It’s Game On For MotoAmerica’s Round Three At Road America

Close Racing Expected For The Pair Of HONOS Superbike Races In Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
IRVINE, CA (June 9, 2021) – MotoAmerica has held 14 Superbike races at Road America since it took over the AMA Superbike Series in 2015. The average margin of victory from those 14 races is just 2.49 seconds, and that includes Cameron Beaubier’s three runaway wins last year of 7.8, 14.4 and 6.32 seconds.

Plain and simple: Those three races were anomalies. So, if we throw those three dominating wins by Beaubier out the window, the average margin of victory for the remaining 11 MotoAmerica Superbike races is a scant .669 of a second. Yes, .669 of a second.

The closest HONOS Superbike race in those 14 races? That would be Beaubier’s victory over Josh Herrin in race one in 2018 – .002 of a second. The next day, Beaubier did the dirty on Herrin again – by .195 of a second.

Guess you can understand why the MotoAmerica Series heads to the picturesque, high-speed venue in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, expecting ultra-close, nail-biting racing in all classes. After all, it’s the Road America way.

Last year, with COVID-19 wreaking havoc, MotoAmerica was forced to reschedule and that meant racing not once but twice at Road America with unprecedented back-to-back rounds separated by a month with the races taking place at the end of May and end of June. And no one complained – such is the popularity of the long-standing weekends at “America’s National Park Of Speed.”

As previously mentioned, Beaubier won three of the four HONOS Superbike races at Road America in 2020 and only a crash out of the lead in race four prevented a perfect four-race rampage in Wisconsin. When Beaubier crashed, the lead and ultimately the victory fell to M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong – and it marked the Californian’s first-career AMA Superbike win. So, with Beaubier now contesting the Moto2 World Championship, does that make Fong the favorite heading to Road America this week?

Perhaps.

There is this one niggling problem by the name of Jake Gagne, the winner of three of the four HONOS Superbike races held thus far in 2021. Gagne, who finished second twice in Road America’s four races last year (including ending up right behind Fong in the fourth race), comes into Wisconsin with the smoking hot hand with his three wins on the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha YZF-R1.

Although Gagne has done the most winning so far in 2021, he’s not leading the championship. That spot is held by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South
African with one victory, two seconds and a third thus far in his consistent start to the season. He leads Gagne, who has a DNF on his scorecard in the title chase, albeit by just seven points.

With three thirds and a fourth-place finish, Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin is third in the point standings. Herrin has tasted Superbike victory before at Road America with a win in race two over Beaubier (by just .506 of a second). He trails Scholtz by 20 points after four races.

The aforementioned Fong sits fourth, the Suzuki GSX-R1000-mounted rider starting the season with a second-place finish but struggling a bit since then with two fifth-place finishes bookending a mechanical issue at VIRginia International Raceway that pushed him down to 12th in race one.

Non-defending MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion Cameron Petersen is tied for fourth in the title chase with his teammate Fong after his consistent start to the season hit a bit of a bump in the road in race two at VIR when he was involved in a first-corner melee that left him well behind. He fought through to finish seventh, but it ruined his streak of top-five finishes in his first season on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.

Six points adrift of the Suzuki teamsters is Panera Bread Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, who in turn finds himself just three points ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector
Barbera – a MotoAmerica rookie in 2021.

Another series rookie with an immense international racing background is Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman competing in his first season of racing in the U.S. series. Baz’s season started out with two non-finishes at Road Atlanta, but he turned that around at VIR with fourth- and second-place finishes. He’s got a long way to go to catch those at the top of the point standings, but Road America should suit the fast Ducati Panigale V4 R well and both Baz and Wyman should be able to let the Big Red (and in Wyman’s case, green) Dogs eat.

Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis round out the top 10 in the series standings heading to Road America with those two sitting first and second in the Superbike Cup standings, a class within a class for those riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.

In total, there are 36 entries in the HONOS Superbike class for Road America.

Road America Notes

Cameron Beaubier won three of the four HONOS Superbike races held at Road America last year with Bobby Fong winning the one race that Beaubier didn’t win. Beaubier beat Mathew Scholtz in race one, Jake Gagne in race two and Fong in race three. Fong beat Gagne in race four.

With his three wins at Road America last year, Beaubier has 10 AMA Superbike wins at Road America and that’s one better than Australian Mat Mladin and two more than Beaubier’s former teammate Josh Hayes.

In addition to his race wins, Beaubier is also the Superbike lap record holder at Road America with a 2:10.623 lap set during Superpole for the June race in 2020. Beaubier also holds the race lap record with a 2:11.033 set in race two of the May race weekend.

Six different manufacturers will be represented on the grid at Road America: Yamaha (11 entries), Kawasaki (seven entries), Suzuki (six entries), BMW (five entries), Ducati (five entries) and Honda (two entries).

As far as manufacturers go, Yamaha has the most wins at Road America with 22 followed by Suzuki with 18, Honda (12), Ducati (eight) and Kawasaki (four). Yamaha had won seven of eight races until Suzuki swept both races in 2019 with Toni Elias and Josh Herrin. In 2020, however, Beaubier and Yamaha chalked up three more wins before Fong gave Suzuki another victory in race two in the June event.

Riders from nine different countries will line up at Road America in the HONOS Superbike class with the U.S., Spain, South Africa, Great Britain, Mexico, Uruguay, France, Australia and Brazil all represented.

The official track length at Road America is 4.048 miles, which makes it the longest on the MotoAmerica schedule. The track features 14 turns and is affectionally known as “four miles of fun.”

Three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer won the first-ever AMA Superbike race at Road America in 1980.

Twelve years ago, Larry Pegram won the Superbike race at Road America, giving Ducati its last Wisconsin win in the Superbike class. Pegram won a race-long battle with Mat Mladin to take that victory. Well, that was 2009 and this is now and Pegram is back and set to race a Pegram Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R in both Stock 1000 and HONOS Superbike.

For the complete 2021 MotoAmerica Series schedule, click HERE

To purchase tickets to any of the 2021 series rounds, click HERE

For information on how to watch the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE

About MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica is the North American road racing series created in 2014 that is home to the AMA Superbike Championship. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership that includes three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey, ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland, motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges, and businessman Richard Varner. For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com. Also make sure to follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

More, from a press release issued by Westby Racing:

Superbike Points Leader Scholtz Is Raring To Put Two In The Win Column At Road America

Tulsa, OK – June 9, 2021 – Round three of the 2021 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship starts this Friday at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and Westby Racing’s riders Mathew Scholtz and Jack Roach, along with the entire crew, always enjoy MotoAmerica race weekends at “America’s National Park of Speed.”

Mathew, who is the current Superbike Championship points leader, hopes to keep his podium streak alive, with two race victories being the ultimate goal, of course. Last year at Road America, in the two rounds and four races held there, he notched a runner-up finish, a DNF, a fifth-place, and a fourth-place finish at the 4.05-mile, 14-turn natural road course.

“I’m looking forward to the Road America round and getting back to racing again,” Mathew said. “I’m really excited, and I’ve been training hard. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with Road America. It seems like either I do really well there, or things don’t go so great, but this year, I am confident that we should definitely be challenging up front for some race wins. Our bike has picked up some horsepower compared with last year, which should help us at Road America where top speed is so important. In speaking with (crew chief) Ed (Sullivan) and (electronics specialist) Herschel (Auxier), we have a few ideas on what we need to try to improve the bike and also what I need to do to improve my riding. So, it’s all looking good…just really looking forward to Friday practice in order to try out some of these changes that we’re planning to make and see how it goes. I’m feeling confident, and I feel like we have to do something to stop Jake’s (Gagne) forward momentum. Road America is the place where I think we can take back some of the points in the championship and try to extend our lead while keeping the rest of the guys behind us.”

Superbike final qualifying is on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CT. Superbike race one will go green on Saturday afternoon at 3:10 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 2 (FS2). Superbike race two is on Sunday afternoon also at 3:10 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Both races will be streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.

For Jack, qualifying third at VIR was encouraging. He knows that he’s got the bike and the team to achieve the results he is expecting. It’s a matter of putting everything together, getting good race starts, and using the draft to his advantage. Last year, while racing for a different team and aboard a different manufacturer’s motorcycle in his first-ever race weekend at Road America, Jack finished 11th and 7th in the two Junior Cup races. He’s determined to do even better this year now that he’s aboard the Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R3.

Jack commented, “Coming off the back of a very unlucky round in Virginia, I’m hungry to get a good result not only for me but for my team. They’ve been working hard and so have I. We just need it to come together. There’s nothing wrong with the speed of the bike, as it showed its podium potential in qualifying at VIR. I can’t wait for Friday.”

Junior Cup race one starts on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. CT, and Junior Cup race two is on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. CT. Both races will be streamed on MotoAmerica Live+, and then, broadcast via tape-delay on FOX Sports 2 (FS2) this Tuesday, June 15, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

Meet Mathew and Jack, Get Some Autographed Posters, And More

Mathew and Jack will both be at the Westby Racing transporter in the Road America paddock during two Dunlop Paddock Autograph Signings. The first one is on Saturday from 12 to 12:30 p.m. CT, and the second one is on Sunday from 10:30 to 11 a.m. CT. They’ll have free, autographed posters and other team items to hand out, so be sure to stop by.

Check Out The Westby Racing Sponsor Showcase

NGK Spark Plugs U.S.A. and MWR Racing Air Filters will be the featured team sponsors on display in the Westby Racing paddock area, so be sure to stop by to say hello and learn about some of the companies that support the team.

For more updates about Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit https://www.WestbyRacing.com

Also, follow “Westby Racing” on your favorite social media sites.

More, from a press release issued by Ducati North America:

Loris Baz and Kyle Wyman Look for Success at Road America

Sunnyvale, Calif., June 9, 2021 – Round three of the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship sees Ducati stars Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York) and Kyle Wyman (Panera Bread Ducati) head to one of the most famous racing venues in the world in the beautiful but daunting Road America in Wisconsin.

After encouraging results from the previous round at VIRginia International Raceway that saw a debut MotoAmerica podium for Baz and Wyman significantly close the gap to the front runners, Ducati’s finest will be looking to take that final step to challenge the series leaders at the ultra-high speed venue that should ideally suit the strengths of the powerhouse Ducati Panigale V4 R racers.

Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York – Ducati #76)

“I’ve been back in France with the family, recharging the batteries,” Baz said of his three week break between VIR and Road America. “It’s always nice to reconnect with home, but now we’re back in America and I can’t wait to ride this really famous track. Of the tracks I don’t know in America, this is the one I’m most looking forward to racing because every game you have on the PlayStation as a kid, you race at Road America! It’s such a famous track.

“It’s very long and I’m looking forward to Friday where I can learn it. This is a place that should really suit our V4 R really well. The guys in the team have been hard at work on the data since the last race to make the bike better for me—I can’t wait to get going.”

Kyle Wyman (Panera Bread Ducati – Ducati #33)

“We’re looking really good coming into this weekend,” Wyman said. “We got our two-day test at Pittsburgh done last week which was pivotal for us to try some big changes we normally wouldn’t try on a race weekend. We did 156 laps over the two days so I’m feeling much more confident on the bike. The crew is jiving and we’re really excited to go to our best track on the schedule in Road America and try to put the Panera Bread Ducati on the box. It should be a great weekend for us.”

Round three of the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship will be held at Road America on June 11-13, 2021.

More, from a press release issued by Travis Wyman Racing:

Travis Wyman Racing announces Klock Werks as title sponsor for this weekend’s MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America

Popular motorcycle accessories company returns as title sponsor of BMW team for second-consecutive year

A familiar logo will be affixed to Travis Wyman Racing’s BMW S 1000 RR at this weekend’s MotoAmerica round at Road America. Klock Werks, a South Dakota company that manufactures a variety of motorcycle parts and accessories, is the title sponsor of Wyman’s team for the June 11-13 event at the Elkhart Lake, Wis., circuit.

It’s Klock Werks second time serving as the Las Vegas-based team’s title sponsor. It’s first promotional partnership with Travis Wyman Racing took place at last year’s season-ending MotoAmerica round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“It was a big win for the team to gain Klock Werks’ support at the end of the 2020 season, and I’m delighted to be running their logo again at one of MotoAmerica’s best-attended events,” rider/team owner Travis Wyman said. “Klock Werks founder, Brian Klock, has been an enthusiastic supporter of my team, and I’m looking forward to getting his brand as much exposure as I can at Road America.”

Founded in 1997, Klock Werks rose to national prominence when it won the 2006 Discovery Channel Biker Build Off with its “World’s Fastest Bagger” entry. The company’s wide-ranging product lines include its Flare-branded windscreens, sound system accessories, handlebars, fenders and cleaning products.

Road America is a track Wyman has won at before, and the team’s BMW S 1000 RR will have a fresh engine to help Wyman power his way past his competition on the long straightaways of the 4.05-mile track. The team debuted its 2020 BMW S 1000 RR at the season-opening round at Road America in 2020.

Wyman added, “I need to give a big shout out to my mechanic, Alex Torres of Fast Line Motorcycle Performance. Alex spent three days at the team’s East Coast base of operations near Rochester, New York, getting our new engine ready to go for the Road America round. We wouldn’t be in a position to challenge for a podium or better in the Stock 1000 class without Alex’s hard work over the past few days.”