Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne ended a winless drought of 350 days on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, and he did so in dominant fashion with a runaway victory in an Alabama rainstorm.

The three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s previous race victory was a year ago in April when he won race two at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Following his lone 2024 victory, Gagne suffered with carpal tunnel syndrome, which eventually led to him ending his season to forget early.

But Gagne showed that he’s back on form this weekend in Alabama, winning Sunday’s wet race two after finishing third in a dry race one Saturday.

On Sunday, there was no stopping Gagne. He jumped into the lead in turn one and was never headed, leading by as much as 13 seconds before backing off in the closing stages on a treacherous racetrack. At the finish line, Gagne had a comfortable 6.7 seconds in hand.

Saturday’s race-winner Cameron Beaubier finished second on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR, with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion crossing the line just a tick over a second ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin.

Herrin improved from his fifth-place finish on Saturday to a fighting third on Sunday, right on Beaubier’s tail and five seconds ahead of fourth-place finisher Sean Dylan Kelly. Kelly had a productive first weekend on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, with a pair of fourth-place finishes.

Gagne’s teammate Bobby Fong was in the fight for second when he started to drop back with severe vision issues prompted by a fogged-up faceshield. Fong blindly rode to a fifth-place finish a day after finishing second to Beaubier.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was sixth, a day after crashing out of Saturday’s race. Escalante was well back of Fong and five seconds clear of Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach at the completion of the 15-lap race. With his seventh-place finish, Beach again claimed top honors in the Superbike Cup, which is a race within a race for Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.

Beach’s teammate Hayden Gillim had a tipover, remounted, and finished eighth.

Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.

Notable non-finishers included Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates and FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith, with both riders crashing out in separate incidents.

Race two featured four different manufacturers in the top four: Yamaha, BMW, Ducati and Suzuki.

After the opening round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Beaubier leads Gagne by four points, 45-41. Fong is third on 31 points, four ahead of Herrin. Kelly is fifth with 27 points, just one behind Herrin, as the series heads to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for round two, May 2-4.

Jake Gagne – Winner

“I just want to be fighting with these guys – Cam, Josh, Bobby. I think they’re going to be the guys. Obviously, defending champ Josh (Herrin), and Cam (Beaubier) is hungry. He hasn’t had enough Superbike championships, I guess. I just want to be in the fight. Yesterday I was actually really happy with that ride. It felt a little better than I thought in the race, just to be kind of staying with those guys for a little while. I was kind of excited for the rain today, but even like you said, watching that Supersport race, the track was really gnarly, especially on the Superbike. It’s so easy to hydroplane. On the warmup lap, I was just really hoping we all could be patient and not see anything bad happen, because it really was gnarly. Like I said, this Yamaha just works so well in the wet. I’ve been on it for so many years. We’ve had a lot of rain races, so it just feels like we got a good setup that we can take anywhere in the wet. Of course, you never know what’s going to happen. Guys like Cam and Josh and Bob (Fong) could throw down at any time, even in the rain, even in tricky conditions. I’m just happy that mainly we kept it on two wheels. Once I got into the lead, having clear track in front of you is so helpful. When you’re looking at splashes and you can’t see where the puddles are, you’re worried about hydroplaning. I don’t even remember how I got into the lead, the first or second lap. Then kind of put my head down. The bike just was working really good. I’m happy to leave with two podiums. I’m psyched with that, honestly.”

Cameron Beaubier – Second Place

“Win yesterday, second today. To be honest with you, I’m just happy today is over with. I haven’t had nerves like that going into a race… You always have a little bit, but nerves from actually just the track surface. That warmup lap, I saw how much standing water there was and watched the end of Supersport. I was like, ‘Damn, this is going to be a long race.’ Luckily, everyone was safe out there and we got it done. This guy (Gagne) put on a clinic and rode away from us. I couldn’t even see him five laps into the race. Hats off to him. Hats off to Josh (Herrin). Like I said, glad today is over with. I think Josh and Bob (Fong) riding around in front of me, I felt like helped my confidence. I was able to start finding my groove and rolling around the track. There at the beginning, I would go into the fast chicane on the back straightaway, and I was hydroplaning, and I had no idea what was going on. I noticed they started going a little bit inside that, and I was hitting the puddle that I couldn’t really see on the line you would hit in the dry. I tidied up some things. Saw Josh hydroplane big time in front of me a couple times on the short chute from Charlotte’s Web to Museum. That was a little scary. After that, Josh got messed up a little bit with some lap traffic. I darted to the inside, and I was able to put four or five laps together there at the end. Felt pretty good. I was able to open up a little gap and brought it home in second.”

Josh Herrin – Third Place

“We come into this event knowing it’s going to be difficult for us, and obviously I come into it hoping that the bike feels good. But for some reason, if it only happens at one track, I’m totally okay with it, but this just happens to be that track for us. No matter what we do, we know exactly what the problem is, and we just cannot figure a way to fix it. So, yesterday we just gambled for the race to try something completely different. It was a little bit worse, but the result went probably the same. Fourth, fifth, sixth… Somewhere in that spot. Then I woke up this morning and came to the track just praying that you guys were going to cancel the race because I just suck so bad in the rain on this bike. The guys just made a change today. All of a sudden, I went out the first lap and felt super good. Dragged my knee for the first time in my life in the rain and just had tons of confidence. But then in the race, I still felt good. I was super happy with the bike, but I didn’t have that confidence I had this morning. I came to the podium and Mick from Dunlop said my tire for some reason had seven pounds more pressure in the rear than the other guys, so I don’t know what happened there. If it was a mistake. I was fighting it super hard in the straight up and down areas. I think just that tensing me up so much when I would hit those puddles, it just made me ride a little bit more tense than I wanted. I was having a little bit more momentum in corners than I wanted because of that. So, to walk out of here with a podium in the rain is like winning a championship. It just feels amazing. Last year if you added up the points we lost in the rain, I can guarantee it was probably 50-something points. This is a huge breakthrough for us for the year. Just excited for the rest of the season now.”

Supersport: 50 Is Nifty For Hayes 

Josh Hayes came into the 2025 MotoAmerica season with 88 victories across all classes, making him the winningest racer in AMA history. On Friday, Hayes turned 50. Today, he added to the Hayes legacy by winning the 89th race of his career in a rainstorm at Barber Motorsports Park. And all this after sitting out last year’s championship.

Hayes and his BPR Racing Yamaha YZF-R9 didn’t have the pace in Saturday’s dry race, with the four-time AMA Superbike Champion finishing 10th. On a rainy Sunday in Alabama, Hayes definitely had pace. He shot ahead at the start and though he was never headed, he was most definitely hounded from behind. Initially, the challenge came from Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Corey Alexander, then Saturday’s race-one winner Mathew Scholtz took up the cause and was all over the back of Hayes. With four laps to go, Scholtz crashed, leaving Alexander’s Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL teammate PJ Jacobsen to take on the challenge of trying to beat Hayes.

Jacobsen waited for a miscue that didn’t come, and the victory went to Hayes by just .789 of a second over the New Yorker. Scholtz, meanwhile, remounted to finish third on his Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R9.

Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was fourth and right on Scholtz’s tailsection. Davis had been in a battle with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, with Scott crashing right in front of Davis, who was forced to take evasive action. Davis rode on to fourth with Scott remounting to finish ninth.

Fifth place went to Scott’s teammate Max Van, who was well clear of Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis. Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov was on Lewis’ tail in seventh.

BPR Racing Yamaha’s Teagg Hobbs ended up eighth with Scott ninth. Altus Motorsports’ Jaret Nassaney rounded out the top 10.

With round one complete, Scholtz leads Jacobsen by one point, 41-40, with Hayes third on 31 points.

“I won the last National I rode in the rain in 2023 at New Jersey,” Hayes said. “My expectations were not this today. Somebody asked me and I’m like, ‘Supersport in the rain right now is so stacked.’ We’ve seen what Mat (Scholtz) can do. We’ve seen what PJ (Jacobsen) can do in the rain. Blake Davis has really grown in the rain. Kayla (Yaakov). There’s so many people that have shown great speed in the rain. I just tried to be smart. They had some moments, and I really tried to learn as much as I could this morning and in that warm-up lap that we had. I committed to what my lines were going to be, and I pretty much stuck to them the whole race. I said, okay, when Mat (Scholtz) caught me. ‘If he’s got the speed to go, I’m going to do what I can to learn from him and hang on, but if he goes… If I finish here in this area, I’m in pretty good shape.’ His (Scholtz) confidence has been incredible to watch him. I just feel lucky to be a part of the success of the R9 program right from the beginning. What an incredible weekend. I watched these two guys battle last year, and with any stroke of luck they’re going to have to deal with me more than in the rain this year, and that’s our goal and our hope. I’m looking forward to some more racing.”

SC-Project Twins Cup – Di Mario’s Turn

Sunday’s SC-Project Twins Cup race was red-flagged on the seventh of 10 laps, and the only thing that was a certainty was that Alessandro Di Mario was the winner. The rest was as clear as mud, and it took a while to sort it all out.

When it was all said and done, it was Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle taking second with Karns/TST Motorsports’ Levi Badie finishing third in the rain-lashed race two. Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh was a career-best fourth with Moto-Ace Racing’s Zachary Foster fifth.

Di Mario was one of the few who didn’t crash in the race. With Di Mario out front, Doyle was battling with Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison until Cunnison crashed out. That left Doyle to fight it out for second with Karns/TST Industries’ Isaac Woodworth. Then Woodworth crashed.

Shortly thereafter, it was RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin’s turn to crash out of fifth place. Chapin remounted only to crash again on the same lap when his throttle stuck wide open going into turn one.

With five laps to go, Doyle crashed out of second place, but a red flag was thrown, and the South African was credited with second place behind Di Mario.

In total, there were six DNFs and six non-starters in Sunday’s race two.

After two rounds of the SC-Project Twins Cup Championship, Di Mario leads Chapin by 19 points, 85-66. Doyle is third with 52 points, five ahead of Saturday’s race winner Avery Dreher.

“I just got flashbacks from last year,” Di Mario said. “In race one last year, it was in the rain, and I crashed, and then I won on Sunday in the dry. So, this year was split. I kinda lost in the dry and then won in the wet. I wasn’t really expecting it. Earlier I was just like, ‘I’m gonna go out there and win.’ I was so pissed about yesterday. I had a big moment in the big esses. I’m really happy, but I can’t really enjoy it right now. I have to go put my other helmet on and go race Talent Cup.”

Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – Vossberg’s Rain Dance

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg won the first Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul race of his promising young career on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, taking full advantage of the mistakes of others to earn victory in the wet race that was red-flagged on the eighth lap.

Vossberg rode a near-perfect race, topping Jones Honda’s Julian Correa, who was second, 7.6 seconds behind Vossberg and a little less than a second ahead of Saturday’s race winner Alessandro Di Mario. Di Mario ran off track on the fourth lap, which basically took him out of contention for another victory.

Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane was fourth after starting from the back of the grid after he missed the sighting lap following his crash in the track familiarization session that was held just prior to the race. Drane’s Australian countryman Bodie Paige, meanwhile, had a big crash on the fifth lap of the race that ended his day.

Envy Powered by Warhorse’s Derek Sanchez rounded out the top five.

Di Mario now has a 21-point lead in the Talent Cup Championship over Drane, 86-65. Vossberg and Correa are tied for third with 54 points, one ahead of Paige. The collective age of the Talent Cup podium at Barber Motorsports Park was 46 years old – four years younger than Mr. Hayes.

More, from a news release issued by Luca Allen Racing:

Lucca Allen’s first weekend competing stateside is in the books, the talented British teenager overcoming the discomfort from a recurring shoulder injury, inclement weather in addition to limited testing and the fact he had never raced on Dunlop tyres to score points in only second race in the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.

Working closely with his new team – CW Moto – Allen took it all in his stride, improving in every session before ensuring his place on the grid for the opening races of the season at Barber Motorsports Park.

A Saturday race retirement, due to an old injury, only motivated Lucca further and with rain falling overnight what can only be described as a heroic Sunday followed.

Taking full advantage of the wet weather, Lucca made another incredible start in Race Two, passing several riders into turn one, before steadily improving lap by lap to move into contention for the points.

Lapping considerably faster than those behind he was soon running inside the top fifteen, crossing the line to finish fourteenth after a challenging race in more ways than one. By doing so Lucca becomes the first full time British rider to score MotoAmerica Supersport points and becomes the youngest full time European rider to achieve points on their debut weekend in the series.

The #311 will now return to the UK where he will undergo extensive physio in preparation for round two of the 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship which takes place at Road Atlanta in a couple of weeks.

Lucca Allen: “FP1 was all about getting used to the bike and the track and for me to try riding on Dunlop tyres for the first time. It was a big learning curve as we went directly into the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon which was something also new for me and something I will need to get my head around as the season goes on. I improved my lap times a lot from Free Practice and then on Saturday morning in Q2 I made another big step. Unfortunately, during second qualifying my shoulder started to play up and I had to go to medical to get it checked. I tried to ride in race one, but it was just too much strain on my shoulder, and I retired the bike rather than risk a crash. I had damaged the shoulder in a previous crash in the UK and so I was a bit frustrated that it flared up again. There’s a lot of work to do rehabilitation wise when I get home but the team and I have already made a plan to ensure I am fully fit for Atlanta. Race two on Sunday was wet after a torrential downpour through the night. We did everything we could trackside with the medical team and with Ethan (the team’s physio) and I was able to ride. I started P25 on the grid and made it into the points, crossing the line P14 in what was my first time riding the bike in the rain and riding on Dunlop tyres in the rain. To score points in my first ever MotoAmerica race feels so good, even more so given the circumstances and I owe Chris and Sara at CW Moto a huge thank you. The work they put in was incredible. They really are second to none and I am so proud that I get to race my first season in the USA with them. I want to also thank my sponsors, my family and my manager for making this season possible Let’s go again at Round 2 in Atlanta in a couple of weeks.”

More, from a news release issued by Robem Engineering:

In the first three MotoAmerica Twins Cup races of 2025, Robem Engineering rider Alessandro Di Mario missed out on his first win this year by a combined margin of 0.164 seconds. Though a tire wear issue caused him to endure one of those fractions-of-a-second runner-up finishes on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park, Di Mario was the unquestionable top rider in the Twins Cup in wet conditions Sunday. The defending Twins Cup champion scored a commanding victory, as well as claimed his second-consecutive Twins Cup pole position on Saturday by more than 1.7 seconds.

And due to another frontrunning rider finishing lower than Di Mario in Race 1 and not finishing Race 2, Di Mario left the April 4-6 event with a 19-point lead in the class standings.

Di Mario’s stellar one-lap pace was evident from the first on-track session of the weekend. In Friday morning Practice 1, Di Mario’s best lap time was 2.550 seconds faster than the rest of the field. That trend continued Friday afternoon in Qualifying 1, where Di Mario was on provisional pole position by a margin of 1.765 seconds. Conditions in Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2 did not allow Di Mario to improve on his best lap time from Qualifying 1, but he still clinched his second pole position of the 2025 season.

In Saturday afternoon’s Race 1, Di Mario got a good start and quickly built a sizable lead over the rest of the field. Unfortunately, he began to struggle with pace in the latter stages of the race and was overtaken on the last lap. He missed out on the victory by 0.058 seconds, but held on to notch his third runner-up result of the year.

It was in Sunday’s Race 2 that Di Mario moved up one step on the podium. The very wet track conditions – that only got worse as the race went on – necessitated a short track familiarization session for the whole Twins Cup field. When the delayed race got underway, Di Mario immediately seized the race lead. As the rest of the field struggled on the rain-soaked track, Di Mario built a sizable lead and was declared the winner when the race was red flagged and called final with four laps remaining.

The Robem Engineering team will be back in action for the next Twins Cup round, which takes place June 27-29 at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Wash.

“I was very bummed out about losing in Race 1 on the last lap because of really bad tire wear, but I was able to come back and win my first race in the wet today. I’m looking forward to the next races, and I’m happy to leave with the championship lead.”

Robem Engineering’s technical partners for the 2025 season include Accossato, Aprilia Racing, Blud Lubricants, Bitubo Suspension, Bonamici, Essex Parts, Millennium Technologies, Motovation, NGK, NTK, Piaggio North America, Sara Chappell Photos, SC Project and Sprint Filters.

More, from a news release issued by Ducati Media House:

Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati) relied on his skill and experience to secure a podium finish in race two of the opening round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

In torrential conditions that saw many top-seeded riders crash out, Herrin kept his cool and his Ducati Panigale V4 R pointed in the right direction, earning his first full wet weather podium on the V4 R in third place behind winner Jake Gagne and Cameron Beaubier.

The podium made up for what Herrin described as a challenging race, in which he secured fifth place behind the winner, Beaubier, in completely dry conditions.

Thus, Herrin leaves his first race as the number one plate holder for Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati, securing a credible fourth place overall in the championship standings. It’s still very early in the season as Herrin strives to become the first Ducati rider in AMA/MotoAmerica Superbike history to defend the championship title in 2025.

2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship After Round One

P1 – Cameron Beaubier, 45

P1 – Jake Gagne, 41

P3 – Bobby Fong, 31

P4 – Josh Herrin (Ducati) 27

P5 – Sean Dylan Kelly, 26

Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati–#1)

“We knew coming to Barber that the dry conditions were going to be hard, so in the rain, we tried something completely different,” Herrin said after race two. “If we didn’t, we’d have been fifth or sixth place, so it was worth it to roll the dice.

“Race one on Saturday was a difficult one for us. The rain came on Sunday morning, and I was super nervous, but we tried something in the warm-up that just clicked.

“Everything felt like in the past when I’d won races in the wet. Going into the race I was high on the confidence scale, but Jake (Gagne) pulled away early and I was with Cam (Beaubier). We had some issues with some lapped riders, and I was trying as hard as possible to make up the gap. I even did the fastest lap of the race on the last lap.

“But the main thing is the bike and I made it home in one piece and I had fun. It’s been a long time since I’d had fun in the wet—we just needed to find the right set-up for my riding style on the Panigale V4 R. All in all, it was a good weekend and we’re ready for my home track of Road Atlanta in just under a month’s time.”

Round two of the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship is scheduled for May 2-4 at one of America’s favorite racetracks, Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

More, from a news release issued by Aprilia:

After coming oh-so-close to capturing his first win of the 2025 MotoAmerica Twins Cup in the class’ first three races, Aprilia RS 660 rider and defending Twins Cup champion Alessandro Di Mario finally clinched it Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. Though a tire issue caused him to miss out on a win in Saturday’s race at the April 4-6 event by fractions of a second, Di Mario shined as other riders were struggling with the soggy conditions Sunday and left Barber with a 19-point lead in the class standings.

Di Mario was in dominant form in Friday morning practice. His best lap time of 1:30.011 was more than 2.5 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison was the third fastest rider in the session, missing out on going 1-2 with Di Mario by a mere 0.029 seconds. The other Aprilia rider who finished the session in the top 10 was Brown Town Racing’s Chase Brown, who was fifth-fastest.

The first of two qualifying sessions took place Friday afternoon, and Di Mario and Cunnison ended that session at the top of the time sheets. Di Mario improved his best lap time by almost one second, and Cunnison had closed his gap to Di Mario’s one-lap pace to about 1.7 seconds. Ghetto Custom’s Chris Parrish finished Qualifying 1 as the seventh-fastest rider, and Brown was tenth-fastest. Qualifying 2 took place Saturday morning, and track conditions did not allow most of the frontrunning riders to improve on their Qualifying 1 lap times. Di Mario therefore scored his second pole position of the 2025 Twins Cup season. Cunnision ended up qualifying second, Parrish seventh and Brown 10th.

In Saturday afternoon’s Race 1, Di Mario’s late race struggles with pace allowed him to get edged out for the victory but also saw five Aprilia riders finish in the Top 10. Di Mario led the first 13 laps of the 14-lap contest, but he began losing pace with about four laps to go and was beaten to the victory by 0.058 seconds. Cunnision was in a race-long battle for the last step on the podium and was bested to the finish line by 0.048 seconds by another rider. Other Aprilia riders who finished in the top 10 include Brown in fifth, Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh in eighth and Duffy Racing’s Tyler Duffy in 10th.

Sunday’s Race 2 featured a delayed start due to wet conditions. After a brief track familiarization period for the riders, Di Mario got the holeshot when racing got underway and led every lap before a red flag period ended the already-shortened race four laps early. Cunnison was running as high as second place before suffering two crashes that resulted in him finishing 17th. Two other Aprilia riders finished in the top five, including Weyh in fourth and Moto-Ace Racing’s Zachery Foster in fifth. Brown finished in eighth place, and Team JBR’s Josef Bittner was 10th.

Due to the points leader at the beginning of the weekend not finishing Race 2, Di Mario assumed the championship lead thanks to the combined 45 points he amassed from both races.

The next Twins Cup races are slated to take place June 27-29 at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Wash. Of the 34 athletes registered to compete in Twins Cup at the Barber round, 13 were slated to be racing Aprilia RS 660’s.

Alessandro Di Mario / Robem Engineering Aprilia

“I was very bummed out about losing in Race 1 on the last lap because of really bad tire wear, but I was able to come back and win my first race in the wet today. I’m looking forward to the next races, and I’m happy to leave with the championship lead.”