VOL. 56 ISSUE 14 APRIL 9, 2019 P79
second by a more class-normal
4.9 seconds. Still, the kid—and
make no mistake, he's still a
kid—has plenty of eyes on him
for this year.
After his second victory of the
weekend, Landers compared
the pace from race one and
said, "It felt faster, honestly. I
could see the times and stuff,
but (we) were flying. I could see
on the first lap he (Dallas Dan-
iels, Quarterley On Track De-
velopment Kawasaki Ninja 400)
got by me, and I was like, this is
going to be a battle. I enjoyed it
a lot."
no Mesa on the Mesa37 Racing
Kawasaki from class veterans
Travis Wyman (Weir Everywhere
Racing BMW) and Chad Lewin
(Team Lewin Estates Kawasaki).
LIQUI MOLY JUNIOR CUP
There's a new kid in town, and
his name is Rocco Landers.
The 14-year-old, who has spent
the last few seasons racing in
European junior championships,
crushed the Junior Cup field for
pole position and two wins on
the Landers racing Kawasaki
Ninja 400. The first win was
by a stunning 16 seconds, the
Kawasaki) sticking it on pole in
his big-bike national debut race
with a 1:27.593
The Californian also led the
entirety of the 13-lap race until
two corners from the flag, when
reigning Stock 1000 Champion
Andrew Lee (Franklin Armory/
Graves Kawasaki), with whom
he'd run away with the race from
the chasing pack, threw it up
Gilbert's inside at turn eight and
held him to the line after stalking
him from flag to flag.
"I knew coming into this year
with the number-one plate that
I was going to have a big target
on my back," Lee said. "I didn't
really want to make a move on
Michael too early because I was
worried that then I'd have to
lead. I wanted to task him with
the hard part. So I was trying
to conserve tires as much as
I could. All race I was kind of
coming up on the back of him
going down that hill. I knew on
the last lap that I had to get a
good drive out of turn seven. I
got a little loose out of it, but I
got a really good drive and came
up on the back of him. Also
coming up the inside, I've seen
so many people tuck the front
there today. I did not want to be
another one on that tally. So, I
was really cautious, and I kind of
ran it wide. Then I knew for sure
that Mike was going to kind of
come squaring me up. I didn't
want to come back too hard on
him because I didn't want to risk
him or my race at all."
Third on the day went to Stefa-
Michael Barnes won both Twins legs.
