Fans following the action at Road America Saturday via live timing or MotoAmerica Live+ may have found themselves confused when Stock 1000 riders Corey Alexander, PJ Jacobsen, Cameron Petersen, and Travis Wyman sat out Stock 1000 Qualifying Two (Q2) and instead rode in Superbike Free Practice Three (FP3).

To bolster the numbers on the Superbike grid in 2020, MotoAmerica created the Superbike Cup.

The Superbike Cup offers various incentives for faster Stock 1000 riders to also compete in the Superbike races on their Stock 1000 motorcycles, but MotoAmerica had to establish a protocol to identify who is eligible to be in the Superbike Cup and to make sure those riders gain as little competitive advantage over other Stock 1000 riders as possible.

The protocol starts on Friday, when Stock 1000 riders wanting to compete in the Superbike Cup must do a lap time that is within 108% of the fastest Superbike lap time recorded on Friday.

Then those riders who qualify to be in the Superbike Cup must inform MotoAmerica Race Control which session they intend to ride on Saturday morning, either Stock 1000 Q2 or Superbike FP3, which at Road America were both 30 minutes long.

At Road America, Alexander, Jacobsen, Petersen, and Wyman chose to ride in the Superbike session, which may have been confusing to those watching Stock 1000 Q2. But according to MotoAmerica, the times recorded by Stock 1000 riders in Superbike FP3 count as qualifying laps in the Stock 1000 class.

On Saturday, Jacobsen did his fastest lap time, 2:15.498, on his Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R in Superbike FP3, and that earned him the Stock 1000 pole position.

MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America

MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series

Road America

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

May 30, 2020

Stock 1000 Combined Qualifying Results (all on Dunlop tires):

1. PJ Jacobsen (Duc Panigale V4 R), 2:15.498
2. Cameron Petersen (Suz GSX-R1000R), 2:16.509
3. Corey Alexander (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:16.866
4. Michael Gilbert (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:17.351
5. Stefano Mesa (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:18.181
6. Travis Wyman (BMW S1000RR), 2:18.543
7. Alex Dumas (Suz GSX-R1000R), 2:20.252
8. Joseph Giannotto (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:20.443
9. Tony Storniolo (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:21.877
10. Dr. Jeffrey Purk (Yam YZF-R1), 2:22.303
11. Ashton Yates (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:22.322
12. Danilo Lewis (BMW S1000RR), 2:23.213
13. Hunter Dunham (Yam YZF-R1), 2:25.415
14. Michael Butler (Yam YZF-R1), 2:28.025
15. Stefan Dolipski (BMW S1000RR), 2:28.105
16. Jeremy Simmons (Yam YZF-R1), 2:28.397
17. Robert Loose, Jr. (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:28.676
18. Samuel Kok (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:29.113
19. Steven Shakespeare (Yam YZF-R1), 2:30.643
20. Josh Geradot (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:31.587