Rodio, Landers take one Twins Cup win apiece at Laguna Seca

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Rodio, Landers take one Twins Cup win apiece at Laguna Seca

Rodio retakes MotoAmerica Twins Cup points lead at

July 7-9 event

Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering rider Gus Rodio (No. 96).

Photo by Sara Chappell Photos

MONTEREY, Calif. -- The newly-repaved Laguna Seca circuit proved to be a near-perfect match for the tandem of Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering riders Rocco Landers and Gus Rodio and their Aprilia RS 660s. Each of the teammates took a win in dominant fashion at the world-famous 2.238-mile road course, and the early season MotoAmerica Twins Cup championship leader Rodio ended the weekend back atop the class points standings.

Landers’ started the July 7-9 round by clinching his fourth pole position of the season and won by a large margin on Saturday, but had an unfortunate crash in Sunday’s contest. Rodio rode at or near 2020 Twins Cup champion Landers’ pace all weekend and edged Landers’ out in setting a new Twins Cup lap record for the Laguna Seca circuit on Sunday.

Track conditions were tricky for the first on-track session of the weekend, as overnight rain made the recently laid asphalt very slick. Landers and Rodio rode conservatively during practice and finished ninth- and 11th-fastest, respectively. The track was dry by the afternoon when the two riders took part in the first qualifying session -- and they were back to their usual frontrunning form. Landers provisionally qualified in first, setting his best lap time -- a 1:30.741 -- on his 19th lap of the session. Rodio wasn’t far off Landers’ pace and finished Qualifying 1 second fastest -- and 1.325 seconds faster than the next-fastest rider.

Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering rider Rocco Landers (No. 97). Photo by Sara Chappell Photos

Landers couldn’t better his best lap time from Qualifying 1 in Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2, but it was still enough to edge out his teammate Rodio for pole by 0.137 seconds. Rodio improved on his best Qualifying 1 time by almost four-tenths of a second, and the team secured its first 1-2 qualifying effort of the season.

Race 1 started with some tense moments for both Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering riders but ended with a commanding 1-2 result. Both Landers and Rodio got passed by another rider at the race start, but that arrangement was short-lived. Landers and Rodio both got past the other rider at Turn 6. Landers had about a one second lead by the end of Lap 1, and Rodio held fast despite another rider making contact with him in the Corkscrew to finish the first lap in second place. The tandem then steadily pulled away from their competition, with Landers besting his teammate to the finish line by 4.180 seconds and Rodio clinching a runner-up finish by a margin of more than 20 seconds. It was Landers’ fifth win and sixth podium in seven races with the team, and he briefly assumed the championship lead by a single point.

Sunday was Rodio’s day to shine, as he got a stellar start and led the field through the first few corners. Landers slotted into third place as the field entered Turn 2 and moved up to second place after making a pass at Turn 6. As Landers was executing his pass, Rodio made an error and ran a little wide at that turn, which allowed Landers to take over the race lead. Like in Race 1, the Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering pair methodically built a gap to the rest of the field while setting a fervent pace at the front. The duo took turns setting MotoAmerica Twins Cup lap records until the latter stages of the race. With three laps to go, Landers unfortunately crashed near Turn 5 and was unable to rejoin the race. Rodio then assumed the race lead and took his second win and seventh podium finish of the year by a margin of 16.945 seconds. By the end of race two, the two Aprilia riders had broken the outright lap record several times with Rodio finally securing the final record of 1:29.269. Nearly a second faster than the previous record. Rodio’s win also allowed him to take over the Twins Cup points lead by three points. Despite not scoring any points Sunday, Landers is now just 18 points behind Rodio with four races remaining in the 2023 Twins Cup season.

MotoAmerica’s Twins Cup riders have five weekends off before their next action, which takes place Aug. 18-20 at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pa.

Gus Rodio / No. 96

“Overall, it was a great weekend for the Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering team. Me and Rocco worked together all weekend long. Race 1 went good. I had a few issues off the start, but I managed to collect it and stayed consistent the whole race. It was a pretty good finish and a pretty good best lap time for me. I’m super happy with the results overall, as well as getting the championship lead back. I couldn’t have done it without the team and Aprilia backing me. I’m looking forward to heading back to the East Coast, and we’ll take it from there.”

Rocco Landers / No. 97

“It was a great weekend. On Saturday, things went amazing. Gus and I were able to work together to find the best possible setup for our Aprilia RS 660s. We had them set up really well, and they worked amazing here on the new surface. The Aprilia is definitely the bike to be on in Twins Cup, and it keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, I kind of ruined the weekend by tossing the bike down the road in Race 2, but, that aside, I’m looking forward to heading to Pittsburgh.”

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, Geoscape Solar, Evolve GT, N2 Racing, Dunlop, Spellcaster Productions, Kathedral, The Martinn, Liqui Moly and MVR Endeavor.

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This press release has been prepared by Marino Communications on behalf of Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering. If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Michael Marino at 614.636.0199 ormichael@marinocommunications.com