Round eight of the 2026 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship is coming to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, September 11-13.
Photos by Brian J. Nelson.
This is a press release/race preview from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (September 8, 2026) – Round eight of the 2026 MotoAmerica Quad Lock Superbike Championship is coming to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, September 11-13, and the battle for the title remains wide open. Four riders are separated by just 38 points, and a total of 125 points remain up for grabs. With the last two rounds in sight, time is running out to close the gap to the leaders and riders will feel the pressure in the Texas heat.
COTA stands as one of the most physically and technically demanding venues on the entire MotoAmerica calendar. The 3.41-mile, 20-turn counterclockwise circuit tests premier Superbike racers and machinery with fast esses, heavy braking zones, and a signature 130-foot elevation climb to turn one. While the long back straight provides critical drafting and passing opportunities into turn 12, the Texas heat forecasted over the weekend will push competitors to their absolute limits, placing a maximum premium on a riders mental and physical endurance.
OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly leads the premier class into Austin, Texas, piloting his high-performance BMW M 1000 RR with an even 250 points. The 24-year-old Floridian has captured 12 podium finishes in 15 races, translating to a staggering 80% podium to this point in the season.
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz is just 17 points behind the leader, Kelly. The South African’s Yamaha YZF-R1 is notoriously solid in the technical sections of the Austin circuit but lacks the outright power and top end speed of the European machines for the 0.6 mile COTA backstretch. The South African will need to lean on his notorious corner speed and maximize edge grip in the technical sections to keep touch with the the draft down the endless back straight.
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing teammates JD Beach and Bobby Fong sit third and fourth in the standings, respectively, with Beach trailing championship leader Sean Dylan Kelly by 31 points and Fong just 38 marks adrift. The duo remains within striking distance of the front and brings a strong track record to the Lone Star State. While Fong secured double-podium success aboard his Yamaha Superbike last year, Beach swept both races in the Stock 1000 class. Both riders have the outright pace to contend for victories and will be fighting for a return to the box in Texas.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Cameron Petersen sits 105 points behind the leader in fifth. The 31-year-old South African knows he will need to put it all on the line to keep himself alive in the championship chase.
M4 Ecstar Suzuki’s Richie Escalante is sixth with 106 points, however the Mexican-native will miss the remainder of the season to heal from injuries sustained in a crash at the previous round. In his place, and making his Quad Lock Superbike class debut will be the team’s 20-year-old Supersport class rider, Tyler Scott. Scott will focus solely on the Superbike class this weekend as the team has another rider lined up for their Supersport machine in Texas.
The top 10 is finished off by Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen in eighth, Escalante’s teammate Brandon Paasch ninth and Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Loris Baz in tenth.
Beaubier’s Return
While the championship fight takes center stage, COTA will also mark the return of a very familiar name to the Quad Lock Superbike grid. Six-time and defending Superbike champion Cameron Beaubier returns to the Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law team after missing five rounds due to a shoulder injury suffered at Road America. The move pushes Frenchman Loris Baz out of his fill-in duties after his recent win in Race 3 at VIRginia International Raceway. Beaubier aims to quickly regain his race pace; given his history of running up front at the Texas circuit, he could easily play the role of spoiler in the lead group.
Superbike Cup
The chase for the separate Superbike Cup trophy is also taking center stage at COTA, where class leader Andrew Lee is on the verge of sealing the deal. Flying the flag for Real Steel Honda with 330 points, Lee sits on a commanding 102-point lead over BPR Racing Yamaha’s Deion campbell in second and 124 over third place competitor Carl Soltisz. With only a handful of races remaining, the 27-year-old just needs a lead of more than 100 points after Saturday’s Race 1 to wrangle the 2026 Superbike Cup crown in Texas.
Aftercare Scheibe Racing Adds Ulsterman Simon Reid For COTA.
Adding to the depth of the field, Aftercare Scheibe Racing is bringing Banbridge, Northern Ireland’s Simon Reid across the Atlantic to make his MotoAmerica Superbike Cup debut. Reid currently competes in the highly competitive Pirelli National Superstock Championship in the UK for Carl Cox BMW by MLav Racing. The talented rider is eager to make the trip to the US to see exactly how his pace stacks up against the MotoAmerica field.
For more information, please visit www.MotoAmerica.com
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Hooligan Champion To Be Crowned While Supersport, Baggers And Talent Cup Begin Penultimate Round In Close Title Fights
Photos by Brian J. Nelson
This is a press release/race preview from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (September 9, 2026) — Four MotoAmerica Feature Classes add a quartet of tight championship fights to this weekend’s Quad Lock Superbike action at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Supersport, Mission King Of The Baggers and Talent Cup all head into COTA with time running out, while the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship reaches its season finale for the class, with the number-one plate up for grabs in Texas.
COTA’s 3.41-mile, 20-turn counterclockwise circuit is one of the most physically and technically demanding venues on the calendar, and it will test every class on the grid. The Texas heat forecast for the weekend is expected to push competitors to their limits across three days of racing, placing a premium on rider endurance and tire management regardless of what machine they’re piloting.
Supersport
For Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse Ducati’s Darryn Binder, COTA is the only track on the MotoAmerica calendar where he has multiple races under his belt. The South African currently holds a 35 point lead over Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin and looks to lean on his prior MotoGP, Moto 2 and Moto 3 experiences to put the points lead further out of reach from Herrin.
Behind the leading duo, Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight’s Kayla Yaakov sits 129 points behind in third. The 19-year-old holds a slim three-point advantage over BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes in fourth. Hayes’ Race 2 win at VIR was the 90th of his lengthy AMA/MotoAmerica career, putting him just two shy of tying Cameron Beaubier’s current all-time record at 92. Hayes has recorded top-five finishes in 10 of 15 races and eyes a podium points spot just ahead.
Rounding out the top five in points is M4 Ecstar Suzuki’s Tyler Scott. Scott will opt out of the Supersport class for COTA to fill in for his injured Superbike teammate Richie Escalante. In the Pennsylvanian’s place and making his MotoAmerica Supersport debut will be the team’s Twins Cup rider, 16-year-old Australian Bodie Paige.
Through a remarkable display of determination and an immense tolerance for the pain of physical rehabilitation, MP13 Racing/One Cure Racing’s Ella Dreher will re-enter the field for the COTA round. The 16-year-old Florida native rejoins the team in Texas after a grueling four-month recovery from her crash at Barber Motorsports Park earlier this year. She looks to regain her race pace before looking forward to 2027 with the MV Agusta-supported team.
Finally, the Supersport grid grows by one for the Texas round as 16-year-old Austin native Mikey Lou Sanchez is set to make his professional debut on home soil. In an impressive milestone for the series’ talent pipeline, the former MotoAmerica Mini Cup champion will pilot a third Celtic Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V2, proving the youth program directly leads to the professional MotoAmerica grid.
Mission King Of The Baggers
J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian’s Hayden Gillim took double victory during the previous round at Mid-Ohio, charging from sixth to win Race 2 by 0.25 of a second over teammate Troy Herfoss. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith rounded out the podium in third, and that’s exactly how the Mission King Of The Baggers field begins their final two rounds with a stop in Texas.
Gillim brings a 23-point lead into COTA, a cushion built on race craft as much as speed. The Kentucky-native has made a habit of finding his way to the front if he isn’t already there at the start.
In second is Herfoss, the only rider with a realistic path to catching his teammate after pushing him to the wire more than once already this year. Smith sits third, 54 points back — technically alive but needing plenty to go his way over the final two rounds if Harley-Davidson is going to have a say in how this one ends.
Talent Cup
Championship leader Kensei Matsudaira of Team Roberts has his hands full behind him after the previous round, salvaging a pair of podium finishes after a challenging weekend in Virginia.
The 15-year-old Californian still leads the standings, but the margin that once stood at 23 points is down to just five after Quarterley Racing’s Nathan Gouker clawed back 18 with his double-victory performance at his home round. Matsudaira had to fight for every position to protect it, and he’ll need more of that grit at COTA to keep the pressure from turning into a deficit before the final round in New Jersey.
Gouker is the one applying it, riding a wave of momentum after his second straight win on home-region asphalt. Team Hammer’s Jake Paige rounds out the top three, 73 points back — technically still in the conversation, but needing a big weekend, and then some help, to stay in the hunt.
COTA isn’t new to this group — it’s where the 2026 season began. Matsudaira and Gouker split the two season-opening races back in March, trading wins separated by two-tenths of a second and a quarter-second, while Paige and Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane swapped the final two podium spots by similarly slim margins in both races. That was before the series had turned a single competitive lap of the season. Now, with a full championship’s worth of racing and data behind them, all four return to Texas with a level of track knowledge none of them had back in March — enough that COTA could play out as a completely different race this time around.
Super Hooligan
Andy DiBrino held off BPR Racing Yamaha teammate and Team Owner Bryce Kornbau by 0.216 of a second at Mid-Ohio, making a last-lap pass in the esses to continue a mid-to-late season trend of the two swapping wins over the last four rounds, and DiBrino on a run of six straight podiums.
DiBrino’s cushion at the front is just as thin — a five-point lead with two races and 50 points left to award. He’s had to earn every bit of it as Kornbau has set multiple lap records this season and the margin could swing either way in Texas.
Gus Rodio (Rodio Racing) sits third, 19 points back, and remains the only other rider with a mathematical path to the title. Defending champion James Rispoli of Saddlemen Race Development, 53 points behind with just 50 on the table, has officially run out of road — leaving the fight for the 2026 crown to the top three at this final stop in Texas.
For more information, please visit www.MotoAmerica.com
Click here to see all the TV and Livestream Racing Listings on Cycle News.
