KurveyGirl.com brings you the results of this weekend’s events.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Xavi Fores won the MotoAmerica “extended” Supersport race Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama. The World Endurance veteran won the double-points race by 9.815 seconds on his Panigale V2.
Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki’s Stefano Mesa was the runner-up, and Anthony Mazziotto finished alone in third on his North East Cycle Outlet Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
The race was originally scheduled to run 37 laps with one mandatory pit stop taking no less than 55 seconds total time on pit lane. Two red flags, however, broke the race into a rain-affected six-lap opening segment and a dry 22-lap final stint that included all of the riders’ pit stops.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Fores Wins First-Ever MotoAmerica “Extended” Supersport Race
Gillim, Dreyer And Landers Join Spaniard In Winning At Barber Motorsports Park
BIRMINGHAM, AL (May 20, 2023) – Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Xavi Fores won his third Supersport race in succession on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park and it was a good one to win as the first-ever MotoAmerica “Extended” Supersport r acepaid double points. For many, however, it probably felt like two races as changing weather conditions prolonged the proceedings despite the race ultimately being shortened from 37 to 28 laps.
Fores completed the 28 laps in 44 minutes, 43.653 seconds to beat Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa by 9.8 seconds with the pair battling until the mandatory pit stop left Mesa at a disadvantage that he couldn’t recover from.
Third place went to North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Anthony Mazziotto with the New Jerseyan keeping his nose clean to earn his second career podium in the Supersport class.
Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert was fourth, some eight seconds behind Mazziotto, with Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes fifth after starting the final portion of the race on rain tires – a mistake that forced him to pit quickly after the restart to change to slicks.
“It was more stressful inside the pits trying to understand which tires to use, which tires to put on the bike, after the couple of red flags. After the first red flag, I didn’t know it was a huge crash and they red-flagged the race. Because I was pulling meters away. I see some drops coming initially, but I was still quite on my pace. I was pulling me and Josh (Hayes) pulling meters away. When I saw the red flag, I was a bit disappointed because I was waiting, waiting, waiting to come in when the proper rain was coming to put the rain tires. But, anyway, we came out again with the rains and was okay. I was still leading and fighting with Josh (Hayes) for one and a half laps. Then the red flag came again. I thought that it’s going to be challenging. So, I stayed inside the pits until the very last minute before to rejoin the grid. At the very last minute, we decided to put the slicks because the sun was coming out and I had some experience on endurance that you can run the slick tires even if it’s slightly wet. So, when the race restarted, I saw Stefano (Mesa) was with me all the time. I was trying to manage a little bit the tires. I put a medium compound in the rear, and it was not feeling so good. But I was so convinced on our pit stop, we did a good job there in the garage. Then I put the soft tire and I was trying to stay on the 27s (1:27 lap times). That was pretty much our race. It was a little bit crazy because two red flags in less than 20 minutes is not usual. When it’s raining coming, everything is quite challenging, but we did well. We got 50 points back home. So, I put my experience from the world endurance in this race and I think it was worth it. Thanks to all the team. They did a massive job inside the garage on the pit change. And all the sponsors. KYT, Alpinestars, Parts Unlimited, everyone who has been involved. They have supported me quite a lot. It has not been easy to arrive here, learn the tracks, being fast, try to learn the races. These guys are fast. They have a lot of experience here. I try to learn as much as I can in a short time.”
REV’IT! Twins Cup – Landers Takes His Second
The changeable weather conditions on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park had an effect on some of the day’s races, and REV’IT! Twins Cup race one was one of those. The first feature race of the day, the Twins Cup battle was red-flagged and restarted because of a quick shower that unfortunately led to a couple of crashes.
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers had his Aprilia in the lead when raindrops fell. Landers signaled that it was raining, and he dropped back in the pack until the race was stopped. On the restart, Landers made his way back to the front to notch his second race win in a row. Landers bested The WagBar MP13 Racing Yamaha’s Kayla Yaakov, the 15-year-old finishing as runner-up in her REV’IT! Twins Cup debut. Rounding out the podium was Team Iso Yamaha’s Dominic Doyle.
“That’s how you want races to go,” Landers said. “The second half, for sure. The first half was a little bit gnarly. But Kayla (Yaakov) is riding amazing. I did not expect this. I don’t think anyone on the grid expected her to come back this strong. So many good races with Dom (Doyle). So many good races. Been on the podium with him so many times. It’s an incredible feeling to share the podium with these two people. It’s awesome.”
Landers’s victory was the 11th REV’IT! Twins class win, which moved him to the top on the all-time win list for the class.
Steel Commander Stock 1000 – Hayden Gillim Rebounds
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim had a “terrible” opening round to his Steel Commander Stock 1000 series campaign, but that was then, and this is now and Gillim put his Road Atlanta hiccup behind him to win the first of two Stock 1000 races at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday.
Gillim bested championship points leader Ezra Beaubier with Beaubier’s Orange Cat Racing teammate Kaleb De Keyrel finishing third for his first career podium in the class in just his third race on the BMW M 1000 RR.
Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman lost out on his battle with De Keyrel for third, but the Las Vegas resident held on for fourth with Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin rounding out the top five.
Beaubier leads the title chase by 24 points over Wyman, 70-46 with De Keyrel third on 40 points. Gillim trails Beaubier by 35 points.
“Road Atlanta was terrible. I felt like I could do a little bit more at Road Atlanta than I did. Road Atlanta was just everything that I didn’t need to start the season. So, I’m happy to bounce back from a DNF and a 6th or 7th or something and get this win. I knew this weekend was going to be good for me. I needed to capitalize on this track because Road America is going to be freaking hard. It’s going to be another kind of Road Atlanta situation. So, I needed to capitalize on this track. These guys need to slow it up a little bit and let a couple guys get in front of them in order for me to get back in this thing. But it was a good race. I’m happy for the team, myself. I’ve gotten a little bit slower than I did last year, which I’m not happy about. Me and the bike this year just aren’t clicking quite like I did last year. So, I’ve got some stuff I still have to work on. I’m happy. My kid was happy on the podium, so that’s all that matters to me right now.”
Junior Cup – Dreher. Again.
His team may be called “Bad Boys Racing,” but 16-year-old Avery Dreher is anything but a bad boy when it comes to motorcycle road racing. The Floridian is so far undefeated in the 2023 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship.
Dreher followed up his double win at Road Atlanta last month with another victory in Saturday’s race one at Barber Motorsports Park. Riding a Kawasaki Ninja 400, Dreher took the victory by just a little more than half a second over SportbikeTrackGear.com’s Max Van. Third place went to New Yorker Yandel Medina who celebrated his first career MotoAmerica podium.
“Based on qualifying, I definitely felt like I had the pace to break away a little,” commented Dreher. “In the beginning, though, Alessandro (Di Mario) and I think one or two other riders got by me, and I just stuck behind them out there a little bit. Made the pass. Just put my head down. The bike felt amazing. A few weeks ago, we came here to do a test and we got the suspension dialed in. I feel great. Let’s keep this momentum going. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Mission Mini Cup By Motul – Friday
Nathan Gouker Racing’s Nathan Gouker and Historic GP’s Mahdi Salem split wins in Friday’s FIM Mini Cup Ohvale 160 classes on the mini track at Barber Motorsports Park with Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis sweeping to victories in both of the FIM Mini Cup 190 Ohvale classes.
The support classes on Friday afternoon featured names at the top that also were at the top at Carolina Motorsports Park two weeks ago.
Peterman Racing’s Cole Peterman had another great afternoon of racing with three wins after a sweep of the Stock 50 class and a win in race two of the Stock 110 class. Ryan Clark won the stock race that Peterman didn’t win with his victory in the first of two Stock 110 races. Both of Friday’s Stock 125 races were won by Jacobsen Motorcycle Training/Bettencourt Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt.
Mission Mini Cup By Motul – Saturday
Saturday’s Mission Mini Cup By Motul produced identical podiums in both races in the two Ohvale classes with Nathan Gouker Racing’s Nathan Gouker beating Macc Racing’s Mac MacClugage and Reese Frankenfield Racing’s Reese Frankenfield in the 160 Ohvale class and Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis topping Historic GP’s Mahdi Salem and Jacobsen Motorcycle Training/Bettencourt’s Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt in the 190 Ohvale class.
Bettencourt had more success in the support classes with victories in both Stock 125 races.
The Stock 50 class featured two different winners on Saturday with Cory Texter Racing/Roof Systems-backed Cruise Texter taking his first victory in race one before SWG Motorsports’ Weston Fager won race two.
Ryan Clark Racing’s Ryan Clark made it a perfect Saturday with a clean sweep of the two Stock 110 classes.
More, from a press release issued by Suzuki motor USA, LLC:
SCOTT TAKES POLE POSITION AND A TOP TEN IN RACE #1 AT BARBER
Suzuki GSX-R750s a Force in the Supersport Class
BREA, CA – May 20, 2023 – Suzuki Motor USA and Team Hammer returned to the 2023 MotoAmerica competition on Saturday at Barber Motorsport Park. The team faced a challenging day in both Superbike and the special extended Supersport race. Tyler Scott earned sixth in Supersport while Richie Escalante was a very competitive seventh in his Superbike contest.
Race Highlights:
- Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
- Supersport
- Tyler Scott won pole with an all-time track record but was caught out by tire strategy in the wet-dry race and eventually earned sixth.
- Teagg Hobbs followed his teammate closely securing seventh place.
- Superbike
- Richie Escalante held strong during a race-long battle for sixth, coming up just short to earn seventh.
- Toni Elias earned 12th in just his second race weekend after returning to active competition.
- Supersport
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott started from pole position for a unique MotoAmerica Supersport race at Barber Motorsport Park. The 37-lap extended race paid double points with one mandatory pit stop and was the first of two planned extended races this season. The 17-year-old Scott described the event as “a short endurance race”, longer than a normal sprint event but shorter than the Daytona 200 he raced in March.
Scott earned the holeshot but settled into fourth just ahead of his teammate Teagg Hobbs as the rain began to fall. After one restart due to an accident on the track, more crashes resulted in a second red flag and a shortening of the race to 28 laps.
The Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R750 pilots chose to start again on wet tires. Unfortunately, other rivals had chosen dry tires for the second restart, and both Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki riders quickly pitted to switch to dry Dunlops as the track dried rapidly, with Scott and Hobbs coming in on successive laps. Despite fast stops, Scott and Hobbs were left far behind the lead group. They fought to collect the double points for sixth and seventh in the weekend’s only Supersport race.
“We made a mistake by going with rain tires in the last red flag”, said Scott. “We would have been fine and contended otherwise. We shredded the tire pretty well in the race so that last stint was not easy, and we couldn’t make up the gap. Still, we gave it our best effort and set the track record in qualifying.”
Teagg Hobbs was seventh, just behind Scott on the circuit. Twenty-year-old Hobbs qualified on the second row, and had a strong start to the race but found himself in the same position as Scott.
“The race was tough. They introduced the extended race, and the weather played more of a factor than we hoped.” Hobbs said. “After the second restart, Ty came in the first time around and I had to do another lap in the dry on wet tires before I could come in. We lost a lot of ground and weren’t in good shape. But qualifying went well and we’ll look to get a better result in Wisconsin.”
Richie Escalante backed up his strong performance during qualifying in the first Superbike race of the weekend. Starting fourth, Escalante battled for third in the first portions of the 16-lap contest, eventually settling into a battle for sixth position on his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R. That fight for position turned out to be the most hotly-contested battle in the race, with Escalante appearing to have the quicker pace but was unable to make a pass stick over his rival due to the tight confines of Barber Motorsports Park. Escalante came up short in his bid to take the spot but once again showed his development as a Superbike pilot.
“I have been super happy with how things are going so far. I did well here last year, and I like the track, so I felt fine about the weekend,” said Escalante. “We made small changes only and they were in the right direction. I had qualified well and finished P4, so I was happy about that. With the rainy and cold conditions this weekend the tires have not been working as well as normal. It was a last-minute decision for us, and we chose a different tire than most of the others in the top ten. In the race, this choice made it harder for us to maintain a good pace. It was a good race, though, and I believe we have a little bit more. I need to be more aggressive off the start and pass more aggressively. The Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team is working great, and I feel we are making progress.”
Former MotoAmerica Superbike champion Toni Elias began his second weekend in his return to racing by qualifying tenth. Elias finished the race in 12th but gained more valuable track time. The Spaniard is now eighth in points.
“It was one of the toughest days in my racing career, both with the result and the feeling from the bike in this race,” said Elias. “It is what it is, and we expect more. We tried really hard on both days, but it just wasn’t there. Tomorrow is another day. We are motivated to work hard and fight and I want to thank the team for working hard with me.”
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki will return to action at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama tomorrow.
For more racing news, results, and special team content please visit https://suzukicycles.com/racing/road-racing.
ABOUT SUZUKI
Suzuki Motor USA, LLC. (SMO) distributes Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Automotive Parts, Accessories, and ECSTAR Oils & Chemicals via an extensive dealer network throughout 49 states. Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), based in Hamamatsu, Japan, is a diversified worldwide manufacturer of Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Automobiles, Outboard Motors, and related products. Founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1920, SMC has business relations with 201 countries/regions. For more information, visit www.suzuki.com.
ABOUT TEAM HAMMER
The 2023 season marks Team Hammer’s 43rd consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Race bikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 129 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 346 times, and have won 11 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships (in Superbike and Supersport.) The team has also won 137 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running “Methanol Monster” GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won four F-USA Championships.
ABOUT VISION WHEEL
Founded in 1976, Vision Wheel is one of the nation’s leading providers of custom wheels for cars and trucks, and one of the first manufacturers of custom wheels and tires for ATVs, UTVs, and golf carts. Vision Wheel looks beyond the current trends and to the future in developing, manufacturing, and distributing its wheels. Vision’s lines of street, race, off-road, American Muscle, and Milanni wheels are distributed nationally and internationally through a trusted network of distributors. Vision Wheel also produces the Vision It AR app to allow users to see how their wheel of choice will look on their vehicle before purchase and installation. For more information on Vision Wheel, visit www.visionwheel.com.
