Henny Ray Abrams | July 10, 2011
LEXINGTON, OHIO, JULY 10 –
Hayden Gillim (Yam) used a last lap pass of race leader James Rispoli (ANT-Racing.com/STAR Schools Suzuki) to win his first Supersport East race on a hot day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.Gillim didn’t figure to be in the mix at the beginning of the race, when Saturday’s winner Dustin Dominguez (Latus Motors Racing Triumph) was fending off Rispoli after passing him on the third of 17 laps. Then Dominguez crashed in the first turn left on the seventh lap, handing the lead to Rispoli.Rispoli had nearly a four second lead on the seventh lap, but it would soon begin to evaporate. Lap after lap the pack of three in pursuit chipped away. And on the last lap Gillim got the better run out of the final corner and snuck up the inside of Rispoli in turn one. Rispoli immediately countered, but appeared to lose his balance and nearly fell off the left side of the bike.
The pair had to negotiate traffic in a few key spots on the final lap, giving Rispoli more than one possible opening. He made a move in the turn 12 left at the end of Thunder Valley, but couldn’t make it stick, and for the final few turns Gillim kept control and sped to his first victory.The margin of victory was .209 sec.Finishing third was LTD Racing’s Tomas Puerta (Yam) at a distance of 1.599 secs. Vesrah Suzuki’s Corey Alexander chased Puerta almost to the end, with the Colombian able to gain some breathing space on the final lap. Then came Elena Myers (SuzukiScoopFans), who was once part of the battle for the final podium spot before falling badly off the back. She finished 21 secs. behind Alexander.Rispoli extended his points lead to 39 points over Puerta, 143 to 104, with two east coast rounds remaining. Gillim moved into third with 99 points.Supersport:1. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
2. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
3. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
4. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
5. Elena Myers (Suzuki)
6. James Dellinger (Suzuki)
7. Miles Thornton (Yamaha)
8. Eric Stump (Yamaha)
9. Jeff Wrobel (Yamaha)
10. Ben Young (Yamaha)
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.
