MotoAmerica Twins : Rocco #1 – 2020 Twins Cup Champion

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Coming into the 2020 season no one knew Rocco Landers was going to be a threat for the title because no one knew the 15 year old was competing in Twins Cup. We all thought it was Red Bull Rookies Cup and that’s it. We all thought Kaleb De Keyrel, Hayden Schultz, Jackson Blackmon and a host of other riders would be the top dog. Hell were we wrong. Not only did he get to compete in some of the MotoAmerica rounds, he got to compete in all of them (except for the last round) and on the best equipment in the class. Team Hammer/M4 Suzuki/RoadRacingworld.com, what ever you want to call the team, builds a a masterful Suzuki SV650. It was same basic equipment as what Alex Dumas (2019 Champ) rode and that Joe Blasius and Teagg Hobbs got to ride in 2020.

Round 1 started off pretty well for Landers but he did not dominate, in fact he did not even grab a victory in the opening round. The #97 Suzuki was beat to the line by his main championship rival, Kaleb De Keyrel. The margin of victory was .002. To stack on the pain of defeat, race 2 was even closer as he lost 2nd place to a hard charging Jackson Blackmon… by .001 and .082 behind winner De Keyrel.

Round 2 was a different story. His Suzuki had a bit more speed and so did Rocco. Landers was able to grab his first win of the season by 0.799 over Kaleb De Keyrel. At this point, Kaleb held the points lead and would do so for a few more races.

Round 3 at Road Atlanta had a fierce battle between three riders, of course one being Rocco Landers. Hayden Schultz and Kaleb De Keyrel were not yet ready for the domination to start. De Keyrel on point in everyway holding Landers at bay for the entirety of the race and even forced a rare mistake from Rocco. On the final lap, in the final corner, Landers would run off circuit nearly going down in the kitty litter handing over 2nd place to Hayden Schultz. Another 3rd place, you know he’s starting to get mad.

Pittsburgh International Race Complex was home of Round 4 and is exactly when it all started going right for Landers and wrong for everyone else. No one could touch the Suzuki rider, Kaleb was the only one even in the ballpark of Rocco. Landers would win by nearly 5 seconds over De Keyrel and posted 0.3 faster laptime. At this point, the scariest part about Rocco was how EASY he made it look. The bike appears to be on rails and he is smooth as silk on the Suzuki.

Round 5 was the home race for Landers. But not everything went to plan… wait… yes it did. He absolutely demolished the field. Fastest in every session, fast lap of the race and victory over Kaleb by 7.149 seconds. He’s just getting started.

Round 6 was more of the same. New Jersey Motorsports Park had Landers coming out swinging in Q2 with a lap record and 1.6 seconds faster than rider in 2nd Dominic Doyle. Race 1 Landers’ scored victory by 4.399 seconds and Race 2’s win was greater with a 4.770 margin of victory.

By Round 7, Rocco Landers is just a runway freight train, he came into the Barber round with 4 straight wins and left with 2 more to his name. He could not have made it look any easier. The kid is too smooth and makes it look too effortless. Race 1 saw a massive margin of victory by almost 20 seconds BUT this large margin was due to a crash by the #51 Yamaha Rider. Kaleb actually ran a faster lap time than Rocco but hit the deck in the process. Race 2 was slightly different only in that De Keryel stayed up right but finished 6.488 seconds behind Landers. Kaleb had set the lap record in race 1, but Rocco decided to re-set the lap record by one tenth of a second in race 2. Rocco had a very commanding points lead but since he was not going to make the final round at Laguna Seca, he must leave Indy with at least 25 points over Kaleb.

Guess what happened in round 8? Go ahead, take a guess. Landers was fastest in P1, Q1, Q2, and the Race. How insanely shocking? The race was close at the beginning with Kaleb and Hayden keeping Rocco in sight. All three of them had best lap times with in .2 of each other. By the end of the race, Rocco opened a gap of 5.822 seconds. His consistency was too good and the team had improved the bike again making it look even easier.

With 7 straight wins and now a 58 point lead over Kaleb De Keyrel, it’s all over folks. Your 2020 Twins Cup champion was crowned a round early. Eight wins, one 2nd place, two 3rd place, and 6 lap records equals something very hard to beat in a race series. Congratulations to Rocco Landers, the Landers Family, and Team Hammer/RoadRacingWorld.com/M4 Suzuki on your 2020 title.

All Photos used in this article were by Sara Spicer. See her work here: https://sarachappellphotos.pixieset.com/

This post has already been read 1221 times!