Danilo Petrucci wins his MotoAmerica debut in Austin

news7g04/10/2022

8 5 minutes read

Danilo Petrucci wins his MotoAmerica debut in Austin

Petrucci wins in MotoAmerica Debut

Danilo Petrucci spoke the opening day of the first round of the MotoAmerica Auto Parts 4 Championship with his first MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike win in his series debut at Circuit of The Americas last night.

With the win, Petrucci matched Spaniard Toni Elias to become the MotoAmerica Superbike winner on his MotoAmerica debut. Like Elias, Petrucci’s first win came before the MotoGP racer where he has spent most of his career, as MotoAmerica will share the weekend in Texas with the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas.

Danilo Petrucci won his debut in the MotoAmerica series – Photo Brian J Nelson

The win also marks the first MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike win for Ducati since Petrucci’s Italian compatriot Lorenzo Zanetti won race number two at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2020 for the Warhorse HSBK Ducati NYC team. Petrucci also set the fastest lap of the race buying eight tenths of a second. For comparison, Petrucci’s 2m08,648 is about 5 seconds lower than the expected speed of the MotoGP race.

Still underfit with a list of injuries from both the Dakar race and after the rally, Petrucci finished the first lap in fourth, finished second in the second and led the fourth round after Fast forward from Mathew. Scholtz on a Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.

From there, Petrucci maintained a lead that for most of the race went under a second when Scholtz refused to give up. On the finish line, Petrucci’s difference is 1.7 seconds more than the South African.

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen finished third, racing in South Africa without his teammate Jake Gagne, the defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike champion pulled to the pitlane in the warm-up lap after his Yamaha he refuses to run.

Petrucci in the lead – Brian J Nelson image

PJ Jacobsen made an impressive return to MotoAmerica with the New Yorker, helping his new Tytlers Cycle Racing team to 4th on their MotoAmerica debut. Jacobsen topped his equally impressive teammate Hector Barbera by 0.693 seconds.

Sixth place goes to Suzuki’s Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Jake Lewis with the 2021 MotoAmerica Stock 1000 championship three seconds behind Barbera and about 10 seconds behind teammate Richie Escalante, who is debuting the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike.

David Anthony of ADR Motorsports is a split second ahead of Travis Wyman of Tytlers Cycle / RideHVMC Racing. Wyman’s teammate, Corey Alexander, made the list of the top 10 finishers.

Petrucci became the 63rd racer in history to win the AMA Superbike race. He is also the third Italian to win, along with Alessandro Gramigni and Zanetti. All three Italians won their races on Ducatis. Petrucci is the only rider on a Ducati in the MotoAmerica line.

Danilo Petrucci – P1

“For me, the real goal is to get on the podium because these guys and also Jake (Gagne) are really, really fast. Especially since it’s not 2022 in general, but from 2021 in general I’m racing. I did a MotoGP season then I went for a test ride to Dakar. I broke my ankle. I went to Dakar. I did the Dakar, and I broke my ankle, collarbone, and radius again. I came home, and I was really, really tired. I haven’t had a chance to get real training. When I got better a month ago, I was riding a motorcycle and I fell again, and I broke my ligament. I almost forgot how I can run. I feel like I’ve got another man’s legs. But I’m happy. I wasn’t physically fit, but I tried to stay there. I try to push. In the first part of the track, I was really, really hard. Then I try to manage it. I wasn’t thinking about having to push too much, but when I tried to really push my rear tire was really, really unstable. I managed to get through to the end as we only had a few days of testing in Europe, so for me the bike was brand new. It doesn’t fit well with really good Dunlop tires but they need to be installed properly. Sure, I’m really happy to be here racing with these guys. The atmosphere is really, really nice. It’s true that going to MotoAmerica was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. ”

Mathew Scholtz – P2

“There were a few sections of the track where he was faster. There were a few parts where I was faster. So it always goes backwards and forwards. That is really mentally draining. I thought maybe six more laps, I hit a neutral on the 16th corner and lost everything. I tried going back then. I think I’ve closed down a bit. It was obviously the first race of 2022. So I know where I lost my time. There were a couple of corners going straight to the back and straight to the front here where I took too many turns and took a lot of time. Through the domestic section, I feel good. Just do a thing or two and I think we’ll be able to keep a few 8s and 9s low for tomorrow’s second race. A big thank you to the Westby Racing team. They’ve worked hard throughout the season and brought me a bunch of new and better parts. We changed the whole bike with the way traction control works. First race, it sucks I’m already close to the front, but I’ll be content with taking a second and building from here.”

Cameron Petersen – P3

“Honestly, I’m not too happy. I should have been closer to these people. Just a few mistakes in the race. Hitting a fake neutral on a, I think six laps in the race, I got injured and I lost that drag to these guys. To be honest, once I ran out of tires, it was really hard for me to turn around. I’m pretty sure we’ve all been through similar things. Start the season with a podium. I’ve always wanted to be on the podium at COTA, so I can check that out. Starting a race under our belt, I know what we need to do tomorrow. Hopefully, we can close the gap with these guys and really challenge to win. I feel that’s where we need to be. Can’t fall behind these guys are settling for third. Just do our homework tonight and get to work and get ready for tomorrow and hopefully challenge these boys.”