Alexander earns first AMA Pro victory

From AMA Pro Racing

TOOELE, UT - Vesrah Suzuki's Cory Alexander captured his career-first AMA Pro podium in Sunday's AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport contest at Miller Motorsport Park, skipping the second- and third-place steps on the dais to turn in a wildly dominant win. Seventeen-year-old Alexander made the most of his front-row starting position, taking the lead on Lap 2 and immediately running away with the race.

While Alexander may be relatively new to AMA Pro fans, his surname isn't; his uncle, Richie Alexander, is both current Team Director for the Michael Jordan Motorsports effort and a former AMA national road race champion. Corey did his family more than proud Sunday, leading 12 of 13 laps and crossing the finish line a staggering 18.873 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Y.E.S./LTD Racing's David Gaviria.

"We went out there this morning [for Q2] and I just didn't want to crash or create any extra work for my guys - I just wanted to get to know the track and see how it was in the wet, and it was really good, there was a lot of grip," Alexander said. "I was just kind of waiting to see what was going to happen in the race, and that's what I did. Benny went down, so I was just riding behind Tomas. Then I caught up to them, made my way around them, and I thought they would stay with me, but a couple laps later I looked at my board and had a 10-second lead, so it was really good. This was only my second time racing in the rain."

Polesitter Benny Solis (Roadracingworld.com) went into the race looking for a third consecutive podium, but ended up with a very different result. After leading briefly at the start, he diced with Gaviria for only a few turns before sliding off-course in Turn 9. Though he was up and okay quickly and eventually reentered the race, he suffered a second fall late in the contest. The single-race points-paying system ensured Solis won't go home empty-handed (for a non-doubleheader event, points are paid for both qualifying positions and race results, using the 20-position race scale), but his misfortune has allowed the rest of the field to draw closer.

Gaviria, meanwhile, made it his priority to collect championship points, maintaining a comfortable pace that kept him out of reach of the battle for third, which raged behind between Gaviria's LTD teammate, Tomas Puerta, and GP Bike Parts' Travis Ohge. Ohge had made an impressive charge up from 13th on the grid, and he wasn't done yet. Puerta and Ohge diced all the way to the checkered flag, Ohge getting by just before the pair crossed the finish.

Fifth-place finisher Elena Myers (SuzukiScoopFans Racing) also turned in an impressive performance, fighting her way up from 12th in difficult conditions. She likewise holds fifth in the overall AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport West Division Championship, behind Sebastiao Ferreira (GP Bike Parts). Solis leads the championship with 112 points, followed by Alexander (101 points) and Ohge (72).

Sunday's Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race will be part of a special SPEED TV broadcast airing Monday, May 30, at 9:00pm PST.

The class' next round runs June 3-5 at Elkhart Lake's Road America, for AMA Pro Road Racing Round 4.