MotoAmerica 2025
Round Three – Road America, Elkhart Lake
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race One
Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane won his first-career MotoAmerica race on Saturday in the Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul after winning a drafting battle to the finish line.
The race turned into a three-way battle for victory with Drane joined by fellow Australian Bodie Paige and championship points leader Alessandro Di Mario, with just .040 of a second covering the top three.
Early on, it looked as though this was going to be a two-way fight between Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s Di Mario and CTR/D&D Cycles’ Paige as those two gapped the field.
Meanwhile, three riders crashed together in Canada corner with Royalty Racing’s Carson King, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg and Envy Powered by Warhorse’s Derek Sanchez going down. All three were fortunate to escape injury.
Drane went about catching the two ahead of him and he did so, setting the fastest lap of the race and getting to the lead. From there the three swapped the top spot with no one able to gap the other two. It would come down to the final lap and the three could have been covered with a napkin as they crossed the line side by side.
Sam Drane
“Me and Bodie (Paige) and Alessandro (Di Mario) were battling all race. I got a bad start, got put back, and had to fight my way to the front but I ended up getting it done. It was a good race. I’m thrilled to take my first victory in this series and collect some valuable championship points. Huge thanks to the whole team—this win was a total team effort! After qualifying yesterday we headed to the Dairyland Classic an Annual Flat Track event. I kept my leathers on and hightailed it straight to the track just in time for practise. Finishing practise before the rain set in and we had to call it quits.”
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race One Results
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race Two
Seven riders were separated by a tick over a second in Sunday’s Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul race with championship points leader 16-year-old Alessandro Di Mario celebrating his high-school graduation in the best possible way with his third win of the season.
“I want to thank the whole team,” Di Mario said. “The bike was absolutely amazing. I want to thank (Eraldo) Ferracci. Yeah, dude, I just graduated and I’m 16 so I still went to school, woke up every day, and so I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. That feels kinda weird. I just tried to see how many were in the lead group and I just wanted to position myself. I knew I wanted to be second and I placed myself in the perfect position and was able to win.”
The race featured five riders at the front early on and that number grew to seven in the final laps. At the line it was Di Mario by a scant .021 of a second over Julian Correa, who matched his best finish of the season with a second runner-up. Correa also clocked the fastest lap of the race.
Next up at the finish, and just .029 of a second behind, was yesterday’s winner 14-year-old Sam Drane on his Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing Krämer. Drane’s countryman, 14-year-old Bodie Page, was just .077 of a second behind his fellow Aussie ,and only .371 of a second ahead of Royalty Racing’s Carson King.
The fast-improving Cody Kopp was a shadow sixth on his Team Roberts mount, with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg, who started on the back row after crashing in the first start of the restarted race, ending up seventh.
Di Mario now leads Drane by 21 points, 127-106. Paige is third with 86 points, one better than Correa.
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race Two Results
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Points
- Alessandro Di Mario 127
- Sam Drane 106
- Bodie Paige 86
- Julian Correa 85
- Hank Vossberg 63
