Cycle News Staff | September 29, 2024
Sunday Superbike Race Two
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz became the first Frenchman to win an AMA Superbike race on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park with a thrilling victory in a race that featured five riders finishing within a second of Baz and his Ducati Panigale V4 R.
In winning his first MotoAmerica Superbike race, Baz became the 68th rider in AMA Superbike history to taste victory. He was also the seventh rider to win a MotoAmerica Superbike race in 2024, with the previous high being five different winners in a season.
Second place went to EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly with the Floridian fighting his way through the pack to emerge as the one to give Baz the most fits in the final few laps. Kelly came up just .151 of a second short in earning his seventh podium of the season, which includes his first Superbike win a few weeks ago in Texas.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong earned his second podium finish of the weekend as he was hot on Kelly’s rear wheel in third place, ending up .140 of a second adrift of the BMW.
Fourth place, for the second straight day, went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion just a tick over half a second behind Baz and only .127 of a second behind Fong. Right on Beaubier’s rear wheel was fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki in what turned out to be one of the best Superbike races of the season.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, meanwhile, wrapped up his second AMA Superbike Championship yesterday with an impressive ride to victory, but today he was playing wingman to Baz in a role reversal. Herrin followed Baz for 90 percent of the race, but suddenly there were four riders on the attack. At that point, Herrin tapped out and he cruised home to sixth place, some three seconds behind his teammate Baz.
With his win on Saturday, Herrin tied Wayne Rainey on the all-time Superbike win list for 10th with his 16thvictory. He is now one victory behind Nicky Hayden for ninth on the win list.
Seventh place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch, who was well clear of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith. MD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10.
After nine rounds and 18 races, Herrin ended the season 55 points ahead of Beaubier, 335-280, with Fong finishing third and the top-ranked Yamaha rider. Just 12 points behind Fong came Superbike rookie Kelly.
Baz’s second season of MotoAmerica Superbike racing netted him fifth in the title chase, just four points behind Kelly and 28 points ahead of Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen with the South African unfortunately finishing his season with another mechanical DNF.
Superbike Race 2
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Brandon Paasch (BMW)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Richard Kerr (Honda)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Sunday King of The Baggers Race Two
S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss removed any drama from Sunday’s title decider in the Mission King Of The Baggers finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park as the Australian made the race his own, crossing the finish line as the 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion.
Although the pair were separated by just two points at the start of Sunday’s finale, the winner-take-all thriller between Herfoss and Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman never materialized. Wyman got the start he wanted, led briefly and was soon passed by Herfoss. It didn’t take Wyman long to realize he didn’t have the same pace as his Indian-mounted rival, and it ended up being a tough day at the office for the winningest rider ind Mission King Of The Baggers history.
It didn’t get any easier for Wyman when he was attacked from behind by RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers with the 19-year-old eventually taking second from the New Yorker. Wyman held on for third and he and Herfoss ended the season just 11 points apart.
For Herfoss it was his seventh win of the year and his 14th trip to the podium out of 18 races and he adds the King Of The Baggers title to his three Australian Superbike Championships. He crossed the line 1.7 seconds ahead of Landers after fist pumping his way through the final set of corners.
Landers, in turn, was just .119 of a second ahead of a disappointed Wyman.
Landers late-season burst of speed moved him all the way to fourth in the championship. He actually tied his teammate Hayden Gillim, fifth today, in the points tally, but the spot went to Gillim via the tiebreaker.
Fourth place in Sunday’s finale went to Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara, just a few tenths ahead of Gillim.
Sunday Supersport Race Two
With the 2024 Supersport Championship decided on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, title winner Mathew Scholtz was free to mix it up with the field on Sunday.
And mix it up, he did. It was “just like old times again” in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class as Strack Racing’s Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen took their familiar spots at the front of the field and proceeded to swap the lead back and forth.
The situation stabilized in the middle laps of the race as Jacobsen established himself in the lead. The New Yorker then stretched his lead at the front and took the checkered flag nearly three-and-a-half seconds ahead of race runner-up Scholtz. Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander finished third, almost 13 seconds behind Scholtz.
Sunday Stock 1000 Race Two
With a 12-point lead in hand at the start of the last Stock 1000 race of the season, Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim didn’t have to win to be crowned champion. But he won anyway.
The win, his seventh of the year, combined with his rival Jayson Uribe finishing third on the OrangeCat BMW M 1000 RR, gave Gillim his second successive Stock 1000 Championship with this one coming on a Honda CBR1000RR-R SP – thus giving Honda its first-ever MotoAmerica title.
Second place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the Georgian hounding Gillim for the entire race. Yates waited until the final lap to make a move on Gillim with a pass in turn one on the final lap. But it didn’t stick as Gillim re-passed him immediately. From there it was just a case of defending the inside and keeping Yates behind him.
Yates held on for second, just .049 of a second off the back of Gillim, and it was enough to earn him third in the championship.
Uribe ended a highly successful season of racing with a third-place finish as he narrowly topped FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith on the final lap by just .030 of a second.
AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr was fifth with the Irishman well clear of sixth-placed Bryce Prince on his BPR Yamaha YZF-R1.
Sunday Junior Cup Race Two
On Sunday, it was the final race of the final season for the Junior Cup Championship as the class gives way to the inaugural MotoAmerica Talent Cup Championship in 2025. Two teams and four riders raced in close formation at the front, and who would win, who would reach the podium, and who would finish just off the podium were in question right up until they crossed the finish line.
BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin, who won the championship two weekends ago at Circuit of The Americas, prevailed with the win by just .252 of a second over Bad Boys Racing’s Ella Dreher, while Dreher’s older brother Avery Dreher – who was this year’s defending class champion – crossed the finish line only .018 of a second behind Ella to take the third spot on the podium.
Chapin’s teammate Eli Block finished fourth, just missing out on the podium by .008 of a second.
Saturday Supersport
It was a bit of a numbers game in the second-to-last race of the 2024 Supersport Championship as Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz came into the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park with a 39-point lead over Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen.
Davis (white helmet, mid-pack) picked up a first career MotoAmerica Supersport race win.
For Jacobsen, his mission was to win the race, which would yield him maximum points and possibly keep his title hopes alive till Sunday’s final race. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis had other plans, and he was out to win the first MotoAmerica Supersport race of his young career.
With Davis starting 18th on the grid, he began a spirited march towards the front until a red flag stopped his progress. No matter, because, on the restart, the 18-year-old from Tennessee picked up right where he left off and put his Yamaha YZF-R6 in the lead.
With Jacobsen in second and not quite able to match Davis’ pace, Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander took over second, relegating Jacobsen to third. Meanwhile, championship leader Scholtz was riding a controlled race and keeping himself in position to clinch the title.
At the checkered flag, it was Davis winning his first-career Supersport race with Alexander finishing as runner-up and Jacobsen completing the podium. Scholtz maintained fifth position all the way to the finish line, and that was enough for the 2017 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion to clinch his second MotoAmerica title, this time in Supersport.
Saturday King of The Baggers
S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss came into Saturday’s Mission King Of The Baggers Championship trailing Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman by two points. After Saturday’s race, that points lead was flipped with Herfoss leading Wyman by two points. It was almost like Saturday didn’t happen.
Landers grabbed the win but it’s winner-take-all between Wyman (33) and Herfoss (17) tomorrow.
Well, it certainly happened for RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers with the 19-year-old controlling the race from the front and holding off a determined Herfoss by a scant .182 of a second to win his second race of the year and his seventh podium in a row.
For Herfoss the race was a success because he came out on top of Wyman, but the gap is just two points, and it will still come down to a winner-take-all (or a second-place-takes-all if Landers has anything to say about it) for the championship on Sunday.
Wyman finished third after missing the set-up on his Road Glide due to the fact that Saturday’s race was actually the first time the Baggers took to a dry racetrack.
Fourth place went to Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara with O’Hara hounding Wyman to the bitter end and coming up just .060 of a second.
Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli was fifth after coming out on top of a scrap with SDI/Roland Sands Racing/Indian Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong.
Stock 1000 – Gillim In A Thriller
You won’t see a much better two-rider fight with a championship on the line than the Stock 1000 race on Saturday at NJMP between Hayden Gillim and Jayson Uribe. It was one where it’s really not fair to have just one winner.
Gillim, the leader of the championship by seven points going into race one of the finale, grew that lead in the title chase to 12 points going into tomorrow’s finale. The Real Steel Motorsports-backed Kentuckian looked to have things in control early in the race, but Uribe and his OrangeCat Racing BMW M1000 RR had different ideas. Uribe turned it up mid-race and started to reel Gillim in.
Gillim (1) grabbed the win in Stock 1000.
With just a few laps to go, Gillim and his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP had a huge moment coming out of the last corner where he went up on the curb, hit a wet spot and somehow saved what looked to be a certain highside. Uribe made him pay for the mistake and moved into the lead.
But Gillim wasn’t done. He fought back and was on Uribe’s tail section on the final lap, ultimately making a pass in a spot where not many have tried – the inside of the final corner.
He crossed the line just .026 of a second ahead of Uribe. Tomorrow the title will be decided with Gillim leading Uribe by 12 points.
FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith ended up a lonely third after knocking Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates off track. Yates ended up eighth and those two are now tied for third in the championship going into tomorrow’s finale.
Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis and Visit Indiana/Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin rounded out the top five.
Junior Cup – Dreher!
BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin, who clinched the 2024 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship at the previous round at Circuit of The Americas, had plans to win Saturday’s Junior Cup race one. The only issue was his start. He left just a little before the light went out and was ultimately penalized five seconds.
Dreher (1) clinched the race one win in Junior Cup.
Defending Junior Cup Champion Avery Dreher took the checkered flag first aboard his Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki, and Chapin was right behind Dreher. With the time penalty tacked on, Chapin still was credited with second place, and New York Safety Track Racing’s Yandel Medina finished third.
Saturday Superbike
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin won the second AMA Superbike Championship of his career on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and he did so with the flair of a champion. Simply put, he won when he didn’t need to.
Herrin worked his way forward after crossing the line in fifth place on the opening lap and most expected him to stay there. After all, it would have been the easy way to wrap up the title But it wasn’t Herrin’s way. He kept pushing: Fourth on lap six, third on lap seven, second on lap nine and the lead on lap 11. But he was being hounded by Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong, who made a move on Herrin to take the lead for the first time on lap 15 of 20. Okay, so now Herrin would chill and take the title with a second-place finish.
Or not.
Herrin re-passed a feisty Fong with two laps to go and rode to a .403 of a second victory – his sixth of the year and the 16th AMA Superbike win of his career. And, more importantly, it resulted in his second Superbike title – 11 years after his first. The championship also ended a winless drought for Ducati that goes back 30 years to when Australian Troy Corser won the title on a Fast By Ferracci Ducati in 1994.
Fong held on for second, .190 of a second ahead of Herrin’s teammate and wingman Loris Baz, with the Frenchman earning his third podium of the season after leading seven laps of the race.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier ran in the lead foursome but ultimately had to settle for fourth as he suffered with a lack of corner-entry grip. He crossed the line 1.7 seconds behind race-winner Herrin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante emerged from a five-rider battle to finish fifth, 1.8 seconds ahead of Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen.
Herrin took the title from the front with the win in race one.
EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly was seventh, hot on Petersen’s rear wheel and just .104 of a second behind the South African. Kelly, meanwhile, was just a fraction of a second ahead of Petersen’s fill-in teammate Xavi Forés, who in turn was just a tick over half a second ahead of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith in his best ride of the season.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10.
Notable non-finishers were Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach with both riders crashing out in separate incidents.
Herrin (right) with team figurehead Eraldo Ferracci, the man who guided Troy Corser to the 1994 title.
With just Sunday’s race two left in the season, Herrin has an insurmountable points lead of 58 over Beaubier, 325-267. Fong is third with Kelly fourth and Baz fifth. Kelly leads Baz by just nine points, and Baz leads Petersen by just three points.
In the Superbike Cup, Danilo Lewis’ crash cost him the championship points lead with Yates now leading the Brazilian by 15 points going into tomorrow’s finale and the battle for the $25,000 winner’s check.
Superbike Race 1
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Xavi Forés (Yamaha)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Friday Superbike
By the time the Steel Commander Superbike class took to New Jersey Motorsports Park for Q1, the racetrack was mostly dry which translated to everyone doing their quick laps on slicks. The quickest of those ended up being Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz with the Frenchman posting a 1:22.737 on his 23rd and final lap of the 40-minute session.
Baz pulled it out of the bag for P1 on Friday.
Baz was the only rider to crack into the 1:22s with his 1:22.737 leading Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier by .413 of a second. Beaubier didn’t do as many laps as Baz and his best came on his 13th and final go-around, a 1:23.150.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch was a career-best third in Q1 with a 1:23.769.
Fourth fastest on Friday was Superbike Champion-elect Josh Herrin with the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider the last one in the 1:23s with his 1:23.931, fractions quicker than Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen with the South African ending up fifth.
Petersen’s fill-in teammate Xavi Forés ended the day sixth fastest, some .4 of a second ahead of EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who was still riding the high of his first Superbike win two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas.
Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong, Beaubier’s Tytlers Cycle Racing teammate JD Beach, and FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith rounded out the top 10 heading into tomorrow morning’s Q2 session.
Supersport – Jacobsen On Top
Tricky conditions in the first Supersport qualifying session meant there were crashes and two red flags. When it was all said and done it was PJ Jacobsen right where he needs to be – at the front.
Jacobsen has to win and started the weekend right in Supersport.
Light rain fell for most of the session and Rahal Ducati Moto’s Jacobsen saved his best for the end as he does all he can to get closer to Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, who leads the Supersport title chase by 39 points with this weekend’s two races left in the championship. Scholtz, meanwhile, wasn’t taking any chances, ending the session in sixth and some two seconds off Jacobsen’s pace.
Jacobsen’s best was a 1:34.649 and that kicked his teammate Corey Alexander back to second with the taller of the two leading most of the session before ending up second – .203 of a second from the top.
Third fastest on the day was EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa rounding out the top five.
Stock 1000 – Slick Hayden
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim saved his best for last in Stock 1000 Q1 with the defending series champion fitting slicks to his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP to earn provisional pole on his final lap of the session.
Gillim timed it perfectly in recognizing there was a dry enough line to give it a go on slicks and the result was a 1:31.243 – 1.5 seconds faster than Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters was third fastest, a few tenths quicker than Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, and fifth-placed Richard Kerr on the AMD Motorsports RK Racing Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe, who is just seven points behind Gillim in the chase for the 2024 Stock 1000 Championship, ended the session in seventh.
Junior Cup – It’s A Block Party
BARTCON Racing’s Eli Block is in his comfort zone at NJMP. Throw in some iffy weather and he gets even cozier. On Friday, Block was unstoppable in earning provisional pole for the two Junior Cup races this weekend.
Block was the only rider to break into the 1:32s with his 1:32.611 besting Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher by .616 of a second.
Mckellar Racing’s Jaden Mckellar was enjoying his first-ever MotoAmerica Junior Cup race and his weekend started well with the third fastest time in Q1.
Bad Boys Racing’s Ella Dreher was fourth fastest with Speed Demon Racing’s Logan Cunnison rounding out the top five.
Mission King Of The Baggers – ROCCO!
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers was lucky to get up after a scary crash coming out of the final corner in the closing moments of the Q1 for the Mission King Of The Baggers. Landers was a bit banged up, but smiling nonetheless after earning provisional pole position just a lap before the crash.
Landers threw the Harley at the wall big style but not before qualifying on the provisional pole in KoTB.
Landers ripped off a 1:24.829 on his 11th lap of the 30-minute session for his second provisional pole in a row. His quick lap put him .423 of a second ahead of his teammate Hayden Gillim, who in turn was barely faster than Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s James Rispoli.
The two protagonists in the battle for the 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Championship were fourth and fifth with S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss .2 of a second faster than championship points leader Kyle Wyman. Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Wyman leads Herfoss by just two points heading into the weekend’s two races.
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