Jake Gagne crowned MotoAmerica Superbike Champ at Pittsburgh

2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round Seven – Pitt Race, Pittsburgh

Images by Brian J. Nelson

MotoAmerica Superbike

Jake Gagne reaffirmed that he’s the best Superbike racer in the country on Sunday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex with two decisive victories earning him his third successive MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship.

Gagne and his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing Superbike were perfect in both of the day’s races, holding back all of the challenges the top men threw at him.

In the first of the two Superbike races held on a sunny Sunday at Pitt Race, Gagne was challenged to the bitter end and came up just .264 of a second ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen.

In the second Superbike race of the day, Gagne had it a bit easier as he topped Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz by 1.868 of a second.

Not even Gagne would have predicted that he would come out of Pitt Race with his third title as most believed the title fight would at least go to round eight at Circuit of The Americas in a few weeks’ time.

However, Gagne’s eighth and ninth wins of the season and the 37th and 38th wins of his AMA Superbike career clinched the title with two rounds and four races left on the 2023 schedule.

Jake Gagne – P1

“To do it with a couple wins here at a place this Yamaha loves is awesome. I just didn’t expect it. We didn’t really do any math. The team didn’t talk about it. Nobody talked about it. I just had a feeling if I won and I didn’t exactly know what Josh (Herrin) had to do, but I knew sure as hell Josh was going to put up a fight to bring it down to one more round, and I knew he was right there. Congrats to Matty (Scholtz). Doing Yamaha a favour, doing me a favour today. It’s cool to get it done early. Again, kind of unexpected. I haven’t been the fastest guy all year, but I guess kind of luck has been on my side. We finished almost every race, besides one. It’s going to be a hell of a fight for that championship run with a lot of guys in it next year. I’m looking forward to going to the last couple rounds and just duking it out with these guys with nothing else to worry about.”

Superbike Race One

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Jake Gagne was up to his old tricks on Saturday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex on Saturday. The two-time defending Medallia Superbike Champion started quickly, let the others hang around for a lap or two and then rode off into the distance for his seventh win of the year and the 36th Superbike victory of his career.

Gagne didn’t put a wheel wrong in earning his seventh win of the year. He had Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz on his back wheel for the opening laps, but then was able to pull away and let those behind him battle for second place as he managed his tires to the best of his ability.

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Second ended up going to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, the five-time AMA Superbike Champion bouncing back from his big crash at Brainerd International Raceway a few weeks ago. Beaubier admitted that he was struggling with confidence after the race-one crash that forced him out of race two in Minnesota.

Beaubier started slowly in the race (after qualifying sixth) before eventually fighting his way through the pack to third. He then worked around Scholtz and kept him at bay to the finish. Beaubier was 3.6 seconds behind Gagne at the end of the 17-lap race and 1.8 seconds in front of third-placed Scholtz.

Bobby Fong took fourth, followed by PJ Jacobsen, with Josh Herrin and JD Beach battling for sixth and seventh and finishing in that order. Richie Escalante, Brandon Paasch and Hayden Gillim rounded out the top 10.

Superbike Race one Results

Superbike Race Two

Race two was red-flagged early on when Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier was involved in a scary crash when he ran into the back of Ashton Yates’ Aftercare Scheibe Racing BMW.

With the two in a battle and Beaubier looking to make up spots after an off-track excursion, Yates led him through the chicane but on the exit his BMW had a mechanical issue that caused him to slow suddenly.

With nowhere to go, Beaubier ran into the back of Yates and crashed heavily. Beaubier was transported to the infield medical center and was treated for facial lacerations.

By this point, Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong was already out of the race with the pole sitter crashing his Yamaha YZF-R1 in the opening laps.

Although he was pushed the entire way by Jacobsen, it was Gagne taking the victory, his eighth of the year, over the New Yorker.

Third went to Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin, 1.4 seconds behind Jacobsen and a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

JD Beach was impressive in riding the injured Cameron Petersen’s Fresh N Lean Progressive Racing Yamaha to fifth, well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch. Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim was eighth, just a few tenths ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cory Alexander.

Benjamin Smith Racing’s Benjamin Smith and Steel Commander’s Gabriel Da Silva rounded out the top 10.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante crashed out of fourth place on the last lap.

Superbike Race Two Results

Superbike Race Three

Gagne got his normal fast start and led every lap of race three. Scholtz kept him honest, finishing 1.8 seconds behind the factory Yamaha.

The win, Gagne’s ninth on the year, gave him an insurmountable 337 points after 16 races – 101 points ahead of Herrin, who finished third. If Herrin would have finished second with Gagne winning, the title fight would have gone to the next round in Austin, Texas.

Any chance of that was thwarted when Herrin, who was right on Gagne’s tail, blew the chicane and then waited for at least three riders to go by so that he wouldn’t be penalised.

Herrin fought back, but ultimately lost out to Scholtz with the South African pulling away to beat the Ducati rider by 3.6 seconds. Herrin, meanwhile, had his hands full with Escalante who was trying to land his first Superbike podium. He would come up .6 of a second short at the finish.

Jacobsen was fifth and just another few tenths behind Escalante with Beach sixth again and less than a second behind Jacobsen, who moved to third in the championship by one point over Beaubier with his teammate’s failure to score points on Sunday.

Gillim was seventh for the second time on the day with pole-sitter Bobby Fong eighth. Smith was ninth again with Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin rounding out the top 10.

Superbike Race Three Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings –  Top 15

Supersport Race 1

Two MotoAmerica rounds ago, the winner of the 2023 Supersport Championship seemed to be a fait accompli.

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Xavi Forés had reeled off eight consecutive wins, and it looked like he was head for a perfect season. But things changed for the Spaniard in Minnesota and the bumpy Brainerd International Raceway wreaked havoc on the handling of his Ducati Panigale V2, as well as on his win streak. He left the Land of 10,000 Lakes without a win, and it continued in Supersport race one at Pittsburgh.

The story of the race, though, was not who didn’t win, but who did.

Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki rider Stefano Mesa notched his first Supersport victory of the season and the second of his career. Mesa also earned the pole position for both of the weekend’s races, so clearly, Pitt Race is a very good track for the Colombian. It was also Mesa’s 29th birthday.

Second place went to Forés, who commented in the post-race press conference that he is doing everything he can to keep up with the other bikes. The only Ducati rider in the field, Forés thinks the balancing measures mandated for his bike are too extreme.

Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Tyler Scott, which was his seventh podium result of the season.

Stefano Mesa

“The whole weekend, we’ve been very fast off the get-go,” Mesa said. “I think, after race two in Brainerd, we found a little something on the bike. We’ve been dealing with a lot of chassis issues with the new B bike, what we call the B bike, since I broke the (A bike at) Ridge. I broke it in half. Been battling a lot of chassis setup. But I think we finally hit the nail where it was. I think we’re in the window for the bike. My hats off to the team. They gave me a great bike since we rolled it out of the truck. We’ve been fast all weekend. The race was great. My hats off to these guys. This is great battling with them. It’s great trying to pass Xavi (Forés) on the brakes. I think first clean race I got to actually battle with Xavi and try and go for the win. I think I had the pace. Tomorrow we’re going to try and find a little bit more and see if we can get the win again.”

Supersport Race 1 Results

Supersport Race 2

Although there is little doubt that Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Xavi Forés will be crowned as the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott didn’t allow it to happen at Pitt Race on Sunday.

In order for Forés to be crowned on Sunday, he had to win with Scott finishing no worse than second. Scott, however, decided to just go ahead and win the race to make sure that the war would go to the next round of the championship at Circuit of The Americas next month.

Scott ended up beating Forés by 2.8 seconds after an early back-and-forth battle. Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa, who won Saturday’s Superbike race, was third, 7.8 seconds adrift of Scott and five seconds clear of Scott’s teammate Teagg Hobbs, who got the better of Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes.

Disrupt Racing’s Jake Lewis ended up sixth, hot on Hayes’s heels.

Tyler Scott

“Yesterday I got a decent start the first time, starting from the second row on the grid,” Scott said. “Couldn’t get a clear lap in qualifying, so right off the bat it was hard to lead the race and try and set the pace. Overnight we thought about it. This morning we made some changes to be able to push the pace. In the race today, I got a pretty similar start to yesterday, but I saw an opening to pass Xavi (Forés) and I took it. I wanted to see if I could lead the race and start pulling a gap. It was .0 for what felt like an eternity, and then .2, .4, .6, one second, one second, one second, two seconds. I just kept pushing the pace every lap and was able to create that gap.”

Supersport Race 2 Results

Supersport Standings –  Top 15

Twins Cup Race One

The battle for the 2023 REV’IT! Twins Cup Championship can’t get much closer than it already is, but Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers is hoping that it gets even closer after tomorrow’s second race at Pitt Race.

Landers won his sixth REV’IT! race of the year after an early battle with championship rivals Blake Davis and Gus Rodio and the win moves him to within 10 points of the lead in the title chase.

The battle for second in Saturday’s race was also the battle for the championship lead and it went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Davis by just .042 of a second over Landers’ teammate Rodio.

How’s this for close? Davis now leads Rodio by a single point with Landers 10 points behind Davis and nine behind Rodio.

Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle had a relatively lonely ride to fourth with TrackDay Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon rounding out the top five.

Rocco Landers

“I have not had the best past month, after what I did at Laguna,” Landers said. “But I knew this was a good track for me. It’s a good track for the bike. It’s a good track for the team. The Aprilia is handling absolutely amazing. The start I kind of got shuffled back there a little bit. I just tried to basically pick up the pieces after the first lap and do what I could to get back past these guys. They were riding amazing, obviously killing it. I knew if I could lead a few laps at least through the esses, I could maybe start to stretch out a gap and then hold it there. So, that’s what I did. It went to plan today. Doesn’t always go to plan, but today it did. We’re hoping to do at least that or even better tomorrow.”

Twins Cup Race One Results

Twins Cup Race Two

The top three contenders in the REV’IT! Twins Cup Championship are locked in a close battle for the title, and those three contenders were also locked in a close battle for the race win on Sunday at Pitt Race.

Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering teammates Gus Rodio and Rocco Landers not only raced hard against each other, but they also raced hard against N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis throughout the nine-lap event.

Davis led seven of the laps, while Landers only led one lap and Rodio led the other. But it was Rodio who led the most important one, which resulted in him crossing the finish line first and notching the win by just .104 of a second over his teammate Landers.

Davis almost finished as runner-up, but he couldn’t quite overtake Landers when the checkered flag flew. Rodio goes into the final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park with an eight-point lead over Davis and a 14-point lead over Landers, which means that the season championship is very much up in the air with just two more races to go.

Gus Rodio

“I knew me and Blake had power,” Rodio said. “I knew Rocco was taking those wide, sweeping lines. From the looks of it, I didn’t want to get tangled up in that. I just sat back. I was kind of resting the whole race and the pace in the 49s. We qualified a lot faster than that. There were just five passes a lap, so that’s where that time is going to come into play. I knew Blake was going to pass him on the straight. He’s good on the brakes, too, so down in the chicane, I saw him making moves there. I knew he wasn’t going to let Rocco lead a full lap because it would have been not good. So, I just sat back. Knew the passes were coming. Knew the pace was going to stay in the 49s. I just planned for the last lap. Blake made a mistake and then I knew coming to the line I just had to make the pass. I had to stay close enough to make the pass. Everything went according to plan.”

Twins Cup Race Two Results

Twins Cup Standings

Junior Cup Race One

After winning four out of the first five Junior Cup races of the season, it came as quite a surprise that Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki rider Avery Dreher hit a dry spell where he didn’t get another victory for three straight races. But, on Saturday at Pitt Race, Dreher returned to his winning ways.

Starting from pole position, the Florida-based rider battled throughout the 10-lap race with Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing KTM’s Rossi Moor, Hayden Bicknese Racing Kawasaki rider Hayden Bicknese, and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Alessandro Di Mario.

At the checkers, it was Dreher who notched the win by .036 of a second over Moor, with Di Mario just .136 of a second back from Dreher.

With three more races left in the Junior Cup Championship, Dreher has a 39-point lead over Moor.

Avery Dreher

“I honestly didn’t really lead that much,” Dreher said. “I went into the race, and I wanted to be as aggressive as I can. I’m usually not the most aggressive rider, but I had to change that. So, I wanted to be able to lead the whole race, just not fall outside the top two. We went back and forth a couple times. I had a couple moments. I was battling with some little grip issues here and there. But I got to say, the bike honestly felt amazing. Thanks to the team. We figured out our issues from Friday. That last lap was just figuring out if I wanted to be in third or second going onto the front straightaway. Just kind of was in a perfect spot to get that draft. I’m just super happy to extend my points lead and get another win.”

Junior Cup Race One Results

Junior Cup Race Two

Bad Boy Racing’s Avery Dreher won his sixth race of the season on Sunday at Pitt Race, but he didn’t know that he’d also been crowned as the 2023 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship.

That decision came later when Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing’s Rossi Moor was later DQ’d for using an illegal wheel bearing on his KTM RC 390 R ending any chance of Dreher being surpassed in the final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park next month.

Altus Motorsports’ Alessandro Di Mario was second on the track and second in the final results while Bicknese Racing’s Hayden Bicknese was moved from fourth to third in the final standings after Moor’s DQ.

Yandel Racing’s Yandel Medina was fourth with Badie Racing’s Levi Badie rounding out the top five.

Dreher is now 52 points head of Bicknese in the title chase with just 50 points on the table in the final round.

Avery Dreher

“It worked yesterday, so I just figured I’d go with the same strategy today,” Dreher said. “The team and I worked on a few things this morning with the bike. Got that sorted out. I knew it would be a little hotter today than yesterday. Our race was three hours later, so I knew that would play a factor. Lost the grip on the rear on the last lap. Thought I would lose the draft on the front straightaway but ended up pulling it together. I’m just super happy with the results this weekend. I don’t know how many points I have left to clinch the title, but I’m just going to keep working hard between rounds and hopefully get that jersey.”

Junior Cup Race Two Results

Junior Cup Standings – Top 15

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Race One

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Mikayla Moore kept her perfect season intact with her sixth win in six starts and it all resulted in her wrapping up the 2023 Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. championship. Moore will attempt to close out a perfect season with another victory tomorrow at Pitt Race.

Sonya Lloyd earned her fifth podium of the year with her second-place finish and that virtually assures her of second in the championship after tomorrow’s finale. Lloyd battled with Moore early and finished 2.2 seconds behind the Marylander – the closest anyone has been to the newly crowned champion all season.

Defending series champion Kayleigh Buyck was third in the race and happy to be back on the podium after a rough season for the New Yorker.

Mikayla Moore

“I was going into turn one and I’m like, holy crap, someone was like right next to me,” Moore said. “I just tried to do my best and hit my marks. Luckily, this round, I had my lap timer, so I ended up doing a 2:07. I told my parents. They were like, ‘What time do you think you’re going to run?’ I was like, ‘I think I’ll do a 2:08.’ But every time I get some fresh Dunlop tires, I end up going faster and meet my goals every time. If I can be honest, going into this program I thought I would struggle a little bit because in the beginning… I’m not able to adapt quick to bikes, so I’m really actually surprised. After the first round I was able to get quickly adapted to it and things like that. Then also we have a great team, so everyone kept each other positive. I just tried to at the Road America after the first round keep the streak going. So far, I had a perfect season. Just have to complete it tomorrow.”

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. One Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Race Two

The Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. program wrapped up its second year with MotoAmerica on Sunday, and Mikayla Moore completed a perfect season.

The Maryland-based rider clinched the championship with her win in Saturday’s race one, and her race two victory on Sunday was her seventh win in as many races.

Moore won Sunday’s race by nearly 11 seconds over second-place finisher Sonya Lloyd, who in turn was a little over nine seconds ahead of Crystal Martinez in third place.

The finishing order of race two was also the finishing order of the season championship with Lloyd finishing second to title winner Moore and Martinez locking up third.

Mikayla Moore

“With this being our last race, I wanted to see how fast I could actually take it. Being by myself yesterday, only hitting (a lap of) 2:08, I was experiencing chatter and some other bike issues. So, when Sonya showed me that wheel yesterday, I was like, ‘All right. Come tomorrow, she’s going to be on top of her game.’ So, Megan (from Öhlins) was able to fix some issues with the bike for me in terms of suspension. I ended up making a gearing change, and that definitely helped for this race.”

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Two Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Standings