Xavi Fores took a dominant victory in MotoAmerica Supersport Race One Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park, in Shelton, Washington. Fores, riding his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V2, won the 15-lap race by 11.955 seconds. It was Fores’ sixth straight win in six races on the season.
Four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes held off several challengers to take the runner-up spot on his Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
Teagg Hobbs came home third, his career-first Supersport podium finish, on his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R750.
Stefano Mesa was running third, chasing Hayes and fending off Hobbs, on the final lap when he crashed his Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R. Mesa walked away from the high-speed tumble.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Forés Still Perfect, Doyle Gets His First At Ridge Motorsports Park
Xavi Forés Wins His Sixth Supersport Race In A Row, Dominic Doyle Gets First REV’IT Twins Cup Win
SHELTON, WA (June 24, 2023) – Spaniard Xavi Forés continued his dominant march through the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship at Ridge Motorsports Park with the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider running his unbeaten streak to six in perhaps his finest performance thus far.
Forés was joined in the win column today by Dominic Doyle (REV’IT! Twins Cup), Tyler O’Hara (Mission Super Hooligan National Championship) and Mikayla Moore (Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race.).
Supersport – Perfect Forés
Xavi Forés is a long, long way from his home in Llombai, Spain. But, as he’s done at all four of the racetracks at which he’s raced in the MotoAmerica series so far this season, Forés acclimates quickly, learns the track fast, and speaking of fast, he gets up to speed in almost no time.
Riding his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V2, and also a five-race unbeaten streak, Forés won Saturday’s Superport race one, which made it six victories in a row to start the 2023 season.
Saturday started out even better than usual for Forés since he also captured his first pole position of the season in the morning’s final qualifying.
Second place went to Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, who continues to chase the all-time AMA race wins record. Earning provisional pole on Friday afternoon steeled his determination, but it was a different story on Saturday afternoon because he just couldn’t match Forés’s torrid pace.
Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs, who was especially happy that he notched his first career podium in MotoAmerica’s hugely popular middleweight class.
“I used the Friday just to learn the track, and when I realized the track was suiting well for me and for the bike, I started to do long-distance sessions,” Fores said. “So, all the time, I was on the used tires. I tried to set my race pace for today. It was working quite well for me. The bike is working super nice here. I like the track. So, it was good for me. The first time on this season that I do a good start and I arrive first to the first corner, so this is important in order to have clear, initial laps, because this bike also on the initial laps it’s easy to warm the tires and they seem to go fast. I tried to make the gap in the beginning, and I was trying to stay on the pace of 43, 44 low. I did five or six 43s and I was trying to stay consistent in order to stay focused on myself. I was always counting that Josh (Hayes) was on the back. You can never relax when he’s on the back. So, the first four or five laps I was like 3.2, 3.5. The gap was nearly there all the time, so I started to do 43 and then I got the gap. Hopefully for tomorrow we can improve something on the front fork, but anyway the bike here is working amazing and I have not too much to say. Happy for me and also for the team, and also for the six victories in a row.”
REV’IT Twins Cup – Doyle Wins After Landers Gets Docked
Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers won Saturday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race at Ridge Motorsports Park right up until the time that he didn’t.
Landers, who crossed the finish line first, was penalized two spots for passing under a yellow flag on the final lap of the race and that gave the victory to Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle.
The win, Doyle’s first in the class, came over defending series champion Blake Davis and his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7. With Landers moved to third, Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Gus Rodio was fourth with Trackday Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon rounding out the top five.
When the dust had cleared on a day of change, Davis was still atop the point standings by nine over Rodio, 107-98, with Landers 16 points behind Davis in third.
Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz had plenty to be woeful about as he crashed out of the race early while running with the frontrunners. Schultz went from being just two points out of the championship lead to 22 points behind.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – More Winning For Moore
The Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. program started off the first day’s races at Ridge Motorsports Park, and the group of a dozen female riders who each race-prep their own Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 motorcycles, train aboard them, and ultimately compete against each other at selected MotoAmerica rounds, put on quite a show for the fans. Mikayla Moore, who won both BTR races a few weeks ago at Road America, emerged victorious again. Moore was recommended to the program by her friend Kayleigh Buyck, who ironically finished as runner-up to Moore. Sonya Lloyd, who was third in the first race of the BTR season at Road America, finished third again in race one at Ridge.
Moore took the checkered flag with a gap of over 16 seconds back to Buyck, but she was the first to admit that it was not a flawless race for her.
“I caught a false neutral and instead of going to the higher gear, I thought it maybe didn’t get into gear, so I went into a lower gear, and it got a little out of hand,” Moore said. “So, I just shifted quick and then just get back on track without making the bike any more upset than what it was.
“This morning, I made some suspension changes, and I made some tire pressure changes, and I went out on freshies and gearing changes. So, all those combinations definitely helped for this race.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – O’Hara’s Third
The Mission Super Hooligan National Championship is holding their second round of the season at Ridge Motorsports Park, and after taking both wins way back in March at Daytona, defending class champion Tyler O’Hara chased down his Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods teammate and race leader Jeremy McWilliams in MSHNC race one at Ridge, overtook him, and went one to notch his third consecutive class win this season.
McWilliams, meanwhile, finished second and just under a second behind O’Hara. DiBrino Racing/KTM rider Andy DiBrino, who started from the pole position in the race, rounded out the podium in third. It was a good showing for Oregonian DiBrino who was racing on his home track and in front of his home crowd.
“Well, it didn’t go the way I planned it,” O’Hara said. “I knew. I studied it a lot and lost a lot of feeling. It’s not an easy track to pass. I knew I had to be aggressive and just kind of let the race come to me. I knew we had pace, and we were all right there. I felt really strong on the brakes and had a lot of roll speed mid-corner. We were kind of protected all of us in a couple sections that were kind of passing zones. When Jeremy (McWilliams) passed DiBrino in (turn) 11 there, we all started tightening that up after that. That was a beautiful pass. I was getting some chatter and having some moments, as well, but just kind of let the race come to me. Getting into the lappers there at the end was a little bit sketchy, but what a race. Just really proud of our team for working so hard and just never giving up. Like Jeremy said, this is the first time we’ve been here. We rode here on Tuesday in the rain. Really glad that our team was able to allow us and help us come out and ride this track. It is one of the most technical tracks I’ve ever ridden. I would say it’s kind of one of my specialties is really technical tracks. It’s a track where it’s got a lot of flow, but you can kind of charge it, as well. So, I’ve just been really enjoying this track. Every dry session we’ve had, we’re just going faster and faster. I didn’t really get to ride with Andy at all until the race. It was just a lot of fun, really. This Hooligan class, we were all just goon-riding on the way. Just gooning it around, just having fun. Just hats off to everybody on the whole team. Just really appreciate it. S&S Cycles, they’ve been working their butts off.”
More, from a press release issued by Suzuki Motor USA, LLC:
TEAGG HOBBS SCORES HIS FIRST SUPERSPORT PODIUM FOR VISION WHEEL M4 ECSTAR SUZUKI
Suzuki GSX-R750 Continues to Impact the Supersport Class
BREA, CA – June 24, 2023 – Suzuki Motor USA and Team Hammer celebrated the opening day of MotoAmerica race action at Ridge Motorsports Park from the podium following a breakthrough ride from rising star Teagg Hobbs.
Race Highlights:
- Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
- Supersport
- Teagg Hobbs charged to the first podium of his MotoAmerica Supersport career.
- Tyler Scott fought back from an off-track excursion to secure fourth position.
- Superbike
- Richie Escalante earned his third top-five in his last four races.
- Taylor Knapp earned points for the team as he kicked off his one-weekend, two-race run with the squad.
- Supersport
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs was rewarded for his continued rise in speed and confidence with a career-first Supersport podium. Hobbs qualified alongside teammate Tyler Scott on the front row aboard their identical Suzuki GSX-R750s, and the two spent the early stages of the race in a multi-rider scrap near the front. Hobbs clawed his way up from fifth to make a late run at the podium contenders. He arrived on the back wheel of the fight for second with three laps to go and was initially denied in a last-lap battle for third position. However, Hobbs’ continued application of intense pressure paid off, forcing the rider in front of him into a mistake. That handed Hobbs third place with just a half-lap remaining.
“I was having fun out there,” Hobbs said. ”I knew 15 laps was going to take a little bit of time, and I chose the right tire for the race. In the first few laps, I was held up a little bit, but towards the end I put my head down, tried to hit my marks, and chased after the riders in second and third. Once that crash happened with a half-a-lap to go, that was my sign to relax and bring it home. I wanted to race for second, but that was just a little too far ahead. I can’t thank my whole Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team enough. They’ve been working incredibly hard, and my Suzuki worked flawlessly. We’re going to go back and see if we can do even better tomorrow.”
Tyler Scott endured and enjoyed an eventful day of his own. The 17-year-old ran in second early on aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R750 before being displaced to fourth in the early shuffle. While looking for a way around teammate Hobbs Scott ran off track and lost two positions. Undeterred, Scott worked his way back up to fifth and then successfully defended what became fourth position, following the last-lap incident ahead to the checkered flag.
“We had an issue in the race,” Scott said. “We worked through it, and I think the race pace was good. We may make some small changes for tomorrow, but everything is heading in a positive direction. We qualified second and showed a decent pace. I had a moment related to that issue and that set us back, but overall, I think we can improve for Sunday.” In addition to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s solid performance, Saturday’s Supersport race was filled once more with Suzuki GSX-Rs, earning almost half of the top ten finishing positions.
Richie Escalante continued his strong form on Saturday, collecting his third Superbike top five in his last four outings aboard the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R. Escalante jumped into the top five from his startling slot on the outside of Row 2 and then spent his race battling for position. Escalante continued battling when the race was concluded three laps early due to a red flag, resulting in an official fifth-place finish.
Escalante said, “Overall, not as good of a day as we have been having, but the result was positive. I’ve been working on race pace all weekend, and I liked where we were on Friday. On Saturday morning, the weather was cooler and for some reason, we did not have the pace we had before. In the first half of the race, I felt quite good. Then we developed an issue that set us back a bit. I was mainly concentrating on finishing the race. I was feeling good apart from the issue. Tomorrow, I think we will have a better result.”
Taylor Knapp picked up a handful of championship points for the team in the first race of his one-weekend substitute ride for the team. Knapp quickly came to grips with the team’s powerful GSXR-1000R racebike to reel in a solid 13th-place result in the experienced rider’s premier-class return.
“We’re learning, and I am getting more familiar with the bike. Looking at the data after the race, we see things to try,” said Knapp. “It takes time and laps, but a strong team is helping me. I am happy to get another shot at it on Sunday.”
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki will be back on track tomorrow to close out the MotoAmerica round at Ridge Motorsports Park.
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 348 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.
