Cycle News Staff | September 14, 2024
Sunday Superbike
Sean Dylan Kelly will never forget that on September 15, 2024, he won his first MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike race. He’ll also know that he beat the very best in a straight fight to get that win after passing five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier in the last corner on the last lap of Circuit of The Americas on a scorching hot Sunday.
That was the early race on Sunday. There was more to come in race three.
With a track temperature of 120 degrees, the third and final Superbike race got started with another Josh Herrin holeshot. This time, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beaubier didn’t waste much time in moving past his championship rival. But it didn’t last as Ezra Beaubier’s (his younger brother) BMW blew up and dumped oil on the track, bringing out a red flag.
It was these three all day with Beaubier (6) and first-timer Kelly (40) taking the wins. Herrin will have to wait until NJ for the title.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Herrin got the jump on the field on the restart, but this time there was jostling at the top for the duration with Herrin leading five laps and Beaubier holding the spot across the line on five occasions, including the final four.
At the finish it was Beaubier holding off Herrin by .970 of a second after an absolute thrillfest of a Superbike race. Kelly was also in the fray until backing off near the end of the race to finishing 2.9 seconds behind in third.
When all was said and done, Beaubier had won two of the three Steel Commander Superbike races to pull back valuable points on Herrin. Going into the series finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park in two weeks, Beaubier trails Herrin by 46 points, 300-254.
“So, you’re telling me there’s a chance,” might be a bit optimistic, but Beaubier’s win-second-win weekend has breathed a bit of life into his championship aspirations.
The top three in race three were the same as in race two, but not in the same order. It was Beaubier, Herrin, Kelly in race three; Kelly, Beaubier, Herrin in race two.
Fourth place in the final race of the weekend went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, almost five seconds ahead of Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz with Escalante’s teammate Brandon Paasch finishing for the second time on the day.
Seventh place in race three went to Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach, who was well clear of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.
Superbike Race 3
Despite all the back and forth at the front, Kelly somehow managed to lead all 12 laps at the stripe, but he lost the lead on the final lap when Beaubier stuffed his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000R under the similar BMW of Kelly at the end of the backstraight. At this point, it looked like Beaubier had control with just a handful of corners left, but Kelly was determined, and he returned the favor on his former Moto2 teammate with a lunge up the inside in the final corner. From there he was able to get to the finish line first to earn that first-ever Superbike in a race to remember.
All of this played into the hands of Herrin, who dropped off the lead duo and hoped that Kelly could somehow beat Beaubier to help him in his championship quest. With Kelly doing just that, Beaubier only pulled back four points on Herrin and not the nine he would have gained if he’d won with Kelly between them. Herrin was just a tick under five seconds adrift of the lead duo.
Kelly’s margin of victory over Beaubier was .177 of a second and it made him the sixth different winner of a MotoAmerica Superbike race in 2024 – joining Herrin, Beaubier, Jake Gagne, Bobby Fong, and Cameron Petersen.
In winning the first race of his career as a rookie on a first-year team, EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Kelly became the 66th rider to win an AMA Superbike National.
Herrin’s teammate Baz improved his pace dramatically from Saturday’s race one to finish fourth, some eight seconds off the leader after slowing in the final laps.
Another to improve from Saturday’s race one was Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong with the Californian racing to fifth – one spot better than in race one.
Sixth place went to Paasch, with the youngster finding something in morning warmup to increase his pace.
Petersen, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beach and Yates rounded out the top 10.
Escalante stood on the podium in race one on Saturday, but he suffered a crash in race two that resulted in a DNF.
Superbike Race Two
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Xavi Forés (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Superbike Race Three
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
Sunday King of The Baggers
With Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman and S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss winning 12 of the 16 Mission King Of The Baggers races, it’s fitting that those two will battle to the bitter end in a winner-take-all-championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park, September 27-29.
Of course, the duo battled on Sunday afternoon at Circuit of The Americas with the two running nose to tail for the majority of the race. At the end of the five-lap sprint, it was Herfoss taking his sixth win of the season with Wyman just .445 of a second behind in second place.
Herfoss (17) came out o top and now it’s game in in NJ for the KoTB title.
The championship? There’s now just two points between the two with Wyman leading Herfoss, 315-313, with the series headed to Wyman’s home track of NJMP in two weeks.
No one else was a real factor in this one with Saturday’s Mission King Of The Baggers victor Rocco Landers riding his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to third, 3.7 seconds behind the lead duo.
Landers’ teammate Hayden Gillim rode to a gutsy fourth after undergoing surgery on a broken hand just a week or so prior to racing in Texas. Gillim was right on Landers at the finish line.
Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli rounded out the top five, some five seconds adrift of the intra-team Landers/Gillim battle.
Sunday Twins Cup
The BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship came down to the final race of the season, and at the start, it looked like we were going to get the epic showdown was expected between title contenders
15-year-old Alessandro Di Mario is the new MotoAmerica Twins Cup Champion.
and Rocco Landers, who were only separated by six points after Saturday’s race one.
Landers got the holeshot coming out of turn one on the first lap, but 15-year-old phenom Di Mario took the lead before the opening lap had been completed, and he pressed his advantage all the way to the checkered flag.
The Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering rider led every lap of the race and took the checkered flag by more than six and a half seconds.
Meanwhile, after challenging on the opening lap, Landers had a mechanical problem, which put him out of the race and unfortunately out of the championship.
For Di Mario, who is only in his second year of MotoAmerica racing and is a Twins Cup rookie, he notched his first of what may be many MotoAmerica class championships to come.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor, who celebrated his 17th birthday on Friday, finished second for his best result of the season, while Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle came home third, which was his sixth podium finish in the 2024 BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship.
Di Mario, whose cool, calm demeanor belies his young age, was asked if he felt the pressure of being in contention for his first MotoAmerica Championship.
Sunday Supersport
The 2024 Supersport Championship will go down to the final round of the season after a drama-filled weekend that began with a 25-point lead for Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz over Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen and ended with Scholtz now taking a 39-point lead to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the final two races of the championship.
The tables turned in Scholtz’s favor with the win in race two and pumped up title lead.
Scholtz survived some intense challenges from the other riders and a near-get-off from his Yamaha to take the checkered flag by a little over two seconds ahead of Vision Wheel ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott. Third place went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha’s Blake Davis.
But, what about Jacobsen? Well, the title contender led the race, was shuffled back in the lead pack, and ultimately looked like he’d finish on the podium until the penultimate corner on the final lap when he inexplicably went down and slid out of the race, which cost him most of the valuable points that he had gained from the results of Saturday’s race one.
Sunday Super Hooligans
Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West did exactly what he needed to do to earn the 2024 Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. He finished second to championship rival Tyler O’Hara on Saturday morning at COTA, and that earned the veteran racer from Arkansas his first career AMA title.
O’Hara won the battle but West (13) won the war in Super Hooligans.
The race was won by S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s O’Hara, but it wasn’t enough as he didn’t get the help he was hoping for. When his teammate Troy Herfoss went out with a mechanical problem, that put the onus of help on the shoulders of his other teammate, 61-year-old Jeremy McWilliams. McWilliams gave it his all but came up .167 of a second behind West in third. Even if he’d gotten the spot and West had ended the race tied with O’Hara on points, the title would have gone to West based on the tiebreaker of number of wins.
Second place on the track went to uber talent Alessandro Di Mario, who was riding a non-homologated Ducati Streetfighter V2. Di Mario was racing knowing that the bike would be disqualified, but it didn’t take away from the fact that the 15-year-old was impressive in his debut in the class.
Fourth place went to West’s teammate Jake Lewis, with the Kentuckian playing the role of wingman to perfection. The third Saddlemen Harley-Davidson teamster, Travis Wyman, finished fifth.
Saturday Superbike
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier kept his slender championship hopes alive with a win in the first of three Steel Commander Superbike races at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion catching and passing runaway championship leader Josh Herrin in the closing laps of the 12-lap race on a brutally hot Saturday in Austin.
The win was the fifth of the season for Beaubier and the 64th of his Superbike career, and it moved him into second in the 2024 Steel Commander Superbike Championship – 55 points behind Herrin with four races left in the series (two tomorrow at COTA and the final two in a few weeks at New Jersey Motorsports Park).
Beaubier (6) closed down Herrin (2) for the race one win.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Herrin did most of the leading, putting his Fast By Ferracci liveried Panigale V4 R out front for 10 of the 12 laps, but it was Beaubier leading the two that counted most to take five points away from Herrin.
In the early going, it looked to be fairly smooth sailing for Herrin as he led EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly and Beaubier. It got a bit easier when Beaubier nearly ran into the back of Kelly.
Beaubier was right behind Kelly when the Floridian’s BMW gave up the ghost and the Californian was fortunate to not rear-end him. That gave Herrin a bit of a gap that Beaubier was able to whittle away at. He was helped by Herrin losing the front and almost crashing, a moment that caused Herrin to re-think things and ease up, if only by a little.
Sean Dylan Kelly (40) was in the hunt until a mechanical problem dropped him out of the race.
Beaubier crossed the line 1.8 seconds ahead of Herrin, who in turn was 4.3 seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with the Mexican fighting back from a poor start. Escalante was in just his second race back from the serious injuries he suffered in the season opener at Road Atlanta.
Fourth place went to Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz, the Frenchman also recovering from a bad start. He was some 10 seconds behind Escalante and 1.3 seconds ahead of Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach, who rounded out the top five
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong was sixth, well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch with Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis and FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith filling the top 10.
Notable non-finishers included Kelly (mechanical), and Xavi Forés, who crashed his Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing YZF-R1.
Superbike Race 1
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Danilo Lewis (BMW)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
Twins Cup Race One
Roughly 30 minutes after taking his first-career Mission King Of The Baggers victory, it all went horribly wrong for Rocco Landers when he crashed out of the BellissiMoto Twins Cup race twice – one he could remount from, the other terminal. And, just like that, his 19-point lead had turned into a six-point deficit with only tomorrow’s final round at Circuit of The Americas left in the Twins Cup season.
Di Mario was the benefactor of Landers’ two crashes and now leads Twins Cup with one race remaining.
The high drama started right away when championship points leader Landers crashed his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki on the second lap while giving chase to Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario. Fortunately, Landers was able to remount and knife his way through the pack to climb to 13th after three laps. Then came the ultimate reprieve as Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor crashed out in a vicious highside that brought out the red flag, thus gifting Landers another crack at it.
But it was more of the same in the five-lap restart as Di Mario took off out front, leading Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle and Landers in the five-lap restart. Then it all went wrong for Landers – again – as he crashed out of third with three laps to go.
The win was 15-year-old Di Mario’s second victory of the year, and his sixth consecutive podium finish… and he’s now in the catbird seat heading into tomorrow’s season-ender for the Twins class.
Di Mario’s teammate Gus Rodio finished fourth with BARTCON Racing’s Mathew Chapin rounding out the top five.
Super Hooligans Race One
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson’s Cory West came out the best in the two-rider battle for the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship on Saturday at COTA, but he didn’t pull away from S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara as much as originally thought.
West led from the start and had O’Hara with him, but O’Hara didn’t waste any time in going to the lead. Then the race changed completely when O’Hara crashed in turn one. The crash altered the complexity of the race as West was wise enough to not put up too much of a fight with both O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss and his own teammate, Jake Lewis. Herfoss and Lewis, meanwhile, went at it at the front with O’Hara up and racing again and making big strides into the top 10.
Cory West is in the box seat for the title tomorrow.
At the finish it was Herfoss beating Lewis by just .434 of a second with West third, by 1.659 of a second. It was Herfoss second win of the season and the first since Daytona back in March.
Then came a pair of S&S/Indian Motorcycle FTR1200s ridden by Jeremy McWilliams and O’Hara, who had somehow fought his way up to fifth to score 11 points and keep his championship hopes alive.
With just tomorrow’s race remaining in the championship, West leads O’Hara by nine points.
King of The Baggers Race One
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers has showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie season of Mission King Of The Baggers racing. On Saturday at COTA, Landers was able to coral that speed and talent and turn it into his first victory on the big V-twin.
Earlier in the year, Herfoss reaped praise on the 19-year-old, calling Landers “an ambitious young fellow.” Fittingly, it was Herfoss who lost out in a race-long battle with Landers.
Landers (97) took a career-first KoTB win.
Although Herfoss doesn’t enjoy losing, he did enjoy cutting Harley-Davidson Factory Racing rider Kyle Wyman’s championship points lead in half, from 14 points to just seven. Herfoss goes into tomorrow’s race two trailing Wyman, 295-288.
Third place went to Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara who rode hard to help his fellow S&S/Indian Motorcycle squad mate by keeping Wyman and RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim, who rounded out the top five finishers.
Friday Superbike
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin played catch with the fastest MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike time in Q1 on Friday afternoon, but near the end of the session EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro’s Sean Dylan Kelly joined the game and went to the front with some eight minutes to go in the session.
Beaubier blasted to the top of the Superbike standings on Friday.
But not long after Kelly did his best, Beaubier struck back in a big way, posting a lap-record-setting 2:07.703 to score provisional pole.
Herrin ended up climbing back to second, posting a 2:08.244 – .541 of a second slower than Beaubier’s best.
Kelly and his 2:08.259 completed the provisional front row, just .059 of a second faster than Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante rounded out the top five.
“I’ve been enjoying this place on the BMW,” Beaubier said. “It’s been five years since I rode a Superbike here. You can go for a ride on the front and backstraight, that’s for sure. It’s so different than a Moto2 bike, but I’m enjoying myself.”
Supersport – Scholtz Fires First
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz fired the first shot by earning provisional pole position for the two Supersport races at COTA, the South African besting his championship rival PJ Jacobsen by .560 of a second. The two are in a battle for the Supersport Championship with Scholtz leading Jacobsen by 25 points with four races left in the season.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis ended the session third fastest, a tick over a second slower than Scholtz and .080 of a second faster than MotoAmerica first-timer Filippo Fuligini. Italian Fuligini is racing as a wildcard entry Ducati Panigale V2 for Team HONOS.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott rounded out the top five on opening day at COTA.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Landers!
The battle for the 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Championship was all the talk coming into the penultimate round at COTA. The chatter obviously centered around Kyle Wyman vs. Troy Herfoss, but RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammates Rocco Landers and Hayden Gillim with those two taking the top two spots while both circulating under the lap record.
Landers was a surprise name on top for KoTB.
Landers’ lap record was a 2:14.779 and it came on his very last lap, bettering Gillim’s best of 2:14.858.
The best of the two championship contenders was S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss, the Australian ending up third despite spending the final minutes of the session in the pits with a mechanical.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara ended the afternoon fourth with Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman fifth, the championship points leader heading into the weekend’s two races.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Di Mario On Top
For a while on Friday afternoon, it didn’t look like BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship points leader Rocco Landers was going to get even a single lap in Q1 as the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki had a mechanical problem that kept him in the pits more than on the track.
That left the others to make hay while the sun shined and Landers’ championship rival Alesandro Di Mario took full advantage to dominate the session and put his Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660 some two seconds faster than the nearest competition, which in this case was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor. Di Mario lapped at a best of 2:17.742 with Rossi second quickest on 2:20.022.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle rounded out the provisional front row, .9 of a second behind Rossi and .181 of a second ahead of newly crowned Junior Cup Champion Matthew Chapin, who rounded out the top five on his BARTCON Racing Suzuki GSX-R750.
Landers, meanwhile, got in two laps and it was enough to put him seventh at the end of the session.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Here We Go
Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West might have felt a bit ganged up on in Q1 on Friday at COTA with a horde of fast S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed riders out to help Tyler O’Hara successfully defend his Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. But West, the championship leader by just four points over O’Hara, emerged from the fray in fourth and just a tick over a second off O’Hara’s provisional pole position time.
O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss was second fastest, .62 of a second off O’Hara’s best with West’s teammate Jake Lewis third and the first of the Harley-Davidson Pan Americas in the field with West fourth and Jeremy McWilliams, in a one-off return ride for Indian, ending up fifth fastest.
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