Cycle News Staff | June 30, 2024
Sunday Superbike Race Two
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin won his second Steel Commander Superbike race of the season on Sunday at Ridge Motorsports Park, and it vaulted him into championship contention in what is arguably the closest Superbike Championship in AMA history at this point in the season.
After two races at Ridge Motorsports Park, four riders are separated by just eight points and there’s just a single point between first and second, making it anybody’s game with a two-week break before the series returns at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, July 12-14.
Herrin won his second race of the year in typical Herrin fashion. He got out front early, made a gap and held it, crossing the line with a tick over five seconds in hand. In addition to being his second win of the year, it was also his sixth podium of the year and his 12th career AMA Superbike victory.
Herrin made it look easy for his second win of the year.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong worked his way to second place with 11 laps to go when he passed Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen. Fong set sail after Herrin and was able to pull back some ground but was never close enough to threaten.
However, second place on the day was enough to move Fong back into the lead in the 2024 Steel Commander Superbike Championship points lead after losing it in what was a rainy debacle for the Californian on Saturday.
Third place went to Petersen, a day after the South African won his third race of the season on Saturday. Petersen was some four seconds behind Fong and another four some seconds clear of Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz. His two podiums in the two races put him squarely in the hunt for the title.
Fifth place went to a rather lonely Sean Dylan Kelly on the TopPro Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
Petersen (45) held on for third. Fong (50) charged through for second.
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim was an impressive sixth on his Stock 1000-spec Honda CBR1000RR-R SP after barely beating Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés with the Spaniard finishing seventh.
Five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier rode through the pain of his surgically repaired broken right heel to finish just off the back of Forés and seven seconds clear of three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne with the latter still struggling mightily with arm pump.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch rounded out the top 10 finishers.
About that championship we were talking about earlier. How’s this for close? Fong leads Gagne by a single point, 158-157. Petersen is next with 151 and Herrin is fourth with 149, and that all translates to the fact that the top four in the championship point standings are separated by just eight points.
Superbike Race Two
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Hayden Gillim (Honda)
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
Stock 1000 Race Two
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim made his second mistake of the season in Sunday’s Stock 1000 at Ridge Motorsports Park and it was again a double whammy as it not only cost him victory and championship points, but it also handed a second victory to his thus-far series rival Jayson Uribe.
OrangeCat Racing’s Uribe was hot on Gillim’s tail when the defending MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion crashed in turn 14 on the fourth lap with the pursuing pack of Uribe, Benjamin Smith and Ashton Yates zooming past. By the time Hayden remounted he was 14th and had some work to do.
Uribe got his second win and closed right up in the points behind Gillim.
With Uribe pulling away to an eventual 9.7-second win over FLO4LAW Racing’s Smith and Jones’ Honda’s Yates, Gillim set about gaining as many points back as possible. At the completion of the 13-lap race, the Kentuckian was up to fourth place.
However, Gillim went straight after the finish line and didn’t make the turn-one chicane and was thus handed a two-second penalty, which gifted fourth to Visit Indiana/Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lampkin and fifth to AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr, the last two riders Gillim had passed prior to the finish line.
That put Gillim sixth and cut his championship points lead over Uribe to six points after six races.
BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince, OrangeCat Racing’s Travis Wyman, Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis and Prince’s BPR Racing teammate Deion Campbell rounded out the top 10.
Sunday Supersport Race Two
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz won his sixth Supersport race of the season at Ridge Motorsports Park, but this was the first one that came with a big dose of drama.
Scholtz had finally caught up to the fast-starting PJ Jacobsen on the Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 with two laps to go. The South African then made an inside move on the New Yorker and it didn’t end well. The two came together and Jacobsen went down, ending his run of finishing on the podium in all the nine previous races.
Jacobsen obviously wasn’t happy with the outcome as the championship was turned on its head. Scholtz went from having a three-point lead to what is now a 28-point lead.
It was all action in Supersport as Scholtz (11) and Jacobsen (15) locked horns.
Jacobsen got a flier of a start and instantly put his head down. Scholtz, meanwhile, had a slower start and had work to do to get to second. Once he did, he started to run the New Yorker down. With five to go, the two were together. With two to go, the accident happened, and it was called a racing incident by race control.
It takes a lot to overshadow Kayla Yaakov, but her teammate’s crash did just that. Yaakov raced to her best-career Supersport finish of second, just a day after she finished third. Quite a weekend for the 17-year-old Pennsylvanian.
Yaakov had come out best in a battle with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott that went to the finish line with Yaakov .214 of a second ahead at the finish line. Meanwhile, her teammate Corey Alexander was just as close in fourth place.
Wrench Motorcycles’ David Anthony had his best finish of the year in fifth.
Sunday Super Hooligan National Championship Race Two
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson’s Jake Lewis did what everyone has been waiting for him to do on Sunday at Ridge Motorsports Park – he won a round of the Super Hooligan National Championship on his Harley-Davidson Pan America.
Always thought of as the fastest guy in the class to have not yet won, Lewis made good on the promise he’s shown by storming into the lead and pulling away to win by a tick over two seconds. And that’s with a final-lap blunder that put him off track momentarily.
Lewis’s victory helped make up for his first-lap crash in wet conditions in Saturday’s race.
Jake Lewis finally broke through for a Super Hooligans race win.
Lewis beat S&S Cycle/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara with the defending series champion earning his second podium of the weekend and this one put him atop the championship standings after two rounds and four races.
Third place went to Lewis’s teammate Cory West, who also made up for his crash from the lead in yesterday’s wet race.
O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss ended up fourth after a race-long battle with KWR’s Hayden Schultz.
Sunday Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Race Two
Mikayla Moore said after her victory on Saturday that she uses lap times for part of her motivation. Her best lap time was a 2:02.801. On Sunday she went even faster, setting a new lap record with her 2:02.683 on the sixth lap to set the bar is even higher for the next wave of Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. racers. Oh, and she also won. By 44 seconds.
It’s just too easy for Moore in the Royal Enfield class.
The win was Moore’s fifth of the year.
Second place today went to Lauren Prince, the Nashville, Tennessee, resident earning her first MotoAmerica podium a day after crashing on the sighting lap with a cold front tire. Even today wasn’t easy on Prince as her rear tire warmer got stuck and she was forced to start from the back of the pack.
Aubrey Credaroli rounded out the top three with her first podium finish of the season.
Saturday Superbike Race One
Rain races are difficult. Rain races when you’re not quite sure if they are going to stay wet are even worse. Turns out that the surprise rain on Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park ended up truly surprising a lot of the field – but not the Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teams.
The result was a runaway one-two finish for the Yamaha squad with Cameron Petersen beating his teammate Jake Gagne by just .032 of a second in the red-flag-shortened race that was already shortened because of the conditions. The two crews had fitted Dunlop rain tires to Petersen’s and Gagne’s YZF-R1s and it paid dividends.
It was a case of elbows rubbing between the two Yamahas but Petersen (45) came out on top over Gagne (1).
Third place went to the other factory team that got it right with Xavi Forés earning his first-career MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike podium by splish-splashing his way to third on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki with its full Dunlop rain tires. Forés ended up 9.5 seconds behind the Yamaha duo and some three seconds clear of Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis with the Superbike Cup series leader also on rains.
The first of those using slick racing tires was eighth-placed Loris Baz on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati with the Frenchman somehow keeping the Panigale V4 upright to cross the line a minute and 13 seconds off Petersen’s winning pace.
In between Lewis and Baz came AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr, the Irishman at home in the conditions. Then came Stock 1000 podium finishers Ashton Yates with his Jones Honda and Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Forés’s teammate Brandon Paasch had rains fitted and came back from an off-track excursion to finish ninth. He was also given a five-second penalty for working on the bike on the grid.
Xavi Forès got the better of the Euro battle with Loris Baz (76) for third place. Baz would slip to eighth while Danilo Lewis (94) took a career-best fourth.
Some big names who gambled with slicks paid the consequences, including Baz’s teammate Josh Herrin (11th) and Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong (14th).
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach started from pit lane after opting to swap to rain tires after the warm-up lap. He rode through a lot of the pack to finish 10th, turning in the fifth-fastest lap of the race in the process.
Among the non-finishers were Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier and TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly, both of whom opted out after starting on slicks and realizing it was a mistake.
With his third win of the season, Petersen jumps to third in the Steel Commander Superbike Championship with 135 points. Gagne, who has been struggling with arm-pump issues, got some reprieve with the rain, and his second-place finish moved him past Fong and into the lead, 150-138.
Ducati teammates Herrin and Baz are fourth and fifth, respectively, 124-109.
Superbike Race 1
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki)
- Danilo Lewis (BMW)
- Richard Kerr (Honda)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Hayden Gillim (Honda)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
Saturday Supersport Race One
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz took over at the top of the Supersport Championship point standings for the first time this season on Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park with the South African beating series rival PJ Jacobsen and his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 by 2.1 seconds.
The race was a battle with as many as seven riders at the front in the early going, but that whittled down to four and ultimately three. And then there was one with Scholtz taking his fifth win of the year and his third in a row to move into the lead in the championship standings by just three points over Jacobsen.
Third place went to the impressive Kayla Yaakov with the Rahal Ducati Moto racer landing on the Supersport podium for the second time in her career and the first in dry racing conditions.
Scholtz (11) is taking command of the Supersport championship with another win. Kayla Yaakov (19) stunned with a debut podium on the Ducati.
Well, not completely dry as there were spits of rain throughout the race, but never enough for rain tires to be even a consideration. This one was definitely a dry race and she ranked it above her first podium last year in the rain at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
“This was a real podium,” Yaakov said after battling with the best of the best.
Yaakov ended up just 4.5 seconds from the lead as she’s finally found a set-up with the Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 that she’s comfortable with.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis came out on top of a three-rider battle for fourth, besting Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa by just .162 of a second and .384 of a second over Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs.
Wrench Motorcycles’ David Anthony, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, Rahal Ducati Moto’s Corey Alexander and N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis rounded out the top 10.
Saturday Stock 1000 Race One
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim won his fourth race of the five-race-old Stock 1000 season at Ridge Motorsports Park on Saturday with the defending series champion winning by a controlled 2.4 seconds on his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
The man who kept Gillim in check was OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe with the Californian earning his second podium of the season and just one race removed from his first-career Stock 1000 victory at Brainerd International Raceway two weeks ago.
Normal service resumed with Gillim (1) taking another win in Stock 1000.
Third place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the Georgian trailing Motorsport Exotica’s Andrew Lee for most of the race before making his move on Lee and his BMW M 1000 RR.
The podium was Yates’ third in a row.
Lee had his best finish of what has been a difficult season thus far with his fourth-place finish.
FLO4Law Racing’s Benjamin Smith came out on top of a battle with Visit Indiana/Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin with those spending a lot of the race right at the tail of the Yates/Lee battle.
Saturday Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Race One
Mikayla Moore won her fourth race of the five-race-old season on Saturday in the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. and she did so in typical Mikayla Moore fashion. By a country mile.
Moore led by 10 seconds after three laps, 15 seconds after four laps… you get the picture. At the end of the eight-lap race, she was almost 34 seconds clear after setting a new lap record with a 2:02.801.
Another race, another win for the number one of Mikayla Moore.
Aubrey Credaroli crashed out of second after battling with Camille Conrad and that handed Conrad her fourth podium finish of the season while also moving her to second in the championship.
Third place went to podium-first-timer Kira Knebel, some three seconds behind Conrad and well clear of Emma Betters, who was bouncing back from a big crash on Friday. Miranda Cain rounded out the top five finishers.
Saturday Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Race One
Two races were held in the rain on Saturday afternoon at Ridge Motorsports Park and the last race of the day was the wettest – the second round of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. The racer who took the most advantage of the conditions was KWR’s Cody Wyman, with the youngest of the three Wyman brothers riding to a 7.9-second win over his teammate Hayden Schultz.
Cody Wyman (center) came through for his first Super Hooligans win.
For Wyman it was his first career Super Hooligan victory, and it also made him the first rider in MotoAmerica history to score a podium finish in four different classes – Junior Cup, Twins Cup, Stock 1000 and the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship.
Schultz was happy with second on his Kyle Wyman-owned Harley-Davidson Pan America with the Arkansas resident 5.3 seconds ahead of S&S Cycle/Indian Motorcycle’s defending series champion Tyler O’Hara who battled with a surging throttle for the entire race to finish on the podium.
Roland Sands Design’s Hawk Mazzotta was a career-high fourth in the class, some five seconds ahead of Travis Wyman.
With the win, Cody Wyman takes over the championship points lead, 54-49, over O’Hara. Cory West, who led the title chase after Daytona, slips to third with 41 points after crashing out of today’s race.
Friday Superbike
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz and Josh Herrin had a perfect afternoon at Ridge Motorsports Park with the pair riding their Ducati Panigale V4 Rs to the top two spots on the front row provisionally heading into tomorrow morning’s Q2 session.
The pair were just .063 of a second apart after the 40-minute Q1 session on a sunny Friday with both setting their best laps on their 12th go-around. Baz lapped at a best of 1:40.034 with Herrin turning in a 1:40.197.
Loris Baz topped the Friday running for Steel Commander Superbike.
MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship points leader Bobby Fong ended up third quickest on his Wrench Motorcycles Yamaha YZF-R1 and just .270 of a second behind Baz.
Next came the two Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen and Jake Gagne with those two the last two riders in the 1:40s.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier was sixth fastest in his return to action after undergoing surgery three weeks ago on his broken right heel. Beaubier’s session was shortened with a slow tip-over and he ended up just a tick over a second from Baz’s best lap.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés was seventh and the best Suzuki and just ahead of EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly and his BMW M 1000 RR.
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach rounded out the top 10 heading into tomorrow’s Q2 session.
Stock 1000 – Gillim Over Uribe
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim was the only rider to lap in the 1:41s with him and his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP breaking the lap record in the Stock class with his 1:41.180 on Friday, which was .870 of a second better than OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe.
Gillim has won three of the first four Stock 1000 races of the season with Uribe winning the fourth.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, who earned his first podium finish of the season at the past round in Brainerd, Minnesota, ended the day third fastest with FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith and OrangeCat Racing’s Travis Wyman completing the top five in Q1.
Supersport – Scholtz!
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz broke the Supersport lap record on Friday afternoon at Ridge Motorsports Park on Friday en route to earning provisional pole position on his Yamaha YZF-R6.
Scholtz is on fire in Supersport right now and took P1 on Friday.
Scholtz, who sits second in the Supersport series point standings coming into the Ridge Motorsports Park round, led championship points leader PJ Jacobsen and his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 by .450 of a second to earn provisional pole.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis ended opening day third and .493 of a second off Scholtz’s best lap.
Rahal Ducati Moto w/Code 3 Associates’ Corey Alexander ended the day fourth fastest and just ahead of his teammate Kayla Yaakov with three Rahal Ducatis in the top five on opening day.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – O’Hara Starts It Off
S&S Cycle/Indian Motorcycles’ Tyler O’Hara led the way in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship class on Friday with the defending series champion earning provisional pole position.
O’Hara ran off track early in the session but bounced back to lap at 1:46.432 and top championship points leader Cory West and his Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson Pan America by just .017 of a second.
West’s teammate Jake Lewis ended the day third fastest with KWR/Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Schultz and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa rounding out the top five. Lewis was just .260 of a second behind O’Hara
O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss, who sits second in the title chase, only did four laps before his Indian had a technical issue and only completed two laps on a track he’d never seen before. Herfoss ended the day 11th.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race – Who Else But Moore
Mikayla Moore did what she normally does on a Friday, on a Saturday and a Sunday. She went fast. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, rider started off her weekend with provisional pole position and a new lap record on her Royal Enfield Continental GT 650.
Moore lapped at a best of 2:04.845, which was 4.455 faster than second-placed Aubrey Credaroli. Lauren Prince had her best effort to date with the third fastest lap of the day and less than a second off Credaroli’s best.
Kira Knebel and Emma Betters rounded out the top five.
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