eventually made a decisive pass
into the lead before handing the
bike off to teammate Simpson.
From there, the Hero Racing
Ducati pair never looked back,
taking the Saturday win by 30
seconds over Logan. Colangeli
held on to claim third in the Open
Pro division, while Hunter and
co-rider Hayden Hintz finished
fourth in Open Pro. Fifth overall
on the day belonged to Caleb
Tate and Gunnar Smith, a young
up-and-coming duo starting with
the Experts to claim the Overall
Expert and Open Expert class
win on the day.
Simpson took the starting
duties for the Ducati squad on
Sunday morning, grabbing the
early lead and setting a blistering
pace at the front. Unchallenged
throughout the five-lap main,
Simpson and Naran dominated
the field to take the day-two vic-
tory by over two and a half min-
utes. Saturday's second-place
finisher Shane Logan didn't make
the Sunday start, leaving the race
for second overall wide open.
Behind them, the battle for
the remaining podium spots
was chaotic. Hunter and Hintz
suffered a rough start on Sun-
day morning, forcing them into
full charge mode as they sliced
through the pack to move into
second overall on the opening
lap, a position they'd hold for the
entirety of the race. Colangeli
also suffered a poor start on
his Beta, working his way back
up through the pack where
he'd reach third on track by the
halfway point. From there, it was
a battle on time between Hintz/
Hunter and Colangeli to see how
the podium positions would
stack up. Colangeli needed to
finish within 22 seconds of the
Honda boys to claim second,
and when the checkers flew,
the Beta rider was 15 seconds
behind the Honda duo to give
Colangeli second overall on the
weekend. Caleb Tate and Gun-
nar Smith moved all the way up
to fourth overall and first overall
to claim the class win and cap
off a remarkable season for
the youngsters. Fifth overall
and fourth Open Pro on the day
belonged to Caiden and Gregory
Fenstermaker.
Other notable finishers include
Patricio Cabrera winning the
Ironman Pro class, Silas Hilfiker
winning the Ironman Amateur
class, and Keegan Hardy winning
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 20, 2026 P43
Naran's team was fastest on both days of racing.
