Exciting Racing, Champions Crowned In MotoAmerica’s Return To Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Seventeen-year-old Matthew Chapin is having quite a rookie season in the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship, and Sunday was his best day yet. The BARTCON Racing Kawasaki rider won both Junior Cup races, with Saturday’s race one postponed due to rain and rescheduled on Sunday. All the better for the Marylander because his two Super Sunday wins clinched the 2024 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship.
From one end to the other, it was a perfect weekend for Chapin, who was fastest in Friday’s Practice 1, earned the provisional pole in first qualifying later on Friday, secured pole position in final qualifying on Saturday, and won both races on Sunday.
Chapin made light work of race one, winning by an unheard of for-that-class 3.4 seconds over Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez with Fernandez some nine seconds ahead of what was the first real battle in the race, with third through seventh finishing on the same second. The final podium spot went to Chapin’s BARTCON Racing teammate Eli Block.
“Oh, man,” Chapin said after race one. “It was a great race. Pulled the holeshot, and I knew I had the pace to get away, so I just put my head down, did some fast laps. Man, it was a great race.”
Junior Cup race two was a lot closer at the finish line for Chapin, who nipped New York Safety Track Racing Kawasaki’s Yandel Medina by just .074 of a second. Third place went to Wolfe Racing’s Ryan Wolfe, who was only .015 of a second behind Medina.
All in all, Chapin, led every lap of both of Sunday’s Junior Cup races.
“Man, I feel great,” Chapin said on the podium while clutching his number-one Championship plate. “This feels awesome. From this being my first full season of doing MotoAmerica to winning the championship. Wow! I’m so thankful. I couldn’t do this without all my sponsors. I want to give a huge thanks to Mike (Skowronek) at TripleStrong Racing for coming out and helping me with all the motor work and everything and getting the bike dialed in. Huge thanks to my mom and dad. Chuck, Tim, Connie, and everybody that came out. Brian. This feels great. Thanks to Woodcraft, KYT, Bison, Vortex, and everybody else who helps me out. Thank you, guys.”
Supersport – Scholtz Back On Top
With PJ Jacobsen winning three races in a row, including Saturday’s Supersport victory at Mid-Ohio, Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz admits he was getting a little worried about his championship points lead. On Sunday, the South African changed all that with his seventh win of the year to extend his points lead to 25 over the Rahal Ducati Moto rider.
Scholtz’s win was of the come-from-behind variety as his rival Jacobsen was at the front but busy defending that lead from Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott. Scholtz, meanwhile, worked his way through to third, bringing Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis with him.
And just like that, Scholtz was on top of the Jacobsen/Scott battle and suddenly was in front of both. Jacobsen was visibly struggling with front-end grip, and he started to go backwards and ultimately finished fourth.
Scholtz sped to the finish line, .160 of a second ahead of Scott with Lewis 3.1 seconds adrift.
Jacobsen finished fourth with EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo rounding out the top five.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman!
What was shaping up to be another fight to the finish between Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman and S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss didn’t get the chance to materialize as Hayden Gillim crashed his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson on the third lap in Sunday’s race, bringing out the red flag and ultimately the end of the race.
Since he was leading Herfoss when the red flag came out, Wyman was declared the winner, giving him his sixth win of the season and the five points back that he’d lost to Herfoss on Saturday.
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers finished third for the second time on the weekend as the series rookie continues to get closer to the top two.
“It’s a strange feeling,” Wyman said. “I thought we were coming into the pits to rerack them. So, I didn’t really notice until everybody was running off of pit lane, up the hill with stands, that we had actually called the race. I was actually surprised as well. I thought we were going to restart that one. It didn’t seem like there was any more threat of weather at that point. It seemed like a pretty quick cleanup. But, my plan that I executed turned out to be what put me in that position. I wanted to get the holeshot. I wanted to control the race and try to go from the front. I’ve had a lot of really bad days over the last couple years with just really sh*t luck in a lot of different scenarios. So it feels like I’ve been owed one a little bit. Not by Troy, but just from the universe, I guess. It feels good in that way, but when we’ve gone down to the last lap and raced to the flag, even when I’ve finished second when we’ve raced to the flag it feels better than this does just because it’s a hell of a lot of fun. So, for sure, it’s a bummer not to see it go full race distance, especially for the fans. But like I said, we’ll take it.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Lewis!
It was also a doubleheader Sunday for the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship class with Saturday’s race getting bumped off the schedule with poor weather wreaking havoc.
When they did get started in the first of two races, Saddlemen Racing/Harley-Davidson’s Jake Lewis turned what looked to be an exciting Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race at Mid-Ohio into a dull one when he pulled away from the scrap behind him to win his second race of the season on Sunday morning.
Lewis topped his teammate Cory West by 1.2 seconds after separating himself from the pack in the closing stages with West beating KWR/Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Schultz by just .057 of a second.
Then came the pair of S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s with Tyler O’Hara fourth and Troy Herfoss fifth, respectively. Herfoss was slowed somewhat by a clutch issue.
“It’s honestly been an up-and-down weekend on the Hooligan bike so far, but every session I’ve been out in, I’ve been either first or second,” Lewis said after race one. “So, I knew I had a good feeling, but starting ninth was tough. I think I was fifth coming out of turn one, and then (Chris) Fillmore looked like he had a little bit of an issue. I was up into fourth quick. Cory (West) and I talked before the race. I know the Indian boys are going to try to play their games. So, I figured I’d fire one off on the first lap under (Tyler) O’Hara there. Kind of stood him up and then after that, I was like, ‘this is mine to lose, as far as championship-wise.’ I have to win these races, and that’s my only goal is either win or I’m going to end up in the grass. I rode my ass off, but big thank you to the Saddlemen Race Development team. They’ve been working so hard on these Harley-Davidson Pan Americas. It’s a nice way to reward them. I’m excited for that one. Sometimes winning I don’t get too excited, but I was really pumped for that. It’s been 10 years since we’ve been here. Last time we were here I won as well. It feels good to do it in front of these Mid-Ohio fans.”
If race one turned into a runaway in Hooligan terms, race two was anything but with six riders in the lead group all the way to the finish. And what a difference another race makes as race-one winner Lewis was at the back of that lead group in sixth place.
This one went to new championship points leader West after his two-one finishes on the day. West beat O’Hara, his main championship rival, by .105 of a second. Third place on the track went to KTM Development Team’s Chris Fillmore, but Fillmore was here on a KTM DUKE Prototype and not eligible for championship points.
That gave third to Herfoss with KWR/Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Schultz and West’s teammate Travis Wyman rounding out the top five.
“How crazy?” West said after race two. “That first race, I was pretty nervous going into it. So, I just rode smart. I didn’t want to make any mistakes and do anything silly. I told my guys, ‘I’ve got a little more in me.’ I just didn’t want to do anything silly in that first race. So, I put my head down, got to the front, and it was just a scrap. Those guys kept coming by me and doing crazy stuff. I just was trying to be cool and be smart. Then on the last lap, TO (O’Hara) came up under me in the Keyhole and I just made sure I got a really good drive. I just had three guys in front of me to give me an awesome draft. I got down there on the brakes and kind of lost the front in the right-hander. I was like, ‘man, I just got a few more right-handers until the checkered.’ I kind of parked it in that last corner, but I just figured there wasn’t any way around me. Today is my dad’s birthday. This is awesome. Happy birthday to my pop. All the guys at Saddlemen, my wife, who’s pregnant. It’s crazy. We’re making it happen. We’re leading the points again and we’re on to COTA. Let’s make it happen.”
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Moore Wraps It Up
Mikayla Moore put a nice little bow on the top of her second Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Championship with her seventh win of the season coming a day after she wrapped up that second title. As always, Moore made the race her own, winning by a tick over 20 seconds ahead of Kira Knebel, who was also second in yesterday’s race.
The only race Moore didn’t win this season was the only race she didn’t take part in when an injury took her out of race one in the season-opener at Road America.
Third place went to first-time podium finisher Miranda Cain with Cain improving from her fifth-place finish in Saturday’s race. Emma Betters and Holly Varey rounded out the top five in the season-ender for the class.
“The Royal Enfield 650 GT today went on rails,” Moore said. “I knew yesterday the race started off pretty close. I knew as long as I did what I did yesterday and put my head down and focus and hit my marks I could get to where I am at now, which is the number-one spot, just by hard work throughout the season. Thanks to my dad, my family, just for all the support, even the Royal Enfield team’s support. It means a lot. To do this two years in a row, I’m super happy with how my season went.”
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