ANT Racing/STAR School/NationalGuard.com racer James "the Rocket" Rispoli finished 2nd in both Saturday's and Sunday's AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport races at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. James increased his points lead in the championship fight heading into the next round at Virginia International Raceway.
The young racer from Attica, New York was able to qualify for the second spot on the grid only .164 off the pole position. Over the two day contest he led the most laps and in both races but suffered from excessive tire wear toward the end of each race missing out on the top step of the podium.
James 'the Rocket" Rispoli said:
"I had momentum coming off the Barber weekend and managed to put together another great race weekend here at Mid Ohio, a track that's not my best. Like Barber, we again were fast right out of the trailer with our new GSX R600. We chased tires and a little set up and just missed out on pole position but it was good enough for a front row start.
"In race one I got out front and just hammered it trying to gap as much as I could. I led the first (4) laps and decided to settle into a pace to conserve the tires. The #68 bike caught me and was able to get by. We had a 10 second gap on the third place rider but my front tire started to go away big time. I was fortunate to bring home second.
"On Sunday in the warm up we tested our "B" bike for the first time. We had a totally different chassis set up and tire choice. I through down the fastest time in the morning session but didn't think the package was going to be better overall so I went back to our "A" bike for race two. On the start I was third but made an aggressive outside move going into turn one and came away with the lead. I broke away a little and again the #68 bike got by me but this time I was able to stay pace and I was on his rear wheel going along for the ride. He made a mistake a couple of laps later and I took advantage of it and put a gap of (5) seconds on second place. Again with (5) laps to go I couldn't maintain a .31 pace and started to creep backwards allowing the #69 bike to catch and pass me into turn one on the white flag.
"I gave it everything I had and both our tires were worn out. As dirt trackers we were sliding around all over the place. In turn (11) I made my last ditch move and almost made it stick. After that I settled in for second place .209 out of the top spot maximizing my points gain for the championship. It was an awesome race."
David Ashi , team owner ANT Racing Motorsports, said
"The team did a great job and we are pleased with the end results. We increased our points lead, learned more about ourselves and the new equipment and the team is working more efficiently throughout the race weekend. It was also awesome to have our sponsor PEI here to experience first hand the team in action and we look forward to having them join us at the track more often. While the crew and support folks are doing great preparing the equipment, James has stepped up his game and is charging to the front right off the trailer. We look forward to taking the momentum we have built into the last two race weekends of the season."
[Press Release Courtesy of ANT Racing]
