VELOCE RACING’S KALEB DE KEYREL NOTCHES SECOND PLACE FINISH IN SATURDAY MOTOAMERICA TWINS CUP RACE AT PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL RACE COMPLEX
APRILIA RIDERS NOW SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH IN TWINS CUP POINTS STANDINGS
WAMPUM, PA – AUGUST 22, 2022 – It was a positive but frustrating weekend for Veloce Racing Aprilia rider Kaleb De Keyrel. The reigning MotoAmerica Twins Cup Champion was in front-running form at the Aug. 19-21 MotoAmerica round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex but had to settle for second- and fifth-place finishes in the event’s two Twins Cup races.
The top two riders in the Twins Cup points standings at the start of the weekend — Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing rider Anthony Mazziotto and De Keyrel’s teammate Jody Barry – didn’t score their typical results but leave the Pitt Race round within one point and five points, respectively, of the championship lead. De Keyrel moved up from fifth to fourth in the championship standings and narrow his gap to the points lead from 47 to 33.
Two other top-performing Aprilia riders were the Robem Engineering duo of Ben Gloddy and Teagg Hobbs. Gloddy finished fourth in Saturday’s Twins Cup contest and sixth in Sunday’s race. Hobbs finished ninth on Saturday and seventh on Sunday to give Aprilia 10 total top-10 finishes on the weekend.
It was Gloddy’s and Hobbs’ first MotoAmerica action since the Laguna Seca round in mid-July, as the Robem Engineering team was forced to miss the previous round at Brainerd International Raceway due to technical problems with its transporter.
De Keyrel was the fastest Aprilia rider in Friday practice. He finished that session 0.145 seconds off the session leader and was one of four Aprilia riders in the top 10. Later Friday, three Aprilia riders provisionally qualified second, third and fourth. De Keyrel was the fastest Aprilia pilot again and missed out on pacing the field by 0.083 seconds. Gloddy ended the session in third, and Barry was fourth. There was a total of five Aprilias in the top 10, as Hobbs ended up ninth in the session and Mazziotto 10th.
Qualifying concluded Saturday morning with De Keyrel missing out on pole position by 0.218 seconds. Gloddy ended up qualifying fifth, Hobbs seventh, Barry eighth and Mazziotto 10th.
Saturday’s Twins Cup race saw De Keyrel get a good start and vie with another rider for the race lead. Though De Keyrel briefly took the lead on the last lap, his chief rival in the race was able to draft by him at the finish line. De Keyrel had to settle for a runner-up finish by a mere 0.053 seconds.
Gloddy was battling hard to claim the final step on the podium and was edged out for third place at the finish line by just 0.009 seconds. It was Gloddy’s third fourth-place or better finish of the 2022 season. Mazziotto advanced four positions during the 11-lap race to finish sixth, and Hobbs and Barry crossed the line in ninth and 10th.
Rain moved in overnight and continued into the morning hours. But dry conditions were on tap for Sunday’s late afternoon race – which was a wild affair.
De Keyrel got another good start and was battling for the lead with another rider for the first lap. However, the race was stopped on Lap 2 and the field was reset to its original starting grid for the restart. When racing got back underway, De Keyrel got another good launch off the line and was running in second at the end of Lap 1. De Keyrel led the field at the start of Lap 3 but got shuffled back to fifth during the following two laps. He was preparing to make a charge back to the lead when the race was stopped again and later called complete.
Gloddy had fallen back to seventh in the running order after the restart but rallied to finish just behind De Keyrel in sixth place. Hobbs had made up three places in the five laps after the restart to end up right behind his teammate in seventh, and championship contenders Barry and Mazziotto finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
Eleven of the 46 riders registered to compete in Twins Cup at Pitt Race were aboard Aprilia RS 660s.
The next MotoAmerica round takes place Sept. 9-11 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J.
Kaleb De Keyrel / Veloce Racing
“I had a really good Race 1. We had the pace to win and it came right down to the line. I lost by a small margin, which was unfortunate. I really wanted to get some redemption in Sunday’s race, but MotoAmerica concluded the race after the second red flag. I really got the short end of the stick with that, as I had really good pace but had gotten shuffled back by some very aggressive passes made by other riders. I was figuring out how I was going to get back to the front but didn’t end up having a chance to.”
