2018 Season Championship Beach Party
FMRRA Beach Party Announced for Season Championship Awards (Presented by Palm Beach County Sports Commission)
The Florida Motorcycle Road Racing Association’s 2018 Season came to completion last month, but while other regions of the country are racing in the heat of the summer, Florida racers are gearing up to celebrate this year’s championship with a party for racers, crew, friends, and family. The Series will touch down at the Pompano Beach Pier Pavilions on August 26 for their Second Annual Championship Beach Party.
This season’s awards are being underwritten by Palm Beach County Sports Commission. George Linley, the PBCSC Executive Director said “the Palm Beach County Sports Commission enjoys our partnership with FMRRA and we are looking forward to continuing support of the series and racers into 2019 and beyond. We are excited to join the racers in celebrating this year’s championship finalists.”
Eric Komrowski from Monkey Works Cycle Performance confirmed that MWC will be returning as the beverage sponsor of this year’s party in Pompano.
The highlight of the party is the presentation of the Overall Series Championship and the 9 Primary Race Class Awards. This year the Series also created an Overall Masters Championship which is reserved for racers that are 40 years or older.
The Overall FMRRA Expert Championship triumphantly won by Hurricane Racing’s Team Captain, Seth Starnes. After a year riding in nearly every class FMRRA offers, on top of the many other series and one-off events he participates in, Starnes came out on top snagging the Expert Championship as well as leading Hurricane Racing to the Overall Team Championship at the same time! Starnes’ Hurricane Racing teammate Jonathan Pellnitz brought home second place, followed closely by Topbox Road Racing’s Daryan Martin (2017 Amateur Overall Champion) in third.
This year’s Amateur Overall Championship was taken home by none other than MPH Racing’s Todd Wagner. Wagner came onto the scene this year with an explosive display of potential, many times challenging the Experts for overall race wins, and leading MPH Racing into second place in the Team Championship. BPM Motorsports’ Jose Lloreda claimed second honors with teammate William Wend taking third overall.
A Florida racing veteran, Carl Cohen, took home the perennial Overall Masters Championship in the Expert class followed by none other than BPM Motorsports’ Brad Gordon and Hurricane Racing’s Alejandro Rei. The Overall Masters Amateur Championship was ultimately decided by one point! Yvette Lamar from Hurricane Racing bested Monkey Works Cycle Performance’s Gabriel Figueroa with 274 vs. 273 points. Justin Thorpe of Hurricane Racing Team grabbed third overall with 235 points.
The penultimate class of the Florida Motorcycle Road Racing Association is the SUNOCO Superbike 1000. This class features “unlimited” spec bikes under 1000cc running Sunoco APEX race fuel. This year, Max Angles (Hurricane Racing Team) won the Expert Championship for the class. Another close battle down to the last round, MPH Racing’s Shannon Andrus took second place over teammate Alex Irzyk by only one point! The Amateur SUNOCO Superbike 1000 was claimed by MPH Racing’s Todd Wagner, with his teammate Derik Johnson in second. Brian Gomez claimed third in the class.
The SUNOCO Superbike 600 class is one of the most competitively attended in the series regularly featuring over thirty racers. Topbox Road Racing’s Daryan Martin dominated the class this year and took home the Overall Expert Class Championship in the process. Hurricane Racing teammates Max Angles and Seth Starnes earned second and third respectively. Jose Lloreda and Doug Royce (Topbox Road Racing) had a close battle for the Class Amateur Championship, but Lloreda ultimately took home the overall title in the last round. Hurricane Racing Team’s Dustin Richards was not far behind, laying claim to third place, making great gains in speed this season, and proving his passion for the sport.
MPH Racing’s Shannon Andrus came in second in the “unlimited” SUNOCO Superbike 1000; however, he outright dominated the Superstock 1000 Expert Championship showing his skill when there is less speed differential from modified engines. Teammate Alex Irzyk took second overall followed by Armando Ferrer. Mirroring the Expert Class Championships, MPH Racing again took the top two honors in the Amateur Superstock 1000. Todd Wagner cleaned up taking home first, joined again by Derik Johnson. Mario Gonzalez from NSL Motorsports grabbed third overall in the Amateur division.
The SuperStock 600 class saw the largest fields of all this season as it features stock-engine race bikes that can be put together very inexpensively and offer great bang-for-the-buck in performance. BPM Motorsports’ Brad Gordon earned first overall in the Expert Class Championship with 264 points over Daryan Martin (247 points) with Seth Starnes trailing in third. BPM Motorsports’ Jose Lloreda was awarded the Amateur Class Championship, demonstrating his personal riding skill and the strength of BPM’s bike prep in the class. Topbox Road Racing’s Doug Royce and BPM Motorsport’s William Wend finished second and third.
Seth Starnes finished the class victorious (again) in the Formula Twin Expert Championship, besting Mark Tenn and Moto Corse Performance’s Lee Farmer in the process. Monkey Works Cycle Performance’s Brandon Gindlesperger was awarded the class Amateur Championship along with Shawn McAlees and Kayla Yaakov close behind in points.
The Production Twin Expert Championship saw a season long rivalry between Carl Cohen and Hurricane Racing’s Jonathan Pellnitz. Ultimately, during Round 8 at Roebling Road Raceway, Cohen seized the Overall victory with 289 points over Pellnitz’s 274. Moto Corse Performance’s John Turner was awarded third overall. The Production Twin Amateur Championship saw a full sweep by Suzuki racers. Sam Purkis, Michael DeRoche, and Roger Morisette grabbed the class honors (first through third), all while displaying the brand’s dominance in the class.
The Moto3 class saw Hurricane Racing’s Alejandro Rei take home the Expert Championship in class. Teammate Jonathan Pellnitz took second while Alex Ferreira came in third. The Amateur Class Championship came down to the last race at the last round. In the end, BPM Motorsport’s Charlie Ohana came out on top with 247 points over Alexis Olivera‘s 240. Yvette Lamar took third overall in the amateur ranks.
The SuperStreet 300 Expert Championship featured three top riders all on Yamaha. Seth Starnes and Chase Mollak from Hurricane Racing Team took first and second overall, while German Vacca of BPM Motorsports came in third (close behind Mollak in points). The Superstreet 300 Amateur Championship was a family affair this year. The father-son duo of Michael Norman and Michael Norman Jr from Oviedo, Florida took home first and second. Senior may have won in points this year, but if the last few races are any indicator he better watch out come next season. Hurricane Racing Team’s Dustin Richards took home third overall after eight rounds.
The SuperStreet 250 Amateur Class Championship saw BPM Motorsports’ Alex Ehrenstein sweeping the competition in class with a huge point lead. MPH Racing’s Sonja Ahrens and Leonardo Diaz came in second and third respectively. Miguel Chirino won the Expert SuperStreet 250 Class Championship.
Complete 2018 Championship Standings can be found at www.fmrra.com/championships along with the most advanced racer data portal in the country displaying personal best lap times for each track, best lap times for each weekend, podium counts, starting grids, top ten lap times for each class, tire manufacturer stats, motorcycle manufacturer stats and much, much more.
The 2018 Season Championship Beach Party will feature awards presentations for the top three in all of the above Overall Race Class Championships and first place awards for all of the Sprint and Grande Corsa Class Champions. Race Plates for the Top 10 Overall Expert Champions will be awarded, giving those racers the option to use the number in the 2019 Championship events.
Florida Motorcycle Road Racing Association hopes to announce their complete 2019 Schedule at the party pending some final confirmations from host venues.
FMRRA would like to thank each and every 2018 sponsor for their continued support of our passionate racers and the sport as a whole.
Sunoco Racing Fuels
Southern Racing Fuels
Palm Beach County Sports Commission
Chirino Insurance
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Bridgestone Tires
Dunlop Tires
Vanson Leathers
MYLAPS Sports Timing
Florida Track Days
Full Season Championship Results and Individual Race Results are conveniently available online at:
https://panamsbk.com/championships/
More photos and videos are available at
