Press Release | August 15, 2024
After a nearly one-month summer break, MotoAmerica Superbikes gets back to racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course August 16-18.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin leads the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship in the return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after a 10-year hiatus. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
The following is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Herrin Leads Close Title Chase As Superbike Racing Returns To Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Ten Years Later And MotoAmerica’s Steel Commander Superbike Series Headlines A Return to Mid-Ohio
Irvine, CA (August 13, 2024) – The last time the AMA Superbike Championship raced at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a baby-faced, 24-year-old named Josh Herrin was struggling his way through a miserable Moto2 World Championship campaign and wishing he was at Mid-Ohio. That was 2014. This is now. And Herrin arrives at Mid-Ohio as the leader of the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship in the series’ return to the Buckeye State after a 10-year hiatus.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin leads the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship in the return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after a 10-year hiatus. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Everyone is champing at the bit to get back to racing in the Permco MotoAmerica Superbikes at Mid-Ohio event after a nearly one-month summer break since round six at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The time is now for championship wannabes to step up as the series reaches its boiling point with rounds at Circuit of The Americas and New Jersey Motorsports Park hot on the heels of the much-anticipated seventh round at Mid-Ohio.
Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion, is atop the standings but this championship is far from over as he has several rivals nipping at his heels. There are 46 points separating the top five in the point standings with three rounds and seven races left to run in the fight for the title.
With three wins and four additional podium finishes, Herrin and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R lead the Steel Commander Superbike Championship by 15 points over Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne with the three-time and defending champion somehow managing to contend for the title despite near-season-long arm-pump issues.
Gagne has just a single race win but he has scored points in each and every round, including four additional podium finishes to go with his lone victory.
Just eight points behind Gagne and 23 behind Herrin is Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong. The 2019 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion’s double win at Brainerd International Raceway put him atop the standings heading into the Ridge Motorsports Park round. It was there, however, that Fong faltered in race one when he chose to use slicks when he needed rain tires, and that miscue was followed by a crash in race one at Laguna Seca. Still, the Californian is having his best Superbike season yet and is still very much in the hunt for the 2024 title.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen is also in the midst of his finest Superbike season as he sits fourth and just four points behind Fong with three victories. The South African’s scorecard, however, has been marred by a crash in race three at Barber Motorsports Park, and mechanical failures at both Road America and Laguna Seca.
Fifth in the championship is Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, the winningest Superbike rider thus far in 2023. Five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Beaubier is 46 points behind Herrin after not scoring points in five races. The Californian won three of the first five races before suffering an injury that kept him on the sidelines for three races. Beaubier got back to his winning ways at Laguna Seca with a victory and a close second to Herrin in race two.
Herrin’s Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati teammate Loris Baz and EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly are separated by six points with Baz sixth and Kelly seventh. Kelly is coming off a solid weekend at Laguna Seca where he finished fourth in race one and battled for victory before getting a close third (behind Herrin and Beaubier) in race two. Baz, however, was disappointed with his two sixth-place finishes at Laguna, a track he calls one of his favorites.
Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach sits eighth in the championship and arrives in Ohio hot off his two victories in the American Flat Track (AFT) races in South Dakota – the Black Hills Half-Mile and the Sturgis TT.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch and his fill-in teammate Xavi Forés are ninth and 10th in the title chase, respectively, but Forés will be handing the team’s Suzuki GSX-R1000R back to team regular Richie Escalante, who was injured in the opening round at Road Atlanta and will make his return to racing at Mid-Ohio.
Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis sits 12th overall and leads the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup Championship over Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
The two Superbike races will get the green light at 3:10 p.m. (Eastern) on both Saturday and Sunday.
Pre-Race Mid-Ohio Notes…
Australian Mat Mladin has more AMA Superbike wins at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course than any other racer. Mladin won 10 Superbike Nationals on the 2.4-mile road course with his first victory coming in 2001 and his last coming in 2008. Mladin leads Josh Hayes in Superbike wins at the iconic track, 10-7.
The very first AMA Superbike race was held at Mid-Ohio in 1983 with motocrosser-turned-road racer Steve Wise taking the win in the circuit’s debut.
Twenty-three riders who competed at Mid-Ohio in 2014 are slated to return and race at the legendary road course again in 2024: Corey Alexander, David Anthony, JD Beach, Cameron Beaubier, Chris Fillmore, Max Flinders, Bobby Fong, Jake Gagne, Josh Gallusser, Hayden Gillim, CJ LaRoche, Jake Lewis, Stefano Mesa, Brian Mullins, Tyler O’Hara, Larry Pegram, James Rispoli, Hayden Schultz, Carl Soltisz, Cory West, Cody Wyman, Kyle Wyman, and Travis Wyman.
Cameron Beaubier and Josh Hayes split wins in the last two AMA Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2014. Among active racers, Beaubier (2014) and Josh Herrin (2013) are the only two who have won a Superbike race at Mid-Ohio.
Suzuki holds the record for most victories at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with 20, followed by Yamaha (11), Honda (10) and Kawasaki (5). Yamaha, however, has dominated since 2012, winning all six Superbike races through 2014, when the series last came to Mid-Ohio.
The Superbike lap record for Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course dates way back to 2008 when Ben Spies lapped the iconic 2.4 road course in 1:23.639 at an average speed of 103.301 mph. Spies will be on hand this weekend at Mid-Ohio as he’s the team principal for the Rahal Ducati Moto squad.
Cameron Beaubier’s race-one victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca a month ago was the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s 63rd AMA Superbike win, a mark that puts him second to Australian Mat Mladin on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Mid-Ohio Support-Class Preview
Scholtz vs. Jacobsen: It’s Getting Hot In Here
The Supersport Championship Battle Is White Hot As The Series Heads To Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course For The First Time In 10 Years
Irvine, CA (August 14, 2024) – Ever since the contact between Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen in the second of two Supersport races at Ridge Motorsports Park (with Jacobsen getting the brunt of it), tension has been running a tad high between the two championship rivals. When Jacobsen put two impressive passes on Scholtz in places you wouldn’t expect at the very next round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to snatch two victories, the heat was turned up even more. And what we have now is a good old-fashioned rivalry for the rest of us to enjoy.
This is what the 2024 MotoAmerica Supersport Series looks like: Mathew Scholtz (11) vs. PJ Jacobsen (15) going back and forth in their private battle for the championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
With a month off between Laguna Seca and this weekend’s return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after a 10-year hiatus, it’s Go Time again with the Supersport class and five other support classes set to race in conjunction with the Steel Commander Superbike Championship round, August 16-18, in Lexington, Ohio.
Anticipation for all the classes runs high after the summer break, but none higher than in the Supersport class.
To say that Scholtz and Jacobsen have dominated the class would be an understatement. Twelve Supersport races have been held thus far in the 2024 series and the Scholtz/Jacobsen duo has won 11 of them. And they’ve all been close.
Scholtz leads the title chase by 18 points with Jacobsen pulling back 10 points on the South African with his two Laguna Seca wins as he tries to claw his way back after the Ridge incident that cost him at least 20 points. The gap between those two and third-placed Jake Lewis is a Grand Canyon-sized 131 points, and that’s with Altus Motorsports’ Lewis actually having a really good season.
Scholtz’s first season with the Strack team has been impressive with six wins, four second-place finishes, a third and a fourth. Jacobsen and his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 have been with him the entire way with five wins, five seconds, a third… and his only non-podium DNF with his Ridge crash.
Lewis is third with the Kentuckian scoring points in every round to lead N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis by just one point. Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander is fifth in the title chase, 16 behind Davis and just three ahead of his other Rahal Ducati Moto teammate, Kayla Yaakov. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, the only rider other than Scholtz and Jacobsen to win a race, sits seventh in a troubled season so far for the youngster from Pennsylvania.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman Vs. Herfoss, Harley Vs. Indian
While the Supersport title chase is turning into a rivalry between Scholtz/Yamaha and Jacobsen/Ducati, it pales in comparison to the rivalry in the Mission King Of The Baggers where even the secretaries at the respective Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle factories probably have disdain for each other.
What we have is Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman and S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss 14 points apart in what appears to be a two-horse race for the title.
Both riders have managed to score points in every round with Wyman leading Herfoss in wins, five to four. The pair are tied in podium finishes with each having nine top-three results.
Wyman’s advantage comes from two solid races in the past round at Laguna Seca with the New Yorker coming away with a win and a second-place finish while Herfoss crashed in race one and remounted to finish 11th. He was a disappointed fourth in race two. That was a 27-point swing in Wyman’s favor in the standings and it resulted in Herfoss heading back to Australia in the hopes of regaining his early season mojo.
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Hayden Gillim is third, 61 points behind Wyman, and in a must-win-every-race position.
Gillim is 15 points clear of Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara and 46 ahead of Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli, who sits fifth and 24 points ahead of class rookie Rocco Landers on the second RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.
Junior Cup – Back In Action
The Junior Cup series has been on vacation since it last saw a checkered flag at Brainerd International Raceway in June, so anticipation for the return of the class at Mid-Ohio is high.
Eight Junior Cup races have been run in 2024 and BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin has won four of them. Chapin’s three wins and a second in his last four starts has him 43 points ahead of New York Safety Track Racing’s Yandel Medina, who is just three points ahead of Speed Demon Racing’s Logan Cunnison.
Levi Badie, who isn’t entered for the Mid-Ohio round, and BPM’s Isaac Woodworth are fourth and fifth, respectively, in the title chase.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Tight At The Top
The closest championship in the MotoAmerica series is the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship with defending champion Tyler O’Hara just eight points ahead of Cory West in another Indian vs. Harley-Davidson battle.
O’Hara and his S&S/Indian Motorcycle FTR1200 has just one win on the season, but five total podiums in the six races. West and his Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson Pan America has two wins and five total podiums. The difference between the two is West’s non-finish at Ridge Motorsports Park.
KWR Harley-Davidson’s Cody Wyman has a victory on his scorecard, and he sits third in the championship – 24 points behind O’Hara.
West’s teammate Jake Lewis is fourth in the standings with a win on his record and he’s seven points ahead of O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss. The Australian has one win on his tally and that came in the very first race of the season at Daytona International Speedway.
Royal Enfield – All Moore
Defending Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Champion Mikayla Moore has been up to her old tricks all season with five wins out of five starts to carry a commanding 36-point lead into Mid-Ohio. Moore’s only non-win was a non-start when she suffered bumps and bruises in a Twins Cup practice crash that kept her out of action in race one at Road America.
Since then, she’s been unstoppable. As always.
Emma Betters sits second in the championship standings and just four points Betters than Camille Conrad. Conrad, in turn, has Cassie Creer on the hunt in fourth place and just seven points behind.
Kira Knebel rounds out the top five as the class makes its debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
MotoAmerica: How To Watch MotoAmerica Superbikes at Mid-Ohio
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