RIVA Racing swept the podium in a weekend packed full of controversy at the P1 AquaX race event in Sarasota, Florida on the weekend of July 1st & 2nd. Team racer Brian Baldwin picked up his first weekend victory of the 2017 season with fellow team racers Erminio Iantosca taking 2nd & Cyrille Lemoine taking home 3rd. Baldwin was riding his Yamaha GP1800 tuned with RIVA’s MaptunerX ECU reflash system. Iantosca was on a Sea-Doo RXP-X 300 and Lemoine on another Yamaha GP1800; both also tuned with RIVA’s MaptunerX.
As mentioned, the weekend was full of controversy and various issues. After results were adjusted because of a timing error in the only race on Saturday, only one race could be completed because of marine delays on Sunday. Baldwin put in a consistent performance the entire weekend, finishing in 2nd in Heat 1 and 4th in Heat 2, giving him enough points to edge out his fellow team mates and take home the victory. Although Iantosca won 1st in Heat 1, he finished in 14th place in Heat 2, giving him enough points to hold a solid second place victory for the weekend.
The biggest upset was world number one and reigning champion Chris MacClugage. Although he came in 1st place in Heat 2, a DNF in Heat 1 left him just off the podium in 4th place. RIVA’s Cyrille Lemoine rounded off the podium, finishing 4th in Heat 1 and 5th in Heat 2, giving him enough points to secure 3rd.
Continuing in the controversy was Eric Lagopolous who was disqualified due to a technical infringement just before podium celebrations; his results in Heat 1 and 2 gave him enough points to land on the podium. With a hand full of races in the left, it’s anybody’s game for the championship title.
