APRILIA RS 660 RIDERS LANDERS, RODIO, VICTORIOUS AT LAGUNA SECA FOR MOTOAMERICA TWINS CUP DOUBLE HEADER
RODIO RACING – POWERED BY ROBEM ENGINEERING RIDERS WIN BY LARGE MARGINS IN BOTH CONTESTS, WITH GUS RODIO RETAKING POINTS LEAD
MONTEREY, CA – Laguna Seca is one of the most iconic racing circuits in the world and, this past weekend, was the scene of two commanding victories by Aprilia RS 660 riders. The Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering duo of Rocco Landers and Gus Rodio were the class of the MotoAmerica Twins Cup field. The pair recorded one win apiece, and each winning rider took the checkered flag least 16 seconds ahead of the rest of the field at the July 7-9 event.
Though Landers was unable to finish the second contest, both Landers and Rodio took turns being at the top of the Twins Cup points standings. And Rodio, who was the championship leader through the first two rounds of the season, heads to the next round with a three-point lead.
Friday morning practice commenced under slick track conditions due to overnight rain on the recently repaved circuit. That 40-minute session ended with Top Pro Motorsports’ Alex Arango as the fastest Aprilia rider and sixth-fastest overall. Landers, Top Pro Motorsports’ other rider Agustin Sierra, and Gus Rodio finished the session 9th, 10th, and 11th fastest, respectively.
By Friday afternoon, track conditions had greatly improved for the first of two Twins Cup qualifying sessions. And Landers and Rodio were back to their usual frontrunning form. Landers top the time sheets with a best lap time of 1:30.741. Rodio was second-fastest, about half a second off Landers’ time and more than 1.3 seconds faster than the next fastest rider. The Twins Cup’ Qualifying 2 session took place Saturday morning and saw Landers convert his provisional pole position from Friday into his fourth consecutive Twins Cup pole position of the season. Rodio nearly bested Landers when he qualified second with a lap time about one-tenth of a second off Landers’ best time.
Race 1 was the scene of some frantic action on the first lap that quickly changed to an Aprilia rout. Though Landers and Rodio were running second and third as the field of 33 riders exited Turn 2, Landers assumed the lead after making a pass at Turn 6 and, by the end of the first lap, had already built an about one second advantage to the rest of the field. Rodio made his move up to second place at the iconic Corkscrew turn and was undeterred when another rider bumped him as he was navigating the tight, twisty corner and finished the first lap in second place. From Lap 2 to the end of the 13-lap race, the Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering duo built a large gap to the multi-rider battle for third place. At the end of Lap 3, Landers had pulled out a 1.4-second lead over Rodio, who had established his own 2.2-second advantage over the third-place rider. By the end of Lap 10, Landers was leading Rodio by more than 4.4 seconds, and Rodio had increased his gap to third place to more than 15 seconds. Landers ended up taking the victory by a margin of 4.180 seconds and Rodio crossed the finish line 21.417 seconds ahead of the next rider. Landers also set a new MotoAmerica Twins Cup lap record during the Saturday race with a lap time of 1:29.790 and moved into the lead in the class’ points standings. Three other Aprilia riders finished in the top 10, including Duffy Racing’s Tyler Duffy in seventh, Righteous Racing’s Ray Hofman in eighth and Arango in 10th.
Rodio got a better start in Sunday’s Race 2 and led the field through the first couple corners. Landers was running in third place for the first half of Lap 1 before moving up to second at Turn 6. He then took over the lead when Rodio made a mistake exiting Turn 6 that caused him to run wide. The Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering duo then built a large gap to the rest of the field and were taking turns setting new lap records until Landers crashed out from the lead on Lap 11. The lap before he crashed, Landers had an about 0.8 second advantage on Rodio, who was about 16 seconds ahead of the third-place rider. Rodio went on to win the race by a margin of 16.945 seconds and, with his victory and Landers’ bad luck, Rodio assumed the lead in the Twins Cup standings.
Rodio left Laguna Seca with a three-point lead in the championship chase, and Landers is just 18 points behind the second-place rider despite having not raced at the opening round at Daytona International Speedway.
Of the 33 riders entered in MotoAmerica Twins Cup for the Laguna Seca round, 16 were slated to compete aboard Aprilia RS 660s.
The MotoAmerica Twins Cup riders have a six-week break in the 2023 schedule until its back in action. The next round takes place Aug. 18-20 at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
Gus Rodio / No. 96
“Overall, it was a great weekend for the Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering team. Me and Rocco worked together all weekend long. Race 1 went good. I had a few issues off the start, but I managed to collect it and stayed consistent the whole race. It was a pretty good finish and a pretty good, best lap time for me. I’m super happy with the results overall, as well as getting the championship lead back. I couldn’t have done it without the team and Aprilia backing me. I’m looking forward to heading back to the East Coast, and we’ll take it from there.”
Rocco Landers / No. 97
“It was a great weekend. On Saturday, things went amazing. Gus and I were able to work together to find the best possible setup for our Aprilia RS 660s. We had them set up really well, and they worked amazing here on the new surface. The Aprilia is definitely the bike to be on in Twins Cup, and it keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, I kind of ruined the weekend by tossing the bike down the road in Race 2, but that aside, I’m looking forward to heading to Pittsburgh.”
