Cycle News Staff | June 2, 2024
Sunday Superbike Race Two
It may not have been a walk in the park, but it was definitely a high-speed stroll through the track known as America’s National Park of Speed for Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin on Sunday at Road America.
Herrin stormed away at the start of the 12-lap race and was never threatened. The chasing pack kept the gap in the two-second range for a few laps, but then the margin just steadily grew exponentially until it got to the 10-second mark. The Ducati Panigale V4 R was in its element on the high-speed track and Herrin was enjoying every minute of it.
At the completion of the 12 laps, Herrin was a tick over nine seconds clear of the chasing pack. It was his first win of what has been a difficult season thus far for the 2013 Superbike Champion. It was also the 11th Superbike win of his career, which ties him for 18th on the all-time Superbike win list with Anthony Gobert.
Herrin (2) said “peace” not long after this pic and cleared off for a first win of the year.
The chasing pack was hectic and consisted of four – Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach, TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz.Kelly did most of the leading in second place, but Fong was on a mission and riding hard to make up for an obvious speed disadvantage with his Yamaha YZF-R1 against the BMW M 1000 RRs of Kelly and Beach. Baz, meanwhile, also had a fast bike but couldn’t go farther forward until the last lap.
It was on the last lap and the run to the final corner and the dash up the hill that the pack lost Kelly, with his BMW faltering as it was stuck in fifth gear. He would finish but it would be in sixth and not the second place he was fighting for. Fong ended up a well-deserved second with Beach third, less than half a second behind the Yamaha on the run to the flag. Then came Baz just a few 10ths behind.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne passed Kelly for fifth with the Floridian nursing the bike up the hill to sixth. Gagne’s ride had been mostly lonely.
Kelly (40) rode brilliantly but lost his gearbox and had to settle for sixth rather than a hard-fought podium.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch was seventh after beating his fill-in teammate Xavi Forés by just .013 of a second. FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
After three rounds and seven races in the Steel Commander Superbike Championship, Gagne leads the injured Cameron Beaubier by 18 points, 113-95, with the five-time Superbike Championship expected to miss at least the next round with the broken heel he suffered in Saturday’s crash at Road America.
Fong jumps to third in the title chase, 25 points behind Gagne and just seven behind Beaubier. Saturday’s race winner Cameron Petersen is fourth in the championship after his Yamaha YZF-R1 suffered a terminal illness that took the South African out of race two after just six laps.
Kelly is tied with Petersen for fourth and fortunate he could nurse the BMW to the finish line. The pair are 30 points behind Gagne and four points ahead of Herrin, who obviously gained tons of ground with his first victory of the year.
Superbike Race Two
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Danilo Lewis (BMW)
Sunday Supersport Race Two
Sunday’s weather turned out to be ideal compared with the rain-sodden conditions on Saturday, and MotoAmerica’s Supersport class put on an incredible show. “Supersport Next Generation” is the name of the game, which means that motorcycles with engine displacements ranging from the 599cc Yamaha YZF-R6, to the 749cc Suzuki GSX-R750, to the 955cc Ducati Panigale V2 all race in Supersport with balancing measures taken to level the competition.
Across the finish line, Scott (70) got the win by less than a tire’s width.
So, how level is the competition in Supersport? At the finish line, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott barely nipped Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz in a photo finish, with Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen finishing third and just one one-hundredth of a second behind Scholtz.
Sunday Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two
Speaking of close finishes, the penultimate race of the weekend was also nearly a photo finish. Mission King Of The Baggers, which is MotoAmerica’s uniquely American Harley-Davidson versus Indian Motorcycle rival series, came right down to the finish line, as well.
Wyman (33) pulled off a must-win win in front of H-D’s top brass.
And, with Harley-Davidson’s headquarters located just an hour south of Road America in Milwaukee, plus 91-year-old namesake Willie G. Davidson at the track along with thousands of H-D employees and also fans of The Motor Company, Kyle Wyman, aboard his Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide Special (signed by “Willie G.” just before the start of the race), rose to the challenge and won the drag race to the checkered flag over S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss. The Australian’s teammate Tyler O’Hara completed the podium in third, while Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli finished fourth.
Sunday BellissiMoto Twins Cup Race Two
RevZilla/Motul/ Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers couldn’t match the pace of Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario early in Sunday’s race, but he stuck around, bided his time, and took full advantage of the lack of grip on Di Mario’s Aprilia to make a pass on the last lap and notch victory, his second of the season.
Landers used his experience to grab the second Twins Cup win.
Di Mario had a solid weekend at Road America, following up his second-place finish in the rain on Saturday with another runner-up finish on Sunday. His teammate Gus Rodio, meanwhile, had a weekend to forget with two non-finishes, which has given Landers and Di Mario sizeable leads in the championship.
Landers led the title chase going into Sunday’s race after finishing third yesterday, and he added to that lead with a victory on Sunday. Following his 50th career win across all classes, Landers is nine points clear of Di Mario, 135-126, with Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle third on 110 points – one point better than Rodio, who slips down to fourth in the championship.
The battle for third was a good one with Doyle vs. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor for the majority of the race. Doyle, however, had a miscue on the last lap while chasing Moor, allowing the Oregonian to secure third and his first Twins Cup podium.
TopPro Racing’s Avery Dreher came out of it all in fourth with Doyle recovering for fifth.
Sunday Junior Cup Race Two
Junior Cup normalcy returned under the sunny skies of Elkhart Lake on Sunday with some 10-12 riders in the lead pack for most of the race after Saturday’s horrible weather didn’t make for the best racing.
When all was said and done, however, the lead pack dwindled to nine and it was game on with yesterday’s winner in the rainstorm, Matthew Chapin, doing most of the leading and using his diminutive size and a fast motorcycle to somehow make it to the stripe first nearly every time.
Chapin crossed the finish line when it mattered for a double win.
Including the one that mattered most – the last one.
The win was BARTCON Racing-backed Chapin’s third and that, combined with Yandel Medina finishing ninth, gave him the championship points lead.
Second place today, and just .346 of a second behind Chapin, was Barber’s doubleheader winner Logan Cunnison on his Speed Demon Racing-backed Kawasaki Ninja 400 with Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez taking the final podium spot.
Six riders crossed the line in quick succession with Karns Performance’s Levi Badie fourth, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher fifth and BPM’s Issac Woodworth sixth.
Sunday Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Race Two
The mice got their chance to play in yesterday’s first of two Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. battles as defending series champion Mikayla Moore sat it out with a thigh injury. Today, the cat returned, and she was at the top as always with Moore taking her third win of the year by a whopping 23.937 seconds.
Behind her came a battle for second between Aubrey Credaroli and yesterday’s winner Cassie Creer with Credaroli getting the spot at the line by just .243 of a second. Creer was third, a day after earning her first-career MotoAmerica podium and victory.
Normal service was resumed with Mikayla Moore taking the race two win.
Camille Conrad backed up her podium finish yesterday on a soaking wet racetrack with fourth today under bright sunshine. Kira Knebel rounded out the top-five finishers.
Fortunately for Moore, she was able to swap helmets prior to the race after realizing she couldn’t see out of her faceshield.
Saturday Superbike Race One
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing teammates Cameron Petersen and Jake Gagne battled to the bitter end of the Steel Commander Superbike race on Saturday, with Petersen winning the battle of Yamaha YZF-R1s by just .004 of a second in horrendous conditions at Road America.
Steel Commander Superbike race one was held in a rainstorm and riders were faced with conditions many of them claimed were the worst they’d ever raced in. While the Road America surface had good grip despite the rain, it was puddles in bad places that caused the most concern with some riders crashing without any lean angle.
When all was said and done, it was Petersen winning his second race of the young season and the fifth of his MotoAmerica Superbike career. Petersen led early, lost the lead to TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly, got it back and then spent the majority of the remaining laps looking at Gagne’s rear wheel. Until the final lap. The pair went into the last turn side by side and came out of it side by side. With both Yamahas spinning their way up the hill, it was Petersen who got his hooked up better and nipped Gagne at the line.
It was a race to the line between teammates with Petersen (45) barely edging Gagne (1) for the win.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz was with the two Yamahas for most of the race and his one error came with two laps to go when he tried to make a pass on Petersen in turn five. The out-braking move didn’t work with Baz getting in too hot and losing touch with the two Yamahas. Still, it was an impressive third-place finish that left the Frenchman smiling.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach was a somewhat lonely fourth after inheriting the spot from his teammate Cameron Beaubier. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion had led the race early before running off track in turn five. He rejoined and started to charge forward. However, soon after getting past Beach for fourth and starting to make inroads into the lead trio, he crashed his BMW M 1000 RR. The crash left Beaubier limping away before ultimately getting helped to the ambulance. He was transported to undergo X-rays on his heel.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch ended up fifth, less than a second ahead of Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis. Those two were well clear of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith. Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong; Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, who led early before running off track in turn five; and Jarritos Racing/Team GMR’s Gabriel Da Silva rounded out the top 10.
Beaubier (6) led early on, ran off track, charged back and then jumped off big style for a DNF.
Beaubier wasn’t the only one to crash out in the difficult conditions as Kelly crashed out of the lead early on and Xavi Forés crashed his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki while battling for fourth place.
With his second-place finish combined with Beaubier’s non-finish, Gagne moved to the lead in the championship point standings after six races by seven over Beaubier, 102-95.
Petersen jumped up to second in third in the title chase and he trails his teammate Gagne by 19 points. Kelly drops to fourth with 73 points and is now just five points ahead of Fong and 14 ahead of Baz.
Herrin, Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim, Beach and Paasch round out the top 10 heading into tomorrow’s race two at Road America.
Saturday Supersport Race One
Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen sat behind Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz for most of the six-lap Supersport race at Road America on Saturday. But he struck at the end and drafted past the South African at the finish line to win by .040 of a second.
Jacobsen motored past Scholtz for the win in race one.
The win was Jacobsen’s third of the young season and it gave him a 16-point lead over Scholtz in the championship.
Scholtz was an ever so close second with the lead duo well clear of Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, who backed off late in the race after realizing the risk wasn’t going to get him the reward he wanted.
Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was fourth with Jacobsen’s Rahal Ducati Moto’s Kayla Yaakov rounded out the top five.
Saturday Junior Cup
Junior Cup race one started off Saturday’s racing at Road America, and a steady rain fell throughout most of the afternoon. MotoAmerica’s entry-level riders handled the conditions pretty well, but surprisingly, defending class champion Avery Dreher crashed out of third place towards the end of the final lap, and he also knocked Isaac Woodworth out of second place in the process. Woodworth was able to rejoin the race and finish fifth, while Dreher was out of the race.
Chapin avoided the chaos for the race one win in the Junior Cup.
BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin avoided the melee, and he took the checkered flag with his teammate Eli Block finishing second. Ironically, the rider who benefitted the most from Dreher’s incident was his sister Ella Dreher. The 14-year-old Bad Boys Racing rider notched the first podium result of her career.
Saturday King of The Baggers Race One
S&S Cycle/Indian Motorcycles’ Troy Herfoss was in another dimension in Saturday’s first of two Mission King Of The Baggers races. The Australian was so dominant that he basically coasted across the finish line, with a margin of victory of 5.2 seconds after botching the final lap. Prior to the last lap, he led by some 10 seconds. It was easy. At least it looked that way.
Herfoss made it look easy in horrendous conditions for the Challenge and race one wins.
Herfoss beat his championship rival Kyle Wyman with the Harley-Davidson Factory Team rider inheriting second when his teammate James Rispoli had a scary crash at the end of the front straight.
Third place went to Herfoss’s teammate Tyler O’Hara with the Californian holding off Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson’s Jake Lewis by just .355 of a second.
Saturday Twins Cup Race One
Saturday’s BellissiMoto Twins Cup race one at Road America was a pivotal one for the season championship. Previous points leader Gus Rodio suffered a mechanical issue with his Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia, and he was unable to finish the race. That created a golden opportunity for the other riders trailing Rodio in the standings.
Doyle rode quite brilliantly to take the race one win in the Twins Cup.
Giaccmoto Racing Yamaha’s Dominic Doyle rode a flawless race at the front and took the checkered flag over second-place finisher, Rodio’s teammate Alessandro Di Mario. Earlier in the day, Di Mario set a new track record with his pole-sitting performance in the morning’s final qualifying session.
Finishing third was RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki rider Rocco Landers, who was able to move up from second to first in the standings with his result.
Saturday Royal Enfield Built. Train. Race
Coming into Road America, defending Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Champion Mikayla Moore was on a nine-race winning streak extending back to the beginning of last year. Unfortunately, Moore crashed during final qualifying for her debut in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship, and she was unable to start Saturday’s BTR race one.
Cassie Creer took a career-first win in the Royal Enfield race one.
Taking advantage of the situation, while also avoiding the treacherous track conditions, Cassie Creer got her first win, while Emma Betters extended her podium streak to three races with her runner-up result. Camille Conrad joined Betters in keeping her own podium streak going as she crossed the finish line third.
Friday Superbike
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier followed up his two wins at Barber Motorsports Park two weeks ago by earning provisional pole position for the two Steel Commander Superbike races at Road America on a sunny Friday afternoon.
Beaubier and Herrin played catch with the top spot for some of the session with Beaubier leading first, Herrin taking over for a short period before Beaubier nabbed it for good with his 2:09.764 coming on his 12th lap of the four-mile Road America. After that, no one would get within a second of the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Beaubier’s lap ended up being 1.2 seconds quicker than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Herrin, who in turn was just .204 ahead of Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong with Fong rounding out the provisional pole position.
Cameron Beaubier was in another post code on Friday, way out in front.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés had his best session since taking over the injured Richie Escalante’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 R. Forés was just .131 of a second ahead of TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz ended the day sixth fastest on his Panigale V4 R and just.091 of a second clear of Beaubier’s Tytlers Cycle Racing teammate JD Beach.
Brandon Paasch ended up eighth on the second Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
It wasn’t a good day Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen and defending three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne with the pair ending up ninth and 10th, respectively. Petersen’s Q1 session ended prematurely with a mechanical failure ending his day.
“The Tytlers BMW is working really good around here,” Beaubier said. “We’ve got some power and it’s so nice to use it at this track. It’s a pretty special place for me. I’ve had a lot of wins here and I really enjoy this place. Not just the track, but everything around it and the crowds that come out. We are enjoying ourselves this weekend aand we just have to keep our heads down. I know everyone is coming. It was a really good day today and we move on to tomorrow.”
Friday Supersport
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa hasn’t had the start to his 2024 Supersport season that he would have liked. At Road America he was hoping to turn that around and he began with leading the way in Q1.
Mesa and his Kawasaki ZX6-R led the way on opening day with his 2:17.226, which was .320 of a second faster that TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo, the pole sitter from the Barber Motorsports Park round a few weeks earlier.
Third on Friday afternoon went to Equitea MV Agusta by MP13 Racing’s Roberto Tamburini with the Italian .410 of a second slower than Mesa.
The top eight riders were within a second of Mesa. Championship points leader PJ Jacobsen and his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 was ninth with his early season championship rival Mathew Scholtz fifth in Q1 on the Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
Friday BellissiMoto Twins Cup
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario won his first BellissiMoto Twins Cup race at Barber Motorsports Park a few weeks ago to emerge as a potential class champion. On Friday at Road America Di Mario kept the momentum gained at Barber to earn provisional pole position with his 2:24.625, a new Road America lap record for the class.
Di Mario was chased to the finish by RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers and Di Mario’s championship points leading teammate Gus Rodio. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor and Koch Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky rounded out the top five.
Friday Mission King Of The Baggers
Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman broke the Mission King Of The Baggers lap record at Road America on Friday with the New Yorker lapping at 1:19.135 – 0.724 of a second faster than Bobby Fong’s lap record from a year ago in race two.
Wyman, at H-D’s home track was flying with a new lap record.
Wyman topped championship points leader Troy Herfoss with the Australian and his S&S/Indian Motorcycles-backed Challenger by just .150 of a second.
Herfoss’s teammate Tyler O’Hara ended the day third quickest and the last rider to lap in the 2:19s. Defending series champion Hayden Gillim ended up fourth on the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.
Friday Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race.
Mikayla Moore does what Mikayla Moore does and that usually means doom and gloom the rest of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. women. Today was no different.
Moore led Q1 at Road America on Friday, with her 2:51.642 besting Cassie Creer by 7.7 seconds. Emma Betters rounded out the provisional front row heading into tomorrow’s Q2 session and race one.
Although Moore had things in hand at the front, just .281 of a second separated Creer from fifth-placed Aubrey Credaroli.
Friday Junior Cup
Defending MotoAmerica Junior Cup Champion Avery Dreher hasn’t had a great start to his 2024 season, but things got a lot better for the Bad Boys Racing-backed Floridan in Q1 at Road America.
Dreher led the way with his 2:40.967, but as always it was close at the top. BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin ended up second, just .152 of a second off Dreher’s best.
Championship points leader Yandel Medina completed the provisional front row, and he was only .265 of a second from pole.
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