Cycle News Staff | June 1, 2023
A repaved Road America should bear record speeds in Wisconsin for this coming weekend’s Medallia Superbike Championship.
This is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (May 31, 2023) – Although a new lap record on the fast and newly repaved Road America this coming weekend is almost a given, the rest of the results from the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship weekend on the four-mile circuit located on the outskirts of the lakeside resort town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, promise to be anything but a certainty.
Two-time and defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne is again establishing himself as the man to beat as the series heads to Road America, June 2-4. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Two-time and defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne is again establishing himself as the man to beat as the series heads to Road America, June 2-4. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
While Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Jake Gagne arrives in Wisconsin with a three-race win streak and a 21-point lead in the championship, there’s already talk of Road America, with its two long straightaways, being a track that will favor the fast but not-so-nimble BMW M 1000 RR and the also-fast Ducati Panigale V4 R over the steadfast Yamaha YZF-R1. There’s also the fact that the top gun thus far on the BMW is none other than five-time Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, who also happens to be the all-time winningest rider at Road America with his 10 Superbike victories at “America’s National Park of Speed.”
But first things first and the first thing that’s talked about with the Medallia Superbike Championship is the man atop the series standings and that man is Gagne. Although the two-time defending class champion had issues last year at Road America that resulted in him finishing a lackluster (for him) fifth and fourth in the two races after arriving on a three-race win streak, Gagne rarely finishes off the podium and he’s yet to do so thus far in 2023.
Beaten in the opening race of the season by Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beaubier and the BMW, Gagne has won the past three races (race two at Road Atlanta and both races at Barber Motorsports Park a few short weeks ago) and arrives, as always, as the rider to beat.
Beaubier finished off the podium for the first time in race one at Barber but bounced back with a fighting third in race two. He comes to Road America trailing Gagne by 21 points, 95-74, and needs to turn the tables on his former teammate to make the gap more manageable.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, who won race two last year at Road America on his Yamaha YZF-R1, is third in the title chase coming into Road America, a further 11 points behind Gagne and 14 points ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin.
Herrin has one podium finish in the four races held thus far, but Road America should be a good track for the Panigale V4 R to stretch its legs. Last year, Danilo Petrucci put the Italian bike on the podium twice at Road America and led the championship when the series left Wisconsin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante is off to a good start in his sophomore season on the Suzuki GSX-R1000R Superbike as he seems to gain confidence with every race. The former MotoAmerica Supersport Champion finished fourth the last time he threw his leg over the Suzuki in race two at Barber. He trails Herrin by just six points.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen has had a difficult start to his 2023 season, and it got worse on the Monday after Barber when he crashed during a test day and suffered a wrist injury. Petersen, with a fourth and a second in the two races he did finish, is 62 points behind his teammate after two DNFs in four races.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander is tied with Petersen in points with his consistent start to his first full-time Medallia Superbike season. Alexander is just one point better than his teammate PJ Jacobsen, who joins Petersen as the only two riders in the top 10 to card a DNF. Jacobsen’s DNF came in the first race of the season when he crashed out of race one at Road Atlanta.
Vision Wheel ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias is also off to a slow start with and uncharacteristic seventh-, eighth-, 13th- and ninth-place finishes in the four races. Elias is ninth in the series standings, four points behind Jacobsen and four ahead of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim.
Pre-Road America Superbike Notes…
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen were victorious in last year’s two races at Road America, though it was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci who left with the biggest points haul (and the championship points lead) after second and third-place finishes on the Panigale V4 R in 2022.
Although Jake Gagne was off the podium in both races last year, he did start the two races from pole position, though his 2:10.617 qualifying time was just off his lap record from 2021 of 2:10.529. With race conditions less than ideal, no one came close to Gagne’s best race lap of 2:10.998 from 2021.
As mentioned earlier, five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier is the rider with the most Superbike wins at Road America with his 10 victories, one better than Australian Mat Mladin and two better than Josh Hayes.
Active MotoAmerica racers with Superbike victories at Road America other than Beaubier and Hayes (who is now racing in the Supersport class) are Toni Elias, Jake Gagne, Mathew Scholtz, Cameron Petersen and Bobby Fong (who is now racing in the Mission King Of The Baggers class).
Jake Gagne’s two victories at Barber Motorsports Park were the 31st and 32nd of his Superbike career and moved him into a tie with Miguel Duhamel and Toni Elias for fourth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Cameron Beaubier’s next Medallia Superbike win will be his 56th and will put him just five short of Josh Hayes, who sits second on the all-time list with 61 wins to Mat Mladin’s 82 Superbike victories.
Hayes, meanwhile, continues to chase the all-time AMA road race win record as he is currently tied with Miguel Duhamel with 86 wins across all classes. Hayes will be aboard his Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 in the two Supersport races at Road America. Beaubier, meanwhile, lurks in fourth on the all-time list with 76 wins – 10 behind Duhamel and Hayes.
As far as manufacturers go, Yamaha has the most wins at Road America with 26 followed by Suzuki with 18, Honda (12), Ducati (eight) and Kawasaki (four). Yamaha had won seven of eight races until Suzuki swept both races in 2019 with Toni Elias and Josh Herrin. In 2020, however, Beaubier and Yamaha chalked up three more wins before Bobby Fong gave Suzuki another victory in race two in the June event. In 2021, Jake Gagne gave Yamaha two more victories in America’s Dairyland and last year Mathew Scholtz and Cameron Petersen both earned their wins on Yamaha YZF-R1s.
Three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer won the first-ever AMA Superbike race at Road America in 1980. Spencer will be on hand this weekend in his new role as mentor/coach for Royal Enfield and its Build. Train. Race. program.
The two Medallia Superbike races will start at 3:10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The two races will be preceded by the Supersport races (2:10 p.m.) and followed by the two Mission King Of The Baggers races (4:05 p.m.).
How To Watch: MotoAmerica Superbikes At Road America
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A Full Slate Of MotoAmerica Support Classes To Provide Plenty Of Action At Road America
Supersport, Mission King Of The Baggers, Steel Commander Stock 1000, Junior Cup, Royal Enfield BTR And Mission Mini Cup By Motul All Set For June 2-4
Irvine, CA (June 1, 2023) – Motorcycle road-racing fans who descend on Road America this weekend will be busy with five support classes on tap in addition to the headline MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike races slated for the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, racetrack, June 2-4.
The Steel Commander Stock 1000 class is shaping up to be a Hayden Gillim (69) vs. Ezra Beaubier (16) vs. Kaleb De Keyrel (51) vs the rest of the field as the series heads to Road America, June 2-4. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
With Friday’s program featuring practice and qualifying sessions for all six of the classes, the support classes will race twice over the course of the weekend. Those five classes are: Supersport, Steel Commander Stock 1000, Junior Cup, Mission King Of The Baggers and Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. Additionally, the Mission Mini Cup By Motul program, featuring MotoAmerica’s youngest racers, will run on Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening at Road America’s karting track.
Supersport – So Far, All Fores
Two rounds into the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship and there is only one rider who has stood on the top step of the podium: Xavier Fores. With victories in his MotoAmerica debut at Road Atlanta and a win in the first “extended” Supersport race at Barber Motorsports Park, the Spaniard has been nothing short of perfect on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V2. Thus, with the “extended” race paying double points in Alabama, the ultra-experienced Fores leads the title chase by 27 points, 100-73, over Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa.
With podiums in two of the three races, Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes is third in the championship and still chasing his 87th career AMA victory that would make him the all-time leader in the multi-class category. Hayes is 19 points behind Mesa and just a point ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott.
Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert sits fifth in the title chase as the series arrives in Wisconsin.
Steel Commander Stock 1000 – Beaubier, The Younger, Leads
Orange Cat Racing’s Ezra Beaubier is first and foremost the leader of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 Championship as the series takes to the four-mile Road America racetrack this coming weekend. Secondly, he is the younger brother of five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier.
Ezra Beaubier has been on the podium in all four Steel Commander Stock 1000 races this year, including the first two victories of his career in the opening round at Road Atlanta. Beaubier followed up those two wins with a second- and third-place finishes at Barber Motorsports Park, which has added up to a 26-point lead over Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim and Beaubier’s teammate Kaleb De Keyrel.
Gillim’s championship run started with a big hiccup at Road Atlanta when he failed to finish race one and only mustered a sixth in race two. He righted that ship in Alabama, however, with two decisive victories.
Gillim finds himself 26 points behind Beaubier and tied with De Keyrel for second. DeKeyrel earned two podium finishes at Barber. Those two, meanwhile, are 10 points clear of Taylor Knapp Racing’s Taylor Knapp who in turn is four points ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Kyle Wyman On A Heater
H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman has won three of the four Mission King Of The Baggers races held thus far. Fortunately, for the rest of the chasing pack, he failed to finish the first of those four.
Thus, Kyle Wyman leads the title chase over Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli by just eight points with Rispoli the only one other than Wyman to taste victory this season.
Rispoli, meanwhile, is only two points clear of his teammate Hayden Gillim with the Kentuckian on the podium in three of the four races.
The first non-Harley in the championship chase is defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Tyler O’Hara and his Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods Indian Challenger. O’Hara was second to Kyle Wyman in the past two races at Road Atlanta.
Fifth place in the title chase is currently held by Baggers rookie Jake Lewis with the Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson rider 38 points behind Wyman.
Travis Wyman, the rider who pushed O’Hara all the way to the end of last year’s championship, is mired back in 12th in the title chase after an abysmal start to the series with two DNFs at Daytona to open his championship, followed by sixth- and seventh-place finishes at Road Atlanta.
Junior Cup – Perfect No More
Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher started the season with three straight wins in the Junior Cup class, but that win streak was snapped at Barber Motorsports Park by first-time winner Levi Badie and his Badie Racing Kawasaki Ninja 400.
Despite his first loss of the season, Dreher continues to lead the title chase after two rounds and four races by 18 points over the ever-consistent Max Van with the Michigander finishing second to Dreher in the first three races before carding a fourth in race two at Barber.
Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese has also been consistent thus far in 2023 with podiums in three of the four rounds. He is 28 points behind Dreher and 15 ahead of Yandel Medina. Badie, who didn’t race in the opening round, is fifth and 56 points behind Dreher.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Ready, Set, Go
The 2023 version of Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. program will make its first appearance of the season at Road America with 12 women racers ready to battle.
Those 12 are led by the top two in last year’s championship – defending champion Kayleigh Buyck and runner-up Crystal Martinez – with that duo obviously being the ones to beat based on their 2022 success. However, you never know what the newcomers will bring to the track, as half of the field will be rookies in the class.
Mission Mini Cup By Motul – Chasing Gouker
With six wins in eight races, Nathan Gouker is the kid to beat in both the Mission Mini Cup By Motul Ohvale 160 class and the FIM Mini Cup Ohvale 160 class.
Gouker leads Mahdi Salem by six points in the FIM Mini Cup (where racers can qualify for the FIM World Final in Spain) and also leads Kruz Maddison by six points in the Mission Mini Cup By Motul Championship as the series heads to the karting facility at Road America.
This year’s Mission Mini Cup By Motul features three new classes: Stock 50, Stock 110 and Stock 125. Those championships are being led by Weston Fager, Cole Peterman, and Nathan Bettencourt, respectively.
Pre-Road America Support Class Notes…
There was only one Mission King Of The Baggers race at Road America last year and that race was won by Screamin’ Eagle H-D’s Travis Wyman over his brother Kyle Wyman. Jeremy McWilliams was third on his Mission Foods/S&S Cycle/Indian Challenger.
The lone Steel Commander Stock 1000 class victory last year at Road America went to Corey Alexander. Travis Wyman added to his solid weekend with a runner-up finish ahead of Geoff May.
Supersport race one at Road America last year was won by Tyler Scott (for his first career Supersport win) over Josh Herrin and Rocco Landers. The second Supersport race was held in the rain and the outcome was surprising to most as Jason Farrell won the first MotoAmerica race of his career followed by Australian rookie Luke Power. Herrin, who would go on to win the 2022 Supersport crown, finished third.
The two Junior Cup race wins at Road America in 2022 were split between Joseph LiMandri Jr. and Cody Wyman. After carding his first career MotoAmerica win the day prior, LiMandri finished second in race two with Gus Rodio doing likewise in race one. Kayla Yaakov was third in both races.
Jennifer Chancellor didn’t win the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race final last year at Road America, but she left with the most points as on-track winner Kayleigh Buyck and runner-up Crystal Martinez were docked their points for ignoring a red flag.
How To Watch: MotoAmerica Superbikes At Road America
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com
