2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Brainerd
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Superbike Race Two
Bobby Fong barely won Saturday’s slugfest with Josh Herrin after a race-long battle. An hour or so after the race, Fong said he’d try to do things differently on Sunday. He’d said he would try and pull away at the front and not partake in any battles.
Fong did what he said he’d do and led from start to finish in Sunday’s Steel Commander Superbike race, leading every single lap and crossing the finish line with a margin of 3.8 seconds over Herrin, who was second for the second straight day.
And guess what? The name atop the Steel Commander Superbike Championship point standings now belongs to one Bobby Fong.
Fong leads three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne, who finished seventh on Sunday as he continues to be plagued by arm pump, by eight points after his two Brainerd wins.
Fong has scored points in all nine Superbike races held thus far in 2024 and he’ll take that points lead to Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington for round five, June 28-30.
Herrin was solid again on Sunday, though he couldn’t keep pace with Fong. Instead, he hunted down Cameron Petersen and passed the South African to finish second.
Petersen, who was fifth on Saturday, tried to hang on to Herrin, but ultimately settled for third place – for his fifth podium finish of the year.
Fourth place went to Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz. The Frenchman was in the battle for second with Herrin, Petersen and Dylan Kelly when Kelly had a vicious highside that ended up forcing Baz off track and onto the grass. Although he tried to fight back, he couldn’t make headway into the gap to Petersen.
Fortunately, Baz was well clear of Brandon Paasch and finished fourth with Paasch some six seconds behind in fifth. Baz and Paasch were third and sixth, respectively, on Saturday.
JD Beach improved from seventh on Saturday to finish sixth on Sunday. Gagne, meanwhile, was a frustrated and lonely seventh, with Australian Troy Herfoss eighth in his fill-in ride for the injured Cameron Beaubier on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
Ashton Yates and Ezra Beaubier rounded out the top 10.
Fong leads Gagne in the series points, 138-130, with Herrin third on 119 points and just nine clear of Petersen’s 110. Baz sits fifth in the standings with 101 points.
Superbike Race Two Top Ten Results
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha
- Josh Herrin – Ducati +3.873s
- Cameron Petersen – Yamaha +6.301s
- Loris Baz – Ducati +16.165s
- Brandon Paasch – Suzuki +22.362s
- JD Beach – BMW +23.222s
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha +34.217s
- Troy Herfoss – BMW +41.767s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +42.026s
- Ezra Beaubier – BMW +42.923s
Superbike Quotes
Bobby Fong – Winner
“It sounds good, but we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We’re only four rounds into this thing. We’ve got a lot of races left. Honestly, first thing is I want to wish my dad Happy Father’s Day. He doesn’t go to many rounds, but I want to wish him Happy Father’s Day. We’re on a good streak right now. We’re going to just play it safe and just maximize points each weekend. I would have never thought I would even be in this position last year or even leading up to the season. The goal is just to get on some podiums and see what we can do. But now we’re in this thing, and we’ve just got to be smart. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. Going into this race, we made some changes this morning and I told my data guy, ‘Nick, we need to smooth this bike out.’ On the warmup lap out there, I’m like, ‘I think we smoothed it out too much.’ We took a lot of torque away. At first when I had some grip, I’m like, ‘this thing is slow,’ but once the tire started going away it played in my favour for sure. You just kind of roll it around like a 600. It was slippery out there. So, what we did with the electronics definitely helped out there. Kudos to the team. Congrats to these guys. They’re keeping me honest. I always go good here, and the Ridge is a different story. We’re just going to keep going and try to keep this lead.”
Josh Herrin – P2
“No matter what, we’re always trying to win. We can’t leave here and be super happy with a second, but I’m content with it. After the way that the beginning of the season went, it’s good. We’ve been just trying to chip away. It’s been not going our way. The rain, for some reason I’m struggling with this year, so we lost a lot of points in the two rain races and lost a lot of points in race one at Atlanta. I’ve just had to try to claw my way back. It seems like now we’re getting there. I think we’re probably 18 points behind Bobby (Fong) now, and I don’t know how many behind (Jake) Gagne, or if we’re in second or not. I don’t think so. But I’m happy with the way that the championship is shaping up. I’ve been around here 19 years now and been lucky enough to win three championships and know that it’s not about the first half of the season. Things can go wrong the first half of the season. Just got to keep chipping away and never give up. My team is just full of that energy. We’ve got a good crew. Three years on the same team is a blessing for me. To be on the podium on Father’s Day, my kid’s not here right now but it’s just a good feeling. Thirty-four years old, I’m a dad and fighting for Superbike wins – not today but yesterday. I’m happy with this one and looking forward to the next couple rounds that we got coming up.”
Cameron Petersen – P3
“I’m position-wise quite a bit better, but in terms of race pace and the way I rode, I feel like I rode worse than I did yesterday. Obviously, yesterday just got caught up with those lappers in the last few laps. It was a tough race. I tried to go with Bob (Fong) in the beginning and his pace was pretty hot and I was just pretty sloppy, making a lot of mistakes, running wide, and really struggling with rear grip pretty much from lap one. But stoked to be on the podium. Good points haul. Just got to be consistent and be in this thing at the end. Seriously congrats to Bob this weekend. The guy was untouchable. Congrats to Josh (Herrin). I tried to keep him honest for the second half of the race there, but he just kind of slowly broke me and that was it.”
Superbike Championship Points
- Bobby Fong 138
- Jake Gagne 130
- Josh Herrin 119
- Cameron Petersen 110
- Loris Baz 101
- Sean Dylan Kelly 96
- Cameron Beaubier 95
- JD Beach 79
- Brandon Paasch 65
- Hayden Gillim 45
King of the Baggers Race Two
Hayden Gillim crashed out of the lead in Stock 1000 on Sunday in a race he was heavily favoured to win. He didn’t let that happen in the second of two Mission King Of The Baggers races as he backed up Saturday’s win with another victory on Sunday and a points haul of 50 over the course of the weekend.
The race was one of attrition with the two men at the top of the points table also suffering miserable races and finishing last and second-to-last (seventh and eighth).
Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman was the first to have an issue as his bike faltered at the start and Wyman basically was forced to cruise around for the duration to get some championship points. He earned eight of them.
S&S/Indian Motorcycles’ Troy Herfoss was looking like he would bring home a boatload of points in comparison to his championship rival, but he crashed out of second place, remounted and finished seventh.
Despite the crash and finishing almost a minute behind the race winner, Herfoss actually leaves Minnesota with an increased championship lead thanks to a technical gremlin suffered by primary title rival Kyle Wyman. Herfoss now has 205 points to Wyman’s 192.
Herfoss’s team-mate Tyler O’Hara cruised to a second-place finish, 6.5 seconds behind Gillim and some 10 seconds clear of third-placed James Rispoli on the second Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide.
O’Hara made up a lot of ground on Herfoss and Wyman in the title chase but he is still a huge 62-points behind the Australia.
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson teammates Jake Lewis and Cory West rounded out the top-five finishers.
Hayden Gillim
“I was a little nervous after crashing in the Stock race earlier, I didn’t want to repeat that. But, no, I was pushing as much as I felt comfortable. I knew if I could get into the corners pretty good and get out of them pretty good, it would be hard to pass. Everybody stepped it up from yesterday. If you could look at this morning, I was third and I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t go any faster, but everybody else did. It’s an awesome weekend after Road America. Road America was a rough one. The whole start of the season has been really, really rough. Wearing the number-one plate I thought would be a little bit easier going into the season than what it has been. I’m just really happy for myself, for the team. Just looking forward to getting to Laguna on these. Last year we had really good pace there. Me and James (Rispoli) were rolling really good on the Vance & Hines bikes. Laguna is going to be a tight one. Everybody goes fast there, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. Just keep it on two wheels right now. I’m beat up right now a little bit – knees, elbows, everything. I’m just wanting to stay on two wheels right now.”
King of the Baggers Race Two
- Hayden Gillim – Harley
- Tyler O’Hara – Indian +6.500s
- James Rispoli – Harley +16.402s
- Jake Lewis – Harley +21.385s
- Cory West – Harley +22,240s
- Max Flinders – Indian +30.056s
- Troy Herfoss – Indian +47.612
- Kyle Wyman – Harley +70.058s
DNF Rocco Landers
King of the Baggers Points
- Troy Herfoss 205
- Kyle Wyman 192
- Tyler O’Hara 142
- Hayden Gillim 135
- James Rispoli 108
- Max Flinders 89
- Cory West 81
- Rocco Landers 70
- Jake Lewis 68
- Bobby Fong 53
Supersport Race Two
PJ Jacobsen and Mathew Scholtz seem destined to battle every single race for the 2024 Supersport Championship, and that battle continued at Brainerd International Raceway on Sunday.
Scholtz won on Saturday with Jacobsen second and the South African won again on Sunday, again, with Jacobsen second. With his two victories here, Scholtz now has four wins on the season. The exact same number of wins as Jacobsen has in 2024.
With four rounds and eight races of the championship in the rear-view mirror, the pair are separated by just two measly points with Jacobsen on top, 171-169.
The top-two men in the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship were the top-two men on Saturday at BIR and they were the top-two men on Sunday, with the same result.
Jacobsen, who was racing in front of team owner Graham Rahal for the first time, managed to get to the back of Scholtz in the early laps before the South African gapped him slightly. With a handful of laps remaining, Jacobsen couldn’t do anything but settle for second, 4.4 seconds behind Scholtz at the finish line.
Behind those two was a great battle for third with the two Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzukis of Tyler Scott and Teagg Hobbs vs. Corey Alexander. That battle went to the bitter end with Alexander making the pass on Scott on the last lap and beating him to the flag by just .023 of a second.
It was Alexander’s comeback ride from the hip injury he suffered at Barber Motorsports Park four weeks ago. Hobbs was right behind them, .343 of a second behind the duo, and fifth across the finish line.
Mathew Scholtz
“Yesterday we felt great. Made a couple changes for the practice this morning. We went backwards, and then we went to yesterday’s settings for this race. It was just strange that I was only kind of stuck in the high 33s whereas yesterday I could do 33.3, 33.4 and didn’t feel like I was riding at the absolute limit. Today, if I tried to push more, I was running wide, missing the corners, tucking the front. So, I just have to go back and look at the data and figure out what I was doing differently. Definitely the first couple laps I thought that I would be gapping them, and PJ (Jacobsen) kept me honest. He definitely picked it up. I know that he’s coming. It’s good to see Corey (Alexander) up here, one of the two taller guys. So, that’s cool. Overall, happy to be taking the double. The team have been working really, really well, and just thank you to all the guys that have been supporting me. HJC, 4SR leathers, Alpinestars, the Strack Racing Company, everyone that makes this possible for me. Thank you.”
Supersport Race Two Top Ten
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +4.419s
- Corey Alexander – Ducati +12.212s
- Tyler Scott – Suzuki +12.235s
- Teagg Hobbs – Suzuki +12.578s
- Jake Lewis – Suzuki +23.098s
- David Anthony – Suzuki +24.491s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +25.065s
- Stefano Mesa – Kawasaki +28.202s
- Maxi Gerardo – Suzuki +33.038s
Supersport Championship Points
- PJ Jacobsen 171
- Mathew Scholtz 169
- Jake Lewis 85
- Blake Davis 78
- Tyler Scott 74
- Corey Alexander 68
- Maxi Gerardo 68
- Teagg Hobbs 63
- Stefano Mesa 61
- Kayla Yaakov 53
Stock 1000 Race Two
When Hayden Gillim crashed his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP on the second lap in Sunday’s Stock 1000 race, the door was open for the rest of the pack to make hay while the sun shone.
Gillim had won his third Stock 1000 race of the season on Saturday and not many thought he could be beaten at BIR. But it all went wrong for the defending champion with his crash.
The rider who took the most advantage of Gillim’s miscue was Jason Uribe, who won his first Stock 1000 race and his first of any kind in the MotoAmerica Championship.
Ashton Yates took over at the front after Gillim’s crash and managed to open a bit of a gap over the chasing pack. Uribe and Benjamin Smith, however, had their eyes wide open knowing that with Gillim out, this was anybody’s race.
The pair chipped away on and eventually caught up to Yates. On the final lap, Uribe snatched the lead in turn three, protected the inside for the rest of the lap and scored his first-career win in his return to the MotoAmerica paddock.
Yates held on for second, just .144 of a second behind Uribe and .368 ahead of Smith, who finished on the podium for a second-straight race. It was also Yates’ second podium finish of the weekend.
Bryce Prince was 1.6 seconds behind Smith and well clear of Danilo Lewis, who rounded out the top five.
Stock 1000 Race Two Top Ten
- Jayson Uribe – BMW
- Ashton Yates – Honda +0.144s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +0.512s
- Bryce Prince – Yamaha +1.609s
- Danilo Lewis – BMW +6.544s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +10.218s
- Travis Wyman – BMW +16.478s
- Deion Campbell – Yamaha +21.987s
- Justin Miest – Kawasaki +22.259s
- Alex Arango – BMW +30.137s
Stock 1000 Points
- Hayden Gillim 75
- Jayson Uribe 59
- Bryce Prince 57
- Ashton Yates 55
- Benjamin Smith 52
- Richard Kerr 41
- Danilo Lewis 30
- Travis Wyman 29
- Deion Campbell 26
- Nolan Lamkin 26
BellissiMoto Twins Cup Race Two
Rocco Landers played a little bump and run with his rival Alessandro Di Mario on the opening lap of the BellissiMoto Twins Cup race on Sunday, knocking Di Mario wide with the Italian-turned Kentuckian losing several places in the process. But he wasn’t done yet.
Di Mario caught back up to Landers, breaking the Twins Cup lap record in the process. Di Mario latched on to make it a battle to the finish with the Di Mario/Landers duo going back and forth. Their battle at the front allowed Rossi Moor to get back in touch with the lead trio for the final laps with the 16-year-old latching on to the end.
At the flag it was Landers by .585 of a second with Di Mario just .324 of a second behind in third. The podium was identical to Saturday’s race, but the pace on Sunday was much faster.
Di Mario’s teammate Gus Rodio was some 15 seconds adrift in fourth, but well ahead of Dominic Doyle.
Rocco Landers
“I kind of got it a little bit deep and if I had snatched the brakes I would have gone down, I assumed he might see me and kind of get out of the way at that point, but the kid is a fighter. Made me work for that one way harder than any race this season so far. But it’s cool to race these guys. They’re always super-fast. Rossi and I kind of got to get our elbows out there a little bit, especially Rossi, though he’s a little bit down on power. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find some things for COTA. Got to give a huge shout out to my uncle Ken. He’s in the hospital right now. He was watching the race. My thoughts go out to him currently. But it was a good race for me. I had a lot of fun.”
BellissiMoto Twins Cup Race Two Top Ten
- Rocco Landers – Suzuki
- Alessandro di Mario – Aprilia +0.585s
- Rossi Moor – Suzuki +0.909s
- Gus Rodio – Aprilia +17.573s
- Dominic Doyle – Yamaha +32.688s
- Sean Ungvarsky – Yamaha +56.172s
- Jeff Bean – Yamaha +65.859s
- Jeffrey Purk – Yamaha +70.580s
- Josef Bittner – Aprilia +72.395s
- Bryce DeBoer – Yamaha +72.746s
BellissiMoto Twins Cup Points
- Rocco Landers 185
- Alessandro di Mario 166
- Gus Rodio 135
- Dominic Doyle 131
- Rossi Moor 116
- Avery Dreher 93
- Sean Ungvarsky 82
- Jack Roach 74
- Romeo Chiavini 45
- Cassidy Heiser 40
Junior Cup Top Race Two
The Junior Cup race was red flagged and moved to the end of the day after three riders crashed together in the ultra-fast turn one and moved to the end of the day.
After a few hours of downtime, the race was restarted and ultimately red-flagged and called with Levi Badie taking the win, his first of the year and the third of his Junior Cup career. Badie was the fourth different winner in Junior Cup in 2024.
Matthew Chapin was second, half a second behind Badie with another half a second back to first-time podium finisher Isaac Woodworth.
Bad Boy Racing’s siblings Avery and Ella Dreher were fourth and fifth, respectively, all under a second off the lead.
Levi Badie
“Started off pretty good. It was a really big battle. I enjoyed the race a lot. Just trying to get my way up to the front. It’s hard sometimes. There were some few different limited passing spots, so it’s always like you want to do it fair. You don’t want to push people off the track and stuff. So, I pushed my way back to the front. When I got up front, I was like, ‘put the pin down and just try to go. See what every lap gives.’ You saw Isaac (Woodworth) pass me on the straightaway up to the last lap. Trying to just have a good battle and have fun. It’s sad to see that somebody crashed. It’s always sad. But I’m very happy. Thank you to everyone. I’m very grateful.”
Junior Cup Top Race Two Top Ten
- Levi Badie
- Matthew Chapin +0.587s
- Isaac Woodworth +0.661s
- Avery Dreher +0.823s
- Ella Dreher +0.936s
- Ryan Wolfe +1.329s
- Carson King +1.543s
- Yandel Medina +4.519s
- Jayden Fernandez +4.577s
- Juliana Fernandez +6.070s
