Rispoli Rolls in New Jersey

Henny Ray Abrams | September 8, 2012

MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 8 – Celtic Racing/Orient Express Racing’s James Rispoli crossed the finish line just ahead of Latus Motors Racing Triumph’s Dustin Dominguez, but it was a mirage. Dominguez had been assessed a 20-second penalty for passing on a waving yellow, which dropped him from second to 12th on the 12th of 19 laps. The upshot was that Rispoli won the race by 11.815 secs. over Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff, the Texan who was returning racing after missing most of the season on the track where he’d made his impressive AMA Pro debut last year.

From the outset the race was between Rispoli and Dominguez. The pair split from the 40-strong pack and went head-to-head. Dominguez led early until Rispoli went up the inside of Dominguez on the entrance to Turn One on the fifth lap. That was the order when Dominguez was assessed the penalty.

Rispoli, the leader of the Supersport West standings, was free to race to victory in a race that wasn’t as important for him as it was for Dominguez, the East co-leader. Dominguez finished sixth, but still managed to take sole control of the East lead. Vesrah Suzuki’s Jake Lewis, who’d been tied with Dominguez coming to New Jersey, finished 15th, scoring only six points and dropping to second. Dominguez now has 176 points to 167 for Lewis.

Road Race Factory’s Tomas Puerta was edged by Gerloff by .052 sec. for second. His teammate Hayden Gillim made up for a slow start to finish strongly in fourth with a gap of 3.2 secs. on fifth placed Stefan Mesa (Kneedragger.com Yamaha). Then came Dominguez in sixth, 20.166 behind Rispoli on the time sheet, but only .166 behind on the track.

Supersport East Results:
1. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
3. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
4. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
5. Stefano Mesa (Yamaha)
6. Dustin Dominguez (Triumph)
7. Eric Stump (Yamaha)
8. Elena Myers (Suzuki)
9. Colton Dimick (Yamaha)
10. Daniel Heverly (Honda)

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.