Race One

America’s Dairyland witnessed a barn burner of a show in Saturday’s Quad Lock Superbike race one. An abbreviated race produced a bar-to-bar battle to the finish with just over a second separating the top five.   

At the start, Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law rider Cameron Beaubier jumped out to an early lead of over one second, but on lap six, he lowsided in the chicane before Canada Corner. The six-time Superbike Champion quickly got back on his feet, but he appeared to have injured his arm. With his motorcycle laying in a hazardous position just off the racing surface, the race was red-flagged and restarted from the last completed lap’s running order. Beaubier was unable to make the restart.

At the time of the red flag, Wrench Motorcycles rider Cameron Petersen had charged from 15th all the way up to second, thus upgrading his starting position to the middle of the front row for the restart.

Two laps into the restarted race, Petersen took the lead from OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly, with Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong following closely in third.

The trio raced in a close pack for the remaining laps, and Petersen and Kelly swapped the lead twice between Canada Corner and Turn 13 on the final lap, racing so close together that they made contact at one point. Meanwhile, Fong stalked the two frontrunners in third. As the lead three approached the final turn, Petersen led a drag race up the hill to the finish line. Kelly and Fong flanked the South African but came up just short. Petersen took the win over Kelly by .067 of a second, and Fong finished third, just .099 of a second adrift of Kelly.

Just behind the lead group in fourth was Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider PJ Jacobsen, who led the first three laps during the pre-red flag portion of race one but dropped to seventh after encountering headshake down the long straightaway leading to turn five. After the restart, he apexed turn one in fourth and finished ahead of Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach in fifth.

Points leader Mathew Scholtz brought his Strack Racing Yamaha home in sixth, a little over four seconds off the lead group, while Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim finished seventh. Gillim showed top-five speed before the red flag but ran wide in the chicane on lap two, dropping him down the order.

It was another tough start to a race weekend for Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Benjamin Smith, who was missing from the starting grid after an unfortunate, high-speed crash during qualifying that resulted in him being declared unfit for both of the weekend’s races.

With temperatures in the low 70s expected for tomorrow, and virtually no chance of rain, fans are in store for another Badger State brawl to the finish line at America’s National Park of Speed.

With his first-place finish in Superbike Cup, Real Steel Honda’s Andrew Lee continues his domination of the race within the Quad Lock Superbike race. He now holds a commanding, 51-point lead and appears to be on his way to another double win weekend.

The following quote is from Quad Lock Superbike race one winner Cameron Petersen:

“It’s so special, yeah, honestly, if you had told me before the race that I’d be standing on the top box, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I made my life pretty difficult starting from 15th on the grid, but, you know, first half of the race, I think it was the best two laps I’ve ever done in the beginning of the race to get me with the front guys.

“Then, yeah, it was super unfortunate about Cam (Beaubier) going down, but after the red flag, I knew it was going to be a dogfight, and I didn’t think I was gonna be able to draft somebody to the line, so I thought my best bet was to lead. Me and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) had one hell of a battle, and when he touched me in the second-to-last corner, there was no way I was gonna give that up. So, yeah, I gave everything I had going to the last corner, and here we are standing on the top step of the podium.

“It’s so special, and to do this with my dad is even more special. By far, the best win of my career.”

The following quote is from Superbike Cup first-place finisher Andrew Lee: 

“Yeah, we’re happy. We’re really working on trying to get the settings perfect, but you know, as a racer, there’s no such thing as ‘perfect,’ so we’re really homing in on that direction. This track’s a little bit hard for us right now. Straightaways are long and Deion (Campbell) is really riding well, so we’re really happy with the progress we’re making. The team’s working their butts off, and with this win, it’s happy days.”

Race Two

OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly claimed his first Quad Lock Superbike victory of the season on Sunday at Road America, capitalizing on the misfortune of Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz to leave Wisconsin with a one-point championship lead.

With Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law rider Cameron Beaubier sidelined by a shoulder injury suffered in Saturday’s race one, Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen started from the pole position with his Ducati Panigale V4 R and led the opening lap ahead of JD Beach’s Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R1 and Sean Dylan Kelly’s BMW M 1000 RR.

The front of the field quickly formed into a high-speed freight train of six riders, while Beach briefly took the lead on lap two before Jacobsen responded. Just two laps into the race, the riders running first through sixth were separated by less than half a second, creating a clear gap to the riders behind.

Wrench Motorcycles’ Cameron Petersen was one of the race’s biggest movers, charging from 14th on the grid to join the tail of the lead group by lap three on his Ducati Panigale V4 R.

The race took a dramatic turn on lap four when Scholtz’s Yamaha YZF-R1 suffered an engine failure in the Moraine Sweep. White smoke poured from the machine as the championship leader coasted to a stop near turn five and retired from the race while running sixth.

At the front, Kelly, Jacobsen, Beach and his teammate Bobby Fong, and Petersen broke away from the field, consistently turning laps in the low 2:10 range while building an eight-second gap over Mission Foods M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Richie Escalante aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000R who was running sixth.

With four laps remaining, Kelly and Jacobsen created a small cushion over the riders behind them. The battle for the final podium position was decided in the closing laps when Fong made an aggressive pass on his teammate Beach in the chicane before Canada Corner.

The order remained unchanged to the checkered flag, with Kelly earning his first Superbike victory of the season ahead of Jacobsen in second and Fong in third.

Notably, each of the podium finishers is not 100% healthy. Kelly is nursing a fractured fingertip on his braking hand, Jacobsen has a mangled finger on his clutch hand, and Fong has a torn rotator cuff from a crash while he was training aboard his motocross bike a few weeks ago.

Beach finished fourth, while race one winner, Wrench Motorcycles Cameron Petersen, completed an impressive ride from 14th on the grid to finish fifth on his Ducati Panigale V4 R.

Behind the lead group was a heated battle for sixth between Escalante and Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim aboard his Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. As Escalante led Gillim out of Turn 13, it appeared he had the advantage but backed out of the throttle as the bike wheelied at the crest of the Road America front straight, curtailing just enough of his momentum to hand sixth to Gillim at the line by just two one-thousandths of a second.

The Quad Lock Superbike Championship now takes a four-week break before resuming June 26-28 at Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington, with a new points battle at the top of the standings. Kelly now leads Scholtz by a single championship point with Fong 26 points back in third, effectively resetting the championship after Scholtz’s early domination.

Real Steel Honda’s Andrew Lee finished first in Superbike Cup for the fourth straight race and tightened his stranglehold on the points lead aboard his Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. He now holds a 63-point lead over Super Carl Racing 57 Rider Development’s Carl Soltisz, also aboard a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

The following quote is from Quad Lock Superbike race two winner Sean Dylan Kelly:

“Honestly, what an incredible day. We finally got that win. I think it was definitely coming. We’ve been making steps in the right direction since the first race weekend in Atlanta. I think, at Barber, I showed incredible speed, but I had a little bit of a typical roller coaster race weekend. And then, from here (at Road America), it was just strong from the get-go. Yesterday, I think I also showed one of my strongest-ever performances. I did a lot of passes. I was really strong, really competitive, and I woke up today and I said, ‘yeah, I’m not leaving this place without a win.’ It felt really good to be out there. Feeling like the guy, feeling like the reference, you know? Obviously, PJ was up front and fighting for the lead, as well. I knew there were a lot of guys behind me, but not many people were able to pass, and I just tried to focus on my pace, focus on myself, and not make any mistakes. I am really proud of the performance I did. And yeah, coming up to the last lap, finish line, P1, man, it felt so good.”

The following quote is from Superbike Cup race two first-place finisher Andrew Lee:

“It was quite a battle. I’m really happy with the result. I think we’ve just been improving the bike week in and week out, so the Real Steel Honda team’s been really putting in the work, you know, racing these guys. They’re putting their hearts and souls into it. The competition is stiff, and we’re riding with the Superbikes, so I’m super-happy with it. Big shoutout to everyone under the tent. We really got this K-Tech suspension dialed today.”