MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series/Honda Championship Of The Monterey Peninsula
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Monterey, California
July 8, 2017
KTM RC Cup Race Results (all on KTM RC390s and Dunlop tires):
1. Cory Ventura, 12 laps, Total Race Time 20:50.593, Best Lap Time 1:43.089
2. Alex Dumas, -4.740 seconds, 1:43.368
3. Draik Beauchamp, -5.113, 1:43.196
4. Gray Pham, -5.308, 1:43.035
5. Gabe Hernandez, -5.521, 1:43.317
6. Toby Khamsouk, -6.494, 1:43.473
7. Sergio Rodriguez, II, -21.307, 1:44.603
8. Trevor Standish, -21.464, 1:44.544
9. Nate Minster, -25.630, 1:44.666
10. Francesc Perez, -29.446, crash, 1:43.126
11. Angel Olmedo, -34.496, 1:45.376
12. Setin West, -34.804, 1:45.640
13. Brett Voorhees, -35.668, 1:44.960
14. Dylan Deutschlander, -44.621, 1:46.707
15. Chase Lyons, -95.988, 1:50.501
16. Marc Edwards, DNF, 1:44.904
17. Kevin Olmedo, DNF, crash, 1:45.127
18. Benjamin Smith, -12 laps, DNF, crash, no lap time recorded
19. Jackson Blackmon, -12 laps, DNF, crash, no lap time recorded
20. Jamie Astudillo, DNS
Championship Point Standings (after 9 of 17 races):
1. Smith, 147 points
2. Blackmon, 118
3. Beauchamp, 115
4. Ventura, 110
5. Dumas, 101
6. Khamsouk, 89
7. Standish, 77
8. Gavin Anthony, 74
9. Rodriguez, 63
10. Leahey, 54
More, from a press release issued by KTM North America:
CORY VENTURA STANDS OUT TO CAPTURE KTM RC CUP VICTORY AT ROUND 5 IN CALIFORNIA
Round 5 – KTM RC Cup – July 9, 2017
MONTEREY, CA. – Round five of the 2017 KTM RC Cup Championship, held in conjunction with the 2017 AMA MotoAmerica/FIM North American Road Racing Championship, was held at Laguna Seca over the weekend and it was CSVMoto rider Cory Ventura who claimed the only race victory up for grabs – tallying his second career-win in the class.
Running alongside the visiting World Superbike Championship, Ventura stamped his authority on the meeting with a dominant performance, taking the victory by 4.7 seconds over JP43 Junior Team rider Alex Dumas and Quarterly Racing/On Track Development’s Draik Beauchamp.
There was drama on the first of 12 laps when Jackson Blackmon lost the rear out of turn three, taking Benjamin Smith with him. With the top two in the championship out of the race, Ventura and Francesc Perez (M4 Roadracing World Wild Cards Team) battled for the rest of the race until Perez lost the front going into the Corkscrew. Perez was able to remount, ultimately finishing 10th place, while Ventura cruised on to capture the victory in Monterey.
“It was a great race,” said Ventura. “I got a great start, something I’ve been working a lot on lately and tried to keep that momentum going. This is technically my home race, it’s the track I have the most experience on and I had a lot of fun today.”
For Dumas, his third podium of the season with second place came after holding off a large train of riders that included Beauchamp, Team MotoTriad’s Gary Pham and the second M4 Roadracing World Wild Cards Team machine of Gabe Hernandez in fifth place.
“I saw Jackson and Benjamin crash, so I thought we could do a top five easily,” said Dumas. “Then I saw the Spanish guy crash (Perez) so I say, ‘I need the second place here!’ and I managed to hold on so I’m very happy.”
Beauchamp’s tilt at second place on the podium was stopped by a strong pass by Dumas at the Corkscrew; however, Beauchamp – the rider who sits in third in the series – ended up satisfied with his result.
“That was a really hard fought race,” Beauchamp said. “Being a little behind the pace was challenging. I was trying to figure out what to expect and how I was going to make up time and then some of my teammates got taken out. Corey gapped us so I couldn’t hang with him but Alex and I got into a good battle and then Perez crashed so suddenly there were two podium spots on offer. I tried to put in a good last lap but Dumas made a good pass at the top of the Corkscrew, props for that. We’ll try do better at the next round.”
Next Event: MotoAmerica Championship at Sonoma Raceway / August 11-13, 2017
KTM RC Cup Race Results
1.Cory Ventura
2.Alex Dumas
3.Draik Beauchamp
4.Gary Pham
5.Gabe Hernandez
6.Alex Dumas
KTM RC Cup Championship Point Standings
1.Benjamin Smith (147)
2.Jackson Blackmon (118)
3.Draik Beauchamp (115)
4.Cory Ventura (110)
5.Alex Dumas (101)
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