The Battle Is On As MotoAmerica Superbikes Head To The Pacific Northwest And Ridge Motorsports Park, June 27-29.
Things were going quite smoothly for Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier heading into the Road America round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. He’d won three of the first four races, and it appeared to be clear sailing in his attempt to win a sixth MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. Even after making a few mistakes in race one in Wisconsin, Beaubier emerged from Saturday’s race with a third-place finish and a 26-point lead over Jake Gagne.
Then Sunday happened.
While battling with race-one winner Josh Herrin for the lead in race two, Beaubier crashed his BMW in the Carousel and could only watch as the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion won his second successive race on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati. And, just like that, the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship is a wide-open battle with just 18 points covering the top four and only two points separating the two men who fought for the title last year – Beaubier and Herrin.
Now the teams head west for the all-important three-week stretch with rounds five and six slated for Ridge Motorsports Park and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, respectively.
First up, Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington, June 27-29.
While his early-season points lead has evaporated, don’t expect Beaubier to panic as the series heads to the Pacific Northwest. And why would he? After all, he just needs to remember that he hobbled into the Ridge round last June (for what was round five) on crutches after suffering a broken heel at Road America. His points lead may be gone, but Beaubier is healthy and ready to restart a season in which he’s had race-winning pace in the first three rounds.
For Herrin, the 2025 season didn’t start great with three third-place finishes and a fifth in the first two rounds, but that all changed with his two wins at Road America. Herrin has made a habit of starting slowly and then building momentum as summer hits, and for all intents and purposes, the championship will start fresh in Washington – at least for the two at the top.
Beaubier and Herrin, however, aren’t the only ones in this title fight after the first three rounds. Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong has four second-place finishes to start his season, and only a semi-disastrous 10th-place finish in race two’s rainstorm at Road Atlanta have stopped him from being even closer than the 15 points between him and Beaubier.
Fong has shown that he’s comfortable in the Yamaha factory team, and he’s making the most of a situation that he’s always wanted to be in.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne is back and healthy with the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion just three points behind his teammate and 18 points from Beaubier. Gagne has three podium finishes so far, including his dominant wet-weather victory in race two at Barber. Gagne is coming off his worst finish of the season, an eighth in race two at Road America when he collided with Sean Dylan Kelly off the start, ran off track, and had to charge through the field to score his eight points.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante started his season with a crash in the first race of the year at Barber Motorsports Park, but he’s been consistent ever since as he tries to climb out of a points-deficit hole. Escalante earned his first podium of the season in race two at Road America with his third-place finish. He is fifth in the championship, 54 points adrift of Beaubier.
Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim is sixth in the title chase on his Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP as he continues to get Superbike upgrades race by race. Gillim has finished every race with a best of sixth on three occasions.
Escalante’s teammate Kelly will show up at Ridge tied with Gillim for sixth, and hopeful of having a short memory as he attempts to put a horrendous weekend at Road America behind him. After starting the season with four successive fourth-place finishes, Kelly earned just two points from the two races in Wisconsin.
Even though the point standings don’t reflect it, FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith has been impressive. Two non-finishes blemish his standing in the championship, but he comes to Ridge Motorsports Park hot off a career Superbike best fourth-place in race two at Road America.
Gillim’s teammate JD Beach is tied with Smith for seventh in the Superbike standings with his non-finish in race one at Road America the only blemish in his season that sees him atop the title chase in the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for those racing Stock 1000-spec motorcycles. Beach’s mechanical DNF in race one in Wisconsin ended his hopes of a perfect Superbike Cup season, but he bounced back the next day, however, to start a new streak.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounds out the top 10 as the series heads west with the Georgian 10 points behind Smith and Beach.
Pre-Ridge Motorsports Park Notes…
The Ridge Motorsports Park round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Championship will feature five classes: Superbike, Motovation Supersport, SC-Project Twins Cup, the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship, and Royal Enfield’s Build.Train.Race.
Cameron Petersen beat Jake Gagne by a scant .032 of a second to win a wet Superbike race one at Ridge in 2024. Coincidently, the .032 matched Gagne’s number. Xavi Forés was third in his fill-in ride for the injured Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Race two featured a dry racetrack and a different outcome with Josh Herrin taking the victory over Bobby Fong and Cameron Petersen.
The difference between a wet racetrack and a dry racetrack? Almost 17 seconds a lap at Ridge Motorsports Park on a Superbike. At least according to last year’s best race laps. In the wet race one, Jake Gagne had the fastest lap of the race, a 1:57.079. In the dry race two, Josh Herrin clicked off a best of 1:40.167.
Frenchman Loris Baz earned pole position for the two Superbike races last year with his lap of 1:39.478. Baz was joined on the front row by Cameron Petersen and Josh Herrin.
The Superbike lap record at Ridge Motorsports Park is still held by Jake Gagne with his record-setting lap of 1:39.145 set during Q2 in 2022.
Cameron Beaubier and Josh Hayes arrive in Washington still tied atop the all-time AMA road race wins list with 89 vicxtories apiece.
With his 68 AMA Superbike wins, Beaubier is getting to the point of being within reach of all-time AMA Superbike wins leader Mat Mladin, with the Australian sitting at the top of the list with 82 Superbike victories.
Three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne is the winningest rider in the five-year (10-race) history of MotoAmerica holding a round of its championship at Ridge Motorsports Park. Gagne has won five Superbike races at Ridge with Cameron Beaubier winning three, including the first two races in 2020.
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