Precision Track Days brings you the results of this weekend’s events.
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Cameron Beaubier dominated MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Qualifying One (Q1) Friday afternoon at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Late in the session, five-time Champion Beaubier put his head down on his Dunlop-shod Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR and ripped off a 2:09.764 – 1.2 seconds faster than anyone else in the field.
Josh Herrin was second-best with a 2:11.006 on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Bobby Fong claimed the third and final spot on the provisional front row with his 2:11.210.
Fong’s late fast lap bumped Xavi Fores off the provisional front row, but the Spaniard’s 2:11.364 on his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R put him fourth in the field.
Superbike rookie Sean Dylan Kelly was fifth with a 2:11.495 on his TopPro Racing BMW.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz finished the session in sixth with a 2:11.659.
Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach was seventh at 2:11.750.
Fores’ teammate Brandon Paasch did a 2:11.831, which was eighth-quickest.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen (2:11.920) and Jake Gagne (2:11.968) rounded out the top 10 in a session that saw 2nd to 10th covered by less than one second.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Beaubier, Herrin, Fong In Superbike Q1 At Road America
Cameron Beaubier Tops Josh Herrin And Bobby Fong On Opening Day In Wisconsin
ELKHART LAKE, WI (May 31, 2024) – 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.
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.”
Supersport – Mesa Quick
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.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Di Mario Keeps It Going
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.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman’s Record Breaker
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 – .724 of a second faster than Bobby Fong’s lap record from a year ago in race two.
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.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Guess Who?
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.
Junior Cup – Dreher Rebounds
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.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati:
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin and Loris Baz inside the top six at Road America
Sunnyvale, Calif., May 31, 2024 — The iconic Road America in Wisconsin is playing host to the third round of the 2024 Steel Commander MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, and it was a good first day for Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin and Loris Baz, both finishing the day one inside the top six.
Under perfect Wisconsin blue skies, Josh Herrin led the charge for Ducati, circulating sixteen times around the 4.05-mile venue that’s both the longest and fastest on the MotoAmerica calendar.
Herrin clocked a best lap of 2:11.006 to finish the day in second place behind Cameron Beaubier, while teammate Loris Baz’s best time of 2:11.659 came after a massive 27 laps across the day.
That put Baz in sixth at the end of the day’s play. Both he and Herrin are confident of closing the gap to Beaubier in race one tomorrow afternoon.
2024 Road America Superbike Qualifying 1 Results – Top 5
P1 – Cameron Beaubier 2:09.764
P2 – Josh Herrin (Ducati) 2:11.006
P3 – Bobby Fong 2:11.210
P4 – Xavi Fores 2:11.364
P5 – Sean Dylan Kelly 2:11.495
P6 – Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:23.323
Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati–#76)
“The guys did a big change from FP1 for the first qualifying session and it was definitely in the right direction,” Baz said. “That change improved the bike, but we’re still searching for the one-lap pace that will get us on the first two rows for the races. We need to find some more feeling from the front end, but we’ll get there and be ready to race.”
Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati–#2)
“The team did a lot of work between sessions, and I’m happy we were able to get second place today,” Herrin said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do tonight. We’ll be analyzing all the data tonight and try to make another step forward like we did between FP1 and Qualifying 1. We know we can be in the battle for the win, so that’s the goal.”
Day two of round three of the 2024 Steel Commander MotoAmerica Superbike Championship will commence on Saturday, June 1, at 8:00 a.m. CDT. Herrin and Baz will take to the track for the all-important second qualifying session at 10:45 a.m. CDT.
Race one for the Superbike category kicks off at 3:10 p.m. CDT on Saturday, June 1, with race two scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CDT on Sunday, June 2.
