Press Release | August 17, 2023
MotoAmerica previews round seven, which will include a Superbike Tripleheader and is scheduled for August 18-20 at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
This is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (August 16, 2023) – If this was 2021 or 2022 and Jake Gagne had a 68-point lead you could basically go ahead and hand him the number-one plate right now. But this is different. There are more dogs in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike fight and a bad day at the office could result in a fifth or a sixth. Or worse. Finishing second or third on a bad day isn’t necessarily a thing anymore.
But still 68 points is 68 points and Jake Gagne is Jake Gagne. Catching him isn’t going to be easy. After all, he could DNF twice and still lead the championship so he is nestled into a cozy spot at the top of the standings as he aims for a third-straight Medallia Superbike Championship.
Although his 17- and 12-win seasons of 2021 and 2022 likely won’t be repeated, based on the amount of fast and consistent competition in the class, Gagne still has six wins on his scorecard and—more importantly—only one DNF. And that DNF at Road America was the only time the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing teamster has finished off the podium. In addition to the class-leading six wins, Gagne has four second-place finishes and two thirds. It all adds up to 262 points and a substantial 68-point lead as the series heads to Pittsburgh International Race Complex, August 18-20, for Superbikes At Pittsburgh Presented By Steel Commander, round seven’s triple-header Superbike weekend.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin is the rider who is the closest to Gagne even though the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion suffered his first DNF of the season a few weeks ago at Brainerd International Raceway in race two. The DNF came just a day after Herrin had put his Panigale V4 R on the podium for the ninth time in the first 12 races.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier’s hopes for a sixth MotoAmerica Superbike crown took a big hit at Brainerd with a DNF and a non-start in the two Minnesota races. Beaubier’s woes started in race one when a huge highside in the early laps left him bruised and battered. It also left him concussed and that put him on the sidelines for race two, leaving him 79 points behind Gagne in the series after his third and fourth non-point scoring races of the year.
While Beaubier’s weekend in Minnesota was one he’d like to put behind him, it’s also a weekend that his teammate PJ Jacobsen will never forget. Jacobsen earned his first MotoAmerica Superbike win on Sunday in Brainerd a day after he finished a close second to Gagne. That all added up to a 45-point weekend for the New Yorker as he moved to fourth in the title chase and an even 100 points behind Gagne.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante is the only rider in the top five in the championship to score points in every round and that level of consistency has him fifth in the title chase—15 points behind Jacobsen and 12 ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.
Scholtz’s weekend in Minnesota was up and down with an unlucky DNF in race one followed by a third-place finish in race two that ended a five-race streak without a podium for the Westby Racing rider.
TytlersCycle Racing’s Corey Alexander is seventh in the championship after a dreadful weekend without a point scored in Brainerd. Alexander will be hopeful of getting back to the level he had climbed to prior to his misery in Minnesota.
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, like Escalante, has a blemish-less 2023 season going for him as far as finishing each and every race, and Brainerd featured a season-high sixth-place finish in race two.
Gagne’s out-with-injury teammate Cameron Petersen is still in the top 10 and 16 points ahead of 10th-ranked Ashton Yates and his Aftercare Scheibe Racing BMW.
Pre-Pitt Race Superbike Notes
This weekend’s MotoAmerica racing at Pittsburgh International Race Complex will feature three Medallia Superbike races and that means there are 75 points available for three wins. Pitt Race joins WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in playing host to three Superbike races in 2023. The first of the three will be held at 3:10 p.m. on Saturday with race two and race three scheduled for 12 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. on Sunday, respectively.
Defending two-time MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne swept both wins in the class last year en route to his second-straight championship. Gagne beat Danilo Petrucci and Mathew Scholtz in race one before besting Scholtz and Petrucci in race two.
Jake Gagne earned pole position last year at Pitt Race with his 1:39.344, which finally broke Cameron Beaubier’s lap record from 2019. Beaubier, meanwhile, still holds the race lap record of 1:40.550 from his race-two victory in 2020.
History Lesson: Cameron Beaubier won the first MotoAmerica Superbike race held at Pitt Race in 2017 with his win in race one over Toni Elias and Roger Hayden. In race two, Beaubier suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out of the rest of the 2017 season. The race-two victory went to Hayden with Elias second and Josh Hayes third.
JD Beach is the latest to get a shot at racing for the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing team in 2023 as a fill-in rider for the injured Cameron Petersen. Beach has been focusing his efforts on the American Flat Track SuperTwins Championship and he comes to Pitt Race after a two-day test with the Attack Racing team at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Beach is the all-time win leader in the MotoAmerica Supersport series with 32 victories. Beach also has a MotoAmerica Superbike win to his credit with that victory coming at VIRginia International Raceway in 2019.
MotoAmerica’s weekend at Pittsburgh International Race Complex will be the series’ seventh straight year after making its debut at the circuit in 2017. The 2.78-mile, 19-turn track, which was built in 2002, is a favorite of the riders, teams, and fans.
Six riders have won the 12 MotoAmerica Superbike races held at Pitt Race: Jake Gagne (4), Cameron Beaubier (3), Toni Elias (2), Roger Hayden (1), Josh Herrin (1) and Garrett Gerloff (1).
MotoAmerica Supersport
Spaniard Xavi Forés Has A Big Points Lead Heading Into Round Seven At Pittsburgh international Race Complex
Irvine, CA (August 17, 2023) – Although Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Xavi Forés had his first non-perfect weekend of the season at Brainerd International Raceway a few weeks ago, it likely did very little to make him lose sleep over his MotoAmerica Supersport Championship points lead heading into this weekend’s seventh round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, August 19-21.
With 150 points up for grabs in the final three rounds (six races), the Spanish veteran rider has an 84-point lead – despite an off-weekend in Minnesota where Forés was seventh and fourth in the two races after struggling to find a setup he was comfortable with at BIR.
Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes was the man who made the most hay while the sun shined at Brainerd with the four-time AMA Superbike Champion finishing first and second in the two races for a points haul of 45 out of a possible 50 points. He also came out of the weekend as the all-time wins leader in AMA road racing with his 87th victory coming in race one and he was happy to put that (and all the talk that went with it) behind him.
Hayes heads to Pittsburgh just three points ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott with the youngster also having a good weekend with a third in race one and his second career Supersport victory in race two.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa slipped from second to fourth in the championship chase at Brainerd with two fifth-place finishes. Mesa is 13 points behind Scott and 54 points ahead of Scott’s teammate Teagg Hobbs.
Pitt Race will feature the largest number of Supersport entries thus far in 2023 with 41 racers entered on five different brands of motorcycles.
REV’IT Twins Cup – Long Time No See
The 2023 MotoAmerica REV’IT! Twins Cup series picks up again after not taking part in the Brainerd round of the MotoAmerica Championship with early-season points leader Gus Rodio and his Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660 back at the top of the point standings.
Rodio is coming off a solid weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where he scored 45 points via his second- and first-place finishes in the two races and he has a points lead, albeit slender, of three points over defending class champion Blake Davis and his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7.
The man the majority of the class fears the most is Rodio’s teammate Rocco Landers, the winner of five REV’IT! Twins Cup races thus far in 2023. Landers, however, didn’t do his championship any favors when he crashed out of the lead in race two at Laguna Seca. He trails Rodio by 18 points and Davis by 15 points.
Trackday Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon is fourth in the title chase and only four points clear of Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz and six ahead of Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle.
Five different riders have won REV’IT! Twins Cup races thus far in 2023: Landers (5), Rodio (2), Davis (1), Doyle (1) and Stefano Mesa (1).
Junior Cup – Dreher Leads, Moor On The Move
Early in the year, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher looked like he was on an unstoppable run toward the 2023 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship as he won four of the first five races. But things have changed a bit as Dreher doesn’t have a win in the past three races while Fairium NGRT- Gray Area Racing’s Rossi Moor and his KTM have started to heat up with two wins and two runner-up finishes in the past four races.
However, Dreher still holds down a 26-point lead over SportbikeTrackGear.com’s Max Van with Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese, Moor and Badie Racing’s Levi Badie in a group of racers giving chase in the championship.
Van leads Bicknese by five points with Moor another three behind and Badie four more behind as just 12 points separate second from fifth in the title chase. Bicknese and Van are the only two in the top five still chasing their first 2023 class victory.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – All Over But The Party
Basically, if Mikayla Moore shows up at Pittsburgh International Race Complex and throws her leg over her Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, she will be crowned champion of the class.
With just two races and 50 points up for grabs, Moore leads the title chase by 47 points, 125-78, over Sonya Lloyd. For someone who has won each of the five previous races for a perfect season thus far, scoring three points probably won’t be a problem.
While the battle for the championship is basically non-existent, there is a fight for second with Crystal Martinez only 11 points behind Lloyd and Kayleigh Buyck, last year’s champion, just another seven behind Martinez and only three ahead of Ashley Truxal and five ahead of Aubrey Credaroli.
Mission Mini Cup By Motul – Gouker, Davis On Top
With the scheduled round at New Jersey Motorsports Park getting washed out back in July, Pitt Race will mark the fourth round of the championship and the names at the top of the point standings are familiar.
Nathan Gouker has a 17-point lead over Reese Frankenfield in the Mission Mini Cup By Motul Ohvale 160 class, and Ryder Davis has a whopping 45-point lead over Mahdi Salem in the Ohvale 190 class.
The same two riders, Gouker and Davis, also lead the way in the 160 and 190 classes in the FIM Mini Cup Ohvale Championships with 16- and 35-point leads, respectively.
In the Stock classes, Weston Fager leads Cruise Texter by 18 points in the Stock 50 class, Ryan Clark has a 44-point lead over Joel Laub in Stock 110 and Nathan Bettencourt is comfortably ahead in the Stock 125 class championship.
Pre-Pitt Race Support Class Notes
Rocco Landers and Josh Herrin split Supersport class wins at Pitt Race last year with Landers beating Herrin and Tyler Scott in race one and Herrin besting Landers and Scott in race two.
Blake Davis and Cory Ventura won the pair of REV’IT! Twins Cup races a year ago in Wampum. Davis won race one ahead of Kaleb De Keyrel and Hayden Schultz with Ventura taking race two over Davis and Dominic Doyle.
Eventual Junior Cup Champion Cody Wyman took a big step towards that title last year with a sweep of the two races at Pitt Race. Wyman beat Gus Rodio in both races with Max Van and Kayla Yaakov filling the podium on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Kayleigh Buyck, who would go on to capture the 2022 Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Championship won the lone race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex over Crystal Martinez and Chloe Petersen.
How To Watch MotoAmerica Superbikes at Pittsburgh
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com