LEEDS, Ala. – The MotoAmerica season came to a close on a rainy day at the Barber Motorsports Park with a surprise victor in the final Supersport race of the season – Gabriel Da Silva.
Da Silva went head-to-head with newly crowned Supersport champion Sean Dylan Kelly and came out on top with Kelly crashing out of their battle on the final lap of the race that was held in a downpour. Kelly, who will move to the Moto2 World Championship next year, was able to remount and finish second.
The win was 17-year-old Da Silva’s first in the MotoAmerica Series with his best prior result a sixth-place finish.
The final Supersport race of the year will be one that GP Racing Yamaha rider Gabriel Da Silva will never forget. The 17-year-old, who started racing in the MotoAmerica Series at VIR earlier this year, won his first-ever MotoAmerica race, and he did it against the toughest competition in the class. Da Silva went toe-to-toe with 2021 class champion Sean Dylan Kelly, and Kelly crashed, handing the lead to Da Silva.
Kelly was unhurt and so was his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. He was able to rejoin the race in second place, but he was too far back to catch Da Silva, and he crossed the finish line nearly 16 seconds after Da Silva. Third place went to Kelly’s teammate Sam Lochoff, who recorded the sixth podium of his rookie season.
“I knew the race was going to be good for us because the rain is an equalizer,” Da Silva said. “I had good pace here in the rain and the wet. Throughout yesterday’s race, we had a little bit of bad luck with P4 after the red flag, but I was able to come back today. Fought hard to catch up there. I knew it was a long race, so I was trying to take it a little easy. Eventually caught up to Sean, and I was able to make the move. I knew he was going to try something in the last few laps, so I was trying to be smart about it. We were spinning out and hydroplaning. But it was definitely a lot of fun. I knew I could do it, but it was something else to actually do it and put it on the box. Really happy and really grateful to be here.”
On Saturday, Scott Powersports/KTM rider Tyler Scott clinched the 2021 SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship, but he wasn’t done winning races for the season. In Sunday’s race two, Scott notched his 11th victory of the season and sixth win in a row, and he did it over his closest rival. Landers Racing Kawasaki’s Ben Gloddy was second on Sunday, and he ended up 44 points behind Scott. Third place went to Veloce Racing’s David Kohlstaedt.
Robem Engineering Aprilia rider Kaleb De Keyrel capped off his Twins Cup championship season by winning the final race of the season. He successfully held off all challengers, which included the rain-soaked Barber racecourse that presented a formidable challenge from start to finish. Second place went to Righteous Racing Aprilia rider Jody Barry, who notched his fifth podium of the season. Hayden Schultz race his brand-new Yamaha YZF-R7 to third, and in doing so, he clinched second place in the class championship.
The final race in the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Championship took place on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, and California rider CJ Lukacs got the hat trick by winning all three races in the series. Despite the fully wet track conditions, Lukacs successfully piloted her Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 around the Barber Motorsports Park racecourse and took the checkered flag .823 of a second over Kayla Theisler, the converted sidecar racer recording her best finish of the three-race series. Trisha Dahl finished third and reached the podium for the third time in a row.