Gagne & Beaubier share Laguna Seca triple-header glory

2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round Five – Laguna Seca

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Superbike Race One

Jake Gagne cast a lonely shadow on the front row of the grid for the second part of the red-flag-interrupted Medallia Superbike race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, the other two front-row starters nowhere to be seen.

A scary crash on the exit of turn two on the opening lap of the first start had taken out pole sitter Cameron Beaubier and Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen. Prior to the restart, Richie Escalante – the third fastest qualifier – had a brake issue and missed the sighting lap and was put to the back of the grid. Thus, a lonely Gagne was the only rider on the front row while the second row also lacked Petersen who, like Beaubier, was unable to make the restart.

On the restart, Gagne wasn’t challenged, and he led every one of the 19 laps, eventually crossing the finish line 5.3 seconds clear of second place. The victory was the fifth of the year for the championship points leader and his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1 and the 34th of his career.

A battered and bruised Josh Herrin finished second on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, besting a fast-closing PJ Jacobsen on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR.

The red flag cost Jacobsen any chance of a late-race attack on Herrin and he finished just .368 of a second behind the Ducati.

Considering he started from the back row of the grid, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante continued to show that he’s a top-tier Superbike racer as he carved his way through the field to latch on to the back of the Jacobsen/Mathew Scholtz battle for third.

When Scholtz crashed out of the race with two laps to go, Escalante inherited fourth place just hours after earning the first Superbike front-row starting spot of his career in the second qualifying session on Saturday morning. Scholtz’s crash in Rainey Curve brought out a second red flag and the race was called complete.

Escalante’s Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Brandon Paasch finished an impressive fifth in his debut on the factory Suzuki GSX-R1000R. It was also Paasch’s comeback ride after he suffered a broken back in an off-season motocross crash.

Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong ended up sixth with Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim seventh. Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander, Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates completed the top 10.

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Superbike Race One Results

Superbike Races Two & Three

Cameron Beaubier had similar battles in both of the Medallia Superbike races but with different foes. In race two, he hounded Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne for 15 of the 20 laps before making a pass and pulling away to a 2.423-second win over the defending two-time champion.

Three hours later, Beaubier did it again only this time it was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin leading until the very last lap of race three only to get passed by Beaubier, who won his second race on the day – this time by .620 of a second.

Herrin, still nursing the injuries suffered in his Q2 crash at Ridge Motorsports Park two weeks ago, was third and second in the two races on Sunday.

Gagne, the championship points leader, was second in race one and crossed the line second in race two, as well. However, he was given a two-second penalty for exceeding track limits and that penalty dropped him to third behind Herrin.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante continues to prove that he’s now a Medallia Superbike front runner as he scored two fourth-place finishes on Sunday, beating Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen in both races by 7.9 and 1.4 seconds, respectively.

Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz had a weekend to forget as he finished sixth and eighth in the two Sunday races.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen couldn’t match his podium finish from Saturday on Sunday as mechanical problems knocked him out of race two prior to him finishing sixth in race three.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch, meanwhile, had a weekend he will always remember as he concluded his factory Suzuki debut weekend with eighth- and seventh-place finishes a day after finishing fifth.

The third of the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RRs was ridden to seventh and ninth in Sunday’s two races by Corey Alexander.

Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim had a busy day with two Superbike races and a Mission King Of The Baggers race and he was ninth and 10th in the Superbike races.

After five rounds and 11 races, Gagne and Beaubier each have five wins, but Gagne has a 34-point lead on his former teammate, 217-183. Herrin, with one victory on the year, is third with 178 points. Escalante and his 127 points are eight better than Scholtz, who slips to fifth in the championship points chase.

Cameron Beaubier

“They were both tough in their own way. I think this afternoon I was struggling more than I did earlier today. I felt like when I could put my head down earlier today my bike was working really good and I felt hooked up. Here this afternoon, I felt like every time I tried to put my head down, even when Josh (Herrin) would pull me in a little bit and I would try to get back to him in the next section, the rear end would come around on the entry. That’s not very confidence inspiring. Anyway, Josh rode incredible. He was so good on the brakes. I was kind of like earlier today, I was sniffing here and there, but I couldn’t really commit to anything. I saw his tire starting to shred and I was able to get out of the second-to-last corner before the last corner a little bit better than him. So, I was trying to make that work where he passed me earlier in the race. After that, I just put my head down. I saw my gap just shrinking. I knew Jake (Gagne) was coming and I really didn’t want to be in second with Jake behind me going into the last lap. So, today was an amazing day. After a really tough day yesterday, and just shout out to the Tytlers guys. Good to wrap it up good here.”

Jake Gagne

“The bike was about the same, but we made a couple little tweaks. I got off to a good start. Cam (Beaubier) threw it into one and it was a little wide, so I snuck it up in there. I knew especially Cam and Josh (Herrin), those guys have had incredible pace. All I could do was try to just not make mistakes and at least try to make it tough. I knew it was Cam behind me. I didn’t know if Josh was close exactly, but I could hear the Beemer behind me. Just tried to click off consistent laps and not leave the door open and hope that I could hold him off for a while. I can’t remember, five or six to go or something, he came by me on the front straight up over one and he just put his head down and I didn’t have anything to run that pace. Low 23s there at the end would have been really, really tricky for me. So, I think we learned a lot. We could see some areas where Cameron was really rolling and doing a good job. So, we’ll see. We got a couple hours here. We’ll see if we can maybe try a couple things. I think as we’ve seen it’s just going to be even tighter of a race this afternoon.”

Josh Herrin

“I knew he (Beaubier) had pace on me. Whenever he passed me earlier in the race, maybe four to go or something, I saw he had the pace. I knew if I wanted to win the race, I had to just get back by him and make a dogfight out of it. I kind of had a feeling that he didn’t want to risk Jake (Gagne) getting by both of us, if he had to keep battling. So, in my head I was thinking, ‘all right, he’s probably going to wait until the last lap and try to make a move.’ I was thinking in the three, four section, because I was pretty slow there. I could hear him every time coming up on me. Second was too slow mid-corner. He was getting me mid-corner. I just had nothing for him. So, I tried my hardest and made a huge mistake out of four. That’s when (Jake) Gagne got by me. I was worried that Richie (Escalante) was right there. I didn’t know how close anybody else was, so I just put my head down and tried my hardest to get back up to Jake, but I couldn’t do it. That was one of the funnest races that I’ve had in a long time. I was pumped to get to lead. I knew my pace wasn’t super good. I figured maybe they were battling behind me or something, but I was really happy. I’m happy with how the weekend turned out. Getting on the podium all three times, I’m stoked on that. Getting more and more comfortable on the V4. Hopefully Brainerd treats us well and we can keep fighting for the lead. We made a little bit up on Jake today, but not much, and we didn’t earn it the right way, but I’ll take it. I’ve won a championship like that before where (Josh) Hayes made a bunch of jump starts. Sometimes that’s what you got to do. I think (Ben) Bostrom won a championship in the early 2000s and he didn’t win one race. Just got to be consistent and keep trying.”

Superbike Race Two Results

Superbike Race Three Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

Supersport Race

Xavi Fores wasn’t overly confident going into Saturday’s “Extended” Supersport race after suffering the first two crashes of his season on Thursday and Saturday morning, with riders spending almost an hour out racing. He also knew that Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes had good pace. Put those two things together and it was as close to trouble as Fores has been in all year.

But then it all fell into place when the race started. Fores obviously felt more comfortable, and he could match Hayes’ pace, though he did lose valuable time in lapped traffic just prior to the mandatory pit stops.

And the pit stop is where Fores won the race, though it wasn’t in his pit. The race was handed to him when Hayes’ crew struggled to get the front wheel into the fork during his stop and it ultimately cost him victory.

At the completion of the 38-lap race, Fores was 12.685 seconds ahead of Hayes and had his eighth straight win in hand. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott finished third with the youngster being caught and passed by Hayes in the closing laps.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs rounded out the top five.

Fores now leads the standings by 100-points, Stefano Mesa second on 150-points, Tyler Scott (144) and Josh Hayes (143) not far behind.

Supersport Race Results

Supersport Standings

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race One

The REV’IT! Twins Cup had their first race of the weekend on Saturday, and pole sitter Rocco Landers notched his fifth win of the season by more than four seconds aboard his Robem Engineering Aprilia in a contest where he was chased by his stablemate, Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Gus Rodio. For Rodio, it was his sixth podium aboard his Aprilia RS 660.

Finishing a more distant third after overtaking defending class champion Blake Davis was Dominic Doyle aboard his Team Iso Yamaha YZF-R7.

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race One Results

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race Two

REV’IT! Twins Cup race two was a tale of two teammates, and it was the best of times for one of them and the worst of times for the other.

Race one winner Rocco Landers was at the front aboard his Robem Engineering Aprilia and looked to be headed for another victory, but he made a mistake and crashed out unhurt, which handed the lead to Gus Rodio who is sponsored by Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering but is technically on the same team as Landers.

For Rodio, who hadn’t won since Daytona, he gladly took the win and also took over the championship lead by just three points over defending class champ Blake Davis. Speaking of Davis, he finished third in Sunday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race two aboard his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7.

Gus Rodio

“I got a really good start and then I ran wide in turn five,” Rodio said. “That corner seems to get me every time I come here. That’s where I threw the lead away last year in the Junior Cup. So, once I ran wide, I knew to just stand it up and try and get back on the track because that green, you keep the lean angle and that’s how I crashed last year. Got back on the track. Was surprised to only have fallen back to third. I knew I had to get around Blake and then just put the pressure on Rocco. He’s my teammate and I know his plan. I just tried to keep the pressure there. I don’t think that’s why he crashed. I think there was a lot going on in that corner with the yellow flag and a rider that had just gone down. So, there’s no telling what happened there. It definitely helped to be right on him and kind of like a cat and mouse. He would stretch it in a sector, and I’d close it in a sector. I’m really happy with the race. Disappointed that he went down. Hopefully he’s all right. When I hopped on the Aprilia at Daytona, I just really felt like one with the bike. It reminds me a lot of my supermoto, and I love that thing a lot. The last couple rounds, I just didn’t feel very connected with the bike. I came here and right off the bat it feels like my bike again and I feel like I’m one with the machine. I just had a lot of fun this weekend and it seems the results come with that. So, I’m just going to keep having fun and keep chipping away.”

REV’IT! Twins Cup Race Two Results

REV’IT! Twins Cup Standings

Super Hooligans Race One

Jeremy McWilliams flew back to Northern Ireland an angry man after learning that his first-career Super Hooligan victory at Ridge Motorsports Park was taken from him due to a protest that resulted in his disqualification for a technical infraction.

McWilliams stewed for the two weeks, but came back with a vengeance, leading the practice sessions, qualifying on pole, and winning Saturday’s race by a scant .071 of a second on his Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods Indian FTR1200 over DiBrino Racing KTM’s Andy DiBrino.

Cory West rode the Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson Pan America to third place.

Super Hooligans Race One Results

Super Hooligans Race Two

The Mission Super Hooligan National Championship had two feature races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and venerable Ulsterman Jeremy McWilliams did the double by winning both races.

On Sunday, he battled again with his Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods teammate and defending class champ Tyler O’Hara, taking the checkered flag by just a little more than one-and-a-half seconds over O’Hara.

Thus far in the championship, O’Hara has won three races and McWilliams has won two, but the pair are now in a deadlock for the title with 106 points apiece. Meanwhile, DiBrino Racing KTM rider Andy DiBrino, who finished third in Sunday’s race to round out the podium, is just 16 points behind in the point standings.

Jeremy McWilliams

“We’ve been fastest in every session (this weekend), I think maybe that was a lap record on the last lap. I could just see plus zero, plus zero. I could see the back markers were approaching. The problem is here that you get a trip-up with the back markers, as I believe happened to him maybe going onto the last lap. It’s so tight at the Corkscrew that you get tripped up and unfortunately your lap just goes away. So, I did need to be at the front so I could try to control the back markers. That was the plan. Even if I got passed, whether it was Andy or my teammate, I had to be able to get back past again as soon as possible. I wasn’t fast everywhere. I wasn’t as strong in some parts of the track as Tyler, and I kind of knew that. Which would make it very difficult to make a pass again because I think Tyler could have gapped me quite easily. Then I would have had to fight really hard to get back at him. But I needed the points and I needed to do this for our guys that are working so hard. They didn’t get back last night until 12:00 or something yesterday evening, and they’re up at 5:00 every morning. They’re not getting any time to relax and it’s hard on them, so we’ve got to repay that with the best results we can give them. We’ve got the hardest-working team and we’ve got a factory behind us.”

Super Hooligans Race Two Results

Super Hooligans Standings