2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Brainerd – Saturday
Superbike Race One
In what was easily the best MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike race of the season and one of the best in recent memory, three riders battled to the bitter end, with Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong spending a lot of laps as the meat in the middle of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati sandwich of Josh Herrin and Loris Baz.
Fong, however, got the last laugh when Herrin made a mistake on the final lap that allowed Fong the space he needed to forge into the lead. It also kept Baz at bay since he wasn’t going to do anything that could jeopardize teammate Herrin’s race on the final lap.
The margin of victory? .419 of a second from Fong to Herrin and .619 from Fong to Baz.
The win was the fourth AMA Superbike victory of Fong’s career and his first since he won three races in 2020. It also propelled him to second in the 2024 Steel Commander Superbike Championship and established him as a serious title threat.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen led the first seven laps at the start/finish line before Fong took over for two laps before giving way to Herrin. From there the top three – Herrin, Fong and Baz – pulled a gap from the Petersen and Sean Dylan Kelly battle when the top five hit traffic for the first time and Petersen and Kelly were badly baulked.
Herrin continued to lead until the final lap when he finally caved to the pressure being applied by Fong. Baz, meanwhile, wasn’t going to do anything silly and the three crossed the line as a trio.
Sean Dylan Kelly got the better of Petersen, who set the fastest lap of the race, in their battle for fourth, well clear of the fight for sixth. That fight ultimately went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch by just .804 of a second over Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach.
Three-time and defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne finished eighth after yet another race-long struggle with arm-pump. The Attack Performance Yamaha rider was some two seconds behind Beach and six-seconds clear of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Troy Herfoss who is racing in the place of injured five-time champion Cameron Beaubier.
1. Bobby Fong – Yamaha
2. Josh Herrin – Ducati +0.419s
3. Loris Baz – Ducati +0.619s
Herfoss is still getting to know the BMW, a bike he has never ridden before, and is also experiencing Brainerd for the first time this weekend. The best lap of the race by the Australian was a 1m32.285s, just over a second slower than race winner Fong’s outright fastest lap of the race.
Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Paasch’s teammate Xavi Forés pulled out of the race early with the pain from his Friday crash too much to handle.
Gagne continues to lead the championship point standings, but he now has Fong closing in as the pair are separated by just eight points, 121-113. Herrin jumps to third with 99 points with Kelly fourth on 96. Beaubier, who is hoping to return to action at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, falls to fifth, but only 27 points out of the lead. Baz (88), Beach (69), Paasch (54) and Gillim (45) round out the top 10 heading into tomorrow’s race two at BIR.
Superbike Race One Top Ten Results
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha
- Josh Herrin – Ducati +0.419s
- Loris Baz – Ducati +0.619s
- Sean Dylan Kelly – BMW +2.978s
- Cameron Petersen – Yamaha +3.597s
- Brandon Paasch – Suzuki +18.159s
- JD Beach – BMW +18.963s
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha +20.551s
- Troy Herfoss – BMW +26.549s
- Max Flinders – Yamaha +40.289s
Superbike Quotes
Bobby Fong – Winner
“I wanted to keep it clean, but I was holding some stuff back a little bit. You never know with this guy. He’ll make a move. If you make a move, he’s going to counter. He’s so good on the brakes. There were sections where I felt like I could easily make this, where they wouldn’t expect it. But I knew he was going to counter because he’s so good on the brakes. So, it’s hard to fight. It’s hard to plan. Especially if you have a group behind you. You see plus zero on your board. You’re like, ‘hell, if I make this move and mess up, I’m going to lose a podium here.’ So, you’ve got to put it smart. I knew he was going to be strong at the end. Like I said, he had his advantages. I had mine. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was going to do something clever but try to keep it clean. It’s always a fight. Me and this dude (Josh Herrin) have been duking it out on and off the track since 2014. It’s kind of been a love-hate relationship through our whole friendship, career. We hate each other one minute and then we’re okay the next minute. At the end of the day, it’s racing and it’s a small community. It’s tough to walk around these pits. The parts are so small to hate somebody and stuff like that. One of these days, we’re going to have to put on the gloves and see what’s up. I know he’s a wrestler, so he might get me on the ground. But it’s all love. We rode a good race and I expect another battle tomorrow.”
Josh Herrin – Second Place
“I was just trying to put my head down and just put in as good of a lap as I could. Definitely bummed that I made that mistake because I don’t think he would have gone under me there, because I was pretty good on the brakes there the whole race. But I was expecting a move in five. Possibly he’d try five coming out of the left into the right. If he didn’t get it there, I thought he might try in the last corner, coming out of the second-to-last corner out of the left to go tight to the right. So, I was planning on guarding those two spots because I knew I had the power on him coming out and I’m using first and he’s using second. So, I knew I’d have the torque. Just made a mistake. He was pressuring me the whole race. I knew he had the pace all weekend, so I was already riding nervous in front just because I wasn’t feeling super confident about leading here. But it’s really good for us in the championship and it was a good race. I had a lot of fun. Super happy, like Loris (Baz) said, to get both Ducatis on the podium. That’s the first time in a really long time there’s been two Ducatis on the podium in Superbike. I don’t know the last time, maybe early 2000s or something. So, I think that’s a really big deal. Like I said, I want a first, but I’m happy with this. Hats off to the entire team, especially KATO. They’ve been a supporter of us for a long time and I always forget to mention them on the podium. I want to thank them.”
Loris Baz – Third Place
“Yeah, we’ve been strong all weekend and I think that’s the first time of the season. I was strong in Barber, but I never felt comfortable on the bike. I never felt I had the chance to fight for a win or something. Here it’s really the first time I felt strong. The guys from the team back in Italy in Ducati from Warhorse, all the guys did a really good job improving the bike between the races. It’s the first time I come on the weekend with the bike I like in FP1. That makes all the difference because you can just focus on yourself, improve, building your confidence back. I was really confident going into the race. I had some battles in the early laps. When the grip was higher, Cam (Petersen) and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) were a bit faster and always coming back, but I managed at the end with old tires to pass them, come back on Bobby (Beaubier) and Josh. I was pretty confident to come back, but also not really sure where I could overtake. I was just strong in the change of direction. That’s where I got all the guys. But on the braking itself, we still need to improve a little bit my confidence on the bike to be able to overtake. I knew that before the race, but it’s super cool. I think it’s a good thing for the championship with both coming back. It’s the first double podium for the team. I’m just happy. I would have liked more, but I come from a really difficult beginning of season, so you need to build back the confidence as well when you’re riding. So, we’re just starting to feel a really good vibe in the team with the bike. There’s nothing I could have done to win in the last lap, so I don’t regret anything. Hats off to them. Josh (Hayes) could have got it, I think, but he was stressed going into the turn three closing the door. It was a nice battle and I hope we can put a nice show again tomorrow, so congrats to them and thanks for all the sponsors. I’m so happy and proud to be back racing again in the U.S.”
King of the Baggers Race One
It’s rare that you win a race and get overshadowed by your teammate who finished second, but that’s sort of what happened to Hayden Gillim on Saturday afternoon at Brainerd International Raceway in the Mission King Of The Baggers race.
As expected, given his pace at BIR all week, Gillim got the jump on the pack on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson and never looked back. It was his first win of what has been a difficult season for the defending class champion, and it was well earned.
Some four seconds behind Gillim came his Mission King Of The Baggers rookie team-mate Rocco Landers after an impressive final lap that saw him pass both of the factory S&S Cycle/Indian Challengers ridden by Tyler O’Hara and points leader Troy Herfoss on the final lap. Landers had earlier already disposed of the all-time winningest rider in the class, Kyle Wyman.
It was hard to not be impressed by Landers’ ride as his best finish coming into the Brainerd round was fifth in the first race of the year at Daytona International Speedway. Landers was ecstatic, as he should be, and even those he beat were happy for him.
It was also a big day for the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team as they swept the top two steps on the podium.
Third place went to Herfoss, and that podium finish extended his championship points lead to 12 over Wyman, with the Harley-Davidson Factory Racing rider ending up fourth in the race.
Wyman’s team-mate James Rispoli crashed out of second place early in the race.
“It’s been a rough, rough start,” Gillim said of his early season woes. “I think before this I had one podium. So not a great backup to the championship. It’s been a long road. I thought we were a little better off coming into the season than what we ended up being. We’ve been right there the whole time. Just missing a little bit. I knew the first few tracks we went to, Road Atlanta, COTA, Road America, Daytona were going to be difficult. Somehow, I pulled out some podiums last year at some of those tracks, but this year everybody is on top of their game. Both factories have really stepped it up. They haven’t really made many mistakes this year, so not much to capitalize on there. Coming into this weekend, I knew this was a really good track for me. I was ready to go, especially after how Road America went. To have one-two Vance & Hines, it’s really good for the Motul RevZilla team. Good for this kid’s (Rocco Landers) confidence. He’s a confidence wave, man. If he’s on it, he’s confident and he’s going to be tough. Obviously, being up here with Troy (Herfoss) is really good for my confidence. I’ve got a lot of work to do to even hope of trying to get back in this championship. Really from here on out, we’ve talked about it. The only thing I can really do is try and win races and fight with these guys and capitalize where I can capitalize. Luckily my starts have been getting a lot better, so it helps a ton. I’m really excited. It’s been a really good weekend so far. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
King of the Baggers Race One
- Hayden Gillim – Harley
- Rocco Landers – Harley +4.937s
- Troy Herfoss – Indian +4.981s
- Kyle Wyman – Harley +5.992s
- Tyler O’Hara – Indian +6.075s
- Jake Lewis – Harley +25.266s
- Cory West – Harley +28.983s
- Max Flinders – Indian +32.012s
Supersport Race One
The level of competitiveness in this year’s Supersport class has increased fairly dramatically compared with last year, as a handful of former Superbike riders are now competing in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class. Two of those riders – Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz and PJ Jacobsen – are right in the thick of things at the top of this year’s championship standings.
One of last year’s major Supersport combatants, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, started from the pole, but he was unable to withstand the pressure from Scholtz and Jacobsen, causing Scott to crash out of the race on lap five of the 16-lap event. Meanwhile, Scholtz had already taken the lead, and he didn’t relinquish it, ultimately crossing the finish line eight and a half seconds ahead of Jacobsen. Scott’s Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Teagg Hobbs finished third for his first podium finish so far this year.
For Scholtz, it was his third win of the season, matching Jacobsen’s wins total, and he is now just seven points behind points-leader Jacobsen.
“I knew that I was going to be able to do low 33’s for pretty much all 16 laps if I really, really had to, but I didn’t think that I was going to break them as soon as I did,” Scholtz said. “I think obviously being a little bit bigger with those conditions out there, the wind helped me muscle the bike a little bit more. I think I did get a little bit lucky with these guys battling, but overall, just really, really happy. We made a major change from Friday to qualifying two today, and it was I wouldn’t say a gamble, but it was one of the biggest changes that we’ve done over the last couple of seasons. Thankfully, everything paid off. I’d just like to thank all of the team, all the members back at the Strack Racing company. Everyone is really working hard, and they’ve given me a beautiful bike, beautiful package. This shows that we should be racing at the front of the Supersport class on the R6.”
Supersport Race One Top Ten
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +8.491s
- Teagg Hobbs – Suzuki +10.813s
- Corey Alexander – Ducati +11.068s
- Jake Lewis – Suzuki +17.045s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +23.565s
- Stefano Mesa – Kawasaki +27.143s
- David Anthony – Suzuki +31.212s
- Blake Davis – Yamaha +34.302s
- Max van den Brouck – Suzuki +34.836s
Stock 1000 Race One
If Brainerd International Raceway wasn’t already defending Stock 1000 Champion Hayden Gillim’s favorite racetrack before this weekend started, it certainly has to be now. The Real Steel Motorsports Honda rider hasn’t put a wheel wrong in any session aboard his #1 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
He earned the pole position earlier on Saturday with a record-setting lap that eclipsed his own record-setting lap set in Friday’s first qualifying session. And then, in Saturday afternoon’s 11-lap race one, Gillim also set a new race lap record on his way to winning by nearly seven-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Benjamin Smith aboard his FLO4LAW Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Third place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
“I like tracks that have just a flow,” commented Gillim when asked what it is about Brainerd that he likes so much. “Road America is not a good track for me. Road Atlanta, I tend to struggle a little bit. The kind of point-and-shoot tracks, I struggle with. For some reason, I feel like I’m good on the brakes but then I always seem to mess up the exit. So, this place doesn’t have much of that. Everything flows together really good. Turn one and two are fun. They’re two of my favorite corners in the world. It’s sweet because you just go in, roll out of it for a second, and then you’re back to pin. It’s a fun track. It’s a fun layout. For that reason, I go good here. I knew coming into this weekend it was kind of like going to Barber. I know I go really good at Barber. I know these guys are going to be gunning for it. These weekends, I’ve got to take what I can get and capitalize on the confidence that I’ve got coming in. When we get to Ridge and Laguna, I know those tracks, Laguna specifically, I go good there but I’m not great there. I don’t have a great track record there, so I’m trying to just capitalize at the tracks that I know are good for me and hopefully not have to bend it at the other tracks.”
Stock 1000 Race One Top Ten
- Hayden Gillim – Honda
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +7.415s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +8.656s
- Jayson Uribe – BMW +15.011s
- Nolan Lamkin – BMW +18.194s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +18.528s
- Danilo Lewis – BMW +19.061s
- Bryce Prince – Yamaha +20.264s
- Travis Wyman – BMW +28.308s
- Alex Arango – BMW +30.288s
BellissiMoto Twins Cup
Along with Hayden Gillim, another rider who just can’t seem to get enough of Brainerd International Raceway just so happens to be his Mission King Of The Baggers teammate and protégé Rocco Landers, who races the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki GSX-8R in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship.
In Saturday’s race one, Landers started from the pole after going fastest in Friday’s first qualifying, and it was a record-setting lap for Landers, too. In the race, Landers got the holeshot and led all but one of the 11 laps to ultimately take the checkered flag by just under four seconds over Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario, with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor finishing a very close third behind Di Mario.
Along the way, Landers ran the fastest lap of the race, which was also a new race lap record.
“Honestly, this result is probably going to be overshadowed by that Baggers Challenge race (in which he placed second a little earlier on Saturday),” Landers said. “That was one of the best races of my life even though it was only two laps. Considering where we started on this bike, we were P5 in race one. We were like P7 in one of the practices at Daytona. The thing was completely new to us. It was like a total street bike. But one thing we did have, was the direction to go. We’ve just been following the breadcrumbs, I should say. The thing has been getting better and better every round. Need to start doing more training on different bikes. Those first two laps are kind of hard because I’m adjusting myself from the Bagger to the Twin. It tends to lead to a couple mistakes, missing brake markers and that type of thing. But that was a good race for me. I just tried to get out there. I made a small mistake adjusting my clutch lever on the first lap. Rossi got up underneath me and Alessandro almost did. After that, I was just trying to see if I could lead the race, lay down some decent laps and do what I could. I didn’t really find my groove there until lap three or four, and then I started to feel solid. My whole team has just busted their butts completely. My mechanic Matt, my crew chief Steve, Motor Terry, my bagger mechanic Quentin, team manager Craig, and our fab guy, Josh. Every one of them is always busting their butts and making everything as good as we can go. We’re obviously heading in a decent direction, so I cannot wait until tomorrow.”
BellissiMoto Twins Cup Race One Top Ten
- Rocco Landers – Suzuki
- Alessandro di Mario – Aprilia +3.817s
- Rossi Moor – Suzuki +3.853s
- Gus Rodio – Aprilia +14.966s
- Avery Dreher – Aprilia +19.925s
- Dominic Doyle – Yamaha +20.422s
- Sean Ungvarsky – Yamaha +50.534s
- Jeff Bean – Yamaha +70.443s
- Josef Bittner – Aprilia +71.337s
- Jeffrey Purk – Yamaha +81.155s
Junior Cup
Rain was in the forecast on Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway, but it held off, save for a few raindrops here and there, until the closing laps of Junior Cup race one. At the time, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher had regained the lead and looked to be headed for victory. Due to the rain, a red flag was displayed, and the race was stopped. By rules, the results reverted to the lap prior, and that happened to be when BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin had just taken the lead.
It’s ironic that Chapin’s team owner is an Irishman because Chapin’s short time in the lead was just enough to be named the winner of the race. A stroke of Irish luck if there ever was one. For Chapin, who has now won four races on the season, he is definitely lucky AND good. That’s a solid combination.
Chapin’s good fortune was offset by Avery Dreher’s misfortune. But it was not all bad for the defending Junior Cup Champion. He made history on Saturday at Brainerd when he and his sister Ella became the first brother and sister to finish on an AMA road racing podium. Clearly, it was a memory of a lifetime for the Dreher family.
“I really had no idea if they were going to red flag it or not,” Chapin said. “I wanted to lead the race the whole time, but Avery and Ella were ripping. It was overall a good race, and it was fun riding with them.”
Junior Cup Top Race One Top Ten Results
- Matthew Chapin
- Avery Dreher +0.074s
- Ella Dreher +0.225s
- Levi Badie +0.594s
- Ryan Wolfe +0.845s
- Jayden Fernandez +0.980s
- Yandel Medina +1.317s
- Logan Cunnison +5.708s
- Isaac Woodworth +6.189s
- Eli Block +6.597s
