VOL. 50 ISSUE 25 JUNE 25, 2013
(Above) Roberts was the talk of the
paddock at Barber, the 16-year-old
Californian winning both races in
his Pro debut.
(Left) In Supersport action at
Barber it was Joe Roberts (2) and
everyone else.
to about fourth and then I made
a pass on Tomas [Puerta] and
Hayden [Gillim]. As soon as I got
in front I knew I needed to push
and go as fast as I could. I ended
up getting the gap and just managed that gap."
Roberts overcame his poor
start and quickly worked his way
to the front. He made a daring inside pass on Hayden Gillim coming out of the final turn to take the
lead a couple of laps in. Once
up front, Roberts simply walked
away from the rest of the field.
His margin of victory after 17 laps
of racing was massive 8.122 sec-
onds. Colombian Tomas Puerta
finished second on his RoadRace Factory Yamaha. Puerta held
off another 16-year-old first-time
pro in WERA Champion Nick
McFadden of Owensboro, Kentucky.
Sunday showed that Saturday's race was no fluke. Roberts
ran behind Hayden Gillim and
Tomas Puerta in the early going
Sunday. He then made smooth
and sure passes in the next few
laps on both to take the lead.
Roberts gradually gapped the
Gillim/Puerta battle and went on
to win by 3.69 seconds. Along
the way Roberts set a new race
record time and ran under the
class lap record (although the
AMA only recognizes qualifying
times as lap records).
Gillim and Puerta had an intense race that came down to the
last lap. The two came out of the
last turn side by side and it was a
drag race to the finish, with Gillim
edging Puerta by maybe a half-awheel.
McFadden, who scored a podium finish in Saturday's race,
crashed out mid-way through the
race while running fourth.
Roberts even seemed a bit
taken aback by his standout
weekend.
"I thought I was going to be
able to run top five," Roberts
said. "That was really my expectations for the weekend. To come
out and win both races and be P1
in every session, it's like a dream
come true – definitely my birthday wish."
P79
Stefano Mesa, who finished
eighth in both races, continues
to lead the Supersport East point
standings over Corey Alexander.
Alexander finished sixth.
Young racers have made
strong debuts in AMA road racing
going all the way back to Brad
Andres, Freddie Spencer and in
more recent times Ben Spies,
Josh Herrin and Garrett Gerloff.
Sometimes phenoms go on to
greatness, sometimes they struggle to top their early promise.
What the future holds for Roberts is yet to be determined, but
for now at least, American road
racing has its next big thing. CN
Race 1
1. Joe Roberts (Honda)
2. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
3. Nick McFadden (Suzuki)
4. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
5. Miles Thornton (Yamaha)
6. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
7. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha)
8. Stefano Mesa (Yamaha)
9. Sebastiao Ferreira (Yamaha)
10. Charles Weaver (Yamaha)
Race 2
1. Joe Roberts (Honda)
2. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
3. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
4. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha)
5. Miles Thornton (Yamaha)
6. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
7. Ryan Matter (Yamaha)
8. Stefano Mesa (Yamaha)
9. Travis Wyman (Suzuki)
10. Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha)
