2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Barber Motorsports Park
Superbike Race Two
After crashing out of the lead on the third lap of Saturday’s Steel Commander Superbike race one at Barber Motorsports Park, things didn’t look so good for Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier. But what a difference a day makes.
On Sunday, Beaubier doubled down, winning both Steel Commander Superbike races in the tripleheader weekend to somehow take over the lead in the championship a day after he ended it trailing Jake Gagne by 20 points.
Beaubier dominated both races with consistently fast laps that led to him winning the two races by 3.099 and 4.648 seconds, respectively.
The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion also capitalised on his championship rival’s misfortune with Attack Racing/Progressive/Yamaha’s Jake Gagne suffering with arm-pump issues in both of Sunday’s races that left him frustrated and out of the points lead. The three-time defending champion persevered through both races on Sunday, finishing eighth and seventh in the two races after finishing second on Saturday.
With two rounds and five races completed, Beaubier now leads Gagne by 13 points, 95-82, with the series heading to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in two weeks.
Beaubier’s first win on Sunday morning was the 61st of his AMA Superbike career and it put him in a tie with Josh Hayes for second on the all-time list. His win on Sunday afternoon was the 62nd of his career and it moved him out of that tie and into second place all alone. Australian Mat Mladin is the all-time leader in AMA Superbike wins with 82.
TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly had himself a day, earning the first two Superbike podiums of his rookie season in the class. The Floridian was fast all weekend with Sunday’s second- and third-place finishes on Sunday bettering his fourth-place finish from Saturday.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen was barely beaten to the finish line in race two by Kelly for second and ended up third, a day after his win in race one. In race three on Sunday, Petersen crashed out of second while keeping pace with Beaubier. The South African remounted but his YZF-R1 had a broken foot peg that forced him out of the race.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong had a good Sunday with fifth- and second-place finishes in the two races.
The two Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati riders had up-and-down Sundays, literally. Josh Herrin crashed out of race two in the morning but bounced back to finish fourth in race three. Loris Baz, meanwhile, was fourth in race two, but crashed out of race three when he was struck from behind by Manny Segura.
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim was seventh and fifth in Sunday’s two races on what is basically a Stock 1000-spec Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach had a rotten Sunday. The Kentuckian crashed in race two and pulled out of race three, suffering from the effects of his Q2 near crash and his Sunday morning race-two crash.
Xavi Forés’s debut on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki was also up and down. After finishing sixth in Saturday’s race one, the Spaniard crashed in race two and then finished sixth again in race three. His teammate Brandon Paasch was sixth and eighth, respectively, in the two races on Sunday.
With Beaubier leading the title chase by 13 over Gagne, Kelly sits third and 22 points behind Beaubier and nine behind Gagne. Fong is fourth, a further 13 behind Kelly with Petersen fifth, just two points behind Fong.
Superbike Race Two Top Ten Results
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW) +3.099s
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha) +3.150s
- Loris Baz (Ducati) +3.319s
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha) +3.542s
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki) +23.686s
- Hayden Gillim (Honda) +23.783s
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha) +29.481s
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha) +47.126s
- Max Flinders (Yamaha) +47.944s
Cameron Beaubier – Winner
“After yesterday, just in the back of my head, I just didn’t want to do something stupid. Everything went great. I got a great start like I did yesterday. My bike was just hooking up there the first four, five laps, it seemed like. I think everyone is kind of dealing with the tire drop here. It seems like it drops quite a bit, and it just stays the same. Felt really good to win by a little margin after yesterday. That was pretty frustrating after yesterday, after the weekend was going so well and then end it in a gravel trap in three laps. This next race is going to be the toughest out of all of them. These guys are going really fast. I’m sure they’re going to go back and figure some stuff out to come back swinging in the third race. Congrats to both these guys. I’m super pumped for Sean (Dylan Kelly). I know all about struggling in Europe and coming back here and just feeling success and feeling that podium again. It’s pretty cool. Same for Cam (Petersen), getting that win yesterday. It’s a pretty stacked field this year. I know we keep saying it, but it really is. It’s going to make for a good season.”
Sean Dylan Kelly – Second Place
“I wouldn’t even start by talking about being surprised or not. I just want to talk about how stoked I am to be up here right now. It’s been an amazing start to my Superbike career. We’ve been putting in a lot of work since lap one, and I’ve just felt pretty at home with this thing. The team is doing an amazing job to help me learn and just make moves forward. I obviously still have a lot to learn and adapt to. I got pretty emotional after passing that checkered flag. Last year was tough, not only for where we were and everything the last couple years, but last year with the injury and everything, I went through some pretty crappy times and some crappy weeks and months. So, to just look back at that, that was only a handful of months ago, and see where we’re at right now… it feels so good. I’m just super grateful for everyone that believed in me in the worst of times and just got me to this point. I know it’s not a win just yet, but we got to celebrate this first podium. Thank you to (Cameron) Petersen for the nice words. Obviously, it’s pretty badass for me to be sharing the podium right now with (Cameron) Beaubier, considering that we were teammates a couple years ago. I honestly look up to these guys a lot. To be here right now is absolutely badass.”
Cameron Petersen – Third Place
“I don’t want to sound like the guy making excuses, because I know we were all struggling with some rear grip towards the end there. We made a few changes from the bike yesterday. I was really struggling with the rear of the bike. Yesterday, I didn’t really have any issues with the rear coming around going into the corners, and today for whatever reason I was just struggling. But three podiums in a row, I can’t complain. Like you said, I’ve had way worse weekends than this. Just happy to be on the box again. Congrats to these two guys next to me. Congrats to SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) on his first Superbike podium. I remember what that feeling is like. I think we know what we need to work on for race three today, and we’ll go give it our best shot.”
Superbike Race Three Top Ten Results
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha) +4.648s
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW) +5.834s
- Josh Herrin (Ducati) +11.565s
- Hayden Gillim (Honda) +19.819s
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki) +20.161s
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha) +23.471s
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki) +34.441s
- Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +37.868s
- Max Flinders (Yamaha) +40.387s
Cameron Beaubier – Winner
“With Jake (Gagne), I think he’s obviously dealing with something because that’s not like Jake. He’s obviously really fast here and has had a lot of success here winning a lot of races. His struggles… we capitalized on that today. It was really good to have two strong wins today after yesterday. I’m still learning with the guys. What I like with the TC and the torque maps, stuff like that. We’re still learning about each other. I’m just really happy with my bike, really happy with my team. It’s a great group of guys. I’m just super honored to be partnered up with them. Like I said earlier, it just feels so good to start the weekend on the front foot at all these tracks we went to last year, not throwing new swing arms on in qualifying and practice and stuff, just searching for grip and chasing the Yamaha boys. This race was really tough. Cam P. got a really, really good start. I was able to get by him going into turn one. Put my head down and I would pull away a little bit, but once I got to maybe 1.5, 1.2, it stuck there, and I was looking at my dash. I kept doing 23s and I was like, this is a really fast pace and I’m not pulling. He even pulled me back a couple tenths. Once we got to halfway, I was riding as hard as I could. Then I looked at the monitor and I saw him sitting up on the back straightaway. I came by and I had whatever plus three or plus five on the board. I’m bummed for him because he was riding so good. He was making me push hard. He rode incredible this weekend, along with these guys. We keep saying it, but this Superbike field is just really stacked this year. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Bobby Fong – Second Place
“From the first race to today, we made a big change out of Charlotte’s Web, (turns) four and five. I was just losing so much ground out of there. We basically turned down the bike a little bit out of that corner. It was less lively for the second race, and I could keep up a little bit closer going into the Museum corner. It was pretty good. We always feel good at the end of the race on this bike. We always set it up pretty good with used tires. We did a lot of laps this weekend on pretty worn-out tires, so I kind of knew what to expect going into this race. These guys are fast. I’m just doing everything I could to stay with these guys. The field is stacked this year, and it’s just good to get this Wrench ADR R1 on the box and just keep on improving. Hopefully battle with this guy for the win here soon.”
Sean Dylan Kelly – Third Place
“The goal is always to be up here. It’s been a hell of a start to my superbike career. Still learning so much every time out. That pace in this second race was so, so fast the first half of the race. I really tried to keep up. (Cameron) Beaubier was opening up a little bit, and (Cameron) Petersen was trying to keep that pace and run him down. I was right behind Petersen. I even tried to pass him a couple times, but the pace was a lot. I’m happy that I was able to push through and put those 23s in, but it was definitely too much for what I had today in that race. It got a little bit complicated halfway through. Bobby (Fong) caught up. Once I saw that there was some room to behind, I was like, ‘We’ve got to make it home.’ First time for me doing two races in a day ever, since minibikes when I was eight years old. So, it’s been a while. Going to try and hit the gym a couple more times in the next couple weeks. But I’m really happy with everything I learned. Two podiums is amazing. Just super stoked with everything that I’m learning, with how we’re doing with the team, considering that it’s our first real, real time showing up. It’s been amazing, so just super pumped and looking forward to keeping it going.”
Superbike Championship Points
- Beaubier 95
- Gagne 82
- Kelly 73
- Fong 60
- Petersen 58
- Herrin 47
- Gillim 45
- Baz 43
- Beach 31
- Paasch 24
Stock 1000 Race Two
The second of two Stock 1000 races at Barber Motorsports Park featured a slugfest that went the full 14 laps. But that battle was for second place. Out front by a country mile for the second straight day was defending Stock 1000 Champion Hayden Gillim and his Real Steel Motorsports Honda CBR1000RR-R SP, with Hayden showing that if someone wants to take his title, they are going to have to step up their game.
Second place went to BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince, a day after his third-place finish in day one. Prince came out on top of his battle with FLO4LAW’s Benjamin Smith, a day after the two came together with Smith crashing out of race one.
To stay in championship contention, both Yamaha YZF-R1-mounted podium finishers know there is work to be done to keep pace with Gillim and his Honda. But, as Prince rightfully pointed out, he was 14.5 seconds behind Gillim in race one, and 10.5 seconds in race two, so there was a gain.
Fourth place on Sunday went to AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr, a big improvement over his eighth-place finish in race one. Kerr was some five seconds behind Smith and just .162 of a second ahead of OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe, who was a spot higher in the results than in race one. Uribe’s team-mate Travis Wyman was sixth with BPR Racing’s Wyatt Farris seventh.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell, and Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
With his win, Gillim became the winningest Stock 1000 racer in MotoAmerica history with his 13th victory moving him out of a tie with Andrew Lee and Corey Alexander. It also further padded his wallet with Honda contingency money.
Hayden Gillim
“It still wasn’t a great start. The wheelie control was kind of kicking in a little too much. So, it was kind of killing my drives. So, we’ll figure that out. Luckily this isn’t a very long run to turn one. It was really good. I knew if I could get to the front, the longer that these guys were able to fight with me and everything the harder it was going to be. I knew if I could try and get out front the very first lap, I knew with a good start if I was in second or so, I could try and make a run into Charlotte’s Web and get something done. I knew Gabriel (Da Silva) was going to be blocking a little bit, so I just tried to do the outside move. Tried to get him to go in a little hot, which he did, and then undercut him. It worked out. But it’s really good. The bike is working really good. Having the two bikes to run in Stock and Superbike, they’re identical bikes so I get to go out and try stuff on each bike to make the other bike better. So, it helps a lot. I’m getting a ton of track time, and that’s one key thing. I know what the track is going to be like most of the time throughout the weekend. The Steel Commander Southern Powersports Honda guys are killing it.”
Stock 1000 Race Two Top Ten Results
- Hayden Gillim – Honda
- Bryce Prince – Yamaha +10.576s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +10.961s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +15.447s
- Jayson Uribe – BMW +15.609s
- Travis Wyman – BMW +23.846s
- Wyatt Farris – Yamaha +25.443s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +25.453s
- Deion Campbell – Yamaha +26.896s
- Danilo Lewis – BMW +29.018s
Supersport Race Two
For the second straight day, Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz emerged victorious from the battle at the front of the Supersport pack and the two wins have propelled the South African into serious championship contention after two rounds and four races.
Scholtz got a better start on Sunday and was in the pack giving chase to the fast-starting Tyler Scott. Scott, however, suffered a high-speed crash on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki that left the young phenom bruised and battered. It also brought out the red flag.
On the restart, Scholtz was second behind Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen, but he was soon in the lead. Jacobsen stayed close but it was Scholtz taking his second win in a row, this one by .924 of a second. Third place went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis after finishing fifth on Saturday. It was Davis’s second podium finish of the year.
Jacobsen’s runner-up finish was his fourth straight podium to start the season, and it puts him 16 points ahead of Scholtz, 70-54.
Mathew Scholtz
“I think the second-to-last lap I did a 26.7, which actually surprised me because it didn’t feel like we were going that fast. We were tipping into corners. The bike was kind of backing in a hell of a lot. The front was really pushing. So, I think for us to be running high 26s, yesterday we would have been even faster. It was definitely greasy out there now. Obviously, well done to PJ (Jacobsen) and Blake (Davis). Hope that Tyler (Scott) is good. That was a crazy highside. I’m just really, really thankful to be back up here on the top of the box. Looking forward to the next couple races of the season. I’d just like to give a personal shout-out to the Redvanly family crew. They’ve been awesome helping us out.”
Supersport Race Two Top Ten
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +0.924s
- Blake Davis – Yamaha +1.173s
- Maxi Gerardo – Suzuki +5.306s
- Roberto Tamburini – MV +7.792s
- Stefano Mesa – Kawasaki +7.864s
- Jake Lewis – Suzuki +8.468s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +13.774s
- Torin Collins – Suzuki +13.933s
- Alfonso Linares – Suzuki +17.673s
Junior Cup
Speed Demon Racing’s Logan Gunnison liked winning Saturday’s Junior Cup race so much he opted to do it again on Sunday.
While he had a little cushion in winning on Saturday, he had no cushion on Sunday as he beat Karns Performance’s Levi Badie by just .045 of a second.
Sunday’s race featured the same podium as Saturday with second and third flipping spots. While it was New York Safety Track Racing’s Yandel Medina second on Saturday it was Badie taking the runner up on Sunday.
Seven riders battled for the lead in Sunday’s race with the top six finishers covered by less than a second.
Fourth place went to BARTCON Racing’s Eli Block with Elia Dreher, the younger sister of defending Junior Cup Champion Avery Dreher, finishing a career best fifth.
Junior Cup Top Ten Results
- Logan Cunnison
- Levi Badie +0.045s
- Yandel Medina +0.433s
- Eli Block +0.728s
- Ella Dreher +0.729s
- Matthew Chapin +0.831s
- Avery Dreher +2.906s
- Jayden Fernandez +14.556s
- Carson King +24.850s
- Ryan Barbour +25.160s
BellissiMoto Twins Cup
It was a weekend of firsts for many riders competing at Barber Motorsports Park, and 15-year-old Alessandro Di Mario was one of them. The Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia rider notched the first MotoAmerica race victory of his career in Sunday’s BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship race two. Di Mario bounced back after crashing out of the lead during Saturday’s rain-soaked race one and took the checkers by .768 of a second over hard-charging Rocco Landers, who finished second aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. Current points leader and Di Mario’s teammate Gus Rodio finished third.
Di Mario started from the pole, but Rodio overtook him for the lead until lap five of the 14-lap race when Di Mario solidified his position at the front and crossed the finish line for his breakthrough win. Meanwhile, Landers battled with Rodio and Dominic Doyle for third, and ultimately overtook Rodio on the final lap to finish as runner-up with Rodio completing the podium.
Alessandro Di Mario
“I came into the weekend really excited, I love this track. I was able to get a 28.2, which is a track record, in qualifying. My pace is really good. In yesterday’s race, I didn’t really think I was going to be that fast in the wet, but after Avery passed me, I tried to stay behind him. I was able to pass him again, and the sun came out. I couldn’t see anything in the back section of the track. So, when we got to turn three, I thought there was a little dry line but there wasn’t. So, I just lost the rear, and I was able to pick the bike up and get seventh, which I’m happy about. Today, I was kind of managing the gap a little bit. I probably could have gone a little faster, but there was really no need to. The front was sliding a lot. So, I didn’t want to take the risk. I’d say it was a pretty good weekend.”
BellissiMoto Twins Cup Top Ten
- Alessandro Di Mario – Aprilia
- Rocco Landers – Suzuki +0.768s
- Gus Rodio – Aprilia +1.709s
- Rossi Moor – Suzuki +5.120s
- Jack Roach – Yamaha +31.660s
- Cassidy Heiser – Yamaha +44.594s
- Chris Parrish – Aprilia +44.798s
- Romeo Chiavini – Aprilia +45.624
- Avery Dreher – Aprilia +45.943s
- Sean Ungvarsky – Yamaha +59.708s
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race
BTR Women Begin
The 13 women who were selected to participate in the 2024 Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. (BTR) program started their season at Barber Motorsports Park with two races on the schedule. Due to the heavy rain that on Saturday, race one was postponed until Sunday, which meant that the riders competed in race one on Sunday morning and race two on Sunday afternoon.
Defending BTR Champion Mikayla Moore extended her winning streak, with victories in both races bringing her unbeaten total to nine races in a row. The Maryland-based Moore won race one by nearly nine seconds over runner-up Camille Conrad and more than nine seconds over third-place finisher Emma Betters. In race two, the same three racers finished on the podium again, with Moore claiming her second victory of the day. Conrad and Betters swapped finishing positions in race two with Betters taking her turn as runner-up and Conrad getting third.
The most notable thing about race two was that, while Betters finished a second ahead of Conrad, Moore managed to stretch out an absolutely eye-popping lead of nearly 22 seconds during the short, six-lap race.
About her continued success, Moore said after race one, “Training during the off-season, I got to spend some time, as well, on the Royal Enfield. Then, before I came here, I actually spent some time with Evolve GT at Summit Motorsports Park in West Virginia on the ZX-6R. So, I feel like the training that led up to this point is what got me the win today.”
After race two, Moore commented, “You could tell that the track was hotter, and I experienced a little more chatter, but the bike actually felt better in the second race than it did in the first race. I challenged myself last year to do a two-hour endurance race, and I did the 67 laps. So, in terms of being able to do back-to-back races, I feel pretty confident in my endurance. It’s just really about finding a pace that you can be comfortable with, but also not pushing yourself too much.”
