Copyright 2018, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

By Russell Masecar/RBoM Racing

With the average participant’s age hovering around 40, this probably wasn’t the intent of the Twins Cup class, but that is the reality of the situation and is it necessarily bad? Most of the young talent in the MotoAmerica paddock is running in the Junior Cup class now and, most likely, from a financial standpoint, can’t afford to do more than one class or may not see the benefit of racing against some crusty, old, veteran racers. On the other hand, it has seemed to re-ignite the desire for some racers, who have been sitting on the sidelines for whatever reason, to suit back up and be part of the “big show” called MotoAmerica.

For the casual fan who may not be too familiar with any of the names who are signed up for this weekend’s Twins Cup race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PIRC), let’s take a look at the depth of the field:

Series front runners Chris Parrish and Jason Madama would certainly be considered the favorites, as they’ve challenged for podium finishes at every round so far, but who will be their biggest competition at PIRC?

Two very fast racers, returning to the Pro paddock after a short hiatus, are Kris Turner and Dustin Dominguez. Tennessee’s Kris Turner has shown that he still has the speed, but he had mechanical problems at both Laguna Seca and Utah Motorsports Campus. Texas racer Dustin Dominguez had phenomenal pace at Road America, which was certainly not unexpected, but was obviously outgunned on the long Road America straights. Hopefully Dominguez shows up at PIRC with a slightly sharper knife.

Chris Bays could be a threat to the lead pack as well as Irishman Brian McGlade. Both Bays and McGlade are still trying to get back to full strength from early-season injuries, but both know how to get around a track pretty fast on a Suzuki SV650. McGlade’s Lwtracer.com teammates, Sam Wiest and Sean Dougherty, will be representing the Mid-Atlantic CCS region as some of their CCS competitors get ready to make their own Twins Cup debut at the MotoAmerica round in New Jersey.

As expected, the PIRC round is bringing in competitors from all regions of the country. The midwest will be represented by Minnesota racers Jon Champ and Anthony Marcinek, Yamaha FZ07 racers Joe Behlman and Carl Price from Missouri, and Wisconsin’s own Ryan Roth. Florida racers Robert Fisher and Jon Pellnitz are making the long trek north. Virginia’s Matt DiLorenzo is back. Kentucky’s Shane Perry is also back as well as the one and only Mr. Sam Wang. From Ohio, Chiefs Racing endurance team owner Greg Reisinger will make his MotoAmerica debut and Autolite Spark Plugs chief engineer Jerry Reeves will be representing the least scared one-third of the 419Racing crew.

An interesting twist that most won’t realize is that points leader Chris Parrish’s crew has staged a team mutiny for the PIRC round. Southeast region WERA racers Travis Richards and Keith Buras, who serve as Parrish’s crew chief and tire-gauge-accuracy scrutineer, respectively, are going to prove what most spectators don’t realize, that ex-racer crew members are almost always faster than the rider they are wrenching for!!!

One unknown is Indiana racer Brad Perdiew. He is shown on the entry list on his AP Motoarts FZ07 and would be making a welcome return, assuming he’s fully recovered from his crash during Round One at Road Atlanta.

It was certainly nice to see a Kawasaki Ninja 650 on the grid out west, but it looks like it’s going to be 16 Suzuki SV650’s versus 6 Yamaha FZ07’s at PIRC.

A decent sized field of talented, but older racers, waiting patiently for some young hotshots to grid up. The question is, where are Curtis Murray, Xavier Zayat, Tyler Humphreys, Tyler Freeman, Darrell Ricks, Dustin Ducote, Gino Angella, Bart DeFrancesco, Big George Demetroplis, Doane Richardson, Ned Brown, and all the rest of the east coast regional Twins racers? Maybe some will show up for the New Jersey round, or……perhaps something big is brewing for the season finale at Barber Motorsports Park!!!