KurveyGirl.com brings you the results of this weekend’s events.
Two-time and defending Champion Jake Gagne rode his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha to victory in MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Race Two Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama. Gagne led from start to finish and won the 20-lap race by 2.935 seconds. It was his third straight win.
Mathew Scholtz and Cameron Beaubier raced for second place most of the way, and Westby Racing Yamaha’s Scholtz was able to hold off Beaubier and his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW by 0.161 second at the finish line.
Richie Escalante finished fourth, 5.7 seconds behind Beaubier, on his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R.
Beaubier’s teammate PJ Jacobsen passed Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin with seven laps to go to secure fifth place.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Gagne Perfect With Doubleheader Sweep Of Medallia Superbike Races At Barber
Two Races, Two Wins For Jake Gagne In Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, AL (May 21, 2023) – Other than surviving one of the scariest moments of his racing career midway through the Medallia Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne had the perfect weekend in Alabama. The two-time defending Medallia Superbike Champion started from pole position and led every lap en route to a clean sweep of the two races.
Sunday’s victory was Gagne’s third in a row, and it increased his lead in the championship to 24 points over Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, 95-71. The win was also the 32nd AMA Superbike victory for Gagne and it moved him into a tie for fourth overall with Miguel Duhamel and Toni Elias on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Gagne’s only scare was when he lost control of his Yamaha YZF-R1, ran on to the grass and dirt on the inside of turn three, somehow saved it and carried on to win the 20-lap race by 2.9 seconds.
“It could have been bad. I got lucky,” Gagne said of his near crash after the race.
Other than that, Gagne’s 32nd win was like the other 31. Get a great start and don’t let anyone else get near you, much less past you.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was second on his Yamaha YZF-R1 with the South African getting the better of Beaubier after a near race-long battle for the position. Their race came down to a last-lap brawl with the pair crossing the finish line just .161 of a second apart and almost hitting as Scholtz unknowingly swerved into Beaubier’s path.
Beaubier, who was fourth on Saturday with the harder-compound Dunlop R5s, switched to the softer R3 Dunlop for race two on Sunday and it paid dividends as he was a fighting third.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante had his best Superbike weekend to date, and he ended it in style with an impressive fourth-place finish on Sunday. Escalante was 5.7 seconds behind Beaubier and some six seconds clear of fifth-placed PJ Jacobsen with the New Yorker getting the better of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, who struggled with tire-wear woes.
With Herrin sixth, seventh went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander, who was less than a second ahead of Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias was ninth with Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim rounding out the top 10.
The most notable of the non-finishers was Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen with the South African crashing out of second on the opening lap while trying to keep pace with Gagne.
Superbike Race 2
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Corey Alexander (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (BMW)
- Toni Elias (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
Superbike Quotes
Jake Gagne – Winner
“I got off to another good start. There was some chaos on the grid. I pulled up to the grid last and I got off to a sweet start, luckily. I heard Cam (Petersen) went down in five. I was surprised on my gap. Even on the first lap I think I had a half second on my board, or something. So, I think that kind of gave me that little bit of a separation in the beginning. Put my head down. I was surprised to see 22.4 (a 1:22.4 lap), honestly. Really surprised. So, those first couple laps gave me a good break. We made some improvements on the bike. It was a little easier for me to ride. It was turning a little better than it was yesterday. But I think halfway through out of turn two, I had a moment that I haven’t had in years. Totally sideways, almost highsided. Ran off the inside grass, up over the curb, into the grass up over turn three. It was gnarly. I don’t even know. I think I only lost like a second somehow. I was expecting to lose a lot more than that. So, I got really lucky that I even kept it. After that, I’m like, I got to bring this thing home. I know these guys could – I had enough of a gap, they could reel me in a bit. I just needed to bring it home. Good weekend. This is obviously a track that really, really suits the Yamaha. So, I wanted to come in here and take advantage of that. Next up, Road America. I think all these boys are going to be in the hunt. It’s not going to be easy to get a win there, but we’ll just keep doing our job. Again, hats off to the team. I’m glad we got two dry races in here, because the weather was looking kind of gnarly. Good weekend.”
Mathew Scholtz – Second Place
“I think I pulled a little bit of a gap and Cameron (Beaubier) closed me down. I kind of knew from I think maybe lap six or seven that Cam had a couple tenths on me. So, I didn’t really try to push as hard as I could on the limits and use too much tire. Once he passed me, I just made sure I made a couple good laps down that he didn’t pull a gap. There were a couple sectors on the track that he was definitely quicker, a couple sectors I was a little bit faster. On the final lap, I knew Charlotte’s Web was one of the main points that you could pass someone, so I went in there really, really deep. Then ruined the drive coming out. Cameron got up next to me going into corner seven. I brake-passed him there and it was a pretty hard pass. So, I kind of thought that I had a couple bike lengths and going into the final corner I tried to focus on driving out hard. Pushed the front and I just kind of had to close the line a little bit, because I know Cameron was obviously right there and driving off the corner well. Obviously, I don’t mean to try to cut somebody off, but I’m just happy to be sitting up here in second place. Obviously watching Cam ride Moto2 for the last two years, it feels awesome to be up here battling with him. So, well done to Jake (Gagne). He spanked us one more time. Hopefully ,in two weeks’ time we can give him something.”
Cameron Beaubier – Third Place
“This morning I was super happy with how I was riding. I was super happy with the step we made this morning. We made a couple tweaks to the bike overnight and threw the soft tire in. I’ve been struggling pretty much ever since I got on this bike to make a good time on the soft tire. I think part of it is I’m just not trusting the TC, I’m not trusting the bike. I felt just really good first from as soon as I rode out of pit lane. I was just trusting the thing. I was really riding the bike. I felt like I made a good step this morning on it. So, we just decided to race on the R3 soft rear, and it was a lot better than yesterday. I had really good grip there at the beginning. I just got stuck behind Josh (Herrin). He was really good on the brakes. Obviously, the Ducati has some speed on the straight. So, that was a little tough, but I put my head down after I was able to get by him and was able to reel in Matty (Scholtz). Matty had a really good pace going, and so did I at the beginning. I saw low 23s for a while on my dash. I was able to pass Matty and just kept my head down. Then I started running into tire problems. Even my front was pushing around. The rear was coming around here and there. Then I just kind of lost my roll speed around the track. Ended up almost losing it down into five, into Charlotte’s Web. Matty got by. I just tried to do everything I could to stick on Matty’s wheel because he had a really good pace going. He was high 23s, low 24s. I tried to do something with him on the last lap. Like I said, I was struggling just to hang there. I came into the last lap. I was going to try to line him up going into Charlotte’s Web. I wasn’t close enough. Then he pushed the front in the last corner, and I snuck up the inside of him. I thought I was going to beat him to the line, but he got me with a sneaky little swerve. I don’t think he realized I was as close as I was. Hats off to him. He was riding so good. Obviously, Jake (Gagne) rode incredible all weekend. It’s going to be tough to close the gap to that guy, but just happy to get out of here with a podium and move on with the season.”
More, from a press release issued by Westby Racing:
Mathew Scholtz Is Runner-Up In MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two At Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, AL – May 21, 2023 – On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Mathew Scholtz, rider of the #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike, showed once again, that he is a world-class rider. He finished second in the weekend’s race after a nearly race-long battle with five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion and former Moto2 World Championship contender Cameron Beaubier.
Taking his grid position on the front row, Mathew got off to a much better start than in Saturday’s race, and that enabled him to set and maintain a good pace, which kept him closer to the front.
He was pursued by Beaubier in third, who did manage to overtake Mathew for second place as the laps wound down. Undaunted by the move, however, Mathew put his head down and retook the position. Beaubier made one more attempt to overtake Mathew on the final run to the checkered flag, but a defensive move by Mathew to break Beaubier’s draft thwarted his effort and ensured Mathew’s runner-up finish while fellow Yamaha rider Jake Gagne took the win.
“I think I pulled a little bit of a gap and Cameron (Beaubier) closed me down,” Mathew said. “I kind of knew from, I think, maybe lap six or seven, that Cam had a couple tenths on me. So, I didn’t really try to push as hard as I could on the limits and use too much tire. Once he passed me, I just made sure I made a couple good laps and that he didn’t pull a gap. There were a couple of sectors on the track where he was definitely quicker, and a couple sectors where I was a little bit faster. On the final lap, I knew ‘Charlotte’s Web’ was one of the main points that you could pass someone, so I went in there really, really deep. Then, I ruined the drive coming out. Cameron got up next to me going into corner seven. I brake-passed him there, and it was a pretty hard pass. So, I kind of thought that I had a couple bike lengths on him.
“Going into the final corner, I tried to focus on driving out hard. I pushed the front, and I just kind of had to close the line a little bit, because I knew Cameron was right there and driving off the corner well. Obviously, I don’t mean to try to cut somebody off, but I’m just happy to be sitting up here in second place. After watching Cam ride in Moto2 for the past two years, it feels awesome to be up here battling with him. Well-done to Jake. He spanked us one more time. Hopefully, in two weeks’ time, we can give him something.”
The Westby Racing team will be back in action on June 3 through 5 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for round three of the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
1. Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 95
2. Cameron Beaubier – BMW – 71
3. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 59
4. Cameron Petersen – Yamaha – 53
5. Josh Herrin – Ducati – 49
For more updates about Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit http://www.WestbyRacing.com
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More, from a press release issued by Ducati:
Forés Wins MotoAmerica Supersport “Extended” Race as Herrin Battles on in Alabama
Sunnyvale, Calif., May 21, 2023 — The second round of the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike and Supersport Championship at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama saw the two Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC protagonists fighting at the front of their respective fields. However, Xavi Forés was particularly impressive in the first-ever MotoAmerica Supersport “Extended” race.
The Spanish ace made it look easy on the #12 Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V2, dealing with multiple red flags better than the chasing pack and leading into the mandatory pit stop.
Forés emerged at half race distance in the lead ahead of Kawasaki’s Stefano Mesa, a position he would not relinquish as he took the third straight checkered flag of his MotoAmerica Supersport campaign. Forés, thanks to this “Extended” race being a double-points event, now holds a thoroughly commanding 27-point lead in the championship over Mesa with Yamaha’s Josh Hayes 46 points in arrears in third.
Herrin’s weekend in the Heart of Dixie state saw the 2021 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion take a pair of sixth place finishes aboard the factory Ducati Panigale V4 R. Citing continual tire issues that plagued the majority of the Superbike grid, Herrin showed his mettle and refused to give in, his 20-point haul for the weekend cementing him in fifth place so far in the championship on 49 points.
2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Standings After Round Two
P1 – Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 95
P2 – Cameron Beaubier (BMW) 71
P3 – Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 59
P4 – Cameron Petersen (Yamaha) 53
P5 – Josh Herrin (Ducati) 49
2022 MotoAmerica Supersport Standings After Round Two
P1 – Xavi Forés (Ducati) 100
P2 – Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) 73
P3 – Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 54
P4 – Tyler Scott (Suzuki) 53
P5 – Michael Gilbert (Suzuki) 48
Xavi Forés (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC– #12)
“It was a really tricky race, but a good one for us!” Forés said. “There were a couple of red flags but we managed the pit stops well, as well as choosing the tires correctly. In the end, we used our experience to win the race. Now we have a 27-point lead in the championship and we’re looking forward to Road America which looks like it’ll be a great track for the Ducati Panigale V2.”
Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC– #2)
“This weekend was tough,” Herrin said after race two. “We knew we might struggle here but we battled the tires more than anything. Everyone had issues with the tires but we just couldn’t find the right set-up to make the tires work as they should. It was frustrating, for sure, but we kept it on two wheels and took a pair of sixth places, got some valuable points. We’ll take the positives and move on to Road America.”
Round Three of the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike and Supersport Championship will take place at the iconic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, over the June 2-4 weekend.
