Two new classes were introduced at the start of the 2018 MotoAmerica Series: Twins Cup and Stock 1000 with each of those classes racing once over the course of the weekend in their season debut. Thus far, the competition has been intense in both classes with both title chases looking to go the distance.

In the Twins Cup, Ghetto Customs’ Chris Parrish won the opening round at Road Atlanta and has finished second in the three rounds since that victory. But it gives him the points lead, albeit slim, over Altus Motorsports’ Jason Madama by two points, 85-83, as those two have been the two dominant forces in the series thus far. Madama has won the last two races at Road America and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The other rider to have won a race this year is Xavier Zayat, in what was the only Twins Cup he has entered thus far. Zayat won easily at VIRginia International Raceway, and he’s on the Twins Cup entry list for round six at Utah Motorsports Campus.

RBoM 180 Racing’s Curtis Murray, who didn’t make the last two races in Wisconsin and California, sits third in the series standings with 32 points, seven clear of Zayat.

As for the motorcycles, it’s two wins for Suzuki’s SV650 (Parrish and Zayat) and two wins for Yamaha’s FZ-07/MT-07 (Madama) as people start to get their feet wet in the new class.

As for the Stock 1000 class, which replaced Superstock 1000, the championship leader has yet to win a race. That rider is Andrew Lee on the RiderzLaw Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R. Lee has finished second in all three rounds (Stock 1000 didn’t race at COTA or WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca) and that gives him a 10-point lead over Travis Wyman.

For Wyman it’s been feast or famine as he won the first two rounds on his Weir Everywhere Racing BMW but crashed out of the third round at Road America. He now trails Lee, 60-50.

Shane Richardson is the only rider other than Wyman to win a race, the Woolich Racing Kawasaki mounted New Zealander taking his first career MotoAmerica win at Road America in the race that Wyman crashed out of.

Big‘un Motorsports’ Timothy Bemisderfer (BMW) and Superbike Unlimited Racing’s Stephen Incledon (Yamaha) round out the top five heading into the second half of the season this weekend at the Utah Motorsports Campus.

Both the Twins Cup and Stock 1000 classes have had healthy entry lists at each round, and the two new classes have given club racers national recognition, while introducing the fans to some new faces as well as giving local fans at each round a chance to root for some home-grown talent. And the two classes continue to gain traction as more and more riders discover the opportunity to earn purse money and contingency support to fund their programs.

(Story and photos from MotoAmerica.com/Brian J Nelson)