MotoAmerica: The Ridge Motorsports Park Preview

The MotoAmerica Superbike championship pays a visit to The Ridge Motorsports park in Shelton, WA for round 4 of the season. 5 classes will race this weekend, Superbikes, Supersport, Twins, Super Hooligans and Royale Enfield BTR. The Ridge is a 2.47 mile track featuring multiple technical turns and elevation changes through out the course. Each class will have 2 races this weekend for plenty of opportunity to see the bikes in action.

Currently the top spot in Medallia Superbike is within reach for Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing). He currently sits 12 points behind championship leader Jake Gagne.

The Ridge has brought in plenty of entertainment for fans with a carnival and games, Go-Karting, mini golf and local vendors. The weather appears to be sunny for the whole weekend. The event can be streams on MotoAmerica Live+. The weekend race schedule is below.

Some elements of this article were not written by Speed Trap Magazine Staff.

Bobby Fong began his racing career at a young age and quickly displayed his talent and passion for motorcycle racing. Over the years, Bobby Fong continued to make a name for himself in various road racing championships. He competed in the MotoAmerica series, which is the premier motorcycle racing championship in the United States. Fong has raced in different categories within MotoAmerica, including Superstock 1000 and Supersport.

Bobby Fong’s breakthrough moment came in 2020 when he achieved his first-ever MotoAmerica Superbike race win at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex. He went on to win three more races during the season, finishing fourth in the championship standings. His performance established Fong as a top contender in the Superbike class.

Fong to Re-join Medallia Superbike Class

Bobby Fong’s racing style is characterized by his aggressive and determined approach on the track. He possesses exceptional skill in cornering and has demonstrated his ability to push the limits and make daring overtakes. As reported by MotoAmerica an opportunity presented itself and Fong has decided to take it for the Medallia Superbike Round in Shelton, WA.

Bobby Fong will race a Yamaha YZF-R1 in round four of the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship at Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington, June 23-25. Fong provided the following comments to MotoAmerica, “Dave (Anthony) called me to see if I wanted to ride it and I agreed to it for the Ridge and we’ll see how that goes moving forward. I’m excited. Attack has been helping him out and I will have Robbie Petersen for a crew chief. Dave bought Jake Gagne’s bike from last year and Richard Stanboli helps him out and gives him the setups for the weekend and gives him the maps that they started last season with. He has the electronics and the swingarm so it will be good.”

Fong Continued with his Comments to MotoAmerica

“I’ve always wanted to ride a proper Yamaha. Dave has told me that it’s the bike, so I figured I’d give it a shot and see how I do. I have to be realistic. Everybody’s up to speed and I haven’t ridden a Superbike in over a year. Obviously, I’m going to do my best. Realistically, I would like to be in the podium battle or just on the cusp of that podium battle in my first ride back, but who knows? I might be better, I might be worse, but either way I’m excited to be back and we’ll do the best we can. I’m really happy that I can ride a Yamaha with the proper stuff on it and want to give big thanks to Dave and his crew for making this happen.”

Round 3 at Road America has concluded. The weekend was full of blistering lap times, broken records and surprises. After a disappointing Race 1, Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Ducati) came out flying in race 2 with the look of determination. Herrin had a scuffle with second place championship point sitter Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing). Beaubier ultimately retired from the race after a mechanical failure. Herrin won Race 2 with Tytlers Cycle Racing rider PJ Jacobsen securing second behind by 2 seconds.

After a troublesome start to the weekend for the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha team. Championship leader Jake Gagne and Cameron Petersen mustered the pace to squeeze out a P3 and P4 finish respectively. The Yamahas had multiple engine failure issues this weekend. Fifth place finisher Tony Elias (Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) announced his retirement in surprising fashion directly after the race.

After the Race

Talking to the MotoAmerica media Herrin had the following comments after winning Race 2, “It was just for the haters, man. It just felt good. It felt right. But it was all in good fun. That felt really good. Like I said on the podium, I think this just motivates me to do more. I know that this is for sure one of our strongest tracks, but we’ve got to figure out how to make tracks like Barber not be such a weakness for us. I think just getting more time on the bike and a little bit more confidence will for sure help with that. I’m so happy that I’m a part of this team. It’s been really like a family these last two years. It’s a bummer that the DeNaples couldn’t be here for this one, because I know that they wish they could.”

Herrin Continued His Thoughts

“It just feels good. It feels good to be 33 years old winning Superbike races on a bike like I’m riding right now and just having fun. This track has always been one of my favorite tracks, but today it really felt like… I’ve been racing here since 2006. This is my 18th season racing at this track. It felt like ’06 with the crowds that we had today. It was just really special going around the track afterwards and seeing everybody cheering on the fence. It’s really motivating as a racer to be out there and see a crowd like that. So, thank you to everybody for showing up. Thank you to the whole team for everything that they do for me. I’m ready to keep going.”

Comments from Second Place Finisher PJ Jacobsen

PJ Jacobsen provided insight on the race from his perspective, “Josh (Herrin) rode really, really well today. My starts just suck, and they’ve been sucking all year. So, that’s one thing that I need to figure out how to get off the line better. In the race, I feel like we were doing pretty consistent lap times, into the nines and stuff like that. I caught up to him and Cam (Beaubier), and then Cam had the problem. Then I felt like I was catching Josh a little, and then it stayed like that. Then the last few laps it felt like we were going pretty fast. I think I did 2:09.2 with two laps to go. Then there was pretty decent gap. I don’t know if it was a gap enough to go and try to challenge for the win.”

Road America features multiple long straights which allow riders who get goo starts to take off early on the race.

Steel Commander Stock 1000

Travis Wyman secured his first win of the 2023 season over Kaleb Dekaryel (Orange Cat Racing) in P2 and Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) in P3. Wyman stated that he had issues harmonizing with the bike this weekend. He provided the following comments to the MotoAmerica Media, ““It’s definitely where I wanted to be yesterday, but I think we were still missing a little bit of something. So, the guys put a great package underneath me today. I think just the little bit cooler temperatures gave me more confidence to just get out and push, because in Q2 yesterday morning it was about similar temperatures, a little overcast, and the bike felt its best.

Yesterday in the race when the sun was beating down, I didn’t have the confidence in the grip level. I knew if I got a wholeshot, I could put my head down and go to work. I saw the gap getting bigger and bigger, and then all of a sudden it was back down to the plus zero again.”

He continued, “Honestly, I thought it was Ezra behind me the entire time, and I just kept my head down for a couple more laps and I looked up and I saw on the monitor going into three and it was Kaleb. Kaleb has been strong at the end of the races, so I had to keep going. Just really never looked back. The bike was phenomenal. It was a huge step up from yesterday. It felt like it did in Q2. I got to give it all to my team. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been since Laguna 2021 when I won a Stock 1000 race.”

Supersport

Xavi Fores (Warhorse HSBK Ducati) secured his 5th win of the season aboard his Ducati Panigale V2 at Road America. Despite this feat it was second place finished in both races, Stefano Mesa had the fastest lap of the race. Stefano seemed to be on pace to make a challenge for the win towards the middle stages of the race. However, the deficit provided to be too much and despite hiding the fastest lap of the race he fell short to Fores by 4 tenths of a second.

Fores provided the following comments, “I realized already this morning in warmup I was not able to pass him on the draft. He is lighter than me and the bike is fast, but I wanted to see how was his pace. I ran wide in the chicane…lost the front a little bit, so I said, okay. I looked back and no one was coming close to us. I said, ‘okay, I’m going to let him pass and try to understand his pace.’ So after that, on the first split, I was a little bit faster than him and I was solid braking into turn five, so I passed again. I was quite okay doing 16 on my pace. I was pushing so hard.”

Junior Cup

Rossi Moor (Fairium NGRT- Gray Area Racing KTM) won the race on the sole KTM RC390 on grid. The win also comes during Moor’s first races at the iconic Road America. The feat was achieved by a margin of 3 tenths of a second. In a hard fought second place was Max Van (SportbikeTrackGear.com) followed by Race 1 winner Avery Dreher (Bad Boys Racing) in third. Moor had the following comments to the media after finishing P2 in race 1.

“Yesterday, I wanted to try and stay in second place and try to not lead the race because I remember when Avery was saying that on this track you really don’t want to lead, especially on the last laps since the draft is so important here. But I was analyzing the race yesterday and I thought that I had the pace to be able to break away. I just have to put my head down and sometimes you need a little bit of luck, like somebody making a mistake, to have that little breakaway. So, it was a really good race for me, after the bad luck I’ve had this season with two DNF’s. But finally, I got the win and I’m super excited.”

Build Train Race

Series newcomer Mikayla Moore dominated the competition in Race 2 by a margin of 11 seconds. This was her first race at Road America. Last year’s champion Kayleigh Buyck finished second place and Aubrey Credaroli finished third. Moore has proven she is no rookie to racing after securing maximum points this weekend at Road America. She will look to repeat this result at the Ridge in 4 weeks time.

Mission King of the Baggers

Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian’s Bobby Fong led the Mission King Of The Baggers field by 5.7 seconds to secure the win. This was redemption for Fong at Road America after a disappointing P7 finish in race 1. Tyler O’Hara (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) and James Rispoli (Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson) rounded out the top 3.

Day 2 at MotoAmerica Round 3 Road America features qualifying sessions in the morning followed by the first races of the weekend. Superbike kicked off with Josh Herrin (HSBK Warhorse Ducati) securing pole after a blistering morning Q2 session. Herrin beat out Cameron Beaubier by 2 tenths of a second. However, Beaubier had an answer in Race 1.

Herrin got the whole shot off the start but Beaubier hunted him down by lap 6 and worked his way into some clean air allowing him to extend his lead. Herrin and Beuabier exchanged positions on lap 7 and back again on lap 8 for Beaubier to regain the lead. At this point the race was red flagged due to a mechanical failure that resulted in a major oil spill on track with 4 laps to go. MotoAmerica race control ended up calling the race and this handed Cameron Beaubier his 56th career win and 11th superbike win. The win moved him into first in the Medallia Superbike Championship.

Beaubier responds to the Media

When asked by the MotoAmerica media about his 11th win in Superbike Beaubier responded, “Yeah. Something about this track is just special for me. I love coming here. It seems like for the most part we always get pretty lucky on the weather here. Just staying by Elkhart Lake and going to have dinner at night. It’s just an amazing area. This track really suits my style, I feel like. It’s kind of crazy to think that I’ve got eleven wins here, for sure.”

This triumph came at the demise of prior championship leader Jake Gagne. Teammate PJ Jacobsen secured the 1-2 for Tytlers Cycle Racing ahead of Josh Herrin in P3. Gagne had mechanical issues all weekend with his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha R1. After multiple mechanical failures leading up to Qualifying 1 Gagne was only able to qualifying P6 and subsequently had an additional failure during the race which ended his hopes of extending his title lead. Five riders DNF’d in race 1. Teammate Cameron Petersen finished fifth in the race but also had mechanical issues all weekend leading up to race 1. Richie Escalante finished in fourth ahead of Petersen. Gagne will look forward to race 2 tomorrow to salvage the weekend.

Stock 1000

It was another successful weekend for Ezra Beaubier (Orange Cat Racing) who extended his championship point lead with a win in stock 1000 race 1. Ezra stated to the MotoAmerica Press, “I knew we would be really strong this weekend. Obviously, the BMW Alpha Racing package is really, really strong, especially here with all the long straightaways. Yesterday went really well. We found some more with the bike this morning. I wasn’t able to really put a clean lap together.”

He continued

“I kind of just got held up with some traffic and didn’t get to show what my full potential was this morning. But I knew going into the race that we were going to be just as strong as anyone. I was ready to bring the fight. I knew those first couple laps it was going to be tough with going with the hard-option rear tire. It was super-slick and super-greasy those first couple laps. I saw Travis almost go down in the second-to-last corner. I kind of felt like that was my chance to try to break away and slowly just tried to inch away and saw I was slowly building a gap. Just kept my head down and kept clicking off my laps and just hitting my marks and did what I could to bring it home in P1.”

Second place went to Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman aboard his BMW M 1000 RR. His younger brother Cody Wyman whom has never raced in the class carved out a third place finish in his debut.

Supersport

The top three spots in Supersport was decided by less than a 1 second differential. Stefano Mesa (Tytlers Cycle Racing), Xavi Fores (HSBK Warhorse Ducati) and Josh Hayes (Squid Hunter Racing) had some fierce competition on the track. These top three riders pulled away from the pack early on and were in a race of their own. Fores was able to find the pace to edge out Mesa by 3 tenths securing his 4 consecutive win in his debut MotoAmerica Supersport season.

Fores had the following commetns for the MotoAmerica media, “About the race today, honestly I think it was the race I enjoyed more because, especially at the beginning of the race, I didn’t expect Josh to stay with us because during all the sessions yesterday and today, me and Stefano had something else compared to the others. But you can’t forget Josh Hayes on the racing. He’s a dog. He has a lot of experience. You always have to count with him. So, when he passed me the first time on turn five, I said, ‘Oh, he’s here.’ He’s even strong on brakes, because I brake there really late, and he passed me. He was turning well. So, I said, okay, it’s going to be good fun today.”

Fores Continued on the level of Competition in Supersport

“I think all of us three have some strong points on our bike, so my bike is quite good on brakes and on the top of the power a little bit better than previously. Josh in the middle sector, the Yamaha is always amazing and he’s so fast on the long corners. It’s difficult to stay sometimes with him. When he passed me, he pulled some gap away two or three corners and I said, ‘I have to wake up otherwise he’s going to go.’ Stefano, he’s light. He’s quite aerodynamic. The bike is going fast. He showed a lot of potential this weekend and all the season. So, this means that every time we go out, we improve something, we learn something from each other. This is something that I think the fans are enjoying, as well, because we do some overtakes, clean overtakes always. A lot of respect.”

Junior Cup

Junior Cup came down to the last 25 ft before the finish line. Rossi Moor seemingly had timed his draft on the leader perfectly to secure the win. However, Avery Dreher pulled an even stronger double draft to launch from 4th to 1st in the last 25 ft before the finish line. Moor took second and Levi Badie took third in a finish that had to be decided by finish line imaging. Dreher extends his championship lead with the win.

King of the Baggers

H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman won his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday at Road America. The win came in dramatic fashion after Wyman made a pass on Tyler O’Hara (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) on the final lap to secure the victory. Wyman said, “We played our cards right.” Referring to capitalizing on mistakes. Race 2 is tomorrow. Wyman will attempt to go for 5 in a row.

Build Train Race

It was all Mikayla Moore in BTR. Moore continues to show she is no newbie to racing as she dominated the BTR field. Her win came by a margin of 17.2 seconds over second place finisher Crystal Martinez. Sonya Lloyd secured third. Last years BTR champion retired from the race with a mechanical failure.

For more coverage check out MotoAmerica Live +

Road America Weekend got kicked off in blazing fashion. On a newly paved track and perfect weather conditions riders were able to push their bikes in qualifying. In 2021 Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha) set the Medallia Superbike record at Road America. On Day 1 of race weekend Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier did not wait long to break it. Beaubier set a fastest 2:09.629 which was nearly 1 second faster than the previous record here. It was a good day for the Tytlers Cycle Racing side in Sueprbike. Beaubier’s teammate PJ Jacobsen ran second fastest in qualifying with a 2:10.296. Josh Herrin (HSBK Warhorse Ducati) rounded out the top 3.

It was a problematic day for the Fresh and Lean Progressive Yamaha riders Cameron Petersen and Jake Gagne. Bother riders had their days cut short due to mechanical issues and did not participate in qualifying 1.

Steel Commander Stock 1000

Ezra Beaubier topped the table in Qualifying 1 setting a 2:14.311. Beaubier was 0.392 seconds faster than Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman in P2 and 1.4 seconds faster than Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim in P3. Which conditions remaining great for Day 2 and Race 1 of qualifying we expect times to get faster as the weekend progresses.

Supersport

Stefnao Mesa (Tytlers Cycle Racing) took provisional pole ahead of Supersport championship leader Xavi Fores (HSBK Warhorse Ducati) by 6 tenths of a second. With Q2 in the morning we will determine if the afternoon pace we saw today will translate as track temperature will presumably be lower which will affect tire grip conditions for the riders.

Junior Cup

Bad Boys Racing’s Junior Cup Championship leader Avery Dreher rode his Kawasaki Ninja 400 to provisional pole with a fastest Q1 lap of 2:39.366. Dreher has had a phenomenal start to the season setting the benchmark in the class. Dreher was 0.795 seconds quicker than Hayden Bicknese (Bicknese Racing) in second. Max VanDebrouck (SportbikeTrackGear.com) settled for third fastest in the class.

King of the Baggers

Bobby Fong (Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian) topped the baggers field with a 2:20.817 which came on his 6 lap of qualifying. Fong has previous won here at ROad America so he is no stranger to the track. While true, the circuit has been completely repaved so this weekend all riders are gathering new data in a sense to adjust their race strategies to the new conditions.

Fong finished ahead of Tyler O/Hara (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) by a margin of 0.497 seconds. James Rispoli (Vance & Hines /Mission/Harley-Davidson) finished P3 to round out the top of the table. King of the Baggers Q2 is the last qualifying session of the weekend before races begin.

Build Train Race

This weekend the Royal Enfield Build Train Race (BTR) program kicked off with their first round of the season. Seasoned racer and newcomer to the series, Mikayla Moore dominated qualifying 1 with a stunning 4 second lead over last years BTR champion Kayleigh Buyck. Crystal Martinez who also raced for BTR in 2022 finished third. This years roster features 12 women who will race at select rounds with the MotorAmerica series. You can find more information on the program here: Build. Train Race.

For more coverages on MotoAmerica at Road America check out the MotoAmerica Live+ app.

Disrupt Racing has announced that they have signed Jake Lewis as a fill in Supersport rider for the injured Cory Ventura. Ventura suffered compound fractures in his tibia and fibula in a crash during the Supersport race at Barber Motorsports Park during round 2.

Jake Lewis is an American motorcycle racer born on June 17, 1995, in Princeton, Kentucky. He began his racing career at a young age and quickly showed promise in the sport. Lewis made his professional debut in the AMA Pro Racing series in 2010 when he was just 15 years old. In 2013, Lewis had a breakthrough season in the AMA Pro SuperSport East division, securing the championship title. This success earned him a promotion to the AMA Pro Superbike class the following year. In 2014, he finished fourth in the Superbike standings, impressing many with his skills and potential.

In 2015, Lewis transitioned to MotoAmerica, which replaced the AMA Pro Racing series as the premier motorcycle racing championship in the United States. Riding for the team Yoshimura Suzuki, Lewis competed in the MotoAmerica Superbike class where he finished fifth in the championship standings in his rookie season. He shifted his focus to Stock 1000 in 2021 and won the Championship aboard an Altus Motorsports GSX-R1000R.

Disrupt Racing Welcomes Jake Lewis to the Team

With his vast experience on a Suzuki machine Disrupt was a natural fit. Disrupt Racing released the following statement, “We are excited to have Jake Lewis join us for the remainder of the 2023 season to fill in for Cory while he gets healthy for 2024.

Jake is undoubtedly a very talented rider and proven champion who’s seen great success across all of the championship classes. He also happens to be from Owensboro KY and fits perfectly into our program. We are blessed to have him join us and look forward to continuing the progress towards the top in the SuperSport class on board our Suzuki GSX-R 750! Thank you again to all of our sponsors and supporters for all you do for us.”

Lewis has been competing in the King of the Baggers (KOTB) championship in 2023 for Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson. He will take on double duty this weekend at Road America in the KOTB and Supersport competitions.

The MotoAmerica Championship heads to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin this weekend for round 3 of the season. The round will feature 7 classes including the introduction of the 2023 Build Train Race series by Royal Enfield. Medallia Superbike, Supersport, Steel Commander Stock 1000, Junior Cup, King of the Baggers, and Mini Cup will also take place this weekend.

The 4 mile long course provides multiple high speed viewing areas. The road circuit features 14 turns in an orientation built for top speed. The superbikes can reach speeds up to 190 mph+ so fans will be in for a thrill. Race temperatures will be in the mid 80s all weekend providing riders with optimal conditions for on track competition. The riders are coming off of a short break since the last round at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. Road America draws one of the biggest fan turn outs for the series so anyone visiting this weekend will be in for a treat.

Medallia Superbike championship leader Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha) will be looking to extend is point lead over second place contender and MotoAmerica veteran Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing). Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz currently holds third place in what has been a very hard fought season thus far for the top three contenders. All is for the taking this weekend with two superbike races on the schedule and 50 points up for grabs.

All classes will be on double header duty this weekend with two races on the schedule for each class. Below is the preliminary schedule.

2023 MotoAmerica Championship Round 3: Road America Provisional Schedule

You can find more information on ticketing, camping and VIP experiences here: MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKES & VINTAGE MOTOFEST

Round 2 of the MotoAmerica Championship has concluded at Barber Motorsports Park. The event was packed with action the whole weekend. Round 2 also marked the introduction of the new Supersport extended race format. The Medallia Superbike Championship, Steel Commander Stock 1000, Supersport, REV’IT Twin Cup and Junior Cup. Below are the results from the race weekend

Medallia Superbike

Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha) started the weekend off strong with a win in Race 1. Track temperatures were a bit lower during race 1 and there were concerns from multiple riders on the grid about tire performance. Despite the concerns Gagne and teammate Cameron Peterson secured a 1-2 finish with Mathew Scholtz (Westby Racing) rounding out the podium. Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing) who was involved in a back and forth battle with Gagne, Scholtz, and Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati) was not able to keep pace with the Yamaha despite the rumored power advantage. Beaubier finished P4 ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing teammate PJ Jacobsen in Race 1.

Race 2 was all Gagne. After pulling away early in the race no one could muster a response as the damage had already been done. Teammate Cameron Peterson had an unfortunate Race 2. He had an early crash marking his second DNF on the season. Later in the race Gagne had a moment on track where he almost crashed after running through the grass at turn 3 but he was able to save the bike and cruised to finished 2.6s ahead of Mat Scholtz. Beaubier was able to improve on his results from race 1 and secured a podium.

Jake Gagne Spoke to the Media

When speaking to the MotoAmerica media after race 2 Gagne stated, “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. ”

He continued, “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.”

Will Beaubier Bounce Back at Road America?

Barber Motorsports park is a technical track. In contrast we saw Beaubier excel at Road Atlanta where there isn’t a lot of technicality required to excel. Road Atlanta also has multiple top speed zone and that played into the success of the Tytlers Racing BMW. Round 3 of MotoAmerica will take place at Road America which is one of the high speed tracks on the calendar. We expect the BMW of Beaubier’s to be more competitive at that race where top speed will have more of an impact. Road America also has a shortened lap count in comparison to some of the other road courses so mistakes will be more costly. Gagne took maximum points on the weekend and extends his champion lead over Cameron Beaubier by 26 points.

Stock 1000

In Stock 1000 Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) had a commanding performance. Gilllim won both race 1 and 2 in commanding fashion without ever really being threatened. In race 1 GIllim’s gap to second was 4.5 seconds. The race ended under a red flag after a late crash. The podium was completed by Orange Cat Racing riders Ezra Beaubier and Kaleb De Keyrel. The three riders shared the podium in both races with the two Orange Cat riders swapping places in race 2. Gillim’s Suzuki GSXR1000 proved to be the better bike this weekend outperforming both BMWs again in race 2. Ezra beabuier still leads the championship after a commanding double win in Atlanta and two podiums here at Barber Motorsports Park.

Supersport

The first ever Supersport extended race took place this weekend at Barber Motorsports park. The race originally scheduled for 37 laps only race through 22 laps. The format would also require one mandatory pit stop. The race was full of on track drama. There were multiple red flags in the race due to many riders falling victim to fast changing track conditions. The forecast had seemingly left the race in the clear but come race time the dark clouds loomed above. Tyler Scott (Team Hammer) had a great launch and led the race for the first two laps before Xavi Fores (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati) made a late dive on the inside into Charlotte’s Web on lap three. Fores started to take off at this point in the race but rain started to fall in some areas of the track.

The race continued until it was red flagged on lap 7. Multiple riders crashed due to lack of grip on track as the rain started to pour more heavily in the last turn before the front straight. The riders were all on racing slicks at the time. The race restart order reset to how the riders finished lap 6. Race control allowed tire changes against normal red flag protocol due to the nature of the race.

After Red Flag 1

The race restarted and many riders opted to change to the rains. It is important to note that the stop under the red flag did not count as a pit stop. Race control reduced the race distance to 22 laps. All pit stops were to be completed by lap 18. On the sighting lap Jaret Nassaney lost the rear on rain tires and had to retire from the race. CJ LaRoche [On Slick Tires] and Jordan Tropkoff [On Rain Tires] slide out on the restart lap and had to retire from the race. Cory Ventura had a serious incident as he headed towards the back straight. Ventura was transported to be evaluated at the local hospital. The red flag came out again to clear the incident.

Cory provided a statement on the incident, “I crashed on the first lap of the restart in the extended supersport race. I had started to lose the front coming out of the first set of the esses which quickly turned into losing the rear and the front tire gained traction and sent me into a highside. I ended up compound fracturing my left tib-fib and broke some bones in my left foot. I had surgery Sunday morning in Birmingham. I don’t know how long we will be out, Disrupt Racing and I don’t want to rush the process, we will be back as soon as I am back to 100%.”

The Extended Race Continued

At the second restart many riders opted to come back out on slicks and refuel. With pit stops still pending and the track drying rapidly it was seemingly the correct call to go out on slicks. Tyler Scott (Team hammer) was the first to come in with a great pit stop. Josh Hayes followed and had a minor issue with the front end of the bike but was able to get out of the pits in time to remain competitive in the race.

After pits stops Xavi Fores came out in the lead. Stefano Mesa (Tytlers Cycle Racing) made some late challenges for the lead but Fores was able to pull away in the end as the tires started to fall off and secure the double points win. Fores has won all 3 races in 2023 and tops the table 27 points ahead of Stefano Mesa. Anthony Mazziotto (North East Cycle Outlet Racing) finished thirds in the race.

REV-IT Twins Cup

Rocco Landers (Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering) secure the double on the weekend marking his third straight win after having to retire from race 1 in Atlanta. Teammate Gus Rodio had the lead with 8 laps to go. A brief period of rain caused track conditions to change rapidly. Rodio crashed just before the red flag came out. After some controversy race control determined that Gus Rodio was not able to restart the race despite riding his bike back to the pits. The crew was able to get the bike race ready.

MotoAmerica ruled that Rodio was not actively competing when the red flag came out. Rodio was visibly and verbally displeased with the call from the stewards. Due to the race 1 incident and a DNF Rodio walked away with zero points on the weekend. Kayla Yaakov (The WagBar MP13 Racing) finished with two podiums on the weekend after missing the season opening rounds due to injury. Blake Davis took the championship lead by 2 points due to incidents with Rodio.

Junior Cup

Luckily Junior Cup was able to avoid the rain in both races. Avery Dreher (Bad Boy Racing) continued his good form with a win in race 1 ahead of Max VanDenBrouck (SportbikeTrackGear.com) and Yandel Medina (Yandel Racing). It was Medinas first podium in Junior Cup. In race 2 Levi Badie (Badie Racing) took the win denying Dreher a double win. Hayden Bicknese (Bicknese Racing) who finished P5 in Race 1 improved to P2 in Race 2. Dreher had to settle for P3 but will be happy with a double podium.

For complete coverage on the events from Round 2 of the MotoAmerica Championship at Barber Motorsports Park check out MotoAmerica Live Plus.

Qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park for Round 2 of the MotoAmerica Championship is complete. Here we discuss the results.

Superbike

Fresh n Lean progressive Yamaha locks out a P1-P2 start with Jake Gagne and Cameron Petersen running first and second in Q2. The rain on the forecast stayed away for qualifying but has seemingly been pushed to the afternoon for race time. Mathew Scholtz rounded out the top 3 setting a 1:22.905 for Westby Racing. Richie Escalante mustered a P4 finish in Q2 and Tytlers Racing rider Cameron Beaubier was only able to finish fifth fastest. Full qualifying results are below.

Stock 1000

Hayden Gillim (Disrupt Racing) secured pole. Gillim ran fastest in both Q1 and Q2. He’s pulling double duty in Superbike and Stock 1000 this weekend. Travis Wyman finished P2 just under 1 second behind followed by Bariel De Silva (Steel Commander Racing Team). Track temperatures were higher in Q2 than Q1 and some riders reported exaggerated tire degradation.

Supersport

Tyler Scott (Team Hammer) took pole late in Q2 setting a 1:26.348 for Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki over veteran Josh Hayes (Squid Hunter). Stefano Mesa finished P3. The class welcomes the first endurance race later this afternoon the race is scheduled for 37 laps with at least one pit spot required during the race for fuel and new tires. Currently the weather forecast shows rain starting right around that time so things may get interesting in terms of the timing for pit stops. The race may be red flagged if it is determined to be a rain race. We will keep an eye on the events as they develop.

Twins Cup

Rocco Landers (Rodio Racing/Robem Engineering) tops the table after an early issue in qualifying. Landers will start on pole ahead of Kayla Yaakov and Dominic Doyle rounded out the front row in P2 and P3 respectively. Defending champion Blake Davis landed in fourth with Gus Rodio (Rodio Racing/Robem Engineering) in fifther FUll results are below.

Junior Cup

Alessandro Di Mario secured pole for Altus Motorsports 0.233s ahead of Max VanDenBrouck. Levi Badie rounded out third. Full results are below.

MotoAmerica heads to Barber Motorsports Park for round 2 of the MotoAmerica Championship Season. Round 2 will host 5 classes at Barber Motorsports Park. Medallia Superbike, Steel Commander Corp Stock 1000, Supersport, Junior Cup, Twins Cup and the Mini cup. This round offers a new twist because it is the introduction of the Supersport long races that will require at least one pit stop. The total race distance is extended to 37 laps in 2023; providing fans with an extended level of entertainment. Riders will need to tap into their endurance racing skillset to finish this race. Typically none of the classes see pit stops in the MotoAmerica Championship during the normal season. The exception is in the Daytona 200; the MotoAmerica season preamble.

Barber Motorsports Park is a technical circuit. The Park, which opened in 2003, has a 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.83 km) road course. There are multiple passing zones and changes in elevation in three regions of the track. Barber Motorsports Park is home to the iconic Barber Museum which is home to over 1,400 motorcycles that span over 100 years of production.  More than 650 bikes can be seen on any given day, and 200 different manufacturers from 20 countries are represented in the collection – from Harley-Davidson, Honda, and Indian – to Showa, DSK, and Cagiva.

Rain is on the forecast. If the forecast holds we may seen multiple pits stops depending on how well riders can manage their tires in the wet. We will report back after qualifying is complete with your starting grids for each class.

How to Watch

You can find more information on how to live stream the races here: MotoAmerica Live+

Action gets kicked off at 8:30am EST on Friday 19May2023 with practice sessions in the morning followed by qualifying.