MotoAmerica 2021 Pittsburgh Preview

A Full Slate Of Racing Activity Heads To Pittsburgh, August 13-15

This is a press release from MotoAmerica…

MotoAmerica Honos Superbike Pittsburgh Preview

Jake Gagne arrives in Pittsburgh with an 11-race MotoAmerica Honos Superbike win streak.

Irvine, CA (August 11, 2021) – Plain and simple. Jake Gagne is on a roll and has looked unstoppable in winning a record-setting 11 MotoAmerica Honos Superbike races in a row. But with another race comes renewed hope for his rivals. Maybe, just maybe, this is their week.

The MotoAmerica paddock heads to Pennsylvania, August 13-15, for one of the more popular stops on the calendar—round seven: Pittsburgh International Race Complex—and everyone rolls out on track on Friday morning hoping to have the answer to the biggest question of 2021. Can anyone stop Gagne and his Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha?

So far, the answer is no. And the more he wins, the more his confidence grows and the harder he is to beat. Case in point, the last round at Brainerd International Raceway. Gagne crashed in front of the Honos Superbike pack on the opening lap and somehow neither he nor his motorcycle got struck by another rider. He was unscathed and so was his Yamaha YZF-R1. Meanwhile, 100 yards up the track and a few seconds later, Loris Baz slid off his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York Panigale V4 R, the bike hit the gravel trap, cartwheeled, and basically broke in half. Fast forward half an hour and Gagne was on his way to winning his 10th in a row while Baz watched from hot pit.

Such is the life of Jake Gagne in 2021.

Gagne crashed and won on Saturday in Minnesota, and then went out and won again on Sunday for a record-setting 11th in a row. This coming weekend in Pennsylvania, the Californian will be trying for an even dozen.

With Gagne’s win streak comes a generous points lead of 79 over Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the only other rider to win a Honos Superbike race in 2021. Since his win in the opening round when Gagne’s bike failed him, Scholtz has visited the podium seven more times, including his runner-up finish to Gagne in Sunday’s race at BIR a couple of weeks ago.

With two races left to be run at Pitt Race and three at both New Jersey Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park to close the season, there’s still plenty to play for with 200 points on the table. But first things first: Someone has to stop the runaway train that is Gagne.

Scholtz, meanwhile, has a 35-point cushion on his South African countryman Cameron Petersen, the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider having a consistent season with four trips to the podium in 2021. Petersen, in turn, has 16 points on Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin with the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion missing the last round after testing positive for COVID-19.

While the points leader is way out front and Scholtz looks sort of secure in second, the battle for points behind them is close with only 23 points separating Petersen in third from Baz in sixth, with Herrin and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong separating the two.

Seventh is held by Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera, with the Spaniard continuing to impress in his first season in the MotoAmerica Series.

The next three riders in the Superbike title chase are the three riders fighting to take home the $25,000 for winning the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for those racing their Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the premier class. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis is leading the way into Pitt Race, but he’s just seven points ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and another seven clear of Honos HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander with that trio rounding out the top 10 in the Superbike Championship.

Pitt Race Superbike Notes…

This year’s race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex will mark the track’s fifth straight MotoAmerica event. The 2.87-mile, 19-turn track was constructed in 2002 and MotoAmerica made its debut there in 2017.

Five different riders have won the eight MotoAmerica Superbike races held at the track in Beaver County: Cameron Beaubier (3), Toni Elias (2), Roger Hayden (1), Josh Herrin (1) and Garrett Gerloff (1).

Five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, who is now competing in the Moto2 World Championship, is the MotoAmerica Superbike lap record holder at Pitt Race. Beaubier set the outright lap record of 1:39.472 during Superpole in 2019 and set the race record of 1:40.550 in race two last year.

Beaubier won both Honos Superbike races at Pitt Race in 2020 besting Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne in the pair of races.

Only two riders have won Honos Superbike races in 2021 – Jake Gagne and Mathew Scholtz. Six riders, however, have earned podium finishes this year: Gagne (11), Scholtz (8), Josh Herrin (5), Loris Baz (5), Cameron Petersen (4) and Bobby Fong (2).

With his 11th victory coming in the last round at Brainerd International Raceway, Jake Gagne moved into a tie for 17th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list with Australian Anthony Gobert. A single win at Pitt Race will move Gagne into a tie with Doug Chandler for 16th; two wins and Gagne will slot into a tie with Doug Polen and Blake Young for 14th all-time.

Cameron Beaubier won 13 races en route to the Superbike title in 2020 and Gagne already has 11 wins this year with eight races left on the schedule. Beaubier scored 436 points in his dominating 2020 season; Gagne currently has 275 points with 200 points still up for grabs.

If/when Loris Baz wins a Honos Superbike race he will become the first Frenchman to ever win an AMA Superbike race. Australia, Italy, England, and Canada are the countries that follow the U.S. in the number of riders winning AMA Superbike races with two riders from each country. In total, riders from seven different foreign countries have won AMA Superbike races.

Californians have the most AMA Superbike victories with 18 different riders from the Golden State taking wins. Texas (8), Kentucky (4) and Georgia (3) are next on the list.

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MotoAmerica: Pittsburgh International Race Complex Support Class Preview

Six Support-Class Races To Join MotoAmerica Superbikes At Pitt Race

If you like motorcycle road racing then Pittsburgh International Race Complex is the place to be as the MotoAmerica Series arrives, bringing six support classes to go along with the premier Honos Superbike Series at the picturesque 2.8-mile road course in Wampum, Pennsylvania, August 13-15.

In addition to the headline Superbike events, MotoAmerica’s seventh round of the 2021 series will feature Supersport, SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Stock 1000, Twins Cup, Mini Cup by Motul, and the new Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. class.

The closest points battle in the series is in Stock 1000 as four riders are in with a shot at winning the class championship as the series heads to Pitt Race. Just 29 points separate the top four and there’s only a measly two points between first and second in the title chase.

The men in title contention are Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, Honos HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander, Chuckwalla Valley Raceway/Octane Lending’s Michael Gilbert, and Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman. As previously mentioned, Lewis leads Alexander by two points with Gilbert 25 points behind Alexander and Wyman just two points behind Gilbert.

All four of those riders have won races in 2021: Lewis (3), Alexander (3), Wyman (2) and Gilbert (1). There are also three manufacturers in the top four with Lewis riding a Suzuki, Wyman a BMW and Alexander and Gilbert aboard Kawasakis.

Scott Powersports/KTM’s Tyler Scott and Landers Racing’s Benjamin Gloddy will continue their mano y mano battle for the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship as the pair has won nine of the 12 races thus far this season. Scott and his six wins lead Gloddy and his three victories in the standings by 16 points, 252-236. Cody Wyman Racing’s Cody Wyman is next best, but he’s 79 points behind Scott. Wyman, Gus Rodio and Max Toth are the other three riders who have won Junior Cup races in 2021.

Even though Richie Escalante crashed out of race two at Brainerd International Raceway a couple of weeks ago and put himself in a hole likely too deep to come out of in the championship, there will be a battle between the HONOS HVMC Racing rider and championship leader Sean Dylan Kelly and his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. You can count on it. Those two have combined to win 10 of the 12 Supersport races in 2021 with Kelly’s nine wins now leading Escalante and his two wins by 61 points. The other win went to MESA37’s Stefano Mesa in race one at Road America when Kelly and Escalante crashed together.

Four riders are in a heated battle for third in the championship with Kelly’s teammate Sam Lochoff currently third, 136 points behind Kelly and 15 points ahead of both Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers and North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith, who are tied for fourth, and just one point ahead of Mesa.

With Jackson Blackmon not scoring any points at the Brainerd International Raceway round, the run to the Twins Cup Championship has gotten a bit easier for Robem Engineering’s Kaleb De Keyrel, who now has a 53-point lead over Innovative Motorsports/Mike’s Imports’ Teagg Hobbs while Blackmon has slipped to third – 60 points adrift. Blackmon now has his hands full trying to protect third in the title chase as he’s just 12 points ahead of Hayden Schultz and 16 ahead of GCP’s Chris Parrish.

In Mini Cup by Motul action that will take place at Pitt Race’s karting facility on Saturday afternoon, American Racing Team’s Kensei Matsudaira leads both the 110 and 160 class championships. Matsudaira is 20 points clear of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Nathan Gouker in the 110 class and 36 points ahead of Atlas Speed Factory’s Jesse James Shedden in the 160 class.

Shedden, however, is in control of the 190 class as he sits 28 points ahead of Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez.

The women of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series will have their second race of the season at Pitt Race on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with everyone trying to reel in CJ Lukacs, the Californian who easily won the opening round at BIR. Canadian Becky Goebel was second to Lukacs with Minnesotan Trisha Dahl third in her home race.

Pitt Race Support Class Notes…

Supersport Championship points leader Sean Dylan Kelly has fond memories of Pitt Race as it was the site of the first two wins of his MotoAmerica career in 2019. Last year, however, Kelly was beaten in both races by Richie Escalante, who went on to capture the Supersport title. Kelly was second in both races with Brandon Paasch third.

Cameron Petersen, who now races in the Honos Superbike class, won both Stock 1000 races a year ago at Pitt Race, besting Alex Dumas in race one and Corey Alexander in race two.

Rocco Landers had a successful weekend at Pitt Race with two wins in the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup races and a victory in the lone Twins Cup race. Landers beat current Twins Cup Championship points leader Kaleb De Keyrel in the 2020 Twins Cup race.

In Mini Cup by Motul action a year ago at Pitt Race, Nathan Gouker, Mikey Lou Sanchez, and Rossi Moor came away with victories in the three classes.

The Supersport lap record at Pitt Race is still held by Garrett Gerloff, who now races in the World Superbike Championship. Gerloff’s fastest lap came during Q2 in 2017 when he lapped at 1:42.319.

The biggest class, entry-wise, for the Pitt Race weekend is Stock 1000 with 36 riders entered. The HONOS Superbike class has 30 entries; Supersport has 26; Junior Cup has 20; Twins Cup has 31; and Mini Cup by Motul has a total of 43 entries combined for its three classes.

How To Watch 2021 MotoAmerica Round 6 From Pittsburgh International Race Complex

Everything you need to know for round seven of the 2021 MotoAmerica Series to keep you up to date with what’s happening in Pittsburgh

2021 MotoAmerica Series Schedule

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