Frenchman Loris Baz Wins Baggers, PJ Jacobsen Takes Supersport On Rainy Day In Georgia.
It’s not often that someone can spot Kyle Wyman a lead in a Mission King Of The Baggers race and not only catch him but beat him. Frenchman Loris Baz, however, did just that on a rainy Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in what was his first outing on his S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed Indian Challenger in wet conditions, and just his third race in the class.
In winning his first Mission King Of The Baggers race, Baz became the 10th different racer to taste victory in the fifth year of the V-twin class.
Just when it appeared as though Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Wyman had this one locked up, Baz started to push forward, moving into second after passing his teammate Troy Herfoss, and gaining ground quickly as the laps wore down. Baz didn’t get to the back of the Harley until the very last lap, and he made it count, drafting past Wyman on the back straight, taking the lead into 10-A, and holding a tight line through the final set of corners to score the win by just .199 of a second.
Third place went to 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Herfoss, who admitted to just having a bad day. Herfoss was some three seconds adrift of Baz and Wyman and the Australian only just beat RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim by .126 of a second.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara was fifth, well clear of Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith
TAB Performance Racing’s Kyle Ohnsorg, SDI Racing replacement rider Brandon Paasch, Saddlemen Racing’s Cory West, and Lyndall Brakes/M3’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
After three races, Wyman leads the championship by 26 points over Herfoss, 70-44. Baz is now third in the title chase, three points adrift of Herfoss.
“Well, it went from just trying to survive to seeing I was catching (gaining ground),” Baz said. “But at the same time, so many moments. I almost crashed 25 times in that race. I had big moments with the rear, but I feel like I was controlling the rear, playing with that limit. But my main concern was the front. On those three first laps before the race (a practice session), I had a really bad feeling on the front. I was not expecting to fight for the win in that race. But then we restarted, and I could see that everyone was a little bit struggling. Even if I had a lot of problems on the lean angle on the front, I kind of found some lines and I was able to just brake hard straight, not lean the bike too much, and change a little bit my lines. It took me a little bit of time to overtake Troy (Herfoss), because with that bad feeling and the moments I was having, I didn’t want to take him out. It was sketchy, but after two laps I saw that I was catching Kyle (Wyman) in a lot of places. So, I went from trying to secure second place to accepting the risk of trying to catch him. I knew that I was on the limit, but I think everyone was. I was pretty happy. I knew I had no chance to overtake him anywhere, unless on the straight into 10A. Then I had a big moment in the exit of 10B, but that was the third or fourth time in that race, so I was expecting that. I’m super happy. It doesn’t matter the class. When you never rode a bike in the wet and you go first time, it’s just a matter of how good your crew is to guess setup for you. So, big thanks to them. They did a great job to guess the right setup for me. Obviously, I’m much bigger than those guys, than Tyler (O’Hara) and Troy (Herfoss), so you can’t copy and paste the setup. I’m happy. I’m proud of what we are doing inside the team and all the people involved. It’s a massive challenge. First time riding a bike with no TC in the wet, it’s been 15 years. It’s something I love, but we have to remember how to do it. So, I’m happy.”
Motovation Supersport: Jacobsen’s Last-Lap Stunner
For all practical purposes, Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis led the entire Motovation Supersport race on Saturday afternoon at Road Atlanta with the Yamaha YZF-R9-mounted Kentuckian in control despite the challenge of being on rain tires on a track that was drying quickly. But just like that, Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen, who like Lewis and the rest of the field was fighting the challenge of racing on badly worn rain tires, passed Lewis on the back straight and held him off through the final set of corners to snatch victory on the last lap.
At the finish line, it was Jacobsen winning the 13th MotoAmerica Supersport race of his career by just .371 of a second over Lewis, who was disappointed to come up short in Supersport, it was hard to be anything but pleased with his day as he’d earlier won the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was third, barely beating Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen, with the South African crossing the line just .055 behind Scott.
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was fifth and it cost him the lead in the Motovation Supersport Championship as he slipped 13 points behind Jacobsen after three races, 65-52. Lewis is now in a tie for third in the championship with BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes, who was ninth today after an off-track excursion proved to be costly.
Scholtz started the race from pole position after breaking Garrett Gerloff’s Supersport lap record from 2017 with his 1:27.746 in Q2.
Sixth place went to Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Max Van, Strack Racing’s Blake Davis, Hayes, and MP13 Racing’s Aiden Sneed rounding out the top 10.
“With racing, I feel like I’ve been in positions where someone else is in front of me the whole time,” Jacobsen said. “Then you’re just studying them the whole race. Jake (Lewis) looked back at me a few times in the back straightaway, one or two times shaking his head. I wanted to give him a go at some point, but it was good. He rode really, really great. The whole thing with that race was trying to manage the tire as well, because it felt like ice after four laps and the track just started drying out so fast. So, it was definitely like slicks by probably the fourth lap. It was a difficult race and I was managing it with the throttle control. There were certain points in that race that I wanted to ask for a bit more throttle and try to have more goes at Jake, but I was sitting there basically like a yo-yo the whole time. It was managing the tire for both of us, because there were parts where he slowed up a little bit too and then re-attack. So, I thought it was a really great race. I thought that he really deserved the win today but, unfortunately, I had to heartbreak him there at the end.”
Stock 1000: Lee By .009 Of A Second
It’s often said that the rider you want to beat the most is your teammate. Andrew Lee followed that line of thinking to a tee on Saturday with a last-lap, last-corner pass on his Orange Cat Racing teammate Jayson Uribe that earned him victory in the first Stock 1000 race of the season – by .009 of a second.
Uribe led the entire race until the final lap. Pole-sitter Lee never led a lap… until the final lap. And it ended with a photo-finish.
The win was two-time class champion Lee’s first since his victory at Barber Motorsports Park in 2019, and the 12th of his career. He was understandably emotional.
A distant third place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, with the Georgian getting the better of Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach, who ended up fourth in his first-ever Stock 1000 race. Yates was some two seconds clear of Beach at the finish line with the pair running in a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP formation for most of the race.
BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell was fifth after emerging from a battle with The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis, and Edge Racing’s Josh Waters.
Durbin Racing’s Christopher Durbin, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Stock 1000 rookie Rocco Landers, and Corrientes Racing Team/MPR Motorsport’s Emanuel Nicolás Aguilar rounded out the top 10.
The race was red flagged almost immediately when Bryce Kornbau and Taylor Knapp crashed through the esses in separate incidents.
“I have no idea, honestly,” Lee said when asked how he managed the last-lap pass. “Jayson (Uribe) was riding such a good race. There was a moment I had over (turn) five that kind of put me in a spot where I didn’t think I could make it. I just kind of tried to hit my marks and I got a good draft off of him. I sent a little bit of a Hail Mary. It worked out. I didn’t want to do anything too risky the first race of the year. I really can’t thank my team enough. Orange Cat and Alpha BMW have really put a bike underneath me that we can go out there and win races. It was almost like I was never going to do it again, so it’s nice to be back. It just kind of validates all the work I’ve put in and the time off. Sitting on the couch watching people I want to be racing. Orange Cat took a risk taking me back onto the grid. I’m happy that I could put them on top of the box.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Lewis Over West
Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis managed to hold back his teammate Cory West through the final set of corners to win Saturday’s Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race at Road Atlanta.
Margin of victory? Just .174 of a second in the red-flat interrupted and shortened five-lap race.
Lewis and West managed to get to the front and gap the field after the red flag that was brought about by ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander, with the New Yorker crashing in the final corner.
Once they were free from the pack, the pair battled to the finish with Lewis doing most of the leading in the early laps. It was West, however, who ended up in front on the last lap. Teammate or no teammate, Lewis wasn’t in the mood for second place, and he made the move on West on the back straight on the final lap. Once he was in front, Lewis blocked any passing opportunity West might have had to take his second race of the three-race-old season.
With the win, Lewis moves to second in the title chase and trails West by four points, 61-57.
A lonely third place went to KWR Harley-Davidson’s Cody Wyman, who was almost five seconds behind the Lewis/West battle and seven seconds ahead of Giaccomoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle. Doyle, meanwhile, was just .407 of a second ahead of fifth-placed Travis Wyman on the third Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America.
“I don’t know if it was the right strategy or not,” Lewis said. “I did try to split. With two to go, it popped out of gear between five and six a couple times. I looked back and Cory (West) was right there, and then he drafted me into (turn) 10. I was like, ‘I don’t really know what to do, honestly.’ But I just sat behind him onto the long straightaway, because that was my only shot at going down into 10. I know we’re teammates, but that was a hell of a battle. Going down into there, I was like, I’m either going to make this stick or end up in the gravel trap. It was a little bit sketchy getting in there, but when I flipped it back right, I just hugged it real tight and tried to squirt out of there and then block him into the last turn, and it just worked out perfect. A big hats off to my whole Saddlemen Race Development team.”
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