Press Release | April 19, 2023
Veterans, Newbies, Known Names, New Names Are Ready To Roll at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
Plenty Of New Faces And Established Stars Set For MotoAmerica’s Opening Round In Georgia
This is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (April 19, 2023) – While two MotoAmerica Championships got their start in early March at Daytona International Speedway, three more classes will join the premier Medallia Superbike class in getting their fresh beginning of a new season with those title chases kicking off at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 21-23.
Hot on the heels of his impressive weekend of Mission King Of The Baggers racing at Daytona, James Rispoli leads a heated title fight into Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Mission King Of The Baggers and REV’IT! Twins Cup got their seasons rolling in Florida as support classes for the non-points-paying Daytona 200 (which features Supersport-class motorcycles), but Stock 1000, Junior Cup and Supersport will open their championships at the iconic Road Atlanta this weekend.
Supersport – A New Champion Guaranteed
With Josh Herrin making a return to the Medallia Superbike Championship, the only thing we can count on is that the Supersport title will go to a new champion in 2023 in what promises to be a wide-open affair between young guns and seasoned veterans.
With four of the top five from last year’s championship not entered in the opening round of the series at Road Atlanta, others have come from other classes and/or have changed teams.
The ex-Herrin Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V2 may be the most coveted ride in the class, and it falls this year to Spaniard Xavi Forés. Forés made his debut on the bike at Daytona, but a mechanical problem thwarted his progress before it really got going as it put him out of the 200 early. Thus, his season really begins at Road Atlanta. If he’s like any of the Europeans who have come before him, those first laps of Road America will open his eyes.
There is no more of a veteran in the class than four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes. Though he’s not sure of how many races he and the Squid Hunter Racing team will partake in this season, Road Atlanta is a definite and Hayes will be attempting to put his name into the record books as his next MotoAmerica victory will be his 87th and it will make him the winningest rider in AMA road racing history across all classes.
On the other end of the spectrum is Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, the youngster finishing third in last years’ title chase while winning the first race of his promising career at Road America. Scott will be back on the same Suzuki GSX-R750 for the same team and will start the championship as one of the favorites. Scott will be joined on the team by another youngster, Teagg Hobbs.
Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert returns to the Supersport ranks after several seasons in the Stock 1000 class. Gilbert will be racing a Team Hammer built Suzuki GSX-R750.
While Hayes may be the most veteran of those in Supersport, Stefano Mesa would come close to matching him in miles raced. Journeyman racer Mesa is slated to ride a Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R in the series.
Cory Ventura moves to the Disrupt Racing team for 2023 after a few quality outings as a fill-in rider last year on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team. Ventura will likely benefit from being under the same awning as veteran Hayden Gillim, who will ride Disrupt Racing Suzukis in the Superbike and Stock 1000 classes.
Others looking to make an impact on the class include the two-rider North East Cycle Outlet Racing team of CJ LaRoche and Anthony Mazziotto, Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis, Altus Motorsports’ Jaret Nassaney, and Gilbert’s teammate Alejandro Thermiotis.
Stock 1000 – Too Many To Choose From
Forty-one Stock 1000 riders will attempt to qualify for the two races in the series opener and, again, the 2022 class champion isn’t among them. While series champ Corey Alexander will focus his efforts on the Medallia Superbike Championship in 2023, last year’s runner-up Hayden Gillim will again do double duty on his pair of Disrupt Racing Suzukis and will compete in both Stock 1000 and Medallia Superbike. And Gillim, with five wins in 2022, will most definitely start the season as the favorite in Stock 1000.
Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman, who finished third in the 2022 championship, is also returning with his BMW M 1000 RR after a six-podium season a year ago. Not as fortunate is Brandon Paasch with the New Jerseyan out of action at least for the early part of the year after breaking a bone in his back in a motocross training accident. Paasch’s spot on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki has been taken over by Anthony Norton.
Orange Cat Racing will field two riders in the Stock 1000 class – Ezra Beaubier and Kaleb De Keyrel. Beaubier raced for the team last year and ended the year ranked ninth while De Keyrel is new to the class after finishing fourth in the REV’IT! Twins Cup Championship in 2022 a season after earning the title in the class.
Whether or not Road Atlanta marks the final race of a great career for Geoff May remains to be seen, but the veteran is entered to compete in the Stock 1000 class in his native Georgia. May is entered on the same Geoff May Racing Honda CBR1000RR-R SP that he rode to fifth in last year’s championship.
Junior Cup – Fresh Faces
There are lots of new faces set to do battle in the Junior Cup class with 24 riders entered for the opener at Road Atlanta.
New faces? Well, for starters, Max Van is the only rider entered for this weekend’s two Junior Cup races who finished in the top five in last year’s championship. Last year’s champion Cody Wyman? Gone to REV’IT! Twins Cup. Ditto for Gus Rodio, Kayla Yaakov and Joe LiMandri Jr.
Beyond Max Van, the next highest finishing rider in the class from 2022 who is returning is Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher, who ended up seventh a year ago. Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese (eighth last year) also returns along with 3D Motorsports’ Chase Black (ninth in 2022) and Yandel Racing’s Yandel Medina (11th).
Headlining the list of new faces is Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing’s Rossi Moor, the dominant Mini Cup by Motul rider from the 2021 season. In addition to being new to the class, Moor will also be riding the only KTM RC 390 R in this year’s series. Remember, however, that Tyler Scott rode a KTM to the title in 2021.
The only other non-Kawasaki Ninja 400 in this year’s title chase is the Yamaha YZF-R3, which will be ridden by MP13 Racing’s Aiden Sneed.
REV’IT! Twins Cup – The Champ Is Back
REV’IT Twins Cup is one of the classes where last year’s champion will be back to try and defend his title. That rider is N2/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis, the young Virginian who came away with the title after his six-podium, three-victory effort a season ago on his Yamaha YZF-R7.
And REV’IT! Twins Cup is also one of two classes that started its championship at Daytona with a two-race opening round. The two races were won by Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Gus Rodio and by Stefano Mesa who was filling in for the injured Kayla Yaakov on the MP13 Racing Yamaha.
Davis, who finished with a pair of fourths at Daytona, is already under the gun as many of the riders he battled with a year ago are back for another crack at the title chase.
Optimum Performance Motorsports’ Jody Barry is likely one of the hungriest after a stellar early 2022 season had him atop the point standings for most of the season. However, a less-than-stellar late season pushed him down to second in the title chase and tied with Anthony Mazziotto, who has moved to the Supersport class for 2023. Barry started his season with sixth- and seventh-place finishes.
Of the riders moving up to REV’IT! Twins Cup, it was Rodio who started with a bang at Daytona, winning race one and finishing second in race two, he leads the championship by nine points over Jackson Blackmon.
Blackmon had a great weekend at Daytona, especially so, considering it was his first race back from a badly broken ankle that kept him out of most of the races a year ago. Blackmon rode his Track Day Winner/Blackmon Racing Yamaha YZF-R7 to second and third at Daytona.
Another nine points behind Rodio after leaving Daytona with third-and fifth-place finishes is Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz, who is just one point ahead of Davis.
Other riders expected to challenge in the REV’IT! Twins Cup class are non-defending Junior Cup Champion Cody Wyman, Altus Motorsports Joe LiMandri Jr., Rodio’s teammate Ben Gloddy and Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle with the latter two having Daytonas they’d rather forget. Doyle crashed twice, taking Gloddy with him the first time and leaving Gloddy injured and unable to take part in race two. Both are entered to compete at Road Atlanta.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Let The War Resume
The first of what will be a season-long war between Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle riders in the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship got their start at Daytona International Speedway in early March and round one went to Harley-Davidson – though probably not to the Harley-Davidsons you expected.
The man at the top of the championship as the series pulls into Road Atlanta for round two is Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli, the New Yorker who now calls Florida home winning his first-career Baggers race in race one at Daytona and finishing second in race two. That adds up to a nice little haul of 45 points.
Second in the title chase after Daytona? Well, that would be Rispoli’s Vance & Hines teammate Hayden Gillim by virtue of his second-and third-place finishes. Third in the championship after Daytona? Still not a factory Harley-Davidson or Indian, but instead Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West with his pair of fourths from Daytona.
Then came the big guns – 2021 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Kyle Wyman and 2022 Champion Tyler O’Hara of the H-D Screamin’ Eagle and Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods Indian teams in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Kyle Wyman was a non-finisher in race one and then dominated race two; O’Hara was third in race one and a rather remarkable 11th in race two despite tire issues.
O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams also struggled with a fifth in race one and similar tire woes pushing him back to an even more impressive eighth in race two.
The second of the Wyman brothers on the factory Harley team, Travis Wyman, is likely looking forward to Road Atlanta more than anyone in the class as mechanical issues forced him out of both Daytona races. He arrives in Georgia with zero points – 45 points behind Rispoli.
Road Atlanta Support Class Notes
Kyle Wyman won last year’s Mission King Of The Baggers race at Road Atlanta with the 2021 class champion besting James Rispoli and Tyler O’Hara.
Kyle Wyman’s fastest lap in the race was also the fastest lap of the weekend for a Bagger with his 1:31.789 making him the only rider to dip into the 1:31s. Wyman also had the fastest lap from Q1 with a 1:31.874.
The lone Stock 1000 race last year at Road Atlanta was won by Corey Alexander by just .001 of a second over Michael Gilbert. Travis Wyman finished third.
Josh Herrin got his Supersport season off to a perfect start a year ago at Road Atlanta with the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC-backed Panigale V2 rider taking victories in both races. Herrin beat Sam Lochoff and Benjamin Smith in race one and topped Lochoff and Rocco Landers in race two.
Jody Barry beat Teagg Hobbs by just .073 of a second to win the REV’IT! Twins Cup race in Braselton in 2022 with Ben Gloddy finishing third.
In Junior Cup action, it was Cody Wyman besting Max Van and Joe LiMandri Jr. in race one with Max Van beating Aden Thao and Kayla Yaakov in race two.
Fourteen Mission King Of The Baggers races have been held, including the very first invitational race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2020, and there have been six different winners in series history. Kyle Wyman, the 2021 class champion, leads the way with six wins, followed by defending class champion Tyler O’Hara’s four victories. Jeremy McWilliams, Travis Wyman, Bobby Fong and James Rispoli each have a victory.
While on the subject of parity, the REV’IT! Twins Cup series has plenty of it with 21 different winners in a class that started its sixth season at Daytona in March with two new winners – Gus Rodio and Stefano Mesa. The all-time leader in class victories is Kaleb De Keyrel with 10 wins. For 2023, De Keyrel moves to the Stock 1000 class on an Orange Cat Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
Old Guard Vs. New Guard Set For MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Season-Opening Battle
The Medallia Superbike Series Opens At Road Atlanta, April 21-23, With Five-Time Champion Cameron Beaubier Back On A Superbike.
This is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (April 18, 2023) – The old guard returns to the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship this coming weekend, April 21-23, at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the opening round of the 2023 title chase and when they arrive, they are going to find the young guard standing at the gates with weapons drawn.
The 2023 MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship begins April 21-23 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with the 27-rider field hoping to prevent Jake Gagne (1) from winning a third successive Superbike crown. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Leading the slightly grizzled old guard is five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, the Californian making his highly anticipated return to the championship after spending the past two years in the Moto2 World Championship. He’ll be joined by 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Toni Elias with the Spanish former World Champion returning to full-time action after a mostly idle 2022. The third of the former class champions returning to the premier Medallia Superbike ranks is Josh Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion climbing back up to the Superbike class after earning last year’s MotoAmerica Supersport crown.
Leading the young guard is none other than Jake Gagne, the two-time and defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion who has amassed 29 Superbike race wins in the absence of his former teammate Beaubier in a classic, while-the-cat’s-away-the-mouse-will-play scenario. Gagne will be joined at the gate by his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha teammate Cameron Petersen and the third of the big three, Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.
And how’s this for a stat? Nine of the last 10 AMA Superbike Championships have been won by men who will race in the opening round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – Herrin (2013), Beaubier (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020), Elias (2017) and Gagne (2021, 2022).
Additionally, Beaubier (54 wins), Elias (32 wins), Gagne (29 wins), Herrin (8 wins), Scholtz (5 wins) and Petersen (3 wins) have a combined 131 Superbike wins between them. And let’s also remember that one of the riders ready to battle, Elias, has a Moto2 World Championship on his resume.
That, my friends, is a stacked field of top-notch racers ready to fight in the opening round of the 2023 MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship and that doesn’t even factor in the horde of hungry non-winners hoping to taste success in the class for the first time in 2023.
When Beaubier departed for Grand Prix racing in 2021, it was Gagne who took over the top spot on inarguably the most successful team in the paddock – the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha squad and its well-developed YZF-R1 Superbike. Gagne has made the most of a long-awaited opportunity, securing two Superbike titles and winning 29 of the 40 Superbike races held in the past two years since joining the factory team. Gagne starts the season, as he should, as the favorite to win a third successive title.
Gagne will be joined on the Attack team for a second year by Petersen, the South African coming off a successful debut season on the team’s second R1, winning two races and finishing third in the championship behind Gagne and the now-departed Danilo Petrucci, the Italian scoring five race wins on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R before heading to the World Superbike Championship.
Georgia-based Scholtz and the Westby Racing team also won a race in 2022, but Scholtz was the less consistent of the South African duo and he finished fourth in the title chase. Both Petersen and Scholtz, who again will be the lone rider on the Westby team, will expect more from themselves in 2023.
With five MotoAmerica Superbike titles and 54 AMA Superbike wins on his resume, Beaubier will return to the championship he owned until his departure in 2021. But he does so not on the familiar Yamaha YZF-R1 with which he won those titles, but on an unfamiliar BMW M 1000 RR for the Tytlers Cycle Racing team. Beaubier’s set-up experience should be a big boost to the team (and his teammates) on the relatively new squad. While we’ve accurately portrayed Beaubier as old in experience, the soon-to-be father is just 30 years old.
Beaubier will be joined on the team’s BMWs by incumbents PJ Jacobsen and Corey Alexander. Last year, Jacobsen finished sixth in the Superbike Championship with three podiums, including a fighting second in race two at Road America. Alexander, meanwhile, was focused on winning the 2022 Stock 1000 Championship, a goal he accomplished while also finishing 11th in the Superbike title fight.
Elias, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, last competed in the MotoAmerica Championship in 2021 with a few fill-in rides on Kyle Wyman’s Ducati and Herrin’s second seat on the Attack Yamaha. His part-time season was highlighted by a second-place finish on Herrin’s Attack Yamaha in the Pitt Race round. Elias’ return to a full-time spot on the Superbike grid will be on the team he rode for in 2020 – Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. In 2020, Elias ended the title chase in fourth on the team’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Spaniard will be hoping for better in 2023. Let’s not forget that Elias is still the only rider on the grid to have beaten Beaubier for the MotoAmerica Superbike crown when he won 10 races en route to the 2017 title.
Elias will be joined on the two-rider Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team by Richie Escalante, who will compete in his sophomore season in the class after ending the championship ninth in a rookie season chock-full of learning the ropes of Superbike racing.
The third of the returning Superbike stars is Herrin. Last year, Herrin dominated the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship, taking the title by 106 points, and the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion has been rewarded with another opportunity to join the premier-class grid. Herrin has gobs of Superbike experience, riding for the factory Yamaha team (twice) and Yoshimura Suzuki with eight Superbike wins on his resume.
With Petrucci’s departure, Herrin will go it alone on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC team in the Superbike class with Spaniard Xavi Forés riding the ex-Herrin Panigale V2 in the Supersport class.
Others expecting to run at or near the front include Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates, Wrench Motorcycles’ David Anthony, Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis, Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders, and Superbike rookie Benjamin Smith on the CW Moto Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.
In total, 27 Superbikes are entered for the season opener at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The Superbike riders will take to the track for the first time in 2023 on Friday at 10:50 a.m. for their first 40-minute practice session of the year.
Race one at Road Atlanta is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. on Saturday with race two coming exactly 24 hours later on Sunday. Both races are scheduled for 19 laps of the undulating 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course.
Road Atlanta Superbike Notes
While last year’s MotoAmerica event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta was round two of the Medallia Superbike Championship, this year’s race will mark the opening round of the nine-round, 20-race series. It is not, however, MotoAmerica’s first race of the season as the series got rolling with the Daytona 200 at Daytona International Speedway in March. The Daytona event featured the non-points paying 200 (which features Supersport-class motorcycles) and the opening round (two races) of the Mission King Of The Baggers and REV’IT! Twins Cup Championships.
Danilo Petrucci and Jake Gagne split wins in last year’s Road Atlanta round of the Medallia Superbike Championship with Petrucci winning race one and Gagne bouncing back from his race-one crash to win race two. Petrucci’s victory in race one was his third of his debut MotoAmerica season as he’d swept the championship opener at Circuit of The Americas a few weeks earlier. Petrucci, however, only completed one lap of race two at Road Atlanta before being forced out with mechanical issues.
Petrucci topped Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz by 1.4 seconds to win race one with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis finishing third in his only Superbike podium finish of the year. In race two, Gagne beat Cameron Petersen by 14.028 seconds with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Kyle Wyman finishing third as a fill-in rider for PJ Jacobsen. Despite his race-two non-finish, Petrucci left Georgia with a 15-point lead over Mathew Scholtz.
Jake Gagne earned pole position for last year’s two Medallia Superbike races with his record-breaking 1:23.407 qualifying lap. Gagne’s 2022 effort bested his lap record of 1:23.746 from 2021.
Both Gagne and Petrucci circulated under Cameron Beaubier’s Superbike race lap record with their 1:23.921 and 1:23.934 laps, respectively, coming in race one.
With Cameron Beaubier returning to the MotoAmerica Championship, he is back to being the winningest active rider in the class with his 54 Superbike wins. Those 54 wins puts him third on the all-time AMA Superbike win list behind Mat Mladin’s 82 wins and Josh Hayes’ 61 victories.
Toni Elias, meanwhile, is tied for fourth on the all-time win list with Miguel Duhamel, but the Spaniard is now just three wins ahead of Jake Gagne with the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha rider amassing 29 victories in his two championship-winning seasons in 2021 and 2022.
Five manufacturers will be represented in the opening round of the 2023 MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship. Yamaha leads the way with 13 YZF-R1s entered, followed by BMW with six, Suzuki with five, Kawasaki with two and the lone Ducati of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin.
Riders from seven countries will compete in the Superbike races at Road Atlanta with the USA, South Africa, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Great Britain, and Brazil represented.
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com
