Stefano Mesa had to work hard for his win in the Unlimited Grand Prix race May 30 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Although he had nailed the holeshot and led most of lap one on his Westside Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R, Mesa was passed by Bruno Silva’s ART Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R going into turn eight and was relegated to second place as they completed the first of the six-lap sprint race. Silva held on tight to his lead for all six laps of the sprint race until the final run for the checkered, when Mesa made his winning pass on the inside of turn six and reclaimed the front spot to take his final victory of the day. Barrett Long, Felipe MacLean, and Fernando Silva rounded off the top five.
“I think if it was a little longer race, I would have had those guys for sure,” Barrett Long stated. “It seemed like I was smoother and a little quicker everywhere. They were sliding around a bunch. It was pretty greasy exiting all the corners… it was definitely slick out there with this heat. I saw Stefano have a few big moments behind Bruno. They were having a good battle. I was hoping one of them would push the other one wide and I would kind of sneak in there, but it didn’t go to plan. But, oh well, I’m happy.”
He thanked his mom and dad, and Longevity road racing school. “We’re doing it every month down here so be sure to spread the word on that,” Long stated. He also thanked Dunlop Tires, Hayes Brakes, and Shift-Tech Carbon.
On the podium, Bruno Silva commented, “Stefano passed me in turn six. We were running at a pace where you could not commit a mistake. The race itself, I was able to lead some laps, but Mesa came by and then that’s how it was.” He thanked his sponsors, stating, “First of all I want to say thanks to God, all my family for all their support, ART Performance to do amazing job on these bikes, first weekend with this bike, so I’m really happy. Fernando, my brother for all the research he does on the bike, Eric Gray from GMD Computrack, Pirelli Tires, Kawasaki, thank you all!”
“It was an amazing race today,” exclaimed Stefano Mesa. “The whole day, we’ve been pretty much on point since race one. Bruno and me, we’ve been on it. I knew Barrett was going to be there too at the end of the day. And he was. Bruno, my hat’s off to him. He’s riding the hell out of the bike for the first weekend. it’s going to be a hell of a year, and we’re going to have to start getting smarter and smarter every race because he’s coming, I know it. I’ve been trying to run really old tires to get used to the bike how is it going to slide, how are the electronics going to work. But these Dunlop tires give me amazing grip all the time. You can go so fast with them and there’s still plenty to give. My hat’s off to Dunlop, Westside Performance for giving me a hell of a bike, Larry Zullo for tuning it, my parents, my mom, my sister, my little niece for coming, everybody thank you. And, Graves Motorsports for sending me a badass pipe.”
Mesa won a total four races, also finishing first in the GTO, Unlimited Supersport, and Unlimited Superbike classes. He finished fifth in the GTU after crashing while chasing down the leader Lucas Silva.
Lucas Silva was the winningest expert of the weekend with six first place finishes. He started the day with his fist win in GTU after passing early race leader, Stefano Mesa (who crashed out before the halfway mark). Then went on the nail early leads and dominate the front of the pack in his next five races to take the checkered flag in Middleweight Supersport, Heavyweight Supersport, Middleweight Superbike, Heavyweight Superbike, and Middleweight Grand Prix. He was running in fourth place during the Unlimited Grand Prix race when he crashed out with less than two laps to go.
In the amateur ranks, Max Angles mirrored Lucas Silva’s six victories and could be seen running in second place overall during the Middleweight Grand Prix race. Angles finished second in Unlimited Supersport, behind JM Padron.
The CCS Florida Region is scheduled to compete next at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 18-19th. For lap times, points standings, full results, and additional information on past and future events, please go to: www.ccsracing.us.
UNLIMITED GRAND PRIX EXPERT RESULTS: 1. Stefano Mesa (Kaw ZX-10R); 2. Bruno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R); 3. Barrett Long (Yam YZF-R1); 4. Felipe MacLean (Kaw ZX-10R); 5. Fernando Silva (Yam YZF-R1); 6. Marcin Biernacki (BMW S1000RR); 7. Rafael Carrillo (Yam YZF-R1); 8. Lucas Silva (Kaw ZX-10R).