Cycle News Staff | August 20, 2023
Sunday Superbike
Superbike Race Two
Race two was red-flagged early on when Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier was involved in a scary crash when he ran into the back of Ashton Yates’ Aftercare Scheibe Racing BMW. With the two in a battle and Beaubier looking to make up spots after an off-track excursion, Yates led him through the chicane but on the exit his BMW had a mechanical issue that caused him to slow suddenly. With nowhere to go, Beaubier ran into the back of Yates and crashed heavily. Beaubier was transported to the infield medical center and was treated for facial lacerations.
By this point, Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong was already out of the race with the pole sitter crashing his Yamaha YZF-R1 in the opening laps.
Although he was pushed the entire way by Jacobsen, it was Gagne taking the victory, his eighth of the year, over the New Yorker.
Gagne puts the hammer down to take the race two win.
Third in race two on Saturday went to Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin, 1.4 seconds behind Jacobsen and a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.
JD Beach was impressive in riding the injured Cameron Petersen’s Fresh N Lean Progressive Racing Yamaha to fifth, well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch. Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim was eighth, just a few tenths ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cory Alexander.
Benjamin Smith Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Steel Commander’s Gabriel Da Silva rounded out the top 10.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante crashed out of fourth place on the last lap.
Superbike Race 3
Gagne got his normal fast start and led every lap of race three. Scholtz kept him honest, finishing 1.8 seconds behind the factory Yamaha.
The win, Gagne’s ninth on the year, gave him an insurmountable 337 points after 16 races – 101 points ahead of Herrin, who finished third. If Herrin would have finished second with Gagne winning, the title fight would have gone to the next round in Austin, Texas. Any chance of that was thwarted when Herrin, who was right on Gagne’s tail, blew the chicane and then waited for at least three riders to go by so that he wouldn’t be penalized.
Herrin fought back, but ultimately lost out to Scholtz with the South African pulling away to beat the Ducati rider by 3.6 seconds. Herrin, meanwhile, had his hands full with Escalante who was trying to land his first Superbike podium. He would come up .6 of a second short at the finish.
It’s title time for number one, Jake Gagne.
Jacobsen was fifth and just another few tenths behind Escalante with Beach sixth again and less than a second behind Jacobsen, who moved to third in the championship by one point over Beaubier with his teammate’s failure to score points on Sunday.
Gillim was seventh for the second time on the day with pole-sitter Bobby Fong eighth. Smith was ninth again with Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin rounding out the top 10.
Supersport
Although there is little doubt that Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Xavi Forés will be crowned as the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott didn’t allow it to happen at Pitt Race on Sunday.
In order for Forés to be crowned on Sunday, he had to win with Scott finishing no worse than second. Scott, however, decided to just go ahead and win the race to make sure that the war would go to the next round of the championship at Circuit of The Americas next month.
It would be Scott (70) who would come through to win in race two.
Scott ended up beating Forés by 2.8 seconds after an early back-and-forth battle. Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa, who won Saturday’s Superbike race, was third, 7.8 seconds adrift of Scott and five seconds clear of Scott’s teammate Teagg Hobbs, who got the better of Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes.
Disrupt Racing’s Jake Lewis ended up sixth, hot on Hayes’s heels.
Junior Cup
Bad Boy Racing’s Avery Dreher won his sixth race of the season on Sunday at Pitt Race, but he didn’t know that he’d also been crowned as the 2023 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship. That decision came later when Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing’s Rossi Moor was later DQ’d for using an illegal wheel bearing on his KTM RC 390 R ending any chance of Dreher being surpassed in the final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park next month.
Avery Dreher is the new Junior Cup champion.
Altus Motorsports’ Alessandro Di Mario was second on the track and second in the final results while Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese was moved from fourth to third in the final standings after Moor’s DQ. Yandel Racing’s Yandel Medina was fourth with Badie Racing’s Levi Badie rounding out the top five.
Dreher is now 52 points heads of Bicknese in the title chase with just 50 points on the table in the final round.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race
The Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. program wrapped up its second year with MotoAmerica on Sunday, and Mikayla Moore completed a perfect season. The Maryland-based rider clinched the championship with her win in Saturday’s race one, and her race two victory on Sunday was her seventh win in as many races. Moore won Sunday’s race by nearly 11 seconds over second-place finisher Sonya Lloyd, who in turn was a little over nine seconds ahead of Crystal Martinez in third place. The finishing order of race two was also the finishing order of the season championship with Lloyd finishing second to title winner Moore and Martinez locking up third.
Try as they might, no one had an answer for the new queen of the Royal Enfield BTR, Mikayla Moore.
Twins Cup
The top three contenders in the REV’IT! Twins Cup Championship are locked in a close battle for the title, and those three contenders were also locked in a close battle for the race win on Sunday at Pitt Race. Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering teammates Gus Rodio and Rocco Landers not only raced hard against each other, but they also raced hard against N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis throughout the nine-lap event.
Rodio dragged it home t take a decisive Twins Cup win.
Davis led seven of the laps, while Landers only led one lap and Rodio led the other. But it was Rodio who led the most important one, which resulted in him crossing the finish line first and notching the win by just .104 of a second over his teammate Landers.
Davis almost finished as runner-up, but he couldn’t quite overtake Landers when the checkered flag flew. Rodio goes into the final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park with an eight-point lead over Davis and a 14-point lead over Landers, which means that the season championship is very much up in the air with just two more races to go.
Mission Mini Cup By Motul
Three Mission Mini Cup Presented By Motul races were held on Saturday evening at the Pitt Race karting track and they were again mostly dominated by the same riders as on Friday.
Stadler America’s Nathan Gouker continued his hot hand in the Ohvale 160 class with his seventh straight win in the championship to build his points lead to 40 points over Madd Will Racing’s Kruz Maddison, who was fourth, second and fourth in the three races on Saturday. American Racing’s Connor Raymond, meanwhile, was second best to Gouker in two of the three races.
The Ohvale 190 class featured three different winners in the three races on Saturday with American Racing’s Joshua Raymond, Historic GP’s Mahdi Salem and Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis all coming away with victories. Davis, however, is still the points leader with a 23-point lead over Salem, 156-133.
In Stock class action, Cruise Texter won all three Stock 50 races on his Cory Texter Racing/Roof Systems-backed Honda.
There were three different winners in the three Stock 110 classes – Varnes Racing’s Cole Varnes, Xtreme Autoglass Pros’ Jacob Davis and Ryan Clark Racing’s Ryan Clark, who leads the title chase by 24 points.
Jacobsen Motorcycle Training/Bettencourt Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt kept his perfect 2023 record intact with his 10th, 11th and 12th straight wins in the Stock 125 class.
Saturday Superbike
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Jake Gagne was up to his old tricks on Saturday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The two-time defending Medallia Superbike Champion started quickly, let the others hang around for a lap or two and then rode off into the distance for his seventh win of the year and the 36th Superbike victory of his career.
The win also extended his championship lead to 83 points heading into tomorrow’s two Medallia Superbike races in the MotoAmerica Superbikes At Pittsburgh, Presented By Steel Commander triple-header.
Gagne didn’t put a wheel wrong in earning his seventh win of the year. He had Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz on his back wheel for the opening laps, but then was able to pull away and let those behind him battle for second place as he managed his tires to the best of his ability.
Second ended up going to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, the five-time AMA Superbike Champion bouncing back from his big crash at Brainerd International Raceway a few weeks ago. Beaubier admitted that he was struggling with confidence after the race-one crash that forced him out of race two in Minnesota.
Beaubier started slowly in the race (after qualifying sixth) before eventually fighting his way through the pack to third. He then worked around Scholtz and kept him at bay to the finish. Beaubier was 3.6 seconds behind Gagne at the end of the 17-lap race and 1.8 seconds in front of third-placed Scholtz.
Gagne did what he was supposed to do at PittRace and won the first race easily.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong ended up fourth in his best Superbike race of the year. Fong, riding David Anthony’s Yamaha YZF-R1, put in a solid ride after starting from his first career Superbike pole position. Fong saved what would have been a ferocious highside midway through the race, was later penalized for cutting the chicane, and still managed to narrowly beat Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen by .4 of a second with the penalty.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin was also penalized for a chicane violation and he barely beat JD Beach, who was riding the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha in place of the injured Cameron Petersen, for sixth place.
Beach, in his first Superbike race since 2021, was seventh and some four seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante. Escalante, in turn, bested his teammate Brandon Paasch by a tick over five seconds.
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim rounded out the top 10.
Gagne now leads Herrin, 287-204, heading into tomorrow’s two races at Pitt Race with Beaubier just a point behind Herrin. Jacobsen is fourth in the title chase with 173 points, 18 more than fifth-placed Escalante.
Superbike Race One
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- JD Beach (Yamaha)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
Supersport
Two MotoAmerica rounds ago, the winner of the 2023 Supersport Championship seemed to be a fait accompli.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Xavi Forés had reeled off eight consecutive wins, and it looked like he was head for a perfect season. But things changed for the Spaniard in Minnesota and the bumpy Brainerd International Raceway wreaked havoc on the handling of his Ducati Panigale V2, as well as on his win streak. He left the Land of 10,000 Lakes without a win, and it continued in Supersport race one at Pittsburgh.
Mesa just held on for his first win of the year.
The story of the race, though, was not who didn’t win, but who did.
Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki rider Stefano Mesa notched his first Supersport victory of the season and the second of his career. Mesa also earned the pole position for both of the weekend’s races, so clearly, Pitt Race is a very good track for the Colombian. It was also Mesa’s 29th birthday.
Second place went to Forés, who commented in the post-race press conference that he is doing everything he can to keep up with the other bikes. The only Ducati rider in the field, Forés thinks the balancing measures mandated for his bike are too extreme.
Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Tyler Scott, which was his seventh podium result of the season.
REV’IT! Twins Cup
The battle for the 2023 REV’IT! Twins Cup Championship can’t get much closer than it already is, but Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers is hoping that it gets even closer after tomorrow’s second race at Pitt Race.
Landers won his sixth REV’IT! race of the year after an early battle with championship rivals Blake Davis and Gus Rodio and the win moves him to within 10 points of the lead in the title chase.
Landers’ win pulls him ever closer in the championship points race.
The battle for second in Saturday’s race was also the battle for the championship lead and it went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Davis by just .042 of a second over Landers’ teammate Rodio.
How’s this for close? Davis now leads Rodio by a single point with Landers 10 points behind Davis and nine behind Rodio.
Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle had a relatively lonely ride to fourth with TrackDay Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon rounding out the top five.
Junior Cup
After winning four out of the first five Junior Cup races of the season, it came as quite a surprise that Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki rider Avery Dreher hit a dry spell where he didn’t get another victory for three straight races. But, on Saturday at Pitt Race, Dreher returned to his winning ways.
Avery Dreher made it back to P1 in the Junior Cup.
Starting from pole position, the Florida-based rider battled throughout the 10-lap race with Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing KTM’s Rossi Moor, Hayden Bicknese Racing Kawasaki rider Hayden Bicknese, and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Alessandro Di Mario. At the checkers, it was Dreher who notched the win by .036 of a second over Moor, with Di Mario just .136 of a second back from Dreher.
With three more races left in the Junior Cup Championship, Dreher has a 39-point lead over Moor.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Moore Crowned!
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Mikayla Moore kept her perfect season intact with her sixth win in six starts and it all resulted in her wrapping up the 2023 Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. championship. Moore will attempt to close out a perfect season with another victory tomorrow at Pitt Race.
National title number one for Mikayla Moore.
Sonya Lloyd earned her fifth podium of the year with her second-place finish and that virtually assures her of second in the championship after tomorrow’s finale. Lloyd battled with Moore early and finished 2.2 seconds behind the Marylander – the closest anyone has been to the newly crowned champion all season.
Defending series champion Kayleigh Buyck was third in the race and happy to be back on the podium after a rough season for the New Yorker.
Mission Mini Cup By Motul – Gouker Dominates
Stadler America’s Nathan Gouker picked up where he left off with a resounding Ohvale 160 class victory in the MotoAmerica Mission Mini Cup By Motul round on Friday afternoon at Pitt Race.
Gouker was dominant in taking a 17-second victory over Madd Will Racing’s Kruz Maddison, who barely beat American Racing’s Connor Raymond by a scant .198 of a second.
American Racing’s Joshua Raymond scored the win in the Ohvale 190 class, beating Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis by 4.8 seconds with HistoricGP’s Mahdi Salem finishing a distant third.
Stock class racing on Friday saw Cory Texter Racing/Roof Systems’ Cruise Texter winning the Stock 50 class; Varnes Racing’s Cole Varnes doing likewise in Stock 110 with Jacobsen Motorcycle Training/Bettencourt Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt winning the Stock 125 final.
Friday Superbike
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen brought the confidence earned from winning his first MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike race a few weeks ago in Minnesota to Pittsburgh International Race Complex on a blustery Friday with the New Yorker earning provisional pole position on his BMW M 1000 RR.
In what was the closest session of the season in the Medallia Superbike class, just 1.6 seconds covered the top 12 with a tick over one second separating first from ninth.
Jacobsen’s good run of form continued with the provisional pole at PittRace.
Jacobsen led both of Friday’s Superbike sessions with his best lap, a 1:43.061, coming in the afternoon’s Q1 session. That lap on his seventh go around, was just .167 of a second better than Medallia Superbike Championship points leader Jake Gagne. Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Gagne missed most of the first session after his Yamaha suffered a mechanical problem that oiled a portion of the track, bringing out the red flag after just one lap of FP1. Gagne’s crew got him back on track and he was able to jump up to third on his eighth of eight laps.
Jacobsen’s Tytlers Cycle Racing teammate Cameron Beaubier had a big moment early in Q1, losing the front, saving it and running off track and onto the grass. Beaubier ended up third in the session and .278 of a second off his teammate’s best.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong had his best session of the season on the team’s Yamaha YZF-R1 to post the fourth quickest time and less than half a second off Jacobsen’s provisional pole.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante ended the day fifth fastest and just ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch, who in turn was .15 of a second ahead of Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates.
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach, who is filling in at Pitt Race for the injured Cameron Petersen, ended up ninth and only 1.1 seconds from pole in his first Superbike race in two years.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin completed the top 10 after losing his best lap as a penalty for cutting the chicane on the following lap.
Supersport
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa bounced back from what wasn’t a good weekend for him at Brainerd International Raceway to lead the Supersport pack in Q1 on Friday afternoon. Mesa’s best was a 1:46.110, which was .635 of a second clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott.
Disrupt Racing’s Jake Lewis led the morning session and was third fastest in Q1 with a lap that was .808 of a second off Mesa’s fast lap.
Supersport Championship leader Xavi Forés was sixth fastest on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V2, one spot better than the man who is second in the title chase, Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes.
Junior Cup
Alessandro Di Mario put his Altus Motorsports Kawasaki Ninja 400 on provisional pole for the weekend’s two Junior Cup races with the Kentuckian barely besting Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing’s Rossi Moor and his KTM RC 390 R by just .186 of a second. Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese was just a tick behind those two to round out the provisional front row.
Championship points leader Avery Dreher ended up fourth fastest and 1.163 seconds behind Di Mario on his Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki.
REV’IT! Twins Cup
A scant .153 of a second covered the top three in REV’IT! Twins Cup Q1 at Pitt Race with championship points leader Gus Rodio taking the top spot by just .063 of a second on his Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s defending class champion Blake Davis ended up the closest to Rodio’s 1:48.842 with his 1:48.905. And that lap was only .090 of a second faster than Rodio’s teammate Rocco Landers, the all-time win leader in the class.
The top three managed to separate themselves from the rest of the pack with Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle fourth but 1.7 seconds behind Rodio.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race.
Upper Marlboro, Maryland’s Mikayla Moore took the first step to what will undoubtedly be a Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Championship on Saturday at Pitt Race with provisional pole on Friday.
As she has been at each and every round, Moore was in a class of her own this afternoon with her lap of 209.911 leading the way as he has in what has been a perfect season for the 19-year-old.
Second fastest today was Crystal Martinez with Sonya Lloyd rounding out the provisional front row.
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