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For decades, the months of March and October have traditionally been known for motorcycle road racing at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). March, obviously, for the Daytona 200, but October is the month for “Biketoberfest,” when racers return once again to the high banks of DIS for the annual end-of-summer CCS/ASRA Race of Champions. Last weekend was the 39th Race of Champions, and motorcycle racing’s bantamweight bandido Stefano Mesa cemented himself as “Mr October” at the the three-day event.
Mesa, who quite frequently and very successfully races in the MotoAmerica Championship but has no true allegiance to any road racing organization and will race seemingly anywhere, anytime if it suits him and his family, made quite a showing this past weekend. The diminutive Daytona-conqueror went undefeated aboard his MESA37 Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R and ZX-6R motorcycles, winning all nine of the races he entered.
On Friday, Mesa started his spree of success by notching wins in both the Superbike Middleweight and Unlimited Grand Prix classes, and then, he followed that up on Saturday with victories in the GTU and GTO classes. His winning ways continued on Saturday with P1 finishes in Middleweight and Unlimited Supersport.
As dawn broke at DIS on Sunday morning, Mesa awoke with six race wins under his belt from the previous two days, but there was still one more day to go in the 39th Race of Champions. He capped off his three-day road racing pillage with wins in both ASRA Sportbike and ASRA Superstock, and then put a cherry on the top of his Daytona Sunday Sundae by not only taking the win in the grand finale Unlimited Superbike event, but he also set a new lap record of 1:45.538 on lap three of the final race. Oh, and by the way, that fastest lap broke the record that Mesa had set on Saturday, and by three-tenths of a second, no less.
Clearly, Stefano Mesa was the man of the meet, and for that, we crown him motorcycle racing’s “Mr. October.” Well done, Señor Mesa.
