Bobby Fong takes provisional pole at Road America
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong has never been a fan of racing in the rain, but that didn’t stop the Californian from emerging from a wet session at Road America on Friday afternoon with the provisional pole position heading into tomorrow morning’s Superbike Qualifying 2 session.
With sunny skies in the forecast for the weekend’s Q2 and races, only four riders took part in the session, and Fong was by far the fastest of those to lead Zlock Racing’s Kevin Pinkstaff by 6.1 seconds on the wet track. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly was third fastest with Zlock Racing’s Brian Pinkstaff rounding out the four who braved the conditions.
Fong’s fastest lap was a 2:34.951, and it’s worth noting that Stock 1000/Superbike Cup racer JD Beach was the fastest rider on a wet day with his 2:32.964 – some two seconds quicker than Fong’s best.
Motovation Supersport – Rain, Rain Go Away
The first class to get a taste of a wet session on Friday was Motovation Supersport, with only eight riders electing to brave the conditions in Qualifying 1.
Of those eight, the rider with the most bravado was Max Van with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider throwing down a 2:37.575 – a tad over five seconds quicker than ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, who was just a few tenths quicker than Strack Racing’s Blake Davis.
Then came another big gap to fourth-fastest Joel Ohman and his LaRoche Tree Service-backed Suzuki GSX-R750.
Jansen Racing’s Jake Jansen rounded out the top five.
The other 23 entries didn’t go out, including championship leader PJ Jacobsen, who will attempt to qualify via tomorrow’s Q2 session.
Stock 1000 – Beach In The Rain
Thirteen of the 35 Stock 1000 entries took to the wet racetrack on Friday afternoon and none of them came close to Real Steel Honda’s Beach, with the Kentuckian leading the way in Q2 by 4.8 seconds over The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis. Beach’s fastest lap was the fastest lap of the day in any class.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters filled the provisional front row, 8.1 seconds off Beach’s pace.
Orange Cat Racing teammates Jayson Uribe and Andrew Lee, the two tied at the top of the Stock 1000 Championship point standings, did just two and one lap, respectively, before calling it a day.
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – Drane Over Di Mario
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul racers were fortunate enough to have sunshine and a fast-drying track for their afternoon Q1 session, and it was Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane who came out on top of the 30-minute session. The 14-year-old Australian lapped at a best of 2:40.460 to best Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s championship leader Alessandro Di Mario by .179 of a second.
Royalty Racing’s Carson King filled the provisional front row with the third fastest time, just .188 of a second behind Alessandro.
CTR/D&D Cycles’ Bodie Paige and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg rounded out the top five.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman!
Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman was unstoppable on Friday afternoon as the Mission King Of The Baggers class was one of two classes to have a dry track for its Q1 session.
Wyman, who also led the morning session, lapped at 2:18.091 to break his lap record from a year ago.
Wyman’s teammate Bradley Smith proved to be a quick learner in his first race weekend at Road America, putting his Harley-Davidson Road Glide second with his 2:19.263. James Rispoli made it a factory Harley one-two-three on the provisional front row, despite having a vicious crash on the exit of turn 13.
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines’ Hayden Gillim ended up fourth and the last rider to circulate in the 2:19s.
S&S/Indian Motorcycles’ Loris Baz was the first of the Indian Challengers with the Frenchman rounding out the top five, besting his teammate, Tyler O’Hara.
Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers, defending class champion Troy Herfoss, TAB Performance Racing’s Kyle Ohnsorg and Saddlemen Race Development’s Cory West rounded out the top 10.
Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. – Knebel On Top
The Royal Enfield class hasn’t had the closest of races for the lead in past years, but this year things might be different.
Kira Knebel led the way in Q1 on Friday afternoon, but her 2:55.848 was just .685 of a second ahead of Shea MacGregor. Miranda Cain ended the session in third with Camille Conrad and Kate West rounding out the top five.
Josh Herrin wins Superbike Race One with Bobby Fong Second
There are good weeks and there are great weeks. Josh Herrin is having a great one. Just six days after the birth of twin girls, Herrin went out and won his first Superbike race of the year and the 17th of his career on a sunny Saturday at Road America.
Herrin’s 17th career AMA Superbike win moved him out of a tie with three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey and into a tie with 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden for ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Herrin and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R led every lap of Saturday’s race as he took advantage of pole-sitter Cameron Beaubier’s miscue in turn one on the opening lap to take a lead he would never relinquish. Herrin, however, didn’t have it easy as Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong stuck with Herrin and the Ducati for the duration.
At the completion of the 12-lap race, Herrin was 2.827 seconds ahead of Fong.
Beaubier recovered from his first-turn blunder to gradually reel in both Fong and Herrin. But turn one again was a bogey corner for Beaubier and his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR. After passing Fong and setting off after Herrin in the closing stages, Beaubier ran wide in turn one again, recovering again to make a final charge at Fong for second place. At the finish line it was Fong by .009 of a second over the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne was fourth, 21.5 seconds from the front and some five seconds ahead of fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. Escalante’s fifth-place finish was a lonely one as Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim was 10 seconds behind in sixth.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates raced his Honda to seventh, well clear of BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Notable non-finishers included MotoAmerica Superbike Cup series leader JD Beach, who pulled out with a clutch issue on his Real Steel Honda, and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who crashed out in the early laps. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was a non-starter after suffering a mechanical failure in qualifying.
Beaubier now leads the championship by 26 points over Gagne, 111-85, with Herrin moving to third – just a point behind Gagne. Fong, with his third runner-up finish of the season, is fourth – eight points behind Herrin. Kelly holds on to fifth, 59 points behind Beaubier.
Josh Herrin – Winner
“If you look back the last couple years, we’ve ran at the front in some races, but I don’t think we’ve won any of the first two rounds for ’23 or ’24,” Herrin said. “I hear the guys on the broadcast saying, ‘When they can let the Ducati loose…’ I’m not saying the Ducati is not a fast bike, but I think this track suits me well. I’ve won on the Yamaha, the Ducati, the Suzuki, and got a podium on the BMW here. So, I’ve had a lot of success just around this track. I like the vibes here. My first pro race was at this track in 2006. So, it’s been a long time. I just feel good here. I do think that this is kind of like our reset, I guess. Obviously, I want to win at the first two rounds. It’s not like I’m not trying. But I’m also just trying to collect some points because I know that we just need to keep our head up and get out of there. So, to get three podiums in the first two rounds out of four, I was stoked with. Then to top it off with a win here, it’s good. I’m happy to win. I always love to win. But for some reason right now, this doesn’t feel like I thought it would. Maybe it’s just because all the stuff that’s been going on this week. I’m tired. Got a lot on my mind. I was like, I want to say something about the babies on the podium, and it was like hard to remember all of the names now. I’m like, ‘I’m going to mess this up.’ But I’m excited. I look at it, but I’ve got so much going on in my mind right now it’s insane. Hats off to the team for working hard and pushing me this weekend. Hopefully tomorrow goes just as good.”
Bobby Fong – Second Place
“It was good. I was riding so hard to try to keep up with them. I think it was the second-to-last lap, I had a big one. I thought I was going down for sure in turn one. Nearly fell off the thing. I thought Cam (Beaubier) was going to blast me. My pit board was saying “G2,” so I thought that there were two people behind me the whole time. So, I’m like, this is it. I’m getting fourth place. I thought there was more people than Cam. So, I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Once I had that moment, Cam went by. I’m like, ‘I think my race is over. I have to settle in.’ Then he went wide. He just went super wide into turn one. I thought, here’s my second chance. Got in second, and I thought he was going to get me again. But it was good. This guy kept me on my toes. Both these guys kept me on my toes the whole time. Definitely had a lot of moments out there. I was ready to just send it to the grass for sure plenty of times. But it was good to get some points and move forward to tomorrow.”
Cameron Beaubier – Third Place
“I got a good jump, and then I missed a shift slightly going second to third. Then I sent it off in there a little deeper than I should have in turn one. I felt like I was okay. Then I was going to be about mid track, then I got a big front-end push that sent me off the track. Just kind of blended in as safe as I could. Then, after that, I just did not have the same feeling I did in qualifying and practice. But these guys were putting up a great pace. Josh (Herrin) at the front had to be going 2:10s the whole race. I was in there too and I was slowly crawling back. But, for me, it was just kind of a race of mistakes. I was struggling pretty bad getting the bike stopped. Man, when this BMW is working, it feels so good. But when it’s not quite in its window, it’s a beast to ride. But I’m glad we collected some points, especially after a couple mistakes I had and a couple close calls. I’m glad that we were able to at least salvage some points today.”
Josh Herrin wins Superbike Race Two despite pressure from Bobby Fong
Josh Herrin charged to his second MotoAmerica Superbike victory on Sunday, with the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider completing a doubleheader sweep of the two races at Road America.
Herrin won Saturday’s Superbike race over Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, beating those two by almost three seconds. Beaubier had made a few errors along the way, and Herrin felt a bit lucky in nabbing the 17th AMA Superbike win of his career.
On Sunday, Herrin was under pressure from Beaubier at the front when he made the first error of the race with an off-track excursion in the chicane on the second lap. But Herrin fought back and didn’t waste any time in repassing Beaubier for fear of the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion pulling away at the front.
From there the two circulated in formation, with Herrin doing the leading, Beaubier the following. With four laps to go, the much-anticipated final-lap battle was over when Beaubier crashed at speed in the Carousel, ending his day and allowing Herrin to cruise to his 18th career Superbike victory.
With Beaubier’s crash, Fong inherited second place, finishing 8.6 seconds behind Herrin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was a popular third with the Mexican milking everything he had out of his dying Suzuki on the final lap. He made it to the finish, just three seconds ahead of Benjamin Smith.
For Smith it was another strong finish with the FLO4LAW/SBU Racing rider again showing speed in racing to a career-best fourth.
Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach was fifth, a little less than a second ahead of his teammate Hayden Gillim. Beach’s fifth also earned him the win in the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup for those racing Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the Superbike class.
Gillim crossed the line just a fraction of a second in front of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the three Hondas flying in formation in the final laps.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne had an eventful start to his race as he came together with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, with the incident ruining the race for both. Gagne ended up eighth and Kelly was 14th, ending a miserable weekend for the Floridian.
BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Beaubier’s points lead evaporated with his crash, and he now leads Herrin by just two points, 111-109. Fong is third with 96 points while Gagne drops to fourth with 93.
Superbike Race 2
Josh Herrin – Winner
“Like we talked about yesterday, just getting through those first two rounds is important for us. I think for me mentally, I got to get through them. It’s like A1 for Supercross. I’ve just got to do it. Luckily, we had two really good races this weekend. We don’t want to catch Cam (Beaubier) because of crashes, but that’s part of the game. Making mistakes is part of it. You’ve got to try to minimize them. The guys gave me a perfect bike this weekend. Like Bobby (Fong) said, the track didn’t have the grip that it had yesterday, but it seems like when the grip is down, our bikes, the V2 and the V4, always seems to be better for us. I ran off in the chicane and I just knew I had to put in a solid two laps to catch back up to Cam or my race is over. I was able to do that 9.4 which I was shocked by. I don’t know what my best time was this weekend, but I don’t think it was anywhere close to that. So, super happy with how the week went. I got two babies and two wins, so can’t ask for anything more than that. Go race at the Ridge in a couple weeks. Got to say a big thank you to my crew chief, Simone. I think he was the only guy I forgot to say on the podium, and he made sure to tell me about it whenever I got back. Big thanks to Simone for making improvements to the bike today to make it even better than it was yesterday.”
Bobby Fong – Second Place
“I was kind of doing the same thing as yesterday. We always try 100 percent, but I felt like the track was a little greasy today. Either that or I just couldn’t carry the momentum like I did yesterday. I was actually dumbfounded at the end of the race. I was going pretty slow with the times. I was asking Richie (Escalante), but I can’t ask this guy (Herrin) because he did a 9.4, so I can’t ask him if it felt slick. Obviously, it wasn’t that slick. I was a little more disappointed with myself that I couldn’t do the same pace. I lost the draft after the first lap and was just kind of a sitting duck. The crew has been working hard. It’s cool to get two second-place points. I was a little far down in the points leading up to this round. It’s good to move up in the points and to keep the Yamaha on the podium is good. Bummer for my teammate. I don’t know exactly what happened, but hopefully he’s good. I know Jake (Gagne) would have been up here as well if he had a good start.”
Richie Escalante – Third Place
“I’m really happy to be on this. For some reason this year I haven’t had the best feeling with the bike, so I take time every day to feel a little bit better. I think today I was maybe a little bit lucky, to be honest, but it’s part of racing. I’m super happy to finish on the podium. In the last lap, I think I had no fuel. So almost did not finished the race. Super happy. I tried to stay close with Bob (Fong), but I made a mistake in the chicane. After that, I just maintained my pace. To compare Friday to today, I’m super happy. Big thanks to my team, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. To my personal sponsor, Mission Foods. Can’t wait for the Ridge and Laguna. I think it’s special tracks for us. I think the Suzuki is working very good there.”
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