Larry Lawrence | August 4, 2013
Photography by Andrea Wilson
California Superbike School Roadracingworld.com Racing Honda’s Joe Roberts made it a perfect five for five in his American races, by scoring his fifth AMA Pro Supersport victory Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park in a thrilling last-lap contest. While Roberts won the battle Colombian Tomas Puerta won the war by taking home the championship in Supersport West.
Roberts won in about every way possible in his five events here. This time he found himself in third going into the final lap, but first he got around Wyatt Farris to take over second and then a few turns later moved past Puerta to take the lead. Puerta tried to fight back, but couldn’t find a way around and Roberts crossed the line in first, by a narrow 0.198 seconds ahead of Puerta. Farris was third, earning his second straight podium.
“On the last lap I got passed by Tomas and Wyatt coming into turn one,” Roberts explained. “I had two bikes ahead of me, so I was a little freaked out because I didn’t know how I was going to pass them back. An opportunity came up in turn five and I went for the pass to pass Wyatt. I knew if I didn’t pass him there I wasn’t going to win the race… I went through turn seven really good and was riding on the outside and just tried to stick it into eight and made the pass and tried to keep it on the pass.”
For Puerta the championship was sweet after three years of trying and coming up short.
“This has been a great season,” said the Columbian who rides for RoadRace Factory Yamaha. “I’m really happy for the championship. I’ve been fight a lot for this. I thank the RoadRace Factory team for the support and hopefully New Jersey will be even better.”
Supersport results from Miller Motorsports Park – Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013
1. Joe Roberts (Hon)
2. Tomas Puerta (Yam)
3. Wyatt Farris (Yam)
4. Erick Sanchez (Yam)
5. Miles Thornton (Yam)
6. Charles Weaver (Yam)
7. Jeffrey Tigert (Yam)
8. Ryan Matter (Yam)
9. Royce McLean (Yam)
10. Andrew DiBrino (Yam)
Larry Lawrence | Archives Editor
In addition to writing our Archives section on a weekly basis, Lawrence is another who is capable of covering any event we throw his way.
