Sunday Superbike Race Two
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong barely won Saturday’s slugfest with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin after a race-long battle. An hour or so after the race, Fong said he’d try to do things differently on Sunday. He’d said he would try and pull away at the front and not partake in any battles.
Turns out Fong was good to his word.
Fong did what he said he’d do and led from start to finish in Sunday’s Steel Commander Superbike race, leading every single lap and crossing the finish line with a margin of 3.8 seconds over Herrin, who was second for the second straight day.
And guess what? The name atop the Steel Commander Superbike Championship point standings belongs to one Bobby Fong. That’s right. Bobby Fong.
Fong leads three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne, who finished seventh on Sunday as he continues to be plagued by arm pump, by eight points after his two Brainerd wins. Fong has scored points in all nine Superbike races held thus far in 2024 and he’ll take that points lead to Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington for round five, June 28-30.Herrin was solid again on Sunday, though he couldn’t keep pace with Fong. Instead, he hunted down Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen and passed the South African to finish second.
Petersen, who was fifth on Saturday, tried to hang on to Herrin, but ultimately settled for third place – for his fifth podium finish of the year.
Fourth place went to Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz. The Frenchman was in the battle for second with Herrin, Petersen and EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly when Kelly had a vicious highside that ended up forcing Baz off track and onto the grass. Although he tried to fight back, he couldn’t make headway into the gap to Petersen.
Fortunately, Baz was well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch and finished fourth with Paasch some six seconds behind in fifth. Baz and Paasch were third and sixth, respectively, on Saturday.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach improved from seventh on Saturday to finish sixth on Sunday.
Gagne, meanwhile, was a frustrated and lonely seventh with Australian Troy Herfoss eighth in his fill-in ride for the injured Cameron Beaubier on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ezra Beaubier rounded out the top 10.
Fong leads Gagne in the series points, 138-130, with Herrin third on 119 points and just nine clear of Petersen’s 110. Baz sits fifth in the standings with 101 points.
Superbike Race 2
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Troy Herfoss (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Ezra Beaubier (BMW)
Sunday Supersport Race Two
Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen and Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz seem destined to battle every single race for the 2024 Supersport Championship, and that battle continued at Brainerd International Raceway on Sunday.
Scholtz won on Saturday with Jacobsen second and the South African won again on Sunday, again, with Jacobsen second. With his two victories here, Scholtz now has four wins on the season. The exact same number of wins as Jacobsen has in 2024.
With four rounds and eight races of the championship in the rear-view mirror, the pair are separated by just two measly points with Jacobsen on top, 171-169.
The top-two men in the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship were the top-two men on Saturday at BIR and they were the top-two men on Sunday, with the same result.
Jacobsen, who was racing in front of team owner Graham Rahal for the first time, managed to get to the back of Scholtz in the early laps before the South African gapped him slightly. With a handful of laps remaining, Jacobsen couldn’t do anything but settle for second, 4.4 seconds behind Scholtz at the finish line.
Behind those two was a great battle for third with the two Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzukis of Tyler Scott and Teagg Hobbs vs. Rahal Ducati Moto’s Corey Alexander. That battle went to the bitter end with Alexander making the pass on Scott on the last lap and beating him to the flag by just .023 of a second. It was Alexander’s comeback ride from the hip injury he suffered at Barber Motorsports Park four weeks ago.
Hobbs was right behind them, .343 of a second behind the duo, and fifth across the finish line.
Sunday Twins Cup Race Two
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers played a little bump and run with his rival Alessandro Di Mario on the opening lap of the BellissiMoto Twins Cup race on Sunday, knocking Di Mario wide with the Italian-turned Kentuckian losing several places in the process. But he wasn’t done yet.
Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Di Mario caught back up to Landers, breaking the Twins Cup lap record in the process. Di Mario latched on to make it a battle to the finish with the Di Mario/Landers duo going back and forth. Their battle at the front allowed Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor to get back in touch with the lead trio for the final laps with the 16-year-old latching on to the end.
At the flag it was Landers by .585 of a second with Di Mario just .324 of a second behind in third. The podium was identical to Saturday’s race, but the pace on Sunday was much faster.
Di Mario’s teammate Gus Rodio was some 15 seconds adrift in fourth, but well ahead of Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle.
Sunday Stock 1000 Race Two
When Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim crashed his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP on the second lap in Sunday’s Stock 1000 race, the door was open for the rest of the pack to make hay while the sun shone. Gillim had won his third Stock 1000 race of the season on Saturday and not many thought he could be beaten at BIR. But it all went wrong for the defending champion with his crash.
The rider who took the most advantage of Gillim’s miscue was OrangeCat Racing’s Jason Uribe, who won his first Stock 1000 race and his first of any kind in the MotoAmerica Championship.
Jones’ Honda’s Ashton Yates took over at the front after Gillim’s crash and managed to open a bit of a gap over the chasing pack. Uribe and FLO4LAW’ Racing’s Benjamin Smith, however, had their eyes wide open knowing that with Gillim out, this was anybody’s race.
The pair chipped away on and eventually caught up to Yates. On the final lap, Uribe snatched the lead in turn three, protected the inside for the rest of the lap and scored his first-career win in his return to the MotoAmerica paddock.
Yates held on for second, just .144 of a second behind Uribe and .368 ahead of Smith, who finished on the podium for a second-straight race. It was also Yates’ second podium finish of the weekend.
BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince was 1.6 seconds behind Smith and well clear of Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis, who rounded out the top five.
Sunday Junior Cup Race Two
The Junior Cup race was red flagged and moved to the end of the day after three riders crashed together in the ultra-fast turn one and moved to the end of the day. After a few hours of downtime, the race was restarted and ultimately red-flagged and called with Karns Performance’s Levi Badie taking the win, his first of the year and the third of his Junior Cup career. Badie was the fourth different winner in Junior Cup in 2024.
BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin was second, half a second behind Badie with another half a second back to first-time podium finisher Isaac Woodworth and his BPM Kawasaki Ninja 400.
Bad Boy Racing’s siblings Avery and Ella Dreher were fourth and fifth, respectively, and on the same second as Badie.
Sunday Mission King of The Baggers Race Two
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines’ Hayden Gillim crashed out of the lead in Stock 1000 on Sunday in a race he was heavily favored to win. He didn’t let that happen in the second of two Mission King Of The Baggers races as he backed up Saturday’s win with another victory on Sunday and a points haul of 50 over the course of the weekend.
The race was one of attrition with the two men at the top of the points table also suffering miserable races and finishing last and second-to-last (seventh and eighth). Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman was the first to have an issue as his bike faltered at the start and Wyman basically was forced to cruise around for the duration to get some championship points. He earned eight points.
S&S/Indian Motorcycles’ Troy Herfoss was looking like he would bring home a boatload of points in comparison to his championship rival, but he crashed out of second place, remounted and finished seventh.
Herfoss’s teammate Tyler O’Hara cruised to a second-place finish, 6.5 seconds behind Gillim and some 10 seconds clear of third-placed James Rispoli on the second Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide.
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson teammates Jake Lewis and Cory West rounded out the top-five finishers.
Saturday Superbike Race One
In what was easily the best MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike race of the season and one of the best in recent memory, three riders battled to the bitter end with Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong spending a lot of laps as the meat in the middle of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati sandwich of Josh Herrin and Loris Baz.
Fong, however, got the last laugh when Herrin made a mistake on the final lap that allowed Fong the space he needed to forge into the lead. It also kept Baz at bay since he wasn’t going to do anything that could jeopardize teammate Herrin’s race on the final lap.
The margin of victory? .419 of a second from Fong to Herrin and .619 from Fong to Baz.
The win was the fourth AMA Superbike victory of Fong’s career and his first since he won three races in 2020. It also propelled him to second in the 2024 Steel Commander Superbike Championship and established him as a serious title threat.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen led the first seven laps at the start/finish line before Fong took over for two laps before giving way to Herrin. From there the top three – Herrin, Fong and Baz – pulled a gap from the Petersen and Sean Dylan Kelly battle when the top five hit traffic for the first time and Petersen and Kelly were badly baulked.
Herrin continued to lead until the final lap when he finally caved to the pressure being applied by Fong. Baz, meanwhile, wasn’t going to do anything silly and the three crossed the line as a trio.
EarlyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly got the better of Petersen, who set the fastest lap of the race, in their battle for fourth, well clear of the fight for sixth.
That fight ultimately went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch by just .804 of a second over Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach.
Three-time and defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne finished eighth after yet another race-long struggle with arm-pump. The Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing rider was some two seconds behind Beach and six seconds clear of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Troy Herfoss, the three-time Australian Superbike Champion racing in the place of injured five-time champion Cameron Beaubier.
Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Paasch’s teammate Xavi Forés pulled out of the race early with the pain from his Friday crash too much to handle.
Gagne continues to lead the championship point standings, but he now has Fong closing in as the pair are separated by just eight points, 121-113. Herrin jumps to third with 99 points with Kelly fourth on 96. Beaubier, who is hoping to return to action at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, falls to fifth, but only 27 points out of the lead. Baz (88), Beach (69), Paasch (54) and Gillim (45) round out the top 10 heading into tomorrow’s race two at BIR.
Superbike Race One
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Troy Herfoss (BMW)
- Max Flinders (Yamaha)
Saturday Supersport Race One
The level of competitiveness in this year’s Supersport class has increased fairly dramatically compared with last year as a handful of former Superbike riders are now competing in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class. Two of those riders – Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz and PJ Jacobsen – are right in the thick of things at the top of this year’s championship standings.
One of last year’s major Supersport combatants, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, started from the pole, but he was unable to withstand the pressure from Scholtz and Jacobsen, causing Scott to crash out of the race on lap five of the 16-lap event. Meanwhile, Scholtz had already taken the lead, and he didn’t relinquish it, ultimately crossing the finish line eight and a half seconds ahead of Jacobsen. Scott’s Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Teagg Hobbs finished third for his first podium finish so far this year.
For Scholtz, it was his third win of the season, matching Jacobsen’s wins total, and he is now just seven points behind points-leader Jacobsen.
Saturday Stock 1000 Race One
If Brainerd International Raceway wasn’t already defending Stock 1000 Champion Hayden Gillim’s favorite racetrack before this weekend started, it certainly has to be now. The Real Steel Motorsports Honda rider hasn’t put a wheel wrong in any session aboard his #1 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
He earned the pole position earlier on Saturday with a record-setting lap that eclipsed his own record-setting lap set in Friday’s first qualifying session. And then, in Saturday afternoon’s 11-lap race one, Gillim also set a new race lap record on his way to winning by nearly seven-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Benjamin Smith aboard his FLO4LAW Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Third place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
Saturday Twins Cup Race One
Along with Hayden Gillim, another rider who just can’t seem to get enough of Brainerd International Raceway just so happens to be his Mission King Of The Baggers teammate and protégé Rocco Landers, who races the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki GSX-8R in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship.
In Saturday’s race one, Landers started from the pole after going fastest in Friday’s first qualifying, and it was a record-setting lap for Landers, too. In the race, Landers got the holeshot and led all but one of the 11 laps to ultimately take the checkered flag by just under four seconds over Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario, with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor finishing a very close third behind Di Mario.
Saturday Mission King of The Baggers
It’s rare that you win a race and get overshadowed by your teammate who finished second, but that’s sort of what happened to Hayden Gillim on Saturday afternoon at Brainerd International Raceway in the Mission King Of The Baggers race.
As expected, given his pace at BIR all week, Gillim got the jump on the pack on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson and never looked back. It was his first win of what has been a difficult season for the defending class champion, and it was well earned.
Some four seconds behind Gillim came his Mission King Of The Baggers rookie teammate Rocco Landers after an impressive final lap that saw him pass both of the factory S&S Cycle/Indian Challengers ridden by Tyler O’Hara and points leader Troy Herfoss on the final lap. Landers had earlier already disposed of the all-time winningest rider in the class, Kyle Wyman.
It was hard to not be impressed by Landers’ ride as his best finish coming into the Brainerd round was fifth in the first race of the year at Daytona International Speedway. Landers was ecstatic, as he should be, and even those he beat were happy for him.
It was also a big day for the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team as they swept the top two steps on the podium.
Third place went to Herfoss, and it extended his championship points lead to 12 over Wyman, with the Harley-Davidson Factory Racing rider ending up fourth in the race.
Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli crashed out of second place early in the race.
Saturday Junior Cup Race One
Rain was in the forecast on Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway, but it held off, save for a few raindrops here and there, until the closing laps of Junior Cup race one. At the time, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher had regained the lead and looked to be headed for victory. Due to the rain, a red flag was displayed, and the race was stopped. By rules, the results reverted to the lap prior, and that happened to be when BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin had just taken the lead.
It’s ironic that Chapin’s team owner is an Irishman because Chapin’s short time in the lead was just enough to be named the winner of the race. A stroke of Irish luck if there ever was one. For Chapin, who has now won four races on the season, he is definitely lucky AND good. That’s a solid combination.
Chapin’s good fortune was offset by Avery Dreher’s misfortune. But it was not all bad for the defending Junior Cup Champion. He made history on Saturday at Brainerd when he and his sister Ella became the first brother and sister to finish on an AMA road racing podium. Clearly, it was a memory of a lifetime for the Dreher family.
Friday Superbike
And just like that, Bobby Fong is on top of the Steel Commander Superbike pack on Friday at Brainerd International Raceway as the Wrench Motorcycles-backed Californian continued to enjoy his best season of Superbike racing since 2020 with his first provisional pole of 2024.
Fong was fast this morning and fast again this afternoon as he ripped off a 1:31.162 to lead the way in Q1.
“Honestly, it’s this team, these guys have been making me look good,” Fong said. “We don’t like to get our hopes up too much. It’s still early in the weekend and overnight these guys are gonna do some work and hopefully we stay consistent, and we improve over night, too.” Fong ended up .402 of a second quicker than Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen and .466 of a second faster than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz.
Baz’s teammate Josh Herrin was fourth fastest and .675 of a second slower than Fong and just .002 of a second faster than EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly.
Petersen’s factory Yamaha teammate Jake Gagne ended up sixth fastest with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch seventh and the last rider in the 1:31s.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach was eighth and still within a second of Fong’s best. Paasch’s teammate Xavi Forés was ninth, despite crashing on his fourth lap which cost him the rest of the session.
Beach’s temporary teammate Troy Herfoss rounded out the top 10 Q1 qualifiers on his first day at Brainerd, his first day on the BMW M1000 RR and his first day in the Steel Commander Superbike series. The three-time Australian Superbike Champion is riding for the team while Cameron Beaubier recovers from the broken heel suffered at the last round at Road America.
Supersport
Three men have won Supersport races heading into the fourth round of the championship: PJ Jacobsen, Mathew Scholtz and Tyler Scott. And it was those three at the top of Q1 on Friday at Brainerd International Raceway.
Rahal Ducati Moto’s Jacobsen earned provisional pole position after holding off Strack Racing’s Scholtz and Vison Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Scott with the three just a tick over half-a-second apart.
Jacobsen lapped at 1:33.588 to lead Scholtz by .318 of a second and Scott by .511 of a second. Jacobsen did his best lap late in the session on his 15th go-around. Sean Dylan Kelly’s lap record of 1.32.720 from his 2021 championship season.
Scott’s teammate Teagg Hobbs led the second row, provisionally, with his 1:34.209. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was fifth fastest on his Suzuki GSX-R750.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers showed up at one of his favorite racetracks on a mission. He was fast from the get-go, leading both sessions on Friday, including the afternoon’s Q1 session, and ending it with provisional pole and a new lap record of 1:35.804 on his Suzuki GSX-8R.
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering teammates Gus Rodio and Alessandro Di Mario were second and third fastest on their Aprilia RS 660s, .608 and .833 of a second slower than Landers, respectively.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor ended the day fourth fastest and a tick over a second off Landers’ pace. EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Avery Dreher was fifth.
Stock 1000
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim continued to have the hot hand as he rode his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP to provisional pole while also breaking the Stock 1000 lap record at BIR on Friday.
Gillim’s lap of 1:31.779 put him 1.256 seconds clear of FLOLAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith, who in turn was .2 of a second ahead of BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince.
OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe was fourth fastest and just ahead of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
Gillim will be trying to repeat his performance from a season ago at Brainerd International Raceway when he won both of the Stock 1000 races.
Junior Cup
Junior Cup Championship points leader Mathew Chapin continued to make it known that he’s the young racer to beat in 2024 as he earned provisional pole at BIR.
BARTCON Racing’s Chapin lapped at 1:43.809, the only rider to crack into the 1:43s, and it put him .308 of a second ahead of Karns Performance’s Levi Badie and Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez.
Wolfe Racing’s Ryan Wolfe and Bad Boys Racing’s defending series champion Avery Dreher rounded out the top five heading into tomorrow’s Q2 session.
Mission King Of The Baggers
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim continues his June of Jubilation by earning provisional pole position for the two Mission King Of The Baggers races at Brainerd International Raceway.
With two Stock 1000 wins to open defense of his championship in that class at Road America, and his recent victory in the Loudon Classic, Gillim seems primed to turn things around after a not-so-good Road America round on the Bagger.
“It’s going really good,” Hayden said. “I’m happy to be up front. We’ve been struggling a little bit this year but we’re getting there and slowly chipping away. The guys are working their butts off. They gave me a great bike today and I love this track. I’m having fun and that’s the main thing.”
Gillim’s 1:34.747 was a new lap record for the class, and it put him .328 of a second ahead of S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara with Kyle Wyman a little over half a second off Gillim’s pace on his Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide.
Gillim’s rookie teammate Rocco Landers had his best effort to date on the Harley to qualify fourth, provisionally. Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s James Rispoli rounded out the top five.
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