(Editors Note: Sunday’s on-track activities have been delayed due to lightning storms in the area.)
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier had a difficult season last year, missing races due to injury, yet still clawing his way back to finish second in the 2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. This year, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion is hoping for more, and it’s a case of “so far, so good” as Beaubier won the opening race of the series at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday.
But it was far from easy. The race was a Beaubier vs. Bobby Fong battle with Fong’s Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Jake Gagne watching the proceedings from third place. Beaubier led early, stalked by Fong, then Fong took over, stalked by Beaubier. It turns out that Beaubier was saving his best for last as he dropped the hammer with two laps remaining, turning the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.
At the finish line it was Beaubier over Fong by .833 of a second. Gagne held on for a lonely third, 6.5 seconds behind the battle in front of him and a similar distance to the rider behind him.
That rider was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly. Kelly didn’t get off the start line very well, but he kept pushing until getting into fourth place, a position he would hold to the finish. It was a good result for the Floridian in what was his first Superbike race on a GSX-R1000R.
Defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Josh Herrin was a lonely fifth, well behind Kelly and some seven seconds ahead of Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was seventh with Superbike Cup winner JD Beach eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Notables who failed to finish the race were Jones Honda’s Ashon Yates and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante. Yates was taken out by a mechanical issue while Escalante crashed out of fourth on the third lap.
Supersport: Scholtz Perfect
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz started the defense of his 2024 Supersport Championship in perfect fashion on a sunny Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park. He led every session, put his brand-new Yamaha YZF-R9 on pole position, and stormed to victory in the opening round of the series.
Scholtz topped Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen, his championship rival from last year, by 2.9 seconds in the red-flag-shortened 18-lap race with the New Yorker not able to quite match the pace of the South African.
Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was an impressive third with the 18-year-old only five seconds behind his race-winning teammate and almost 10 seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott.
Scott, meanwhile, was busy fighting off Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov, who in turn was just marginally ahead of her Rahal Ducati Moto w/Roller Die’s Corey Alexander.
Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen muffed the start but fought through to fourth only to suffer from brake fade. The South African soldiered on to finish seventh.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, and BPR Racing’s Josh Hayes rounded out the top 10.
“The only thing that I’m kind of bummed about was that I couldn’t do better than a 26 flat,” Scholtz said. “During the morning practice I was able to do 25s consistently. I was blowing a couple of corners. I know that the wind was pretty hard there, so maybe I was just pushing into a couple corners and braking a little bit sooner than I should have in a couple of other spots where the wind was helping you. Overall, I think it’s definitely going to be on the wets (tires) tomorrow. We haven’t tested the bike in the wet conditions, so it’s going to be a little bit difficult for us. But the bike has been superb so far. I’m looking forward to it.”
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – Di Mario In Control
Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s Alessandro Di Mario made Saturday’s Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul his own, leading 99 percent of the race to win by 6.5 seconds at Barber Motorsports Park.
Although Yamaha bLU cRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane nabbed the holeshot into turn one, Di Mario wasted little time in getting to the front. Once he was there, he never faltered, taking the win by 6.5 seconds.
The battle for second went to the bitter end. Initially, it was three fighting for the spot but CTR/D&D Cycles’ Bodie Page, the winner of race two at Circuit of The Americas last weekend, crashed out of the battle. The Aussie, however, remounted and fought his way through to score valuable eighth-place points.
That left Drane and Tytler’s Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg fighting for the runner-up spot, with Drane winning the battle by just .076 of a second. It was Drane’s best finish of the early season after he posted two third-place finishes in the opening round in Texas.
Vossberg’s third-place finish was his best of the year and his first podium finish in the new class.
MP13’s Ella Dreher was fourth, her best finish of the young season, after winning a battle to the line with Royalty Racing’s King by .30 of a second.
Jones Honda’s Julian Correa would have been in that battle, but he was given a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Still, he managed to finish sixth.
SC-Project Twins Cup – Dreher’s Surprise
A day after walking away uninjured from a big crash, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher ran down race-long leader Alessandro Di Mario to earn his first win of the season and his second-career SC-Project Twins Cup victory, (on a CJ Czaia-sponsored Team Hammer Suzuki GSX-8R).
This one looked to be a Di Mario romp as the fast qualifier took off from the pack to earn what appeared to be a comfortable victory. But with his grip level fading quickly, the Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660-mounted Di Mario was a sitting duck as Dreher carved his way through traffic to get to the back of Di Mario with just a lap to go. And then he made his pass, crossing the finish line just .058 of a second ahead of the defending Twins Cup Champion.
Third place went to RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin, who came out on top of a fight with Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison by .048 of a second. Chapin’s third-place finish was his third straight podium finish after his two victories in the season opener at Daytona.
With Cunnison fourth, it was Brown Town Racing’s Chase Brown finishing fifth and well clear of Kock Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky, who in turn was well clear of MotorcycleUpholstery.com’s Treston Morrison.
Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh, Wolfe Racing’s Ryan Wolfe, and Duffy Racing’s Tyler Duffy rounded out the top 10.
“This is definitely a good turnaround from yesterday,” Dreher said. “I was laying on the ground at about 12 o’clock. The team worked hard to get the bike back together, so I was able to put it on the front row, which is decent. I wasn’t happy with my times, but we figured out a few things with the bike and I think we’re pretty dialed now. I honestly didn’t think I had the rear tire left there at the end. was spinning around everywhere and I didn’t want to push it too hard and end up on the floor but I just have to say a big thank you to the whole team.”
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Knebel Starts It Off
It wasn’t as dominating as most of Mikayla Moore’s victories in the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series the past two years, but Kira Knebel’s victory on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park shows the rest of the pack that they have a bit of work to do to keep pace.
Knebel, who finished third to Moore and Camille Conrad in last year’s title chase, bested Shea MacGregor by 6.7 seconds. Despite being beaten, MacGregor’s speed has improved greatly as her best result a season ago was sixth place en route to finishing seventh in the championship.
Knebel had this one in hand from the beginning, turning a best lap of 1:47.041 to win the opening round of the championship.
Conrad opened her second season in the class with a third-place finish, 4.7 seconds adrift of MacGregor. Miranda Cain and Cassie Creer rounded out the top five with those three covered by less than a second.
