Rocco Landers is still just a teenager, but he is one of the most successful racers in the entire MotoAmerica paddock. A three-time class champion (two Junior Cup titles and one Twins Cup title), Landers’ 52 career race wins rank him fourth in all-time victories among current MotoAmerica racers, with only Josh Herrin, Jake Gagne, and Cameron Beaubier above him.
The BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship will reach its conclusion on September 13 through 15 at Circuit of The Americas, and Landers is on the cusp of capturing his second Twins Cup title and fourth championship of his career.
We checked in with the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki rider to find out what he’s been up to and what his plans are going into COTA.
Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Q:
Rocco, we’ve got a couple weeks left before COTA, which for BellissiMoto Twins Cup, is the final round for you. Two races left. You’ve got a lead right now of 19 points. How are you feeling going into the final round?
Landers:
Not bad. Just taking things one day at a time. We’ve got that little buffer that you mentioned, so that’s nice. But it’s not over until Sunday at COTA.
Q:
Would you rather have a lead going in or be behind?
Landers:
A lead, for sure. I prefer to have a lead.
Q:
Knowing you, you’re going to try to win both races, right?
Landers:
That’s always the goal.
Q:
But it’s good to have a little buffer?
Landers:
Yeah, in case there’s some sort of issue.
Q:
In terms of priority, and you’ve been coming on so well in Mission King Of The Baggers, is Twins Cup a little bit more of a priority at COTA?
Landers:
Of course. It’s the championship that we’re leading right now. To win a race with the Baggers is also a goal, but we still have four races left to do that. We only have one round left in Twins Cup. So, considering the fact that there’s a lot more to gain by focusing on Twins Cup until it’s over, that’s kind of what the idea is right now.
Q:
You’ve won a championship before in Twins Cup, but the Suzuki GSX-8R is a brand-new bike this year. And you’re on this brand-new Vance & Hines Twins Cup team. Every championship is important, but this one is a very big deal for you, your team, and especially your team owner Terry Vance. Would you agree?
Landers:
It’s a huge opportunity because it’s a new bike for Suzuki and it’s a new program for the team. Plus, on a personal level, the past couple years have been less than ideal for me, so it would be an insane way to bounce back and put myself in a good position for next year.
Q:
So, you’ve got a personal goal. You want to get back on the beam, so to speak. You’ve been showing it all year, but a championship is definitely going to say “I’m back and better than ever,” but also for Vance & Hines and for Suzuki. You have a few reasons for really being motivated towards this.
Landers:
Yeah, definitely. And the fact that I just got a hamster, so I’ve got someone to provide for.
Q:
What’s your hamster’s name?
Landers:
Rocco Junior. He’s still skittish because I just got him home. He’s a dwarf hamster, so he’s like the size of a golf ball. He’s really small. He’s a Russian dwarf hamster.
Q:
Is he tan and white?
Landers:
He’s all dark grey.
Q:
Where are you, in California right now?
Landers:
Yeah, LA.
Q:
Have you been riding?
Landers:
Not much. I’ve mostly been working, but I’ve been able to train a little bit. Just kind of enjoying the little bit of downtime we have. I have been working a lot. I’ve been spending a lot of hours at the Airsoft store, just keeping my mind off the championship. I think that’s the best thing for me right now. Just think about things that don’t matter.
Q:
Will you do any riding leading into COTA? Does the team have any tests scheduled?
Landers:
We won’t test the bike, but I’ll probably ride at some point.
Q:
I don’t know what to make out of this thing, and I don’t know if you’ve even looked into it. I don’t know if you care that much, but this allowance for aftermarket pistons. Is that going to do anything for you? Do you know?
Landers:
I really don’t know right now. It seems like, if anything, it will just give us a little bit in the mid-range, which is kind of what we need. We are down a bit on power on the bottom end. You can definitely see it when coming out of tighter corners. The bike has its own strengths that are pretty solid. Oddly enough, it’s very similar to my (Kawasaki Ninja) 400 (Junior Cup bike) in the way that it rides, where you just have to carry all that roll speed. When you’re able to find a good setup, you can kind of just roll around the entire track on your knee and carry a ton of roll speed.
Q:
I was talking to Giaccmoto Racing’s Chuck Giacchetto yesterday, and I said, “Suzuki is going to have those new pistons.” Chuck said, “It doesn’t matter. Rocco can ride anything, and he’ll do well on it.”
Landers:
That’s nice of him to say. I have a lot of experience in Twins Cup, and that’s obviously a big advantage.
Q:
Is it good to be able to wrap up this championship and then go to New Jersey just thinking about Baggers?
Landers:
That would be the ideal situation. This championship is not over, but if we do win it, that would be definitely little weight taken off my shoulders so I can just focus on getting a Baggers win. It could still happen at COTA, but it would be a nice little thing to wrap up the Twins Cup Championship and have that pressure taken off my shoulders.
Q:
I don’t know if there are two more different motorcycles than a Twins Cup bike and a Big Twin King Of The Baggers bike. Do you agree?
Landers:
There’s no similarity, which I feel is almost an advantage versus someone who is riding a Superbike and a Baggers bike because those bikes at least have some of the same characteristics. Whenever I get on the Twins Cup bike and when I get on the Baggers bike, they’re so diametrically opposed in every way that’s not something that I can be like, “Oh, I get myself confused while I’m riding it.” It’s two completely different mindsets when you’re riding them with two completely different riding styles that don’t really relate to one another at all.
Q:
But you’re okay with that?
Landers:
Yeah, I prefer it to riding, say, a Supersport bike and a Baggers bike because there are so few similarities that it’s easier to just completely switch your brain over. You have to do that no matter what, when you’re riding two different bikes, but it’s obviously harder when the two bikes are more similar.
Q:
You know you’re on a totally different bike immediately because of the way you’re sitting. Is that it?
Landers:
Yes. A few years ago, when I was racing the Twins Cup bike and the Junior Cup bike, it would take me a couple laps to get used to it because those bikes are similar so I’d find myself using some of the same braking markers or just combining riding styles rather than just switching completely. On the Twins Cup bike, you have to carry roll speed. You have to brake super late. You have to use sweeping lines. There’s really nothing that carries over between the Twins Cup bike and the Baggers bike. They’re so different.
Q:
So, you’ve got four races. It’s going to be warm. You’re not too concerned about that?
Landers:
No. I’ll be chilling.
Q:
What’s clicked for you with King Of The Baggers as this season has progressed? Is it seat time?
Landers:
Seat time, getting used to it, finding a riding style. Getting comfortable on the bike. Figuring out the way that it rides so that I don’t have to think about it while I’m doing it.
Q:
Have they done much during the year to the ergonomics of your King Of The Baggers bike to change it around for you, or have you just kind of adapted to it instead?
Landers:
Definitely both. (My teammate) Hayden (Gillim) and I do ride pretty differently from each other, but some of our notes can carry over. He’s awesome to work with. I’d say it’s a combination of just finding out what works for me, and me figuring out the bike itself. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t really know what to do. It just slowly came to me during this season.
Q:
I’m going to ask you about two Vance & Hines crew members completely off the cuff. Steve Polk.
Landers:
Steve’s awesome. Whenever I work with Steve, it’s something that I haven’t really experienced. He’s got so much experience on so many different bikes. When I was working with my dad it was amazing. Working with Steve, Steve can just ask me a couple questions, crunch a few numbers, and throw an insanely good setup at my bike. Just a huge change or even a small change, it could be anything, but there’s no huge, big deal made out of anything. It’s always, “This, this, this, this… Okay, we’re good.” It’s just a very simple process with Steve.
Q:
Somebody else who I know pretty well. Quentin Wilson.
Landers:
Yes! Quentin is the sh*t. I love Quentin. He’s my mechanic on the Baggers bike. I’ve also got to give a shout-out to my mechanic for the Twins Cup bike, Matt (Schambach). He helps Quentin at the rounds where I don’t have Twins Cup.
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