Three Honda Racing Corporation representatives were on hand at The Ridge on Friday, guests of MotoAmerica and American Honda. The HRC guests represented serious top-level motorcycle road racing insight and experience. Katsuhiko Imai served as HRC Staff member for LCR Honda in MotoGP; Takeo Yokoyama worked as Dani Pedrosa’s track engineer for three years in MotoGP and now serves as Technical Manager for HRC. American Honda’s Brandon Wilson says the HRC representatives brought technical advice and data analysis for the teams running CBR 1000 RR-R racebikes at The Ridge, and also came to get a personal look at the status of the series and the machines racing in MotoAmerica. It is unclear whether it is correlation or causality, but with the HRC representatives on hand, Hayden Gillim had his best outing in 2025 by far for the Real Steel Honda. On a machine that is far from the level of sophistication of the front-running Superbikes, Gillim nailed down second in the first practice session and third in provisional qualifying, 0.178 seconds off of pole and ahead of several full Superbike-spec machines.
Jake Gagne has five podiums and three wins in the last six races at The Ridge Motorsports Park. The Attack Performance Progressive Insurance Yamaha rider was on form on Friday, topping both sessions. It was the first time that Gagne, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion, had led a practice session all season.
Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Josh Herrin was second in provisional qualifying after finishing fourth in practice.
Championship leader Cameron Beaubier was fourth, the last rider within a second of Gagne’s time.
With Gagne, Herrin and Gillim well clear of the field and Beaubier fourth, Richie Escalante and Sean Dylan Kelly on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzukis were a second off the pace. Bobby Fong, Benjamin Smith, Ashton Yates and Bryce Kornbau completed the top 10.
Corey Alexander ran as high as second and finished fourth in Mission Super Hooligan provisional qualifying on the rapidly improving ARCH Racing 2S-R. The race-only V-twin machine made its debut at Daytona and has suffered development issues, but Alexander was quick on it at The Ridge, qualifying ahead of Hooligan Championship leader Jake Lewis.
Corey Alexander was pushing hard everywhere on Friday, on the edge and nearly over. In Supersport, his Rahal Ducati Moto/Roller Die Panigale V2 threw him out of the seat during provisional qualifying.
Alessandro Di Mario dominated the Twins Cup sessions on Friday. In provisional qualifying, he finished 1.886 seconds clear of the field on his Robem Engineering Aprilia.
More, from a news release issued by MotoAmerica:
The Superbike pack might want to start paying attention as Jake Gagne is beginning to look like the Jake Gagne of old as he rode his Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1 to provisional pole position on a cloudy and cool Friday afternoon at Ridge Motorsports Park.
It was close at the top as Gagne’s best of 1:39.997 was just .084 of a second quicker than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin with the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion a mere .094 of a second faster than Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim on the provisional front row.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier led the provisional second row, with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion just .996 of a second slower than three-time champ Gagne. Both Gagne and Herrin did their fast laps on their seventh lap.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was fifth-fastest, marginally ahead of his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly.
Bobby Fong ended up seventh, just a tad over a second slower than his teammate.
FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith, Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, and BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau rounded out the top 10.
Mathew Scholtz was the fastest of the fast in Motovation Supersport Q1 on his Strack Racing Yamaha. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Motovation Supersport – Scholtz And Jacobsen At The Top
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz led the Motovation Supersport Q2 session on Friday with the defending series champion besting Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen by just .340 of a second with the two championship rivals from a year ago the only two to crack into the 1:42s with their 1:42.221 and 1:42.561 laps, respectively.
Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was third, a tick over a second off the top two and just .051 of a second faster than Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov. The third of the Rahal Ducati’s rounded out the top five in the capable hands of Corey Alexander.
Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen was sixth-fastest, fractions ahead of BPR Racing Yamaha’s Teagg Hobbs. Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott rounded out the top 10. Scott was still feeling the effects of being rear-ended in the morning practice session.
SC-Project Twins Cup – Di Mario Rules!
Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario continued to show his mastery of the SC-Project Twins Cup class on Friday with a dominating performance in Q1. When all was said and done in the 30-minute session on the 2.47-mile Ridge Motorsports Park track, Di Mario was on provisional pole with almost two seconds in hand.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle was second, 1.886 seconds behind Di Mario and just a few tenths quicker than Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher.
Karns/TST Industries’ Levi Badie and Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison rounded out the top five.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Powered By Harley-Davidson – Hurry Up And Weight
Local hero Andy DiBrino led the way in Q1 for the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship class at Ridge Motorsports Park with his lap of 1:45.016 putting him .806 of a second clear of the first of a trio of Harley-Davidson Pan Americas.
The first of the Harleys belonged to Hayden Schultz with the KWR Harley-Davidson rider besting Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis and his title-defending and current championship-leading teammate Cory West.
All the Harley-Davidson Pan America riders had to adapt to an increase in the minimum allowable weight of their bikes, a technical rule change instituted as a balancing measure after the previous Super Hooligan round last month at Road America. The Saddlemen Race Development Pan Americas had to add 38 pounds with the KWR Harleys adding 24 pounds to meet the new minimums.
Corey Alexander gave ARCH Racing its best day yet by putting its 2SR on the provisional second row with the fifth-fastest time of the day and just 1.3 seconds from DiBrino.
Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. – All Cain
Championship points leader Miranda Cain was the fastest in the Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. class on Friday at Ridge, with the Minnesotan almost a second quicker than Kira Knebel in Q1.
Shea MacGregor, Kate West and Cassie Creer rounded out the top five on the first day of the race weekend in Washington.
