Patrick Ortega

Patrick Ortega traveled north from Texas to the inaugural Invite presented by Dunlop in Pawnee County, Oklahoma at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, bringing along his Kawasaki Ninja 400 for a weekend full of good times and fun racing. The Texan registered for a total of three classes over the course of the weekend, proving that he showed up to Hallett in order to do as much riding as possible. He signed up to contest the 300 & 400 +25 class, 300 & 400 Shoot-Out, and the Superbike 400 Expert division. In the 300 & 400 +25 class, Ortega proved to be the man to beat as he started at the front of the grid, quickly pulling a marginal gap ahead of second-placed Brian Bartlow. The Texan clocked consistent lap times in the opening race and stretched out a lead of nearly three seconds at the checkered flag to take his first win of the weekend. In the second race, he improved his best lap time by nearly a second and took the win by a fairly wide margin, claiming the overall victory in the +25 class. The LS2 rider continued to show solid speed in the 300 & 400 Shoot-Out class, matching lap times from his race-winning performance in the +25 class in order to wrap up 5th place overall in the Shoot-Out with two 5th place finishes to his name. The 400 Expert class was more of the same for the Texan as he demonstrated consistency between the four separate races, finishing in 4th place in each of them. Ortega ran lap times in the 1:25.00 second range, but he finally broke back into the 1:24’s in the fourth and final race of the 400 Expert class with a comfortable gap on both sides of him at the checkered flag. ​