2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
COTA
Superbike Race One
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin won the second AMA Superbike Championship of his career on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and he did so with the flair of a champion. Simply put, he won when he didn’t need to.
Herrin worked his way forward after crossing the line in fifth place on the opening lap and most expected him to stay there. After all, it would have been the easy way to wrap up the title But it wasn’t Herrin’s way. He kept pushing: Fourth on lap six, third on lap seven, second on lap nine and the lead on lap 11. But he was being hounded by Wrench Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong, who made a move on Herrin to take the lead for the first time on lap 15 of 20. Okay, so now Herrin would chill and take the title with a second-place finish.
Or not.
Herrin re-passed a feisty Fong with two laps to go and rode to a .403 of a second victory – his sixth of the year and the 16th AMA Superbike win of his career. And, more importantly, it resulted in his second Superbike title – 11 years after his first. The championship also ended a winless drought for Ducati that goes back 30 years to when Australian Troy Corser won the title on a Fast By Ferracci Ducati in 1994.
Fong held on for second, .190 of a second ahead of Herrin’s teammate and wingman Loris Baz, with the Frenchman earning his third podium of the season after leading seven laps of the race.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier ran in the lead foursome but ultimately had to settle for fourth as he suffered with a lack of corner-entry grip. He crossed the line 1.7 seconds behind race-winner Herrin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante emerged from a five-rider battle to finish fifth, 1.8 seconds ahead of Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen.
EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly was seventh, hot on Petersen’s rear wheel and just .104 of a second behind the South African. Kelly, meanwhile, was just a fraction of a second ahead of Petersen’s fill-in teammate Xavi Forés, who in turn was just a tick over half a second ahead of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith in his best ride of the season.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10.
Notable non-finishers were Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach with both riders crashing out in separate incidents.
With just Sunday’s race two left in the season, Herrin has an insurmountable points lead of 58 over Beaubier, 325-267. Fong is third with Kelly fourth and Baz fifth. Kelly leads Baz by just nine points, and Baz leads Petersen by just three points.
In the Superbike Cup, Danilo Lewis’ crash cost him the championship points lead with Yates now leading the Brazilian by 15 points going into Sunday’s finale and the battle for the $25,000 winner’s check.
Josh Herrin – Winner
“At the beginning, it was getting hectic. Everybody was all over the place. I was just trying to be relaxed and calm, like I talked about. Like (Cameron) Beaubier did. Just trying to learn from that over the years and just be calm at the beginning, even when things aren’t going your way. I was able to do that today and then put my head down and start picking them away. I just felt so comfortable, and it looked like everybody else was so uncomfortable. When I was in the lead, I saw Bobby (Fong) behind me, and I just didn’t want to take any chances with him being there. So, I let him go by on the straight. I thought he was going by on the left, but he went by on the right. Then the last three laps I saw I had pace. So, I just wanted to get by with two to go and put my head down and see what I could, and we were able to get it done. I didn’t think this would ever happen. I thought I’d be finishing eighth or ninth today, for sure. I wanted to leave COTA by winning and win the championship by winning with Beaubier healthy there. I was able to do it today at a track that has never suited me on a Superbike. I believe this is my first Superbike win here when it wasn’t raining. It’s probably besides Barber the track that I have the least confidence at. So, for us to pull the win off here with the championship race is huge. To now have I think what should be a 62-point lead is crazy to me. Thank you to Loris (Baz) for honestly being the best teammate I’ve ever had, and for the team being the best team, and Joyce for always cooking us lunch and making sure that we’re taken care of, and Rachel for always taking care of crazy little Griffin whenever I’m at the races. I’m so happy that they were here to celebrate with us. Thank you to the whole Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati North America team. Ducati Corse, KYT helmets, Only Fans, Good Boy Vodka, GoPro, Alpinestars. The list goes on and on and on. Everybody that supports the team. Thank you so much. Thank you to MotoAmerica and everybody involved.”
Superbike Race One Top Ten Results
- Josh Herrin – Ducati
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha +0.403s
- Loris Baz – Ducati +0.593s
- Cameron Beaubier – BMW +1.721s
- Richie Escalante – Suzuki +11.170s
- Cameron Petersen – Yamaha +12.986s
- Sean Dylan Kelly – BMW +13.090s
- Xavi Fores – Yamaha +14.113s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +14.741s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +20.030s
Superbike Race Two
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Loris Baz became the first Frenchman to win an AMA Superbike race on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park with a thrilling victory in a race that featured five riders finishing within a second of Baz and his Ducati Panigale V4 R.
In winning his first MotoAmerica Superbike race, Baz became the 68th rider in AMA Superbike history to taste victory. He was also the seventh rider to win a MotoAmerica Superbike race in 2024, with the previous high being five different winners in a season.
Second place went to EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly with the Floridian fighting his way through the pack to emerge as the one to give Baz the most fits in the final few laps. Kelly came up just .151 of a second short in earning his seventh podium of the season, which includes his first Superbike win a few weeks ago in Texas.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong earned his second podium finish of the weekend as he was hot on Kelly’s rear wheel in third place, ending up .140 of a second adrift of the BMW.
Fourth place, for the second straight day, went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion just a tick over half a second behind Baz and only .127 of a second behind Fong. Right on Beaubier’s rear wheel was fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki in what turned out to be one of the best Superbike races of the season.
Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, meanwhile, wrapped up his second AMA Superbike Championship yesterday with an impressive ride to victory, but today he was playing wingman to Baz in a role reversal. Herrin followed Baz for 90 percent of the race, but suddenly there were four riders on the attack. At that point, Herrin tapped out and he cruised home to sixth place, some three seconds behind his teammate Baz.
With his win on Saturday, Herrin tied Wayne Rainey on the all-time Superbike win list for 10th with his 16th victory. He is now one victory behind Nicky Hayden for ninth on the win list.
Seventh place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch, who was well clear of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith. MD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10.
After nine rounds and 18 races, Herrin ended the season 55 points ahead of Beaubier, 335-280, with Fong finishing third and the top-ranked Yamaha rider. Just 12 points behind Fong came Superbike rookie Kelly.
Baz’s second season of MotoAmerica Superbike racing netted him fifth in the title chase, just four points behind Kelly and 28 points ahead of Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen with the South African unfortunately finishing his season with another mechanical DNF.
Superbike Race Two Top Ten Results
- Loris Baz – Ducati
- Sean Dylan Kelly – BMW +0.151s
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha +0.291s
- Cameron Beaubier – BMW +0.759s
- Richie Escalante – Suzuki +0.886s
- Josh Herrin – Ducati +3.121s
- Brandon Paasch – Suzuki +12.467s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +20.681s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +24.860s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +27.946s
Superbike Championship Standings
- Josh Herrin 350
- Cam Beaubier 280
- Bobby Fong 253
- Sean Dylan Kelly 225
- Loris Bas 224
- Cameron Petersen 215
- Jake Gagne 192
- JD Beach 151
- Brandon Paasch 115
- Ashton Yates 98
Superbike Sunday Quotes
Loris Baz – Winner
“The guys did a good job because since Austin I’ve been struggling a lot with my start. We had some problem with my clutch. They found some parts that were not nice after Austin, so they changed it. But yesterday I had a bad start again and had a really strange feeling going into the warmup lap, so I was scared going to the race. But I had a good start. I can manage to go first and finally able to be aggressive again like I was in ’21. That has been the biggest problem for me this year. Not being able to be aggressive and overtake guys, for many reasons in the setup. I was first, and because we didn’t have many dry sessions this year, only two and it was the two races, I didn’t know what to expect from the rear tire drop at the end. So, I knew I had Josh (Herrin) and one guy, and then they just showed me there was Josh. So, I tried to slow down the pace, not use my tire, and then I was watching Josh’s pit board and it was plus 1.5, plus 1, plus 0.5. I was like, ‘whoa, they’re coming back.’ But then I was just instead of trying to push and kill the tire, I tried to close the line. Josh showed me his wheel. I overtook him again. I think he made my life easier. I think he had something more all season than everyone, and especially today. I saw in the warmup how his bike reacted. But we did some changes. We went in this direction. We changed the lean of the bike between the warmup and the race, so big thanks to the crew for that, and I felt good. It’s cool that we worked together all year and it’s paying off, especially for the team. It’s so cool to end up like this. It’s the home race for the whole team and we’re going to celebrate at the Mount Airy Casino tonight, which is a sponsor of the team. So, it’s cool. My dad is here. It’s the first time he came to a race in America. He’s going to come every race next year. Coming back to the race, last lap I knew there were many guys behind. I could hear that it was not Josh anymore. I thought it was Cam (Beaubier). I just tried to close the line. Going into that last lap, Hayden Gillim moved yesterday going in. I was like, should I close the door, or should I just try to go in fast and see what happens? I’m just happy it worked out. Sometimes just a tiny bit that makes you a hero or zero. But I’m proud of what I did and what all the guys did in HSBK this weekend.”
Sean Dylan Kelly – Second Place
“Definitely a pretty amazing way to finish off the season. Obviously, we always want to finish off strong. I didn’t win today, but I think that was definitely one of my two strongest races of the whole season. The other one being obviously when I won. This one, I came from a ways back and both Ducatis got up really strong at the beginning. I was able to get through the pack. Obviously qualifying seventh was not ideal, so I had to make some moves, make some passes. Straight out of the gate I felt way better than yesterday. Not too much to say. Up until today, it was a very strange weekend. Obviously, it was strange for everyone with the weather, but even just how I felt on the bike, some issues we were having, some things that we were running into and some silly mistakes we were making within the team, too. Like Q1 when I qualified seventh, that was first on me and then on the team. We didn’t do the right strategy. We definitely messed some things up today, but we are a rookie rider, rookie team. I think we didn’t make as many as we thought we should have this season in general, so it’s okay to get it in. Maybe we relaxed a bit too much after a win a couple weeks ago. We got it together today. I felt amazing. I saw Cam (Beaubier) struggling a little bit, so I got by him and it seemed like he got some pace while being behind me and he got in front of me. He made fastest lap, and then he made a mistake. I got by. I learned a little bit from him that fast lap. I feel like once he did that, I just kept on repeating the lap time. I just put my head down and I was just committed to getting to these guys. Got by Josh with a few laps to go. I definitely tried it on (Loris) Baz, but it was going to be way, way too dirty. He was braking really strong. Obviously, I was also a bit toasted up from coming a couple seconds back. I’m pretty stoked for him. I didn’t realize it was his first-ever win here, so that’s pretty badass that we did it two weekends in a row. It’s a pleasure to be racing with these dudes.”
Supersport Race One
It was a bit of a numbers game in the second-to-last race of the 2024 Supersport Championship as Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz came into the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park with a 39-point lead over Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen.
For Jacobsen, his mission was to win the race, which would yield him maximum points and possibly keep his title hopes alive till Sunday’s final race. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis had other plans, and he was out to win the first MotoAmerica Supersport race of his young career.
With Davis starting 18th on the grid, he began a spirited march towards the front until a red flag stopped his progress. No matter, because, on the restart, the 18-year-old from Tennessee picked up right where he left off and put his Yamaha YZF-R6 in the lead.
With Jacobsen in second and not quite able to match Davis’ pace, Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander took over second, relegating Jacobsen to third. Meanwhile, championship leader Scholtz was riding a controlled race and keeping himself in position to clinch the title.
At the checkered flag, it was Davis winning his first-career Supersport race with Alexander finishing as runner-up and Jacobsen completing the podium. Scholtz maintained fifth position all the way to the finish line, and that was enough for the 2017 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion to clinch his second MotoAmerica title, this time in Supersport.
“At first, when the red flag came out, I was a little disappointed,” said race winner Davis. “I just put in a lot of work. I came from 18th up to third. Once I realized I’d be starting from third and had a better shot at it, I was happy that these guys were going to be a lot closer to me and not the big gap that they had. I got one of my best starts of the season. I’ve struggled launching the R6 all year, so got up in front of Corey (Alexander). I thought I had a little bit better pace than I did after the red flag. I struggled with some rear grip, but I was able to do what I needed to do, put in some fast laps, and kind of just rode a little bit of defense on that last lap and was able to take the win.
“Tomorrow, I’m starting from 18th again. Hopefully, I’ll have even better pace than I did today and can maybe get a little bit closer to these guys, not expecting a red flag. I would like to thank N2, Yamaha, BobbleHeadMoto, KYT, Dainese, Sunstar, SBS, and everybody that helps me out. Shiloh and Chris. It’s been four years on their team, and it’s been amazing. Thank you a lot.”
For newly crowned Supersport Champion Scholtz, it was a feeling of relief.
“This race was weird for me,” Scholtz said. “I just didn’t have a good feeling from the first corner. I nearly highsided. Tipped into corner two and nearly highsided again, so I just did not have a good feeling. The first part of the race, PJ (Jacobsen) and Corey (Alexander) left me. I had nothing for them. Fifth place was probably the best I could have done today. I wasn’t riding around in fifth place because I was just chilling. I was riding as quick as I could. So, I definitely have to figure out something for tomorrow. But, overall, it’s just a big deal getting this championship. There’s been pressure the past couple of rounds and there’s been crashes and rain and red flags, and this and that. Now I’m just happy that I can go into Sunday’s race and just focus on going as quick as I can.”
Supersport Race One Top Ten
- Blake Davis – Yamaha
- Corey Alexander – Ducati +0.049s
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +0.106s
- Tyler Scott – Suzuki +4.135s
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha +5.219s
- Jake Lewis – Suzuki +5.364s
- Joseph LiMandri Jr – Yamaha +6.282s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +7.594s
- Max VanDenBrouck – Suzuki +8.500s
- Teagg Hobbs – Suzuki +9.295s
Supersport Race Two
With the 2024 Supersport Championship decided on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, title winner Mathew Scholtz was free to mix it up with the field on Sunday.
And mix it up, he did. It was “just like old times again” in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class as Strack Racing’s Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen took their familiar spots at the front of the field and proceeded to swap the lead back and forth.
The situation stabilized in the middle laps of the race as Jacobsen established himself in the lead. The New Yorker then stretched his lead at the front and took the checkered flag nearly three-and-a-half seconds ahead of race runner-up Scholtz. Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander finished third, almost 13 seconds behind Scholtz.
“Last night, I didn’t sleep too well,” Jacobsen said. “It was a hard race yesterday for me. I was really struggling, but we kind of went back to the drawing board last night and figured out some stuff that we saw on the data. I felt pretty good in morning warmup, and then, in the race, I felt really good, as well. I was actually surprised that (Mathew) Scholtz was there and made the pass. I was running mid-22s at that point. I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty fast.’ But it’s been like that all season with him. I was happy to get the win here for the last race of the season and going into winter like that. Especially for the team itself. They worked so hard this first season. So, I’m really proud of the team and everything that they’ve accomplished. We didn’t get the championship, but we definitely fought pretty hard for it. We made some mistakes along the way as a team, also me as a rider. I feel like it was a really good season.
“Having Scholtz as a person to battle with all year, we used to talk more in Superbike and stuff, and I think all the stuff that drew to the competition. It was almost like UFC fighting. It was really good. At the end of the day, that’s how it should be. You don’t want to be laughing and stuff like that with the person you’re battling with. You go in there, and he has to pay his bills, and I have to pay mine. So, at the end of the day, he won a championship, and we’re not really friends on the track. So, I congratulate him and the whole team. Hopefully, he and I can start talking again and be friends. It’s been a long season. Congrats to them. I really enjoyed this whole season, even though it’s been super up-and-down. I had strong moments and bad ones. You look back and you learn from all that stuff. So, we’ll just move forward and get ready for next year.”
Supersport Race Two Top Ten
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha +3.392s
- Corey Alexander – Ducati +16.286s
- Tyler Scott – Suzuki +18.807s
- Blake Davis – Yamaha +19.667s
- Stefano Mesa – Kawasaki +19.709s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +30.264s
- Joseph LiMandri Jr – Yamaha +30.264s
- Teagg Hobbs – Suzuki +31.356s
- Maxi Gerardo – Suzuki +31.622s
Supersport Championship Points
- Mathew Scholtz 360
- PJ Jacobsen 331
- Blake Davis 212
- Jake Lewis 202
- Tyler Scott 194
- Corey Alexander 176
- Kayla Yaakov 151
- Stefano Mesa 149
- Maxi Gerardo 140
- Teagg Hobbs 113
Superstock Race One
You won’t see a much better two-rider fight with a championship on the line than the Stock 1000 race on Saturday at NJMP between Hayden Gillim and Jayson Uribe. It was one where it’s really not fair to have just one winner.
Gillim, the leader of the championship by seven points going into race one of the finale, grew that lead in the title chase to 12 points going into tomorrow’s finale. The Real Steel Motorsports-backed Kentuckian looked to have things in control early in the race, but Uribe and his OrangeCat Racing BMW M1000 RR had different ideas. Uribe turned it up mid-race and started to reel Gillim in.
With just a few laps to go, Gillim and his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP had a huge moment coming out of the last corner where he went up on the curb, hit a wet spot and somehow saved what looked to be a certain highside. Uribe made him pay for the mistake and moved into the lead.
But Gillim wasn’t done. He fought back and was on Uribe’s tail section on the final lap, ultimately making a pass in a spot where not many have tried – the inside of the final corner.
He crossed the line just .026 of a second ahead of Uribe. Tomorrow the title will be decided with Gillim leading Uribe by 12 points.
FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith ended up a lonely third after knocking Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates off track. Yates ended up eighth and those two are now tied for third in the championship going into tomorrow’s finale.
Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis and Visit Indiana/Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin rounded out the top five.
When asked how he made that last corner pass on Uribe, Gillim admitted, “I have no idea. The bridge had a little wet spot under it, and I was a little nervous going that low. Somehow made it stick. Unfortunately made myself have to work a little harder with the little almost get-off. That hurt the hand a little bit, but it’s good. I’m happy. The team’s happy. It’s incredible to be back up on the top with Steel Commander Honda, Comstock Energy. That was a tough race. Jason (Uribe) was riding really good.”
Superstock Race One Results
- Hayden Gillim – Honda
- Jayson Uribe – BMW +0.026s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +6.904s
- Danilo Lewis – BMW +14.881s
- Nolan Lamkin – BMW +14.924s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +16.101s
- Bryce Prince – Yamaha +17.860s
- Ashton Yates – Honda +18.663s
- Deion Campbell – Yamaha +20.460s
- JC Camacho – Yamaha +28.671s
Superstock Race Two
With a 12-point lead in hand at the start of the last Stock 1000 race of the season, Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim didn’t have to win to be crowned champion. But he won anyway.
The win, his seventh of the year, combined with his rival Jayson Uribe finishing third on the OrangeCat BMW M 1000 RR, gave Gillim his second successive Stock 1000 Championship with this one coming on a Honda CBR1000RR-R SP – thus giving Honda its first-ever MotoAmerica title.
Second place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the Georgian hounding Gillim for the entire race. Yates waited until the final lap to make a move on Gillim with a pass in turn one on the final lap. But it didn’t stick as Gillim re-passed him immediately. From there it was just a case of defending the inside and keeping Yates behind him.
Yates held on for second, just .049 of a second off the back of Gillim, and it was enough to earn him third in the championship.
Uribe ended a highly successful season of racing with a third-place finish as he narrowly topped FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith on the final lap by just .030 of a second.
AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr was fifth with the Irishman well clear of sixth-placed Bryce Prince on his BPR Yamaha YZF-R1.
“It means a lot,” Gillim said. “Haven’t had a weekend like this since Barber. Had a couple crashes and made it a lot harder on ourselves. Jayson (Uribe) was making us work for it. Ashton (Yates) was really getting it going here at the end. It’s cool to have Honda one and two and wrap up the championship for the Real Steel Southern Honda Powersports team. It’s cool to have the family and everybody here and all the fans. Thanks for sticking it out in the weather.”
Superstock Race Two Results
- Hayden Gillim – Honda
- Ashton Yates – Honda +0.049s
- Jayson Uribe – BMW +3.403s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +3.433s
- Richard Kerr – Honda +8.324s
- Bryce Prince – Yamaha +18.739s
- Deion Campbell – Yamaha +25.923s
- Eziah Davis – Yamaha +28.976
- Travis Wyman – BMW +32.297s
- Jason Waters – BMW +34.779s
Superstock Points
- Hayden Gillim 201
- Jayson Uribe 180
- Ashton Yates 140
- Benjamin Smith 133
- Bryce Prince 117
- Richard Kerr 92
- Danilo Lewis 80
- Deion Campbell 71
- Travis Wyman 69
- Nolan Lamkin 67
