BRASELTON, GA, AUG 31: Jacob Gagne recovered from a heart-stopping start line incident to win his first ever Red Bull AMA US Rookies Cup race on a warm, sticky day at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The race was almost immediately red-flagged when Gagne stalled on the grid and was rammed from behind by Austin Dehaven. It came one race after the death of Bermudan Toriano Wilson on the first lap at Virginia International Raceway. Gagne re-started, but Dehaven, who wasn’t hurt, didn’t. The race was red-flagged, but both riders made the re-start. Two-time winner Hayden Gillim and Gagne split from the start, Gagne taking the lead on the brakes into Turn 10A. Gagne stretched the gap over a second on the sixth lap and kept it there until the ninth when Gillim took nearly half a second out of it. The pair kept stretching the lead and Gillim stayed close, but not close enough. The win went to Gagne, who turned 15 this week and lives in Ramona, California. This is his first year of road racing. “It feels really good,” Gagne, who’d qualified second fastest, said. “I got a podium earlier in the season and it’s even greater to get a win.” Gillim finished 1.914 secs. back with more than five on the battle for the final podium spot. It went to series leader Benny Solis, of North Hollywood, California, by .859 secs. over Argentine Leandro Mercado. With two rounds remaining, Solis has 156 points to 122 for Gillim and 121 for Mercado.
