Gagne claims the Laguna Seca double | Baz closes in

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round 5 – Laguna Seca

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Honos Superbike Race 1

Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne won his eighth straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, but this one was different. This one was close.

How close? Just a tick over a second and that was the biggest lead of the race as Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz finished just 1.173 seconds behind Gagne after applying relentless pressure for the duration of the red-flag interrupted race. Baz was all smiles after having his best race of the season thus far.

Third place went to M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen, 3.6 seconds behind Baz, and that meant the podium consisted of three different manufacturers (Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki) and three different nationalities (American, French and South African).

Fourth went to another South African in the form of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the Yamaha rider ending up 1.3 seconds adrift of his countryman Petersen and over 12 seconds ahead of Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Josh Herrin.

Some four seconds behind Herrin came Scheibe Racing’s Hector Barbera, the Spaniard beating M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong. The returning Toni Elias ended up eighth on Kyle Wyman’s Panera Bread Ducati.

Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis finished ninth over Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and won the Superbike Cup in the process.

Honos Superbike Race 2

Jake Gagne actually got passed at Laguna Seca in Race 2, but it only lasted two corners. Gagne ran off the track on the run from turn five to turn six on the opening lap and the mistake allowed Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz to pass him.

What followed was a frenzied 20 or so seconds as Gagne, Baz and Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz rubbed elbows and motorcycles through the Corkscrew and Rainey Curve. When the dust settled, Gagne was back in front.

And that was all she wrote. Despite constant pressure from Baz for the duration, Gagne was able to maintain his composure to beat the Frenchman by 1.789 seconds and win his ninth straight HONOS Superbike race. The win also increased his championship points lead to 65 points over Scholtz, 225-160.

Jake Gagne

“That turn five, when you get out there on a Superbike you start sliding,” Gagne explained when asked about his off-track excursion. “That curb comes back. If you get out on the curb, it’s almost tough to get back off it. I just slid out there a little too much. It was one of those things. I thought I was going to save it, and then the rear tire kind of hopped back off. Then all of a sudden, I was in the dirt. But I kind of dropped the throttle. The Yamaha still hooked up good in the dirt with the slicks on, so I just got back up on the curb. Loris (Baz) came by, then Mat (Scholtz) came by the Corkscrew. They both kind of ran wide in the Corkscrew, so I was able to just dive up tight on the Corkscrew and around the side of Rainey (Curve). I managed to kind of get that back and I knew I got to go. Obviously, I was keeping an eye on my pit board. I knew Loris was there. I knew Mat was there. They didn’t give me any issues to go. I saw a couple .2, .3, and then they’d pull a tenth back, they’d grab a 10th, they’d pull a couple tenths back… So, it was kind of back and forth.”

Gagne had been challenged all weekend by Baz and admitted that Sunday was the biggest challenge he’d faced all year. For Baz and his Ducati team it was a solid weekend where they made big improvements to the Panigale V4 R.

With Gagne beating Baz for the second straight day, it was Scholtz finishing third on Sunday. The South African ended up 7.8 seconds behind Baz after keeping the two in front of him in sight for most of the race.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was fourth on Sunday, a day after finishing third. He ended up some six seconds ahead of Gagne’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s teammate Josh Herrin, who in turn was seven seconds ahead of Petersen’s teammate Bobby Fong.

Panera Bread Ducati’s Toni Elias got the better of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera after a race-long duel to finish seventh. Elias was riding the Ducati in place of the injured Kyle Wyman at Laguna Seca, but Wyman will return to the HONOS Superbike class in three weeks at Brainerd International Raceway.

Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and BPR Tuning’s Bryce Prince rounded out the top 10 finishers while also finishing first and second in the Superbike Cup.

HONOS Superbike Results

Supersport Race 1

One thing that has been a consistent theme in the Supersport class over the past two seasons is the friendly, but also red-hot, rivalry between HONOS HVMC Racing Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly.

In Saturday’s race one at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Kelly started from the pole, and while he did lead every lap of the race, he was also challenged in virtually every lap of the race by defending class champion Escalante.

For Kelly, it was his sixth win of the season and third in a row to match the three-race winning streak with which he started the season.

At the checkers, Kelly prevailed by just .099 of a second over Escalante. Third place went to CV28 Racing Yamaha’s Cory Ventura, who also podiumed last year at Laguna Seca, which was also the last time he raced in the MotoAmerica Series.

Supersport Race 2

Sean Dylan Kelly and Richie Escalante continued what has been a season-long, round-by-round and race-by-race battle, but as has been the trend this season, Kelly, who started from the pole, prevailed with his seventh race victory of the season over Escalante.

The two riders had their usual paint-swapping skirmishes during the 19-lap event, but they were joined this time by CV28 Racing Yamaha’s Cory Ventura, who followed up his podium finish from Saturday’s race one with a turn in a lead for at least a brief few moments.

As the race approached its conclusion, things became processional with Kelly beating Escalante by a little over four seconds, and Ventura just under two-and-a-half seconds adrift of Escalante.

Sean Dylan Kelly

“That wasn’t an easy race, I was really happy about the weekend. Truthfully, another solid job. We got the double. Did the pole yesterday. We’ve been in the fight the entire time. Just working away. Really happy, honestly, with how I’m working with the team. This is exactly what I want to be doing every single weekend. Definitely proud of the job. Today’s race was a little bit more tough than yesterday. Richie and I started off with some close battles and a few rubs, which is honestly one of the best ways to race. We’re tough competitors, but we have a level of respect, which is definitely necessary just to keep human. But it’s good. Cory definitely surprised me. I struggled to get by him for a lap or two. Just a different riding style I had never seen. Just a couple different things here and there. I actually almost hit him twice and decided to take it a little easy and study him a little bit more to do it the right way. So, I’m definitely happy about the job. Overall, just excited to get the double this weekend. We just have to continue. The goal is higher than this, so we’re just going to keep on working away.”

Stock 1000 Race

Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca started off with a bang as MotoAmerica’s literbike riders put on an amazing show in their only Stock 1000 race of the weekend. Motul Travis Wyman Racing BMW rider Travis Wyman showed his tenacity when he started from back in seventh on the grid and methodically worked his way to the front.

Meanwhile, HONOS HVMC Racing Kawasaki’s Corey Alexander was in the lead and heading for the win… until Wyman descended upon him from seemingly nowhere with four laps to go in the 14-lap event.

Wyman stalked Alexander, and then, on the final run to the checkers, he nipped Alexander at the finish line by a scant .032 of a second. Altus Motorsports Suzuki’s Jake Lewis also emerged from way back in the pack – a victim of a bad tire choice – to take the final spot on the podium just .286 0f a second behind Alexander.

Travis Wyman

“The guys got my bike dialed in where I can get off of that corner (turn 11) really well. That was my focus going into this weekend, was figuring out 11. Overall, the guys just figured out a great setup for me. We struggled in qualifying and they threw something together for me in the Superbike race and it was a gamble and it paid off. We didn’t change the bike one bit from yesterday’s race to this race because I knew we had pace and I just wanted to focus on riding and not having to take another gamble, because we were good. I just got a terrible start and I had to work my way through the field, and I knew Cory and (fourth-place finisher) Andrew (Lee) wouldn’t make it easy for me. Lapped traffic came into play. I actually thought that I was going to settle for second because of how far back I was from Cory coming down the hill, but when I got up behind him in 11, I was like, ‘Man, I haven’t made a pass by the start/finish yet, but I think if I can get a killer drive, I could do it,’ and I did and obviously it paid off. So stoked for BMW and everyone.”

Twins Cup Race 1

The final race on Saturday was in Twins Cup, and Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Kaleb De Keyrel seems to have WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca absolutely dialed.

Despite starting fifth on the grid, De Keyrel progressed quickly to the front, taking over the lead on the first lap and holding off polesitter and Veloce Racing Aprilia rider Anthony Mazziotto to notch his third podium in a row at Laguna Seca and his second win in his past three annual visits to the venue.

At the stripe, Mazziotto was just .217 of a second behind De Keyrel, while third place went to Righteous Racing Aprilia’s Jody Barry to complete an all-Aprilia RS 660 podium. Barry, incidentally, overtook De Keyrel on lap five, but he was unable to make it stick.

Kaleb De Keyrel

“To be honest, I didn’t feel a whole lot of pressure just because I didn’t know where everybody was. So, I was just like, well, I’m going to push as hard as I can. I kept seeing plus zero on the board and I’m like, come on. What’s going on here? I was just pushing as hard as I could. It was pretty greasy, so it was kind of sketchy because we were pushing really fast and the bike definitely kind of wasn’t liking it for a while there. Then towards the end I was just like, well, I’ve got to put in as hard as I can possibly go. The lappers always kind of come into play here at Laguna. It’s always that last lap. Last year, I kind of got the short end of the stick on that so I had to keep the momentum rolling up that hill. I was coming up behind them and it was either go inside or outside, but there was only like two feet or not even. They were coming out and I’m like, I’m going. I’m committed. So, I’m on just the curbing. There’s sand here and a guy right here, and I’m squeezing through the outside. It paid off. I figured either one, they were going to follow me through that little hole, which I was like, that would be really sketchy. But even I had to go pretty tight coming into six. So, I knew I had to get around them as fast as I could. I had to kind of do a little bit of a sketchy pass to make that happen, but then again, if I would have killed all my momentum, they would have sucked right back up onto me. So, I knew I had to do it. It paid off. It was a super fun race. Just kind of got out there and got in a groove. I was surprised I was able to click off 31’s I think pretty consistent, so that was good. Just felt pretty comfortable. Hopefully, we can just keep the momentum rolling to Brainerd, the hometown.”

Junior Cup Race 1

In SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one, Scott Powersports KTM rider Tyler Scott started from the pole, got the holeshot, and appeared to be headed for a dominant win.

However, Landers Racing Kawasaki’s Ben Gloddy chased down Scott and overtook him on lap eight, but he was unable to make it stick. Scott retook the lead and crossed the finish line .216 of a second over Gloddy.

Meanwhile, 24 seconds behind the leaders, Veloce Racing Kawasaki’s David Kohlstaedt and Rodio Racing Kawasaki’s Gus Rodio were waging their own war for the final spot on the podium. At the checkers, Kohlstaedt secured third place.

Junior Cup Race 2

The final race of the weekend was in SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup, and Saturday’s winner Tyler Scott did the double aboard his Scott Powersports KTM despite facing a very strong challenge from Landers Racing Kawasaki’s Ben Gloddy.

Scott started from the pole, but Gloddy was undeterred and kept Scott in his sights throughout the race, which included overtaking Scott on lap eight. Scott was equally undeterred, however, and he quickly took back the lead and maintained all the way to the checkers.

Veloce Racing’s David Kohlstaedt, who was third in Saturday’s Junior Cup race one and third in Sunday morning’s Super Hooligans race, finished third in Junior Cup race two to record his third podium finish of the weekend.

Tyler Scott

“It feels great to go back-to-back this weekend, I couldn’t ask for a more perfect weekend. Great race today with Ben. It was definitely tiring. I knew he was there the whole time. Way more competitive than yesterday, in my opinion. We started going back and forth battling and saw our lap times going down, so in the last couple laps I decided to take the lead and try to set the pace for the last lap.”

Super Hooligans

Round one of the Roland Sands Design Super Hooligans QuaTTro Championship took place on Sunday with the road race portion of the multi-disciplinary series.

Two KTM-mounted riders battled at the front with Chris Fillmore prevailing over his teammate Andy DiBrino by just .045 of a second. SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup regular David Kohlstaedt rode his Indian to third place.

Chris Fillmore

“We didn’t ride together really at all these past three days,” Fillmore said in reference to his teammate DiBrino. “So, I wasn’t sure where I was going to be strong. I just figured it out throughout the race. I decided to kind of play the wise old thoughts and kind of sit back and watch and pick my place where I was going to make my move. I saved it for the last corner because I didn’t want to give him another chance to come back by me. So, it would have been nice to battle back and forth a little bit because we, for sure, could have done a little bit of that, but I went for the safe last-lap pass.”