MotoAmerica: Petersen Starts 15th, Then Takes The Win In Quad Lock Superbike Race One At Road America
MotoAmerica: America’s Dairyland witnessed a barn burner of a show in Saturday’s Quad Lock Superbike race one. An abbreviated race produced a bar-to-bar battle to the finish with just over a second separating the top five.
At the start, Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law rider Cameron Beaubier jumped out to an early lead of over one second, but on lap six, he lowsided in the chicane before Canada Corner. The six-time Superbike Champion quickly got back on his feet, but he appeared to have injured his arm. With his motorcycle laying in a hazardous position just off the racing surface, the race was red-flagged and restarted from the last completed lap’s running order. Beaubier was unable to make the restart.
At the time of the red flag, Wrench Motorcycles’ rider Cameron
Petersen had charged from 15th all the way up to second, thus upgrading his starting position to the middle of the front row for the restart.
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Two laps into the restarted race, Petersen took the lead from OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly, with Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong following closely in third.
The trio raced in a close pack for the remaining laps, and Petersen and Kelly swapped the lead twice between Canada Corner and Turn 13 on the final lap, racing so close together that they made contact at one point. Meanwhile, Fong stalked the two frontrunners in third. As the lead three approached the final turn, Petersen led a drag race up the hill to the finish line. Kelly and Fong flanked the South African but came up just short. Petersen took the win over Kelly by .067 of a second, and Fong finished third, just .099 of a second adrift of Kelly.
Just behind the lead group in fourth was Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider PJ Jacobsen, who led the first three laps during the pre-red flag portion of race one but dropped to seventh after encountering headshake down the long straightaway leading to turn five. After the restart, he apexed turn one in fourth and finished ahead of Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach in fifth.
Points leader Mathew Scholtz brought his Strack Racing Yamaha home in sixth, a little over four seconds off the lead group, while Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim finished seventh. Gillim showed top-five speed before the red flag but ran wide in the chicane on lap two, dropping him down the order.
It was another tough start to a race weekend for Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Benjamin Smith, who was missing from the starting grid after an unfortunate, high-speed crash during qualifying that resulted in him being declared unfit for both of the weekend’s races.
With temperatures in the low 70s expected for tomorrow, and virtually no chance of rain, fans are in store for another Badger State brawl to the finish line at America’s National Park of Speed.
With his first-place finish in Superbike Cup, Real Steel Honda’s Andrew Lee continues his domination of the race within the Quad Lock Superbike race. He now holds a commanding, 51-point lead and appears to be on his way to another double win weekend.
The following quote is from Quad Lock Superbike race one winner Cameron Petersen:
“It’s so special, yeah, honestly, if you had told me before the race that I’d be standing on the top box, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I made my life pretty difficult starting from 15th on the grid, but, you know, first half of the race, I think it was the best two laps I’ve ever done in the beginning of the race to get me with the front guys.
“Then, yeah, it was super unfortunate about Cam (Beaubier) going down, but after the red flag, I knew it was going to be a dogfight, and I didn’t think I was gonna be able to draft somebody to the line, so I thought my best bet was to lead. Me and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) had one hell of a battle, and when he touched me in the second-to-last corner, there was no way I was gonna give that up. So, yeah, I gave everything I had going to the last corner, and here we are standing on the top step of the podium.
“It’s so special, and to do this with my dad is even more special. By far, the best win of my career.”
The following quote is from Superbike Cup first-place finisher Andrew Lee:
“Yeah, we’re happy. We’re really working on trying to get the settings perfect, but you know, as a racer, there’s no such thing as ‘perfect,’ so we’re really homing in on that direction. This track’s a little bit hard for us right now. Straightaways are long and Deion (Campbell) is really riding well, so we’re really happy with the progress we’re making. The team’s working their butts off, and with this win, it’s happy days.”
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