Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Top 5 This Week

Gillim Takes Mission King Of The Baggers Win At WeatherTech Raceway

Gillim Takes Mission King Of The Baggers Win At Weathertech RacewayJacobsen Repeats In Supersport, Yates Gets His First In Stock 1000 and West Dominates Super Hooligan.

Mission King Of The Baggers is a uniquely American race class pitting teams riding Harley-Davidson Road Glides against teams riding Indian Motorcycle Challengers. At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, The Motor Company claimed full bragging rights by sweeping the podium in both of the weekend’s two feature races. Not only that, but the same three riders and same two teams finished in the top three on both days.

Sunday’s race two winner was defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Hayden Gillim who took the checkered flag aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. Gillim battled it out with polesitter and current points leader Kyle Wyman, who got the holeshot and led the first two laps until Gillim overtook him on lap three. Wyman retook the lead again on lap six, but Gillim once again got by Wyman and held the position to the finish line.

Gillim’s teammate and King Of The Baggers rookie Rocco Landers made another charge to the front like he did on Saturday. Starting back in seventh on the grid, he methodically passed riders as the laps wound down and overtook S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss on the final lap to complete the podium and notch a 1-3 finish for RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

“Whenever we get on any bike, it’s all or nothing,” said Gillim. “That’s why we’re on these things. That’s why we’re on the teams that we’re on. Nobody is coming out here to just show up. Everybody is coming out here to win. That’s how we are, too. That’s why not winning or not even being able to really fight for the win yesterday was so frustrating for me. Now we’re getting back to where we should have been at the beginning of the season. I’m able to actually fight and be there with these guys. It’s been challenging. We’ve had some ups and downs. It’s good. This is the first time I’ve had to fight for the win. I’m really happy about it. This is the first time I’ve had to battle and actually take a win from somebody. At Brainerd, I was feeling really good and was able to kind of get away. It’s nice to have those wins, but these are a lot of fun. I’m really happy. The whole team is just working their butts off trying everything they can possibly do on the off weekends. I’m really grateful to be here and to be able to ride multiple classes and to be at the front in most of the classes I’m in. It’s going really good. I got some sleep last night, so I’m a little happier today.”

Gillim Takes Mission King Of The Baggers Win At Weathertech Raceway
Ashton Yates won his first career Stock 1000 race with a victory over Jayson Uribe (360). Andrew Lee (140) finished fourth. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

Stock 1000 – Yates Gets His First

A happy Ashton Yates won his first career Stock 1000 race on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the young Georgian definitely earned it with a near-perfect race on his Jones Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.

Yates grabbed the lead on the second lap from pole-sitter Jayson Uribe and his OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR and he led the rest of the race, though with constant pressure from Uribe. At the finish line it was Yates by .354 of a second over Uribe, who thought he had one more lap and was surprised by the checkered flag.

Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim ended up third, despite dropping back as far as seventh after getting into turn two in second place on the opening lap. Gillim fought back, however, and worked his way up to third two laps from the end.

A close fourth for the second day in a row went to Motorsport Exotica’s Andrew Lee with the Californian having his best race weekend thus far in 2024.

Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top five.

With just two races left to run in the series finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Gillim leads Uribe by seven points.

Gillim Takes Mission King Of The Baggers Win At Weathertech Raceway
Joe Roberts (left) handed out the trophies to Mathew Scholtz, PJ Jacobsen and Blake Davis on the Supersport podium at Laguna Seca. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

Supersport – Nearly Identical

Sunday’s Supersport race was a near carbon copy of Saturday’s race with PJ Jacobsen hounding Mathew Scholtz for nearly the duration only to find a way past the championship leader and win for the second straight day.

For the second straight day, Jacobsen’s pass for the victory came in a place not known for passing. On Saturday it was in turn six. On Sunday, it was in turn 10 on the final lap and it caught Scholtz by surprise as Jacobsen shot up the inside after a great drive out of Rainey Curve. By then it was over.

Jacobsen’s two wins pulled him closer to Scholtz in the championship with a gain of 10 points. He now trails Scholtz by 18 points.

For the second straight day, Blake Davis finished third on his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R6. Rahal Ducati Moto’s Corey Alexander was fourth with Stefano Mesa finishing fifth on his Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX6R.

“This racing thing, when two riders have the pace and they’re so similar with each other, you got to find a lot of spots that that person, you can overtake them,” Jacobsen said. “So yesterday when I overtook him in turn six, I felt like that was a good pass and that was a weak point for him. I feel like when you sit behind somebody for so long, you end up studying them. You sit there and study, and study, and study. No offense to (Mathew) Scholtz, but last year he had a massive highside in that corner and he almost lost it again this year. So, I kind of knew that he was a bit weak there. Going over that rise, I just knew I had more pace sitting behind him and it was going to allow me to go into (turn) 10 with a more aggressive move. So, that’s what I ended up doing after studying like that. So, I’m not dumb. I feel like I made the pass in the right section that I had to, after watching him the whole race.