Ultra-Close Racing At Road America In All The Support Classes
Normally, Supersport is not the final race of the weekend at a MotoAmerica event, but a couple of red flags during its initial timeslot dictated that it be pushed ahead to late Sunday afternoon at Road America. Little did anyone know that it would turn out to be the closest three-rider race finish in the 10-year history of the MotoAmerica series.
Supersport – Scott By A Whisker
Sunday’s weather turned out to be ideal compared with the rain-sodden conditions on Saturday, and MotoAmerica’s Supersport class put on an incredible show. “Supersport Next Generation” is the name of the game, which means that motorcycles with engine displacements ranging from the 599cc Yamaha YZF-R6, to the 749cc Suzuki GSX-R750, to the 955cc Ducati Panigale V2 all race in Supersport with balancing measures taken to level the competition.
So, how level is the competition in Supersport? At the finish line, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott barely nipped Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz in a photo finish, with Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen finishing third and just one one-hundredth of a second behind Scholtz.
It was a breathtaking result, and Scott talked about it afterwards. “Our season definitely didn’t start off good at all,” Scott said. “Daytona was good. We finished second. We had a big crash there. Atlanta, we did all right in the rain. Had a big crash out of the lead, and at Barber, too. So, we’ve had a little bit of bad luck. The level in Supersport this year is just a lot higher than in previous years. You’ve got PJ, Scholtz and the new Gerardo kid. They’re all ex-Superbike riders. So, the level just gets notched up. So, we’re pushing to the edge and just over-pushing for my part. The team has done a great job preparing the bike. The team did a great job this weekend. Overall, the goal is to not try and lead the race and pull away because that hasn’t worked the last two weekends for us. I can race and I know how to race well, so the goal was just to stay with the front pack and start racing at the end for the lead. Coming up the hill, I had a plan to at least draft one of them. When they split, the only opportunity that I had was if PJ didn’t go to the wall. If he would have gone to the wall, I wouldn’t have had the opening. I just had enough of an opening to try and see what I could do in the last couple-hundred feet.”
Mission King Of The Baggers – “Must-Win” For Wyman Accomplished
Speaking of close finishes, the penultimate race of the weekend was also nearly a photo finish. Mission King Of The Baggers, which is MotoAmerica’s uniquely American Harley-Davidson versus Indian Motorcycle rival series, came right down to the finish line, as well.
And, with Harley-Davidson’s headquarters located just an hour south of Road America in Milwaukee, plus 91-year-old namesake Willie G. Davidson at the track along with thousands of H-D employees and also fans of The Motor Company, Kyle Wyman, aboard his Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide Special (signed by “Willie G.” just before the start of the race), rose to the challenge and won the drag race to the checkered flag over S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss. The Australian’s teammate Tyler O’Hara completed the podium in third, while Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli finished fourth.
The margin of victory for Wyman was just .039 of a second over Herfoss, and he was more relieved than ecstatic that he won, since he faced the intense pressure and overcame it.
“A hundred percent a must-win today,” Wyman said. “Usually, you have kind of two shots at it. Yesterday, I was not comfortable, so I didn’t feel like I really had a shot to fight for the win. I knew it was all eggs in one basket on Sunday. Troy (Herfoss) found something this morning. I was struggling a little bit. We made a small change for the race, just to try to get me a predictable bike. I knew it was going to be a scrap. I think we all knew nobody was going to get away, so just try to get me something that was comfortable to ride that I could kind of throw around where I needed to. Got a good start. The Gillim train in the beginning was a little erratic. I know he’s doing what he has to do. He’s a little bit down on horsepower, but I had some close calls with him, for sure. Got me sucked into the back-end of him a couple times. I thought we were going to touch wheels. Once Troy came up, he got through on me, and I just latched on. There were a couple areas where he had a little bit of pace on me, but there were other areas where I could kind of reel him back. Like I said at COTA, I love a one-on-one. When I looked back, I guess these guys got kind of separated. I looked back and saw we had a gap to third. I was like, all right. It’s a mano-e-mano type of thing. I love it. I’m having the most enjoyment of my entire racing career, racing these baggers and especially this year racing Troy. It’s a fantastic challenge. It’s a fantastic rivalry, and one with a whole lot of respect. I’m really enjoying it, as he is. I can’t wait to get back with my guys and celebrate because we got the ‘must-win’ done.
“I’m super thankful to the whole Harley-Davidson team. To have Willie G. out here in his homecoming year. They’re going to celebrate him at homecoming coming up here in July in Milwaukee. It’s a pretty special deal. Pretty amazing feeling.”
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Landers’ Last-Lap Dash
RevZilla/Motul/ Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers couldn’t match the pace of Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario early in Sunday’s race, but he stuck around, bided his time, and took full advantage of the lack of grip on Di Mario’s Aprilia to make a pass on the last lap and notch victory, his second of the season.
Di Mario had a solid weekend at Road America, following up his second-place finish in the rain on Saturday with another runner-up finish on Sunday. His teammate Gus Rodio, meanwhile, had a weekend to forget with two non-finishes, which has given Landers and Di Mario sizeable leads in the championship.
Landers led the title chase going into Sunday’s race after finishing third yesterday, and he added to that lead with a victory on Sunday. Following his 50th career win across all classes, Landers is nine points clear of Di Mario, 135-126, with Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle third on 110 points – one point better than Rodio, who slips down to fourth in the championship.
The battle for third was a good one with Doyle vs. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor for the majority of the race. Doyle, however, had a miscue on the last lap while chasing Moor, allowing the Oregonian to secure third and his first Twins Cup podium.
TopPro Racing’s Avery Dreher came out of it all in fourth with Doyle recovering for fifth.
“In the beginning when his tire was fresh, I just had nothing for him, especially on the short chutes,” Landers said. “That’s where I lose most of my time. The long straights aren’t that big of a deal. It’s just until we get to sixth gear. Once we’re at the top of fifth, sixth gear it’s not so bad. I saw his tire start to go off and he kept dropping me. I was pushing so hard that entire race. I was having a little bit of front-end issues. The right-hand side of my tire might have been overheating. But I kind of was hoping Gus (Rodio) would be my ticket back up to Alessandro (Di Mario), but he ended up going down in five on lap two or three. At that point, I was like, just put my head down and see what I could do. I did not think I was going to be able to catch him, because he came across the line at 1.8 something on the last lap. I just pushed as hard as I possibly could. Honestly, going into the chicane on the last lap, I didn’t even think I was going to be able to. I just waited until he got on the brakes and was like, ‘screw it. if I blow the chicane, I blow the chicane and get second rather than settling for it’ and I just sent it. Somehow it worked. I’m very surprised, to be honest with you. But that was a good race. I almost think it topped yesterday’s rain race, but not quite. I think that was my greatest race ever. This is maybe second. It always changes. I couldn’t have done it without my team. They’ve been busting their butts. We’ve been trying to get this bike as good as possible. The thing is handling absolutely phenomenally, especially on the front end.”
Junior Cup – Chapin Does The Double
Junior Cup normalcy returned under the sunny skies of Elkhart Lake on Sunday with some 10-12 riders in the lead pack for most of the race after Saturday’s horrible weather didn’t make for the best racing.
When all was said and done, however, the lead pack dwindled to nine and it was game on with yesterday’s winner in the rainstorm, Matthew Chapin, doing most of the leading and using his diminutive size and a fast motorcycle to somehow make it to the stripe first nearly every time.
Including the one that mattered most – the last one.
The win was BARTCON Racing-backed Chapin’s third and that, combined with Yandel Medina finishing ninth, gave him the championship points lead.
Second place today, and just .346 of a second behind Chapin, was Barber’s doubleheader winner Logan Cunnison on his Speed Demon Racing-backed Kawasaki Ninja 400 with Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez taking the final podium spot.
Six riders crossed the line in quick succession with Karns Performance’s Levi Badie fourth, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher fifth and BPM’s Issac Woodworth sixth.
“My bike has been really, really fast all weekend,” Chapin said. “I’ve been pretty fast, and I was feeling confident. I knew if I stayed out front, I could maybe pull a gap. I knew I could hold the lead. I just put my head down the whole race. I wanted to lead the whole time because I didn’t want to get shuffled back.”
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – She’s Back
The mice got their chance to play in yesterday’s first of two Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. battles as defending series champion Mikayla Moore sat it out with a thigh injury. Today, the cat returned, and she was at the top as always with Moore taking her third win of the year by a whopping 23.937 seconds.
Behind her came a battle for second between Aubrey Credaroli and yesterday’s winner Cassie Creer with Credaroli getting the spot at the line by just .243 of a second. Creer was third, a day after earning her first-career MotoAmerica podium and victory.
Camille Conrad backed up her podium finish yesterday on a soaking wet racetrack with fourth today under bright sunshine. Kira Knebel rounded out the top-five finishers.
Fortunately for Moore, she was able to swap helmets prior to the race after realizing she couldn’t see out of her faceshield.
“I went over to the Arai tent, and I told them I needed my helmet and make sure it’s good, since it was the same helmet that I crashed in,” Moore said. “He said it was all checked out, but at the last minute I went to go put it on and I put the visor down and I could not see no one in front of me. It was super blurry. I had Kendall with K Tech come over and I was like, ‘I need that other helmet ASAP, because I’m blind right now. I can’t see nobody.’”
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