Race One
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach defied the odds at Ridge Motorsports Park in Race 1 on Saturday, charging from the third row of the grid to secure a commanding victory in the opening Quad Lock Superbike race of the weekend.
Beach, who qualified ninth earlier in the day, navigated a race defined by high-profile retirements and shifting championship fortunes, won by 4.501-seconds.
The victory was hard-earned on a day that saw the championship standings turned on their head. Entering today’s events, OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly held a scant one-point lead over Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, but Race 1 provided a significant swing in the South African’s favor.
Scholtz, who had a big crash in the early stages of Free Practice 2, returned his Yamaha YZF-R1 to the paddock that required a complete rebuild before entering Final Qualifying. Joining the field with nearly nine minutes of the 15-minute session remaining, Scholtz put in a time that would start him from third on the grid.
When the lights went out in Race 1, Scholtz was calm and collected, and rode a consistent race to finish second, securing 20 points while Kelly, who had crashed on the outlap of the race, struggled to match his qualifying pace, ending in seventh. The result moves Scholtz back into the championship lead with 125 points, 10 ahead of Kelly’s 115 entering Sunday’s Race 2.
The race was one to forget for the front-row Ducati contingent. Pole-sitter PJ Jacobsen, who set a blistering 1:40.163 on his Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL in Final Qualifying to take the top spot, got off to an early lead, building his advantage to more than eight seconds over second place with seven laps to go. But the masterful performance ended as he entered The Ridge Complex, before losing control and finding himself out of the race.
Disaster also struck Cameron Petersen, who qualified second and looked to be a threat for the win until his Wrench Motorcycles Ducati Panigale V4 R closed to within 0.136 of Beach before losing the rear in Turn 15 ahead of the front straight, crashing out on the penultimate lap.
While Beach cruised at the front, the battle for the remaining podium spot was fierce. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante put on a masterclass of speed, clocking the fastest lap of the race with a 1:55.196 on his way to a third-place finish, and his first podium of the 2026 season.
Escalante was followed home by Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Benjamin Smith, who crossed the line in fourth on his Panigale V4 R, and Brandon Paasch, who rounded out the top five on the second M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R.
Notable among the finishers was Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong, who took sixth place despite qualifying fifth earlier in the morning.
In the Superbike Cup “race within the race,” Andrew Lee spearheaded the 1000cc-spec contingent during Saturday’s opening round at Ridge Motorsports Park within the premier field. Piloting his Real Steel Honda, Lee secured his fifth consecutive class-leading finish, crossing the line in 10th place overall. He maintained a consistent pace throughout the 14-lap event, fending off challenges from fellow Honda riders Danilo Lewis and Carl Soltisz, who followed him home in 11th and 12th.
Lee’s performance was highlighted by a personal best race lap of 2:02.455, allowing him to lead the Cup group to the checkered flag as they navigated the high-attrition race. Lee leads the Superbike Cup Championship over Soltisz by a commanding 72 points into Sunday’s Race 2.
Superbike Race 1
The following quote is from Quad Lock Superbike Race 1 Winner JD Beach:
“Yeah, to get the race win here, I mean, it’s just, it feels amazing. It’s something that I wake up for every day and I work extremely hard. And the team, I know all the guys, they never stopped working. So, it feels great for me, but it’s nice to reward the team too. Racing will give you some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows. So I’m gonna enjoy this high and we still got to race tomorrow. The weather here has been crazy, so we’ll see what happens. It could be wet, it could be dry, and we’ve got data for wet and dry. If it’s dry tomorrow, we’re gonna have a fight on our hands, and we need to find some pace. But I know the team will keep working, and I’ll keep working, and we’ll see what we can pull out tomorrow. But yeah, to get the win today and for the 1st win in three years, it just, I mean, it feels really good.”
Race Two
OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly (SDK) turned the Quad Lock Superbike Championship battle into a last lap showdown on Sunday, drafting past his rivals to secure a heart-stopping victory at Ridge Motorsports Park. In a race that required grit and precision, Kelly rallied from as far back as sixth place to hunt down the leaders, ultimately executing a daring pass on the final lap to win by a 0.499-second margin.
The victory capped a dramatic weekend that saw the championship lead fluctuate by the thinnest of margins. While SDK took the win, Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz retained the championship lead he took in Saturday’s Race 1. Scholtz now holds 145 points to SDK’s 140, heading into the next round with a slim five-point advantage.
Sunday’s proceedings began with uncertainty during the 15-minute morning Warm Up. While Hayden Gillim led the session aboard his Real Steel Honda with a 1:41.070, Scholtz suffered a significant crash midway through the practice—his second major “off” of the weekend.
The incident forced the Strack Racing crew into a frantic rebuild of his Yamaha YZF-R1 for the second time in two days. Against all odds, Scholtz lined up for Race 2 and immediately charged to the front, leading for 15 consecutive laps and appearing destined for a redemption victory.
The narrative shifted in the closing stages as SDK began his assault on the podium. With five laps remaining, SDK picked off Saturday’s winner JD Beach and then worked his way past Bobby Fong—both representing the Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing team.
On the final lap, SDK set his sights on Scholtz. Entering Turn 13, Kelly dove to the inside at the top of “The Waterfall,” forcing Scholtz onto the curbing and beyond. Kelly powered away to the checkered flag, while Scholtz narrowly held onto second place, crossing the line a hair ahead of a hard charging Fong.
The race also featured a heartbreak-turned-heroic recovery from Wrench Motorcycles’ Cameron Petersen who started from second on the grid. After an equipment malfunction forced him into the pits on the opening lap, Petersen rejoined the field in 19th place. He proceeded to slice through the pack, in a charge that set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:40.758 on Lap 6. His relentless pace allowed him to salvage a 10th-place finish the hard way.
In the Superbike Cup, Andrew Lee continued his dominance, which has now improved to seven wins in eight Superbike Cup appearances, finishing second only once. Following his top-10 overall performance on Saturday, Lee piloted his Real Steel Honda to an 11th-place overall finish in Sunday’s Race 2, once again leading the Cup contingent to the finish line, extending his championship lead to 84-points over Soltisz, 195-111.
The following quote is from Quad Lock Superbike Race 2 Winner Sean Dylan Kelly:
“What an incredible race. Like, by far, my best race, I think ever, not just in Superbike, but just ever. I had a rough few laps at the beginning, and I think it’s normal, you know, I’ve had a kind of rough weekend, big crash Friday, crash yesterday in the sighting lap before the race. Not a good race. Not very confident. Not too fast in Warm Up this morning in the dry. And then I almost crashed, you know, with a couple other guys the first few laps. So, it wasn’t looking like it was going to be my day again today, but I kept focused. I kept locked in, lap by lap, and things started to click, and I really just got into a flow state, and I felt so good with my bike. That’s the best I felt with the BMW.
Seriously, thank you so much to the OrangeCat Racing team, to all my guys, to BMW. They gave me an incredible package, and I’m so happy to be feeling that strong with my bike, you know, and it clearly showed, I was able to make a lot of passes from sixth to first is quite a lot, especially when there’s a grid this stacked, you know? So, yeah, I’m glad I was able to make it to the podium places with a few laps to go, but at that point, I knew that I had a chance to fight for the win, and it was definitely a close one at the end, but Mathew (Scholtz), we know he’s, he’s a tough, tough racer. He closed the door, but I’m glad I was able to put the front wheel at least in the right spot to be able to keep us both safe and get my second win of the season. So, again, really excited for the rest of the season, really excited for everything that we’ve got coming. And again, thank you to everyone for the support.”
Quad Lock Superbike Race 2
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