Rennie Scaysbrook | August 21, 2022
Sunday
Superbike
There are perfect weekends and then there are perfect weekends. Jake Gagne’s weekend at Pittsburgh International Race Complex was as immaculate at it could be. The defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion and his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Superbike didn’t put a wheel wrong at Pitt Race and the result was pole position, a new lap record, two victories and the points lead in the championship.
After snatching everything he could on Saturday, Gagne came back on Sunday and did the same thing. This time, however, the big bonus that came with his 10th win of the season and 27th of his career was a one-point lead in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship.
It didn’t take Jake Gagne long to jump back to the top step of the podium.
Gagne stormed away at the start, built a lead, and maintained it to the end of the 17-lap race. Behind him, he was getting help from Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz as the South African tore through from sixth on the grid to pass then-championship leader Danilo Petrucci and the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R for second place, a spot he would hold to the finish. And that gifted Gagne an extra four championship points, which translated to a one-point lead over Petrucci, 290-289.
Scholtz, who was racing with three broken bones in his left wrist, ended up 4.8 seconds behind Gagne and 1.9 seconds ahead of Petrucci, who earned his 14th podium in 16 races with his third-place finish.
Early on it was Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen who was tussling with Petrucci, but the South African couldn’t keep pace and slipped to fourth at the finish.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen finished fifth, barely besting Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with both riders bouncing back from crashes in Saturday’s race one.
Easy does it for Gagne in race two.
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim ended up seventh, which made up in small part for his crash in the Yuasa Stock 1000 race. Gillim was just under a second ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera with the Spaniard being hit with two five-second penalties – one for jumping the start and the other for running straight in the chicane.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis was ninth with Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates rounding out the top 10.
With Gagne now leading Petrucci, 290-289, Petersen is third with 241 points, 22 more than Scholtz. Barbera is still fifth with 150 points.
The MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship resumes at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, September 9-11, with the ninth of 10 rounds.
Superbike Race Two
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
- Hector Barbera (BMW)
- Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
- Ashton Yates (BMW)
Stock 1000
In Yuasa Stock 1000 race two, the fortunes of the two main protagonists in the championship went in opposite directions. Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW rider Corey Alexander started from the pole and looked to have the victory well in his grasp until Disrupt Racing Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim chased him down and took the lead.
It was close quarters in Stock 1000 with Alexander taking the win.
Alexander managed to overtake Gillim for the lead, and then, the two made contact, which resulted in Gillim crashing out of the race. Alexander prevailed with the win, and his teammate Travis Wyman inherited the runner-up position, which he maintained to the checkered flag. Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Brandon Paasch finished third to complete the podium.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman, who won Saturday’s SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one, got the double win on the weekend with a victory in Sunday’s race two. Wyman started from the pole and led every one of the 10 laps. Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio finished second in a race that was mostly processional for him. The battle for third place came right down to a photo-finish between SportTrackGear.com Kawasaki rider Max Van and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov. At the stripe, it was Yaakov who grabbed the last spot on the podium with perfectly timed pass on Van.
Two for two for Cody Wyman.
Supersport
After winning the past three Supersport races in a row, the question was whether a surging Landers Racing Yamaha’s Rocco Landers could keep his winning streak going in Sunday’s race two. Well, championship leader Josh Herrin had something to say about that. The Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider put in a dominant performance and even withstood an unplanned off-track excursion to notch his eighth win of the season and stretch out his championship lead to a rather gaudy 76 points over Landers, who finished as runner-up. Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki ECSTAR’s Tyler Scott, who reached the podium for the eighth time in this, the 17-year-old’s rookie year in MotoAmerica’s hotly contested middleweight class.
Herrin put one hand on the title with the race two win.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race
Sunday’s races began in the morning with Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. seven-lap sprint taking place on a slightly damp track that was the result of rain that had fallen earlier in the morning. It looked like Kayleigh Buyck, who had won all the BTR races thus far going into Pittsburgh, was going to have her winning streak snapped by Jennifer Chancellor. Unfortunately, Chancellor crashed out of the lead in the final turn of the final lap, and Buyck, who was in second, took the checkered flag once again. Second place went to Crystal Martinez, who was a little more than eight seconds behind Buyck, and third went to Chloe Peterson, who was only .083 of a second behind Martinez.
It was another win for Kayleigh Buyck.
REV’IT! Twins Cup
The Pittsburgh race weekend concluded with REV’IT! Twins Cup race two, and MotoAmerica tuner class put a fitting crescendo on the event. In a class that pits riders aboard Aprilia RS 660s versus riders aboard Yamaha YZF-R7s, it was Yamaha that swept the podium with MP13 Racing’s Cory Ventura getting his third win of the year. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis, who won Saturday’s race one, finished second on Sunday, while BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle was third.
Ventura held strong for his third win in a row.
Saturday
Superbike
Jake Gagne earned his ninth MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike victory of the season today in the red-flag interrupted race one of the Superbikes At Pittsburgh, Presented by LaRoche Aviation Services, round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Gagne, who earlier in the day earned pole position with a new lap record of 1:39.344 around the 2.78-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex, led all three starts and every lap of the three portions of the race to claim the 26th win of his AMA Superbike career.
Gagne’s victory also allowed him to claw back five precious championship points on series leader Danilo Petrucci, who finished a fighting second on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R. Petrucci now leads Gagne by eight points, 273-265, with five races (including tomorrow’s race two at Pitt Race) remaining in the 2022 season.
Three race starts still couldn’t stop Gagne (1) from taking his ninth win of the year.
Gagne crossed the line 2.064 seconds ahead of Petrucci at the end of the three-parter, with Petrucci was hounded to the finish line by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen, with the three separated by just .417 of a second at the conclusion of what ended up being a five-lap sprint.
The runner-up finish was the ultra-consistent Petrucci’s 13th podium in 14 races after the Italian gave it his all in each of the restarts to try and latch on to Gagne.
Scholtz’s race to third was an adventurous one. Riding with a broken left wrist suffered at BIR three weeks ago, the South African was forced off track to avoid Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, who made a mistake and crashed on the opening lap of the race. Scholtz had charged from well back to seventh when the first red flag was thrown on the seventh lap. Scholtz then charged through on the second restart and was battling with Petersen when another red flag was thrown. In the final portion of the race, Scholtz got the better of his countryman Petersen and the trio – Petrucci, Scholtz and Petersen, crossed the finish line in close formation.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis was a fighting fifth, 9.5 seconds behind Petersen and a tick over a second ahead of his fellow Kentuckian Hayden Gillim, who narrowly topped Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera.
Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was eighth while Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates and ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounded out the top 10.
Gagne’s win once again closes up the title race.
The first red flag was thrown when Ezra Beaubier’s BMW M 1000 RR suffered a mechanical failure and was parked near the side of the track. The second red flag came out when Jeremy Coffey crashed and was in an impact zone.
Other than those two, the notable non-finisher was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen, who crashed out of the final portion of the race.
As mentioned earlier, Petrucci leads Gagne, 273-265, with Petersen third on 228. Scholtz’s 199 points and Barbera’s 142 round out the top five in the championship heading into tomorrow’s race two at Pitt Race.
Superbike Race One
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
- Hector Barbera (BMW)
- Corey Alexander (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (BMW)
- David Anthony (Suzuki)
Yuasa Stock 1000
Yuasa Stock 1000 race one started off the day, and with only four races left in the Championship (two at Pitt Race and one each at New Jersey Park and Barber Motorsports Park), if anyone is going to catch points leader Corey Alexander, the time is now to win races. For championship challenger Hayden Gillim, that’s exactly what he did. The Disrupt Racing Suzuki rider got the win, while Alexander experienced technical problems that resulted in a 10th-place finish. Gillim’s victory, his third of the year, moved him to within 14 points of Alexander.
Runner-up in race one went to Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing Suzuki fill-in rider Andrew Lee, who is substituting for injured team rider and owner Michael Gilbert. Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Brandon Paasch finished third for his second straight podium result.
Supersport
The Supersport Championship looks like it will be won by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin, but contender Rocco Landers has definitely not given up the fight. The Landers Racing Yamaha rider won his third straight race, and once again, it was by a wide margin. Landers crossed the finish line more than six-and-a-half seconds ahead of Herrin, who lamented that he and his team made a wrong tire choice for the race. Herrin, in turn, finished a little more than six-and-a-half seconds over third-place finisher Tyler Scott aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
It was a third straight win for Rocco Landers in Supersport.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one featured the close racing and multiple passes for which the class is known, and in the end, it was Alpha Omega Kawasaki’s Cody Wyman who prevailed with the win. In the first part of the race, polesitter Wyman battled for the lead with Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio until he stabilized his position at the front and took the victory by a little more than a second. While Rodio finished in the runner-up position, another three seconds back was Max Van who brought his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki across the finish line in third.
For Wyman, it was his sixth race win of the season, and today’s victory gives him a 38-point lead in the championship over Joseph LiMandri Jr., with just five races left in the season.
REV’IT! Twins Cup
REV’IT! Twins Cup race one concluded day two on the main track at Pitt Race, and MotoAmerica’s largest class of riders put a fitting crescendo on the day. Emerging with the win in a photo finish was N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha rider Blake Davis who prevailed by a scant .053 of a second over runner-up and defending class champion Kaleb De Keyrel aboard his Veloce Racing Aprilia. The race for the final spot on the podium was even closer between Cycle Tech Yamaha’s Hayden Schultz and Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Ben Gloddy. At the checkers, it was Schultz who snatched third place from Gloddy by just nine milliseconds
Friday
Superbike
Broken bones be damned. Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz showed that he could put the pain of his recently broken left wrist behind him to earn provisional pole position for this weekend’s two Medallia MotoAmerica Superbike races that will headline the Superbikes At Pittsburgh, Presented by LaRoche Aviation Services, round at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
South Africa’s Mathew Scholtz charged to P1 on Friday in Pittsburgh.
Scholtz lapped at 1:40.927 to lead Q1 with the South African the only rider to dip into the 1:40s on a warm, sunny day out the outskirts of Pittsburgh, despite riding with the broken wrist suffered three weeks ago in Minnesota.
Though he said the wrist wasn’t that bothersome when riding, Scholtz knows that one lap isn’t the same as race distance, which in this instance is 17 laps for each of the two races.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci came the closest to Scholtz with the Italian a scant .303 of a second off provisional pole just .041 of a second ahead of the man he is fighting for the championship – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne. Petrucci’s best, a 1:41.230, came on his 12th lap with Gagne’s 1:41.271 coming on his seventh lap.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen was on the same second as Scholtz in fourth as was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera in fifth, .768 off Scholtz’s best.
Yuasa Stock 1000
Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander ended Friday on top of the timesheets in the class in which he leads the championship – Yuasa Stock 1000. Alexander ripped off a 1:43.171 to lead his teammate Travis Wyman by just .077 of a second.
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, meanwhile, is the man chasing Alexander in the point standings and he was only .198 of a second behind his rival in third place. Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing’s Andrew Lee ended up fourth fastest as he continues to fill in for the injured Michael Gilbert.
Another day, another dollar for Corey Alexander.
Mesa37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa was fifth fastest on opening day and just a tick over a second off Alexander’s best.
REV’IT! Twins Cup
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis led the way in the first qualifying session for the REV’IT! Twins Cup class at Pitt Race, the 16-year-old barely besting defending class champion Kaleb De Keyrel in a Yamaha vs. Aprilia duel. The difference between the two? A mere .083 of a second.
Robem Engineering’s Ben Gloddy and Veloce Racing’s Jody Barry rounded out the top five on day one.
Barry, who is one point behind Anthony Mazziotto in the battle for the REV’IT! Twins Cup title, ended day one with the advantage as Mazziotto was 10th in Friday’s session after a difficult day with mechanical ills.
Supersport
Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers is doing everything he can this weekend to prevent Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin from wrapping up the title at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
Although Herrin winning the title is a foregone conclusion, Landers would like to make him wait and he started the weekend on the right foot by leading Q1 on Friday. Landers lapped at a best of 1:43.906 – .288 faster than Herrin.
Landers continued his form from Brainerd with P1 on Friday.
Four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes ended the day third fastest on his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R6, but a tick over a second slower than Landers. North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott rounded out the top five in Q1.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup
Alpha Omega’s Cody Wyman showed why he’s leading the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship as he led Q1 by almost half a second on Friday at Pitt Race.
Wyman logged a 1:55.863 to best Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio and Bauce Racing/JL62 Team’s Joe LiMandri Jr. Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher and SportbikeTrackGear.com’s Max Van rounded out the top five.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race
Championship points leader Kayleigh Buyck was the best of the women racers in the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. second practice session on Friday with her 2:11.892.
Buyck led Jennifer Chancellor by .430 of a second with Chloe Peterson ending the session third to complete the provisional front row for Sunday’s race.
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