Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia riders Landers, Rodio score win, pair of second-place finishes at Road Atlanta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 24, 2023

Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering rider Rocco Landers (No. 97).

Photo by Sara Chappell Photos

BRASELTON, Ga. -- Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering riders Rocco Landers and Gus Rodio each found success in different ways at this past weekend’s MotoAmerica round at Road Atlanta. Rodio’s pair of second place finishes allowed him pad his lead in the MotoAmerica Twins Cup points standings, while fill-in rider Landers found immediate success in his first weekend racing an Aprilia RS 660 by scoring a pole position and dominating victory.

Rodio came into the April 21-23 Road Atlanta round with a win and runner-up finish at Daytona under his belt, while Landers made his debut with the team in place of Ben Gloddy – who is still recovering from an injury he suffered at Daytona. The duo of Landers and Rodio ended up claiming three of the possible six podium finishes in the two Twins Cup contests at Road Atlanta, though Landers’ motorcycle suffered a mechanical problem during Saturday’s Race 1. The 2020 MotoAmerica Twins Cup and two-time MotoAmerica Junior Cup champion Landers also lowered the race lap record for the Twins Cup at Road Atlanta during Race 2 by about 0.8 seconds.

The team kicked off the weekend's on-track action at the top of the time sheets, as Landers paced the field in Friday morning practice. In his first session on an Aprilia RS 660, Landers posted a best time of 1:33.937 -- more than half a second faster than the next fastest rider. Rodio also showed good pace in practice as he finished third fastest. Later Friday, Landers was again the class of the field and lowered his best lap time for the day by about two seconds. Rodio finished Qualifying 1 in fourth.

The Twins Cup’s second and final qualifying session took place Saturday morning, but the conditions did not allow riders to improve their best lap times. Landers was again at the top of the time sheets in Qualifying 2, and Landers and Rodio ended up securing first and fourth place on the starting grid, respectively.

When Saturday’s Twins Cup Race 1 got started after a short red flag period, Rodio got a good start and had moved up to second place by the first corner. Landers didn’t get off the line as well but was running in fourth at Turn 1 and quickly moved up to third at Turn 3. Rodio, Landers and another rider then began pulling away at the front. The three riders jostled for position for several laps before Landers was forced to retire from the race at the end of Lap 3 due to a technical problem. Rodio and the other frontrunning rider took turns in the lead, and Rodio made a valiant effort to overtake the race leader on the last lap but wisely settled for a runner-up finish.

Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering rider Gus Rodio (No. 96). Photo by Sara Chappell Photos

Landers’ fortunes turned around for Sunday’s race and he ended the weekend with a show of utter dominance. Landers got a very good start and led the race start to finish to claim a victory. His lead over Rodio and two other riders vying for second place grew to more than seven seconds with four laps to go, though he backed off his pace a little in the closing laps to win by a margin of more than four seconds. Rodio was at the point for the battle for second place for most of the race, as he finished nine of the race’s 12 laps running in second. In the closing laps, Rodio gradually pulled away from the third-place rider to clinch his second runner-up finish of the weekend by 0.831 seconds.

The results marked the second time in four races that a Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660 rider was on the top step of the podium, and Rodio’s third and fourth runner-up finishes of the season allowed him to extend his lead in the points standings. Rodio’s 85 points are 26 more than the next closest competitor in the standings. Though Landers has taken part in just two races and only finished one of them, the 25 points he earned for his victory moved him up to eighth place in the Twins Cup standings.

The Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering team will be back in action in three weeks time at the next MotoAmerica round, which takes place at Barber Motorsports Park on May 19-21.

Rocco Landers / No. 97

“My first time on the Aprilia RS 660 was amazing. It handled very similar to a 600cc bike, in that it gave me a ton of feel on the front tire. I really like riding it. It’s really easy to adapt to, which is a blessing when you get on a new bike. Once I got on it, I knew I was going to gel with it immediately. Saturday’s race was a bit of a bummer, but a day like today always makes you feel better about a day like yesterday. I’m very, very happy to be able to ride the Aprilia to a win today, and I’m excited about the rest of the season.”

Gus Rodio / No. 96

“Overall, it was a pretty good weekend here at Road Atlanta. I’m super happy to get a double podium and extend my points lead to 26 points. I feel really good and learned a lot this weekend from riding with Rocco and other riders. I’m excited to take what we learned here to Barber and have a good weekend there.”

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

Rodio Racing - Powered by Robem Engineering is sponsored by:

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