|
Gus Rodio (No. 96)
Photo by Sara Chappell Photos
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It wasn’t Gus Rodio’s first time racing an Aprilia RS 660 at Daytona International Speedway, but the New Jersey rider kicked off the new-for-2023 Rodio Racing -- Robem Engineering collaboration by scoring a win and runner-up finish at the opening round of the 2023 MotoAmerica Twins Cup season.
Rodio piloted his Aprilia to commanding win in his first race with the new team and come oh-so-close to scoring a second triumph at the March 9-11 event.
Rodio’s teammate, New Hampshirite Ben Gloddy, had a positive start to the Daytona round before suffering an unfortunate injury that did not allow him to finish Friday’s Race 1 or contest Saturday’s Race 2.
In the Twins Cup’s first on-track session of 2023, Rodio ended Thursday practice at the top of the time sheets. He best the next fastest rider for the best time in the class’ only practice session by 0.064 seconds. Gloddy finished practice fifth-fastest. Later Thursday, Rodio and Gloddy finished Qualifying 1 fourth- and sixth-fastest, respectively.
Friday morning saw Rodio secure fourth on the starting grid in the second and final qualifying session. He missed out on pole by a mere 0.216 seconds. Gloddy wrapped up qualifying in sixth place.
The Daytona round’s first Twins Cup race took place Friday afternoon and saw Rodio put in a dominant performance. Rodio moved up two places in the first several corners and was battling for the lead before the end of Lap 1. Gloddy also got a good start and ran as high a third before another rider crashed in front of him at the exit of the west horseshoe. The crash forced Gloddy to take evasive action, but unfortunately the crashed bike made contact with Gloddy’s RS 660, which caused Gloddy to crash. What was a three-way battle for the lead between Rodio and two other riders in the middle of the nine-lap race gradually became a one-rider show as Rodio pulled away from the other frontrunners to win by more than eight seconds.
Unfortunately for Gloddy, he suffered an injury when he was forced off track that did now allow him to take part in Saturday’s Twins Cup Race 2.
The second race was an eventful one for Rodio, who made the most of a race restart to extend his lead in the Twins Cup points standings. Rodio’s motorcycle began exhibiting a problem with its fuel cap on the warm-up lap, which caused Rodio to pull back into his pit box while the rest of the field was forming up for the race start. The team worked relentlessly to get the motorcycle repaired in time to rejoin the race, and a short time later the race was stopped on Lap 3 due to a crash.
The race was restarted with its original starting grid and five laps to go, and Rodio once again quickly made his way forward to the battle for the lead. He was in the race lead at the end of Laps 1, 3 and 4 and gradually broke away from the rest of the field with another rider. Rodio put in a valiant effort to get a good drive out of the backstraight chicane but was bested to the finish line by 0.162 seconds. Rodio’s second place added 20 valuable championship points to his tally, and he leaves Daytona with a nine-point lead in the class standings.
The MotoAmerica Twins Cup’s next round takes place April 21-23 at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Ga.
Gus Rodio / No. 96
“It was an awesome first race of the season. I was able to break away from the pack and win my first Twins Cup race. It was my biggest margin of victory and I’m very happy. In Race 2, I broke away from the pack with another rider and had a race long battle for the lead. I ended up second in a close finish. I’m really happy with this result as I didn’t think we would make it on track due to an issue we had. I’m really excited to get to Atlanta and keep working towards our goals.”
Robem Engineering’s technical partners for 2023 include Aprilia Racing, Piaggio Group Americas, Bitubo Suspension, Dunlop, Woodcraft Technologies, Dymag, Vesrah, Sprint Filter, DID, Sara Chappell Photos, NGK/NTK, Blud Lubricants, Millennium Technologies, Motovation USA and SC-Project.
Rodio Racing's technical partners for 2023 include NJ MiniGP, Luxestar VIP, MAR Contractors, Evolve GT, N2 Racing, Dunlop, Spellcaster Productions, Kathedral, The Martinn and MVR Endeavor.
| 
