MotoAmerica: Beaubier Wins Superbike Race 1 at Road America

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.

This Article was not Authored by Speed Trap Magazine Staff
MotoAmerica Press Release Authored by Paul Carruthers, MotoAmerica Communications Manager

MotoAmerica, North America’s premier road racing racing series, is pleased to announce that Steel Commander Corp will be the title sponsor of the 2023 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Stock 1000 Championship, beginning with the May 19-21 second round of the series at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Steel Commander Corp, with its corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, is an all-American Steel Building manufacturer shipping factory-direct to all U.S. territories offering a combination of expertise, innovation, and dedication to quality and customer satisfaction. Steel Commander Corp offers a comprehensive range of solutions for the commercial, industrial, residential, garage, storage, and other industries with a combined experience of over 60 years.

In addition to being the title sponsor of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class, the steel-building manufacturer recently announced that it will field a team in the series with former MotoAmerica Supersport class winner Gabriel Da Silva. Da Silva will compete in both the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class and the Superbike Cup division of the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike series. Da Silva and the team will also be making their debut at Barber Motorsports Park, May 19-21.

“We are pumped to have Steel Commander Corp on board as the Stock 1000 title sponsor for 2023,” said Lance Bryson, MotoAmerica’s Director of Sponsorship. “They are true fans of the sport and are excited to be joining our series with both a team and a title sponsor. We are equally as excited to have them onboard and to have our fans learn about Steel Commander’s products. The Stock 1000 class got started at Road Atlanta a few weeks ago with two exciting races and we’re expecting more of that at every round, including Steel Commander’s first race as a sponsor at Barber.”

“We are excited to announce this new partnership between Steel Commander Corp and MotoAmerica.” said Shawn Fisher, President and CEO of Steel Commander Corp. “This is a great opportunity for the two companies to promote the 2023 MotoAmerica Championship and to showcase the incredible talent and dedication of exceptional riders like Gabriel Da Silva. We are eagerly awaiting Gabriel’s first race this weekend (May 19-21) in Alabama.”

MotoAmerica Round 1 kicked off in Braselton, GA at the iconic Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Earlier we released our coverage of the Medallia Superbike Championship race. Here we discuss the outcomes for the other classes in the championship.

Stock 1000 Ezra Beaubier Completes the Double

After a surprising race 1 win Ezra’s weekend only got better with a second win in Stock 1000. Prior to this weekend his top finish was fifth place. To have his first and second wins occur on the same weekend is a feat he will remember forever. Ezra Beaubier who is younger brother to Medallia Superbike racer Cameron Beaubier put on a clinic to secure 50 points on the season. Ezra spoke to the MotoAmerica Media after the race when asked his thoughts on the double win, “Well, I hope it becomes a habit. Honestly I woke up today just with a completely different feeling. I finally had the confidence. I can do this now. I can run with these guys. I just felt really good. We found some stuff with the bike last night and it was really positive.”

He Continued

“In warmup, I basically matched my fastest lap of the race yesterday in warmup. I wasn’t really pushing super hard, so I felt super good going into the race, super confident. I felt like I could rip off a bunch of the 1:26s in the race, and I was able to execute that. In the beginning, I tried to pull out and see if I could get a gap, and I really wasn’t able to, so I just kind of backed it down and sat there. Then towards the end of the race, tried to pick it back up again. I saw on my pit board that Kaleb was right there on me.

On the last lap on the back straight, I felt him in my draft and started almost panicking a little bit. I tried to run a defensive line. Then he ended up running off in the last turn, which is a huge bummer not to go one and two as the Orange Cat BMW’s. But it was a great race and a great weekend for me. I hope to have many more of these.”

In other news MotoAmerica and AMA veteran Geoff May Announced his retirement from the series this weekend. May had raced for 25 years professionally and has decided that now is the time to focus on family and a career beyond racing. He will be missed.

Supersport

Xavi Fores takes the double win on his debut race weekend in MotoAmerica for Warhorse HSBK Ducati. Fores got the season started off right with a dominant performance in both Supersport races to secure maximum points. Fores leads the title chase with 50 points, 17 ahead of Stafno Mesa and Tyler Scott, who are tied for second, and 18 ahead of Hayes.

There are whispers that the 2022 super sport runner up Rocco Landers may be looking for a way to get back in the mix in 2023. We will report back when details are a bit more solidified.

Twins Cup

Speaking of Rocco Landers. Landers put on a dominant showing in Twins Cup race 2. Having previously won the Twins Cup championship, Rocco was no stranger to the level of competition he would face. Landers is filling in with Rodio Racing for the injured Ben Gloddy. After a disappointing mechanical failure from 2nd place in Saturday’s race. Landers appeared to be racing with a vengeance commanding an almost 8 second lead at one point in the race.

2022 class champion and Saturday’s race winner Blake Davis crashed early in race 2 but was able to continue on his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7 to finish 11th. Leaving him third in the championship standings behind Hayden Schultz and Gus Rodio. After four points races, Rodio leads the championship with 85 points 26 points ahead of Schultz and 29 ahead of Davis.

Junior Cup

Bad boys Racing rider Avery Dreher sealed the double win taking the maximum points for the weekend. Max Van and Hayden Bicknese finished in second and third respectively in both races. When asked about his race preparation Dreher stated, “Honestly, I went into the race with the same mindset, the same strategy as yesterday. I tried to fall in line at the beginning of the race, but they caught us towards the middle, so it was the same pack as yesterday. I’m glad we were going a lot faster than yesterday. Towards the end of the race, I felt like I had some pace to break away, so I made the move into 10A. I looked back once or twice. Saw that I had a gap and just put my head down. Happy with the result. Good job to Max and Hayden. Looking forward to Barber.”

King of the Baggers

H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman secured the double with his Harley-Davidson Road Glide.

Tyler O’Hara finished 1.830 seconds behind Wyman with Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian’s Bobby Fong third. Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teamsters Hayden Gillim and James Rispoli finished fourth and fifth. Wyman had the following words for the MotoAmerica media.

Wyamn stated, “That’s how you want to do it, aside from the challenge was a little bit of a throwaway, but we won every session and won both races. That’s kind of how you want to do it. I kind of wheelied on the start and had to roll out of it. Didn’t quite get the launch I wanted. Went to the brakes a little bit sheepishly, I would say, for turn one and Tyler got the wheel underneath me. I haven’t ridden behind Tyler in what feels like a long time. I don’t think at all this year and maybe even towards the end of last year not so much. So, just to see that thing.

He continued…

There were a couple places where I felt like our strength in that first sector really showed. Even on the warmup lap, I felt like if I wanted to get a run over turn five, I needed to give myself a little bit of space actually because we’ve got pretty tall gearing through there. So, I kind of gave myself a little bit of space. Gave myself an opportunity to see where the strengths and weaknesses were between the two of us. I had a pretty good run on the back straightaway.

He touched the rev limiter in one of his gears and kind of got me a little bit of a run down the back straight, it seemed like. I hit my shifts pretty good, but he might have missed one and it got me alongside of him going through nine. We were kind of side-by-side going through ten. We were both fighting for the position a little bit…Went a little bit quicker today than yesterday, as did everybody I think went quicker today.”

Wyman leads the championship point standings with 75 points, eight points ahead of Rispoli and 10 points ahead of Gillim. Defending Champion Tyler O’Hara is 14 points behind in fourth place.

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MotoAmerica weekend at Road Atlanta has come to an end. Cameron Beaubier and Jake Gagne put on a spectacle in Medallia Superbike Race 1 with back and forth action passing each other at different points around the circuit throughout the entire race. Beaubier emerged victorious in race one and would attempt the double in race 2. However, Jake Gagne had something to say about that.

The Race

Superbike race 2 will go down as one of the most exciting and event filled races in the history of the Superbike Championship. Cameron Beaubier (6), Jake Gagne (1), Cameron Petersen (45) Josh Herrin (2) and Mathew Scholtz (11) battled it out in the front pack from the start. Gagne lead the race at the start of lap 3 and Beaubier had a moment on track where he missed his racing line and almost lost the bike going into turn one over the curbing. Beaubier was able to save the bike, but Gagne had already made the pass.

As the riders progressed up the hill to turn 2 Cameron Petersen’s Yamaha R1 spontaneously burst into flames without obvious incident. Due to the quick response by the corner workers the bike did not appear to be a total loss. The fire was put out in seconds, and Petersen appeared to be unharmed.

Naturally this ended Petersen’s race. Herrin jumped up to third and tried to hold on to Gagne and Beaubier battling it out at the front 5 tenths ahead. Gagne and Beaubier exchanged a multiple position switches and by lap 7 Mat Scholtz had taken advantage of clean race lines to work his way up to within 0.2s of the leaders.

Late Stages

Herrin found some space in turn 1 and turn 10 to take the lead with 5 laps to go. However, Beaubier retook the lead by the end of the lap. The top 4 were separated by 6 tenths leaving the door open for anyone to finish strong for the win. Herrin took the lead with 2 laps to go. However, Beaubier again retook the lead at turn 10 with better exit speed than Herrin in the exchange.

At the beginning of the final lap, Gagne sat in third place. Herrin ran wide in turn 7 which seemingly knocked him out of rhythm on the back straight through the kink. Beaubier passed Herrin in the exchange. Herrin tried to recover, but made contact with Beaubier and was bumped wide in turn 9. This left the door wide open for Gagne to steal the win lead. Gagne pounced with a perfect double bike draft to take the lead which he would hold until the checkered flag. Herrin tried to recover and ended up running off track settling for 4th. Scholtz who was in tow rounded out the podium.

With Gagne and Beaubier tied atop the standings with 45 points, Herrin is third with 29 points

After the Race Thoughts

Gagne, Beaubier and Scholtz spoke with MotoAmerica after the race.

Jake Gagne, Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha

“The bike was awesome. My drives are awesome. I was still struggling on the brakes, but I think that was just because of me and after a couple laps, I was really pumped up. So, I kind of tried to just chill and relax and tried to just breathe and watch what those guys were doing a little differently and watch them battle each other. For the last lap, it was hard to really have a plan. Obviously, both of those bikes were really fast and really strong down into 10 through the kink. So, I was kind of just hoping for the best. I figured maybe they both would have a little braking battle in there and I could drive up under the bridge, but it was nuts.”

Cameron Beaubier, Tytlers Cycle Racing

“My bike was super-fast. I was trying to get to those last three laps and then put my head down and be good on the brakes and try to hold them off. Then (Josh) Herrin came by me and got in another pretty good battle with us. Man, that last lap was so hairy. I’m just super happy everyone’s safe after that one. He ran me a little wide on the straightaway, and then I went into the fast right-hander pretty tight. I went to lean in, and he was on the outside of me I just didn’t turn. I pushed the front a little bit. It was terrifying. He was right on the outside of me, and I ran him wide. I was afraid I ran him off the track. You’re doing 180 miles an hour through that corner. So, I glanced over my shoulder. Saw he was good, and then Jake and him blew by me on the brakes. There was nothing I could do to fight Jake going through the last section. Glad everyone is safe. Super stoked to get out of here with a one-two. Didn’t really even know what to expect coming into this round. Just massive thank you to the Tytlers BMW guys.”

Matt Scholtz, Westby Racing LLC

“To be honest, the first couple laps I was just hanging on. We made quite a few changes from the first race. I was just still feeling out what the bike was kind of doing. I felt like the strong parts of the track for me, I was really, really quick, but the weaker parts I was losing a lot of time. So, I was just literally going backwards and forwards. I really didn’t have a spot that I could kind of pass in, unless something happened, which it did, and I managed to capitalize on that. But otherwise, starting from where we were on Friday to where we ended up now, I think we made huge strides forward on the motorcycle. So, I just have to give a big shout out to the Westby Racing team.”

2023 Medallia Superbike Championship Standings

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