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More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Gagne On Top On Day One Of HONOS Superbike At Road America
MotoAmerica Gets Rolling In Elkhart Lake With Jake Gagne Taking Provisional Pole Position
ELKHART LAKE, WI (June 11, 2021) – Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne has been on pole position for the first two rounds of the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike season. Based on his performance today in Q1, it would be hard to bet against him doing that again this weekend in round three at Road America.
Gagne best lap, a 2:11.426, came on his eighth go-around of the session on the four-mile Road America on a scorching hot day in Elkhart Lake. That 2:11.426 was .359 of a second quicker than M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen, the non-defending MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion impressing on the team’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.
“We made a big gearing change and went taller than we had last year because we figured we’d pick up some more pace,” Gagne said. “I don’t think any of us have ever seen this track this hot so it’s a little greasier than we thought. There’s definitely less grip out there than I’ve ever seen it. We all know what tires we’re going to race on, but I know there is a little less grip, a little less bite in some areas. We made some gearing changes, and it came together. We’ve got a good bike. We’ll see if we can make a few tweaks in the morning and keep it rolling.”
Petersen’s teammate Bobby Fong, the winner of one of the four Superbike races held here a year ago, was third fastest with his 2:12.534. Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz ended the day fourth in his Road America debut and just a tick ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.
Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, Gagne’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Josh Herrin, Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera and FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounded out the top 10 on day one.
The Superbike lap record at Road America is a 2:10.623 lap set by Cameron Beaubier during Superpole last June. Gagne and the rest will have a chance to eclipse that record tomorrow morning in Q2 when he they use qualifying tires.
HONOS HVMC Racing’s Richie Escalante led the Supersport field in Q1, his 2:19.386 lap over half a second quicker than his rival Sean Dylan Kelly on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. MESA37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa was third, 1.1 seconds off Escalante’s best.
Mesa, however, added to an already good day by earning provisional pole position in the Stock 1000 class, the racer/team owner besting Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis and HONOS HVMC’s Corey Alexander with Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram rounding out the top five.
In SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup action, Landers Racing’s Ben Gloddy led Q1, besting Veloce Racing’s Maxwell Toth and N2 Racing’s Blake Davis.
In what will likely be a preview of Sunday’s Mission King Of The Baggers race, Mission Foods S&S Cycle Indian Challenger’s Tyler O’Hara and H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman went back and forth with provisional pole position. The spot eventually went to O’Hara, the winner of round one at Road Atlanta, with his 2:29.153 – just .154 of a second faster than Wyman, who led the first session despite crashing when he missed a shift and ran off into the gravel.
The Twins Cup qualifying session on Friday afternoon was led by Innovative Motorsports/Mike’s Imports’ Teagg Hobbs, the championship points leader coming into Road America. Hobbs lapped at 2:29.602 to best Kaleb De Keyrel and his Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660. Jackson Blackmon rode his Jackson Blackmon Racing Yamaha to the third fastest time, putting three different brands of motorcycle (Suzuki, Aprilia, Yamaha) on the provisional front row.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati:
Ducati Stars Ready to Pounce at Road America for Round Three of MotoAmerica 2021
Sunnyvale, Calif., June 11, 2021 – Kyle Wyman (Panera Bread Ducati) and Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York) ended day one of the third round of MotoAmerica 2021 by posting ultra-competitive times at one of the longest tracks, not just in North America, but all professional motorcycle racing, Road America.
Loris Baz clocked 25 laps across the two sessions in what was his first appearance at Road America, ending the day an impressive fourth fastest behind Yamaha’s pacesetter Jake Gagne.
Kyle Wyman on the other hand put in 19 circulations to end the day sixth fastest, confident of more speed to come in the second qualifying session ahead of race one on Saturday afternoon.
Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York – Ducati #76)
“Not a bad day,” Baz said. “I’m just trying to learn this place—it’s such an amazing track. I’m so happy to be here. When you discover such a place and you have a bike like the Ducati V4 R under you, it reminds me of Monza in Italy. It’s an incredible place.
“It’s a very long track so you don’t get to do many laps in the session, so you don’t hit the same corners as many times as you’d like, but it’s been the usual learning path. We have changed the bike a bit between FP1 and Q1 and I had a great lap time on old tires, so I’m pretty confident for tomorrow. We have a bit of a gap to close to the top guys but I’m confident we’ll go faster, know the track better and have a better bike set up. I’m really looking forward to unleash the Ducati on the straight tomorrow.”
Kyle Wyman (Panera Bread Ducati – Ducati #33)
“Today was steady and solid,” Wyman said. “We were making progress throughout the day and we got steadily faster as the day wore on. We didn’t really get to put down a really fast time at the end but I think we’re in pretty good shape in most splits, but we have a deficit in the last sector that’s mainly at The Carousel, which we’re trying to figure out, as it’s a pretty notorious spot on this track. We’re working on getting that part of the track better and getting ready to put the bike on the first two rows for race one tomorrow.”
