Two years away from racing a Superbike certainly didn’t cause Mathew Scholtz to lose his race skills in MotoAmerica’s premier class. At Michelin Raceway, on the first race day of the 2026 Quad Lock Superbike Championship, and after winning the past two consecutive MotoAmerica Supersport Championships, Scholtz’s return to Superbike racing couldn’t have gone any better.

The Strack Racing Yamaha rider earned the Superbike pole position on what was a warm and sunny day in Georgia. Then, in the afternoon’s race one, Scholtz got the holeshot and was never headed. Following a red-flag restart, the South African got the holeshot once again and took the win while also setting the fastest lap of the race with a 1:24.406. His victory by a margin of 6.630 seconds didn’t just make a statement, it practically shouted it.

While Scholtz pulled away, the rider who led day one’s practice session and carries the number-one plate, Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Cameron Beaubier, was doing his best Pac Man impression.

After an out-lap crash in Qualifying, Beaubier failed to register a lap time, putting him 21st on the grid for the weekend’s two races. In the premier class start, Beaubier advanced 13 positions, all the way up to eighth place, as he experienced a mechanical and pulled into the pits for what seemed a Saturday to forget.

While his Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law crew worked feverishly on his motorcycle, a red flag was thrown due to a crash that left a bike in a perilous position on the track.

Meanwhile, Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha’s Bobby Fong, who had crashed out of second place just prior to the red flag being flown, was deemed to be not actively competing, so he was unable to line up on the grid for the restart.

The second start mimicked the first, with Scholtz up front, Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha’s JD Beach in second, and Sean Dylan Kelly was third aboard his OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR.

The trailing duo held their positions through six laps before Beach began to experience a mechanical issue that halted his progress and forced him to the pits, moving Kelly up to second and Wrench Motorcycles’ Cameron Petersen to third.

Beaubier, meanwhile, clawed back positions and was in 11th place by the end of lap one. By lap nine, he was right on the back wheel of Petersen in third.

With three laps remaining, Beaubier overtook Petersen and continued his hunt toward Kelly. A mere .316 of a second separated the two at the line as Beaubier overcame adversity to notch his first podium of the year and secure 16 critical points the hard way.

2025 Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee, aboard a Real Steel Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP for 2026, finished first among the field of Superbike Cup riders.

Mathew Scholtz – Strack Racing Yamaha:
“I felt strong, got a really good start, kind of tried to modulate the pace slightly. I could see that I was opening up the gap, so I didn’t have to try to do anything crazy. Then, the last three or four laps, I kind of was just trying to get to my marks, do what I know I could, and fortunately the gap was just getting bigger and bigger. I know the pace is going to definitely pick up tomorrow. We’ve got to see what the weather is doing, but overall, just thank you to the Strack Racing team for giving me this opportunity to ride a Superbike again.”

Round one of the 2026 Quad Lock Superbike Championship concluded on Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong overtaking polesitter and Saturday’s race one winner Mathew Scholtz with only a couple of laps left to go. Strack Racing Yamaha’s Scholtz experienced a technical problem in the closing laps, and Fong pounced to take the checkered flag.

Scholtz’s return to the premier Quad Lock Superbike Championship after two years and two consecutive championships in MotoAmerica’s Supersport class was a dream come true up to that point. The South African, who has called Georgia his home for the past several years, earned the pole, won Saturday’s race, and was poised to make it a perfect weekend with an encore win on Sunday. But, with just two laps remaining, Scholtz suddenly dropped off the pace, enabling Fong to move into the lead and win the race by nearly three seconds over Scholtz.

Meanwhile, Sean Dylan Kelly scored his second podium result of the weekend with a third-place finish. The Floridian logged a solid first Superbike weekend with his new OrangeCat Racing team.

JD Beach had a lonely race in fourth aboard his Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1, but he salvaged valuable points after a race one DNF from a mechanical failure.

Fifth-place finisher Cameron Beaubier left Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta third in points after a hard-fought weekend. The six-time and defending Superbike Champion started from 20th on the grid and made his way all the way up to sixth, ironically, by the sixth lap. Beaubier then overtook Wrench Motorcycles rider Cam Petersen to secure a top-five finish with Petersen coming home sixth.

In seventh place was the Real Steel Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP of Hayden Gillim, just beating out M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch in eighth aboard his GSX-R1000R.

Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Benjamin Smith and Mission Foods M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante rounded out the top 10.

The following quote is from race two winner Bobby Fong:

“My confidence was kicked twice this weekend and as a racer, you have two crashes and you don’t know what the hell is going on, you’re kind of just looking around like, ‘I can’t do that again,’ especially with my team owner. Everybody knows he’d probably kill me if I did one more throwing it down. So, no. It wasn’t that great at the time. I just wanted it to be over with. But I knew at the end it was going to be a hell of a last-lap battle, if his bike didn’t break. We got a little lucky at the end. I’m sure it would have been fireworks, for sure. We’re both competitive riders. We try to be safe out there, but we want the win just as much as anybody. It was good to get 25 points on the board. Looking forward to Barber. This track, you don’t get that big a drop when the tire goes off. It’s not like a huge decline like most tracks. I feel like going to Barber, you get a huge drop off in the tires and stuff. I think we excel a little bit. I’m looking forward to that. It’s going to be a long season. These guys next to me are super-fast. I feel like, every weekend, we’re going to be seeing each other up here.”