3rd as Barney got him at the line. Race 2, If I didn’t see what happened to Blasius first hand, I would have expect his race 2 to go even better than race 1 did. On the warm up lap, Blasius highsided coming out of turn 5… he fractured a bone in his hand would not compete in race 2. He got surgery and hopes to be at NJMP in 2 weeks.
Kris Turner – Race 1 – DNF – Best Time 1:50.384 | Race 2 – 5th – Best Time 1:51.074
Race 1 looking pretty good and aggressive from Turner. He was the second fastest guy in the race. He had some awesomely ballsy passes on a few guys. One of those was clipping Draiks front tire coming into turn 12. Kris showed some awesome entry, mid, and exit speed everywhere. In the end of race 1 it all came crashing down the the #38 Suzuki rider. As stated above, Blasius was forced to check up due to Draik’s mid corner speed in turn 10 and Turner had no where to go. He was catapulted after making contact with Joe’s rear tire. Race 2 saw more of the same but overall slower lap times. At one point, Turner wheelied out of Turn 2 making contact with Beauchamp. This race was full of drama as both Turner and Parrish simply had enough of the #77’s riding and fast motorcycle. Race ended, more drama happened, we don’t need to go into details of that and thanks to the WERA forum and Facebook, the drama continues. Gotta love twins cup!
Chris Parrish – Race 1 – 5th – Best Time 1:50.773 | Race 2 – 4th – Best Time 1:50.870
The #1 honestly looked super solid. His lines and speed were fantastic. Parrish put on some very nice passes. Lap times also way faster than last years times. 4th and 5th place aren’t bad, but it’s not where the champs wants to be. He looked good enough to podium but this class is cut throat now. You and your bike need to be spot on from the get go. His bike gets the drive but doesn’t have the top end speed. His riding was suburb. Both Parrish and Turner signaled Beauchamp to follow so they could work towards the front, Draik wanted nothing to do with this. Parrish was not happy with the outcome. On to NJMP where I believe his bike should be well suited.
Jason Madama and Darren James – Just a hair off. Madama made bit too many mistakes. James just not quite fast enough. Good rides from both, just not quite there.
Curtis Murray – Had a nasty get off in the first race. He lost his brakes coming into turn 7. Bike hit the armco and was mangled, rider was okay but bruised. He finished 8th in race 2 with a best time of 1:51.459 .
Kris Lillegard – Race 1 – 10th and Race 2 – 10th. I just wanted to add this guy here because some how, once again, he managed more 10th places. He’s sitting 11th in the championship points, with Jeff Tigert in front of him whom he should pass in points shortly to secure the #10 spot in points.
MotoAmerica should change his number to #10.
The series moves on to NJMP. The track surface isn’t the best but with the current determination of this class, I expect a new lap record and a quite a few crashes. Let the drama continue!
Race 1 Results
Race 2 Results
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