Sean Kelly, a 13-year-old American who lives in Florida but races in Mexico’s KTM RC390 Cup because he is too young to race in MotoAmerica’s KTM RC390 Cup, won Race One of the KTM RC390 Cup World Final Saturday at Silverstone Circuit, in England.
Kelly started eighth, raced with a huge pack of riders for the lead throughout the eight-lap contest and came through at the end to take a narrow victory over 14-year-old Dutch rider Djim Ulrich and 15-year-old Canadian Braeden Ortt.
American rider Anthony Mazziotto III, age 15, got the holeshot from the front row of the grid and was consistently at the front until he made a mistake in the second half of the race that caused him to nearly highside, run off the track and lose several positions. He fought back to take fifth at the checkered flag.
The rest of the American riders had a rougher time of it. Gage McAllister, the 20-year-old Californian who won the 2015 MotoAmerica KTM RC390 Cup Championship, tangled with another rider heading into Turn One on lap two and crashed. McAllister was uninjured, but because Race Two will be gridded according to the fastest lap times recorded in Race One and McAllister got no lap time he will have to start last on the grid.
American Hayden Schultz, age 18, had a mechanical problem on the grid that forced him to start the race from pit lane. Schultz went from dead last to first, but he also tangled with other riders in Turn One on lap seven and crashed. Schultz, however, did the fastest lap (2:35.114) of the race during his charge to the front and will start Race Two on Sunday from pole position.
American Justin McWilliams, age 22, went from 22nd on the grid to 17th in Race One, but he crashed on lap four and did not finish the race. McWilliams was uninjured in the lowside crash.
The KTM RC390 Cup riders are scheduled to start Race Two at 11:30 a.m. local time Sunday, and they will do so without the benefit of a warm-up session Sunday morning. Race Two, like Race One, is slated to be streamed live on Fanschoice.tv and possibly MotoAmerica.com.
Santander Consumer Finance KTM British Junior Cup & World Final
Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, England
October 3, 2015
Provisional Race One Results (all on KTM RC390s and Metzeler tires):
1. Sean Kelly, USA/Mexico, W, 8 laps, total race time 21:00.661, best lap time 2:35.882
2. Djim Ulrich, Netherlands, W, -0.213 second, 2:36.373
3. Braeden Ortt, Canada, W, -0.450, 2:36.244
4. Robert Schotman, Netherlands, W, -0.487, 2:36.387
5. Anthony Mazziotto III, USA, W, -0.779, 2:36.088, ran off track
6. Patrik Pulkkinen, Finland, W, -1.013 seconds, 2:35.993
7. Thomas Strudwick, UK, W, -1.116, 2:35.770
8. Sasha de Vits, Netherlands, W, -1.190, 2:35.954
9. Dennis Stelzer, Germany, W, -1.224, 2:35.956
10. Joep Overbeeke, Netherlands, W, -1.257, 2:36.144
11. Toni Erhard, Germany, W, -1.416, 2:35.897
12. James Nagy, UK, W, -2.108, 2:36.466
13. Aaron Wright, UK, -2.310, 2:36.200
14. Cameron Fraser, UK, W, -2.306, 2:36.419
15. Lee Hindle, UK, -2.631, 2:35.699
16. Jirka Mrkyvka, Germany, W, – 3.690, 2:36.504
17. Maximillian Sohnius, Germany, W, -7.247, 2:37.296
18. Marco Fetz, Germany, W, -7.282, 2:37.214
19. Vili Virtanen, Finland, W, -10.393, 2:37.575
20. Finn de Bruin, Netherlands, W, -41.045, 2:37.653
21. Reece Guyett, UK, -41.273, 2:39.987
22. Thomas Airey, UK, -41.699, 2:41.245
23. Leonardo Carnevalli, Italy, W, -81.519, 2:43.297
24. Kieran Styles, UK, -147.187, 2:54.078
25. Adam Phipps, UK, -1 lap, DNF, 2:42.644
26. Sam Lyon, UK, -1 lap, DNF, 2:42.666
27. Hayden Schultz, USA, W, -2 laps, DNF, crash, 2:35.114
28. Kevin Keyes, UK, W, -2 laps, DNF, crash, 2:36.059
29. Chris Taylor, UK, W, -2 laps, DNF, crash, 2:35.726
30. Ewan Potter, UK, -4 laps, DNF, 2:50.152
31. Justin McWilliams, USA, W, -5 laps, DNF, crash, 2:37.430
32. Gage McAllister, USA, W, -7 laps, DNF, crash, no lap time recorded