Superbike Race Two
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier won his 90th career AMA road race on Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, making him the all-time winningest AMA road racer in history. The 90th win came today via his 69th career AMA Superbike victory, and it ended a winless streak that dated all the way back to May 2 at Road Atlanta in a weekend that saw him sweep the Superbike doubleheader. Since then, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion has struggled, yet somehow remained in the hunt for a sixth title.
Today’s 90th victory was a big one as it moved him to within 17 points of championship points leader Bobby Fong and 10 points ahead of Josh Herrin with the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion ending what was a miserable weekend for the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider with a crash that left him with lower-leg injuries.
It all started with Herrin and Fong making contact in turn six at the end of the back straight on the seventh of 19 laps while disputing second place. Fong had moved to the inside to protect from being passed, but Herrin still tried to go there. The two made contact and ran off track, with Herrin getting the worst of it. Fong was able to get back on track quickly, rejoining in seventh place. Herrin wasn’t as fortunate as he had to remove his Ducati from the air fence. By that time, Herrin was way back in 17th, and it only got worse.
With five laps to go, as he was trying to make up positions and championship points, Herrin crashed out of the race, bringing out the red flag and ending the race prematurely.
By the time Fong and Herrin had their altercation, Beaubier was in the lead. With his top two rivals buried at the middle and back of the pack, the Californian was able to control the pace to win by 3.4 seconds over Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne, with the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion continuing to gain strength in his right arm.
Fong, meanwhile, was on a charge that got him all the way to third by the time the red flag was thrown. Fong and his Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R1 ended up 7.4 seconds behind Beaubier and just 0.224 of a second ahead of Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, who was fighting to try and get his first Superbike podium with the Honda CBR1000RR-R SP after his teammate JD Beach was able to make that happen in Saturday’s race one.
Beach, meanwhile, was a tick over a second behind the Fong/Gillim battle and some four seconds clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, who in turn was eight seconds ahead of his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith, and BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau rounded out the top 10.
With two rounds and five races left on the MotoAmerica Superbike schedule, Fong leads Beaubier by 17, 278-261, with Herrin third with 251 points. Gagne and Escalante round out the top five with 220 and 154 points, respectively.
Superbike Race 2
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Hayden Gillim (Honda)
- JD Beach (Honda)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Bryce Kornbau (Yamaha)
Supersport Race Two
By now it’s obvious that Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto w/ XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen are going to swap wins back and forth until someone is crowned MotoAmerica Supersport Champion in the season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park at the end of September. What also became clear this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is that Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen may play a big role in the outcome.
A day after Jacobsen won the first of two Motovation Supersport races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, Scholtz turned the tables and scored the victory on Sunday. On the days those two didn’t win, they didn’t finish second. They finished third. That’s because Petersen was in the battle, and the South African came away with two third-place finishes.
Sunday’s race featured another terrific three-rider battle at the front of the pack. Scholtz did the majority of the leading as the three ran in formation with the race coming to a stop when a red flag was thrown for a downed motorcycle on the eighth of 18 laps.
When the race was restarted, it was much of the same with the top three again the top three. Scholtz and his Yamaha were able to get unmatched drives out of the Keyhole and onto the back straight, which usually meant Scholtz was out of reach of the other two by the time they got down to turn six, the most popular place on the track to pass.
Jacobsen made one big attempt at out-braking Scholtz into six, but he couldn’t get the Ducati stopped in time to make the corner and stay on line.
Scholtz crossed the finish line just .081 of a second ahead of Petersen with Jacobsen only .323 of a second behind in third.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was fourth, almost three seconds behind, with Strack Racing’s Blake Davis and Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov right on his tail in fifth and sixth, respectively.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes ended up seventh after getting the best of 3D Motorsports’ Brandon Paasch, in his return to racing.
Hayes’ teammate Teagg Hobbs and MP13’s Aiden Sneed rounded out the top 10.
Scholtz leads the title chase by seven points, 283-276. Davis is third with 210 points, with Petersen on the move with 169 points.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Race Two
KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli came into the season finale of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship on the outside looking in. He leaves Ohio as the class champion after sweeping the two races, including the winner-take-all race two on Sunday afternoon.
With championship points leader Cory West having a mechanical problem late in the race while battling in the top three, his teammate Jake Lewis needed to beat race leader Rispoli in order to take the title. In the closing stages, Lewis caught a false neutral in the penultimate corner and ran wide, allowing Rispoli to pull away to a lead he’d not relinquish. Rispoli would cross the finish line with only 0.758 of a second to spare, and the championship was his – by just four points over Lewis.
With Lewis second in the race, the battle for third went to the finish line with Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle beating ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander by just 0.138 of a second, thus preventing Alexander from giving ARCH its first podium finish in its debut season. With his fourth-place finish matching yesterday’s fourth, the team duplicated what was its best finish of the year.
Saddlemen Race Development’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top five.
Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two
S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss and RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley Davidson’s Hayden Gillim took part in an outright war for victory in Sunday’s Mission King Of The Baggers race. With both riders on the edge for the entire race, something had to give on the last lap, and it did.
With the pair side by side going down the back straight and through the high-speed kink, they arrived together at turn six, a tight right-hander. Herfoss was on the outside, Gillim the inside. And both were going too fast to make the corner. Gillim ran wide and onto the grass while Herfoss was able to get the Indian turned enough to stay on track. Gillim stayed on the throttle, accelerated his way through the gravel and the grass, and rejoined the pack to finish sixth.
Phew.
Once he’d realized that Gillim was out of the picture, Herfoss cruised in for the win**, his second of the season, with Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman crossing the line a half-second behind for second place.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara was third after getting the better of SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s James Rispoli rounded out the top five, just ahead of Gillim.
Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers and Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Travis Wyman were involved in a big crash together early in the race. Both were fortunate to escape injury.
**UPDATE August 21, 2025
Troy Herfoss Disqualified From Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two At Mid-Ohio MotoAmerica ** scroll to end of article to see more details.
Stock 1000 Race Two
The Stock 1000 race got started on Sunday at Mid-Ohio with just one point separating OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee from Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach, but that didn’t last as drama started before the race ever did.
Beach pulled into pit lane at the end of the warmup lap with an electrical issue on his motorcycle. The crew worked on it, and Beach left pit lane to try again. But, again, it failed him. Then a red flag was thrown, and the race would be a complete restart, giving the team more time to work on the bike.
Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t gone, as Beach found out on the sighting lap, and it was game over. As Beach said, “that’s racing.” Yesterday was the highest of highs for him and his team, and today was the lowest of lows.
Back to racing, and it was a four-rider fight at the top with Lee’s teammate Jayson Uribe leading Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, Lee, and BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. And there was more drama to come, as with four-laps to go in the shortened eight-lap race, Yates and Kornbau came together in turn seven with both crashing into the air fence.
That left Lee vs. Uribe with the victory going to Lee, his fourth of the season, by 0.228 of a second.
BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell earned his first MotoAmerica podium by finishing third with the Californian taking advantage of his team owner Kornbau and Yates crashing together.
Castrol/Lamkin Racing’s Nolan Lamkin and Edge Racing’s Jason Waters rounded out the top five.
Going into the last Stock 1000 round at Circuit of The Americas, Lee holds a 26-point lead over Beach, 163-154. Uribe is third with 134 points. Fifty points will be available in Texas in a few weeks.
Superbike Race One
Plain and simple, Bobby Fong is starting to look a lot like a MotoAmerica Superbike Champion. On a sunny and hot day in central Ohio, Fong rode his Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R1 to a fifth-straight victory and that victory, combined with Josh Herrin’s seventh-place finish, vaulted the Californian into the championship points lead.
The race was delayed after a red flag was thrown on the opening lap as oil had been dropped in the all-important turn six, the right-hander at the end of the back straight. It’s important because it’s the place where many a pass is made. Not so after oil dry on the racing line was slippery when the race was restarted, forcing riders to either go inside or outside the oil dry.
The first to suffer from it was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin. The championship points leader was demonstrative on the start line, waving his arms to try and get things stopped. The race went on, and Herrin almost crashed in the problem area on the opening lap, which led to more arm-waving as he lost several positions and fell back to the bottom third of the results. From there he would forge forward, ultimately finishing seventh to score nine points.
Turn six struck again on the final lap when Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier attempted to pass Fong and had to run off the track to avoid crashing. It took him a bit to navigate the gravel trap and by the time he’d rejoined, he’d dropped from a certain second place back to sixth.
Beaubier’s miscue slotted everyone back to Herrin up a spot with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly inheriting second place after fighting off the barrage of late-race attacks from Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach.
It was a magical day for Beach as he not only put his Stock 1000-spec Honda CBR1000RR-R SP on the podium, but in the process, he was the highest- finishing MotoAmerica Superbike Cup rider for the 13th time this season. Oh, and Beach also won the Stock 1000 race held earlier in the day to move into serious championship contention.
With Beaubier’s run-off, Fong crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of Kelly with Beach, Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, and Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim all crossing the finish line in close succession. Second to fifth were separated by just 0.805 of a second.
After his extended run through the gravel, a disappointed Beaubier rejoined in sixth place, some four seconds ahead of an angry Herrin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10.
With six races left to run, including race two at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course tomorrow, Fong now leads the title chase by 11 points over Herrin, 262-251. Beaubier is third, 26 points behind Fong and 15 behind Herrin.
Superbike Race 1
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (Honda)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Hayden Gillim (Honda)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Mission King of The Baggers Race One
After suffering mechanical DNFs while leading both Mission King Of The Baggers races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca a month ago, Hayden Gillim went home and didn’t talk to anyone. He wasn’t a happy camper.
This weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Gillim seems hell-bent on making up for the Laguna Seca disappointment with pent-up domination. On Saturday, Gillim got started on his plan of revenge with victories in both the winner-take-all Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge, and in the first of two Mission King Of The Baggers Championship races.
It was Gillim’s first victory of the season in the class on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Road Glide, and it was well-earned as it came with never-ending pressure from behind in the form of S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss.
Gillim led every lap of the final, beating Herfoss to the finish line by just 0.173 of a second.
New father and runaway championship points leader Kyle Wyman was third on his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide, just 0.337 of a second ahead of his teammate James Rispoli. A few seconds behind the two factory Harleys came SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen on his Indian Challenger.
Sixth place went to Herfoss’ teammate Loris Baz with the Frenchman some four seconds ahead of Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers. S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara, Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Travis Wyman, and Lyndall Brakes/M3’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
Motovation Supersport Race One
With Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz winning four of the past six Motovation Supersport races coming into the Mid-Ohio round, it was imperative that Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen turn the tables. On Saturday, he did just that.
Jacobsen got the jump on the field from pole position, led into turn one, and was never headed with the New Yorker doing exactly what he needed to do to close the gap to Scholtz in the Motovation Supersport Championship. He also got a little help from Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen, with the South African finishing second, which pushed championship points leader Scholtz down to third.
So, after 18 laps of racing, Jacobsen went from seven points behind in the championship chase to two points ahead of Scholtz, 260-258. Blake Davis is third with 199 points.
The rider who gave Jacobsen the most to think about was Petersen, with the South African staying within striking distance for most of the race. In the closing laps, Scholtz made a charge, though, finishing just 0.109 of a second behind his countryman.
Scholtz’ teammate Davis won the battle for fourth over Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott by 0.013 of a second in a photo finish.
Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov was a lonely sixth, some nine seconds clear of BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes, who won the battle of veterans over Team Hammer’s Larry Pegram. MP13 Racing’s Aiden Sneed and Rahal Ducati Moto w/ Roller Die’s Corey Alexander rounded out the top 10.
Stock 1000 Race One
Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach won his third Stock 1000 race in a row on Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with the win moving him to within a championship point of OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee.
Beach took off from the start and never looked back with the two OrangeCat Racing BMWs doing their best to keep up. Jayson Uribe did the best job of it, but he couldn’t match Beach.
Lee was doing damage control in third place, and he narrowly held off BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau at the finish line. If he’d slipped to fourth, the title lead would have gone to Beach.
As it stands now, Lee leads Beach, 138-137, with Uribe third on 114 points.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Race One
The Mission Super Hooligan National Championship will be decided in the season finale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course tomorrow and it’s really anybody’s title to win after Saturday’s battle.
KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli raced his Pan America to victory for the third race in a row, putting him just six points behind Saddlemen Race Development’s Cory West, who struggled to an eighth-place finish that virtually erased his championship points lead.
West’s teammate Jake Lewis finished a tick over a second behind Rispoli, and his second-place finish moved him to just five points behind West.
The final podium spot fell to Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle, who was some two seconds behind Lewis and four seconds ahead of ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander, the New Yorker riding the new bike to its best finish of its debut season.
Friday Superbike
If the first qualifying session of the weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is any indication, it seems as though Cameron Beaubier and Bobby Fong smell blood in the water.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beaubier and Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Fong started the weekend first and second in Q1, the pair separated by just 0.121 of a second, and half a second faster than Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne.
Fong has the hot hand with four-straight MotoAmerica Superbike wins coming into this weekend’s seventh round. He trails Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s defending class champion Josh Herrin by five points after Herrin’s race-two crash at VIRginia International Raceway two weeks ago.
Beaubier’s title hopes were also bolstered by Herrin’s miscue, and the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion is back in the hunt, 16 points behind Herrin and his Ducati.
Beaubier’s best of 1:24.176 on Friday was 0.537 of a second off Ben Spies’ Mid-Ohio lap record of 1:23.639, which was set by the Texan and his factory Yoshimura Suzuki in 2008.
With Beaubier, Fong, and Gagne making up the provisional front row, the second row was led by Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, with the Kentuckian 0.717 of a second off Beaubier’s best. Those four were the only riders to crack the 1:25 barrier with their 1:24s.
Herrin ended the day fifth-fastest and 0.943 of a second slower than Beaubier’s quick lap. The championship points leader and defending champion was 0.728 of a second faster than Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly.
Kelly’s teammate Richie Escalante was seventh, with Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau, and FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith rounding out the top 10 qualifiers on a sunny Friday in Ohio.
Motovation Supersport – Jacobsen, Barely
As has become the norm, Motovation Supersport Q1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was a Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen/Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz battle with Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen keeping watch from close range.
When the 30-minute session was complete, it was Jacobsen on top with his 1:27.032, which was 0.202 of a second better than his rival and championship points leader Scholtz. Petersen was 0.634 of a second behind Jacobsen to complete the provisional front row heading into tomorrow morning’s Q2. The top three were the only riders to lap in the 1:27s.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was fourth, a tick over a second adrift of Jacobsen and just 0.107 of a second ahead of Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis, with Rahal Ducati Moto w/Roller Die’s Corey Alexander completing the provisional second row.
Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Max Van, Team Hammer’s ageless Larry Pegram, Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov, and the returning-to-racing Brandon Paasch, on the 3D Motorsports Suzuki, rounded out the top 10.
Super Hooligan National Championship – First Blood To Rispoli
Twenty-two points separate the top three in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship going into this weekend’s final two races, with Cory West leading Jake Lewis by 16 points and James Rispoli by 22.
Of the three, it was Rispoli drawing first blood in Friday afternoon’s Q1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with the KWR Harley-Davidson-backed Floridian taking the top spot with his 1:29.575, which was almost a half-second faster than the next quickest rider.
The rider in second wasn’t West, and it wasn’t Lewis. It was Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle who came closest to Rispoli with his 1:30.060.
Then came the first of the Saddlemen Race Development riders with an almost-back-to-fitness Jake Lewis third-fastest and 0.521 of a second off Rispoli’s best. His time was just 0.051 of a second better than his championship-leading teammate West. The third of the Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America’s rounded out the top five in the capable hands of Travis Wyman.
Stock 1000 – Hondas A Go-Go
Back in the day, the annual AMA Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course were always sponsored by Honda. Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates showed that red is alive and well in Ohio with a resounding one-two in Friday’s Q1 on their Honda CBR1000RR-R SPs.
Beach, hot off his two wins at VIR two weeks ago, led Q1 with his 1:26.078, just 0.379 of a second ahead of Yates. OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe was the first non-Honda in third on his BMW M 1000 RR.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau ended up fourth-fastest, 0.796 of a second slower than Beach’s best and 0.013 of a second ahead of championship points leader Andrew Lee and his OrangeCat Racing BMW.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters, Castrol/Lamkin Racing’s Nolan Lamkin, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers, BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell, and The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis rounded out the top 10.
Taylor Knapp ended up 11th in his first-ever outing on the PS2 Racing Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Gillim The Untouchable
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim put the Mission King Of The Baggers class on notice. He ain’t messin’ around.
Still hurting from his two mechanical DNFs while leading the two Bagger races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Gillim seems hellbent on taking it out on his competition at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. At least thus far.
Gillim led Friday’s Q2 session with his lap of 1:28.019, which was 0.621 of a second clear of his young teammate Rocco Landers.
Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s James Rispoli was third-fastest with his 1:28.722, just 0.286 of a second ahead of defending class champion Troy Herfoss and his S&S/Indian Motorcycle Indian Challenger.
Q1 was stopped when Bradley Smith had a big crash on his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide with some five minutes to go in the session. A shaken Smith walked away and still ended the session fifth-fastest, 0.274 of a second ahead of his teammate and runaway championship leader Kyle Wyman.
**UPDATE August 21, 2025
Troy Herfoss Disqualified From Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two At Mid-Ohio MotoAmerica
The following is from MotoAmerica…
On Sunday, August 17, Troy Herfoss was disqualified after winning Mission King Of The Baggers race two at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Mansfield, Ohio, when his S&S/Indian Motorcycle Challenger was found to be in violation of Section 2.3.10 of the 2025 MotoAmerica/AMA Road Racing/FIM North America Regulations. Herfoss appealed the decision, and the FIM North America Appeal Stewards upheld the decision of the FIM North America Stewards, thereby denying Herfoss’ appeal.
The sanction can be found HERE.
With Herfoss’ disqualification, the results from Sunday’s race two are now official with each rider moving up a spot in the finishing order. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman has been declared the race winner over S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara, who has been credited with second place. SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen has been credited with third place.
The 2025 Mission King Of The Baggers Championship standings have been changed to reflect the updated results from race two.
Updated Mission King Of The Baggers Championship Standings
A STATEMENT FROM INDIAN MOTORCYCLE:
Following Sunday’s King of the Baggers main event at Mid-Ohio, the Indian Motorcycle S&S Factory Racing #1 Indian Challenger was subject to a complete tear-down technical inspection. Based on the inspection, a technical sanction was issued against the team, stating that the Indian Motorcycle S&S Factory Racing #1 Indian Challenger was in violation of the official rules. The specific violation was the ballast material chosen to increase the weight of the bike to meet the 620 pound minimum weight requirement for the class. The result of this decision was a disqualification for Troy Herfoss from the main event on Sunday.
It’s important to note that our bike was not in violation of the stated vehicle weight requirement of the MotoAmerica official rules for the King of the Baggers class. In this instance, the vehicle weight was not what was in question. What was in question was the team’s material choice and use of solidified liquid aluminum in the installation of ballast required to ensure our bike met the minimum weight requirement.
It was, and remains, our belief that our team and the #1 Indian Challenger was in full compliance with the rules, based on the specific language of MotoAmerica’s official rules, section 2, article 3.10.B and we immediately appealed this decision.
For clarification, the rule reads as follows:
“The ballast must be made of (a) solid metallic piece(s) firmly and securely connected either through an adapter or directly to the main frame or engine with a minimum of two (2) steel bolts (min. 8 mm diameter, 8.8 grade or over). Other equivalent must be submitted to the Technical Director for his approval.”
To add the required amount of ballast the team installed a steel bar sealed within a solidified aluminum casing that is installed inside the frame using 2 – 12mm grade 10.9 bolts. Being that the material we used was metallic, solid, and bolted to the frame with bolts exceeding the listed requirements we feel we met the requirements for the ballast used and how it was attached. We also believe that our chosen form of ballast granted no performance advantages.
However, after further discussions with AMA/FIM officials during the appeal process regarding the specific nature, and language of the rule, the AMA/FIM has taken a position that the use of solidified liquid metal represents an inaccurate “interpretation” of the language of the rule and thus, has followed through with its technical sanction, resulting in the official disqualification of Troy Herfoss from Race 2 on Sunday.
While we are disappointed with this outcome and its impact on our success at Mid-Ohio, we respect the interpretation and ultimately, the decision of the AMA/FIM officials.
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com
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