Saturday’s MotoAmerica Twins Cup race at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) saw Robem Engineering riders Ben Gloddy and Teagg Hobbs score podium finishes aboard Aprilia RS 660s, while two other Aprilia riders — Rodio Racing’s Anthony Mazziotto and Veloce Racing’s Jody Barry — did enough to keep themselves in the chase for the 2022 Twins Cup title with one race remaining.
Overall, the penultimate round of the 2022 MotoAmerica season went well for Aprilia riders, as five of the top six finishers in the lone Twins Cup contest of the Sept. 9-11 event were riding Aprilia RS 660s. Though both riders lost a little ground in the points standings at NJMP, Barry and Mazziotto are two of the three riders still mathematically eligible to clinch the 2022 Twins Cup title in two weeks’ time.
The weekend started well for Aprilia riders, as Barry outpaced the field in both Friday morning practice and the Friday afternoon Qualifying 1 session. Hobbs was just a nick off Barry’s pace, as his best lap time was 0.657 seconds off Barry’s in practice and 0.355 seconds off in Qualifying 1. Mazziotto, who hails from Hammonton, New Jersey, was seventh-fastest in Friday practice and fourth-fastest in Qualifying 1. Overall, half the riders who finished in the top 10 in both sessions were riding Aprilia RS 660s.
Qualifying concluded Saturday morning with Barry taking pole position by a margin of 0.042 seconds. The second-fastest Aprilia rider in Qualifying 2 was Hobbs, who secured fifth on the Twin Cup starting grid. Mazziotto wrapped up qualifying in sixth place, Gloddy in seventh and reigning Twins Cup champion Kaleb De Keyrel of Veloce Racing in 10th. Half of the top 10 riders in Qualifying 2 were on Aprilias.
The Twins Cup race got underway late Saturday afternoon. The polesitter Barry got a sluggish start but kept his composure and finished the first lap in third place. A wave of Aprilia riders followed Barry over the start/finish line on Lap 1, as Mazziotto finished the lap in fourth place, Gloddy fifth and De Keyrel in sixth. Teagg Hobbs had some work to do following a less than ideal start, slipping four places down the running order to finish Lap 1 in ninth.
Championship contenders Barry and Mazziotto were battling for third place on Laps 2 to 4 with Gloddy immediately following. On Lap 5, a couple other riders crashed out of the race and another of the front-runners tumbled down the running order, giving the race leader an opportunity to build a gap from the rest of the field. Aprilia riders made the most of the field reshuffle and finished Lap 5 running in second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place.
Mazziotto was initially at the front of the Aprilia column vying for the last two steps on the podium, but Gloddy and Hobbs overtook him on Laps 7 and 8. Mazziotto continued to battle with Hobbs for third place but gradually lost a little pace and was overtaken for fourth place by Barry on the last lap of the 14-lap race. Gloddy and Hobbs secured second and third place, putting both Robem Engineering riders on the podium. De Keyrel brought up the rear of the Aprilia column when he finished sixth, and Jacob Crossman’s 10th-place finish aboard his J. Crossman Racing Aprilia RS 660 gave Aprilia six riders in the top 10.
Of the 29 competitors registered to compete in the Twins Cup race at NJMP, 11 were set to race aboard Aprilia RS 660 models.
The last round of the 2022 MotoAmerica season is scheduled to take place at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, Sept. 23-25.
