Stefano Mesa set a new lap record at Palm Beach International Raceway during the CCS Florida Unlimited Grand Prix race Monday, May 25, on his Westside Performance-built TTR Honda CBR1000RR.
Mesa was chasing down early race leader Bruno Silva and his ART Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R when he ran the fastest lap of the day and set a new lap record.
Mesa’s lap time of 1:15.332 was almost a full second faster than Silva’s previous lap record time of 1.16.2 on the 2.034-mile road course, which he recorded in May 2013.
Both Silva and Mesa were running at record-breaking pace as the day progressed, setting new records a whopping four times. First Silva, then Mesa, then Silva again during the Unlimited Grand Prix race, and finally Mesa setting the fastest lap of the day during lap three. Silva nailed the holeshot and led the rest of the pack through all six laps of race until the final lap when
Mesa made his late braking passing move inside of Turn Nine to take over the lead and claim victory.
“Yesterday in practice we saw a 1:15.9 on my GPS, so I kind of knew we had the track record, either Bruno or me,” Mesa said after the race. “And, we’re stoked about that. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that.”
Silva stated, “Mesa’s a tough rider. You have to bring your game or you’re done. I tried a move on turn nine. Believe it or not, I tried my best on the brakes and I went a little wide, but it was still a good race. I thought Mesa was braking in the regular spot he used to brake, but no. He went a little farther, and I had to go a little farther, and it didn’t happen. But, I’m happy anyway, with the results.”
Mesa commented on about his race-winning pass around Silva, “He got a little gap on me and I was behind Bruno in his draft going into the last turn and I saw I caught up a lot to him. So I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I can kind of catch up to him.’ And I just kept it down, kept pushing, and the last lap I knew he was going to do something because he’s really strong on the brakes. So I just tried to fake a little bit like if I was going to go a little bit farther in and he did too, and I knew he was going to go wide because it’s almost impossible to make it. So, it was kind of a smart move.
“What an amazing race,”Mesa further exclaimed. “The whole crew has been working so hard on the Honda since its only pretty much our third time on the bike. Since we started (with) TTR, me and the crew, my dad, Thermosman (Mike Fitzgerald) with the suspension. We’ve all worked so hard. We’re finally coming through and putting everything together. It’s like a puzzle and everything started to work good.”
Mesa was presented with a brand new set of Dunlop tires for winning the “Shootout” on his Dunlop medium compound 7455s, and thanked the entire Dunlop crew for doing such a great job over the weekend.
Mesa won eight of his nine classes over the weekend, also taking home victories in the GTO, GTU, Middleweight Supersport, Heavyweight Supersport, Unlimited Superbike, Middleweight Superbike, and Heavyweight Superbike classes, making him altogether the winningest racer of the weekend. He finished third in the Unlimited Supersport class on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Mesa will be racing the TTR Honda CBR1000RR again with MotoAmerica at Road America May 29-31. CCS Florida’s next round is schedule for June 20-21, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. For full results, lap times, and additional information, please visit www.ccsracing.us
.
UNLIMITED GRAND PRIX RESULTS:
1. Stefano Mesa (Hon CBR1000RR); 2. Bruno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R); 3. Armando Ferrer (Kaw ZX-10R); 4. Sean Dwyer (Suz GSX-R1000); 5. Camilo Correa (Suz GSX-R1000); 6. Fernando Silva (Kaw ZX-10R); 7. Jones Concepcion (Suz GSX-R1000); 8. Istvan Paulik (Apr RSV1000); 9. Jon Foy (Suz GSX-R1000); 10. Barrett Long (Yam YZF-R1).
