Tag Archives: MotoAmerica Superbike Championship

MotoAmerica 2021 wraps up in Alabama | Gagne wins Race 3

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  9 – Barber Motorsport Park, Alabama

Images by Brian J. Nelson


The 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike championship wrapped up at Barber Motorsports Park over the weekend, with challenging conditions ensuring plenty of spectacle. Jake Gagne’s run of wins was also brought to an end, with Cameron Peterson claiming the Race 1 win, Mathew Scholtz winning Race 2, before Gagne returned to the top step of the podium for the final race of the season.

Jake Gagne in the lead in wet conditions at Barber Motorsport Park
Jake Gagne in the lead in wet conditions at Barber Motorsport Park

Jake Lewis also won the Superbike Cup crown for competing on Stock 1000 machinery in the Honos Superbike class.

Sean Dylan Kelly won Race 1 in the Supersport class, with Gabriel Da Silva taking his debut win in the class in Race 2. Jake Lewis meanwhile claimed the final Stock 1000 win, marking his sixth of the season and fourth in a row, to add to the title.

Kaleb De Keyrel brought home the final Twins Cup win of the year, having also already won the championship. Tyler Scott won both Junior Cup races, with Kayla Yaakov becoming the first female rider on the podium since 2018, with second in Race 1.


Honos Superbike Race 1

One of the most dramatic races in AMA Superbike history took place in the rainstorm at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday and it’s one that won’t soon be forgotten, especially if your last name is Petersen, Scholtz or Baz.

Cameron Peterson took one of the Superbike wins at Barber Motorsport Park over the weekend
Cameron Peterson  in the lead

Petersen earned his first-career MotoAmerica Superbike win after surviving a crash in the downpour. Mathew Scholtz finished second after surviving a crash in the downpour. Oh, and Loris Baz finished third after also surviving a crash in the downpour. And that translates to the unbelievable fact that all three podium finishers crashed in the same race in which they podiumed for the first time in AMA Superbike history.

Petersen’s first HONOS Superbike win made him the 62nd rider in history to win an AMA Superbike race and the second from South Africa. The win also went a long way to solidifying Petersen’s hold on third in the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship with two races left to run on Sunday.

Petersen also teamed up with Mother Nature to stop Jake Gagne’s win streak at 16 with the newly crowned 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion crashing out of the lead on the second lap, remounting, pitting for repairs, and then ending up 12th.

Petersen and Scholtz battled at the front of the pack after Gagne’s demise. Then Petersen crashed in turn one and Scholtz held court at the front by himself. Then came the fateful 15th lap and Scholtz was down, the South African sliding from the crest of the hill out of turn four all the way down to turn five. He remounted but Petersen had already splashed past and was on his way to victory.

Cameron Peterson going for a slide before remounting
Cameron Peterson going for a slide before remounting

Baz was fortunate to be able to race at all after a crash on Friday left him beaten up with a damaged right wrist. Since he wasn’t able to take part in the qualifying sessions, he was also forced to start from the back row. He charged through the pack and caught the battle between Scholtz and Petersen, before suffering his crash and remounting in ninth place.

From there he charged again and worked his way back to third for his seventh podium finish of the season. The wet conditions made it a bit easier on his injured wrist, but the crash in the race left him with barely a nub for a right footpeg and a right handlebar that was bent almost to the tank.

Petersen topped the Race 1 podium from Scholtz and Baz at Barber
Petersen topped the Race 1 podium from Scholtz and Baz at Barber

Fourth place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates on his Stock 1000-spec Honda CBR1000 RR-R, the Georgian earning the first top-five Superbike finish of his career. It also gave him the victory in the Superbike Cup and put a Honda in a top four that featured four different brands of motorcycles – Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Honda.

Jake Lewis was fifth, which earned him the Superbike Cup crown (and the $25,000 that goes with it) for racers riding their Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the HONOS Superbike races. It was a good day for the Superbike Cup riders with Danny Eslick ending up sixth.

Jake Lewis also competed in the Honos Superbike class for the Superbike Cup Crown
Jake Lewis also competed in the Honos Superbike class for the Superbike Cup Crown

David Anthony was seventh on his Superbike-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000 and less than a second ahead of Hector Barbera. Ninth place went to Josh Herrin, who was another crasher able to remount and finish. Bobby Fong rounded out the top 10.

Honos Superbike Races 2 & 3

Despite horrendous weather, the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Series ended as it should have with Jake Gagne winning a record 17th race to put an exclamation point on a season like no other.

Gagne, who earlier in the season set a record with 13 straight wins, didn’t win his record-extending 17th race in a row in Saturday’s race one, and he didn’t win it in race two on Sunday morning, but he did take that 17th victory in the season finale on Sunday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park.

Jake Gagne returned to the podium on Sunday
Jake Gagne returned to the top step of the podium on Sunday

Twenty starts, 17 victories, 18 podiums and 445 championship points. That was Gagne’s year with the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha team as they simply scorched the competition in putting together a season that is unprecedented in AMA Superbike history.

The cherry on top is that Gagne’s victory in race three at Barber – the 17th of his season and career – on Sunday put him into a tie with Nicky Hayden for eighth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.

Jake Gagne

“What a way to finish the year. Yesterday was chaos. We all threw it down, but I couldn’t get it back up in time. The race earlier today, we weren’t too happy with it. We had some issues and we sorted it out and we were ready to go out there and try to win this thing in race three. Hats off to this team. It’s been an incredible year. Seventeen wins is unbelievable, especially against a field this deep and talented, these amazing teams. These guys are world-class riders. We did our work. We focused on what we needed to focus on and cranked out laps. I gave it my all every single lap of every single race, and it worked out most of the time. I feel blessed and I’m just lucky to have such a great crew, such an amazing motorcycle. I’ve had more fun than ever racing motorcycles, so life is good. It’s going to be nice to have a little break here, but we’ll be back to work and ready to keep fighting with these guys next year. It’s going to be hard to beat that year. Nothing but hard work to come and we’ll just keep chipping away.”

Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz had his best weekend of the year, despite crashing out of the lead but remounting to finish second in Saturday’s Mother Nature race. Scholtz made up for his Saturday miscue with his fourth career Superbike victory on Sunday morning (in a race that was stopped a few laps early when a deer ran across the wet track in front of Scholtz) and followed that up with a second-place finish behind Gagne in race three – another wet race – on Sunday afternoon.

Mathew Scholtz also took the Race 2 win
Mathew Scholtz also took the Race 2 win

Loris Baz was also on the podium in both races on Sunday with a second-place finish in race two in the morning and a third in race three on Sunday afternoon. Baz doesn’t like to do things the easy way and his third-place finish came after a crash early in the race with an impressive fight back through the pack to follow.

With Scholtz, Baz and Gagne owning the podium in both races on Sunday, Saturday’s first-time winner Cameron Petersen was fourth in race two on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, then crashed in race three, remounted and finished fifth, giving him a 1-4-5 weekend tally.

Scholtz won Race 2 from Baz and Gagne
Scholtz won Race 2 from Baz and Gagne

Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates came close to giving Honda a podium on his CBR1000RR-R in race three, but the Georgian gave up the spot late in the race to the flying Baz. Still, Yates had his best Superbike weekend ever with two fourths and a sixth.

Kyle Wyman ended his season with a sixth in race three to go with a seventh in race two, the New Yorker finishing well clear of Corey Alexander in race three. Bobby Fong had a rough weekend and he ended it with two eighth-place finishes on Sunday. Jake Lewis wrapped up the Superbike Cup on Sunday and picked up his $25,000 check after finishing ninth in race three. Earlier in the day, Lewis had put his Stock 1000-spec GSXR-1000 into fifth.

Gagne’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Josh Herrin erred by fitting slick tires to his Yamaha YZF-R1 in race two and eventually pulled out of the race. On Sunday afternoon, with rain tires fitted, Herrin ended up 10th.

Gagne won Race 3 from Scholtz and Baz
Gagne won Race 3 from Scholtz and Baz

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gagne crowned MotoAmerica Superbike champion in New Jersey

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  8 – New Jersey Motorsports Park

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Jake Gagne wrapped up the MotoAmerica Superbike championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park, winning three from three races, despite only needing two additional points after his first race win. The victories see him finish the round on 400-points, with Scholtz a comfortable second on 292, while Petersen is third overall.

Gagne winning his 16th race of the season matches the record held jointly by Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier for Superbike wins in a single season, while also tying three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey’s mark for career victories.

Jake Gagne proved unstoppable in 2021
Jake Gagne proved unstoppable in 2021

Sean Dylan Kelly also brought home the Supersport title, winning Race 1 by the smallest of margins, 0.001s, while Sam Lochoff took the Race 2 win. The result saw Dylan Kelly 70-points ahead of his next nearest rival, Escalante, with Lochoff third.

Jake Lewis won the single Stock 1000 race run, while Corey Ventura and Tommaso Marcon shared the Twin wins, with Kaleb De Keyrel bringing home the title in the Aprilia dominated class. Tyler Scott won both Junior races by a large margin, extending his lead over injured Gloddy.


Honos Superbike Race 1

In HONOS Superbike race one on Saturday afternoon, Gagne and his Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha again made a mockery of the rest of the field as he led all 20 laps in winning his 14th straight race by 7.6 seconds. After 15 races, Gagne leads the championship point standings by a whopping 98 points, needing just two points to claim the title.

Jake Gagne topped the Saturday podium in New Jersey
Jake Gagne topped the Saturday podium in New Jersey

Only a brave man would bet against Gagne winning his 15th and 16th straight races tomorrow and the Californian doesn’t seem to be willing to let someone else win. Second place on Saturday went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African taking the runner-up spot for the fifth time on the season as he solidifies his stranglehold on second in the championship.

Toni Elias had his third outing on the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha and he put it on the podium for the second time, the Spaniard ending up third, some four seconds adrift of Scholtz and just .132 of a second ahead of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong.

MotoAmerica Superbikes on Saturday
MotoAmerica Superbikes on Saturday

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz finished fifth and some 10 seconds behind Fong after topping the third Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha ridden by the returning Josh Herrin by just .051 of a second.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was seventh, well clear of One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman who was less than a second ahead of Superbike Cup winner Jake Lewis and his Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000. FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward rounded out the top 10.

Honos Superbike Races 2 & 3

Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Gagne won both HONOS Superbike races at NJMP on Sunday after winning the lone race on Saturday in MotoAmerica’s Superbike tripleheader. The two wins were his 15th and 16th on the season (those are also his career win marks in the class) and the first victory on Sunday morning is the one that earned him the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike crown.

Jake Gagne

“Even on the bad years, I’m racing motorcycles. It’s what I love to do. It’s fun. It’s sure a lot more fun when we’ve got a winning motorcycle, a winning team, and we can manage to get some wins. It’s been an incredible year. I wouldn’t have thought going in that we would be 15 wins deep. It’s pretty surreal. Again, hats off to this team because the guys are working so hard, and the bike has been super, super dialed in. We keep trying to go faster. These guys are always chasing us down and we’ve got no choice but to keep trying to go. But it’s amazing. We got another race today, so it hasn’t quite set in yet. We’ve got some work to do this afternoon because I know it’s not going to be easy, so we’ll roll on to race two.”

Jake Gagne celebrated his championship victory Sunday
Jake Gagne celebrated his championship victory Sunday

As he has done all year long, Gagne dominated and again led every single lap of both races en route to the two wins. Gagne has now led 273 consecutive laps in the 2021 season.

The two Superbike podiums on Sunday were identical with Gagne leading Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Josh Herrin in both.

MotoAmerica Superbikes on Sunday
MotoAmerica Superbikes on Sunday

For Scholtz it was a solid day as he managed to keep Gagne in sight in both races, finishing 9.5 seconds behind in race two and 6.5 seconds behind in race three.

Herrin, meanwhile, was in his comeback weekend after suffering from COVID-19 that forced him out of two rounds of the series. If Herrin’s life wasn’t hectic enough in the past few months, his wife, Rachel, also gave birth to the couple’s first child this week. He put in a tough day’s work on Sunday, however, and came out on top of two hard-fought battles with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz.

Jake Gagne
Jake Gagne

With Baz finishing fourth in both races, it was M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen who finished fifth in both. Sixth place was different, however, with Scheibe Racing’s Hector Barbera earning the spot in race two and Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Toni Elias besting the Spaniard for the spot in race three.

One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman ended the day with seventh- and eighth-place finishes with Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis finishing eighth in race two.

Ninth place in race two went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong finishing ninth in race three. Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert was 10th in race two with Tecfil Racing Team’s Danilo Lewis 10th in race three.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Jake Gagne tallies 13 wins on the trot with Pitt Race victories

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  7 – Pitt Race

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Honos Superbike Race 1

Jake Gagne’s domination of the MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike season continued at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex, claiming his 12th straight victory on Saturday, to kick off the weekend in style, after qualifying on pole.

Jake Gagne leads the Superbike field

As is the norm for the runaway championship points leader, Gagne hit the front from pole position, was never headed, and ended up crossing the finish line 11.3 seconds over second place.

Jake Gagne

“It went really smooth for me,” Gagne said. “I could tell there was a bit of drama behind me. There were those laps where my pit board would grow all of a sudden. After yesterday, we had a lot of weird weather and I think we all were kind of caught by surprise at how hot the track was. When these Dunlops get that hot, they almost don’t last quite as long as you think. I had a couple moments there. I was trying everything I could to try to break that gap. If I got off the first lap in first, I had to try to go because I know these guys are coming. I knew they were going to be close in the race, looking at times. I had just a couple tenths here and there, really, but come race time anything can change. So, I had to be ready for these guys to be right on my neck. But it was a smooth race. I saw, like I said, there was some drama behind me, and I could kind of just inch away a little bit. Half second here, half second there. But this is the type of track, even though I had a nice lead right there, not too far in the beginning, you can’t lollygag around. You can’t let up, because that’s when something bad happens, especially this place. It is tricky. It can catch you out. So, I just tried to keep my zone and focus and at the same time kind of try to think what we can do a little bit better tomorrow, because these boys are going to be coming. They don’t want to finish second or third. Hopefully, we’ll keep the progress going. Hats off to this team because Yamaha 1, 2, 3 is amazing. It shows how awesome these boys are rolling.”

Jake Gagne

It takes a lot for someone to overshadow 12 wins in a row, but on a sunny Saturday at Pitt Race, Toni Elias came pretty close to doing just that. In just his second race of the year and his first-ever outing on a Yamaha YZF-R1, Elias came off the couch to finish second on Josh Herrin’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha. Elias, who first threw his leg over the Yamaha on Friday, slotted in behind his temporary teammate Gagne and finished there.

Elias ended up some three seconds ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz. The South African had survived a hectic first lap with nemesis Loris Baz, the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York-backed Frenchman slamming into Scholtz at least twice in the first handful of corners. Baz would come under attack from M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen straight away with France clashing with South Africa for a third time in three corners. On the third lap, Baz was gone after crashing out of third place.

Toni Elias

From there, Petersen held the spot for a few laps before being passed by Scholtz, who would hold on to third for the rest of the race with Petersen finishing fourth.

With Petersen fourth, fifth place went to a lonely Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera with the Spaniard 17.9 seconds behind Petersen and eight seconds ahead of Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman in sixth. FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward was seventh and M4 ECSTAR Bobby Fong was eighth after starting the race on pit lane and finishing lap one in 26th place.

Ninth place went to Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, the Kentuckian winning the Superbike Cup race in the process as the top finishing Stock 1000. Hayden Gillim, in his first Superbike race of the year on the Franklin Armory/Disrupt Racing Suzuki, was 10th overall and second in the Superbike Cup.

Gagne won from Elias and Scholtz on Saturday for an all-Yamaha podium

Honos Superbike Race 2

Call it what you will: Lucky 13 or a baker’s dozen. It matters not. What matters is that Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne continued his complete and utter domination of the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Series with his 13th successive win today at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

Jake Gagne leads the Superbikes

But this one was closer. After besting his teammate-for-the-weekend Toni Elias on Saturday by 11.3 seconds, things got a bit tighter on Sunday for Gagne as Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz cut that gap in half, ending up 5.7 seconds behind the runaway championship leader.

Jake Gagne

“Yesterday, I know there was a lot of drama behind me, and I got through a lot faster than I should have compared to the pace that these guys had,” Gagne said after win number 13. “I knew it was going to be closer today. I got off to another good start. Put my head down for a couple laps. I think it was when Mat (Scholtz) finally got into second place, there were two laps or three laps where my pit board was dropping. I was like, ‘Oh, man. He’s pushing me. I got to go.’ I had to drop the times back and drop off a couple 10ths. When I had two or three seconds, it’s still enough to where I can’t do anything crazy, can’t make any mistakes, just hit my marks. I had fun. I love this track, so I’m happy we came out of here with some great results. I had a lot of fun. We had a good turnout. These boys don’t make it easy. We have a little bit of a cushion, and it looks easy, but it’s not easy. One little mishap and we could be off, and these boys could be right there with us. I know we’ve only got two rounds left, six races, so it will be battle royale. I know these guys want to win. I know we want to win, too. So, I’m looking forward to battling it out. I know we’ve been really fortunate this year to have a lot of wins. It’s pretty surreal. It will be a hard-fought last six races and these guys know. I know they’re ready for the fight. I think we’re all looking forward to it.”

Jake Gagne

Scholtz, who had made some tweaks to his Yamaha after Saturday’s third-place finish, started strong and was behind Elias until making a pass on the Spaniard and then doing his best to set off after the always fast-starting Gagne.

Third place went to M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, the three-time HONOS Superbike winner a year ago earning just his third podium of what has been a difficult season for the Californian.

After finishing second in his Yamaha debut on Saturday, Elias slipped to fourth on Sunday, capping off a highly successful weekend in just his second weekend of racing in 2021. Elias ended up some nine seconds behind Fong and five seconds in front of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman rebounding from a crash in Saturday’s race to finish fifth.

Toni Elias

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was a lonely sixth, well clear of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera with the Spaniard beating Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman on the last lap dash to the flag by just .117 of a second.

Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was ninth and the first of the Superbike Cup riders, the Kentuckian beating his neighbor Hayden Gillim by two seconds with Gillim rounding out the top 10 in his first Stock 1000 race of the year.

Gagne’s 13th career HONOS Superbike victory puts him in a tie for 15th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list with Blake Young and Doug Polen. The win also gives him a 93-point lead over Scholtz in the championship point standings, 325-232. Petersen is third with 184 points, 19 ahead of his teammate Fong. Baz rounds out the top five with 149, just four points more than the absent Josh Herrin.

Jake Gagne topped the Sunday podium from Scholtz and Fong

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Jake Gagne makes it two for two at Minnesota MotoAmerica

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  6 – Brainerd Raceway, Minnesota

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Honos Superbike Race 2

Jake Gagne made history on Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway, the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha man racing to his 11th straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike win to break a record set jointly by four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes and five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier.

Jake Gagne leads Bobby Fong and the Superbike field

The win was like most of Gagne’s other victories. Dominating. He shot off from pole position and was never headed, storming to a 5.2-second win over Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, who had his hands full for the duration with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz.

At the completion of 18 laps, Scholtz was just over a second ahead of the Frenchman with Baz making a mistake on the final lap that prevented him from making a run at the South African.

Gagne’s win streak dates back to race two at the season-opener at Road Atlanta in May, the Californian suffered an engine failure in race one, but he hasn’t lost since.

Jake Gagne

“This class is so stacked and there’s a lot of great teams. We were just fortunate. We started off the year really comfortable and we had a bike that worked really, really well everywhere. We still have a bike that works really well everywhere. I’m just so happy. Everything is gelling really good with the team. I’ve got a great crew, great crew chief, everybody. With Corndog (Jon Cornwell, his crew chief), with Richard (Stanboli, the team owner) with Darin (Marshall, his electronics man) at home, with Mike (Canfield) and Walker (Jemison) on the bike. We’re all in a good place. We’re all having fun racing motorcycles. We’re trying to enjoy it. We’ve had a lot of great days throughout this year, but we know anything can happen. These guys are coming. They’re getting closer and closer. Thursday and Friday we were still fast, but it wasn’t the bike that I had all year. So yesterday we kind of changed some stuff up and it felt more like my bike again. I was just fortunate I got off to a good start. I was spinning the rear tire all the way into turn one. It was weird having pole position on the inside, so you’re entering that turn one from the inside on the dirty stuff and that thing was just bucking me. I managed to get a good couple laps in there and was just keeping an eye on my pit board. Hats off to the Yamaha Fresh N’ Lean Attack team because this is awesome. I’m trying not to think about any streak or how many wins we got or whatever. This weekend is behind us. Now we’ve got to go to Pittsburgh and get to work because it’s going to get tougher and tougher.”

Jake Gagne topped the Sunday Superbike podium from Scholtz and Baz

Scholtz closed out a successful weekend in AMA Superbike racing’s return to Brainerd International Raceway with his third- and second-place finishes in Minnesota.

Mathew Scholtz

“It’s always nice to be up on the podium, especially after struggling around three and four, four and five. Laguna Seca it was nice to kind of get up on the podium there. Then to come and get two really good podiums, fighting guys and actually showing that I have the pace to be back up here, that was awesome. I just need to try to work on the first couple laps because I’m just struggling. I kind of suck in the first four or five laps. I have no feeling. I’m slipping and sliding everywhere. I feel like the front is just pushing. I think that Bobby (Fong) was following Jake (Gagne). He pulled away big time. Cameron (Beaubier) passed me. I was struggling, and then (Loris) Baz passed me and I kind of thought, ‘this guy started in 10th and he’s passing me. I’ve got to do something.’ So, I started kind of pushing a little bit harder than I should have. Took one or two chances, but then kind of settled into a decent rhythm from there. I could see when I was fighting Baz, like he said, there were a couple corners that I would catch him a lot and there were a couple corners where he was pulling me a lot, too. So, we were kind of going backwards and forwards lots. Then one of the laps, out of corner six we got a pretty decent drive and got within a bike length of two of Loris going into the carousel corner. He went a little bit wider than he usually did, so I kind of thought this was my chance and I dove up there. In corner three, maybe corner six, 12, all the corners where you would normally think about passing someone, Loris was an absolute animal braking late. He would pull four or five bikes every single time. So, I kind of knew that I had to figure out something somewhere else. Just happy to be back up here in second place kind of where we should be. I think the last couple laps I was with the same pace as what Jake was. Just need to figure out those first couple laps and work on those two, three, four outright laps of just pushing.”

Baz rebounded from a bad day at the office on Saturday in race one, the Frenchman crashing out on the second lap of the race and destroying his Ducati Panigale V4 R. Baz had to go to the backup bike for Sunday and he came through from 10th on the grid to finish third.

Loris Baz

“Yeah, not so bad, especially after the disaster yesterday. I’m still very angry with what happened yesterday. It was completely unprofessional. I’m just happy that we are alive with Jake (Gagne), because it was really scary the first laps. Then as you said, you try to put it behind. You go on your backup bike. We had some issue in the warmup. Some sensors were not working, so we could not make everything we wanted. So, I was just crossing the fingers that everything worked for the race. The mechanics from the Warhorse HSBK Racing team did an amazing job. Like you said, the frame was cut in two parts, the swingarm broken, everything was dead. So, they had to put another bike together. I did a pretty good start. I wanted to try to get to P2 as soon as possible. As I expected, when I was P2, Jake was already far away. Then I just tried to save a little bit my tires. We had a battle with Mathew (Scholtz), which was really nice. I was behind him. He was stronger in a couple of places, like Mathew said, then I was stronger in all the second section. I think two laps to go I found the place where I wanted to try something in the last lap but going into the carousel, I had a neutral, and if you go straight here you get a five-second penalty so I did everything I could just to stay on the track. I lost much but hats off to them. They did an amazing job. I just want to thank my team a lot and the Ducati guys, Paolo Ciabatti who came this weekend. We did a really good job to make the V4 working better and better over those kind of tracks, really bumpy. We were much stronger than we were at the test. So, we go on again for the next one. Try to improve again.”

Next up was M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, the Californian looking like he would repeat Saturday’s second-place finish until an off-track excursion pushed him down the order. He fought back, however, passing his teammate Cameron Petersen in the closing laps for fourth place.

MotoAmerica Superbikes

Petersen was fifth, some three seconds clear of Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s fill-in rider JD Beach with the full-time flat track racer impressing everyone in the paddock with his weekend after not racing a Superbike in two years. Beach was faster in Sunday’s race than he was in Saturday’s as he improved in every session and every race as his comfort level increased.

Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera finished behind Beach, the Spaniard suffering early on with an off-track excursion.

As he was on Saturday, Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was the top Superbike Cup racer, finishing eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000.

FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward completed his return-from-injury weekend to finish ninth with HONOS HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gagne claims Saturday MotoAmerica win at Brainerd despite crash

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  6 – Brainerd Raceway, Minnesota

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Honos Superbike Race

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.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gagne claims the Laguna Seca double | Baz closes in

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round 5 – Laguna Seca

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Honos Superbike Race 1

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.

Superbikes at Laguna Seca MotoAmerica – 2021 MotoAmerica Round 5 Laguna Seca

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.

Superbike Race 2 Start Laguna Seca – 2021 MotoAmerica Round 5 Laguna Seca

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.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gagne extends MotoAmerica Superbike lead at The Ridge

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.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gagne dominates Road America to extend series lead

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.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Scholtz takes early lead in 2021 AMA Superbikes at Road Atlanta

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.

HONOS Superbike Results

Source: MCNews.com.au