MotoAmerica Heads to PittRace for Triple Superbike Action

The next round of the MotoAmerica Championship takes place at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PittRace) this weekend in Wampum, PA. The Medallia Superbike Championship will feature 3 races this weekend for a triple header totaling to 75 championship points up for grabs this weekend. Championship leader Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha) currently holds a 68 point lead over second place runner Josh Herrin (HSBK Warhorse Ducati). Mathematically that could all change this weekend as Herrin is within striking distance to reduce Gagne’s grasp on the championship.

Herrin doesn’t need to get all of the work done this weekend. The Superbike class has 7 more races before the end of the season totaling to 175 points. At this point in the season the championship race is still very much wide open. Gagne has no room for error if he wants to keep a tight hold on the championship race. With three opportunities to score points this weekend he will look to finish this round with maximum points to extend his lead.

Elsewhere in the Paddock

JD Beach will make his 2023 debut with Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha as a fill in rider for the recovering Cameron Petersen. Petersen ended his season early to properly deal with a lingering wrist injury. Beach is the second rider to fill in for the injured Petersen after veteran Josh Hayes (Squid Hunter Racing) took the mantle during the last round at Brainerd International Raceway as a substitute. He has mainly focused on his flat track racing career recently. Beach was able to participate in an open practice at Circuit of the America to get acquainted with the Yamaha Superbike. This weekend will be the litmus test for how that testing weekend went.

Come all! Come many!

This weekend will feature the Medallia Superbike, Supersport, Rev It’ Twins Cup, Junior Cup and Royal Enfield BTR. Both the Twins and Supersport classes received 41 entries accounting. These two classes account for 82 riders out of the 183 registered for the race weekend. Action starts tomorrow morning at 9:00am EST. For the MotoAmerica broadcast schedule see below.

Streaming is available at MotoAmerica Live+.

This article was not authored by Speed Trap Magazine Staff

From Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing brings aboard JD Beach to race the MotoAmerica Superbike triple-header at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex on August 18-20. The flat track racer returns to the paddock to fill in for Cameron Petersen, who is focusing on returning to full fitness from a wrist injury that has sidelined him from the remaining rounds of the season. 

Over the past five seasons, Beach has been battling for top honors in the American Flat Track Mission SuperTwins Championship with the Estenson Racing team aboard their Yamaha MT-07s. The multi-time road race champion with dirt track roots has enjoyed success with Yamaha in both disciplines and also has a history with Attack Performance. Beach raced for the team during his debut Superbike season in 2011 and also during the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike season when he raced both MotoAmerica and AFT premier classes, scoring his first SuperTwins and Superbike victory on back-to-back weekends. 

In addition to the PIRC round, Beach will head straight from the American Flat Track Sturgis Half-Mile to ride the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing R1 at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) test on August 7-8. Josh Hayes, who rode Petersen’s bike this past weekend at Round 6 of the championship in Brainerd, Minnesota, will also ride the team’s R1 during the morning sessions on the first day of the COTA test. The fill-in rider for the final two rounds will be announced at a later date. 

Richard Stanboli – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Team Manager
“It will be a pleasure to work with JD again. He is always motivated and positive. We have some history together and good communication, so it will be very easy for him to jump right in and get to work. He last rode our R1 in 2021 at BIR as a last-minute fill-in rider. It will be interesting to get his reaction to our 2023 R1 and how it may compare to Josh Hayes’ comments, who will also be at our test next week. It should be good fun and a learning experience for everyone.”

JD Beach – Estenson Racing 
“First off, I want to thank the Estenson Racing team for allowing me to do this. I’d also like to thank Yamaha and Attack for thinking of me to fill this role. I know I’ve got some big shoes to fill because Cam has been fast the last year and a half, as well as Hayes last weekend at Brainerd. I know this is going to be tough coming in as a fill-in rider, but I’m up for the challenge. I’m excited to get some seat time on a factory Superbike. I’m not sure that I will get the opportunity again, so I want to give it all I got. I want to do the best I can for the team and help them with the points, but I am also still focused on the final AFT rounds too.”

MotoAmerica Weekend at Brainerd International Raceway was an event filled with on track action. Some championship hopes dwindled while others were reignited. Here were the events as they unfolded.

Superbike

Tytlers Cycle Racing rider and championship contender Cameron Beaubier was diagnosed with a concussion after high siding in Medallia Superbike Race 1. The Tytlers Cycle Racing Team, Beaubier and track medical staff determined it was not in Beaubier’s best interest to race on Sunday due to his injury. Superbike Race 2 went on without him which opened up the door for Tytlers Cycle Racing Teammate PJ Jacobsen to earn his first win of the season. Jacobsen has finished 2nd three times this season and in Race 1 he couldn’t quite find the pace to challenge for the top spot. In race 2 that was seemingly the same story until there were 9 laps left in the race. At this point Jacobsen made a move on then race leader Jake Gagne. The move proved to be the pivotal point of the race as Jacobsen would hold on to the lead for the remainder of the race.

Jacobsen spoke with the MotoAmerica media after the race stating, “It’s just been hard work. Last year being able to even be on the podium was awesome and getting there. Then building steps this year and stuff, and with Cam (Beaubier) coming on as my teammate it was obviously a huge push because he’s a five-time AMA Superbike Champion. When he’s out there winning every weekend, first or second, it’s hard to have that as a teammate. I think just building and building and then learning some stuff from him as well in the data and everything.”

Jacobsen Continued His Thoughts on the Events in Race 2

“It’s good to finally get a dry win and actually get the job done. It feels pretty good. It was a big moment for me out there. I’ve wanted to do this. When you’re a kid coming up racing, and you’re in the paddock running around there, watching all these guys and then you want to be up here eventually with a win, like Hayes, Zemke, Duhamel, all those guys. So, it’s cool to be up here and to finally get a win in MotoAmerica.”

Of note, Mathew Scholtz missed out on completing Race 1 due to the radiator on his Westby Racing Yamaha R1 be punctured after Beaubier hit Gagne and veered into Scholtz ending his race. On day two of racing Scholtz came back to claim a P3 finish. Scholtz commented on how displeased he is with how the season has gone so far.

“This season has been pretty sh*t so far, to be honest. So, this is awesome to be back up on the podium here. Yesterday obviously passed PJ in the third corner early on. Ruined the bike. Didn’t get out from that. So, during practice, we didn’t put more than six or seven laps on the tire. So, we went out there today changing gearing settings without really knowing what was going to happen. The first three or four laps I think Jake (Gagne) and PJ (Jacobsen) had a little bit of pace, but maybe it was from lap five onwards I kind of pulled them back slightly. Then I think from the halfway point, the bike just started backing in like crazy. I started losing grip as I would crack the gas. So, the last couple laps was just surviving for me, really.”

After it was all said and done, Jake Gagne leaves the weekend in first place 68 points ahead of Herrin. Cameron Beaubier dropped down to third place leaving the weekend with 0 points.

Stock 1000

Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) rode with a purpose in Race 2. After dominating in Race 1 Gillim repeated the feat in Race 1 which skyrocketed him to P2 in the standings and back into championship contention. The double win brought Gillim within 8 points of championship leader Ezra Beaubier (Orange Cat racing). Stock 1000 has one more weekend of racing so the championship will be decided at Circuit of the Americas in early September. Gillim had the following words for the MotoAmerica media.

Hayden Gillim Addresses the MotoAmerica Media After Winning Race 2

“Honestly, before this weekend I was ready to kind of call it quits on the Stock 1000 class for myself. So, this has definitely rejuvenated me a little bit and given me some more confidence going into COTA (the final round of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 series). That’s the only bad thing. That first weekend at Road Atlanta really had me down and out, and I was down a lot. With only five rounds this year for Stock 1000, I was a little nervous because I knew Road America was going to be tough. I expected Road Atlanta to be a little bit better than it was. I don’t know about COTA. We’ll see. I ran pretty quick there last year, so we’ll see. It will be interesting.”

Gillim Continued

“I know these guys will be running for it. It’s a tight race at the top right now, so it’s coming down to the wire. Unfortunately, I’ve been in a lot of these situations where it’s come down to the wire and almost every time, I’ve come out the loser. I’m hoping to do a little bit better than last year (when I) tied for the championship at the end of it but getting second place because he (Corey Alexander) had more race wins. So, trying to get those race wins right now just in case. But this was a really good weekend to do it. I knew coming in that this one and Barber I knew for sure were going to be the ones where I had to do the job and get it done.”

Supersport

It appears that the competition has found a chink in Xavi Fores’ (Warhorse HSBK Ducati) absolute dominance up until this round at Brainerd. After Fores won 8 races straight the Spaniard left the weekend at Brainerd with 0 wins and his lowest points finish of the season. After Josh Hayes won Race 1 Tyler Scott moved up the ranks after a late red flag and race restart provided him with the opportunity to run away with the win. Scott stated, “I felt great on the restart. Got the holeshot and never looked back. I made one mistake in turn four that kind of scared me. I ran decently wide, but I was able to pull it back on the racing line and get the win in the end.”

Until the win in Race 2 at Brainerd International Raceway. Scott had not won a race since last season. He will look to continue this for the remain rounds this season.

Junior Cup

Junior Cup Race 2 was full of on track action. After winning Race 1 from pole position Rossi Moor looked to double this result in Race 2. However, he would be robbed of the opportunity due to a transmission failure and a missed braking zone with 4 laps to go that saw him drop to P5. He was able to climb back to P2 despite not being able to shift beyond 3rd gear. Jayden Fernandez finished P3. Race 2 winner Levi Badie won the race by a margin of 0.087 seconds after a hard fought race starting from P8. He stated the following to the media after the race, “I came from eighth, so it was a little struggle to get back (to the front). I was there the whole time, just struggling to pass a lot of guys because it’s a difficult track to pass. The competitors are very strong.”

“Once I came in first, I kind of missed my braking mark a little bit. Then going into the corner, I was like in dirt, like flat tracking. I kept it open. I came out and I saw that they weren’t too far away, so just head down and tried to catch them because they were fighting. So, I knew when they’re fighting, they’re not going their top speed, so I just did everything I could, and I caught them. That was like two laps more. I was like, just go for it and try to pass every corner, try to pass someone. It worked. Last lap I just took the chance, tried to pass Rossi and it worked and just go. I’m very happy for first place.”

King of the Baggers

Bobby Fong (Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian) bounces back on day two to secure the win in King of the Baggers Race 2. Fong took off in this race and never really looking back. Hayden Gillim (Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson) who won Race 1 received a grid penalty for Race 2 related to a fluid leak discovered after the race. Gillim finished second and attributed his inability to catch Fong to the penalty. Fong spoke highly of his competition in the post race interview.

Fong said, “We’ve all been working hard. These guys are smart. Racing with these guys [referring to Gillim and Tyler O’Hara], they think a lot and I can tell riding with these guys. They’re always thinking. They’re always trying different things. Like I said, the competition is stacked. We’ve just got to keep working and see what we can do at COTA in a month or two. I’m happy to be up here. Good pay day for us, as well. Looking forward to spending at the wedding in a year or so.”

Royal Enfield BTR

Mikayla Moore wins again bringing her one step closer to a perfect season in the program. There was only on race for the BTR program at Brainerd. Moore once again dominated and never really looked back. Sonya Lloyd finished in second and Crystal Martinez secured a hard fought third. Lloyd secured pole position but was not able to capitalize on the track position. Mikayla Moore only needs to score 4 points in Race 1 at Pitt Race to mathematically secure the championship. As we all know this is racing and anything can happen. The top 6 riders in class all have the opportunity to shake up the season finish for second and third place.

The first day of racing is in the books for MotoAmerica at Brainerd International Raceway. Five classes took to the track today. Superbike, Supersport, Stock 1000, Junior Cup and King of the Baggers. Royal Enfield BTR did not participate in any sessions on the day. Here are the events as they happened.

Superbike

With qualifying finishing earlier in the day. Medallia Superbike was poised to be led by pole sitter Cameron Beaubier and his teammate PJ Jacobsen from Tytlers Cycle Racing. However, drama would ensue. Beaubier fell behind at the start and on the first lap of the race he was late on the brakes and ran into the back of Gagne at turn 2. Beaubier left the track but his BMW M1000RR did not appear to have any serious damage. However, Mathew Scholtz (Westby Racing) who was a bystander in the matter suffered from a punctured radiator after making contact which ended his race before it even started. Scholtz was visibly upset with the whole situation. The races was red flagged and restarted.

On the restart Beaubier lost control of his bike and had a nasty high side crash that sent him airborne. The track marshals were able to clear the wreck without the race being red flagged and Beaubier crawled off the track. He was later seen walking and did not appear to be seriously injured. He was evaluated after the race.

With Beaubier out of the race it left the door open for Jake Gagne. PJ Jacobsen made an early charge and held on to Gagne for the whole race but ultimately the pace of the Yamaha couldn’t be matched and Jacobsen fell short by 0.195 seconds behind. Behind Jacobsen was Warhouse HSBK Ducati rider Josh Herrin to round out the top 3. Full Superbike results can be found here: Medallia Superbike Race 1 Results

Supersport

Josh Hayes (Squid Hunter Racing) is the first rider this season to dethrone Xavi Fores by winning race 1 at Brainerd. The win also marked his 87th career win Fores was complete off his normal pace and finished P7 in the race. Rocco Landers in a guest appearance in Supersport, finished P2 after securing pole in Qualifying. Hayes beat him off of the line and got into clean air. After building a lead in the first 5 laps it proved to be too big of a gap for Landers to catch him. Landers finished the race 3.224 seconds behind. In third was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Tyler Scott. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Teagg Hobbs finished behind his teammate to secure fourth. Stefano Mesa could only muster a P5 finish. Full results are available here: Supersport Race 1 Results

Stock 1000

Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) completely obliterated the competition in race 1. Gillim won the race by 7.4 seconds ahead of Kaleb De Keyrel (Orange Cat Racing). The margin was as high as 10 seconds towards the middle of the race but Gillim started to role off and minimize risk to bring the win home for the team. He had the following words for the media,

“After Atlanta, I was kind of in a pretty deep hole, mentally and points-wise. Barber was a good weekend, and I knew it was going to be good. I thought Atlanta would be better than what it was, and it ended up just being a terrible, terrible weekend. Road America, I knew was going to be difficult with all these guys on their bikes and my size and everything. I knew it was going to be tough.

In the Stock 1000 race last year, this was kind of how the race was going and then we had a red flag and some stuff happened during the red flag and I ended up not having the greatest last lap in the race. So, we had a lot left on the plate from last year. I needed this. I needed this points haul. To be able to kind of just go out and do what I needed to do today.” Stock 1000 Results can be found here: Stock 1000 Race 1 Results

Gillim Continued on His Triple Duty Racing this Weekend

“Riding three classes this weekend is actually helping a little bit because I had just come off of the Bagger and hopped on to that thing and was ready to go that first lap. That was ultimately why I pushed as hard as I could right off the bat. I knew with how different the track was this morning to this afternoon it was going to be a little bit difficult, especially for Kaleb (De Keyrel) since he hasn’t been out there since this morning. I figured it would be a little tough because I could already tell it was a little greasier than this morning…off the bat I needed to just go. Luckily the guys gave me a great bike and I’m feeling good right now.”

Junior Cup

Rossi Moor (Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing KTM) does it again in dominant fashion. Moor the sole KTM RC390 rider on the grid used his skills and experience to win at a track where his bike is a bit underpowered compared to the standard in class choice the Kawasaki 400. He won the race by just over 7 seconds and led 10 of the 11 laps in the race. Levi Badie (Badie Racing) finished the race in second but was given a 2 place grid penalty for passing under a waving yellow. The race for 2nd and 3rd was much close between Hayden Bicknese and Max VanDenBrouck.

Rossi Moor Spoke to the MotoAmerica Media

“From practice and from qualifying, I think I had the pace to do it. It didn’t show on paper since I wasn’t able to put a bunch of good laps together, but deep-down, I knew that, if I’m able to get to the front, I was able to pull away. But, with Jayden being there and Max and Hayden and all these guys I knew it was going to be pretty hard because I’m slightly down on power. I just wasn’t able to draft a lot of people. But as soon as I was able to get past, I just put my head down and tried to get enough gap by the turns where they couldn’t draft me by turn three.” Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Mission King of the Baggers

Hayden Gillim wasn’t finished with his winning ways from his earlier race in Stock 1000. After a late off by Tyler O’Hara Gillim took advantage from second place and was able to hold off Bobby Fong for the second half of the race. It appeared that Gillim’s Vance and Hines Harley Davidson Road Glide was leaking fluid, but no flags were thrown and he was able to bring the bike home. Fong maintained his charge to catch Gillim but his efforts proved to be futile. Gillim’s teammate at Vance and Hones finished 3rd in the race.

Gilliam spoke with the MotoAmerica media stating, “It is a real good day. I was chasing him (Bobby Fong) in the Superbike race, but he had a little bit of speed on me there and got it back. Pulled a little James Bond move. Gave him the smoke. Tried to keep him off of me. It’s been a really good day. I knew this track was going to be good for me. I just feel good here.”

Gillim Continued

“Last year was really good on the 1000. I didn’t really know what to expect with the Harley coming here. It’s pretty crazy seeing how half the track Bobby (Fong) and Tyler (O’Hara) have a little bit of speed, and then the other half I can kind of pull a little bit back. At least I know for sure on Tyler I got to see him for a second Bagger Challenge. It’s been a really good day. To have another podium with James (Rispoli), another double podium for Vance & Hines, that’s what we’re here for. So, good job for the team and good job for me and my family. Never had two wins in one day, so this is pretty cool.” King of the Baggers Race 1 Results

Race two action starts at 1:00pm EST with Royal Enfield BTR. Check out live coverages at MotoAmerica Live+

The MotoAmerica Championship Qualifying sessions at Brainerd are now finished. The results are as follows.

Medallia Superbike

Tytlers Cycle Racing came to Brainerd for blood. Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing) claimed pole position in a back and forth battle during Q2 with Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamha). With about 6 minutes left in the session PJ Jacobsen who had seemingly fallen back on pace jumped up to P2. Jacobsen continue to maintain pace for the remainder of the session and provided the Tytlers Cycle Racing side with a 1-2 finish in Qualifying 2.

Jake Gagne finished third fastest setting a 1:31.154s lap just behind Jacobsen’s 1:31.094s. Mathew Scholtz and Brandon Paasch rounded out the top 5 overall. Josh Herrin seemed to be non existent in Q2 finishing P7. Its is not clear if his pace is the result of his lingering injuries. Superbike race 1 starts at 4:10pm EST.

Supersport

Rocco Landers secured pole having run fastest in yesterday’s qualifying 1. His lap times did not improve in qualifying 2 but he retained the fastest lap. Josh Hayes (Squid Hunter Racing) finished fastest in qualifying 2 but his best time was only good enough for a P2 finish. Teagg Hobbs (Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) rounds out the top 3. The session was mostly uneventful. Landers stated after the session that the team made some changes to the bike but lost on the gamble. The negative changes didn’t matter though and the team will work to revert the changes for this afternoon’s race.

Steel Commander Stock 1000

Kaleb De Keyrel (Orange Cat Racing) finished on top in Stock 1000. De Keyrel set the tone through both qualifying sessions. Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) came out swinging. Gillim seemingly was going to take the top spot but in his later laps ran into track traffic which ultimately robbed him of a potential pole position. Gillim was 0.200s behind De Keyrel. Benjamin Smith (Benjamin Smith Racing) finished third after leading qualifying in the early stages of qualifying. Smith made the jump to Stock 1000 this round after a short stent with privateer team CW Moto. Justin Meist (Nielsen Racing) and Travis Wyman (Travis Wyman Racing) rounded out the top 5 in 4th and 5th respectively. Of note, Cody Wyman (Altus Motorsports) crashed in qualifying 2 preventing him from improving on his P9 finish.

Junior Cup

Rossi Moor (Fairium NGRT- Gray Area) doubles down repeating his pole position finish from the last Junior cup round at Road America. Moor was able to convert his previous pole position into a 2nd place finish in race 1 and a win in race 2. He will look to repeat this result this weekend. Jayden Fernandez (Fernandez Racing) took P2 0.031 seconds behind Moor. Max Van (SportbikeTrackGear.com) finished P3. Moor will look to cut into the lead of Avery Dreher. He currently sits 66 points behind Dreher in the championship standings.

Royal Enfield BTR

Royale Enfield only received one qualifying session this round that occurred on Friday afternoon. Mikayla Moore finished P1. Moore has secured pole position in every qualifying for BTR this season. The session only featured half of the field due to late race on the day. 5 riders did not set times in qualifying. Jessice Martin finished P2 behind Moore by 0.011 seconds. Aubrey Credaroli rounded out the tope 3. BTR will not race today.

Mission King of the Baggers

Qualifying 2 was halted after a red flag came out due to fluid on the track. At the time of publishing this article the session was not restarted. Race control stated that qualifying will run for 9 minutes after the track clean up has been completed. During the short qualifying session Bobby Fong (Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian) ran fastest ahead of Hayden Gillim (Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson). Tyler O’ Hara finished third setting the grid for the King of the Baggers Challenge that will take place shortly.

This afternoon’s races can be streamed on MotoAmerica Live +.

The Medallia Superbike Championship heads to Brainerd this weekend in Minnesota for the 6 round of the season. 6 classes (Medallia Superbikes, Supersport, Steel Commander Stock 1000, Junior Cup, Mission King of the Baggers & Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race) will battle it out for championship points this weekend. A fight of note is the top spot in Medallia Superbike.

After a triple header weekend at the last round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Superbike returns for a double header in Minnesota which could have implications on the championship point standings. Currently Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean progressive Yamaha) is currently 34 points ahead of rival Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing). With 50 points up for grabs via two first place finishes there is a possibility we will see some movement in the standings.

As we previously announced, Josh Hayes will be joining Jake Gagne with the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha side as a substitute for the injured Cameron Petersen. Hayes whom normally participates in the Supersport competition will pull double duty this weekend as he makes his second superbike appearance of the year.

The full weekend race schedule for MotoAmerica at Brainerd is below:

Supersport rider and MotoAmerica veteran Josh Hayes will fill in for the injured Cameron Petersen this weekend at Brainerd. The move comes after speculation about who would fill Petersen’s shoes. Petersen announced last week that he is focused on recovering from a wrist injury that will require surgery. The Surgery effectively will end his 2023 campaign which left a vacancy at with Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha. Give the point in the season this move seemed like a natural progression. Hayes had already made a guest appearance for the Yamaha side at Road America earlier this year. As to whether a decision was made on Hayes then is unknown. However, its clears the Yamaha side saw something they like and felt this was the right move for the team. Yamaha released the following statements in a press release regarding the matter.

Yamaha Press Release Comments

Richard Stanboli – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Team Manager

“We welcome Josh Hayes to our team this weekend. His record of success and commitment to Yamaha speaks for itself. I know it will be difficult to jump in and immediately be competitive, but we are confident he will meet the challenge. We also wish Cameron a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. The last time we replaced a rider mid-season due to injury was in 2001, Jason Pridmore, and he came back to win a championship. We look forward to meeting our fans and putting on a good show at BIR.”

Josh Hayes – Squid Hunter Racing/Yamaha

“It’s unfortunate that this is the circumstance and Cam is missing so much riding, but I’m excited to stand in and contribute in any way I can for Yamaha and the team. Hopefully, I can learn and adapt to the Superbike quickly and maybe even contribute to its development with some significant time on the bike. I’m still really focused on success in Supersport on my Squid Hunter R6, and I appreciate their dedication every weekend. We’re looking to have a great weekend at Brainerd.”

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA have announced that Fresh N Lean Progressive rider Cameron Petersen will miss the remainder of the 2023 Medallia Superbike Championship. Petersen has been dealing with a wrist injury. He will undergo surgery to repair the damage. The Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Team commented on the news.

Richard Stanboli – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Team Manager

“We’re bummed out that he can’t continue for the upcoming rounds, but we are encouraged that he will get the surgery that will allow him to return to 100%. We are supportive of his decision, as the injury has kept Cam from showing his full potential this season. We have not made a decision yet as far as a fill-in rider, and we will have an update to follow at a later date.”

Cameron Petersen – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing

“Unfortunately, this is not the news I wanted to give everyone, but it’s time for me to get this wrist worked on. I tried to fight through the pain and get to the end of the season with some decent results, but it’s at the point now that the pain is affecting my riding, results, and everyday life. I can’t thank the team enough for being so understanding, but I know after this surgery, I will be able to come back stronger and do my job, and that’s to win races! I’ll be back stronger than ever.”

Now that the dust has settled. MotoAmerica Weekend: Monterey Speedfest has come to an end. This weekend was full of racing action as 5 classes took to the track and put it all on the line. Speedfest at WeatherTech raceway Laguna Seca featured 3 Superbike races and a sole 38 lap long extended Supersport race for fans from all over he country. Here we discuss the Speed Trap Magazine Race day 2 Recap. You can check out the Day 1 Recap here: Speed Trap Magazine Day 1 MotoAmerica Recap at Laguna Seca

Superbike

The Medallia Superbike Championship hosted a triple header weekend this weekend at Launa Seca. Three superbike races meant there were 75 Championship points up for grabs. In Race 1 Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha) took the win after Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing) crashed out without logging a single lap. However, Cameron Beaubier came back with a vengeance and won both race 2 and race 3. The double win puts Cameron Beaubier 34 points behind Gagne.

Honorable mention goes to Josh Herrin who fought tooth and nail through injury to secure two second place and one third place finish with a broken ankle and shoulder injury. These results could only be bested by race wins but given the circumstances Herrin will walk away happy to score podium points while injured. The feat really speaks to his determination to remain competitive in the championship race.

Josh Herrin Spoke to the Media

Herrin stated to the MotoAmerica media, “I wanted to try to catch those guys. I keep thinking about earlier in the year. I don’t know if it’s tires on the Ducati or fitness, or something comes into play middle of the race today where I’m able to kind of get a little bit on them. So, I didn’t want to give up. Obviously, normally you never want to give up, but especially this year I have felt good in the second half of the race. So, I just wanted to make sure I kept plugging away in case I was able to get them to come back. It seemed like for a little while I was a tenth here, two tenths here maybe catching up. So, just wanted to get as close as I could just in case I got an opportunity at the end.”

“Then I saw Richie (Escalante) behind me, so that definitely scared me into going a little bit faster. I’m just starting to get really comfortable on this thing. It seems like every weekend I get a little bit stronger in the second race, so I’m glad we got three this time. I feel like I can capitalize on that. I’m just having fun on the bike and really enjoying spinning laps out there. The beginning of the weekend it wasn’t going so well for me. I wasn’t feeling comfortable. Today in the race I felt really good. Just having a lot of fun and trying to plug as many laps away as I can and get as much confidence as I can for race three.”

Words from Cameron Beaubier; Tytlers Cycle Racing

Beaubier stated the following to the MotoAmerica media after his crash on Saturday, “I woke up pretty sore this morning, for sure, but it wasn’t too bad once I got riding. After the first few laps it was okay. But we destroyed a bike pretty good yesterday. The boys were here until 10:30, 11:00 making sure the second bike was ready to go.”

“To be honest, coming into today I didn’t really know what to expect just because we made some good strides on that new frame and the new bike that we’ve been riding the last round. Went back to the other one, but it honestly felt really good. I felt like it absorbs some of the bumps that I was struggling with earlier in the weekend. So, hats off.

Beaubier Continued

“Thank you so much to the Tytlers guys. They’ve been working their butts off all year and especially this weekend. There at the beginning I felt like I had some places I was stronger than Jake (Gagne), and then vice versa. He had some good spots too. I felt like they really made a good step on the brakes. It was pretty tough to get around him.”

“I was trying to just be patient. There with five or six, I was struggling a little bit off the last corner compared to him and I felt like I finally got out of there pretty good one lap and I was able to sneak up the inside with the BMW power up over one and just tried to put my head down from there and see what happens. Felt really good. It’s hard to be too excited because I know we’ve got another one of these coming up in a couple hours, but I’m super happy and move on to the third race.”

REV IT Twins Cup

Twins cup was all Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering. In race 1 Gus Rodio and Rocco Landers secured the 1-2. The pair looked to repeat the result in Race 2 and had it sealed but Landers made a mistake and suffered from an early crash which forced him to retire from the race. The win handed Rodio a 3 point lead over last years champion Blake Davis (N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto). The finish means that Davis, Landers and Rodio are all in title contention. The three are currently separated by 18 points at the top of the table. 4 riders did not finish race 2.

Mission King of the Baggers

On day two of King of the Baggers Kyle Wyman redeemed himself with a iwn in race 2 for H-D Screamin’ Eagle. Vance and Hines Teammates James Rispoli, and Hayden Gillim rounded out the podium in second and third respectively. Gillim previous won Race 1 earlier in the weekend.

Kyle Wyman had the following words for the MotoAmerica media, “Today, I tried to pull the trigger the last few laps. I thought I had a bit of a gap, but we caught a lapper in turn 11 on the last lap. It feels good to get a win today. We all want to win. We all have, maybe, a little bit different approach in trying to do it. Today, fortunately, I was able to do it my way, which is control the pace and try to manage and see if I can dig a little deeper in the end.”

Super Hooligans

Jeremy McWilliams (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) pulled the double at Laguna Seca this weekend. McWilliams came back with a vengeance after being disqualified due to a technical breach in the previous MotoAmerica round. McWIlliams had the following words for the MotoAmerica media, “We’ve been fastest in every session (this weekend). I think maybe that was a lap record on the last lap…I could see the back markers were approaching. The problem is here that you get a trip-up with the back markers, as I believe happened to him maybe going onto the last lap. It’s so tight at the Corkscrew that you get tripped up and unfortunately your lap just goes away. So, I did need to be at the front so I could try to control the back markers. That was the plan.”

McWilliams Continued his Thoughts on the Race

“Even if I got passed, whether it was Andy or my teammate, I had to be able to get back past again as soon as possible. I wasn’t fast everywhere. I wasn’t as strong in some parts of the track as Tyler, and I kind of knew that. Which would make it very difficult to make a pass again because I think Tyler could have gapped me quite easily. Then I would have had to fight really hard to get back at him.”

“But I needed the points and I needed to do this for our guys that are working so hard. They didn’t get back last night until 12:00 or something yesterday evening, and they’re up at 5:00 every morning. They’re not getting any time to relax and it’s hard on them, so we’ve got to repay that with the best results we can give them. We’ve got the hardest-working team and we’ve got a factory behind us.”

Day 1 of racing at MotoAmerica WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Speedfest has finished. The Medallia Superbike Race 1 was filled with plenty of on track events. The most impactful being a crash involving Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing) and Cameron Petersen (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha). The two had an incident in turn 2 on the starting lap of race 1 that forced both to retire. Unfortunately Beaubier was not able to capitalize on his pole position in race 1. Due to this weekend being a triple header Beaubier will have two more opportunities this afternoon to secure championship points. During the race Gagne wasn’t really challenged and took off on the pack and was never really challenged for the reduced 19 lap race.

Gagne Speaks to the Media

Race winner Jake Gagne stated the following to the MotoAmerica media. “I had a feeling that it would be some carnage in today’s race, just because especially when Cam (Petersen) went down in the beginning I was shocked. Then both Cams (Petersen and Beaubier) are tumbling on the road. I kind of swerved, and I was just hoping nobody got… The worst thing to see is somebody sliding down the road in front of you. Obviously, I wasn’t surprised to get a red flag. I want to win races. I want to get points in the championship, but it sucks doing it like that. With Beaubier going out like that and Cam P., my teammate. So, I hope those guys are all right. Then after the restart.”

“I just knew the wind is really chilly today. I knew from sitting on the grid before that crash even happened that the first couple laps, we had to be patient on those tires to get the heat in them. So, I was surprised, but I wasn’t surprised to see some of that carnage right in the beginning. We’re going to have to be patient on those tires with the cool breeze and sitting on the grid. So, I just tried to do that and build heat in these Dunlops. It seems like they get a little bit better after a couple laps. Just being patient. I was keeping an eye on my pit board. I knew Josh (Herrin) was behind me in the beginning. I could hear that Ducati roaring. I was just trying to be smooth.”

Gagne Continued

“I think the big thing was trying to be easy on that front tire, because we’ve all been struggling with tearing a little bit on the front tire. It’s getting better throughout the weekend, but I tried to focus on just using different parts of the tire and I was happy with how that came in and happy with the team for helping me out and showing me what I need to do better, especially yesterday to today. So, good day and I’m looking forward to a good battle with those guys. Hopefully we can all keep it upright tomorrow and put in some good two races and put on a show for everyone.”

Mathew Scholtz (Westby Racing) and Danilo Lewis (Team Brazil) also DNF’d in the race. Due to the DNFs/DNS Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati) moved up the order and was able to hold onto P2. Herrin has been riding injured all weekend and was visibly please with the result despite not being 100% in good health for the race. Herrin is nursing a broken ankle he suffered at The Ridge Motorsports Park.

Superbike has 2 more races today totaling to 50 points and 40 laps of action. The triple header will make or break the championship race for the top three so scoring maximum points is imperative.

Supersport

The second extended endurance Supersport race of the 2023 MotoAmerica Season took place yesterday. Xavi Fores (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati) made history after winning 8 straight races in the Supersport category. However, this weekends win did not come without doubt. Fores was involved in two crashes this weekend. One occurring in pretesting and the other in qualifying dropping Fores down to P8 in Qualifying 2. Come race time it didn’t take long for Fores to get to work. By the pit stop window he had regained control of the race and from then on he wasn’t challenged. Fores ahd the following comments for the MotoAmerica media.

“I was not 100% convinced about this race, especially after the crash we had this morning because I had some pain in my neck and I was a little bit not 100% concentrated. I was a little bit confused because the bike was not working 100% well. The front tire consumption all the weekend was horrendous, especially on the left side. Honestly, the first part of the race I had a good fight with Josh, but then on the last four laps before to come in, I lost the front two or three times in turn nine and turn five. I nearly crashed and then I had to run off.”

Fores Continued Regarding Josh Hayes Pace

“Honestly, Josh was much faster than me this weekend, more solid and especially in the right corners. He was always pulling meters away from me. When I catch him on the first part of the race, I was like, I have no more. I was taking some risks. So fair play to him, his team. It was a shame to don’t arrive to the end of the race fighting me and him because it would be great to have a good battle with him until the last lap.”

Fores mainly benefitted from then leader Josh Hayes having a terrible pit stop that cost him the lead and ultimately race win. The crew had an issue with the front wheel. Fores ended up winning the race by nearly 13 seconds.

REV IT Twins Cup

Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering riders Rocco landers and Gus Rodio dominated the race. the two pulled away from the pack in the first 3 laps and it was like that for the entire race. Landers secured the win by 4.1 seconds ahead of his teammate. Third place finished Blake Davis (N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto) made a late mistake on the second to last lap that cost him P3. Dominic Doyle (Team Iso) was positioned to take advantage and was able to pass him finishing ahead by 0.9 seconds. Race two is set for mid afternoon. Landers’ win gave him the championship lead by one point over Davis, 141-140.

Mission King of the Baggers

Hayden Gillim (Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson) secured the win after a late incident saw race leaders Tyler O’Hara (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) and Kyle Wyman (H-D Screamin’ Eagle) both lost the front end of their bikes exiting the corkscrew toward turn 9. The two made the same mistake almost simultaneously which allowed for Gillim to capitalize and take the lead with no time left for Wyman and O’Hara to recover. Wyman finished P9 with O’Hara salvaging fourth.

Gillim had the following words for the media, “It sucked to see. I kind of figured one would go down. The way those two guys go at it; I knew it was going to get a little dicey. I had kind of given up when I had come across the stripe going onto the last lap because I was kind of starting to move around a little bit more and they were going fast. They had picked up the pace once Kyle (Wyman) got in front. So, I had kind of called the dog off and then they started going at it and I was like, ‘all right. I need to kind of keep going because in case something does happen, if they run wide or something, I need to be there to capitalize.’”

Gillim was in the Right Place at the Right Time

“I got lucky and brought it home. First bagger win. I’ve done three championships of it, so this is my first win. It’s awesome. I’m happy to be up on top. I need to fix my starts, though. I think I was eighth going into turn one, starting from fourth. So, I was a little nervous the first couple laps, for sure. The Vance & Hines guys have put a great bike underneath me. We’re going to keep making steady progress, like James said, and hopefully actually be able to get up there and be a part of that fight tomorrow.”

Super Hooligans

After being disqualified in the last Super Hooligan Race at the Ridge Motorsports Park Jeremy McWilliams came back in pure form with a win in race 1 this weekend. McWilliams edged out Andy DiBrino by 0.071 seconds at the finish line. Cory West rounded out the top 3. The riders will race again this afternoon for race 2.

For video coverage check out MotoAmerica Plus Live.