Sean Dwyer ran an undefeated weekend with CCS Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday, winning the first and last races of the day and putting his West Side Performance Racing GSX-R1000 on the top of the box in all three of his classes.
Dwyer started the day by leading every lap of the GTO race and beating defending CCS Florida Overall Champion Santiago Villa and Felipe MacLean.
Villa nailed the holeshot in Unlimited Superbike, with Dwyer battling Jeff Lampe for second place. But a few laps from the finish, Dwyer made his move to the front and claimed his second win of the weekend, with Villa in second and Lampe in third.
The same three competitors were back at it in the day’s final event, the Unlimited Grand Prix Shootout. Villa again shot out front at the start with Lampe and Dwyer close behind. Dwyer was out front by the second lap and quickly started opening up a lead as Villa and Lampe battled for second. Just after the halfway point, light rain started to fall but Dwyer was able to maintain his gap and take his third victory of the day. Lampe finished second with Villa third.
After the race, Dwyer exclaimed, “I don’t know about these guys, I was praying on the starting line. I was like, ‘God, it’s in your hands. We’ve got a little rain coming.’ I knew it was going to be the same for everybody, so my plan was to try to break away at the beginning and be able to stay safe when it got a little slick. And it got pretty slick with just a little bit of rain. Usually it takes a little more than that. Luckily, I had enough of a cushion to kind of chill out a little bit. It was an awesome race. It was fun racing with these guys.”
Dwyer thanked West Side Performance for providing him with the bike. “I just wanted to reward these guys,” he said. “They put a lot of faith in me and I wanted to give them a Shootout win. So, it was cool!”
On the podium, Lampe said, “I knew Sean was going to be tough this weekend. These guys built him a great bike to come in here, and he worked hard to do what he needed to do. It was a good race. Villa and I had a good race going there a couple of times, and the race before with the three of us. I just got to keep this going the rest of the year.” Lampe also won the Unlimited Supersport race and finished third in Unlimited Superbike.
Villa said, “It was starting to get really wet at the end. I was pushing hard. I just didn’t have what it takes on the brakes. I was making a lot of mistakes. I didn’t have anything for Lampe and Dwyer. They were gone. I just tried to keep with them and put my head down.”
Villa had crashed during a practice session on Saturday and sustained injuries to his left hand. “I’m sorry I couldn’t deliver this weekend,” Villa said. “But, today, I didn’t have what it takes.”
Villa also finished the weekend with three victories, winning the Middleweight Supersport, Heavyweight Supersport and Middleweight Grand Prix races. Despite his injuries, Villa was able to finish on the podium in all nine of his races on the day with an additional five second-place finishes along with the third place in the Shootout.
In a three-way tie for most wins, Motocorse Performance’s Jason Edmonds came close to running undefeated on his Ducati 848, with wins in the GTU, Supertwins and Middleweight Superbike races. Edmonds finished fourth in Heavyweight Superbike after nailing an early lead but falling back after running off the track.
UNLIMITED GRAND PRIX (SHOOTOUT) RESULTS: 1. Sean Dwyer (Suz GSX-R1000); 2. Jeff Lampe (Kaw ZX-10R); 3. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R1000); 4. Felipe MacLean (Kaw ZX-10R); 5. Ken Wilson (Yam YZF-R1).
More, from a press release issued by Sean Dwyer’s publicist:
It was a great weekend of CCS racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Vicious Cycle Racing team. Sean Dwyer was able to win all 3 of his races aboard the West Side Performance Suzuki 1000, including GTO, Unlimited Superbike and the Unlimited GP “Shootout.”
There were exciting battles in the big-bore classes between Dwyer, Villa and Lampe, including a three way battle for the lead during the entire Unlimited Superbike race.
The “Shootout” was started on a dry track, but with each lap came more sprinkles of rain, changing the track conditions and challenging the racers. Dwyer was able to build an advantage while lapping less than one second off of the track record, and maintain that advantage to the checkered flag.
After the race, Dwyer said, “I don’t know about those guys, but I was praying in my helmet on the grid. The plan was to go real hard and try to make a break in the first few laps so I could stay safe when in got sketchy, and it worked out. Jose put some faith in me, giving me this awesome bike to ride and I wanted to get him some wins, especially a Shootout win!”
The team would like to thank West Side Performance, Gpbikesinc.com, Dunlop, Woodcraft, Armour Bodies, Leo-Vince, Bazzaz, Motorex, Brembo, and Marchesini.