#jakegagne

It’s A Record-Setting Day For Jake Gagne At New Jersey Motorsports Park. Jake Gagne wrapped up the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship on a record-setting, two-race Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the Californian winning his 16th race of the season to match the record held jointly by Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier for Superbike wins in a single season while also tying three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey’s mark for career victories. Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Gagne won both HONOS Superbike races at NJMP on Sunday after winning the lone race on Saturday in MotoAmerica’s Superbike tripleheader. The two wins were his 15th and 16th on the season (those are also his career win marks in the class) and the first victory on Sunday morning is the one that earned him the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike crown. “Even on the bad years, I’m racing motorcycles,” Gagne said of the many seasons of racing that eventually led to the Superbike title. “It’s what I love to do. It’s fun. It’s sure a lot more fun when we’ve got a winning motorcycle, a winning team, and we can manage to get some wins. It’s been an incredible year. I wouldn’t have thought going in that we would be 15 wins deep. It’s pretty surreal. Again, hats off to this team because the guys are working so hard, and the bike has been super, super dialed in. We keep trying to go faster. These guys are always chasing us down and we’ve got no choice but to keep trying to go. But it’s amazing. We got another race today, so it hasn’t quite set in yet. We’ve got some work to do this afternoon because I know it’s not going to be easy, so we’ll roll on to race two.” As he has done all year long, Gagne dominated and again led every single lap of both races en route to the two wins. Gagne has now led 273 consecutive laps in the 2021 season. The two Superbike podiums on Sunday were identical with Gagne leading Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Josh Herrin in both. For Scholtz it was a solid day as he managed to keep Gagne in sight in both races, finishing 9.5 seconds behind in race two and 6.5 seconds behind in race three. “Jake (Gagne) is the class of the field now and it seems like I’m the next best guy over the last couple of rounds,” Scholtz said after race three. “Just got to keep chipping away and try to catch Jake. We know what we have to do as far as lap time. We went quicker now than we did in the first race earlier on. So, we’re always getting faster, but we just need to find something more, really.” Herrin, meanwhile, was in his comeback weekend after suffering from COVID-19 that forced him out of two rounds of the series. If Herrin’s life wasn’t hectic enough in the past few months, his wife, Rachel, also gave birth to the couple’s first child this week. He put in a tough day’s work on Sunday, however, and came out on top of two hard-fought battles with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz. “First off, just congrats to the whole team,” Herrin said after race two. “Congrats to Jake (Gagne). It’s been a difficult year without (me) doing good, but then seeing your teammate doing good it’s hard, but at the end of the year when he wraps it up, it feels good. It’s something that you’ve got to be proud of him. It’s 15 wins in a row. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing go-karts with your buddies. If you beat them 15 times in a row, that’s a lot. Fifteen wins in a row is something special, something that nobody has ever done before and it’s really cool to see, actually. So, congrats to him. Congrats to the whole team. They’ve been working hard all year. “Having the baby, like I said on the podium, it just changed my whole outlook on everything. It has been something so special, something that so many people have been talking to me about and trying to describe the feeling, but it’s not like any other feeling that I’ve ever had. I was there for the whole thing, cutting the umbilical cord and all that stuff. It’s been good for me for racing I think, because just in the four days that he’s been alive, it made me realize there’s so much more to life than racing. Racing has always been the only thing I cared about. It was good for me, because now I can come and have fun racing. For some reason, it seems more fun than before. I still haven’t got a win this year, and I really want that. that would make it a lot more fun. But it’s become different than it ever has been. I’m happy. I’ll be glad to see him, but I want to try and get a better result for him. Just stoked that he’s here for these last few rounds of the year. Can’t wait to get him to the track this year. It’s been special. It’s been fun. I’m glad to be up here. I’ve been down all year, and it’s been bringing the team down, so I’m happy to get up on the podium for them.” With Baz finishing fourth in both races, it was M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen who finished fifth in both. Sixth place was different, however, with Scheibe Racing’s Hector Barbera earning the spot in race two and Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Toni Elias besting the Spaniard for the spot in race three. One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman ended the day with seventh- and eighth-place finishes with Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis finishing eighth in race two. Ninth place in race two went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong finishing ninth in race three. Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert was 10th in race two with Tecfil Racing Team’s Danilo Lewis 10th in race three. As for tying MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey with his 16th career AMA Superbike victory, Gagne said, “I actually talked to him. I saw him in the bathroom right before this race two and he mentioned he had 16. He wishes me the best. Hopes that I can match that today. It’s been an amazing weekend, really. Getting the championship, that’s a dream come true. It didn’t quite set in because we had to focus on this race too, but it’s amazing. I still can’t really believe that we got 16 wins in a row. It’s pretty unbelievable. But all I do is go out there and ride as hard as I can every lap and every race. This bike is the bike to beat. Hats off to these Yamahas. It’s great. We got a Yamaha sweep here in New Jersey. These things were rolling really good. So, hats off to Attack Yamaha and all the boys and Mat (Scholtz) and Josh (Herrin) and Toni (Elias), everybody. We only have a couple days to go before we’re back on track, so we’re going to be just focusing on that all week and then maybe after that we’ll relax a little bit. But I know these boys, like we said, Mat’s going to be strong at Barber. Josh is going to be really strong at Barber. These guys go really well there. So, I’ve got to stay on my toes. They’re going to want to win real bad. The championship is kind of done, so it’s go time.” Superbike Race 2 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) - Josh Herrin (Yamaha) - Loris Baz (Ducati) - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) - Hector Barbera (BMW) - Kyle Wyman (Ducati) - Jake Lewis (Suzuki) - Ashton Yates (Honda) - Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) Superbike Race 3 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) - Josh Herrin (Yamaha) - Loris Baz (Ducati) - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) - Toni Elias (Yamaha) - Hector Barbera (BMW) - Kyle Wyman (Ducati) - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) - Danilo Lewis (BMW) For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews

With his 15th win of the year in race two on Sunday morning, Jake Gagne wrapped up the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

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Jake Gagne On Top Again In HONOS Superbike Heading Into The Weekend In New Jersey As he has done all season long, Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne led the opening day of qualifying for this weekend’s MotoAmerica round at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the Californian besting the rest of the HONOS Superbike field in Q1 on Friday. Gagne lapped the 2.25-mile NJMP in 1:20.910 to top M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen by .422 of a second on a sunny afternoon in Millville to earn provisional pole position for this weekend’s three HONOS Superbike races. Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz completed the provisional front row with his 1:21.373, just .041 of a second slower than fellow South African Petersen. Fourth fastest on the day was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman ending up .612 of a second off Gagne’s best. Baz also suffered a crash at the end of the session but escaped uninjured. Gagne’s two Yamaha teammates for the weekend, Toni Elias and Josh Herrin, finished the day fifth and sixth as the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha team is fielding three bikes this weekend. Elias was .208 of a second quicker than Herrin on the opening day. Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera ended up seventh in his first trip to NJMP, besting M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong and One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman. FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward rounded out the top 10. An M4 ECSTAR Suzuki was on top of the Supersport field on Friday at NJMP, but it wasn’t ridden by champion-elect Sean Dylan Kelly. In this case, it was the GSX-R600 of his teammate Sam Lochoff who ended up on provisional pole after Q1. Second fastest was also somewhat of a surprise with Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers just .082 of a second behind Lochoff. Only then did championship rivals Richie Escalante and Kelly show up on the timesheets, the pair ending the day third and fourth, respectively. SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship points leader Tyler Scott led Friday’s Q1 session with his 1:30.432 on the Scott Powersports KTM, besting Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio’s 131.214. Bauce Racing/Cyber Solutions/JL62 Racing’s Joseph LiMandri Jr. ended up third with Scott’s championship rival Benjamin Gloddy fourth on the Landers Racing Kawasaki. Corey Alexander hasn’t given up on winning the MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Championship and he showed up at NJMP on a mission and that led to him leading Q1 on Friday. HONOS HVMC Racing’s Alexander headed the timesheets with his 1:22.610 to lead MESA37’s Stefano Mesa and Disrupt Racing’s Mark Heckles. More importantly for Alexander was the fact that championship points leader Jake Lewis could only muster the fourth fastest time on his Altus Motorsports Suzuki. Cory Ventura made his MotoAmerica Twins Cup debut on Friday at NJMP and promptly put his Veloce Racing Aprilia RS 650 on provisional pole, despite tipping over early in the Q1 session. Ventura lapped at 1:26.115 to lead Robem Engineering’s Tommaso Marcon, the Italian making his U.S. racing debut. Marcon’s teammate and championship points leader Kaleb De Keyrel ended up third on the day. Superbike Q1 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:29.910 - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:21.332 - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:21.373 - Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:21.522 - Toni Elias (Yamaha) 1:21.719 - Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1:21.927 - Hector Barbera (BMW) 1:22.378 - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:22.831 - Kyle Wyman (Ducati) 1:23.020 - Bradley Ward (Suzuki) 1:23.450 For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

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Jake Gagne Wins His 13th Race In A Row At Pittsburgh International Race Complex Call it what you will: Lucky 13 or a baker’s dozen. It matters not. What matters is that Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne continued his complete and utter domination of the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Series with his 13th successive win today at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. But this one was closer. After besting his teammate-for-the-weekend Toni Elias on Saturday by 11.3 seconds, things got a bit tighter on Sunday for Gagne as Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz cut that gap in half, ending up 5.7 seconds behind the runaway championship leader. “Yesterday, I know there was a lot of drama behind me, and I got through a lot faster than I should have compared to the pace that these guys had,” Gagne said after win number 13. “I knew it was going to be closer today. I got off to another good start. Put my head down for a couple laps. I think it was when Mat (Scholtz) finally got into second place, there were two laps or three laps where my pit board was dropping. I was like, ‘Oh, man. He’s pushing me. I got to go.’ I had to drop the times back and drop off a couple 10ths. When I had two or three seconds, it’s still enough to where I can’t do anything crazy, can’t make any mistakes, just hit my marks. I had fun. I love this track, so I’m happy we came out of here with some great results. I had a lot of fun. We had a good turnout. These boys don’t make it easy. We have a little bit of a cushion, and it looks easy, but it’s not easy. One little mishap and we could be off, and these boys could be right there with us. I know we’ve only got two rounds left, six races, so it will be battle royale. I know these guys want to win. I know we want to win, too. So, I’m looking forward to battling it out. I know we’ve been really fortunate this year to have a lot of wins. It’s pretty surreal. It will be a hard-fought last six races and these guys know. I know they’re ready for the fight. I think we’re all looking forward to it.” Scholtz, who had made some tweaks to his Yamaha after Saturday’s third-place finish, started strong and was behind Elias until making a pass on the Spaniard and then doing his best to set off after the always fast-starting Gagne. “We made a decent TC change and just one or two torque changes to try to get it out of the corner better,” Scholtz said. “Yesterday, I was just spinning up way too much, so we kind of just softened it slightly and made one or two TC changes to try to let it hook up better. I felt like it definitely was. It felt pretty cool doing mid 41s during the morning warmup. I kind of knew that I had a decent pace but sliding off. We were doing 40s, which was a little bit of a surprise to me. I kind of followed Toni (Elias) for a couple laps, got past him and Jake (Gagne) was only maybe three or four seconds up. I put in a couple heater laps and I closed in on Jake slightly, but then he obviously noticed that the gap on his board was getting smaller and he turned it back up. So, kudos to him. Overall, really happy just to kind of ride my own pace, my own rhythm and show that we can be up there challenging. We just need to try to get with Jake for those first couple laps and we might be able to do something at the end, but right now Jake is riding incredibly well. Well done to Bob (Fong). I feel like both of us should have been winning this year, but it seems like things weren't really working out for us. It seems like we’re kind of finding our way back to where we should be. So, overall, I’m just happy to be back up here. I’ve got to give a huge thanks to the Westby Racing team. There’s a three-week break now. I get to go and see my wife who I haven’t seen in six or seven months, so I’m really happy about that. It’s going to really make me feel better going to Jersey and to Barber having that time with your special person. It’s kind of been a difficult year staying by myself with no family and stuff.” Third place went to M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, the three-time HONOS Superbike winner a year ago earning just his third podium of what has been a difficult season for the Californian. “It was weird in the beginning,” Fong said. “I haven’t gone that fast all weekend in the beginning of the race, and this morning I didn’t put on new tires. I had a few heat-cycled tires on the rear, and I just wanted to work on electronics at the end of the race. So, at the beginning of the race I’m like, ‘We’re going fast!’ I could actually open the throttle. I felt like I was actually losing a lot in the beginning of the race, but then as soon as the tire went off, I’m like, ‘Okay. I know the feel now.’ I just kind of sat behind Toni (Elias) and Mat (Scholtz) most of the race. I was just kind of sizing them up. There were places where Mat was stronger than me, and there were some places where I could get him. The last two laps, I felt like I was starting to gain on him, so I was trying to give it more throttle, which on these Superbikes you can’t do. You just spin in one spot. The electronics gets way too active. It just doesn’t work that way. So, I’ve got to work on being a little smoother at the end of the race. But, again, I’m happy to be back up here. Looking forward to New Jersey. Hopefully, it’s dry because we definitely should not go there if it’s raining.” After finishing second in his Yamaha debut on Saturday, Elias slipped to fourth on Sunday, capping off a highly successful weekend in just his second weekend of racing in 2021. Elias ended up some nine seconds behind Fong and five seconds in front of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman rebounding from a crash in Saturday’s race to finish fifth. M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was a lonely sixth, well clear of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera with the Spaniard beating Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman on the last lap dash to the flag by just .117 of a second. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was ninth and the first of the Superbike Cup riders, the Kentuckian beating his neighbor Hayden Gillim by two seconds with Gillim rounding out the top 10 in his first Stock 1000 race of the year. Gagne’s 13th career HONOS Superbike victory puts him in a tie for 15th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list with Blake Young and Doug Polen. The win also gives him a 93-point lead over Scholtz in the championship point standings, 325-232. Petersen is third with 184 points, 19 ahead of his teammate Fong. Baz rounds out the top five with 149, just four points more than the absent Josh Herrin. Superbike Race 2 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) - Toni Elias (Yamaha) - Loris Baz (Ducati) - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) - Hector Barbera (BMW) - Kyle Wyman (Ducati) - Jake Lewis (Suzuki) - Hayden Gillim (Suzuki) For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

Mathew Scholtz (11) finished second to Gagne with Bobby Fong (50) passing Toni Elias (24) for third place. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

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Jake Gagne Crashes But Still Wins HONOS Superbike In Minnesota Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne has now won 10 races in a row in the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Championship, but this one was different. On Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway, Gagne crashed and still managed to win the first AMA Superbike race held at BIR in 17 years. Leading the race on the second lap, Gagne crashed in front of the pack and was stuck in the middle of the track as the field motored by on both sides. He finally ran to safety and, with his bike still on track, a red flag was thrown, stopping the race. Fortunately for Gagne, his Yamaha suffered only minor damage and he was able to ride back to the hot pit for repairs prior to the restart. From there it was typical Gagne as he grabbed the lead and pulled away, ultimately besting M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong by 4.675 seconds to win his 10th race of the year and extending his championship points lead to 74 points. The win, which was also the 10th of his career, moves him into a tie with Mike Baldwin for 19th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list. “That was the highest my heart rate has probably been in a while,” Gagne said of the crash and the panic that ensued while dodging his fellow racers. “We sat on the grid for a long time both times. I know we were all kind of wondering what was going on. I know there was a crash on the warmup lap or the sighting lap. I saw the guy right next to me in the grass go flying by. So, that was just a weird start. I know all our tires were a little cold there at the beginning. I think with that quick of a heat fluctuation, you put so much heat in these tires in turn one and two especially, so from going that cool… I even spun the tire off the line, which I’ve never done in my life. I just lit it up. So, it was just weird.” “It caught me by surprise,” Gagne said of the crash. “I went into turn three and was barely on the gas. The thing came around on me and I just kept going. I was wondering if it was going to highside me. Luckily, it didn’t. I just kind of lowsided and then I’m sitting there in the middle of the track watching Superbikes fly at me. Luckily, everybody is looking ahead. We can see something is going on, so nothing bad happened. I’m just fortunate that that Yamaha slid. We bent a little lever. We had to mess around with the bars. The only thing that was wrong, we were just a little tweaked during the race, but it was totally fine. Hats off to the team because they hustled. We got that bike together right in the nick of time to get back out for pit lane. Again, thanks to Alpinestars for protecting me. I had a long slide, and the bike was really just sliding on top of me, so it was like digging my butt in the ground. We got a new suit on and went out there and did it again. So, I’m pumped I got another good start. I knew these guys were coming. Tomorrow will be another show. I know it’s tightening up every time. We’ve just got to keep doing our thing and focusing on our part.” For Fong the race ended a podium drought that dates back to the very first race of the year at Road Atlanta in May. “I felt pretty good out there,” Fong said. “Before the restart, I felt like I had some pace, for sure. At least to try to see Jake (Gagne) from a distance, just to kind of latch onto him. I’m struggling pretty bad in turn two. I’m losing literally a half a second a lap just in that one turn. I felt pretty good through the infield, but I had a solid machine underneath me today. It was good. The pace was pretty good. I just tried to manage it at the end. I’m looking forward to tomorrow at least to try to be a little closer to Jake. I know (Loris) Baz will be there tomorrow. It was definitely slick out there the first few laps. It was weird because I was in the back of the train, and I just see everybody just coming out of the seat and tucking the front. I had my moments back there, too. It was really weird. But I’m happy to get second and move forward to tomorrow with a positive attitude.” The battle for third was fought out between the two South Africans – Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen. At the completion of the 15-lap race it was Scholtz grabbing third for his seventh podium of the year, though it still allowed Gagne to pull farther away in the title chase. Gagne now leads Scholtz by a whopping 74 points, 250-176. Petersen, meanwhile, made a big move to third in the championship, moving past Josh Herrin, who missed the race after testing positive for COVID-19. Scholtz described what was a hectic race from start (and restart) to finish. “The first lap, I’m not sure,” Scholtz said. “I turned into the first corner. I got hung up with (Loris) Baz, with Jake (Gagne). Then I think through the first lap everyone was slipping and sliding. I know Baz had a couple highside moments. Then (at the) start of the second lap, Jake crashed coming out of corner three. It was just chaos from there. I think Baz kind of thought someone was trying to pass him into corner four and he braked super late and tucked the front there. I was behind Cameron (Petersen). He tucked the front, too. He ran wide, and we got up again to first. Then the red flag came out. So, I knew it was absolute chaos, but it kind of sucks when you get to the front and the two guys that are beating you in the championship… I mean, Jake. Obviously, lucky he wasn’t hurt, but I kind of knew that he was going to get back in there. But the start of the second race it was very slippery, and I didn’t have any grip on the edge of the tire. So, I just kind of struggled for the first five or six laps. Once Cam passed me, he’s a very, very smooth guy. Kind of helped me fix my lines slightly and focus on that more. I could see that the lap times dropped. Then maybe with five or six laps to go, I could see Cam started struggling with his grip out of the corners. I kind of just put my head down and turned a few quick laps so I got past him. Then tried to focus on catching Bobby (Fong), but kind of ran out of laps. The arm pump was getting severe. It’s kind of something we have to look at for tomorrow’s race. Try to make it easier to kind of hold on and not veer so much out of the corners. So, we kind of know what we have to do now. Hopefully, we can get up there and challenge Jake tomorrow.” Petersen held on for fourth, some 2.5 seconds behind Scholtz and 14.2 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Hector Barbera on the Scheibe Racing BMW. JD Beach battled early in the race with Barbera but ended up sixth on the second Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha in his replacement ride for Herrin. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was seventh and that put him at the top of the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for those riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the HONOS Superbike race. Franklin Armory/Andrew Lee Racing’s Andrew Lee was eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Kawasaki ZX-10R ahead of FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony and his teammate Bradley Ward with the Suzuki-mounted pair finishing ninth and 10th, respectively. Notable among the non-finishers was Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz with the Frenchman crashing out of the race on the second lap with his Ducati Panigale V4 R too damaged to repair for the restart. Superbike Race 1 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) - Hector Barbera (BMW) - JD Beach (Yamaha) - Jake Lewis (Suzuki) - Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) - David Anthony (Suzuki) - Bradley Ward (Suzuki) For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

(From left to right) Bobby Fong, Jake Gagne's crew chief Jon Cornwell, Gagne and Mathew Scholtz celebrate on the BIR podium. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

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MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Championship Leader Jake Gagne On Top But Loris Baz Is Close Based on Friday’s Q1 from Brainerd International Raceway on Friday, we may just have a battle or two on our hands come race time on Saturday and Sunday in the MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike class. Again, the field was led by runaway championship leader Jake Gagne on his Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha, but for the second round in a row he’s got Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz nipping at his heels. When all was said and done on Friday, it was Gagne atop the timesheets but by just .128 of a second over Baz, the two turning laps of 1:30.572 and 1:30.700, respectively. And those two were the only two riders in the 1:30s, though M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammsters Cameron Petersen and Bobby Fong were both less than a second off Gagne’s pace. Petersen ended the session third with his 1:31.22, just ahead of teammate Fong’s 1:31.433 and the last rider in the 1:31s, Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and his 1:31.614. Scheibe Racing’s Hector Barbera and Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s JD Beach were sixth and seventh fastest with FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward, Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounding out the top 10. Beach is filling in for Josh Herrin on the Attack team with Herrin testing positive for COVID-19, which forced him out of racing at BIR. Another non-starter in this weekend’s two HONOS Superbike races is Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, the New Yorker opting out due to lingering issues with the elbow he broke at Road America. Gagne knows this one has the potential to be a battle as AMA Superbikes returned to Brainerd International Raceway for the first time since 2004. “This has been the biggest struggle all season long, for sure,” Gagne said. “Of course, we are still right there at the front but it’s really close. “We learned a lot in this session. We did some shock changes and we kinda know what shock we want to run tomorrow. I was having some weird issues in the middle of the turn and getting the rear to feel like I want it to. This track is different than anything else that we go to. Again, we did a little testing but it’s still new and the track changes every weekend, so we have to still do a little homework and make this bike a little easier to ride. We’re just struggling in a couple of sections.” M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly led Supersport Q1, the Floridian just .196 of a second ahead of class rookie Rocco Landers on the Landers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 with HONOS HVMC Racing’s Richie Escalante just a tick over a second off the pace. Escalante also suffered a lowside crash in Q1. Kelly’s best lap was a 1:32.999 on the 2.5-mile racetrack in Minnesota’s popular resort town. Veloce Racing’s David Kohlstaedt, who has finished third in the last four SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup races, shot to the top of Q1, .245 of a second faster than Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio with Veloce Racing’s Maxwell Toth third. Landers Racing’s Benjamin Gloddy, who is second in the title chase, ended Q1 in fourth – one spot better than championship leader Tyler Scott and his Scott Powersports KTM. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis was the fastest of the fast in Stock 1000, the Kentuckian .166 of a second faster than Chuckwalla Valley Raceway/Octane Landing’s Michael Gilbert with MESA37’s Stefano Mesa third, just .282 off Lewis’ best. Twins Cup ended Friday with Jody Barry on top of Q1 with a 1:37.030 on his Righteous Racing Aprilia RS 660. Teagg Hobbs was second best on his Innovative Motorsports/Mike’s Imports Suzuki SV650 with Jackson Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon third on his new Yamaha YZF-R7, putting three different manufacturers on the provisional front row. The Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series kicked off with its first practice session at BIR, with the all-female class led by CJ Lukacs over Trisha Dahl and Alyssa Bridges. Superbike Q1 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:30.572 - Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:30.700 - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:31.222 - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:31.433 - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:31.614 - Hector Barbera (BMW) 1:32.300 - JD Beach (Yamaha) 1:32.737 - Bradley Ward (Suzuki) 1:33.837 - Max Flinders (Yamaha) 1:33.976 - David Anthony (Suzuki) 1:34.184 For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

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Gagne Takes His Ninth Straight After A Battle At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Jake Gagne Wins Again But Not Without Pressure From Loris Baz Newsflash: Jake Gagne got passed today at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the second of two HONOS Superbike races in the MotoAmerica Superbike Speedfest at Monterey. But it only lasted two corners. Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Gagne ran off the track on the run from turn five to turn six on the opening lap and the mistake allowed Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz to pass him. What followed was a frenzied 20 or so seconds as Gagne, Baz and Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz rubbed elbows and motorcycles through the Corkscrew and Rainey Curve. When the dust settled, Gagne was back in front. And that was all she wrote. Despite constant pressure from Baz for the duration, Gagne was able to maintain his composure to beat the Frenchman by 1.789 seconds and win his ninth straight HONOS Superbike race. The win also increased his championship points lead to 65 points over Scholtz, 225-160. “That turn five, when you get out there on a Superbike you start sliding,” Gagne explained when asked about his off-track excursion. “That curb comes back. If you get out on the curb, it’s almost tough to get back off it. I just slid out there a little too much. It was one of those things. I thought I was going to save it, and then the rear tire kind of hopped back off. Then all of a sudden, I was in the dirt. But I kind of dropped the throttle. The Yamaha still hooked up good in the dirt with the slicks on, so I just got back up on the curb. Loris (Baz) came by, then Mat (Scholtz) came by the Corkscrew. They both kind of ran wide in the Corkscrew, so I was able to just dive up tight on the Corkscrew and around the side of Rainey (Curve). I managed to kind of get that back and I knew I got to go. Obviously, I was keeping an eye on my pit board. I knew Loris was there. I knew Mat was there. They didn’t give me any issues to go. I saw a couple .2, .3, and then they’d pull a tenth back, they’d grab a 10th, they’d pull a couple tenths back… So, it was kind of back and forth.” Gagne had been challenged all weekend by Baz and admitted that Sunday was the biggest challenge he’d faced all year. “That was a tough race for me,” Gagne said. “I made a couple little mistakes. All these races, I’ve been in a pretty comfortable spot. I don’t have to push too many brake markers and stuff. But this time I ran wide here and there, I dropped it off the curb here and there. But we made some improvements. We made the bike easier to ride today from yesterday. It was fun racing with these guys. It’s been a little lonely up front, but this weekend it was a lot more exciting. We all banged some elbows today. Bent my front brake lever down going up to the Corkscrew. We got a little action today and it’s good. Hats off to the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Yamaha. This thing shows we can bring it anywhere and it’s a beast. We’ll just try to keep it up. I know these guys are coming and people want to get those wins, for sure. So, we’ll roll onto Brainerd.” For Baz and his Ducati team it was a solid weekend where they made big improvements to the Panigale V4 R. “I did a good start,” Baz said. “I think it’s the first one of the season, so I was pretty happy with that. Jake (Gagne) ran wide in turn five. There were a lot of stones. I’m really happy he didn’t crash because it would have been scary. I was really close to him. All the stones hit me like when you race motocross. Then I managed to overtake him, but I went wide in the next turn. Then he came back on the inside. We were elbow to elbow. We made the Corkscrew. His elbow was stuck in my wing. Then on the next corner, Josh (Herrin) came (by), and we went elbow to elbow all the straight. I really didn’t want to lose the rear wheel from Jake because I didn’t expect anyone to be able to follow us at the beginning, so I was surprised to see the next 10 laps plus zero. I was trying to keep the same gap to Jake, so I had pressure. He did a couple of mistakes, but not enough for me to go through. After 12, 13 (laps) I started to have a lot of chatter in the front, much more than yesterday. I had a few moments on the front. At that time, it took two tenths of a lap in the last section mainly. I was not able to be any faster. Again, another podium and another P2. I’m much closer to Jake. We put pressure on him. We had a fun race. So, I’m happy. I go home happy all the season, the closer we are. Big thanks to Ducati, all the team are doing an amazing job to improve the bike each weekend. The way we work in the team is getting better and better every weekend, more professional. We can only improve every week from now.” With Gagne beating Baz for the second straight day, it was Scholtz finishing third on Sunday. The South African ended up 7.8 seconds behind Baz after keeping the two in front of him in sight for most of the race. “Yesterday was good,” Scholtz said. “Obviously, only finishing, I think, it was 4.8 off of Jake (Gagne) is the closest that we’ve been to him. It wasn’t a real race, per se, because we had the red flag come out and shortened laps and the tire doesn’t have as much grip after the heat cycle of coming in and going back out. So, it definitely helps us with the pace being slowed down. Last night we made some changes and it definitely helped today. The last two rounds have been difficult, so we came here and just reset everything, from the setup and just a ton of things. We kind of figured that we have just gone too far one way and just have been struggling. So, kind of reset so we were able to work our way up slowly Friday, Saturday, Sunday and just got quicker and quicker. I think I hung onto Baz and Jake for the first 12 laps, or something like that. I didn’t think it would be possible running low to mid 24s for most of the race. I got a nice surprise for myself there. Just a huge thank you to the Westby team. This was difficult times and we kind of persevered and managed to work our way back up to the podium here. We definitely have our work cut out for us to catch these two. I feel like the bike is sort of going somewhere where I feel comfortable riding. I have had to change how I’m going to attempt corners, slightly. I feel like if we carry on working in the direction that we are now, we should be able to hopefully catch them soon.” M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was fourth on Sunday, a day after finishing third. He ended up some six seconds ahead of Gagne’s Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s teammate Josh Herrin, who in turn was seven seconds ahead of Petersen’s teammate Bobby Fong. Panera Bread Ducati’s Toni Elias got the better of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera after a race-long duel to finish seventh. Elias was riding the Ducati in place of the injured Kyle Wyman at Laguna Seca, but Wyman will return to the HONOS Superbike class in three weeks at Brainerd International Raceway. Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and BPR Tuning’s Bryce Prince rounded out the top 10 finishers while also finishing first and second in the Superbike Cup. Superbike Race 2 - Jake Gagne (Yamaha) - Loris Baz (Ducati) - Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) - Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) - Josh Herrin (Yamaha) - Bobby Fong (Suzuki) - Toni Elias (Ducati) - Hector Barbera (BMW) - Travis Wyman (BMW) - Bryce Prince (Yamaha) For more news checkout our dedicated MotoAmerica News page MotoAmerica News Or visit the official MotoAmerica website motoamerica.com/ Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

The battle came down to Gagne vs. Baz with Gagne ultimately winning his ninth HONOS Superbike race in a row. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

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