Beaubier extends his Superbike lead at Pittsburgh MotoAmerica

2020 MotoAmerica

Round 4 – Pittsburgh

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Cameron Beaubier continued his Superbike domination at Round 4 of the MotoAmerica championship in Pittsburgh, claiming both wins of the weekend from Mathew Scholtz and Jake Gagne who took second and third respectively across both races.

The result saw Beaubier extend his lead to 175 points, now 37-points ahead of Jake Gage, with Scholtz a distant third with 116-points.

Cameron Beaubier

“Going into the race I was preparing for a battle with how fast Matty (Scholtz) and Jake have been going this weekend, but I was able to get away early and kept my head down. My R1 is working great. I’m just going to try to keep this going!”

Supersport saw a dominant Richie Escalante also do the double, leaving Sean Dylan Kelly and Brandon Paasch to claim second and third respectively, although Paasch gave Kelly a run for his money in the second race of the weekend, with just 0.24s separating the two.

Escalante holds the Supersport standings lead on 195-points, with Dylan Kelly second on 145, and Paasch third on 116.

In Stock 1000 Cameron Petersen also swept the weekend’s races, taking two wins, the first narrowly ahead of Alex Dumas with Corey Alexander third, and the second narrowly from Corey Alexander with Travis Wyman filling the final podium position. Peterson now holds the lead from Alexander by just 3 points, with Alex Dumas third on 91, trailing the leader by 24-points.

Rocco Landers won both Junior Cup races to extend his championship lead from Dominic Doyle, and went on to claim the Twins Cup race win as well. In the Twins Cup, Landers is chasing down standings leader Kaleb De Keyrel, who finished second.

Superbike Race 1

Cameron Beaubier won his sixth HONOS Superbike race out of seven starts at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex, the four-time defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion leading from start to finish as he continues his domination of the the season.

Beaubier began his day with his fourth pole position of the year and he finished it with his sixth win, this one by 2.976 seconds after 17 laps of the 2.78-mile undulating PittRace road course.

The podium was the same as the races at Road Atlanta last weekend, though the order was different with Mathew Scholtz turning the tables on Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne to finish second behind Beaubier on a sunny day in Pittsburgh.

Scholtz battled with Bobby Fong and Gagne early before Fong exited the race in dramatic fashion with a big crash on lap nine. That left Scholtz and Gagne to battle for second with Scholtz getting the nod despite losing his left knee puck early in the race.

Gagne chased Scholtz to the finish, ending up just 0.130 of a second behind while earning his sixth podium finish of the season.

Kyle Wyman rode to fourth, some 16 seconds behind Gagne and almost six seconds ahead of Toni Elias. Elias, in turn, was well clear of David Anthony.

Josh Herrin was in a battle with Elias for fifth when his handlebar came loose on the last lap, putting him off track at one point and costing him a shot at fifth place, but he persevered for seventh place.

Jake Lewis finished eighth in his debut on the Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale VR 4 R. Lewis barely bested Anthony’s teammate Bradley Ward with Travis Wyman rounding out the top 10 finishers.

Superbike Race 2

Cameron Beaubier celebrated his Race 2 100th AMA Superbike start in the best way possible, wth a victory. The win, Beaubier’s seventh of his near-perfect season, was the 45th triumph of his career.

Beaubier’s win was decisive, though he downplayed it as “a bit lucky.” Challenged by his teammate Jake Gagne early on, Beaubier ended up 9.59 seconds ahead at the finish after clutch problems dropped Gagne back to third. Mathew Scholtz was the beneficiary of Gagne’s problems, the South African ending up second for the second straight day at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

Josh Herrin survived an off-track excursion and fought his way back up to fourth place by the finish of the race, the rider besting Toni Elias by a tick over a second. Kyle Wyman was also a part of what was an entertaining battle for fourth, the New Yorker ending up sixth.

David Anthony finished seventh, some six seconds clear of Cameron Petersen. Ninth place went to Alex Dumas, the 18-year-old solid in what was his HONOS Superbike debut. Travis Wyman ended the 17-lap race in 10th place.

Supersport Race 1

The MotoAmerica Supersport class’s ‘big three’ brought their triumvirate of dominance into PittRace, and in Saturday’s race one, Richie Escalante prevailed over Sean Dylan Kelly to take his sixth win in seven races this far in the season. Kelly finished as runner-up for the fifth time, and Brandon Paasch, also for the fifth time finished third.

Earlier in the race, Escalante, Kelly, and Paasch were challenged by Benjamin Smith, the Pennsylvanian running as high as third until his bike developed a technical issue.

Supersport Race 2

In Sunday’s Supersport race Richie Escalante’s dominance continued, winning his seventh race out of a total of eight so far this season. Escalante had to contend with Sean Dylan Kelly in the early going. Kelly got the holeshot and led lap one until Escalante found a way past and never looked back.

Meanwhile, Brandon Paasch had a battle of his own early on with Kevin Olmedo and then Kelly. At the finish line, it was Escalante winning by nearly seven seconds over Kelly, who had his hands full with Paasch right to the finish. Paasch, led on the final lap but made a mistake that allowed Kelly to squeeze by. At the finish line the two were separated by just .024 of a second.

Stock 1000 Race 1

In Stock 1000 race one, Cameron Petersen notched his second win of the season, starting from the pole. Petersen faced a strong challenge from Alex Dumas, the Canadian rider who recently celebrated his 18th birthday. Dumas took a turn in the lead, but Petersen got past him as the race drew to a conclusion to take the checkers with Dumas finishing second. Championship points leader Corey Alexander had a quiet race in third and completed the podium.

Stock 1000 Race 2

In race two Petersen made the most of his momentum PittRace, doing the double and winning his second race in as many days. But it was far from easy for the South African, who was challenged by Corey Alexander.

Petersen started from pole, and Travis Wyman slotted into second with Alexander in third. While Petersen set the pace, Alexander was able to pass Wyman and close the gap on the South African at the front. Alexander raced hard and managed to get around Petersen, but he ran wide and handed the lead right back to Petersen who held his advantage, albeit a narrow one, to the finish line.

Alexander finished second and was just .196 of a second behind Petersen. Wyman, who is recovering from an arm injury, faded towards the end of the race, but held on for the final spot on the podium, just under four seconds adrift of Alexander.

Junior Cup Race 1

The opening lap of Saturday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race was marred by a big crash involving several riders, including Dominic Doyle, winner of the first three races this season. None of the riders was seriously hurt, but Doyle was unable to make the full restart.

Polesitter Rocco Landers had another flawless race aboard his Kawasaki however. The 15-year-old Oregonian led the entire 10-lap race from start to finish and took the checkers by more than six-and-a-half seconds over Samuel Lochoff. Third place was a battle to the finish between Ben Gloddy and Gus Rodio, with Gloddy prevailing and grabbing the final spot on the podium.

Junior Cup Race 2

In Sunday’s race two, which was red-flagged and cut short because of an incident involving Isaiah Burleson and Gus Rodio, defending class champion Rocco Landers carried on with his winning ways and grabbed his fifth race victory in a row. Dominic Doyle, who was slightly injured in Saturday’s race one melee, toughed it out on Sunday and finished second, while Samuel Lochoff, who finished second on Saturday, was third.

Twins Cup Race

The final race of the weekend was in the Twins Cup class, and Rocco Landers raced his Suzuki to victory, which capped off the 15-year-old’s third win of the event and second win of the day, having won both Liqui Moly Junior Cup races of the weekend. Landers started from the pole and was never headed in the 11-lap contest, winning by a margin of over four seconds. Second place went to Kaleb De Keyrel who crossed the finish line more than 10 seconds ahead of Hayden Schultz.