Saturday MotoAmerica Superbike
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin emerged from a race-long battle with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier with his third straight MotoAmerica Superbike victory. The win on Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park was Herrin’s third MotoAmerica Superbike win in a row, a career first for the defending series champion.
The win didn’t come easy as what initially was a three-rider battle between Herrin, Beaubier, and Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, turned into a two-rider fight between the top two in the championship – Herrin and Beaubier.
Herrin did the majority of the leading and even gapped Beaubier by a second-and-a-half mid-race, but Beaubier fought back to take the lead on the 12th of 16 laps. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion held the lead for three laps before Herrin struck back, taking the lead on the 15th lap and holding off the determined Beaubier.
At the finish line, it was Herrin by .194 of a second over Beaubier. With the win came a five-point swing in what is shaping up to be a nail-biter of a championship as Herrin now leads Beaubier by three points.
The win was the 19th of Herrin’s career, and it puts him ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Gagne, meanwhile, lost touch with the Herrin/Beaubier battle, with the pole-sitter finishing 2.4 seconds adrift in third place. The top three raced three different brands of motorcycles to the podium – Ducati, BMW and Yamaha.
Some three seconds behind Gagne came his teammate Bobby Fong with the Californian fending off the advances of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.
Escalante’s teammate Sean Dylan Kelly crossed the finish line some 13 seconds behind in sixth place. BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau was a lonely seventh. Ditto for eighth-placed JD Beach and his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
Notable among the non-finishers was Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, the Kentuckian involved in a bump and run with Ashton Yates in the first corner. Yates crashed and Gillim didn’t, but the melee put him well back in the pack. He went on a charge that saw him climb to seventh before a crash ended his day.
FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith only completed a lap before a mechanical issue knocked him out of the race.
Superbike Race One
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Bryce Kornbau (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Honda)
- Jason Waters (BMW)
- Max Flinders (Yamaha)
Saturday Motovation Supersport
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz went into Saturday’s Motovation Supersport race at Ridge Motorsports Park knowing it was go-time as he trailed championship leader PJ Jacobsen by 20 points. The South African responded in kind, dropping the hammer in the closing stages of the race to pull away from Jacobsen, who had inherited second place when Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott crashed out while chasing Scholtz with three laps to go.
Now that points gap is down to 15.
Although the battle at the front lacked for passes, it oozed suspense with Scholtz out front and Scott and Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Jacobsen applying pressure from behind. With Jacobsen fading a bit in the latter stages, it was a two-man race that looked set to go the distance. However, with three laps to go, Scott crashed his Suzuki GSX-R750 in the chicane in a carbon copy of Scholtz’s crash that ruined his Q2 session earlier in the day.
Riding a Yamaha YZF-R9 with a set-up that was basically unknown to him since he’d crashed early in Q2 and didn’t get to test the team’s latest set-up, Scholtz nabbed the holeshot from pole position (earned in Friday’s Q1) but used patience while making sure the motorcycle was the way he needed it. Turns out it was good enough as Scholtz raced to his third victory of the season by 4.2 seconds over Jacobsen, who had resigned himself to third before Scott crashed his Suzuki.
A resilient Cameron Petersen’s mood turned from dismay to elation as he fought the pain of his injured shoulder to finish third on his Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati Panigale V2 for his second podium of the season.
In order to get on the podium, Petersen had to pull off a last-lap pass on Strack Racing’s Blake Davis, beating the teenager to the flag by .333 of a second.
Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov was fifth with Scott remounting to finish sixth. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was hot on Scott’s heels and just ahead of BPR Racing Yamaha’s Teagg Hobbs, who came out on top of a race-long battle with his teammate Josh Hayes.
Corey Alexander finished 10th on the third of the Rahal Ducatis.
“I just didn’t feel good,” Scholtz said. “From Friday practice, I was pretty bummed with the pace. We made a few changes coming into qualifying two and I crashed in the third or fourth lap, so didn’t get to try any other changes. Damaged the forks. We had to change that. So, coming into this race now, we didn’t have the same set-up that we had yesterday or in qualifying two. We used some of qualifying two, some that we had on Friday afternoon. I wasn’t really sure how the bike would actually feel. So, the first couple laps I was just kind of feeling out the bike, feeling what it would do, and I didn’t feel good. At the halfway point I was sort of feeling a little bit better, hitting my marks more. But I could see that Tyler (Scott) was actually catching me. I think it was maybe four laps to go, I felt like I did a really good lap time, but I couldn’t see. The dashboard wasn’t working properly. So, I wasn’t sure if I was doing 42s or 43s or whatever, but it felt like I did something good. Then one lap turned to 1.5, so I thought he ran off or he crashed or something. So, I kind of chilled for the last three laps. Overall, I’m really happy with how things went. They worked so hard to get the bike ready for this race. It feels like I’m back up on the Superbike podium with Cam (Petersen) and PJ (Jacobsen). So that’s really cool. But overall, I’ve got a lot of things to try and look at and work on for the second race. To get back to a comfortable feeling. Through the middle of the corner, which is usually a strong point for me, I don’t feel confident. So, I’m really happy I managed to do this well with not feeling good there. So hopefully I can come out swinging and come out a little bit better for the second race.”
SC-Project Twins Cup – Di Mario By A Mile
Alessandro Di Mario destroyed the competition in Saturday’s SC-Project Twins Cup race at Ridge Motorsports Park with the Robem Engineering rider completely dominating the 12-lap race on his Aprilia RS 660.
The win wasn’t a surprise as the Kentuckian had plenty in hand all weekend, lapping two seconds quicker than the competition to take pole position for the two Twins Cup races.
After just five laps, Di Mario led by six seconds and it was a margin that continued to grow to the finish, with Aprilia rider crossing the finish line 12.4 seconds ahead of Karns/TST Industries Levi Badie, who came out the better in a fight with RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Mathew Chapin by .214 of a second.
Fourth place went to Robem Engineering’s Hank Vossberg in his SC-Project Twins Cup debut. Vossberg was mostly alone, 8.9 seconds behind the battle for second and over 15 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Seth Dahmer.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle was in the battle for second until a mechanical issue slowed him. The South African managed to nurse his Yamaha home to sixth but was hit with a sanction after the race. Doyle’s computer was plugged into his bike for two minutes and 30 seconds too long after the team ignored officials’ instructions to remove the cable. Doyle will start his next race from the back of the grid.
“I had a big crash in qualifying so I can’t thank the team enough. Mike, Matt, Chad, just everybody that’s helped me put the bike back together. I wouldn’t be here without them, so I owe it to them. Thank you so much.”
Royal Enfield. Build.Train.Race. – First Of Three To Knebel
With two more races on the docket tomorrow, the women of Build.Train.Race. will have two more shots at trying to catch and beat Kira Knebel.
Knebel won Saturday’s Royal Enfield battle, topping Shea MacGregor by 7.5 seconds with pole-sitter Mirando Cain a shadow third and just .071 of a second behind MacGregor, who made a last-lap pass on Cain after a race-long battle.
The win was Knebel’s third on the season and it came after a practice crash left her with a badly battered motorcycle.
The top three were 26 seconds clear of fourth-placed Kate West, who in turn had 6.9 seconds on Camille Conrad.
“I couldn’t be here without the team,” Knebel said. “That was a very bad crash, and it’s incredible what they were able to pull off in the time that they were. My mechanic, Sean, I told him I had to win this for him because he flew out here early, rebuilt the entire thing, and it was ready for me to just button up once I got here. It’s so incredible what we’re able to do with the support that we have here with the team and all of the sponsors that help make this possible for us. Huge shout out to Royal Enfield and all of the other sponsors involved for getting us those extras and being able to make this happen for me and all the other women here. It’s really important to us to be able to do that. I appreciate all the people that are here watching us and everybody at home that is also helping make that happen.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Powered By Harley Davidson – Weight No More
Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis shrugged off the mandated 38-pound weight-gain on his Harley-Davidson Pan America to win Saturday’s Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race with the Kentuckian leading every lap.
At the finish line, it was Lewis taking the victory over KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli (with his Pan America taking on an additional 24 pounds) by 1.9 seconds.
Third place went to Competition Werkes Racing’s Andy DiBrino and his Triumph 765 RS, with the Oregonian 2.9 seconds ahead of defending class champion Cory West. West had run off track while running second but was able to gather things up to finish fourth.
Rispoli’s KWR teammate Hayden Schultz rounded out the top five.
ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander was sixth, his best finish of the year thus far on the Keanu Reeves-owned 2S-R.
Friday MotoAmerica Superbike
The Superbike pack might want to start paying attention as Jake Gagne is beginning to look like the Jake Gagne of old as he rode his Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1 to provisional pole position on a cloudy and cool Friday afternoon at Ridge Motorsports Park.
It was close at the top as Gagne’s best of 1:39.997 was just .084 of a second quicker than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin with the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion a mere .094 of a second faster than Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim on the provisional front row.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier led the provisional second row, with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion just .996 of a second slower than three-time champ Gagne. Both Gagne and Herrin did their fast laps on their seventh lap.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was fifth-fastest, marginally ahead of his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly.
Bobby Fong ended up seventh, just a tad over a second slower than his teammate.
FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith, Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, and BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau rounded out the top 10.
Motovation Supersport – Scholtz And Jacobsen At The Top
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz led the Motovation Supersport Q2 session on Friday with the defending series champion besting Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen by just .340 of a second with the two championship rivals from a year ago the only two to crack into the 1:42s with their 1:42.221 and 1:42.561 laps, respectively.
Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was third, a tick over a second off the top two and just .051 of a second faster than Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov. The third of the Rahal Ducati’s rounded out the top five in the capable hands of Corey Alexander.
Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen was sixth-fastest, fractions ahead of BPR Racing Yamaha’s Teagg Hobbs. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott rounded out the top 10. Scott was still feeling the effects of being rear-ended in the morning practice session.
SC-Project Twins Cup – Di Mario Rules!
Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario continued to show his mastery of the SC-Project Twins Cup class on Friday with a dominating performance in Q1. When all was said and done in the 30-minute session on the 2.47-mile Ridge Motorsports Park track, Di Mario was on provisional pole with almost two seconds in hand.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle was second, 1.886 seconds behind Di Mario and just a few tenths quicker than Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher.
Karns/TST Industries’ Levi Badie and Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison rounded out the top five.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Powered By Harley-Davidson – Hurry Up And Weight
Local hero Andy DiBrino led the way in Q1 for the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship class at Ridge Motorsports Park with his lap of 1:45.016 putting him .806 of a second clear of the first of a trio of Harley-Davidson Pan Americas.
The first of the Harleys belonged to Hayden Schultz with the KWR Harley-Davidson rider besting Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis and his title-defending and current championship-leading teammate Cory West.
All the Harley-Davidson Pan America riders had to adapt to an increase in the minimum allowable weight of their bikes, a technical rule change instituted as a balancing measure after the previous Super Hooligan round last month at Road America. The Saddlemen Race Development Pan Americas had to add 38 pounds with the KWR Harleys having to add 24 pounds to meet the new minimums
Corey Alexander gave ARCH Racing its best day yet by putting its 2SR on the provisional second row with the fifth-fastest time of the day and just 1.3 seconds from DiBrino.
Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. – All Cain
Championship points leader Miranda Cain was the fastest in the Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. class on Friday at Ridge, with the Minnesotan almost a second quicker than Kira Knebel in Q1.
Shea MacGregor, Kate West and Cassie Creer rounded out the top five on the first day of the race weekend in Washington.
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