Jake Gagne made it 10 race wins in a row in the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Championship on Saturday, but this one was different. Gagne crashed and still managed to win the first AMA Superbike race held at BIR in 17 years.
Even a crash couldn’t stop Gagne topping the podium ahead of Bobby Fong and Mathew Scholtz
Leading the race on the second lap, Gagne crashed in front of the pack and was stuck in the middle of the track as the field motored by on both sides. He finally ran to safety and, with his bike still on track, a red flag was thrown, stopping the race. Fortunately for Gagne, his Yamaha suffered only minor damage and he was able to ride back to the hot pit for repairs prior to the restart.
From there it was typical Gagne as he grabbed the lead and pulled away, ultimately besting M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong by 4.675 seconds to win his 10th race of the year and extending his championship points lead to 74 points. The win, which was also the 10th of his career, moves him into a tie with Mike Baldwin for 19th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Jake Gagne – P1
“That was the highest my heart rate has probably been in a while. We sat on the grid for a long time both times. I know we were all kind of wondering what was going on. I know there was a crash on the warmup lap or the sighting lap. I saw the guy right next to me in the grass go flying by. So, that was just a weird start. I know all our tires were a little cold there at the beginning. I think with that quick of a heat fluctuation, you put so much heat in these tires in turn one and two especially, so from going that cool… I even spun the tire off the line, which I’ve never done in my life. I just lit it up. So, it was just weird. It caught me by surprise. I went into turn three and was barely on the gas. The thing came around on me and I just kept going. I was wondering if it was going to highside me. Luckily, it didn’t. I just kind of lowsided and then I’m sitting there in the middle of the track watching Superbikes fly at me. Luckily, everybody is looking ahead. We can see something is going on, so nothing bad happened. I’m just fortunate that that Yamaha slid. We bent a little lever. We had to mess around with the bars. The only thing that was wrong, we were just a little tweaked during the race, but it was totally fine. Hats off to the team because they hustled. We got that bike together right in the nick of time to get back out for pit lane. Again, thanks to Alpinestars for protecting me. I had a long slide, and the bike was really just sliding on top of me, so it was like digging my butt in the ground. We got a new suit on and went out there and did it again. So, I’m pumped I got another good start. I knew these guys were coming. Tomorrow will be another show. I know it’s tightening up every time. We’ve just got to keep doing our thing and focusing on our part.”
Jake Gagne makes it 10 in a row in Minnesota
For Fong the race ended a podium drought that dates back to the very first race of the year at Road Atlanta in May. The battle for third was fought out between the two South Africans – Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen.
At the completion of the 15-lap race it was Scholtz grabbing third for his seventh podium of the year, though it still allowed Gagne to pull farther away in the title chase. Gagne now leads Scholtz by a whopping 74 points, 250-176. Petersen, meanwhile, made a big move to third in the championship, moving past Josh Herrin, who missed the race after testing positive for COVID-19.
Petersen held on for fourth, some 2.5 seconds behind Scholtz and 14.2 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Hector Barbera on the Scheibe Racing BMW.
JD Beach battled early in the race with Barbera but ended up sixth on the second Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha in his replacement ride for Herrin.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was seventh and that put him at the top of the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for those riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the HONOS Superbike race.
Franklin Armory/Andrew Lee Racing’s Andrew Lee was eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Kawasaki ZX-10R ahead of FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony and his teammate Bradley Ward with the Suzuki-mounted pair finishing ninth and 10th, respectively.
Notable among the non-finishers was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz with the Frenchman crashing out of the race on the second lap with his Ducati Panigale V4 R too damaged to repair for the restart.
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne won his eighth straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, but this one was different. This one was close.
Jake Gagne – 2021 MotoAmerica Round 5 Laguna Seca
How close? Just a tick over a second and that was the biggest lead of the race as Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz finished just 1.173 seconds behind Gagne after applying relentless pressure for the duration of the red-flag interrupted race. Baz was all smiles after having his best race of the season thus far.
Third place went to M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen, 3.6 seconds behind Baz, and that meant the podium consisted of three different manufacturers (Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki) and three different nationalities (American, French and South African).
Fourth went to another South African in the form of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the Yamaha rider ending up 1.3 seconds adrift of his countryman Petersen and over 12 seconds ahead of Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Josh Herrin.
Some four seconds behind Herrin came Scheibe Racing’s Hector Barbera, the Spaniard beating M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong. The returning Toni Elias ended up eighth on Kyle Wyman’s Panera Bread Ducati.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis finished ninth over Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and won the Superbike Cup in the process.
Honos Superbike Race 2
Jake Gagne actually got passed at Laguna Seca in Race 2, but it only lasted two corners. Gagne ran off the track on the run from turn five to turn six on the opening lap and the mistake allowed Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz to pass him.
What followed was a frenzied 20 or so seconds as Gagne, Baz and Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz rubbed elbows and motorcycles through the Corkscrew and Rainey Curve. When the dust settled, Gagne was back in front.
And that was all she wrote. Despite constant pressure from Baz for the duration, Gagne was able to maintain his composure to beat the Frenchman by 1.789 seconds and win his ninth straight HONOS Superbike race. The win also increased his championship points lead to 65 points over Scholtz, 225-160.
Jake Gagne
“That turn five, when you get out there on a Superbike you start sliding,” Gagne explained when asked about his off-track excursion. “That curb comes back. If you get out on the curb, it’s almost tough to get back off it. I just slid out there a little too much. It was one of those things. I thought I was going to save it, and then the rear tire kind of hopped back off. Then all of a sudden, I was in the dirt. But I kind of dropped the throttle. The Yamaha still hooked up good in the dirt with the slicks on, so I just got back up on the curb. Loris (Baz) came by, then Mat (Scholtz) came by the Corkscrew. They both kind of ran wide in the Corkscrew, so I was able to just dive up tight on the Corkscrew and around the side of Rainey (Curve). I managed to kind of get that back and I knew I got to go. Obviously, I was keeping an eye on my pit board. I knew Loris was there. I knew Mat was there. They didn’t give me any issues to go. I saw a couple .2, .3, and then they’d pull a tenth back, they’d grab a 10th, they’d pull a couple tenths back… So, it was kind of back and forth.”
Jake Gagne – 2021 MotoAmerica Round 5 Laguna Seca
Gagne had been challenged all weekend by Baz and admitted that Sunday was the biggest challenge he’d faced all year. For Baz and his Ducati team it was a solid weekend where they made big improvements to the Panigale V4 R.
With Gagne beating Baz for the second straight day, it was Scholtz finishing third on Sunday. The South African ended up 7.8 seconds behind Baz after keeping the two in front of him in sight for most of the race.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was fourth on Sunday, a day after finishing third. He ended up some six seconds ahead of Gagne’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s teammate Josh Herrin, who in turn was seven seconds ahead of Petersen’s teammate Bobby Fong.
Loris Baz, Jake Gagne and Mathew Scholtz on the Superbike Sunday podium
Panera Bread Ducati’s Toni Elias got the better of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera after a race-long duel to finish seventh. Elias was riding the Ducati in place of the injured Kyle Wyman at Laguna Seca, but Wyman will return to the HONOS Superbike class in three weeks at Brainerd International Raceway.
Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and BPR Tuning’s Bryce Prince rounded out the top 10 finishers while also finishing first and second in the Superbike Cup.
2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Round 4 – The Ridge
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Honos Superbike Race 1
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne’s plan doesn’t seem to change from race to race, and it’s a strategy that is paying dividends. Qualify on pole position, get the jump on everyone off the start and put the race out of reach in the first handful of laps.
Jake Gagne in the lead
Such was the case again on a scorching hot Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park, the Californian winning his sixth-straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race after leading from start to finish.
Gagne, who broke the track record during Q2 on Saturday morning, was unstoppable again. He led every lap and if it wasn’t for the oppressive heat, it could have been classified as a walk in the park.
Jake Gagne was unstoppable at The Ridge
Second place went to Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion finding something in his setup that made him faster and more comfortable than in previous races. The second-place finish was Herrin’s best thus far in 2021 and he was 4.49 seconds behind Gagne after 17 laps.
Herrin’s first few laps were a bit daunting, and he came very close to crashing after losing the front at one point.
Herrin had his hands full for the majority of the race with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen with the South African hounding Herrin until giving up the chase after running wide in the turn one chicane. He ended up some four seconds behind in third place.
Josh Herrin
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz ended up fourth and 14 seconds behind Gagne after qualifying second and looking like he might have a challenge for Gagne in the race.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz crossed the finish line some five seconds behind Baz in fifth place, well clear of HONOS HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander. Alexander put in a solid ride to finish a career-best sixth in the HONOS Superbike class while winning the Superbike Cup for racers riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony finished seventh, which matched his best of the season. Then came M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, who managed to finish eighth despite a mechanical problem. Anthony’s FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ teammate Jayson Uribe and Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Honos Superbike Race 2
Gagne followed this up by winning his seventh straight HONOS Superbike race on a flaming hot Sunday in the Pacific Northwest as record, triple-digit temperatures scorched the area, making the racing a survival of the fittest.
Jake Gagne took an even more dominant win Sunday
At least on track, Gagne (“the gnarlier the better”) was definitely the fittest and he led into turn one only to find his teammate Herrin too close for comfort as the two very nearly came together.
Once the turn-one melee sorted itself out, it was clear sailing for Gagne as he established his normal lead and then maintained it to the finish.
Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin
Jake Gagne
“I didn’t get the best jump. I didn’t get a jump like I did yesterday. I saw his (Josh Herrin’s) wheel coming up around the outside of me. He threw it in one, and I threw it in there, too. It was good to see a wheel and do some racing, because it was kind of a lonely one yesterday. I knew these boys would step it up today. We made a couple changes today. Made the bike a little bit easier to ride. With how hot it is, you can’t just go down there and try to throw down the first couple laps. You just got to ride and just put the bike in a place where it’s comfortable and not use up these tyres too much. Once on my pit board I see just a (plus) .5 or something, I know probably Josh (Herrin) can’t stick it in from a half a second away, so that just allows me to kind of run my lines, relax. So, it was nice. I enjoyed the heat out there. It was hot. It was probably one of the hottest races I ever remember, but I feel really good. The gnarlier the better. I like it. Again, hats off to the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Yamaha. The boys work hard and no matter how much we win by or if we barely win, we’re going to keep working harder to try to do what we know we can do, so hats off to those guys and all the fans. It was good to have fans back here in Washington after being alone here last year, especially in this heat. They stuck it out in record-breaking heat up here. Roll on to Laguna. I love that track. Let’s do it.”
Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin celebrate
Herrin gave it his all and ended up second for the second straight day, giving a lot of the credit for his newfound speed to new riding coach Josh Hayes.
Josh Herrin
“It’s been such a great weekend! This season’s been really tough, but we’ve been putting in a lot of work, and we finally got our mojo back, and I’m riding like myself again. I have to give a huge thanks to the entire team for all of their hard work and also to Josh Hayes for helping turn my year around with the amazing coaching! I’m so appreciative of everybody on the team. They’ve stuck behind me when I was bummed out. We’ve just got to get to the level that Jake’s at right now. He’s just got that little bit at the beginning of the race, and today, I struggled in the middle of the race with the heat. I need to figure out how to get that one-lap pace back that I used to have at the beginning of the race, and I’ll be right there. I’m really looking forward to Laguna!”
Josh Herrin
Third place went to Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman struggling to ride a difficult Ducati Panigale V4 R in the heat around the 2.47-mile racetrack. It was Baz’s third podium finish of the season.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz improved to fourth from his fifth-place finish on Saturday, the South African just two seconds clear of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera. It was the Spaniard’s best finish thus far in his debut season of racing in the MotoAmerica Series.
Yesterday’s third-place finisher Cameron Petersen was fighting with Baz for third again when he was slowed by a technical issue that pushed him down the order to sixth. He ended up some 20 seconds ahead of his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Bobby Fong.
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ owner/racer David Anthony got the better of HONOS HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander and Anthony’s teammate Jayson Uribe to finish eighth. Alexander and Uribe rounded out the top 10 finishers with Alexander winning the Superbike Cup for racers armed with Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.
2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Round Three – Road America
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Jake Gagne made if four wins in a row in the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike class on Saturday, the Californian also taking over the lead in the championship at Road America.
Jake Gagne leading the Superbikes
In a carbon copy of his three other victories, Gagne led from pole position and was never headed. He was the only rider to lap in the 2:11s and pulled away to what was ultimately a 5.987-second victory.
Jake Gagne
“When we brought this Yamaha off the truck on Friday it felt really, really good. This track is just unique. I knew these guys were going to go. When you get to a race here at this track, we’ve got these long straightaways and people can make up time. It’s one thing doing it in practice, but these guys will step it up in the race. My first couple laps were really, really solid. Didn’t want to make any mistakes. Just tried to be smooth, be easy on these tires. Just kind of barely creeped away. It wasn’t much. It wasn’t like VIR. These guys were on my toes. I could see a couple of those spots you can see the big TV and you see those blue bikes and the red bike battling around. Hats off to the crew. They keep working, working, working no matter how fast we are. Even if we’ve got a little gap, they keep working and we keep going faster and that’s the plan. I think we learned a lot even today. I think we can try to brush some things up tomorrow because these boys are going to be coming.”
The battle for second was a good one with Loris Baz storming through in the last few laps to go from fourth to second, passing both M4 ECSTAR Suzukis to finish behind Gagne after making dramatic changes to his Ducati Panigale V4 R prior to the race.
Loris Baz
“We changed the bike a lot. Every session I would go out with a completely different bike. In race one, we changed the swingarm more than once just 20 minutes before the race because we got a lot of data. We tried a lot of things. That bike never rode actually with the Dunlop tire. We have to find the setup and work with the style. I was struggling all weekend. Finally, I trust my guys. The early laps it was really hard because when you go with a new bike and everyone is pushing hard, I was just slow. Then I took pace. I saw Cam (Petersen) was really fast coming on Bobby (Fong) and I just hope that he overtake him really soon so I can come back, and (this) is exactly what happened. Going into the last lap, I managed to overtake Bobby before the finish line. So, I said, ‘okay.’ I just tried to stay with Cam, but it was hard because also Bobby was just behind. In the last corner, I just wanted to open the line to have a good drive, but I had to close the door for Bobby. It was tough. But we’re getting there step by step. It’s really hard getting to try so many things in such a small amount of time, but that’s our challenge. Congrats to Cam. Hats off to Jake. We have to work really hard to catch him. Massive thanks to all the team. That one goes to Jason (Dupasquier, who passed away from injuries suffered in a qualifying crash for the Italian Moto3 Grand Prix).”
Loris Baz
Baz passed both Bobby Fong and Cameron Petersen on the run to the flag with just .073 of a second covering the three-rider battle for second. Petersen held on for third for his first MotoAmerica Superbike podium with his teammate Fong a shadow fourth.
Some eight seconds behind the battle for second, the battle for fifth was settled at the line with Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin barely besting Mathew Scholtz for the spot.
Another some 11 seconds behind came a tussle for seventh that went to Kyle Wyman over Hector Barbera, the Spaniard ending up eighth in his Road America debut. David Anthony and Geoff May, the Georgian taking the Superbike Cup as the top-finishing Stock 1000-spec mounted racer.
Gagne wins from Loris Baz and Cameron Petersen
HONOS Superbikes Race 2
Gagne followed up Saturday’s efforts by winning his fifth consecutive HONOS Superbike race at Road America on Sunday, the Californian sweeping the two races in Wisconsin after doing the same a few weeks ago at VIRginia International Raceway. To say he is on a roll would be an understatement.
Jake Gagne put in another dominant performance Sunday
Like he did Saturday, and in the three races prior to that, Gagne led from pole position into turn one, fought off the early attack from Cameron Petersen and never lost the lead. Gagne’s second lap was as hot as the Wisconsin sun, a 2:10.998, while Petersen clicked off a 2:12.114.
From there Gagne ripped off a handful of 2:11s and that put him well clear of Petersen, who in turn had worked his way into a cozy second place – a spot he would hold to the finish for a career-best Superbike finish. A day after the South African earned his first Superbike podium.
Jake Gagne
“We brought the bike off the truck on Friday, and it was working really well, but we know these guys are gunning for us. I knew everybody would be faster on Sunday. Everybody learns a lot in race one throughout those laps. I got off to another good start. I saw one of those Suzukis. I didn’t know if it was Cam (Petersen) or Bobby (Fong) coming into five, but I was like, ‘Man, now is the time. If I can try to get around them and try to get those first couple laps hard.’ We made the bike easier to ride today and went a little faster today, I think. Hats off to the team, man. This Fresh N’ Lean Attack Yamaha is feeling really comfortable for me. These guys are working hard. Even today, two hours before the race they had to swap a motor out of nowhere, so these guys are just hustling and hustling and hustling and they’re not making mistakes. So, I’m just trying to do my part, put the bike where it wants to be. Again, it’s good. Like Cam said, these two are some of my best buddies in the paddock so it’s fun to share a podium with them (Petersen and Mathew Scholtz). We’ll roll on to the Ridge. There’s a lot of work to do still and everybody is going to be improving every single weekend, so we’ve got to do our part and do the same.”
Jake Gagne
Petersen had a stellar weekend, finishing second in race two.
Cameron Petersen
“Honestly, I probably stayed with him (Gagne) for five turns and then he was gone. Little bit of a better race today. We had a plan and I kind of executed the plan that we had going. That was just to get a good start and try to keep Jake in sight all race. I had that carrot to chase. Luckily, I was able to do it. Midway through the race I did a couple low 12s and he was still getting away from me. So, there’s something that we need to find, all of us, the whole grid. Jake’s definitely got something special at the moment. Just super stoked to get two podiums this weekend. Road America has got a special place in my heart. Super cool to get my first podium here and then to back it up the next day is even that much more special. Hats off to these guys. I know we’re competitors, but these guys are like brothers to me. To be able to share a podium and do the whole cool-down lap together was pretty surreal. Super stoked. We’ve still got work to do, that’s for sure. We can’t let Jake keep doing this to us. He’s making us look bad. Got to find something.”
Mathew Scholtz finished third, the South African barely holding off Bobby Fong after the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider had finally rid himself of Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin. Scholtz crossed the finish line just .004 of a second ahead of Fong.
Mathew Scholtz
“We made pretty huge changes with the traction control just to try to drive out of the corners better. Yesterday, we could see that the top speed wasn’t bad, but it was that third, fourth, fifth gear coming out of the corners where you were losing big time. So, we just tried to turn off the traction control, which made it really hard, but it definitely drove better. You could kind of see the lap times were better for the first couple of laps. It kind of worked out perfectly that I got past (Bobby) Fong, (Josh) Herrin, Kyle Wyman and just kind of rode my own race from there. Then with maybe four laps to go something started happening. There was liquid shooting back up at me. The clutch lever was bouncing backwards and forwards. Everything wasn’t really working well, but I managed to hold on. I didn’t even realize how close Bobby (Fong) was to me until I looked over in the final corner and just about sh*@ my pants. Happy to be third and back up here. Thank you to the Westby team. They’ve been working hard. We have our work cut out for us to try to catch up to Jake. Looking forward to this test coming up and trying to pick up speed and hook up better.”
Fong ended up a fighting fourth, some three seconds ahead of Herrin, who in turn managed to beat Hector Barbera, the Spaniard continuing to impress in his first season of racing in the MotoAmerica Series.
David Anthony had a strong ride to seventh, holding off the advances of Jake Lewis with the Kentuckian the top Superbike Cup finisher on his Stock 1000-spec GSX-R1000. Lewis’ fellow Superbike Cup rivals rounded out the top 10 – Travis Wyman and Corey Alexander.
Notables who failed to finish were Loris Baz and Kyle Wyman. Baz’s Panigale V4 R blew up early in the race while the Frenchman was battling with Petersen for second and Wyman crashed his Panigale late in the race.
2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Round Two – Virginia
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Jake Gagne turned in a very Cameron Beaubier-esque performance in the first of two MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike races at VIRginia International Raceway, the rider leading from start to finish to earn his second win of the season and his second in a row.
Josh Herrin
Gagne, who broke five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Beaubier’s lap record earlier in the day during final qualifying, shot from pole position to the lead and was never headed, topping Mathew Scholtz by 11.8 seconds.
Third place for the third race in a row was Herrin on the second Fresh N’ Easy Attack Performance Yamaha – 15.478 seconds behind his teammate. Although he was third again, Herrin was happier with this one than the previous two at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The battle for third was a good one with Herrin, Loris Baz and Cameron Petersen swapping the spot for the majority of the race. It came down to the final laps with Baz pushing Petersen wide in turn one and Herrin ultimately taking full advantage. The trio crossed the line in formation and with just .8 of a second separating Herrin from Petersen with Petersen just .006 of a second behind Baz.
Jake Gagne
Hector Barbera continued to show progress, the Spaniard having his best result of the young season with a sixth-place finish. Barbera led Kyle Wyman across the line by some five seconds.
Jayson Uribe, Jake Lewis and Travis Wyman rounded out the top-10 finishers. Lewis, who earlier won the Stock 1000 race, earned full Superbike Cup points for his top finish among those riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.
Bobby Fong, meanwhile, was knocked out of third place early on with a mechanical issue but managed to salvage 12th (and four championship points) at the conclusion of the 20-lap race.
HONOS Superbikes Race 2
Three races a championship does not make, but the performance of Yamaha’s Jake Gagne certainly makes sleeping a little rough for those who are racing against him.
Jake Gagne in the lead
Gagne won his third straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race on Sunday and he did so in impressive fashion. Again. As he did Saturday, Gagne led into turn one and proceeded to lead every lap thereafter, crossing the finish line well clear of Loris Baz, the Frenchman earning his first career MotoAmerica podium.
Jake Gagne – P1
“Today was a little more comfortable for us. I think it was a little hotter today. I think the track temp was maybe a little hotter. So, I knew I needed to be a little easier on the tires because yesterday we roasted out here pretty good. After yesterday’s race, we really learned a lot, when you get a whole 20 laps underneath you in race conditions. So, we just made a couple minor tweaks, and the bike just came a lot easier for me to ride today. I was just having fun sliding around out there. It’s nice when you’ve got a little bit of a gap. I was keeping an eye on my pit board. But you can’t let up. These guys, I know they’re going to keep rolling and if you just back off a couple percent that’s when something can happen. So, I just kept riding and having fun. Hats off to the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance crew. Even after a great day yesterday, they went back and worked hard last night to get a couple little improvements coming into today. This Yamaha came off the truck good on Friday. We changed the gearing for Atlanta, and she was rolling good. I’m really looking forward to Road America. I think that will be kind of a whole different track than these first two we dealt with, so it will be cool to switch it up a little bit. It’s good to get a win.”
Jake Gagne
Baz’s race was eventful early as he battled with a pack of four for second place, but once he got to the spot, he was able to pull clear and monitor his gap to third place. He knew there was no catching Gagne. In fact, he knew that before the race started based on Gagne’s race pace from Saturday.
Loris Baz – P2
“I’m enjoying it a lot since three months. We’ve been working so hard with the team to do good work. We knew that the test in Austin we were fast, but we knew we were coming to tracks where we struggle a bit more. I was surprised we struggled so much. Race one (at Road Atlanta where he crashed) we were able to win and race two the bike broke. It was hard to swallow that for three weeks. We came here with the same goal as Atlanta, but we just struggled more all weekend. We were so far off on Friday. We didn’t expect to put the bike in the top five. We were so far away. It was so hard to ride. The crew did an amazing job this Friday to improve the electronics and we made a decent qualifying. Unfortunately, we had trouble on the tire. I knew the track was killing the tread. It was a tough race yesterday before and today. I knew that the best we could do with our pace was P2. The target was to try to go behind Jake (Gagne) and follow him. I gave everything that I had and still could not do it. So, it was a lonely race, trying to increase the gap to the guys behind and just manage my tires because I didn’t know what to expect at the end. I was just managing the gap and had a couple of tenths. Just trying to bring it to the end because I was struggling with my rear tire. I’m really happy. I think one of the hardest parts of the Ducati we improved a lot. The target is still exactly the same as when I came. I know these guys are fast and I’m just ready to battle with them.”
Mathew Scholtz was roughed up in turn one off the start and finished the opening lap in 14th, but the South African didn’t give up and pushed his way through the pack, eventually making his way to the heels of those battling for third. When all was said and done, Scholtz had worked his to third to maintain his perfect season of podium finishes.
Mathew Scholtz – P3
“I just saw one of the M4 Suzuki bikes coming up the inside, so I gave him space,” Scholtz said. “I could have followed him, but I don’t know what happened from there. I think Cam (Petersen) ran off the track. I’m not sure if he got touched. It’s just one of those unfortunate things. I’m trying to get aggressive in the first corner trying to hang onto Jake (Gagne) because I knew if I could slot in behind Jake, he would pull me and I kind of had the pace over everyone else after about lap eight or 10.”
Jake Gagne topped the podium from Loris Baz and Mathew Scholtz
Scholtz’s fourth podium, including his win in race one at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, keeps him in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship lead with his 81 points, six more than the fast-closing Gagne. Josh Herrin is third with 61 points, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion finishing off the podium for first time this season on Sunday at VIR.
Herrin, meanwhile, managed to hold off the advances of Bobby Fong for fourth with the latter bouncing back from mechanical issues that thwarted his progress on Saturday. Kyle Wyman had his strongest race of the 2021 season, the Ducati rider in the fight for second/third early on before slipping back to finish sixth.
Cameron Petersen was some two seconds adrift of Wyman and in seventh after having to fight through from well back after being involved in the melee in turn one. Hector Barbera was eighth, but he really deserved more. An off-track excursion cost him a shot at the podium as he was fighting for third when he couldn’t get the BMW stopped for turn one in the heat of battle and was forced to take to the grass.
Ninth went to Corey Alexander, the Stock 1000-spec Kawasaki ZX-10R mounted New Yorker ending the race as the top finishing Superbike Cup entry. Andrew Lee had his best result of the season thus far in 10th, some four seconds adrift of Alexander and only .001 of a second ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman.
2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round One – Road Atlanta
Matthew Scholtz and Jake Gage have shared the HONOS Superbike race wins at the Road Atlanta season opener, with the early lead going to Scholtz from Travis Wyman and Josh Herrin.
Mathew Scholtz
In Supersport Sean Dylan Kelly swept both races for 50-points, with Richie Escalante running 2-2 and Benjamin Smith third overall.
Michael Gilbert took the opening Stock 1000 race win from Yates and Wyman, while the Sunday bout saw Wyman take the win from Geoff May and Yates. That left Wyman with the overall lead, from Yates and Gilbert.
Kaleb De Keyrel took the Twins win, leading an Aprilia RS660 trio, but a crash in race two took out the top running Aprilias, leaving Benjamin Gloddy to take the win. As a result Trevor Standish takes the lead on 33-points, from Chris Parrish and Teagg Hobbs.
Tyler Scott and Teagg Hobbs shared the Junior Cup wins, leaving with 45-points each. Tyler O’Hara took the King of the Baggers win to open the season.
HONOS Superbikes Qualifying
Jake Gagne ended his Friday afternoon at Michelin Raceway with his YZF-R1 in the gravel trap on the outside of turn 10-B. But he also ended it on top of the timesheets as the MotoAmerica Series opened its season on an overcast day in Georgia.
Jake Gagne
Gagne’s best lap in Q1 was a 1:23.746, which was under the Superbike lap record of 1:23.844 set by Garrett Gerloff during Superpole in 2019. Gagne’s best came on his 16th lap and it was .359 of a second faster than Mathew Scholtz, the South African lapping at 1:24.105 on his 18th lap.
The provisional front row was filled by Loris Baz, the Frenchman making his MotoAmerica debut and turning in a 1:24.269 on his first visit to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
HONOS Superbikes Race 1
Mathew Scholtz got the soaking-wet monkey off his back with his first dry-race HONOS Superbike victory today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the South African leading 18 of the 19 laps for the perfect start to his 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Mathew Scholtz
Scholtz, whose previous two Superbike wins came in wet conditions in 2017 (Circuit of The America) and 2018 (Barber Motorsports Park), won this one from the front and under bright sunshine in Georgia. The victory also came in Scholtz’s first race since he suffered serious leg injuries at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October.
Scholtz led every lap but the 14th when he was passed by York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman fast in his MotoAmerica debut. Scholtz, however, struck straight back and dove under the Ducati rider going into the chicane that is turns 10-A and 10-B. Baz didn’t brake until well after Scholtz after the run down the back straight, Scholtz let off the brakes and both were in hot and wide, with Baz tucking the front and crashing.
Scholtz raced to victory, 3.044 seconds ahead of Bobby Fong, the Californian having fought through to third place and within striking distance of the top two. Fong was there to capitalize on Baz’s miscue to finish second. Josh Herrin completed the podium, almost 13 seconds behind Scholtz, but was pleased considering his rough start to the weekend with mechanical problems wrecking his Friday.
Mathew Scholtz
Cameron Petersen’s debut with the team was a good one, the 2020 Stock 1000 Champion getting off to a good start and ultimately finishing fourth.
Kyle Wyman rode his Panera Bread Ducati Panigale V4 R to fifth well clear of Hector Barbera, the Spaniard making his MotoAmerica debut. Travis Wyman rode his Stock 1000-spec BMW S 1000 RR to seventh and was the top finishing Superbike Cup rider.
Danilo Lewis, Geoff May and Michael Gilbert, who won the Stock 1000 race held earlier in the day, rounded out the top 10.
The unluckiest rider in the race was fast qualifier Jake Gagne. Gagne was at the front of the pack on the opening lap when his YZF-R1 imploded on the front straight ending his day and putting him in the same boat as Baz with 0 championship points to start the season.
HONOS Superbikes Race 2
After finishing second eight times a season ago, Jake Gagne finally won his first career MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race and he did so in style, working his way through to the sharp end of the field from his third row starting spot and pulling away to a 4.712-second victory.
Jake Gagne
With Sunday’s race gridded by Saturday’s race results, Gagne started from the middle of the third row. Once he’d adjusted the play out of his slipping clutch, Gagne went on a rampage and his pace was unmatchable. It was Gagne’s first win of any kind since his Superstock 1000 Championship-winning season in 2015.
Jake Gagne
“Yeah, it feels good to get something like that off the back. Obviously, last year (there was) a lot of second places and it wears you down. We came here wanting to win. We came off the truck really firing. After yesterday’s disappointment, this team, the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha work so hard. Those guys were up late last night throwing in one of last year’s motors. So just hats off to those guys. It feels good to get one off my back. Sorry, I didn’t even figure out, two hours before the race they told me I was on the third row, so I didn’t hear about that new fun little rule. So, I knew I had to get off to a good start because I knew Mat (Scholtz) was going to go, and Bobby (Fong) was going to go. I tried so hard to get a good start, I slipped and slipped the clutch. I thought I was in a situation like last year. The first couple laps my clutch was slipping. Luckily, from the experience last year, I knew which way to adjust the clutch. I was going down the straightaway trying to figure it out, and then once I got that dialed in, I knew the bike would keep rolling. I tried to make some passes. Mat was tough. This track is tough to make passes. Turn 10 is one of the main areas and that was where Mat was really strong, even Bobby too. Happy again, we got her done. Looking forward to VIR. I really, really love that place. I know this bike can be a rocket around there.”
Jake Gagne
The man who came closest to matching Gagne’s pace was Saturday’s race winner Mathew Scholtz, the South African sticking with Gagne for a few laps before realising he didn’t have the speed of the race winner. Scholtz held on for second, however, well clear of teammate Josh Herrin, who was third for a second straight day.
Herrin’s pace was faster than his identical third-place finish on Saturday, though he was slowed in the latter part of the race with arm pump.
Josh Herrin
“I’m extremely happy with our finishes this weekend. We never gave up and it paid off. I’m looking forward to a great weekend at VIR! Huge congrats to Jake Gagne and his crew on their first win!”
Josh Herrin joined Jake Gage and Mathew Scholtz on the podium
Cameron Petersen completed a successful debut weekend with the team, the South African finishing fourth, some 10 seconds clear of his teammate Bobby Fong, after finishing fifth on Saturday.
Fong’s day was made more difficult as he was deemed to have jumped the start and was forced to do a ride-through penalty that put him well back in the pack. He persevered though and was rewarded with fifth and the 11 championships that went with it. Prior to the penalty, Fong was battling with Gagne and Scholtz at the front.
Sixth place went to Kyle Wyman, the team owner/rider some three seconds ahead of Hector Barbera. Travis Wyman was eighth and the top Superbike Cup rider with Jake Lewis and Jayson Uribe rounding out the top 10.
Scholtz leads the championship as the series heads to Virginia International Raceway, May 21-23, chase after two races, 45-32, over Herrin.
For the second straight race, Loris Baz failed to score a point. The Frenchman, who was making his MotoAmerica debut at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, crashed out of race one and was halted by a mechanical problem in race two.
Indian recently took line honours at the inaugural Drag Specialties King of the Baggers invitational at Laguna Seca Raceway. Facing a field of 11 Harley-Davidsons, highly accomplished racer Tyler O’Hara captured the win onboard the S&S Cycle Indian Challenger.
S&S Cycle Indian Challenger – Tyler O’Hara
Veteran rider Frankie Garcia put his Roland Sands Design Indian Challenger on the box with a third-place finish. That made it two out of three podium positions for the Indian Challenger to kick some sand in the face of the Harley faithful.
2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
The historic race played out in truly dramatic fashion. Barely, 24-hours after an accident where he “looped” his 272 kilogram machine during qualifying, Frankie Garcia rebounded taking the holeshot. But it was O’Hara who immediately established a commanding lead through the first three laps.
The MotoAmerica Speedfest of Monterey saw the King of Baggers debut
With five laps remaining, an off-track mishap sent O’Hara back to third and Garcia to second, allowing veteran rider Hayden Gillim to take the lead.
S&S Cycle Indian Challenger – Tyler O’Hara
From there, O’Hara began a patient, methodical comeback, working his way past Garcia and dramatically passing Gillim while diving into the famed “Corkscrew” during the penultimate lap.
S&S Cycle Indian Challenger – Tyler O’Hara
O’Hara held strong for the final lap winning the inaugural race by 1.9 seconds, earning the title “King of the Baggers.”
S&S Cycle Indian Challenger
Technical Specifications S&S Cycle Indian Challenger
Bike: 2020 Indian Challenger
Engine: Stock bore Indian 108″/1768cc PowerPlus
Stage 2 cams
CNC ported heads
K&N air filter
S&S engine covers for ground and pipe clearance
One-off stainless race exhaust
Full Spectrum Battery
Chain drive conversion to allow easy final gear ratio changes
Chassis: Custom tuned Fox shock valved and extended to increase ground clearance
FTR 1200 forks on S&S machined triple clamps valved for weight and riding style
Brembo Calipers – upgraded specification
Custom aluminium fuel cell for weight reduction and air flow to engine
PM billet wheels on S&S built hubs 17″ F&R
Dunlop Tyres
Body & Cockpit: Air Tech Carbon Fibre bags, fenders & tank cover For weight reduction
Saddleman Seat shaped to get rider in correct position
Custom made S&S rear set foot controls to provide ground clearance and better position for racing
Klockwerks Bars – Klip Hangers to adjust height and pullback to suit rider position
Cameron Beaubier closed out the 2020 season at the MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey, winning all three HONOS Superbike races to conclude the season ahead of his move to Moto2. That left him on 436-points, with runner up Jake Gage on 301, and third placed Bobby Fong on 253.
Cameron Beaubier
Beaubier won Race 1 from Toni Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti, with Race 2 seeing Zanetti in second and Elias third, before returning to the original finishing order in Race 3, of Beaubier, Elias and Zannetti.
Sean Dylan Kelly took the Supersport wins, after Richie Escalante crashed in Race 1, with Brandon Paasch and Cory Ventura completing the podium as a result. Escalante was back for Race 2 as runner up, with JD Beach in third.
The result saw Dylan Kelly finish the season on 341 points, 40 behind Escalante, with Paasch third overall on 260-points.
Sean Dylan Kelly was dominant in the Supersport races
Cameron Petersen had already clinched the Stock 1000 championship, but he added another win to his tally in the single race run, with Corey Alexander and Danilo Lewis claiming the final podium positions. Petersen won the championship on 260-points, to Alexander on 204, and Travis Wyman on 148.
Rocco Landers won the Twins race, in a fitting end to a dominant season, although Dominic Doyle gave him a run for his money, just 0.112s off at the line, with Kaleb De Keyrel not far off either 0.376 behind the leader.
Rocco Landers
Landers won the championship with a final tally of 277-points, De Keyrel was runner up on 210, while Hayden Schultz was third on 154.
Landers also won both Junior Cup races on his Kawasaki, from Dominic Doyle and Samuel Lochoff in Race 1, with the same top three in Race 2.
The final Junior Cup standings saw Landers on 435-points, Doyle on 297, and Lochoff on 287.
HONOS Superbike Race 1
Cameron Beaubier demolished the competition on Saturday, leading from pole position over the hill and into turn two with the lead and he never looked back.
Cameron Beaubier
The Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha rider slowed in the final corner, did a stand-up wheelie over the finish line and still won by 10.734 seconds for his 14th win of the season – just a day after announcing that he will be leaving the MotoAmerica Series to pursue the Moto2 World Championship.
Cameron Beaubier was dominant over the weekend
Beaubier topped the man he has battled for most of his Superbike career – Toni Elias. Elias, who announced this week that he will not race a Suzuki in next year’s championship, battled through after a rough start to finish second for just his second podium of the season.
Lorenzo Zanetti also struggled in the opening laps in his first race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, but once the tires came in, he moved forward, passing Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne in the closing stages to finish third. Gagne looked to have second in the bag after Bobby Fong crashed out of their battle. But Gagne ran into fueling issues that ultimately dropped him to fourth.
Cameron Beaubier topped the podium on Saturday from Toni Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti
Gagne held on for fourth place, some four seconds clear of Kyle Wyman, with Wyman barely beating Westby Racing stand-in rider Niccolo Canepa at the finish line by just .054 of a second.
Superbikes at MotoAmerica Speedfest of Monterey
Josh Herrin bested Cameron Petersen, the South African wrapping up the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup with his eighth-place finish and will earn $25,000 for his efforts. Jayson Uribe rode his Honda CBR1000RR to ninth with Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.
HONOS Superbike Race 2 & 3
Cameron Beaubier ended his MotoAmerica career in the best possible fashion on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion adding two more wins to bring his season total to 16 victories. Now the 27-year-old can focus his efforts on the next phase of his career – the Moto2 World Championship.
Cameron Beaubier
Beaubier’s two victories on Sunday were dominating. He won the first of the two in iffy conditions by 10.47 seconds and the second by 4.76 seconds. The two wins on Sunday were his 15th and 16th of the year and the 16th tied him with former teammate Josh Hayes for the most wins in a single season in AMA Superbike history.
Cameron Beaubier
“It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend emotionally and just everything, it felt good just to get everything out of the way Friday and get the contract signed and have the press conference in here and let everyone know I’m moving on, just let Yamaha know how thankful I am. Truthfully, it’s bittersweet, like I’ve been saying all weekend. I’m leaving some great people behind here in MotoAmerica. I’m definitely going to look back and cherish these moments, all the good moments we’ve had in the past. I was sitting on the grid today and I was getting a little emotional. I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’ve got to go race. Come on. Pull yourself together.’ I just went out and abused my R1 for a little bit and that made me feel a little better. Came back in and the emotions started coming back, your throat starts getting heavy or whatever.
Cameron Beaubier
“Just this last year has been one of the most fun years of my life at home and at the track with all the guys, just having a good time. When you’re getting good results and you’re not crashing too much, the team is happy and that means the rider is happy. It’s been so fun with them. I’ve said it multiple times, but Yamaha truly is a family to me, and same with all you guys at MotoAmerica. I’m going to miss you guys so much. Everyone goes home and does their thing at home, but we’ll still keep in contact and all that stuff. Then we get to go racing all weekend. It’s sad that’s coming to an end, but it’s not the last time I’ll show my face at the track at MotoAmerica. I’m glad to cap it off with three wins this weekend. I just had pure fun riding my bike this weekend. I just was able to ride free; ride loose and really, really enjoyed this weekend on my bike after having a rough weekend at Indy. It put everything back into perspective for us. I’m not sure if it’s Toni’s (Elias) last race but hats off to Toni for an amazing career. We’ve had our battles on the track and we were at each other’s throat a couple times, but I respect you a lot as a racer and a person. You’re amazing, man. Amazing career. I’m grateful for you coming over here and kicking our butts and putting us in our place. He gave us something to chase. Just really looking forward to getting going next year and hope to make you guys proud.”
Cameron Beaubier
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias also had an emotional weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Spaniard telling Suzuki that he wouldn’t be returning to their team in 2021 and that he was looking for a brand change to recharge his career. He then went out and finished on the podium in all three races – finishing third in Race 2 on Sunday and second in Race 3 behind his long-time rival, Beaubier.
Toni Elias
“Yes, very good weekend, I really needed this. It’s been a difficult year for many reasons, not only racing, also personal side. Very nice to end this chapter. I had fun. Of course, it’s not a win, but tastes like a win coming from where we came from. Today, I think this bike is the best bike I ever ride here at Laguna, because my lap times were better than other years, just Cameron (Beaubier) another step he did. It’s incredible. Difficult to be at his level. It’s been amazing. But super happy because I had so much fun. I start to do what I wanted, not lose the initial part of the race, and then passed one rider, then another rider, in my style, in braking areas. I was riding so good, just in case this was the last one. I’m very happy. I feel I’m still very strong and I just need something else. I need fresh air. I need new motivation. I need something to work on, to develop things. We’ll see. As I said before, I let the universe, the destiny (decide). So, I hope come back with something good. But thanks to my team for all the season. Thanks to Suzuki for all these years, and to MotoAmerica to have me, to take me like home like another American. I think I’m half American now. Thanks to Suzuki and you guys I have a family here now, so I’m not going to go away. I’ll stay here forever.
Toni Elias joined Cameron Beaubier on the podium
“The last part I want to, like he said to me, hats off to this guy (Beaubier). I have to say, I battled with many strong riders in World Championship, specialist in 125, specialist in 250, specialist in Moto2, MotoGP, Superbikes. Valentino (Rossi), I think was one of the toughest guys I ever battled but he (Beaubier) is not less than him. I think he (Beaubier) has that level, has level enough to do it. Now is the opportunity. I believe in him and I believe in his opportunity. This way will bring him to MotoGP because he’s good enough. Here you have a friend. We had big battles. We had so much fun. It’s been really cool. Sometimes we play back to each other, we play our cards, but this is racing. And after that we appreciate each other. If you need me, just have the phone and do it. Good luck, man. Thanks to my family. They’ve always been behind me, supporting me. The biggest supporter I have is Kristie (his wife). It’s been a big change in my life discovering new things in life. It’s amazing. I will try to continue some more years and having fun. My next goal would be one day I put Toni (his son) on the podium on the top of the box next time. That would be really good. Is my next goal, so I hope to make it happen.”
The same three men stood on the podium in all three races – Beaubier, Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti. Zanetti ended up second in race two behind Beaubier and third in race three behind Beaubier and Elias. It was the Italian’s fourth, fifth and sixth podiums in his eight starts in the MotoAmerica Series.
In race two, Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne was fourth with Stock 1000 Champion Cameron Petersen fifth on the Altus Suzuki GSX-R1000. Westby Racing fill-in rider Niccolo Canepa was sixth with Kyle Wyman a lonely seventh. Josh Herrin, Michael Gilbert and Bobby Fong rounded out the top 10.
Superbikes at MotoAmerica Speedfest of Monterey
In the final race of the season, Fong was fourth ahead of Gagne with Canepa sixth for the second time on the day. Wyman was seventh again, ahead of Petersen, Gilbert and Corey Alexander.
Beaubier ended the season with a massive 135-point lead over Gagne, 437-301. Fong was third, 48 points behind Gagne and 31 ahead of Elias, who topped the injured Mathew Scholtz with his strong effort in the series finale by just a single point.
MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey staged a first of its kind road race for baggers and it didn’t disappoint as the big V-twins scratched and clawed their way around the iconic Laguna Seca circuit in ferocious fashion.
2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
The victory went to S&S Indian’s Tyler O’Hara, the pre-race favorite. But it was not without drama as the Challenger-mounted Californian battled back from an off-track excursion in turn two to beat Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim by 1.9 seconds in the eight-lap introduction to the class at Laguna.
2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca – Hayden Gillim
Tyler O’Hara
“Three or four laps in, I was going into (turn) two and I didn’t have any moments going into turn two the whole weekend and just ended up tucking the front. I saved it and then actually went all the way off into turn two. Actually, at the start Frankie (Garcia) was telling me my bike was smoking and I was like, ‘You’re full of it. What are you trying to psych me out?’ But he was serious. I looked at the bike and looked down and I saw a little brake fluid on the pipe. I said, ‘Okay, well we can figure this out. Don’t pull me out of here. We’re just going to figure it out.’”
Tyler O’Hara – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
“We didn’t have any rear brakes at all either, so that was a little interesting. We just did our homework and I was very fortunate that I was able to keep it on two wheels in the sand. Hayden was riding really good, and same with Frankie. It’s just so fun, like you said, being able to be part of this whole King of the Baggers. I haven’t seen people that excited about motorcycle racing in a long time. People were jumping up and down and hooting and hollering. It was just fun to put on a show with these guys. My hats off to everybody who rode a bagger this weekend because some of the bikes out there didn’t look too fun to be on. So hats off to the team.”
Tyler O’Hara – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
Third place went to Indian-mounted Frankie Garcia with the Roland Sands Design-backed rider bouncing back from a painful crash during practice on Friday.
Ben Bostrom – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
Travis Wyman was fourth, over 30-seconds behind Garcia, followed by Cory West, Eric Stahl, Tony Sollima, Josh Chisum and Logan Lackey.
Josh Herrin was a DNF – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
King of the Baggers Results
Pos
Name
Make
Diff
1
Tyler O’Hara
IND
13:18.0
2
Hayden Gillim
HD
+1.994
3
Frankie Garcia
IND
+14.246
4
Travis Wyman
HD
+46.5
5
Cory West
HD
+56.032
6
Eric Stahl
HD
+01:21.8
7
Tony Sollima
HD
+01:29.7
8
Josh Chisum
HD
+01:46.0
9
Logan Lackey
HD
+1 Lap
Tyler O’Hara topped the podium – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna SecaJosh Herrin – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna SecaIndian took top honours in first and third – 2020 King of the Baggers – Laguna Seca
In a change of pace for the HONOS Superbike class in MotoAmerica, it wasn’t Cameron Beaubier claiming the wins at the Indianapolis triple-header after the 27-year-old was left rattled from a crash in the opening bout.
Bobby Fong took the advantage and put in a tremendous performance to win Races 1 and 3, while Lorenzo Zanetti took the Race 2 win for Ducati, breaking a 10-year drought for the Bologna machines on American tarmac.
Bobby Fong topping the podium on Sunday from Beaubier and Zanetti
In Stock 1000 Cameron Petersen seemed to win the sole race to claim the championship title, but was docked 0.4s, regulating him to second for the race, although the championship was his. Travis Wyman took the race win as a result, with Maximiliano Gerardo completing the podium.
In Supersport Richie Escalante extended his lead, winning from Stefano Mesa and Brandon Paasch in Race 1, and Sean Dylan Kely and Stefano Mesa in Race 2.
Junior Cup champion Rocco Landers also added two more wins to his 2020 tally in the class, ahead of Dominic Doyle and Benjamin Gloddy in Race 1, while Dominic Doyle was just 0.157s off in Race 2, with Samuel Lochoff a distant third.
Rocco Landers
Rocco Landers also wrapped up the Twins Cup championship over the weekend, winning the race from Hayden Schultz and Kaleb De Keyrel, with Keyrel and Schultz second and third in the standings, respectively.
HONOS Superbike Race 1
If you wanted some drama in the MotoAmerica Superbike Series, your wish was granted in the first of three HONOS Superbike races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Bobby Fong emerging from the melee at The Brickyard with his second-career AMA Superbike victory.
Bobby Fong
In circumstances eerily similar to his first win of the year and first of his career at Road America earlier in the season, Fong was again in second place when runaway championship leader Cameron Beaubier crashed out of the lead. And, again, it was Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne who ended up hounding Fong to the checkered flag.
The race, which featured two red flags and two Beaubier crashes, saw Fong was in second place when Beaubier crashed on the fourth lap of the third restart, but he was pressuring the Yamaha man when the crash occurred. From there Fong was chased by Lorenzo Zanetti, the Italian taking the lead at one point before running off the track. Zanetti managed to stay upright, however, and he fought his way back to third place by the end of the 15-lap race, which translated to three different manufacturers on the podium and four different brands in the top five with Josh Herrin ending up fifth on the Scheibe Racing BMW.
Meanwhile, following Zanetti’s mistake, Gagne was on the move and closing in on Fong, the two Californians crossing the line with just .228 of a second between them. At Road America, Fong beat Gagne by .509 of a second.
Bobby Fong
There was drama before the race even started with Beaubier deemed late to get out of pit lane for the start of the sighting lap, meaning that he would be forced to start from the back of the grid. He did just that, going from 20th to sixth in one lap before the first red flag came out for Kyle Wyman’s crash coming on to the front straight.
Beaubier started sixth on the next restart and was in the lead pack when both he and Mathew Scholtz went down almost simultaneously in fluid that was leaked onto the track by a previously crashed motorcycle. After the cleanup, Beaubier was able to make the restart while Scholtz was being transported to the hospital with an ankle injury.
On the third start, Beaubier got into the lead quickly but wasn’t getting away from the pursing Fong when he crashed on the fourth lap in the final corner, the same spot that claimed Wyman. The four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s bike was too damaged to continue, and he was forced to be a spectator for the rest of the race.
Gagne took over second when Zanetti ran off the track, and he closed on Fong before coming up just short at the finish. Zanetti led before his off-track excursion and he ended the day third in what was just his second MotoAmerica round (and his third race). It was the first podium for Ducati in the series since Kyle Wyman did it twice at Road America 2 earlier in the season.
Toni Elias
Toni Elias took over third for a few laps after Zanetti’s miscue, but he had no grip and couldn’t keep the Ducati behind him. At the finish, Elias was some two seconds adrift of the Italian, but was over 18 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Josh Herrin on the Scheibe Racing BMW.
Travis Wyman finished sixth with Michael Gilbert, in his MotoAmerica Superbike debut, finishing seventh. Alex Dumas ended up eighth with Danilo Lewis and Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.
HONOS Superbike Race 2
Zanetti started Sunday morning off with a victory on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York Panigale V4 R Superbike in the second of the three HONOS Superbike races following his first podium a day earlier. The win ended a drought for Ducati in the AMA Superbike Series as it was Ohioan Larry Pegram who rode his privateer Ducati to the Italian manufacturer’s last victory at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California on March 27, 2010.
Lorenzo Zanetti
In winning at The Brickyard, Zanetti also became the first Italian to win an AMA Superbike race since Alessandro Gramigni rode a Fast By Ferracci Ducati to victory at Brainerd in 1996.
Zanetti was in a race-long battle with Saturday’s race-one winner Fong for the duration of race two on a cloudy and cool Sunday morning, the Italian taking over for the first time with three laps to go. On the final lap, Zanetti was able to hold off Fong by just 0.196 of a second.
Beaubier was third, 0.323 of a second from the win with his teammate Jake Gagne a close fourth. With the top four covered by just 0.505 of a second it was the best HONOS Superbike race of the year, thus far.
Lorenzo Zanetti
“I compared yesterday, and the key of today is the work of the guys during the night. They changed the balance for the bike. Yesterday, I’m not really confident on the front tire. Today I did a really good job. This morning in warmup I was in first place so I think that the whole race I can win. It’s not easy because from yesterday also the tire (temperature) is different, maybe seven or eight degrees less. So just try to keep calm because yesterday when I tried to stay in front to Bobby (Fong) I did a mistake, so today I just stay on back for half part of the race and study. So, when I try in the last four or five laps, the tire is dropped and it’s difficult to manage. Some parts of the track Bobby is better than me, and some I’m better. So, it’s difficult, but in the end is all right. I don’t want to think a lot. Just try to improve a little bit again for the second race of today and try to be again on the podium. This is incredibly important for me but also for Ducati because four months ago not many people trust in me that I can do it, to be able to ride in the U.S. and win some races. So, I think it’s a really good target today for me.”
Lorenzo Zanetti topped the Race 2 podium
HONOS Superbike Race 3
The third race was all Fong. After a red flag came out when his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Toni Elias crashed out of the lead (and right in front of him), Fong simply dominated. Chased by Gagne and Zanetti, Fong’s win got really comfortable when Gagne crashed and Zanetti ran straight at the end of the front straight, joining in fourth place.
Gagne was able to remount from his blunder to finish seventh, but the miscues moved Beaubier to second and he was able to hold off Zanetti’s charge to take the spot – 9.8 seconds behind the fleeing Fong.
Bobby Fong
“It’s a good feeling. First of all, I just want to say congratulations to Cameron (Beaubier). The whole pack has been chasing him all year long. He’s rode so good all year long. Hopefully, we’ll battle with him at Laguna. We all know if he didn’t have a championship to win, he would have been right there with me or in front of me. Who knows? But it’s been a good weekend. I can’t complain. It’s been weird, though. This weekend we haven’t changed anything on the bike. We started FP1 and we made minor changes, a few clicks of something, whatever. Usually every weekend we have a completely different motorcycle every session, almost. This was the first weekend where I said, ‘Just don’t touch it. I’ll figure it out.’ We made a little bit of TC stuff and fork maps, but other than that this was the most consistent motorcycle I’ve rode this year. So, it definitely paid off and I definitely had a good feeling out there. Had plenty of moments out there on the front (tire), just trying to get a 36 (1:36 lap time) for a while but it didn’t happen. Thankful to get some money and get the win. Looking forward to Laguna.”
Bobby Fong
Cameron Beaubier
“To be honest, I felt like I just lost a little confidence after three crashes this weekend, and the little electrical gremlins we had, which it doesn’t happen often, but the Superbikes, the electronics are so complex that just one little thing you do wrong can just kind of throw everything off. Luckily everything was fine that last race today, but after the tires heat cycle, I just had no confidence, man. Sure, I could have gone faster but I wanted to bring this thing home after crashing three times and having my guys stay up until midnight a couple nights this weekend fixing my bike. Obviously, I’m over the moon happy, but I’m just relieved at the same time to get this plate for my guys, for Monster Attack Yamaha and everyone at the team, my family, my friends, everyone that supports us. 6D my helmet sponsor, it’s their first Superbike Championship and I think Attack’s first Superbike Championship as well. I just had pure fun this year. It was so fun just ripping off those wins. I was just really enjoying riding my bike all year. I’ve never felt so comfortable on a bike and just at home with my guys. We really built a family together, Yamaha and me. It’s just such a privilege to ride for them. This is my eighth-year riding for them, and we’ve been able to rack up six championships together. I’m just so thankful for the opportunity and everything they’ve given me. Just going to enjoy this one and go have fun at Laguna.”
