Gagne reclaims MotoAmerica lead in Pittsburgh

2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round 8 – Pittsburgh

Images by Brian J Nelson

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Gagne, who earlier in the day earned pole position with a new lap record of 1:39.344 around the 2.78-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex, led all three starts and every lap of the three portions of the race to claim the 26th win of his AMA Superbike career.

Gagne’s victory allowed him to claw back five precious championship points on series leader Danilo Petrucci, who finished a fighting second on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R.

Gagne crossed the line 2.064 seconds ahead of Petrucci at the end of the three-parter, with Petrucci was hounded to the finish line by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen, with the three separated by just .417 of a second at the conclusion of what ended up being a five-lap sprint.

The runner-up finish was the ultra-consistent Petrucci’s 13th podium in 14 races after the Italian gave it his all in each of the restarts to try and latch on to Gagne.

Scholtz’s race to third was an adventurous one. Riding with a broken left wrist suffered at BIR three weeks ago, the South African was forced off track to avoid Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, who made a mistake and crashed on the opening lap of the race.

Scholtz had charged from well back to seventh when the first red flag was thrown on the seventh lap. Scholtz then charged through on the second restart and was battling with Petersen when another red flag was thrown. In the final portion of the race, Scholtz got the better of his countryman Petersen and the trio – Petrucci, Scholtz and Petersen, crossed the finish line in close formation.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis was a fighting fifth, 9.5 seconds behind Petersen and a tick over a second ahead of his fellow Kentuckian Hayden Gillim, who narrowly topped Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was eighth while Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates and ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounded out the top 10.

The first red flag was thrown when Ezra Beaubier’s BMW M 1000 RR suffered a mechanical failure and was parked near the side of the track. The second red flag came out when Jeremy Coffey crashed and was in an impact zone.

Other than those two, the notable non-finisher was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen, who crashed out of the final portion of the race.

Jake Gagne – P1

“Yeah, after crashing a bike, splitting that thing in half… It sucks creating all that work for Richard (Stanboli, the team owner). He gave me a bunch of crap. He told me he had to sell his car. He sent me a picture of a car at Walmart yesterday. I’m glad I got a good crew. We just put it behind us and focused on the racing. The red flags, when you’re out and you get a good start, it’s hard not to be a little frustrated when you see a red flag, but at the same time I understand someone could be hurt out there. I hope everybody is okay and got up okay. But again, three starts. I got two good starts. The third start wasn’t too good, and I could hear Danilo’s (Petrucci) Ducati. I could hear the other Yamaha, I think Cam (Petersen), up the inside. So, I had to go in there pretty deep. But the Dunlops held up good. Like Danilo said, this track when it gets this hot it gets really greasy. It’s a different track than in the morning time. I’m glad that we made a lot of progress with the bike from yesterday. I’m glad we got a couple good starts and avoided the drama. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two

After snatching everything he could on Saturday, Gagne came back on Sunday and did the same thing. This time, however, the big bonus that came with his 10th win of the season and 27th of his career was a one-point lead in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship.

Gagne stormed away at the start, built a lead, and maintained it to the end of the 17-lap race. Behind him, he was getting help from Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz as the South African tore through from sixth on the grid to pass then-championship leader Danilo Petrucci and the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R for second place, a spot he would hold to the finish. And that gifted Gagne an extra four championship points, which translated to a one-point lead over Petrucci, 290-289.

Scholtz, who was racing with three broken bones in his left wrist, ended up 4.8 seconds behind Gagne and 1.9 seconds ahead of Petrucci, who earned his 14th podium in 16 races with his third-place finish.

Early on it was Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen who was tussling with Petrucci, but the South African couldn’t keep pace and slipped to fourth at the finish.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen finished fifth, barely besting Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with both riders bouncing back from crashes in Saturday’s race one.

Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim ended up seventh, which made up in small part for his crash in the Yuasa Stock 1000 race. Gillim was just under a second ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera with the Spaniard being hit with two five-second penalties – one for jumping the start and the other for running straight in the chicane.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis was ninth with Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates rounding out the top 10.

Jake Gagne – P1

“On paper, it was a great weekend. I’m happy. We worked great as a team, even starting on Friday. Most of these tracks this year, our goal has been to go faster than last year. On Friday, I thought it would be tough. Like these guys said, we had the rain this morning. The track was pretty slick there for that second race. I think no rubber. It was really green. It got really hot really quick. So, I’m happy where we’re at. Obviously, we’ve got two rounds left, four races, and it’s as tight as you could be in the points chase. So, I’m happy. It’s an honor to be racing these guys and be in the championship hunt with Danilo (Petrucci). I think it’s going to come down to us for a couple more races. For me, that’s exciting. For the series, it’s exciting. I’m enjoying it. I keep saying I’m not trying to think about the points, just race by race do the best we can and that’s all I can do. So, I’m not going to stress out about anything else. Hats off to the team. I’m looking forward to Jersey and Barber. I think everybody really likes those tracks. The Yamaha is going to go good there. Hats off to Matty (Scholtz), too. That guy is a warrior. I know he was pretty beat up and that wrist was gnarly. I can’t even believe after seeing that thing a couple weeks ago that he’s out here up on the podium. So, roll on to the next one.”

With Gagne now leading Petrucci, 290-289, Petersen is third with 241 points, 22 more than Scholtz. Barbera is still fifth with 150 points.

The MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship resumes at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, September 9-11, with the ninth of 10 rounds.

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 1

The Yuasa Stock 1000 race one started off the day, and with only four races left in the Championship (two at Pitt Race and one each at New Jersey Park and Barber Motorsports Park), if anyone is going to catch points leader Corey Alexander, the time is now to win races.

For championship challenger Hayden Gillim, that’s exactly what he did. The Disrupt Racing Suzuki rider got the win, while Alexander experienced technical problems that resulted in a 10th-place finish. Gillim’s victory, his third of the year, moved him to within 14 points of Alexander.

Runner-up in race one went to Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing Suzuki fill-in rider Andrew Lee, who is substituting for injured team rider and owner Michael Gilbert. Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Brandon Paasch finished third for his second straight podium result.

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 1 Results – Top 10

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 2

In Yuasa Stock 1000 race two, the fortunes of the two main protagonists in the championship went in opposite directions. Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW rider Corey Alexander started from the pole and looked to have the victory well in his grasp until Disrupt Racing Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim chased him down and took the lead.

Alexander managed to overtake Gillim for the lead, and then, the two made contact, which resulted in Gillim crashing out of the race. Alexander prevailed with the win, and his teammate Travis Wyman inherited the runner-up position, which he maintained to the checkered flag.

Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Brandon Paasch finished third to complete the podium.

Corey Alexander

“First of all, it’s a bummer, for sure,” Alexander said. “I wanted Hayden to be up here. I want to win more than anything, but I don’t want to win like that where he has no chance of making another pass back or anything like that. I hope he’s all right. I think he is. I pulled over (after the race) to see if he was there still, see if he needed a ride, see if he was okay. Like I said, it’s not how we want to win, but it is a championship battle, and it was the last lap. I had a couple opportunities there through that section previously that I knew it was going to be tight if I wanted to do it and it wasn’t worth it on those laps, but on the last lap I needed to do something. He made a move through there on me that was pretty aggressive early on at the beginning of the race. It might not have appeared from the angle, but we had a little bit of contact there. It kind of put me in a predicament. Hayden rides hard. I knew that’s how it was going to be coming down to that last lap if we wanted to have a shot at the win there. So, I think I passed him clean. From my perspective, I was fully ahead of him. I think he just was trying to line me up for that next left like he had before and was going to kind of just block pass me. I think he just leaned on me a little bit too hard, and it took him out, unfortunately. Getting through Pittsburgh was always the challenge for me because I knew how good Hayden could be here. I know the last two rounds, I’m good at Jersey so I know we’ll get through that and then Barber will be a duel.”

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 2 Results – Top 15

YUASA Stock 1000 Standings

Supersport Race 1

The Supersport Championship looks like it will be won by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin, but contender Rocco Landers has definitely not given up the fight.

The Landers Racing Yamaha rider won his third straight race, and once again, it was by a wide margin. Landers crossed the finish line more than six-and-a-half seconds ahead of Herrin, who lamented that he and his team made a wrong tire choice for the race.

Herrin, in turn, finished a little more than six-and-a-half seconds over third-place finisher Tyler Scott aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.

Aussie Luke Power finished 10th.

Supersport Race 1 Results

Supersport Race 2

After winning the past three Supersport races in a row, the question was whether a surging Landers Racing Yamaha’s Rocco Landers could keep his winning streak going in Sunday’s race two.

Well, championship leader Josh Herrin had something to say about that. The Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider put in a dominant performance and even withstood an unplanned off-track excursion to notch his eighth win of the season and stretch out his championship lead to a rather gaudy 76 points over Landers, who finished as runner-up.

Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki ECSTAR’s Tyler Scott, who reached the podium for the eighth time in this, the 17-year-old’s rookie year in MotoAmerica’s hotly contested middleweight class.

Josh Herrin

“After how good of a season we’ve had, to get beat three races in a row, and not just beat but get walked away from, it hurt,” Herrin said. “Brainerd, he smoked us. Yesterday, he did really well, but unfortunately, I just chose the wrong tire. I was just beating myself up from the start of the warmup lap. I really wanted to get it today. I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence coming into the race if it was dry. I had a lot going into it if it was going to be wet, just because this morning I had really good feel. But, I looked back coming over turn five and saw a big lead and just put my head down and tried my hardest to pull a little gap. The track was pretty green, I think. The lap times were mid 44’s to low 45’s. I felt like I was pushing harder than I was in qualifying. When I ran off in turn one, I was scared. I thought for sure I was going to go down, just because it was wet out there and there was a lot of little pot holes. So, I thought I was going to hit maybe a puddle of water somewhere. But I got really lucky that I chose a good line, I guess, through the grass and was able to pull it off. Hats off to my entire team. They’ve worked super hard all year. I’m just excited to go into New Jersey, which is our home race, with a solid chance at getting the championship wrapped up.”

Luke Power powered to a seventh place finish.

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings – Top 15

Twins Cup Race 1

The REV’IT! Twins Cup race one concluded day two on the main track at Pitt Race, and MotoAmerica’s largest class of riders put a fitting crescendo on the day.

Emerging with the win in a photo finish was N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha rider Blake Davis who prevailed by a scant .053 of a second over runner-up and defending class champion Kaleb De Keyrel aboard his Veloce Racing Aprilia.

The race for the final spot on the podium was even closer between Cycle Tech Yamaha’s Hayden Schultz and Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Ben Gloddy. At the checkers, it was Schultz who snatched third place from Gloddy by just nine milliseconds.

Twins Cup Race 1 Results

Twins Cup Race 2

In a class that pits riders aboard Aprilia RS 660s versus riders aboard Yamaha YZF-R7s, it was Yamaha that swept the podium with MP13 Racing’s Cory Ventura getting his third win of the year.

N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis, who won Saturday’s race one, finished second on Sunday, while BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle was third.

Cory Ventura

“Coming into today and rolling around in the wet out there, I’m like, ‘Gosh, I just want this weekend to be over,’” Ventura said. “But, I took it one step at a time, got some great starts today and put myself right up with the leaders. I know that, from yesterday, they weren’t that much quicker than me, and I needed to learn from them and evolve very quickly, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Twins Cup Race 2 Results

Twins Cup Standings – Top 10

Junior Cup Race 1

SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one featured the close racing and multiple passes for which the class is known, and in the end, it was Alpha Omega Kawasaki’s Cody Wyman who prevailed with the win.

In the first part of the race, polesitter Wyman battled for the lead with Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio until he stabilized his position at the front and took the victory by a little more than a second.

While Rodio finished in the runner-up position, another three seconds back was Max Van who brought his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki across the finish line in third.

For Wyman, it was his sixth race win of the season, and today’s victory gives him a 38-point lead in the championship over Joseph LiMandri Jr., with just five races left in the season.

Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Junior Cup Race 2

Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman, who won Saturday’s SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one, got the double win on the weekend with a victory in Sunday’s race two. Wyman started from the pole and led every one of the 10 laps.

Rodio Racing/Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Gus Rodio finished second in a race that was mostly processional for him. The battle for third place came right down to a photo-finish between SportTrackGear.com Kawasaki rider Max Van and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov.

At the stripe, it was Yaakov who grabbed the last spot on the podium with perfectly timed pass on Van.

Cody Wyman

“It was as good as it gets, really,” Wyman said about his perfect weekend. “I think I led every session and got two wins. Army of Darkness picked me up to do the endurance race here last weekend. I think just showing that if I can get some time on the track a little bit beforehand and just get in a flow, that this is the potential some weekends that we could have. I’ve really hit a rhythm in the middle of the year. Just enjoying riding motorcycles and working with my family. Things have been pretty good. Hats off to these two. These two are some of the smartest riders in the class, and I’m privileged to share the podium with them. I wish Kayla had some better luck in the middle of the year. I think all three of us are championship worthy. Really, overall, a great weekend. Probably the best weekend I’ve had.”

Junior Cup Race 2 Results

TBA

Junior Cup Standings

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race

Sunday’s races began in the morning with Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. seven-lap sprint taking place on a slightly damp track that was the result of rain that had fallen earlier in the morning.

It looked like Kayleigh Buyck, who had won all the BTR races thus far going into Pittsburgh, was going to have her winning streak snapped by Jennifer Chancellor.

Unfortunately, Chancellor crashed out of the lead in the final turn of the final lap, and Buyck, who was in second, took the checkered flag once again.

Second place went to Crystal Martinez, who was a little more than eight seconds behind Buyck, and third went to Chloe Peterson, who was only .083 of a second behind Martinez.

Kayleigh Buyck

“Everyone thought I was going to go down,” Buyck said. “The bike was crazy. Coming down off the hill in the back, it was very wobbly. Dirt bike experience helps. I felt like I was on a Superbike when they always get crazy. I still had my rain gearing on, so it was completely off. I was hitting the rev limiter everywhere, so I was trying to balance that and be able to try to keep up with her. So, that set me back. Josh Hayes told me when he used to race that if his mechanic wrote “skirt down” that meant he was riding like a lady, and skirt up meant he was giving it hell. So, I just kept saying “skirt up” the whole time and I was able to catch up. I don’t want to take this win. That’s not how I want to get it. Hopefully (Chancellor is) all right. I saw it happening, and I was hoping she wasn’t going to go down because I think I may have had her. But with my gearing, she had way more drive than me so I think she would have gotten it either way. So, it was definitely a good race by her. Happy to be back up here with the blonde trio. They deserve it. Someone’s going to get me one of these times. I’m not ready for it, but it’s going to happen.”

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race Standings