Californian Jake Gagne has been given the opportunity to race the Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 left idle after the tragic death of Nicky Hayden in this coming weekend’s FIM Superbike World Championship event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. While some riders might feel overwhelmed to make their World Championship debut under such circumstances and at the site of some of Hayden’s greatest racing moments, Gagne is taking it all in his typical laid-back style.
“I’m just excited, man. It’s pretty surreal,” said Gagne, who regularly rides a Broaster Genuine Chicken Honda CBR1000RR SP2 in the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM Superbike Championship. “I just got here an hour or two ago and started meeting all of those guys and checking out the bike. It’s top notch. Nothing against what we’ve got going on over [at Broaster Genuine Chicken Honda, Gagne’s normal team], but it’s a whole other level in World Superbike. We’ve got a lot of guys working over [at Red Bull Honda], a lot of guys just working on my side of things. I’ve got everything I need to shine, so I’m just going to do my best. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s good to be here at Laguna Seca, my home state, my home country, I’m the only American. I just want to do good.”
Asked if he was feeling any pressure, Gagne said, “I’m not feeling any pressure, not even from the team. Those guys said, ‘No pressure. We just want to learn. We just want you to get better and keep going and be at your fastest on Sunday.’ I just want to keep learning, keep progressing, take my time, not do anything stupid, just make baby steps and hopefully we’ll be there.”
While Gagne races a Honda CBR1000RR SP2 in America, he does so on Dunlop control tires and the FIM Superbike World Championship races on Pirelli control tires. But Gagne doesn’t feel the different tires will be a problem for him.
“No, not really,” said Gagne. “I’ve ridden Pirellis a little bit in the past, and every time I’ve ridden Pirellis I’ve loved them. It’s going to be a change, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get used to it.
“Deciding just to do one, World Superbike [instead of the original plan to do both MotoAmerica and World Superbike], will make it a little bit easier. I won’t have to go back and forth between tires and electronics during the weekend. Both are Honda Superbikes, but they’re completely different. There’s a lot of goodies on that [Red Bull Honda], a lot of learning for me with how much is going on electronics-wise and chassis-wise and how much stuff we can change. It’s going to be a pretty big eye-opener.”
While the Red Bull Honda team’s announcement that Gagne was riding with them at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca made no mention of any activity behind the lone event, it is possible that this opportunity may be an audition for Gagne to possibly join the Red Bull Honda team for the remainder of the World Championship.
“I have a one-race contract with these guys, so it’s one race. We honestly haven’t even talked about anything after that,” said Gagne. “We’ll just see how this goes, take it one day at a time, one race at a time. That’s all I can really do. I’m just really happy that the RoadRace Factory and Broaster guys let me come out here and play with these guys.”
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:
Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team back to full strength at Laguna Seca
USA Round
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, United States
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike team is currently in northern California preparing for the eighth round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship, which gets underway tomorrow at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Full time team rider Stefan Bradl is joined for the US round by 24-year-old American Jake Gagne, who prepares for his WorldSBK debut in front of his home crowd.
The spectacular 3.610km track located between the American cities of Monterey and Salinas is well known to both riders. Bradl raced at Laguna Seca in the last two editions of the US Grand Prix held there in 2012 and 2013, with the latter being a very successful one for the 27-year-old German. Not only did he secure pole position on his Honda MotoGP machine, but he was also second at the chequered flag behind fellow Honda rider Marc Marquez.
Jake Gagne will jump on the team’s Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine for the first time tomorrow morning for the first free practice session of the World Superbike class, scheduled at 9:45 local time (GMT -7). The 24-year-old from Ramona, California, who is currently taking part in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship with the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda team, will focus solely on his one-off World Superbike adventure this time around.
Stefan Bradl 6
I’m looking forward to getting started here at Laguna Seca. It’s a very special place for me because I have fond memories of this track from my MotoGP times. I like the layout and the atmosphere that is typical of this part of the world. It will surely be a special weekend because of Nicky, so we will do our very best as a tribute to him and for his fans. It’s very important for us all to get some good results here!
Jake Gagne 45
It’s good to be finally here at Laguna Seca, I’ve been counting down the days for a while now! I want to thank the Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team for this amazing opportunity, and I’m really happy to finally have met some of the team – they welcomed me in a really nice way! Today I’m really excited to finally get to see the WorldSBK-spec version of the bike and be able to sit on it, and obviously even more excited to take to the track tomorrow!
Pieter Breddels
We are happy to welcome Jake within the team for this round at Laguna Seca. For him it will be his maiden World Superbike race but he knows the track really well and he has already ridden the bike before, albeit the the MotoAmerica-spec version. His feedback will be really important and we will give him the best possible package to show his talent on the world stage! We have worked hard during the break and we hope we aim to make a step forward with Stefan: he really loves this track and hopefully it will be a good weekend for us all.