Gagne beats Petrucci to MotoAmerica Title | Luke Power on podium in SS

2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round  10 – Barber Motorsports Park

Images by Brian J. Nelson

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One

After earning pole position during the morning session with a new lap record, Gagne did what Gagne does in the race. He took off at the start and was never headed, flanked initially by his wingman on the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha team, Cameron Petersen and ultimately followed home by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

At the end of 20 laps of the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park, Gagne had his 12th win of the season and the 29th of his AMA Superbike career by 5.43 seconds over Scholtz. Scholtz had been on the move early, chasing Petersen until his fellow South African crashed on the sixth lap.

From there, Scholtz went into points-scoring mode as those two will battle for third in the championship in tomorrow’s finale with only four points separating them. Petersen, meanwhile, remounted and scored seven valuable points for finishing ninth.

Gagne’s run to the championship was made easier with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci struggling with a fourth-place finish after being stung with a jump-start penalty of five seconds. The penalty, however, was later overturned on appeal by Petrucci’s team and overturned at roughly 6:30 p.m., giving Petrucci third on the day.

Jake Gagne – P1

“It did (go to plan). Obviously, I keep saying it, but I knew if we could get a win today – I knew these Yamahas were going good. I knew PJ (Jacobsen) was going good. I knew if we could get a little bit of a points spread, everybody would sleep a little bit easier tonight. I’m glad. I think you mentioned, we got a 16-point lead going into tomorrow, so that makes life a little easier. But anything can still happen. It’s still racing. But I got off to a good start. Made one big mistake up over the hill. Almost ran off the track. Then I could see my pit board and I knew Cam (Petersen) was in second. Then he kind of charged back to me. Then all of a sudden, I had that two-second gap, so I saw that he wasn’t on the big screen anymore so he must have went down, which was a bummer. Hats off to Mat (Scholtz) and PJ. These guys both did me a little bit of a favor today and got me some points. Like I said, I think we’ll sleep a little easier tonight knowing we’ve got 16 points (now 13 points). But anything can still happen. It could rain. It’s motorcycle racing. We’ve just got to try to do the same thing tomorrow and get off to a good start, avoid any drama and try to bring this thing home for the team.”

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen was originally credited with third place but the change in the official results moved him back a spot to fourth.

While Gagne pocketed 25 points for winning, Petrucci earned 16 points for finishing third. That gives Gagne a 13-point advantage going into Sunday’s final race of the year.

Fifth place on Saturday went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera, giving the BMW team two riders in the top five. Barbera was some nine seconds ahead of the Hayden Gillim/Jake Lewis scrap for sixth.

That spot went to Disrupt Racing’s Gillim over fellow Kentuckian Lewis and his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki by just .059 of a second.

RelatedPosts

Kenny Roberts starts Talent Cup team with Flat Track star

November 8, 2024

MotoAmerica Superbike, Supersport and Superstock action from NJMP

September 30, 2024

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander, Petersen and ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounded out the top-five finishers.

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two

Jake Gagne won 17 races last year en route to his first MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. This season, Gagne won 12 – five fewer races – to take the title, including missing out on the season final win. Yet, this championship means more than the first, he says.

Jake Gagne

“Last year was cool winning all those races and taking home the championship, but this one feels good to bring it all the way down to the last race. It was just incredible. It was amazing being able to race with Danilo (Petrucci). That guy is a world-class racer. Like I said down there, I don’t think there has ever been anybody that I wanted to beat more, just because of his resume. He’s a MotoGP guy, a MotoGP winner. I don’t know how many of those we’ve had here in the States, so I wanted to do right and protect the home turf here and bring this MotoAmerica Championship home with an American.”

On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Gagne finished second to his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Cameron Petersen and that earned him a second successive Superbike title. The runner-up finish on Sunday put a ribbon on Gagne’s season that featured 12 wins and 14 total podiums in 20 races.

The race went perfectly for the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing team as Petersen led Gagne for the duration, the pair flying in formation until Gagne backed it down in the final laps.

Petersen took his second win of the season, his third career victory, and his first in dry conditions at his favorite track by 3.1 seconds over Gagne.

Cameron Petersen – Winner

“Like Jake said, I really wanted to win one, especially after yesterday. But those first few laps, I was a little bit nervous to push like I had been in the past days this weekend. So, honestly, the pace wasn’t that fast, and I think that’s why some of those other guys, like Danilo (Petrucci), were able to stay there a little bit longer. I just tried to hit my marks the whole race because that’s what I did yesterday. I just got excited and started making mistakes. So, I really just tried to focus on hitting my marks, not making any stupid mistakes. Jake (Gagne) can say what he wants, but I think he gave that one to me. It’s pretty nice having a teammate like that. I knew he had pace. He’s had great pace all weekend. He had some funky stuff going on in the race there. Nonetheless, I got a win. I finally got one in the dry. I’m so happy. I can’t thank the team enough. They’ve done an amazing job all year. I’ve never had so much fun racing a motorcycle in my life. I’m really looking forward to the off-season and coming into next year on the same motorcycle, same crew, same team. I think it’s going to be good. Congrats to JG on the championship. He deserves it. The guy is unreal on a motorcycle and just a gem of a human being. He deserves this. And congrats to PJ (Jacobsen). I think he should have had two of these this weekend. I’m glad he got one today and I hope I see him on the grid next year, because he definitely deserves to be here. He’s one of the guys.”

Third place went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen with the New Yorker passing Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci in the last corner on the last lap. It was a fitting finish for Jacobsen, who lost out on third in Saturday’s race one when Petrucci’s jump-start penalty was reversed after the team’s appeal was upheld.

Jake Gagne – P2

“After yesterday’s win, having a little bit of a gap going into today, I did sleep a little. It still took me a while to fall asleep last night, honestly. Just running over what could happen and hoping that it was dry. Until the last second. Thirty minutes before the race it was like, wet or dry? It was kind of nerve-racking. I’m stoked we got it done. I wouldn’t have asked for a better year. Last year was cool winning all those races and taking home the championship, but this one feels good to bring it all the way down to the last race. It was just incredible. It was amazing being able to race with Danilo (Petrucci). That guy is a world-class racer. Like I said down there, I don’t think there has ever been anybody that I wanted to beat more, just because of his resume. He’s a MotoGP guy, a MotoGP winner. I don’t know how many of those we’ve had here in the States, so I wanted to do right and protect the home turf here and bring this MotoAmerica championship home with an American. Thanks to the team. It was crazy. Today’s race was kind of crazy, but we made it to the finish.”

PJ Jacobsen – P3

“When we first started the race there, I was a little nervous because I had a lot of moments this morning because the track was so green from that little bit of rain. So, I was a little nervous on just leaning the bike so hard. But they were in front of me, and I just kept pushing and pushing. (Danilo) Petrucci and Scholtz were right there, and I just kept catching them and catching them. Then they got into a little bit of a battle there. Then I passed (Mathew) Scholtz and then just kind of went for Petrucci. Then I just sat there with five laps to go, and I knew where I was going to pass him. I passed him just going into the last corner and I knew that he was not going to expect that. So, that’s how it was. It was kind of a little bit of a redemption for yesterday. I really wanted to beat him. That was one thing, for sure.”

Jacobsen beat Petrucci to the line by .206 of a second.

Fifth place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African racing with Petrucci early on before fading. He was some seven seconds adrift of the Italian at the finish and 3.2 seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.

Next up was Escalante’s teammate Jake Lewis with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider topping Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Kyle Wyman was ninth with his teammate Hector Barbera rounding out the top 10.

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

YUASA Stock 1000 Race

The Yuasa Stock 1000 started off Saturay, and it was the final race of the year for MotoAmerica’s litrebike Stock riders.

With the championship already decided in Corey Alexander’s favour two weekends ago at New Jersey Motorsports Park, this race was all about just taking the chequered flag and standing on the top of the podium with a win.

That win went to Disrupt Racing Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim, which was his fifth victory of the season. Gillim, who started from the pole position, got the holeshot and was never headed.

At the chequered flag, the Kentuckian had stretched out his lead to more than eight-and-a-half seconds. Second place went to Vision Wheel/Discount Tire/KWS Honda rider Geoff May who withstood a near highside on the way to his runner-up result.

Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing Andrew Lee completed the podium in third aboard his Suzuki.

Hayden Gillim

“It was a really good year, we had a couple little things that kind of kept us from really fighting for it until the end, but over the past two years, I haven’t raced full-time. Last year, I did Baggers three rounds and then the year before that the only thing I did was the one Bagger race at Laguna at the end of the season. So, it was really good to come back into it and be able to do what we were able to do as a team. Myself, I came back after two years away. Disrupt Racing team member Mark Junge came back after being out for ten years or nine years or something like that. Saw him pull out of retirement. It took us a little while to get our feet under us. It took me a little while to get my head up to speed and be able to process what was going on with the bike and being able to relay that to the guys. That’s something that you lose, being away for a little bit. The past three rounds, everything started clicking. I was able to start feeling things with the bike that I haven’t felt in a long time. Being able to relay that to them and then being able to turn it into a great bike underneath me has been a lot of fun. Getting to do so many laps in Stock 1000 and Superbike has been a freaking blast. It helps me every weekend having that many laps under my belt. This week on Monday, my son turns one year old. The wife has been crying about that. She’s upset we’ve got a big boy now. The team got me a little tribute helmet to it, a little tribute to Nicky (Hayden) and then got some pictures of me and (wife) Summer and (son) Stone at Virginia on the podium. A little picture of me and Stone on there. So, it’s pretty cool for them to do that. It’s been a really good year. I’m glad that they were able to bring me on board.”

YUASA Stock 1000 Race Results

YUASA Stock 1000 Standings

Supersport Race 1

The 2022 Supersport Championship had also been decided at New Jersey Motorsports Park, with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin clinching the title, so the final two races of the Supersport season were also all about pride.

In race one, Herrin started from the pole and chose softer-compound Dunlop tires than Landers Racing Yamaha’s Rocco Landers did. With better grip than Landers had at the beginning of the race, Herrin was in the lead and looked to be headed for a dominant win.

However, Landers’ strategy paid off. As Herrin’s tires wore and lost some of their grip, Landers closed the gap and overtook him for the lead. Herrin hung tight to Landers, however, and Mesa37 Racing Kawasaki’s Stefano Mesa also joined the battle for the win.

At the chequered flag, it was Landers who got the win over Herrin by just .364 of a second. Mesa finished third, but only .061 of a second behind Herrin.

Rocco Landers

“I definitely made a gamble, that’s for sure, it definitely paid off. If you asked me an hour ago if I thought I’d win the race, there’s a slim chance, I felt like. But it worked. Josh (Herrin) is one of the toughest people I’ve ever raced against, and whenever I throw a shot, he immediately takes a stab back. It’s actually really fun. I enjoy it. Same with Stefano (Mesa). Just love racing with these guys. They’re super-aggressive. It’s super-awesome.”

Unfortunately for Aussie Luke Power it was a disappointing start to the weekend, recording a DNF in Race 1.

Supersport Race 1 Results

Supersport Race 2

Rain showers during the day on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park played a factor in Supersport race two as some of the riders made the decision to use rain tires on the damp track while others chose slicks and gambled that the track would dry out enough as the race wound down to yield faster lap times.

It was an interesting dichotomy in team strategies, but in the end, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin, who chose rain tires, was able to run a fast pace from beginning to end, and even with the track almost fully dry by the time the chequered flag flew.

Herrin, the recently crowned class champion, won the 15-lap race by a whopping margin of nearly 18 seconds over 3D Motorsports LLC Suzuki rider Luke Power, who finished second for the Australian’s second podium of the season. VisionWheel M4 Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was third.

Josh Herrin – P1, 2022 Supersport Champion

“Last year, I decided to go dries, slicks in a moment like this, but it was even a little bit wetter. It was the worst decision I ever made in racing. No matter how dry it looked out there, I wasn’t putting the slicks on. I was just going to go rain and cross my fingers. It was a really good race, though. I’m happy to be up here. It’s the best way possible to finish the season, especially a championship-winning season when Rocco (Landers) was coming on strong at the end. Mentally, I think if you can win the last race, I feel like it helps a lot going into the next year. You’ve got six, seven months to sit and think about everything. Happy to be up here. I wasn’t expecting to get the win, for sure. In the warmup in the wet, I had a couple moments. Even on the warmup lap of the race, I had a moment. I was really nervous, but things just went our way. When Rocco and Stefano (Mesa) came by on the slicks, I was a little nervous. I waved Stefano by because I saw how fast he was coming up. I thought for sure he was going to catch us, but we got lucky and we were able to hold him off. So, super happy.”

The podium result means seventeen-year-old Power from Australia is classified fifth overall, an impressive result considering he had no prior knowledge of the circuits, tyres, or the motorcycle he would campaign.

A technical issue on the opening day saw Luke miss valuable track time following an FP1 spill. He salvaged a fourth row of the grid start in second qualifying before another technical issue threatened to put him out of Saturday’s opening race on the sighting lap. Able to start the race, albeit on the back row of the grid, Luke passed half of the field on the first lap before a second crash cut short his hopes of another front running race.

Luke will now head to Europe for two weeks of off-track promotion, including a visit to the final European round of the FIM Superbike World Championship in Portugal. Details of his 2023 plans will be announced in due course.

Luke Power – P2

“What a weekend. I have no words. It has been such an up and down weekend, the toughest of my entire life. We had electronic issues, two crashes and so to finish on the podium yesterday and to be top five in my first year in the US is just unbelievable. I made a mistake in race one after we had a tech issue on the sighting lap, and I am sorry to Sam (Lochoff) as we both went down. Today in warm up I wasn’t really feeling that confident but then we had a short session before the race, and I felt comfortable. I knew in the race I would have to manage the tyres and that was my plan. The target was to end the season with the best result I could, and the podium was just the icing on the cake. By the time I moved into second I could see that Josh (Herrin) was too far and I decided to just focus on hitting my marks and not making any mistakes. I want to thank 3D Motorsports for their support this year, all my sponsors, my manager, and my mam and dad for everything they continue to do for me and for letting me race motorcycles. Finally, I want to thank everyone at MotoAmerica for making my first year in the series such a memorable one. I am off to Europe now and really excited to be going to Portimão to check out the World Superbike paddock before heading home with a smile after ending the season in such a good way.”

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings – Top 15

Twins Cup Race

The REV’IT! Twins Cup riders had their final race of the season on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, and the championship was still in the balance.

Sixteen-year-old Virginia-based rider Blake Davis finished fourth and clinched the season championship aboard his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha.

Meanwhile, last year’s Twins Cup season champion Kaleb De Keyrel won the race, which was, surprisingly, he first victory of the year.

The Veloce Racing Aprilia rider started from the pole, was never headed in the nine-lap race, and took the checkered flag with a lead of more than three-and-a-half seconds over Robem Engineering Aprilia rider Teagg Hobbs in second. Hobbs’ teammate Ben Gloddy finished third and only .141 of a second behind Hobbs.

Blake Davis – 2022 Twins Cup Champion

“I felt pretty comfortable out there. It was great. Towards the end of the race, the rear started sliding around a lot, so I decided I was just going to back off and not risk it. They rode an amazing race, obviously. All year, I just felt like I was consistent, and I felt like that’s what helped me out the most. I was just having fun (today). I race best when I’m having fun, so that’s all I was going out there to do. Just have some fun, that’s the reason I race.”

Kaleb De Keyrel – P1

“Not really surprised at all, man. The Twins Cup class really stepped it up this year. We’ve been going a second to two seconds faster per lap at every single track we went to. I improved as a rider every single track, as well. Results on paper, it wasn’t the season I wanted, but as far as me improving as a rider, I went faster at every single track we went to. So, I’m going to hold my head high with that and just keep working hard and keep putting my head down and try to put on performances like today. Everything was clicking. Everything was feeling really good.”

Twins Cup Race Results

Twins Cup Standings – Top 10

Junior Cup Race 1

Saturday’s race one in the Junior Cup ensured that the championship was to be decided in race two at Barber Motorsports Park.

Championship leader Cody Wyman started from the pole, but his lead was short-lived as Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio overtook Wyman on the opening lap.

Rodio was then overtaken by Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov, and the battle for the lead was on between Rodio and Yaakov. And then, as seems to happen in most of the Junior Cup races, especially this season, “the shuffle” was on among the lead riders.

Yaakov made a strategic and gutsy pass for the lead on the final lap, and at the finish line, the Pennsylvanian prevailed by half a bike length over Bauce Racing/JL62 Team’s Joe LiMandri Jr. who stalked the leaders until the end of the final lap, then put himself in the runner-up position over third-place Rodio and very nearly won the race.

Kayla Yaakov

“I honestly didn’t think it was going to work. I saw when I was sandwiched in-between them, I knew Joe (LiMandri) was either going to drift out and try to kind of block pass me in, or Gus (Rodio) was going to close on me, or Joe was going to hold it and square it up for the next corner, which I think he was trying to do because I saw him right next to me. I went up on the curbing coming out of the chicane, and I knew I had a good run. That’s what I was setting up for from the beginning of the museum (turn). I knew if I got a good run out of there, I was going to try to be able to make a good lunge, either going into 11, or if I had to, the last corner. We made it happen. I’m really happy with it. Going to the finish line, I hadn’t really been in a position behind anyone for too long coming out of the last corner. When I was behind Gus going into the last corner, I made some small mistakes on the curbing. So, I was just planning if someone got a perfect drive and they wanted to go on one side, just to try to break the draft a little bit. Obviously, in the end, I saw he went on the other side, but either way, it worked out.”

Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Junior Cup Race 2

SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup’s final race of the season was also the final race of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, and Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman played his cards exactly right with no room for error.

He finished eighth in the race, which was just enough for him to clinch the championship with a tie in points but winning the tiebreaker on more wins. The rider who Wyman tied with on points was the same rider who won Sunday’s race: Rodio Racing Kawasaki’s Gus Rodio.

The New Jerseyan did all he could to wrap up the title with his last-race victory, but he couldn’t overcome the advantage that Wyman had in total season wins. Second place went to Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov, and in third place was Team ISO Kawasaki’s Ryoto Ogiwara.

Cody Wyman – 2022 Junior Cup Champion

“It’s always tough. All these guys and girls are just absolutely sending it on these 400s. The class has been so good. MotoAmerica did such a good job with the rules. The racing is, I think, the best races of the weekend. They’re a lot of fun to be a part of. I feel like I did the work during the season, to have a bit more of a relaxed, although stressful, final weekend. I’m just really happy to be able to wrap this thing up and maybe get some sleep tonight. Just shout out to Lenny from K-Tech. He has had some health issues. We’re thinking about you, man.”

Gus Rodio – P1

“Having experience now with a close championship and stuff like this, I to be honest would rather go in 20 points down than 20 points up. I don’t know what was going through Cody’s head, but I was pretty chill all weekend and I knew what I had to do. It’s unfortunately yesterday that that happened, but you can’t really look back and say, if this didn’t happen… We thought it was over after Brainerd, a couple DNF’s. We came into Jersey 50 points down. Came into here 20 points down, and we tied up the championship. Six-race podium streak, which coming into the season, that’s more podiums than I have ever gotten. So, to have that in a row is amazing.”

Junior Cup Race 2 Results

Junior Cup Standings

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race

Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. program wrapped up at Barber Motorsports Park, and Kayleigh Buyck won the final race of the season while also clinching the season championship at the same time. Coming home second was Chloe Peterson while Crystal Martinez rounded out the podium in third.

Kayleigh Buyck – 2022 Royal Enfield Build Train Race Champion

“I psyched myself out trying to do a lot of math. I knew it was going to be close after Jersey, so I just put my head down and came into this weekend. I wanted to have fun. It’s been a stressful season. Everyone has been kicking butt the whole time. I wanted to win the whole race, but I knew if I at least finished decent, I’d hopefully be able to lock it in. Locking in the championship winning the last race is definitely the way to end the perfect season.”

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race Standings