Rennie Scaysbrook | June 25, 2022
Sunday
Superbike
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne had a perfect weekend in the Pacific Northwest, the defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion breaking the lap record at Ridge Motorsports Park while qualifying on pole position, and then winning both Superbike races over the course of the Dynapac MotoAmerica Superbikes At The Ridge weekend.
If his rivals weren’t already worried, they should be now. Gagne looks to be on the verge of going on a roll like he did during his 17-victory, championship-winning season of 2021. Although a rough start to the 2022 season means Gagne only has six podium finishes in the 10 races held thus far, five of those podiums have been victories.
With five rounds (10 races) in the books, Gagne has now closed to within 11 points of championship leader Danilo Petrucci, the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R-mounted Italian earning his second podium of the weekend on Sunday at Ridge with a second-place finish to Gagne.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen also had a solid weekend with two podium finishes, the South African splitting second- and third-place finishes with Petrucci.
In typical Gagne fashion, the Colorado resident stormed off to a flying start, put his head down for the first five laps to open a gap on his pursuers and then maintained that lead for the duration of the 16-lap race. At the finish line, Gagne was 4.578 seconds clear of Petrucci, who in turn was just a second ahead of Petersen. The win was the 22nd AMA Superbike victory of Gagne’s career, all of which have come in the MotoAmerica era.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz matched his fourth-place finish from Saturday with another fourth on Sunday, the South African losing his hold on second in the title chase to Gagne after holding it for the first nine races.
Fifth for the second day in a row was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera, the Spaniard beating Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante by just .171 of a second. Those two were well clear of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim who barely got the better of his Yuasa Stock 1000 Championship rival Corey Alexander and his Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
Tytlers Cycle’s PJ Jacobsen was a lonely ninth with David Anthony riding the injured Jake Lewis’s Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki to 10th.
For the first time all year, Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates failed to score a point with the Georgian crashing out of the race for his first DNF. Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Travis Wyman was another who crashed out of the race.
Petrucci leads Gagne by 11, 176-165, after 10 races. Scholtz is third with 159 points, 20 better than Petersen. Barbera rounds out the top five in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike point standings with 101 points.
Superbike Race Two
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Hector Barbera (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
- Corey Alexander (BMW)
- PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
- David Anthony (Suzuki)
Yuasa Stock 1000
In Sunday’s Yuasa Stock 1000 race two, Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW rider Corey Alexander followed up his Saturday race one victory with another win. In fact, Corey is undefeated at Ridge. The New Yorker has won every Stock 1000 race at the Pacific Northwest track since MotoAmerica started racing at Ridge in 2020.
Alexander withstood a challenge from Hayden Gillim, who made an attempt to overtake Alexander, but ran out of track and had to take to the grass, which ruined his chance at a podium. Instead, it was a 1-2 finish for Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW with Alexander’s teammate Travis Wyman. Local rider Andy DiBrino finished third, the Precision Iron Works/DiBrino Racing Kawasaki rider notching his second MotoAmerica podium in as many days.
Twins Cup
Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing Aprilia rider Anthony Mazziotto is from New Jersey, but his weekend in the Pacific Northwest couldn’t have gone better.
First, he earned the pole position and the high-dollar timepiece that came from Wilbur Watch Company for being the fastest qualifier in the Twins Cup class. He then followed that up with a win in Saturday’s race one and capped things off with the win on Sunday, as well. Second place went to Cycle Tech Yamaha rider Hayden Schultz, who improved by one position from his third-place result on Saturday. Third on Sunday went to Alpha Omega rider Cody Wyman.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
History was made in Sunday’s SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race as Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov became the first female rider in history to win a MotoAmerica race. Yaakov, who turned just 15 years old on Friday, had been knocking on the door of a victory for the past few rounds, and she had recorded four third place finishes so far this season. And then, in Sunday’s race two, after leading the morning warmup, Yaakov got her breakthrough win.
Second place went to SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki rider Joseph LiMandri Jr., who was battling a respiratory infection but managed to get through the weekend and notched two podium finishes in the process. Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing Kawasaki rider Gus Rodio finished third as a follow-up to his win on Sunday.
Supersport – Herrin Again
Like Corey Alexander in Stock 1000 and Anthony Mazziotto in Twins Cup, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin also had a perfect weekend at Ridge. Herrin earned the pole, won Saturday’s race one and also won Sunday’s race two. It was a dominant victory for Herrin, who crossed the finish line more than six seconds ahead of second-place finisher Tyler Scott aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha rider Kevin Olmedo finished third for his first podium result so far this season.
North American Talent Cup
The North America Talent Cup was in action this weekend, and they had race two races, with one on Saturday and the second one on Sunday. The spec race series features young road racers aboard identically prepared Aprilia RS250 motorcycles.
Both races were won by B&M American Racing team’s Alessandro Di Mario, who dominated each event by more than three seconds over his closest competition. Second place in race one went to Mini Cup by Motul Championship regular Chris Clark, while fellow Mini Cupper Logan Cunnison was third.Second place in race two went to Jesse James Shedden, who is also a Mini Cup veteran, and once again, Cunnison was third.
Saturday
Superbike
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne doesn’t lay in bed at night thinking about the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship point standings. He focuses on the present and the present is all about winning races. On a hot and sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, Gagne made it through three starts in the red-flag-interrupted race to win for the fourth time in 2022 – a few hours after earning pole position with a lap-record-setting performance at Ridge Motorsports Park.
Gagne led every practice session and both qualifying sessions, then went out and led all three starts on Saturday. In other words, no one ever led him. Oh, yeah, don’t tell him but he’s also now climbed to within 16 points of championship leader Danilo Petrucci.
Gagne’s victory at Ridge was the 21st of his Superbike career and it was typical Gagne. Get the holeshot, pull a gap and maintain said gap to the finish.
After a final portion of the race that lasted just eight laps, Gagne crossed the finish line 3.935 seconds ahead of his teammate Cameron Petersen, the South African earning his fifth podium of the year and keeping Gagne honest for the duration.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Petrucci ended up third, the Italian benefitting from the second red flag as he crashed in turn one just moments after Jake Lewis’ crash in the last corner brought a premature stop to the race. Petrucci was able to get his bike back to pit lane where his crew replaced a broken left footpeg. Petrucci was a bit more cautious on the third start and it took him longer to get to third place. Once there, he settled in and brought the Panigale V4 R home for his seventh podium finish of the season.
Petrucci’s fourth-place finish allowed him to extend his lead in the championship over Mathew Scholtz to 10 points with the South African finishing fourth on Saturday.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera was less than a second behind Scholtz and some four seconds ahead of Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates. Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was seventh, a tick over a second ahead of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim. Precision Iron Works/DiBrino Racing’s Andy DiBrino finished ninth after earlier finishing second to Alexander in the Yuasa Stock 1000 race.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was given second life after highsiding out of the first portion of the race and making the restart. He battled on to finish 10th on the day.
It was a race of fairly high attrition with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis among those crashing out of the race.
With nine races in the books, Petrucci leads Scholtz in the title chase by 10 points, 156-146. Gagne is third with 140 points, 17 more than his teammate Petersen. Barbera rounds out the top five in the championship with 90 points.
Superbike Race One
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Hector Barbera (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (BMW)
- Corey Alexander (BMW)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
- Andy DiBrino (Kawasaki)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
Yuasa Stock 1000 – Alexander Closes In
In Yuasa Stock 1000 race one, the 12-lap race was reduced to 10 laps due to a red flag on the initial start. Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW rider Corey Alexander started from the pole and led from start to finish to record his third race win in a row at Ridge Motorsports Park after getting the double-win last year.
Oregon-based rider Andy DiBrino showed well at his home track. Aboard his Precision Iron Works/DiBrino Racing Kawasaki, DiBrino started second and maintained his runner-up position all the way to the checkers. Third place went to Disrupt Racing Suzuki rider Hayden Gillim.
Supersport
Supersport points leader Josh Herrin notched his fourth victory of the season with his win in race one at Ridge Motorsports Park. Herrin stalked Tyler Scott in the beginning of the race, and then on lap three, he overtook Scott and maintained his lead all the way to the finish line. Scott, meanwhile, faded as the laps wound down, and polesitter Rocco Landers took over second position aboard his Landers Racing Yamaha on lap 11 of the 15-lap event, ultimately finishing as runner-up in the race, a little over two and a half seconds behind Herrin. Also moving up into podium position on lap 11 was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sam Lochoff, the South African finishing third.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio started out the season competing in both Twins Cup and SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup. But, after round two at Road Atlanta, Rodio and his team decided that he would focus all of his energies completely on STG Junior Cup and withdraw from Twins Cup.
The strategy has paid dividends for Rodio in Junior Cup because he podiumed in Virginia, finished second in race one at Road America, and in race one at Ridge, he got the win. The New Jerseyan built a big lead aboard his Kawasaki in the red-flagged-and-restarted 10-lap race, but SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki rider Joseph LiMandri Jr. closed the gap considerably and finished in second, just ,204 of a second behind Rodio. Third place went to Kayla Yaakov, who turned 15 years old on Friday. It was the fourth podium result of the season and third in a row for the Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider.
Twins Cup
Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing followed up their win in SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one with Gus Rodio’s teammate Anthony Mazziotto winning Twins Cup race one. Mazziotto started from the pole aboard his Aprilia and was never headed in the red-flagged-and-restarted seven-lap race. Second place went to defending Twins Cup champion Kaleb De Keyrel aboard his Veloce Racing Aprilia, while Cycle Tech Yamaha rider Hayden Schultz rounded out the podium in third.
Mini Cup By Motul
The Mini Cup by Motul Championship was back in action at Ridge Motorsports Park, and in the 110cc class, Nathan Gouker got the race one win over runner-up Anthony Lupo Jr., with Mac MacClugage completing the podium in third. Gouker also got the victory in 160cc race one, and again, Lupo Jr. crossed the finish line as runner-up to Gouker, while Ryder Davis was third. In 190cc race one, Kensei Matsudaira won over Mahdi Salem in second and Kylie Botkin in third.
In 110cc race two, Lupo Jr. recorded his third podium result of the day, and it was a win for the rider from Carlsbad, California, over Gouker in second, who hails from North Carolina. As he did in 110cc race one, MacClugage finished third in 110cc race two. 160cc race two went to Gouker for his third win and fourth podium of the day. MacClugage was second and Joshua Raymond completed the 160cc podium in third.
The Mini Cup event wrapped up at Ridge with Matsudaira doing the double with the win in 190cc race two. Jesse James Shedden was second and Joshua Raymond finished third.
Friday
Superbike
Jake Gagne seems to find another gear when he shows up at Ridge Motorsports Park. The winner of both MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike races a year ago in the Pacific Northwest, Gagne put a close to Superbike action on Friday afternoon with the fastest lap in Q1, his 1:40.035 three-quarters of a second faster than his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Cameron Petersen.
Gagne is the lap record holder on the 2.47-mile track with his 1:39.568 coming in Q2 last year.
“We still have some work to do to fine-tune some things,” Gagne said. “Fun day at the track. Good weather, a lot better than last year, and it seems like another hot weekend, but we’re ready to roll.”
They don’t come more laid back than Gagne and he readily admits he’s not keeping track of the championship point standings. In fact, he’s not sure how many points he’s behind.
“It can’t go as easy as last year,” Gagne said of his dominant 2021 season “There’s no doubt we’ve still got the speed to win, we’ve got the bike to win, and we just need to put it together. I’ve made some mistakes this year so a lot of it has been on me. But I have no idea how far back in points we are. I know we’re not first or second and we’ll just keep cranking out some races and getting some wins. I’m having fun. I’m racing motorcycles so it’s a good day no matter what.”
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz struggled for most of the day, but it all came good for the South African at the end of Q1 when he jumped to third – .856 of a second off Gagne’s best.
Scholtz, however, was involved in a little post-session drama when he was given a bit of a shoulder bump from Danilo Petrucci while waiting to do a practice start. Scholtz was parked next to Max Flinders when Petrucci, who said that Scholtz had passed him too close on the cool-down lap, ran the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R between the two riders, bumping shoulders as he did so. Petrucci then turned and gave Scholtz the middle finger.
Petrucci, who was forced to go to his back-up bike after his number-one bike suffered a mechanical problem in free practice, had a difficult session with his crew having to put in a new clutch on the second bike in pit lane. By the time Petrucci took to the track there were only some 15 minutes left in the session.
Both riders were addressed by Race Direction.
Petrucci would end up fifth overall, one spot behind Spaniard Hector Barbera on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR.
Supersport
Just .122 of a second separates Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin from Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers after the first day of qualifying for the Supersport class at Ridge Motorsports Park.
Herrin’s best came late in the session, his 1:43.595 knocking Landers from the top spot provisionally. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Kevin Olmedo was third fastest and just ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott with North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith qualifying fifth.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio led SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Q1 on Friday, with the New Jerseyan topping Calshine Racing’s Aden Thao by .747 of a second. Altus Motorsports’ Kayla Yaakov completed the provisional front row.
Yuasa Stock 1000
Fresh off his win at the last round at Road America two weeks ago, Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander led the way in the first Yuasa Stock 1000 Qualifying session with his 1:42.006 – .371 of a second faster than Disrupt Racing Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim, who was racing for the first time at Ridge.
Alexander’s teammate Travis Wyman was third fastest ahead of local rider Andy DiBrino on the Precision Iron Works/DiBrino Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
Twins Cup
The top four Twins Cup racers were covered by just .296 of a second in Q1 on Friday afternoon with Cycle Tech Yamaha’s Hayden Schultz on top of the heap with his 1:47.076 – just .066 of a second faster than defending series champion Kaleb De Keyrel and his Veloce Racing Aprilia RS 660. Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Anthony Mazziotto completed the provisional front row and is .280 of a second from pole position.
For more MotAmerica news and results, click here