More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Alexander Wins Stock 1000 Again At Brainerd International Raceway
Alexander, Landers, Fong And Van Excel At BIR
BRAINERD, MN (July 31, 2022) – Turns out the only time Corey Alexander doesn’t win is when he doesn’t start. There have eight Yuasa Stock 1000 races held in the MotoAmerica Championship and Alexander has won six of them. The other two, at VIRginia International Raceway, he missed because of a concussion. He most definitely didn’t miss Sunday’s race at Brainerd International Raceway. Thus, he won.
Yuasa Stock 1000 – Alexander Again!
The weekend’s only Stock 1000 race kicked off the final day at Brainerd International Raceway, and Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing Kawasaki rider Corey Alexander won his fifth race in a row and sixth out of eight races so far this season. The race was red-flagged and restarted with a five-lap sprint to the checkered flag, and Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Brandon Paasch notched his first-career Stock 1000 podium with a runner-up result. It was an emotional accomplishment for Paasch, who drew inspiration from his girlfriend’s father Scott Briody. Also, a Stock 1000 competitor, Briody tragically passed away in an on-track incident on Friday.
Third place went to Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing rider Andrew Lee, who is filling in for the injured Michael Gilbert.
“For me, I’m just happy to get through every session with no issues and every lap, for that matter,” Alexander said. “Not my favorite place to come to. Not my favorite place to ride. So, I’m happy to come out of here with some more points. It gives us a little bit more cushion because I know Hayden (Gillim) is going to continue to be really fast at these last few tracks. Jersey is our home round. We’ll see what happens there. Really thankful for my guys. It’s been really fun this year to work through things because we show up on a new bike and there’s a lot of new challenges. Last year, we weren’t able to get the bike figured out. This year, we’re able to really see big progress throughout the weekend, which is a fun thing to do when you come in and you can give feedback and the guys are able to turn that into progress, which is a really cool process. Enjoying that.”
Supersport – Landers x Two
Landers Racing Yamaha rider Rocco Landers had a breakthrough weekend in Supersport. The former Twins Cup and two-time Junior Cup Champion followed up his race one Supersport win with another win in race two. In both races, Landers won by a significant margin, but his gap was gargantuan in race two. Finishing second and more than 13 second behind Landers was Josh Herrin aboard his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale, the current championship leader never getting comfortable with the Minnesota race course. Third place went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha’s Josh Hayes. All told, the Supersport podium in race two was exactly the same as the Supersport podium in race one.
“It was a surprise because I didn’t feel we made any crazy improvements from yesterday,” Landers said. “We made some small changes. The team worked really hard last night just to get every last percent that we could. Really thankful to have the Yamaha R6 and it’s amazing handling, carve these fast corners up. The race was really, really enjoyable for me because I’ve struggled a lot over the past two years. Yesterday felt really good. Today feels even better. I’m glad I’m able to do this to honor Scott Briody. It’s just a good day for me, really good. I feel really good with the team. Really looking forward to Pittsburgh. Can’t wait to work even harder to get ready for that.”
Mission King Of Baggers – Game On
In the penultimate Mission King Of The Baggers race of the season, which was red-flagged and moved from the second race of the day to the second-to-the-last race of the day, Roland Sands Design Indian rider Bobby Fong won his first Big Twin feature race of the year. And he did it by making an incredible inside pass on Mission Foods/S&S Cycle/Indian Challenger Team’s Tyler O’Hara, who was in the lead. After Fong threaded the needle – a very large needle – H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Travis Wyman followed him through, also overtaking O’Hara, who was quickly shuffled from first to third, with Wyman ending up second.
Defending class champion Kyle Wyman was disqualified after a technical infraction, and his teammate and younger brother Travis now leads the championship by three points over O’Hara with only the race at New Jersey Motorsports park in September to decide it all.
“I’m just thankful to ride a motorcycle,” Fong said. “A few months ago, my career was over, so I’m just thankful that my boss lets me do this. It’s been fun this year. It’s definitely been up and down. But leaving the track today getting first, it’s definitely going to be a really good feeling. I definitely miss this. It’s good to be here. I’m looking forward to New Jersey. Just keep on riding this wave.”
SportbikeTrackGear.com – Van Ends Drought
The MotoAmerica Superbikes at Minnesota weekend wrapped up with SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race two, and as is customary in the class, the frontrunners raced in a large pack for most of the five-lap event. Max Van led four of the five laps, and most importantly, the final lap as he took the checkered flag aboard his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki. Race one winner Kayla Yaakov finished second aboard her Altus Motorsports Kawasaki, and Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman rounded out the podium in third.
“These past few rounds have been a little rough,” Van said. “Some DNF’s, some real bad results. Just wasn’t riding my best. But yesterday, I was in a good position all race. Hats off to Kayla because going into 12 and even maybe trying to draft her to the line, before the incident, I didn’t think that was possible. So, hats off to her for the win. It feels great to be up here with Cody and Kayla both. But just a tragedy this weekend with Scott Briody and the whole family. I’m doing this for them.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati North America:
Josh Herrin Goes 2-2 at Brainerd
Josh Herrin and Ducati leave Minnesota with a 76-point lead in the 2022 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship
Sunnyvale, Calif., July 31, 2022 – Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC) used all his years of racing skill at Brainerd for the sixth round of the 2022 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship, sealing a double podium finish behind debut winner, Rocco Landers (Yamaha).
Herrin and the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC team struggled to find the optimum set-up at the peculiar Brainerd venue on the Ducati Panigale V2 but didn’t let that speedbump get in the way of the ultimate goal of sealing the 2022 championship. Two second-place finishes mean Herrin leaves Minnesota with a 76-point lead in the standings with three rounds to go and 150 points to play for.
With a good performance and a little luck, Herrin could potentially wrap up the championship at the following round at Pittsburgh in two weeks’ time.
2022 MotoAmerica Supersport—Top 5
P1 – Josh Herrin (Ducati) 244
P2 – Rocco Landers (Yamaha) 163
P3 – Tyler Scott (Suzuki) 156
P4 – Kevin Olmedo (Yamaha) 114
P5 – Luke Power (Suzuki) 90
Josh Herrin’s (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC #2): “The weekend went well, although we struggled a little,” Herrin said. “But, in our most difficult weekend, we were able to walk away with two-second places and hold a 76-point lead in the championship. The team and I just need to go and debrief and see if the issues we faced at this racetrack will affect us in the tracks to come. I have a feeling it was just this track that gave us a few issues and I’m looking forward to getting back onto that top step at the next round at Pittsburgh.”
