ANTHONY MAZZIOTTO NETS FIFTH PODIUM FINISH OF 2022 MOTOAMERICA TWINS CUP SEASON ABOARD APRILIA RS 660 AT BRAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
RODIO RACING/WARHORSE HSBK RACING RIDER NOW LEADS TWINS CUP POINTS STANDING, RESETS CLASS’ LAP RECORD AT MINNESOTA TRACK
BRAINERD, MN – JULY 31, 2022 – At the start of this weekend’s MotoAmerica Superbikes at Minnesota round, Anthony Mazziotto was four points away of the MotoAmerica Twins Cup championship points lead. At the conclusion of the round’s single Twins Cup race on Saturday, the Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing rider had scored his fifth podium finish of this 2022 season aboard an Aprilia RS 660, set a new Twins Cup lap record, and assumed the championship lead.
Mazziotto, from Hammonton, N.J., was at the head of a trio of Aprilia riders who rounded out the top five in the Brainerd Twins Cup race. Finishing fourth was Veloce Racing rider and reigning Twins Cup champion Kaleb De Keyrel, and fifth was De Keyrel’s teammate and former championship leader Jody Barry.
Mazziotto also lowered the Twins Cup lap record that he set in MotoAmerica’s debut at Brainerd last year. He improved on his previous record time – a 1:36.984 that he set on Lap 11 of Twins Cup Race 2 in 2021 – to a 1:36.944 on Lap 5 of Saturday’s contest.
The current points standings feature three Aprilia riders in the top five, with Mazziotto one point ahead of Barry (156 points to 155) and De Keyrel in fifth with 109 points.
Success at Brainerd is nothing new for Mazziotto and De Keyrel, a Minnesotan, as the pair each recorded a win and runner-up finish at the 2.5-mile circuit last year.
Unfortunately, one of the front-running Aprilia teams – Robem Engineering — was forced to miss the Brainerd round due to mechanical problems with its transporter.
About one-third of the MotoAmerica Twins Cup field – 13 of 35 riders – were competing aboard Aprilia RS 660s.
The round started off with an Aprilia at the top of the time sheets, as Barry paced the field in Friday practice. De Keyrel finished that session fourth-fastest, and Mazziotto was sixth-fastest. Qualifying took place Saturday morning with De Keyrel emerging as the top-qualifying Aprilia rider. His best lap of 1:36.488 at his home track was a mere 0.023 seconds off the pole time. Mazziotto qualified in sixth and Barry in seventh.
The Twins Cup race got underway late Saturday afternoon with Mazziotto getting a good start and running in third place as the field entered the first turn. Mazziotto, De Keyrel and Barry finished Lap 1 in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, and Mazziotto moved up to third place on Lap 6. A couple laps later, Mazziotto had advanced to second place, and he finished Lap 8 of the 12-lap contest in the lead.
Though he’d fallen back to third by the end of Lap 9, Mazziotto was vying with two other riders for the race lead until Lap 11, when several lapped riders caused him to lose time. He had to settle for a third-place finish, 0.563 seconds behind the second-place rider. De Keyrel and Barry finished several seconds behind Mazziotto, and American Metalcraft Racing’s Eddie Neubauer gave Aprilia four riders in the top 10.
MotoAmerica had a two-week break before the next round, which is scheduled for Aug. 19-21 at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pa.
Anthony Mazziotto, Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing
“It was a solid weekend here on our Aprilia RS 660. It was a good points salvage, and I’m happy that I’m leading the championship as we’re heading to some racetracks that I really enjoy. I really like racing at Pittsburgh and New Jersey, and we’re just going to keep plugging away it. I felt like we had really good pace here at Brainerd. I was struggling a little bit in the first part of the track, but the Aprilia worked really well through the rest of the racetrack. I can’t thank my team enough for their efforts this weekend, as well as Aprilia, and I’m really looking forward to coming back to the East Coast.”
