Checkered Flags Flew, And A Couple Of Red Ones, Too, In Sunday’s MotoAmerica Support Class Races At Barber Motorsports Park
MotoAmerica Support Classes: Seeing the checkered flag wave, especially if you’re the first rider it’s waved for, is one of the greatest feelings in all of motorsports.
Conversely, pretty much no one wants to see the red flag waved since it stops the proceedings and leads to a restarted race or an early conclusion depending on the circumstance.
On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, the riders in the four MotoAmerica support classes saw more than their fair share of red flags, race stoppages, and restarts. But as is often said, “That’s racing.”
For some of the riders and teams, the red flags were actually advantageous because it gave them a chance to start again and improve their results. For others, the red flags halt their momentum and give their competition another opportunity to better themselves or, at worst, if they are the cause of a red flag, it might end their day.
Here are the details on how things ended up, in the midst of the red flags, in MotoAmerica’s support classes at “the Augusta National of Motorsports”:
Supersport: Binder Beats Yaakov In A Ducati Dust-Up
In MotoAmerica’s middleweight class, Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight rider Kayla Yaakov, who earned the pole on Saturday and also set a new class record aboard her #19 Ducati Panigale V2, got the holeshot in Sunday’s race two, and she immediately built a pretty good lead over the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Ryder Davis crashed out, and his bike was left in the middle of the track, which brought out the red flag. Since the crash was in a turn after a blind rise, Ella Dreher had no time to avoid making contact with the downed motorcycle. She was injured in the incident, but thankfully, her condition is stable and not serious.
On the restart, Yaakov got off the line well again and led the field for the opening lap until she was overtaken by Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse Ducati’s Darryn Binder. The South African rider held the lead position for two laps, and a very determined Yaakov retook the lead, albeit briefly.
Binder got past Yaakov again, and this time, he made it stick. The pair of Ducati riders crossed the finish line with Binder notching the win and Yaakov finishing second and less than two one-thousands of a second behind the South African.
The battle for the third spot on the podium went right down to the finish line with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott narrowly beating Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin in a photo finish.
“Unfortunately, today was a similar situation to yesterday with the red flag,” Binder said. “I think the second lap of the restart, I saw the yellow flag flashing on my dash, and I was like, ‘Let me just get to the front and stay there in case it happens again.’ I just tried to improve in the areas where I was a little bit bad yesterday. I just tried to stay in the front the whole time and control the race a bit. Happy to get the win today. Can’t thank the boys enough. Looking forward to the next one.”
Talent Cup: Gouker Pulls Even With Matsudaira At The Top Of The Points Standings
Former MotoAmerica Mini Cup rider Nathan Gouker had Barber Motorsports Park dialed in this weekend in Talent Cup aboard his Quarterley Racing Krämer APX-350 MA. The 14-year-old set a new lap record while he earned the pole position for the weekend’s two races, and then, he won both of them in dominant fashion.
Finishing second in Sunday’s race two, just as he did in Saturday’s race one, was Team Roberts rider Kensei Matsudaira. Interestingly, Gouker and Matsudaira have identical results so far this season: three race wins, two runner-up results, and one third-place finish. That makes them tied for the lead in the points standings.
Third place in Sunday’s race two was the second-place finisher from Saturday’s race one, Jake Paige, who competes for Team Hammer. The Australian youngster overcame a couple of pretty big crashes on Friday, and his crew did excellent work to get his bike ready to race. Paige did his part with a pair of podium finishes.
“I can’t thank the Quarterley Racing powered by Warhorse supported by Wrench crew enough,” commented Gouker. “They had a fantastic bike all weekend. Without them, I couldn’t have done it. The pace today was definitely way faster, but my pit board was showing plus two seconds, so, I was like, I got to keep pushing.”
Twins Cup: MotoAmerica’s Two-Banger Class Waits It Out, Then Hank Spanks ‘Em Again
Saturday’s Twins Cup race two was red-flagged by two incidents involving Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh and Vestment Realty’s Rodney Vest. Due to scheduling commitments, the race had to be restarted later in the day.
Robem Engineering’s 15-year-old phenom, Hank Vossberg, who won Saturday’s race one, started from the pole and led all12-laps in race two on Sunday, ultimately winning aboard his Aprilia by nearly a full 10 seconds.
Second place went to Karns/TST Industries Racing Suzuki rider Isaac Woodworth, and Speed Demon Racing powered by Ready to Ride’s Logan Cunnison brought his Aprilia across the line in third.
“It kind of sucks that we got pushed to the end of the day,” commented Vossberg. “Nerves built up. But it gave me more time to think about what I can improve on. I definitely was able to do that in today’s race. Congrats to those boys. They were ripping and giving me a run for my money. I’ve got to give it up to the team for giving me such a fast 2026 Aprilia RS 660 to ride.”
Super Hooligan: Rodio Lassos Another One Aboard His Italian Stallion
Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio is glad that he decided to return to the MotoAmerica paddock. The New Jerseyan, who formerly raced in Junior Cup, then Twins Cup, and also in Supersport took the latter half of last year to reset his priorities. One of them was racing, so he made a comeback this year and raced in the Daytona 200 and in Super Hooligan.
On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Rodio, who set a new Super Hooligan lap record on Saturday on his way to the win in race one, did the double-double. He once again set a new Super Hooligan lap record while winning race two, as well. But it wasn’t easy.
Rodio was in a battle for the win with OrangeCat Racing’s Josh Herrin, who was aboard the Lightfighter V3-RH electric bike. Herrin’s runner-up finish is only the second time an EV bike has reached the podium in an AMA/MotoAmerica road race (Stefano Mesa put the Energica Eva Ribelle RS on the podium at Circuit of The Americas in 2023).
Third place went to Saddlemen Race Development’s James Rispoli, with the 2025 Super Hooligan Champion putting the Harley-Davidson Pan America on the podium after working through the balancing measures that MotoAmerica mandated for the H-D Pan Ams this season.
“I’m feeling great,” Rodio said. “It was almost the perfect weekend, and I have to thank the whole team. I’m just genuinely having so much fun on this bike. I’ve looked up to (Josh) Herrin my whole career, so to make a pass for the win, I almost felt like it wasn’t right. Josh rode his butt off, so I’ve got to give it up to him. Onto the next one, which is (Ridge Motorsports Park in) Washington State, so I’m excited.”
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