Champion tried but could not
keep pace with Paige. Next week
at Barber, Di Mario will be jug
-
gling responsibilities in both the
Talent Cup and Twins Cup.
While Drane faced a chal
-
lenge in race one against Voss-
berg, the Estenson Racing rider
mostly raced alone in race two
until Di Mario arrived. After Di
Mario made his pass, Drane had
a solitary race, finishing nearly
two seconds ahead of Jones
Honda's Julian Correa, who
improved one position from his
fifth place in race one.
MP13 Racing's Dreher dem
-
onstrated her mettle in race two,
finishing fifth after improving
from her seventh-place finish in
race one.
Sanchez also improved in race
two, advancing from eighth to
sixth place.
Three-time AFT Singles
Champion Kody Kopp bounced
back from his crash in race one
to secure seventh place on his
very first day of road racing.
Kopp was engaged in a heated
battle throughout, with only
0.266 of a second separating
Sanchez in sixth from Garcia in
ninth. Meanwhile, King was also
part of that pack and finished in
eighth place.
Black rounded out the top 10,
dropping a spot from his race-
one ninth.
Vossberg, who was a strong
competitor in race one, was
eliminated from the contest due
to a mechanical failure.
"They went a lot faster," said Di
Mario after race two. "The pace
was insane that second race. We
made some bike changes, and
apparently it wasn't too good.
Every time I would lean the bike
over and then get on the gas, it
was kind of chattering a lot. So,
I didn't have much confidence. I
couldn't lean it a lot. But the pace
was also higher, too. So that made
the issue even bigger. Obviously,
I got a bad start. I've got to learn
how to start these things better.
I was fifth or sixth, I think, at turn
one. I had to make my way up. So,
I got to about third place and then
at that point, I just tried to control
my pace and finish the race and
get as many points as possible. I
could tell the pace was a lot high
-
er, so I knew it was going to be
hard. But I just wanted to get up
to the front as quick as possible.
I lost three or four seconds just in
the pack the first couple laps. So,
it made it a lot harder. I feel like if
I had gotten a good start, I could
have been up there battling. But
we just have to work on that."
CN
Race One (Top 5)
1. Alessandro Di Mario
2. Bodie Paige
3. Sam Drane
4. Hank Vossberg
5. Julian Correa
Race Two (Top 5)
1. Bodie Paige
2. Alessandro Di Mario
3. Sam Drane
4. Julian Correa
5. Ella Dreher
WIND
IN THE
P52
MotoAmerica's new Talent Cup
Championship gets its start at COTA.
