Petrucci & Gagne share Road Atlanta MotoAmerica wins

2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round 3 – Road Atlanta, Georgia

Images by Brian J Nelson

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne looked to be having the same sort of race that he had 17 times last year in the first of two MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike races at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday. He’d started from pole position after breaking the track record in qualifying, he led into turn one, and he looked to be settling into the sort of pace no one else was going to match.

Everything was going to plan. Right up until the point that it wasn’t. Gagne crashed his Yamaha YZF-R1 out of the lead on the sixth lap in turn five, handing a third-successive victory to Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci.

Petrucci, though, didn’t have it easy as Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz piled race-long pressure on the Italian former MotoGP winner. Once he passed South African countryman Cameron Petersen, Scholtz was able to put a dent in Petrucci’s lead and even whittled it down to within a second. But he couldn’t quite get close enough to strike and championship points leader Petrucci was able to close it out with another near flawless performance.

Petersen, meanwhile, added to the Yamaha team’s Saturday misery in Georgia when he crashed out of third place just two laps after Gagne’s miscue.

Scholtz knows Petrucci has a bit of an edge at this point and he’s hoping a few tweaks to his Yamaha YZF-R1 overnight will get him closer to the front on Sunday. Still, he’s off to a good start to the season with three second-place finishes.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis made a return to the Superbike podium after a four-year hiatus, the non-defending MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion keeping his nose clean and holding Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera at bay by 1.2 seconds. Road Atlanta was also the site of Lewis’ first career MotoAmerica Superbike podium when he finished third in 2015 on a Yoshimura Suzuki.

With Barbera fourth, fifth went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with the former Supersport Champion fighting back after an off-track excursion on the opening lap.

Kyle Wyman found out on Friday that he would be replacing PJ Jacobsen on the second Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW when Jacobsen was forced out of the weekend after testing positive for COVID-19. Wyman made the most of the opportunity and finished sixth, barely besting pseudo-teammate Corey Alexander on another Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW.

Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim was eighth with Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing BMW’s Ashton Yates and Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Travis Wyman rounding out the top 10.

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The top four in the first of two Medallia Superbike races at Road Atlanta were mounted on four different makes of motorcycle: Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki, and BMW.

Danilo Petrucci – P1

“I studied a bit of video on YouTube on the onboard video. I watched some races. But I thought it was easier. The track is really not for boys but for men, because it’s a really different compared to our European standards. There are plenty of bumps and even high curbs. The walls are so close here, but the track is so good. The first corners for me is really, really difficult to approach. I lost a lot of time. Let’s say I’m struggling a lot with the traction. I don’t go out of the corners with so much speed. I need to gain everything on braking, but today the heat was really, really high. I was struggling. Then I thought it was easier, but a lapped rider was stuck in the middle. Mathew (Scholtz) gained a lot of time there. Then I pushed as hell for finish the race. Was very, very difficult. We need to do something with the lapped riders because we respect them. They need to respect us because we are racing, and we are fighting for the top position. I don’t think it’s fair to do like this, stuck in the middle. But it’s racing. Tomorrow will be tough. I tried to stay with Jake (Gagne) as much as possible, but I was a little bit faster on some braking areas. He was definitely faster in the first sector. But I tried to stay there and tried to hold him but unfortunately, he crashed out. We need to fix a bit the bike. We have some solution for tomorrow. I hope it works.”

MotoAmerica Superbike Race One Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two

Thus far in 2020, Gagne’s record looks like this: DNF (mechanical), third, DNF (crash), victory. Gagne’s start to his title defense was dismal: Saturday’s crash, combined with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Danilo Petrucci’s third-straight win, left Gagne 59 points behind the Italian.

But Gagne is Gagne and the ever-eternal positivity never wavered. He dominated Race 2 from start to finish, despite two red flags (one for Jeremy Coffey’s crash on the opening lap and again when the TV truck lost power, forcing the race to be stopped) and ended up winning by 14.028 seconds over his teammate Cameron Petersen, the South African also bouncing back from a Saturday crash to bring smiles back to the Yamaha camp.

To make things even better for Gagne, the two riders at the top of the point standings both failed to finish. Petrucci’s Ducati Panigale V4 R blew up on the opening lap of the second restart and Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz crashed, remounted, pitted, and finally gave up on the 11th lap.

So, with his first win of the year and the 18th of his MotoAmerica Superbike career, Gagne now finds himself 34 points behind Petrucci and 26 behind Scholtz with the VIRginia International Raceway round a month away.

Third place today went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Kyle Wyman, who was riding the team’s BMW M 1000 RR as a replacement rider for PJ Jacobsen. Jacobsen failed a COVID-19 test on Thursday and Wyman, who was at Road Atlanta to ride his factory Harley-Davidson in the Mission King Of The Baggers race, was called on to replace his fellow New Yorker. He said yes and a few days later he had given the team its first-ever MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike podium.

Wyman’s teammate for the weekend Hector Barbera was fourth and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante fifth with those three fighting it out for the final podium spot for the duration of the race.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander came out on top of a battle with Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates, and the two were separated by half a second at the finish. Alexander’s teammate Travis Wyman ended up eighth with ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony ninth and Vision Wheel/Discount Tire/KWS’s Geoff May rounding out the top 10 finishers.

After two rounds and four races, Petrucci leads Scholtz by 15 points, 75-60. Petersen is third with 49 points, three better than Barbera’s 46. Escalante is fifth with 42 points, and Gagne is a point behind him and 34 points behind Petrucci.

Jake Gagne – P1

“After yesterday, we got a good start. I felt really good and really smooth running that pace, but just a little mistake, a surprising mistake. I was down before I even knew it. So, we went back. Like Cam (Petersen) said, the goal was we need to bring this bike home, no matter what. But at the same time, I knew even that pace we were at yesterday was comfortable for me. I just had to avoid a little brain fart like that. But I got off to really great starts today, really, really good. That was good. Felt kind of like last year. To me, I’m comfortable. Like Cam said, I feel good right out of the gate, so I want to try to push the pace right away and at least thin the herd if possible, and whoever wants to come with, come with. I knew there was drama. We even saw the Ducati, (Danilo) Petrucci smoking a little bit on the sighting lap. So, that was in my mind. Like, I wonder if that thing is going to finish? It’s been a rough year, man. A really rough year so far. I know we’re only four races in, but it’s been a rough year. I feel like luck kind of got on our side today. I was able to get a win, and not only just get a win but kind of get some points with those guys DNF’ing today, which was unfortunate for them. But that’s racing. We’ve still got 16 races to go in this championship. There’s a long way to go.”

Cameron Petersen – P2

“I tried in the beginning, especially in the first start before the red flag. Danilo (Petrucci) came past me. I kind of latched onto him for a lap. I felt like I could run the pace and then after the red flag came out, Jake’s (Gagne) first lap is just on another level. It’s going to take me some time to figure that out. Once Matty (Scholtz) came past me, I think he kind of saw Jake riding away from me and kind of got a little bit desperate. He had some pace for sure. I was pretty late on the brakes into 10. He lunged up my inside and, unfortunately, I knew he was carrying so much speed going in there. I knew he was either going to run off or something was going to happen. We were both hot into there. So, once Matty crashed trying to pass me, I honestly just backed it off so much. I kind of got the gap up to about 10 or 11 seconds and I just started cruising around doing mid-25s, 26s the whole race. I knew it was super important to bring these bikes home for the team after the weekend we’ve had. It’s been a rough couple weekends. COTA wasn’t the greatest either. Honestly, at the end of the day, I’m not too happy with the way I rode, but I’ll take it. It’s a second. The team finished one and two. It’s not fun riding around all timid and scared the whole time. It was just one of those things. We’re going to go back to work, and I think Virginia is going to be a different story. Once I build up that confidence again, I think I’ll be good. Congrats to these two guys next to me. Honestly, it’s awesome seeing Kyle (Wyman) up here. That’s pretty badass for him to come here and beat his teammate, Hector, and get the first podium for the team. And to my boy JG (Gagne), this is where he belongs. Like I said, it’s been a tough few rounds, so to see him back up on the box in P1 is pretty cool, and to be there right next to him is even better. Massive shout-out to the whole Fresh N Lean, Progressive, Attack Yamaha team. I can’t thank them enough for all the work they’ve done. I’ve got a lot of work to do. Looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Kyle Wyman – P3

“Got a wicked start. The launch control on the BMW is amazing. I think I passed two rows every time we started. We had two starts today. It’s been kind of a whirlwind. I had to work for that one. We definitely had some attrition in that race. That obviously plays into this podium result, but I definitely had to work for it, too. My teammate Hector (Barbera) and Richie (Escalante), were right there. I had to bridge a gap to those guys the first half of the race. They were a couple seconds up the road. I kind of sat there for a couple laps. Felt like I had pace to lead it. I don’t remember where I passed the guys, honestly. But I picked them off one lap and then the next lap. Pretty much held a .3 to .5 (second) gap the rest of the race. The bike was working way better today than yesterday. Scotty (Jensen) made some great changes for me. Peter, the electronics guy, is amazing. The bike is really good; it’s really fast. Feels great to get the team’s first podium. It’s a young team and this is a real boost for them.”

MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings (After Round 3)

Yuasa Stock 1000 Race

Saturday’s feature races got off to a rousing start with Corey Alexander winning from the pole in the weekend’s only Yuasa Stock 1000 race, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

The Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing Kawasaki rider had his hands full from start to finish, first with veteran rider Geoff May, who crashed out, and then with Cycle World/Octane/Chuckwalla Racing’s Michael Gilbert. Alexander and Gilbert battled it out, particularly in the closing laps, and the pace increased, which made the final lap a barn burner.

Looking for a way around Alexander and into the lead, Gilbert made a brave inside pass in the final turn and almost held on to take the checkers. Instead, Alexander prevailed in a photo finish and took the victory by .001 of a second.

Corey Alexander – P1

“The pace, for sure, went up quite a bit. The track temp was high, and the track was a little bit greasy. We had tried a couple things going into the race trying to go faster than we did in qualifying. But, grip-wise, I was struggling. I was over-riding, honestly. The lines were a lot harder than they were this morning. I saw plus zero, plus zero, plus zero. Mikey never drafted me. I kind of knew that we probably had a pretty good bike on the back straightaway. So, basically, I got to a point like, I might as well see what he’s got. So, I let him by and kind of followed him for a lap just to see what was going on, where I was better, where he was better. Ultimately, on the the back straightaway, I just had to go around him, otherwise I would have hit him. I knew I could probably drop back down to point six if I had clear track, and I was trying to, but the lap traffic and the track was so one-lined. Just got into lapped traffic, and a couple sketchy little things happened. I think being able to push that lap to the end, if I didn’t break away at the end my plan was to try to break away with four laps to go or so. Either way, super, super happy. Every time I get on the podium, I’ve got to thank so many people, and I always forget. So, thanks to all my team. All the guys that are supporting us. I was lying in bed thinking, ‘I don’t know if I can keep racing.’ So, to be back up here is really exciting.”

Yuasa Stock 1000 Race

Yuasa Stock 1000 Standings

Supersport Race 1

Former Georgia resident Josh Herrin had the best kind of reunion with the Peach State on Saturday at Road Atlanta. The Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider, who returned to the Supersport class after several years racing in Superbike, got his first win in the middleweight class since 2015.

The polesitter got the holeshot in the 18-lap race and led from start to finish to notch the world’s first professional road racing win for the Panigale V2.

Meanwhile, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sam Lochoff, who is the first professional road racer to compete aboard the GSX-R750 under the FIM’s and MotoAmerica’s “Supersport Next Generation” rules, finished second. North East Cycle Outlet Racing Benjamin Smith completed the podium in third.

Aussie Luke Power finished the race in eighth.

Supersport Race 1 Results

Supersport Race 2

The only double win of the weekend was delivered by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Josh Herrin, who followed up his dominant win in Saturday’s Supersport race with another dominant win is Sunday’s race.

Starting from the pole, just like yesterday, the former Superbike Champion got another great jump off the line and led the 18-lap race from start to finish, stretching his lead our to nearly five seconds by the time he took the checkers.

Finishing second and also holding his position for the entirety of the race was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Sam Lochoff, who was aboard the only GSX-R750 in the field. Third place went to Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers, the young, but talented rider notching his 50th podium in MotoAmerica competition.

Luke Powers improved on his Race 1 performance to come home in seventh in Race 2.

Josh Herrin

“To be honest, from the beginning of the race, I’m just doing what I always do and just push as hard as I can. I’ve never been one for strategies. It just so happened the last two days, it worked out that way. But I’m just putting my head down and riding as hard as I can. I was a little nervous. The start yesterday and today, just a full load of fuel, the thing is all the way to the max to make sure that we make it the distance. I was a little nervous at first with it, but it was good. I’m happy with the results. Bobby, the team owner, has been calling me fat all weekend so it’s been giving me a little bit of motivation. I have a little dad bod going on this off-season. A lot of late nights with the baby, a lot of snacking. It’s time to go to work. The Georgia heat beat me up this weekend, that’s for sure. Hayes has been telling me all weekend he’s coming for us at VIR, so I need to step it up and be ready for him because I know when he gets here, it’s going to go up another level. Just having fun. I’m excited to be on this team, the whole Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC. Our team is a lot of fun to be around. I’m just enjoying myself. It’s awesome having (son) Griffin here, and (wife) Rachel here, and my whole family here from the Herrin Compound. Thank you, everybody, for coming out and all the fans for coming out. I’m looking forward to going to VIR.”

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings

SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Race 1

In Saturday’s SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race one, Belgian rider Levi Badie, who is a rookie in the class, started on the pole in his very first MotoAmerica race.

The BARTCON Racing rider didn’t get off to a good start and had to settle into third on the opening lap. Max Van got the holeshot and was in the lead, but Badie overtook him on the first lap, but then he crashed out on lap two. After that, the battle was on for who was going to take the win.

The lead swapped hands several times during the 11-lap event, and Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman emerged victorious, notching his second Junior Cup win in as many years. SportbikeTrackGear.com rider Van finished, while his teammate Joseph LiMandri Jr. rounded out the podium.

Junior Cup Race 1 Results

Junior Cup Race 2

The 11-lap SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race two got off to its usual rousing start, with nearly 20 of MotoAmerica’s youngest riders racing in close formation aboard their lightweight 400cc motorcycles. But it was the ending of the race that brought the most attention.

After the race concluded, the podium result ended up being changed due to a MotoAmerica rule about passing in a corner where there is a standing yellow flag. As a result, Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kayla Yaakov unfortunately rode an emotional roller coaster where she went from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat as her race win was nullified and she was moved from first to third.

That handed the victory to SportbikeTrackGear.com’s Max Van, with second place going to Calishine Racing’s Aden Thao, and aforementioned Yaakov completing the podium.

Also adding to the drama of the final lap was the fact that a couple of riders crashed out just before the final run to the finish line.

Max VanDenBrouck

“Today, I don’t really feel like I deserve this win, but I’m really sorry to Kayla. She rode a great race and, honestly, I feel like she deserves this. But I’ll take the points and I’ll take them into VIR with a lot of confidence. I just hope everybody is okay in that wreckage in the last corner. Levi, I think something happened. I feel like he highsided, and he landed into me. I have marks all on my boot. I really hope everybody is okay, including my teammate (Joe LiMandri) and (BARTCON Racing’s) Levi (Badie). I hope you guys are well soon.”

Junior Cup Race 2 Results

Junior Cup Standings

Twins Cup Race

The second day of racing started with the 12-lap Twins Cup race, which was red-flagged on the first lap due to a group of riders who crashed out unhurt, and the race was restarted with a seven-lap sprint to the finish line.

Polesitter Jody Barry got the holeshot and led the first four laps aboard his Veloce Racing Aprilia, but Robem Engineering’s Teagg Hobbs was in hot pursuit. Hobbs overtook Barry on lap five and held the lead until the seventh and final lap when Barry got around Hobbs and held off the New Hampshirite’s strong challenge to take the checkered flag by just seven one-hundredths of a second.

Hobbs’ Robem Engineering Aprilia teammate had his own battle with Jackson Blackmon Racing Yamaha rider Jackson Blackmon, but he managed to get around Blackmon on lap four and maintain his third-place position all the way to the checkers.

Jody Barry

“I definitely expected him to try to make something happen. I would have done the exact same thing. I guess I broke late enough to the point where he couldn’t make it stick. Just after that, I tried to hit my markers and finish a clean lap, but don’t kill my drive on the front straight or anything. Everything worked out pretty good.”

Twins Cup Race Results

Twins Cup Standings

Roland Sands Design Super Hooligans Race 1

Saddlemen/Lloyd’z Garage’s Cory West turned the tables on JLC Concrete/KTM/DiBrino Racing’s Andy DiBrino on Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with the Indian-mounted West besting DiBrino after the KTM-mounted Oregonian had come out on top of a similar battle at Daytona.

Third place went to Roland Sands Design’s Tyler O’Hara, who was forced to start from the back row, with the Californian topping his Ulsterman Jeremy McWilliams.

Super Hooligans Race 1 Results

Roland Sands Design Super Hooligans Race 2

The MotoAmerica race weekend at Road Atlanta concluded with Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan race two. The series features naked bikes with up to 125 horsepower, which include everything from Harley-Davidsons and Indians, to KTMs, Ducatis and a BMW.

Roland Sand Design Indian rider Tyler O’Hara won the eight-lap event over his teammate Jeremy McWilliams, who passed for the lead on lap six, but couldn’t make it stick.

JLC Concrete/KTM/DiBrino Racing’s Andy DiBrino stalked Saturday’s Hooligan race winner Cory West, who was in third place until the final lap. DiBrino finally made his move and overtook West to snatch the final spot on the podium.

Tyler O’Hara

“It was such a blast, to be able to start up front where we belong and be able to go with the boys and really kind of let the race unfold. Got a few clean laps out front and Jeremy came around me in turn one early in the race, and it was a great pass. I knew I needed to clean up turn one and get that figured out. Then he passed me again going back into 10 like I was standing still. Obviously, I was going in there soft. He went around me like a MotoGP rider. He took me to school. I figured out what I needed to work on. I think, with two to go, he was on the opposite side of me going up into turn one again, and we played chicken all the way up into turn three. We both went off the track, but it was fun. I ended up coming out of the deal. Just so fun riding these FTR1200 Indians. Just such a beautiful motorcycle and so much fun to ride. We’re still developing it, really. Just, every session, we’re figuring them out and getting more comfortable. We still have a ways to go. I think there are some big chunks still to get more comfortable. The whole Mission Foods support and Roland Sands Design and shout out to Patricia Fernandez for basically loaning us her motor. We lost a motor, and she had crashed and totaled her bike, so we took her motor yesterday in-between sessions. Big hats off to her. It was super fun with my teammate and (Andy) DiBrino. It’s just a fun class. It’s the Super Hooligan class. It’s supposed to be fun.”

Super Hooligans Race 2 Results

Super Hooligans Standings