Jake Gagne doubles Monterey MotoAmerica

2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  6 – Speedfest At Monterey

Images by Brian J Nelson

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One

Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne won his third straight race and his sixth of the season at the MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey, the defending series champion doing what he does best: clearing off at the start, putting down quick and consistent laps and then maintaining his lead to the finish.

While Gagne was clear at the front, the battle for second was a thriller. On the final lap, Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen held the spot going into the Corkscrew for the last time. Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci hadn’t given up on the spot and he charged up the inside of the Yamaha, did a “soft touch” that pushed Petersen off track.

Then the race was on to the bottom of the Corkscrew, ala Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, with Petersen coming back on track alongside Petrucci but with more momentum. A determined Petersen wasn’t going to lose this one and he beat Petrucci to the finish line by .280 of a second.

Petersen’s second-place finish was his seventh podium of year keeping him in fourth in series standings; and Petrucci’s ninth podium of the year sees him still atop the championship point standings, though that lead is now an anorexic two points over Gagne.

Richie Escalante had his best Superbike race of the season, the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider finishing fourth. He was 17.5 seconds behind Gagne, but over five seconds ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African battling traction problems that made his Yamaha YZF-R1 barely rideable.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera was sixth, some five seconds ahead of his teammate PJ Jacobsen. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Kyle Wyman, who was filling in for the injured Jake Lewis, had a lonely ride to eighth with Champ School BPR Yamaha’s Bryce Prince ninth in his only MotoAmerica appearance of the season.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top 10 finishers.

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two

Gagne completed a sweep of the two Medallia Superbike races in the GEICO Motorcycle MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey on Sunday, the defending series champion taking over the lead of the 2022 title chase for the first time all season in the process.

Gagne nailed the holeshot from third on the front row, put his head down and gapped the field. From there it was just a matter of putting in quick laps, getting the lead to four seconds, then maintaining a fast pace to the finish. Gagne crossed the finish line after 20 laps of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It was a signature Gagne race.

The win was Gagne’s fourth in a row and seventh this year as he’s kicked his season into high gear heading into the second half of the series. He now leads the championship by three points.

Jake Gagne – P1/P1

“Getting a holeshot makes life easy. These Yamahas are really getting off the grid good. Especially today, I was really expecting to see a front wheel come up the inside. I wanted to do everything I could to at least push the pace, try to get a few laps in and see where we’re all at. In a way, I was a little bit surprised. We made some changes this morning. We went out in warmup and kind of just rolled around and tried not to do anything crazy. The bike was better today. We got more life out of the tire. Our fastest laps were faster today. Running those 24s was a lot easier for me today. In a way, yesterday’s race was a lot more of a struggle than today. So, I’m just stoked that we made that headway. Even if we win, we’re still learning. We still need to go faster because these guys are coming. That being said, I think that is what I was stoked on, that we made progress. The bike felt good. I had a ton of fun riding around there, sliding around at this place. Even before the year, this has never been my best track. I’ve never felt like I’ve had any secrets at this place, so I kind of owe it all to the team and owe it all to this bike getting better and better and these guys working so damn hard. This is the one track I’ve always been a little nervous about. Last year the Ducati was really, really strong here. Almost beat us. We’re already halfway through the year. I’m not thinking about points. Just try to keep winning races. No matter what, all these guys deserve to be up here. Hats off to Cam (Petersen) and Danilo (Petrucci) putting on a show. Yesterday I saw that corkscrew once I got back to the hotel last night. That was wild. Hats off to everybody. It’s good to see a great turnout here too.”

Although the podium was the same as in yesterday’s race one, the results were different with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci turning the tables on Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen in race two, the pair finishing second and third, respectively.

Although he went one better than yesterday, Petrucci’s runner-up finish wasn’t enough to keep Gagne at bay and the Yamaha man now leads the championship by three points, 215-212, marking the first time since the season began in Texas that Petrucci isn’t the championship leader.

For the second day in a row, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Superbike rookie Richie Escalante showed why he was picked by Suzuki to make the move to Superbike. Escalante ran third for a few laps before giving way to Petersen and Westby Racing Mathew Scholtz, his pace impressing both riders.

When Scholtz crashed out of the race, Escalante inherited fourth and held it to the finish for the second straight day. He finished 17.9 seconds behind Gagne a day after finishing 17.5 seconds behind Gagne, but the race winner’s pace was faster in race two (28:17.534 to 28:19.887). An impressive weekend for the former MotoAmerica Supersport Champion.

With Scholtz a non-finisher, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera improved by a position over yesterday’s sixth place with the Spaniard ending up fifth on Sunday. He was some eight seconds ahead of his teammate PJ Jacobsen at the finish.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Kyle Wyman was eighth in his fill-in ride for the injured Jake Lewis, the New Yorker beating his brother Travis to the finish line by some four seconds.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was ninth, shadowing his teammate Travis Wyman to the end and losing out by just .247 of a second. ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony finished 10th after beating Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim to the checkered flag.

So, with 12 races in the books, Gagne leads Petrucci by three points, 215-212. Petersen’s third-place finish combined with Scholtz’s non-finish swaps the two South Africans with Petersen now third with 175 points to Scholtz’s 170. Barbera is fifth with 122 points.

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 1

The Yuasa Stock 1000 class had one race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and polesitter Alexander made the most of it.

The Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW rider expected a close battle at the front, but it never materialised, and Alexander led the 14-lap race from start to finish.

The New Yorker’s gap at the checkered flag was nearly five seconds over second-place finisher Champ School BPR Racing Yamaha rider Bryce Prince, the former MotoAmerica regular returning to the paddock just for the Laguna Seca round.

Disrupt Racing Suzuki’s Gillim, who is second to Alexander in the point standings, finished third.

YUASA Stock 1000 Race 1 Results – Top 15

YUASA Stock 1000 Standings

Supersport Race 1

After suffering a crash that was not his fault in Supersport final qualifying, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin bounced back in a big way, notching his sixth win of the season and third victory in a row in the afternoon’s race.

Keeping Herrin honest for the majority of the 19-lap race was polesitter Tyler Scott, the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider hounding Herrin, but eventually finishing second and a little over one-and-a-half seconds adrift of him.

Rocco Landers finished third on his Landers Racing Yamaha to make it three different motorcycle brands on the podium.

Aussie Luke Power was sixth, behind Olmedo and Smith.

Supersport Race 1 Results

Supersport Race 2

Supersport race two was a repeat of the same podium as race one on Saturday. Once again, championship leader Josh Herrin prevailed with the win aboard his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V2. Herrin overtook polesitter Tyler Scott on the opening lap and maintained his position at the front all the way to the checkered flag.

Aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, Scott hung tight with Herrin for a while, but the gap widened as the laps wound down, and Scott ultimately crossed the finish line about two and a half seconds behind Herrin. Once again, Rocco Landers put his Landers Racing Yamaha on the podium in third.

Josh Herrin

“I was nervous going into the race today, a lot more than I was yesterday. That crash yesterday, I didn’t feel it yesterday and then this morning, like I predicted, I woke up and was not pumped to come to the track today. This morning in warmup, I was stressed because Tyler was going really fast. I had a little pep talk with Eraldo Ferracci, and he got me fired up before the race and it seemed to work. I didn’t have the pace in the beginning. Tyler was quicker than me. I don’t know if yesterday maybe they were on the harder tire because they couldn’t make that one last. It seemed like today he was very quick at the beginning and wanted to try and get out. So, maybe the softer tire was good for a few laps for them. Mine seemed to be pretty good the whole race. It was greasy for sure, but it was about the same the entire race. I was able to do consistent 27’s. We had a really good battle at the beginning. I don’t know how many lead changes there were right there at the beginning, but it was cool. Got my heart rate going and got me fired up. A little bit of contact one time coming out of turn four. Just had fun the rest of the race. Just tried to put my head down. Really happy about the weekend. Huge shout-out to Medallia for title sponsoring this weekend. It’s cool having outside industry sponsors like that, not only to sponsor the series but be a big sponsor for us. It’s very rare that you have a company that huge where Leslie, the owner, comes to the races. Very excited to have them on board.”

Young Aussie Luke Power was a DNF in race two, but now sits sixth in the standings. Herrin leads on 224-points, with Scott on 143-points, and Rocco Landers on 138.

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings – Top 15

Twins Cup Race 1

Saturday wrapped up with Twins Cup, which like Stock 1000, was their only race of the weekend.

Cory Ventura, who podiumed twice at Laguna Seca in Supersport last year, proved that the home of the Corkscrew is home sweet home for him as he took the checkered flag in Twins Cup aboard his MP13 Racing Yamaha for his first win this season.

N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha’s Blake Davis finished second for his best finish since winning the first Twins Cup race of the season at Daytona this past March. Polesitter Kaleb De Keyrel, who started on the pole, rounded out the podium in third aboard his Veloce Racing Aprilia.

Twins Cup Race 1 Results

Twins Cup Standings – Top 10

Junior Cup Race 1

Saturday’s SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race had a lot of drama with a couple of crashes changing the way things finished.

In fact, one of the crashes involving SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki’s Max Van and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki’s Kayla Yaakov led to a red flag with two laps left to go, and the race was called.

Van’s teammate Joseph LiMandri Jr. took the victory by .513 of a second over Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman. Bicknese Racing Kawasaki’s Hayden Bicknese was third, the Missouri-based rider celebrating his 16th birthday a few days early with his first MotoAmerica podium.

Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Junior Cup Race 2

In SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman notched his fourth win of the season, took over the championship lead and now has an 18-point gap over Gus Rodio in second.

Meanwhile, Rodio finished as runner-up aboard his Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing Kawasaki. Third place went to T3 Racing Kawasaki’s Daniel Lanuza, the California competing in his first-ever MotoAmerica weekend. The race was red-flagged due to crashed riders and shortened to five laps.

Cody Wyman

“Definitely good to be in the front couple bikes,” Wyman said. “I had a feeling that I might have been out front and had a little gap, maybe something happened. Things can get pretty wild in this class, but the racing is awesome. It’s usually pretty clean. The talent level is pretty promising for all these guys and girls. Stoked for a second (in yesterday’s) and a first (today). I like Brainerd. I’ve got to figure out the bike for the last two rounds because I missed those rounds last year. Looking forward to moving on.”

Junior Cup Race 2 Results

Junior Cup Standings

Super Hooligan National Championship

Sunday’s races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca started in a big way with the final race in Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan National Championship.

Their event featured an entertaining grid of naked motorcycles from several brands, including two electric bike manufacturers.

The victory went to Roland Sands Design Indian rider Tyler O’Hara, who also clinched the Hooligan Championship with his win.

O’Hara had a good battle with his teammate Jeremy McWilliams, who finished second despite giving O’Hara all he had. Saddlemen/Lloyd’z Garage rider Cory West finished third to make it an all-Indian podium.

Super Hooligan Results

Super Hooligan National Championship Standings

TBA