Beaubier and Gagne share the wins at Road Atlanta

2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round One – Road Atlanta

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Superbike Race 1

Cameron Beaubier picked up where he left off three years ago on Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion winning the first race of his comeback season in a straight fight with two-time and defending champion Jake Gagne.

Beaubier’s .340-of-a-second victory over Gagne marked the 55th AMA Superbike win of his career and his first on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR. It was Beaubier’s first MotoAmerica race since his championship-winning 2020 season and his two years of competing in the Moto2 World Championship.

Beaubier’s win was also the first in the Superbike class for the Tytlers team and the first AMA Superbike win for BMW in 45 years, dating back to Harry Klinzmann’s victory in 1978 at Bryar Motorsports Park in New Hampshire.

When Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Gagne threw down his usual blindingly fast opening two laps and pulled a gap on the pack, which was led by Beaubier, it looked to be a case of déjà vu from the past two years: Gagne gets great start, Gagne pulls away, Gagne wins.

However Beaubier had other ideas and he put his head down and went after his former teammate, closing the gap until catching and passing Gagne on the seventh of 19 laps.

From there the two ran in formation with Beaubier leading and Gagne tucked in behind and the battle went to the finish with five-time champ Beaubier beating two-time champ Gagne to the finish line by a scant .340 of a second.

Cameron Beaubier

“When I saw Jake (Gagne) riding away at the beginning, I was like, ‘Oh, man. It’s going to be a long race.’ I knew the guys behind us weren’t far off in practice and qualifying. Then I just kept my head down, kept pushing, kept pushing. Jake started coming back to me slowly. Honestly, the Tytlers’ BMW works really, really good on fresh rubber. I was just trying to utilize the strengths of the bike once I was able to get by Jake. That’s the power down the straightaway, and it brakes really good. It’s stable on the brakes. I was trying to do my best, but I was struggling so bad with grip there the second half of the race. I was doing everything I could just to keep Jake behind me. I was coming down the front straightaway and I was looking at Jake’s board and I saw the gap shrinking. I was like, ‘Man.’ I didn’t have anything left. I was riding as hard as I could. Same thing with me. I was pumping up a little bit in the first section. This place is a freaking handful on a big bike. But it feels so good to get this first win for Tytlers BMW. All those guys have been working so hard, sunup to sundown in Florida building the bikes, getting us ready to race for the season. Like I said, we didn’t know what to expect coming in, but at the same time, we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground. I know how good this guy is (Gagne). He’s incredible. He’s been stomping everyone the last couple years, and us all weekend until it came race time. I know his level. Just going to keep doing our thing. Hopefully, get some more grip out of this thing over race distance and just keep our heads down.”

Behind them came a race-long battle between Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, in his Superbike debut for the team, and Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen – the South African returning to action after his horrific qualifying crash from Friday afternoon.

Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was also in the fight early on before eventually finishing fifth, 1.7 seconds behind Petersen, who was beaten to the line by Herrin by .206 of a second. The pair fighting for third actually closed in on the Beaubier/Gagne duel in the final laps with Herrin just 1.9 seconds behind Beaubier at the end of 19 laps.

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Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was sixth, some nine seconds ahead of his teammate Toni Elias in what was the Spaniard’s first race in over a year.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander was eighth with Wrench Motorcycles’ David Anthony and Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim rounding out the top 10 finishers.

Three riders failed to finish the race, including Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen who crashed early in the race. Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates, meanwhile, failed to start the race after encountering mechanical problems with the team’s BMW.

Superbike Race 1 Results

Superbike Race 2

Four riders battled to the bitter end on Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in what was the most exciting Medallia Superbike race in recent memory.

When the smoke cleared after 15 intense laps it was defending two-time Superbike Champion Jake Gagne crossing the finish line first on his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1, just half a second ahead of yesterday’s winner Cameron Beaubier on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR.

Just prior to the finish, it was anybody’s race when the four ran together down the backstraight and through the 180-mph kink when Beaubier’s line pushed him wide and nearly forced Josh Herrin off the track. That left a giant hole between Beaubier and Herrin to go through, and Gagne went through it.

Herrin recovered but couldn’t get his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati stopped for the chicane and his off-track excursion allowed Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz to pass him, putting Scholtz third and Herrin fourth at the finish line. Scholtz was .850 of a second behind Gagne with Herrin some two seconds behind after getting his Panigale V4 R back on track.

The win was Gagne’s first of the season and the 30th MotoAmerica Superbike victory of his career and it put him into a tie with Beaubier at the top of the championship standings after one round and two races. The pair both have 45 points with the series heading to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, May 19-21.

Jake Gagne

“Got off to another good start, and me and Cam (Beaubier)… those first couple laps, five or six laps, Cam knew I wanted to push the pace. Any opportunity Cam could to shove it in me and he was great going into (turn) 10A. I was struggling big time down into there, so he passed me a bunch of times there. We were side by side through one, through 10A, 10B a couple times. So, it was fun battling. I haven’t had that close of racing in a while. Those first couple laps, I kind of forgot about everybody else. I wasn’t even looking at my pit board. I thought it was just kind of me and Cam. Then all of a sudden, midway through, Herrin comes by, and I still see plus zero. So, I didn’t know if it was (Mathew) Scholtz behind us, but somebody was. So, I’m like, ‘We’ve got a whole pack here.’ The bike was awesome. My drives are awesome. I was still struggling on the brakes, but I think that was just because of me and after a couple laps, I was really pumped up. So, I kind of tried to just chill and relax and tried to just breathe and watch what those guys were doing a little differently and watch them battle each other. For the last lap, it was hard to really have a plan. Obviously, both of those bikes were really fast and really strong down into 10 through the kink. So, I was kind of just hoping for the best. I figured maybe they both would have a little braking battle in there and I could drive up under the bridge, but it was nuts. The seas parted and I just shot down the center of them, and from then on out, I led into 10A. Like I said, my bike was really good driving up over the hill and just protected the inside line. It was fun. That was really fun racing, close racing. I haven’t had stuff like that in a lot of years, actually. Racing with guys like this that I’ve spent my whole career racing with all these guys, so it was fun. I’m sure we put on a good show. Again, I think luck was on my side a little bit with those guys coming together, for sure. But I’m glad everybody stayed on track because that’s scary. 180 miles an hour something scary could happen there. So, I’m just glad we all brought it home. Good start to the year. We scored points in the first two races, so I can’t complain.”

Scholtz and the Westby Racing crew worked hard over the course of the weekend and the South African said they’d made huge progress over the course of the three days. He was rewarded with a podium finish on Sunday.

Herrin was also happy on Sunday afternoon, despite missing out on the podium. The two races were just his second and third outings on the new Ducati Panigale V4 R and he landed on the podium in Saturday’s race.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was fifth on Sunday, some three seconds ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen and his teammate Corey Alexander.

The returning Toni Elias was eighth on the second Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000 with Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates and Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim rounding out the top 10.

Notably missing from the results was Gagne’s Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha teammate Cameron Petersen. The South African’s difficult weekend ended early when his Yamaha YZF-R1 caught fire just a few laps into the race.

With Gagne and Beaubier tied atop the standings with 45 points, Herrin is third with 29 points, two ahead of Scholtz and eight ahead of Escalante.

Superbike Race 2 Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

Stock 1000 Race 1

Ezra Beaubier had never finished on the podium in any of the MotoAmerica classes he’d dabbled in. Not KTM RC Cup, not Stock 600, not Supersport. Last year, Beaubier raced in Superbike and Stock 1000 with a best finish of fifth in Stock 1000.

On Saturday at Road Atlanta that all changed as Beaubier didn’t resemble a first-time winner as he withstood constant pressure from the likes of Travis Wyman and Geoff May to win his first career MotoAmerica race on his Orange Cat Racing BMW M 1000 RR without putting a wheel wrong.

Beaubier, who made a break for it when the lead trio encountered traffic, bested Wyman by 2.7 seconds with May another half a second behind in third at the end of the 13-lap race.

Stock 1000 Race 2

Ezra Beaubier admitted surprise that he won his first career Stock 1000 race on Saturday. On Sunday, the youngest of the two Beaubier brothers came back to Road Atlanta filled with the confidence of a race winner.

And he turned all of that into a second win in a row on his Orange Cat Racing BMW M 1000 RR, this time over Geoff May Racing’s Geoff May by six seconds with the 25-year veteran of the sport announcing his retirement from racing this weekend.

Taylor Knapp Racing’s Taylor Knapp put his BMW on the podium with an impressive ride to third, 6.2 seconds behind Beaubier and two seconds ahead of fifth-placed Kaleb De Keyrel. De Keyrel was running second and right behind his Orange Cat Racing teammate Beaubier when he got into turn 12 too hot on the final lap and ran straight, losing three places to May, Knapp and fourth-placed Travis Wyman.

Beaubier’s perfect 50 points puts him 14 points ahead of May and 17 clear of Travis Wyman.

Stock 1000 Race 1 Results

Stock 1000 Race 2 Results

Stock 1000 Standings

Junior Cup Race 1

The Junior Cup race featured your typical Junior Cup race with a horde of racers battling to the bitter end. This one was a bit different than last year’s version in that the names were mostly different as a new class of youngsters settled in at the front with last year’s best moving on to other classes.

Avery Dreher was the best of the new crop on Saturday with the Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki-mounted 16-year-old besting SportbikeTrackGear.com’s Max Van, a three-time winner in 2022, by .612 of a second. Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese, a one-time podium finisher last year, was third and just .348 of a second behind Van

Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Junior Cup Race 2

Avery Dreher once again took the win on Sunday, mirroring the Race 1 results, with Max VanDenBrouck and Hayden Bicknese rounding out the podium, 0.949 and 1.080s off leading pace, Chase Black narrowly missing a podium position 1.137s off.

Junior Cup Race 2 Results

Junior Cup Standings

Supersport Race 1

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Xavi Fores raced at Road Atlanta in 2004 in a Suzuki World Cup race as a 16-year-old. Nineteen years later, Fores was back on the top step of the podium with a scintillating victory over 17-year-old Tyler Scott by a scant .041 of a second after a thrilling 18-lap battle.

For the majority of the race, it was a battle between Fores and Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, but Scott moved into contention in the closing laps and almost beat Fores to the line. Hayes, meanwhile, held on for third, just .315 of a second from victory as he searches for what would be a record-setting 87th AMA victory.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa and Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert rounded out the top five finishers.

Supersport Race 1

Supersport Race 2

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Xavi Fores followed up his debut Supersport win on Saturday with another flawless performance on Sunday. The Spaniard started slower than in yesterday’s race but finished with a bit more comfort as he topped Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa by 1.4 seconds after 18 laps of Road Atlanta.

Mesa, meanwhile, had worked his way past Squid Hunter’s Josh Hayes for second place on the final lap with Hayes ending up third for a second time on the weekend. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was fourth after finishing second on Saturday.

Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert was fifth, matching his effort from race one.

Fores leads the title chase with 50 points, 17 ahead of Mesa and Scott, who are tied for second, and 18 ahead of Hayes.

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race 1

The final race of the day on Saturday was REV’IT! Twins Cup and it marked the first victory of the season for defending class champion Blake Davis, the N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto-backed rider besting championship points leader Gus Rodio by .276 of a second after 11 laps.

Davis and Rodio, on the Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering Aprilia battled for the duration with some six seconds in hand over the battle behind them that went to Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz over Track Day Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon.

Schultz was fortunate to be racing as he was taken out in a crash on the warm-up lap but was able to get back to the pits for repairs in time for the restart.

After three races, Rodio leads Davis by 14 points in the championship, 65-51. Blackmon is third with 49 points.

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race 1 Results

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race 2

Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers suffered an engine failure while leading Saturday’s REV’IT Twins Cup race. On Sunday, he came out with guns blazing and completely dominated the race, beating his teammate Gus Rodio by 4.166 seconds. Third place, for the second straight day, went to Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz, who was 8.31 seconds behind championship leader Rodio at the end of the 12-lap race.

Defending class champion and Saturday’s race winner Blake Davis crashed early in the race but was able to remount his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7 to finish 11th.

After four races, Rodio leads the title chase with 85 points – 26 more than Schultz and 29 ahead of Davis.

Junior Cup – Dreher X Two

Turns out that Avery Dreher liked winning so much he decided to do it again with the Bad Boys Racing rider earning his second straight Junior Cup win on Sunday with a .949-second victory over Max Van, who was second for the second straight day.

Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese was third for the second day in a row, just 1.080 seconds from victory.

With his two wins, Dreher leads Van by 10 points heading to Barber in a month’s time.

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race 2 Results

REV’IT! Twins Cup Standings