Henny Ray Abrams | June 18, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, AL, JUNE 18 – Benny Solis isn’t contesting the SuperSport East championship, but that didn’t stop him from putting in a dominant performance in today’s race at Barber Motorsports Park.The Red Bull/Roadracingworld.com Honda rider took advantage of lapped rider Dennis Ergo in the final corner of the ninth of 17 laps to take the lead from ANT-Racing.com/STAR’s James Rispoli (Suz).Once in the lead, Solis gradually edged away to build a lead over Rispoli that was 5.175 secs. at the end. SuzukiScoopFan’s Elena Myers, who led early on, finished a distant third after her rear tire went off. Myers slowed dramatically towards the end of the race, her 12 second lead over fourth dwindling to less than a second at the line. Schwantz School’s Jacob Morman (Yam) finished fourth.
The win was the fourth for Solis this season; the previous three came in the West races.Because he’s a West rider, his win didn’t have an effect on the championship, but Rispoli’s second place did. The New Yorker took over the championship lead from Tomas Puerta (Team LTD Racing Yamaha). Puerta crashed in the second corner of the first start, along with teammate David Gaviria. Neither made the re-start. Rispoli now has 60 points to 56 for Puerta. Ricky Parker, today’s sixth place finisher, is third with 39 points.
SuperSport East:
1. Benny Solis (Honda)
2. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
3. Elena Myers (Suzuki)
4. Jacob Morman (Yamaha)
5. Hayden Gillim (Honda)
6. Ricky Parker (Yamaha)
7. Ryan Kerr (Kawasaki)
8. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
9. Sam Nash (Yamaha)
10. James Dellinger (Suzuki)
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
