Saturday
If you thought the points race in the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship was close coming into the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca round, turns out you were wrong. Now it’s close.
How does three points separating the top three sound? That’s what we have with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin now atop the championship by one point over Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, who in turn is just one point ahead of his teammate Cameron Petersen.
So, who among those three won Saturday’s first of two Steel Commander Superbike races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca? None of them.
The win went to five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, the rider who is trying to claw back the most points on the lead group in the championship after missing several rounds with a broken heel.
On Saturday, Beaubier was dominant and claw back he did. Going into today’s race, Beaubier trailed Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong by 55 points. Following his fourth win of the season today, Beaubier now trails Herrin by 41 points.
Beaubier beat Herrin to the line by 1.1 seconds, though the margin was much bigger before the slow down and celebration in the final few corners.
Herrin had his hands full with Petersen for most of the race, but the South African had jumped the start and incurred a five-second penalty. Thus, Herrin was never in any real danger of losing the spot. The second place was Herrin’s sixth podium of the season, and it moved him into the points lead, albeit by just a point.
Petersen rode hard and it was enough to give him third place, despite the five-second penalty. At the finish he was seven seconds behind Herrin and some three seconds clear of EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly with the Floridian also fighting through after incurring a five-second jump start penalty.
Somehow Gagne and his arm-pump issues managed a top-five finish as the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion continues to garner points despite his physical condition. He is planning on getting surgery following the Laguna Seca weekend. Through all of this, Gagne is just a point behind Herrin in the title battle.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz was sixth, less than a second behind Gagne and well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés, who barely beat his teammate Brandon Paasch to the finish line.
Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis was ninth and the winner of the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for Stock 1000 spec bikes. Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10 and was second in the Superbike Cup.
Notables not finishing the race were Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach and Wrench Motorcycles’ Fong with both riders crashing out in separate incidents. Fong suffered the most as he lost the lead in the championship and now trails Herrin by 11 points.
Earlier in the day, Beaubier earned pole position with a new lap record in Q2 of 1:22.556 to break Herrin’s record from 2018.
Herrin leads the title chase with 169, followed by Gagne with 168 and Petersen with 167 points. Fong is fourth with 158, 26 more than Baz. Beaubier is sixth with 128 points, eight ahead of Kelly.
Superbike Race 1
Quotes
Cameron Beaubier – Winner
“To be honest, I’m pretty tired. The last month has been a roller coaster, from breaking my heel and flying straight down to Dr. Brian to get it fixed, then watching these guys race at Brainerd and just knowing how good we started the season and how good I was feeling on the bike and how hard the team has been working to just see it thrown away in front of me. It was pretty tough. Like I said before, I saw the points going into Ridge and I felt like if I could just go get a couple points there, we could be in contention towards the end of the year, just with how the way everything is shaking out. But yesterday felt amazing – just to ride the bike like I know how to ride it. I can ride at 100 percent, I can push. I feel good. Yeah, I’m definitely struggling a little bit with my fitness because I haven’t done anything in the past month. I’ve ridden the bicycle a couple times and been to the gym a couple times, but definitely not my normal program. It feels amazing to get this today.”
Josh Herrin – Second Place
“I saw him (Cameron Petersen) and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) creep at the beginning, but I just saw plus whatever it was on the board. For some reason I thought I saw plus 2.5, which wouldn’t have made sense because he had a five-second penalty. I don’t know. I was just in my head like, ‘what’s going on?’ I had a feeling that that’s what it was from, but I was trying to shake my head at him to just let me focus on what I got to do in front of me instead of what’s behind me. I knew he was there no matter what. It’s not like I’m going to slow down. I raced here last year with a broken ankle, so I know it’s a difficult track for your ankle and obviously just your foot in general. So, I just kept pushing as hard as I could, just in case something happened at the end and he (Beaubier) started fading a little bit, that I was there. I didn’t want to worry about what my gap was to the guy behind me. But he never got it and it just stayed plus five. But I figured, about halfway through I’m like, that must be what it’s for. Like I said, every time Cam (Petersen) went by me, I just would fight right back just in case I could make some way on Beaubier at the front, but he was just riding too good today, so it wasn’t possible. Just hoping that tomorrow can be a little bit better.”
Cameron Petersen – Third Place “Yeah, I knew straightaway. As the lights went out, I knew I jump-started. I saw my number up on the yellow board. I kind of figured what was going on. Josh (Herrin) did have some really good pace at the end there. I was kind of struggling to hold onto the back of him. I had a few big moments right there and then because I knew even if I did make the pass, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I just kind of decided to settle down a little bit. At the same time, I kind of chilled for a couple laps. Then I remembered, I still got to beat the guys by five seconds behind me. So, I put my head down again. But they held the lights for a long, long time and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) just crept next to me and I kind of went off of his movement. But, stoked to be back up on the podium. Hopefully, we don’t do the same stupid mistake tomorrow.”
Sunday
A day after Ducati North America inked a five-year extension with the Warhorse HSBK Ducati Racing team to continue as its factory-supported team in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Josh Herrin further enforced that they made the right decision with a victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Herrin and his Ducati Panigale V4 R withstood 20 laps of pressure from five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier and EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly to win his third Steel Commander Superbike race of the season at the perfect time as it gives Herrin a 15-point lead heading into the break before the series resumes at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August.
Herrin took over the lead from Beaubier on the third lap and he led every lap after that, defending all of Beaubier’s probes. Kelly also had a go at Herrin, but that didn’t stick, either.
At the finish line the margin of victory was .244 of a second with Beaubier on Herrin’s rear wheel and just ahead of Kelly, who unsuccessfully tried a late-braking move on Beaubier in the final corner.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong was also in the mix, finishing fourth and less than a second behind Herrin.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne was fifth with a slight improvement in his arm-pump problem. The three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion was some seven seconds behind Fong and some two seconds ahead of Herrin’s Warhorse HSBK Ducati teammate Loris Baz.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés barely beat Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach to the finish line for seventh with Superbike Cup winner Danilo Lewis ninth on the Team Brazil BMW M 1000 RR. FLO4LAW’s Benjamin Smith rounded out the top 10.
Notable non-finishers included Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen who suffered another mechanical failure just when he’d clawed himself back into the championship fight. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch also failed to finish after crashing out of the race early.
Superbike Race 2
Josh Herrin – Winner
“Yeah, super stressful. Who knows how it would have ended up, but with Sean (Dylan Kelly) being there it kind of helped me a little bit because it got Cam a little bit distracted, or probably got his heart rate racing a little bit. He couldn’t just calm down and think about where he wanted to get me because he has to think about who’s behind him also. So, it probably helped me a little bit. I could hear him every lap kind of just testing – I would assume testing where he was going to be able to get me. I tried my hardest on the last lap to protect the lines but also not make the mistake of overprotecting and losing drives. I obviously don’t know what happened behind me, but obviously it worked out. I’m just super happy to get this because it’s huge for the championship. We’ve clawed our way back from a long ways. The team really deserves this. We talked about it yesterday. It’s been 30 years since Ducati has won a championship. That just got me super motivated, especially because (Eraldo) Ferracci is here. I don’t even know how that guy is still going as strong as he is. It’s insane. It’s a huge motivation for me to try to get this win this year for him. Yesterday was like a reset. Like I just got this championship reset. We’re back at square one and I just got to take advantage of it. We have three rounds to go, which seems insane. Just a huge thank you to the entire team. It was just an amazing weekend. I’m really happy.”
Cameron Beaubier – Second Place
“I didn’t quite have the pace I did yesterday at the beginning. We went with the five front today because the three yesterday was moving around a little bit. I felt like that was the better option today. I didn’t quite have the bite I wanted to on the edge of the tire. Regardless, I had a good bike. I just couldn’t pass this guy (Josh Herrin) anywhere. He was super good on the brakes. He was getting out of the last corner really good. One spot I felt really good was going down into two, but I was never close enough to do anything. So, there for a little bit, I was biding my time thinking of where I could get him as the laps went down. He was setting a good pace at the front. Then Sean came by me, and then I had to try to figure out a way around him. Once I got back on Herrin’s wheel, I couldn’t do anything without taking a big lunge and maybe taking us both out. I’m stoked, even though the win was right there. I’m stoked with how I rode this weekend, how my heel felt. I definitely need to go get my butt back in shape. But congrats to these guys. Sean (Dylan Kelly) was riding incredible. Josh was riding incredible all weekend, setting the pace. It’s going to be a tight fight the rest of the year.”
Sean Dylan Kelly – Third Place
“Much better day. I was pretty frustrated with myself after that jump start yesterday. First time I’ve ever jumped a start. I just got eaten up at the start. First lap was really far back. It was a really good day yesterday. Just understanding that I do have the pace to be up front, but you still got to make it happen. I was really focused today on just hitting the marks and getting everything together. I made not the best start, but I made some passes up really early on. Just wanted to be there. I didn’t really want to get stuck with the problems here and there with how I was feeling. I just wanted to be there. I’m really pumped with how I felt on the bike. Finally feel like I’m starting to connect truly how I want to with this BMW. Obviously still so much to learn, but I’m just super pumped, first of all, that I’m up here on the podium with these two guys who obviously have so much experience. I’ve been looking up to these guys for a long time, so to be up here is definitely a dream come true, especially at Laguna. I think it’s obviously just the beginning for me, so I want to keep on building on this. Just thank my whole TopPro Racing team. Thank my sponsors, Only Fans, Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation. Just my whole crew, my family, everyone that’s out here. I’m super pumped to bring this podium to them.”
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