MotoAmerica Support Classes: Davis doubles in Supersport action at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Blake Davis gets second Supersport win, and Wyman cleans up in Mission King of The Baggers.
The heated battle many expected between Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen after Saturday’s post-race verbal warfare didn’t materialize in Sunday’s Motovation Supersport race as Jacobsen lost touch with race-one winner Blake Davis and his teammate Scholtz.
But if Jacobsen couldn’t match the pace of the lead duo, Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen showed that he certainly could as he reeled in the two Yamahas and split them up at the finish line to finish second – his best result of the season thus far.
Davis crossed the line first to make it a two-race sweep for the teenager, with the impressive young Virginian beating Petersen to the line by .320 of a second. Scholtz was third, .474 behind his teammate.
Some five seconds behind was Jacobsen, who was well clear of his teammate Kayla Yaakov.
Altus Motorsports’ Maxi Gerardo was a lonely sixth followed by Aiden Sneed in seventh with the Texan having his best weekend of racing on the MP13 Racing MV Agusta.
BPR Racing teammates Josh Hayes and Teagg Hobbs were eighth and ninth, respectively, with Altus Motorsports’ Torin Collins rounding out the top 10.
With Scholtz finishing second and third to Jacobsen’s third and fourth, the championship gap has shrunk to just three points with Jacobsen’s on top of Scholtz, 195-192. Davis is third in the title chase with 157 points.
“These guys (Scholtz and Petersen) are pretty laid back and definitely a lot less awkward for me today,” Davis said. “But it feels amazing to be back up here. Once again, I feel like we had a slow pace. I feel like we should have had more, but the track was really greasy out there. I feel I can get better at leading the races. I fall off at the end and I know I shouldn’t be doing that. I know I should have the same pace all race and just have to get more comfortable with sliding around a little bit at the end.”
Mission King Of The Baggers – Gillim’s Heartbreak, Wyman’s Win
Hayden Gillim’s already horrendous weekend reached a new low in Sunday’s Mission King Of The Baggers race two, as for the second straight day a mechanical failure knocked the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson rider out of the lead.
Sunday’s DNF was more painful as his Road Glide’s transmission went south with Gillim less than half a lap away from what looked like certain victory. It was a bad ending to a horrible weekend for the Kentuckian.
Gillim’s nightmare DNF handed Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman his sixth victory, though in fairness Wyman had been in a race-long battle with Gillim.
Wyman crossed the finish line 1.4 seconds ahead of Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers, with S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara rounding out the podium to help ease his pain from a miserable Saturday for the Northern Californian.
O’Hara’s French teammate Loris Baz was fourth after losing out on a podium spot when he had to take evasive action not to hit Bradley Smith, who had crashed his Harley-Davidson Road Glide. The third Indian Challenger, ridden by defending series champion Troy Herfoss, was fifth.
Wyman now leads the championship by a massive 76 points over Baz, 186-110, with Herfoss a further six points behind with 104.
“I got a mediocre start, and he (Gillim) got me into turn two there on the first lap, so I decided to settle in,” Wyman said. “He had some pretty good pace in the first couple laps, then as the tires started to fall off a little bit, I felt like I had a little bit better pace. So, I was able to kind of fall back, and gain back, and fall back, and gain back a couple times. I was really strong out of 10 to 11, so I was ramping up for one move, last corner, last lap. I was right up his tailpipe going up the Corkscrew on the last lap. I could literally hear his gearbox explode. The thing just absolutely… There was no gear to be in. So, he was completely hosed. Luckily, I didn’t hit him coming down the Corkscrew. The bike was still running, so I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to accelerate at all. I’ve lost this championship three years in a row. It feels like a decade has passed since I got that first one here in 2021. I feel like I’ve given a lot of gifts in three years. It’s hard to say that I’ve changed anything this year, just continued working and chipping and digging. Eventually things are going to start to go your way. I just feel like everything is just clicking right now. The whole team is working amazing. Did James (Rispoli) and Bradley (Smith) both fall down? Are they okay? Those two guys have been busting their asses as well to improve the bike. I’m very conservative on the development side, and they will try literally anything. It’s really helped us open our eyes up to new possibilities and new perspectives. It’s really helped us a lot having both of those guys working so hard. As a group we’re maturing as a team, within the company. We’re becoming a more mature organization. That’s really what’s showing.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Rispoli, Again
KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli won his first Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway. On Sunday, he repeated the feat.
Rispoli again beat Saddlemen Race Development’s Cory West with the runner-up finish giving him the lead in the championship title chase with Jake Lewis knocked out of both races at Laguna with his crash on Friday. West now leads Lewis by 16 points, 139-123. Rispoli jumps to third in the series with 117 points.
Rispoli’s teammate Hayden Schultz was a fighting third.
It wasn’t an easy ride to the top spot of the podium for Rispoli as he was hit from behind by his second teammate Cody Wyman. The collision set Rispoli back a bit, but he charged through the field until he finally got to the West/Schultz battle.
“I got a better launch, to be honest, but I must have braked a little bit early,” Rispoli said. “It sounds like my teammate, Cody (Wyman), got into me. We got locked together and I couldn’t go right or left. I was just kind of along for the ride and I was just hoping the thing would disconnect. But it sounds like he was off the bike before, and the bike was just locked into me. Then it just made a lot of work. I was quite nervous because I came across the stripe on the second lap and did a 28.4 and I was like, ‘I’m not catching him that quick.’ So, the pace must have been hotter. But I’ve just got to give it up to my team. I tried to put my head down and make some juicy passes in the spots that I felt really comfortable, but these guys are riding really hard. Everybody stepped up. It’s just the class this year, the super hooligans. The pace is hot. I’m going faster on this Pan America than I am on my Bagger, so I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
SC-Project Twins Cup – Alessandro, Again
Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario won Sunday’s SC-Project Twins Cup race at Laguna Seca in much the same fashion he won on Saturday. By a country mile. Or, in this case, a tick over seven seconds.
The win, Di Mario’s fifth in a row, was an impressive display of his dominance as he led from the start, pulled away from the pack and was never headed.
The battle for second place again consisted of RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin vs. Robem Engineering’s Hank Vossberg and this time it was Vossberg coming out on top.
Chapin, who was second on Saturday, crossed the line a second behind Vossberg in the battle of the teenagers.
Fourth place went to Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher with Karns/TST Industries’ Levi Badie rounding out the top five.
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