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MotoAmerica: Supersport Race One Results From Road America (Updated)

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Xavi Fores won MotoAmerica Supersport Race One Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Riding his Panigale V2, Spaniard Fores fended off a race-long challenge from Stefano Mesa and Josh Hayes to earn his fourth win in four races so far in 2023.

Mesa, riding his Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R, passed Hayes on the penultimate lap but didn’t have enough to pass Fores and had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Hayes led at several points of the race on his Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 but ended up third.

Fores, Mesa, and Hayes all turned their fastest laps of the race on the last lap.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs beat Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert in a battle of GSX-R750s over fourth place.

 

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More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:

MotoAmerica Winners Keep Winning At Road America

Day One At Road America In Support Class Action

ELHART LAKE, WI (June 3, 2023) – Kyle Wyman, Avery Dreher, Xavi Fores and Ezra Beaubier kept their hot hands as the MotoAmerica Championship visited Road America on Saturday for the first day of two days of racing.

Wyman won his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in front of the partisan Harley-Davidson crowd; Dreher seemingly came out of nowhere to win his fourth Junior Cup race of the season; Fores remained undefeated in Supersport; and Ezra Beaubier won his third Steel Commander Stock 1000 race to extend his lead in the championship.

Steel Commander Stock 1000 – Beaubier!

MotoAmerica’s literbike riders love racing at Road America because the track favors horsepower, and the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class delivers it in spades. In race one, Orange Cat Racing’s Ezra Beaubier exploited the impressive power of his BMW M 1000 RR and won his third race of the year. Second place, and also riding a BMW M 1000 RR, went to Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman. The surprise of the race was Wyman’s younger brother Cody, who was pressed into action as a last-minute fill-in rider for the injured Brandon Paasch on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki. Cody Wyman, who had never before raced in the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class or aboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000R, rounded out the podium in third.

 

Ezra Beaubier (16) took his third win of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 series to extend his lead in the championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Ezra Beaubier (16) took his third win of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 series to extend his lead in the championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

“I knew we would be really strong this weekend,” Ezra Beaubier said. “Obviously, the BMW Alpha Racing package is really, really strong, especially here with all the long straightaways. Yesterday went really well. We found some more with the bike this morning. I wasn’t able to really put a clean lap together. I kind of just got held up with some traffic and didn’t get to show what my full potential was this morning. But I knew going into the race that we were going to be just as strong as anyone. I was ready to bring the fight. I knew those first couple laps it was going to be tough with going with the hard-option rear tire. It was super-slick and super-greasy those first couple laps. I saw Travis almost go down in the second-to-last corner. I kind of felt like that was my chance to try to break away and slowly just tried to inch away and saw I was slowly building a gap. Just kept my head down and kept clicking off my laps and just hitting my marks and did what I could to bring it home in P1.”

Junior Cup – Dreher From Well Back

MotoAmerica’s Junior Cup riders started the day at Road America, and the series’ entry-level riders, who are known to race close together in packs, take advantage of Road America’s four-mile race course and long straightaways to make draft passes at carefully timed moments. The result in race one was a photo finish with the podium decided after carefully studying the still photo captured at the finish line. Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki’s Avery Dreher very solidly won the race, while the second- and third-place finishers ended up being Fairium NGRT- Gray Area Racing Aprilia rider Rossi Moor, the former Mini Cup rider earning his first “big-bike” podium, and Belgian rider Levi Badie, who won race two at Barber Motorsports Park and notched his second-consecutive podium finish aboard his Badie Racing Kawasaki.

 

How close is close? Avery Dreher (99) looks over to witness the photo finish for second place in Saturday's Junior Cup race at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
How close is close? Avery Dreher (99) looks over to witness the photo finish for second place in Saturday’s Junior Cup race at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

“I was kind of anxious coming out of that last lap,” Dreher said. “I went to the race with the plan not leading on the front straightaway, even be third or fourth. Coming out of that last lap, I think I was at the back of the pack, or close to the back of the pack. So, I just had to make my moves. I made a couple moves in the second or third sector, and then I passed another rider on the back straightaway and came out of that front straight only expecting to be on the podium. I said in my head, ‘Man, I better do the best job of my life coming up to this last corner.’ Got on the gas super-early. Everyone was drafting, moving side to side, and then, they moved to the left and I just saw an opening and took it.”

Supersport – Fores, Again

At this still-early point in the season, it’s safe to say that Spaniard Xavi Fores loves racing in MotoAmerica. The Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider is undefeated so far this season, and he notched his fourth consecutive Supersport victory in race one at Road America.

 

Xavi Fores (12) won his fourth straight Supersport race on Saturday at Road America with victory over Stefano Mesa (37) and Josh Hayes (4). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Xavi Fores (12) won his fourth straight Supersport race on Saturday at Road America with victory over Stefano Mesa (37) and Josh Hayes (4). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

Incidentally, Fores has begun his first MotoAmerica season with more consecutive race victories than any other first-year rider in the history of the series. Fores and his Ducati Panigale V2 crossed the finish line just under 3/10ths of a second ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki’s Stefano Mesa. For Mesa, it was his third podium of the year. Also recording his third podium result of the season was Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, who was third aboard his Yamaha.

“About the race today, honestly I think it was the race I enjoyed more because, especially at the beginning of the race, I didn’t expect Josh to stay with us because during all the sessions yesterday and today, me and Stefano had something else compared to the others,” Fores said. “But you can’t forget Josh Hayes on the racing. He’s a dog. He has a lot of experience. You always have to count with him. So, when he passed me the first time on turn five, I said, ‘Oh, he’s here.’ He’s even strong on brakes, because I brake there really late, and he passed me. He was turning well. So, I said, okay, it’s going to be good fun today. I think all of us three have some strong points on our bike, so my bike is quite good on brakes and on the top of the power a little bit better than previously. Josh in the middle sector, the Yamaha is always amazing and he’s so fast on the long corners. It’s difficult to stay sometimes with him. When he passed me, he pulled some gap away two or three corners and I said, ‘I have to wake up otherwise he’s going to go.’ Stefano, he’s light. He’s quite aerodynamic. The bike is going fast. He showed a lot of potential this weekend and all the season. So, this means that every time we go out, we improve something, we learn something from each other. This is something that I think the fans are enjoying, as well, because we do some overtakes, clean overtakes always. A lot of respect. In the end, even if one of them wins the race I will be happy as well, because we are enjoying on the bike which is the priority. My bike was working well, as I said before. I need to find something on the forks because the last part of the fork, I feel always the bottom. I don’t feel really comfortable, and I run wide a couple of times. But, overall, I’m feeling good on the bike. Coming here and winning races is not that easy. Hopefully, tomorrow we can try again.”

Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman In Control

H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman won his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday at Road America with the Harley-Davidson factory rider passing Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods-backed Tyler O’Hara on the last lap to score the victory.

 

Kyle Wyman (33) hounded Tyler O'Hara (1) until passing him late in the race to win his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Kyle Wyman (33) hounded Tyler O’Hara (1) until passing him late in the race to win his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

At the finish line, Wyman was .567 of a second ahead of O’Hara, who in turn was 1.5 seconds ahead of Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli.

“I definitely planned to get him between (turns) seven and eight, but he made a bigger mistake than I had seen on the last few laps,” Wyman said. “So, the door opened quite a bit earlier. He tried to brake me back into eight, but he was going to be super late. Luckily, I was able to slow the thing and square him up and get back past him. I was hoping I could find a little something. I had not been really that comfortable this weekend, and when the race comes you just got to dig a little bit deeper. We found what we needed. I really thought about going sooner, but since we had a gap and it was just us two, I didn’t want to slow each other up and make it a more complicated chess game towards the end. So, it was going to be a lot easier to win that race one on one. We played our cards right.

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Moore Simply Unstoppable

Nineteen-year-old Mikayla Moore simply dominated Saturday’s opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series with a 17.206-second victory over last year’s championship runner-up Crystal Martinez at Road America.

 

Mikayla Moore won the opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Mikayla Moore won the opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

So, in FP1 I ended up doing three minutes and two seconds (lap time),” Moore said. “That was my best, and then in qualifying two I got it down to a 2:56. I had to make some suspension changes, especially in the rear, and it definitely helped a lot.”

Defending series champion Kayleigh Buyck had a mechanical problem that dropped her out of second place early in the race.

Mission Mini Cup By Motul (Friday) – Gouker Dominates

Mission Foods Mini Cup by Motul kicked off the weekend at Road America on Friday with great races across multiple classes.

In Stock 50, Weston Fager and Cruise Texter battled all day with Fager taking both wins and Texter ending up second. Nico Bandel rounded out the podium in both races.

The Stock 110/125 class had a barn burner race one with Ryan Clark and Joel Laub going back and forth multiple times throughout the race. At the finish, Clark narrowly got the win by .105 of a second. Clark was a little more dominant in race two, taking the victory. Jacob Davis was third in both races. Nathan Bettencourt, meanwhile, took the combined-class win.

The Ohvale 160 class has been the most competitive all year and day one at Road America was no different. Nathan Gouker dominated both races by over 13 and 18 seconds. Mahdi Salem put up some good rides to finish second in both races. Kruz Maddison finished third in race one with Reese Frankenfield taking the final podium spot in race two.

Ryder Davis kept his winning streak alive in the Ohvale 190 class by winning both races. Josh Raymond kept him honest in second with third going to

Nathan Bettencourt, who was pulling double duty in addition to the Stock 110/125 class.

Mission Mini Cup By Motul (Saturday) – More Gouker, More Davis

Stadler America’s Nathan Gouker and Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis continued their domination of the 160 Ohvale and 190 Ohvale classes in the MotoAmerica Mini Cup series at the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex on Saturday evening.

In Stock class racing, Cruise Texter and Weston Fager split wins in the Stock 50 class while Ryan Clark completely dominated the Stock 110/Stock 125 class.

MotoAmerica: Steel Commander Stock 1000 Race One Results From Road America

Ezra Beaubier, the younger brother of Cameron Beaubier, took a convincing victory in MotoAmerica Steel Commander Stock 1000 Race One at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Orange Cat Racing BMW M 1000 RR, Beaubier took the lead on the first lap, withstood a strong challenge from Travis Wyman, and held on to win by 2.717 seconds. It was Beaubier’s third win and fifth podium in five races so far this season.

Wyman, the pole-sitter, pushed Beaubier to the end but had to settle for the runner-up spot on his Travis Wyman Racing BMW M 1000 RR.

Travis Wyman’s younger brother Cody Wyman, who was riding in place of injured Brandon Paasch on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000R, came from behind to take third on the final lap.

Beaubier’s teammate Kaleb De Keyrel was running third until he was demoted to fourth by Cody Wyman.

Hayden Gillim got off to a slow start on his Disrupt Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000R but was able to work his way up to fifth, just 0.433 second behind De Keyrel at the finish.

 

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MotoAmerica: Junior Cup Race One Results From Road America

Championship leader Avery Dreher used a multi-bike draft on the final lap to win a thrilling MotoAmerica Junior Cup Race One Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was Dreher’s fourth win in five races on his Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki Ninja 400 so far in 2023.

Rossi Moor finished second, earning his first MotoAmerica Junior Cup podium, on his Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing KTM RC 390 R.

Levi Badie led a lot of the race on his Levi Badie Racing Kawasaki but got shuffled backward on the run to the finish line and ended up third.

Max Van was originally scored third on his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki, but after the podium ceremony and a video review of the finish he was reclassified fourth.

Hayden Bicknese got fifth on his Bicknese Racing Kawasaki and was just 0.6 second behind behind the winner at the finish.

 

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MotoAmerica: King Of The Baggers Challenge Results From Road America

Defending Champion Tyler O’Hara won the MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge dash for cash Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Progressive Insurance/Mission Foods Indian Challenge, O’Hara won the two-lap sprint by 0.316 second, earning the $5,000 cash prize.

James Rispoli was a close second on his Vance & Hines/Mission Harley-Davidson Road Glide.

Kyle Wyman, the 2021 King Of The Baggers Champion, finished third on his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson Road Glide.

Rispoli’s teammate Hayden Gillim was the fourth and final finisher, just 1.241 seconds behind O’Hara.

Bobby Fong, the fastest qualifier, was unable to make the start after crashing in Qualifying Two (Q2) moments before the Challenge.

O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams didn’t crash but a problem with a wheel change in between Q2 and the Challenge prevented him from starting the dash for cash.

 

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MotoAmerica: Fong Gets King Of The Baggers Pole At Road America

Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands Design Indian’s Bobby Fong crashed during MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers Qualifying Two (Q2) Saturday morning at Road America, but the recording breaking lap time of 2:20.817 Fong did on Friday held up to get him pole position.

Hayden Gillim topped Q2 with a 2:20.834 on his Vance & Hines/Mission Harley-Davidson Road Glide, but that was only good enough for the second spot on the grid.

Defending Champion Tyler O’Hara claimed the third and final spot on the front row with a 2:21.029 on his Progressive Insurance/Mission Foods Indian Challenger.

 

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Isle Of Man TT: Supersport TT Race One Report

DUNLOP TAKES FIRST WIN OF TT IN MONSTER ENERGY SUPERSPORT TT RACE 1

Michael Dunlop got race week underway at the Isle of Man TT Races with victory in the opening Monster Energy Supersport TT Race, his tenth victory in the class and 22nd in total.

Riding the MD Racing Yamaha, Dunlop grabbed the lead at Ballaugh on lap one and was never headed, eventually winning with a race record time by 12.3seconds with Peter Hickman (K2 Trooper Beer Triumph) getting the better of Dean Harrison (BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha) for second, the gap between the two at the end of four laps just 0.394s.

With superb conditions again all-round the Mountain Course, Harrison led through Glen Helen on lap one, his advantage over Dunlop half a second with Hickman a further second back in third. Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda) was another seven tenths of a second back with Harrison’s team-mate James Hillier two tenths adrift of the Honda rider.

Jamie Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Yamaha) rounded out the early top six with 3.4s covering the top six riders but Mike Browne was a non-starter having blown an engine in the earlier warm-up lap.

Dunlop nosed ahead on the run to Ballaugh with his advantage over Harrison now 1.5 seconds with a similar distance back to Hickman. Coward had moved up to fourth though having overhauled both Todd and Hillier. Behind them, James Hind and Craig Neve were going well in seventh and eighth.

The lead had stretched to 3.6 seconds at Ramsey and the gap widened as Dunlop went up and over Snaefell Mountain, an opening lap of 128.305mph giving him a 5.4s advantage over Harrison. Hickman remained in third but was now 4.6 seconds adrift of Harrison although he was holding a similar gap over fourth-placed Coward.

Todd and Hillier were locked in battle for fifth with Hind still in seventh but there was change further back with Paul Jordan up to eighth ahead of Rob Hodson and David Johnson.

Lap two and Harrison continued to lead on the road, but he was continually losing ground to Dunlop, the gap at Glen Helen up to 7.3 seconds. Dunlop had also overtaken Coward so had clear track ahead of him and had Harrison firmly in his sights. Third to sixth remained the same but Jordan had now got ahead of Hind for seventh.

Dunlop continued to extend his lead throughout the second lap and as he came into the pits for fuel, an improved lap speed of 129.136mph gave him a healthy 13.4s advantage. Harrison, in turn, was only 8.6s clear of Hickman with Coward still in contention for a podium position as he sat just 6.2 seconds adrift.

Todd and Hillier were still running in fifth and sixth with Jordan in seventh but Hodson and Johnson both moved up a place as Hind was hit with a 30 second penalty for speeding in pit lane, the youngster dropping out of the top ten because of the indiscretion.

After the fuel stop, Harrison cut Dunlop’s lead by two seconds on the third run to Glen Helen with Coward losing time at the pits and falling into the clutches of Todd, the gap between them now down to two seconds.

Back at the front and Dunlop quickly reasserted himself back in the race and going into the fourth and final lap, his lead stood at 17.5s. With a comfortable advantage, all eyes fell on the battle for second with Hickman cutting the gap to Harrison to just 3.9 seconds. Coward, meanwhile, had edged away from Todd once more to the tune of 5.3 seconds with Hillier in a safe sixth.

With a healthy margin, Dunlop was able to ride to his signals on the final lap and duly took the chequered flag for yet another TT victory, but Hickman closed in on Harrison throughout the lap and finally got the better of him on the one-mile dash from Cronk ny Mona to the Grandstand, aided by a 129mph+ lap.

Coward saw off the challenge of Todd to take a fine fourth with Hillier in sixth ahead of Jordan, Johnson, Hodson and Hind who recovered from his penalty to take tenth. Local rider Ryan Cringle was the best newcomer in 22nd after lapping at 120.364mph on his final lap.

MotoAmerica: Herrin Breaks Lap Record, Takes Superbike Pole At Road America

Josh Herrin broke the lap record and captured pole position during MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Qualifying Two (Q2) Saturday morning at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R on Dunlop’s new Sportmax Slicks, Herrin lapped the four-mile course in 2:09.111, improving on the 2:11.656 he did in Q1 and breaking the All-Time Lap Record of 2:09.629 Cameron Beaubier set on Friday.

The All-Time Lap Record coming into the weekend was Jake Gagne’s 2:10.529.

Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW’s Beaubier held provisional pole with his 2:09.629 on Friday and improved that to 2:09.387 on Saturday, but that was only good enough for second on the grid.

Beaubier’s teammate PJ Jacobsen also improved his time on Saturday, lowering it from 2:10.296 to 2:09.696, earning him the third and final spot on the front row.

Mathew Scholtz also went faster Saturday and claimed the fourth spot on the grid with a 2:10.016 on his Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.

After missing Q1 entirely due to technical issues, Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen (2:11.188) and Jake Gagne (2:11.226) qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, in Saturday’s 30-minute Q2 session.

Qualifying on row three of the grid were Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammates Richie Escalante (2:11.331) and Toni Elias (2:11.396) along with Corey Alexander (2:11.896) on the third Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW.

 

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MotoAmerica: Travis Wyman Snags Stock 1000 Pole Position At Road America

Travis Wyman snagged pole position during MotoAmerica Steel Commander Stock 1000 Qualifying Two Saturday morning at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Travis Wyman Racing BMW M 1000 RR, Wyman lapped the 4.0-mile, 14-turn course in 2:13.775, which was just shy of Corey Alexander’s All-Time Lap Record of 2:13.670.

 

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World Supersport: Race One Results From Misano

Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega won World Supersport Race One Saturday at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, in Rimini, Italy.

Riding his factory Panigale V2, Bulega won the 18-lap race by 1.609 seconds and extended his Chamionship point lead. It was the Italian rider’s sixth win of the season.

Stefano Manzi took second place on his Ten Kate Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, just 0.205 second ahead of Federico Caricasulo and his Althea Racing Ducati in third.

 

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WSS Points after R1

WorldSBK: Race One Results From Misano (Updated)

Defending World Champion Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, in Rimini, San Marino.

Riding his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, the Spaniard won the 20-lap race by 5.221 seconds. It was his ninth race victory of the season, extending his lead in the Championship point standings.

Bautista’s teammate Michael Rinaldi was the runner-up, and Toprak Razgatlioglu finished third on his Pata Yamaha Prometeon YZF-R1.

American Garrett Gerloff got 13th on his Bonovo Action BMW M 1000 RR, just one second behind Xavi Vierge in 10th.

 

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SBK Points after R1

 

 

 

More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

“Giallo Ducati” makes a triumphant return to WorldSBK in Misano

The Championship leader Alvaro Bautista claimed his 12th win of the season with Ducati. He took his 70th WorldSBK podium boosting his lead to a 78-point advantage over Razgatlioglu.

 

Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano. Photo courtesy Dorna.

 

P1 | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati

“Today, I’m happy because it has been a good day for Ducati. I had really good feedback again with the bike, even in those conditions. In Race 1, it was really warm, and the feeling with the bike was amazing. Now I can be very consistent and very fast from the first lap, so I’m happy. Maybe it seems easy from the outside, but believe me, I had to push very hard to maintain this race pace. I was in the 1’33s high, 1’34s low for almost the entire race, and it was not easy. However, I was enjoying every corner, and I was able to stay focused and concentrated throughout the race.”

Local hero Michael Ruben Rinaldi finished second in Race 1 for his 18th podium, for the fourth time in 2023.

 

Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammates Alvaro Bautista (left) and Michael Rinaldi (right) went 1-2 in Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammates Alvaro Bautista (left) and Michael Rinaldi (right) went 1-2 in Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.

 

P2 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati

“I’m very happy for myself and for the team because it was a 1-2 and that’s always great! I’m really happy about my kind of performance, I didn’t expect to have this kind of race pace, but I was able to lap quickly. I couldn’t explain how Alvaro was doing his pace, he was riding absolutely unbelievably, so he deserves the win. I’m happy about what we’ve done; compared to last year and in 2021 when I won, I’m seven or eight tenths faster per lap so I’m really happy about this. For sure, I’ll try and win sooner or later. I’m really happy about this result.”

 

Toprak Razgatlioglu (54). Photo courtesy Dorna.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (54). Photo courtesy Dorna.

Toprak Razgatlioglu completed Race 1 podium finishing 8.971s behind Bautista. He remains second in the Championship standing.

 

Axel Bassani (47) leads Jonathan Rea (65) and Dominique Aegerter (77) during Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Axel Bassani (47) leads Jonathan Rea (65) and Dominique Aegerter (77) during Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.

Fourth place went to Italian Axel Bassani who stands in fifth in the Championship standings.

WorldSBK Race 1 Report

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship racing action got underway with a shortened 20-lap Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) led teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi as the pair sported a special yellow livery in Race 1. Bautista had a five-second margin over his teammate has he made it 12 wins from 13 races in 2023 while Rinaldi added to his Misano podium count.

As the lights went out for the 20-lap race, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Rinaldi looked to have got a better start compared to Bautista but the reigning Champion was able to hold on from the pair to keep the lead from pole position. The trio fought it out over the early laps of the race with Razgatlioglu aiming to pass Rinaldi around the outside into Turn 4 with the Italian defending to keep second place.

As the race settled down, Bautista and Rinaldi were both able to gap Razgatlioglu in first and second place respectively to claim a home victory for Ducati on a special liveried Panigale V4 R, with the bike running yellow colours rather than red to pay homage to Ducati’s history.

While the two Ducati riders checked out in front, Razgatlioglu had to withstand some early pressure from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but the 2021 Champion was able to resist that pressure before pulling out a gap over his rivals. As the race hit the halfway stage, Petrucci dropped Bassani behind him and started gaining on Razgatlioglu in the podium fight. By Lap 12, Ragatlioglu started pulling away from the Italian rookie to claim third place. Razgatlioglu’s third place means he closes in on a century of WorldSBK podium while it was Yamaha’s 349th race on the podium.

WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 09:00 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00.

Unveiled before the start of Race 1 for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati riders Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, the yellow livery pays tribute to some historic bikes from Ducati, including the 750 Sport and 750 SS Desmo in the 1970s, before the yellow livery became more popular in the 1990s. Ducati models including the 916, 996, 749, 999 and 1199 have all been run in the yellow livery. Famously, Pierfrancesco Chilli raced the Ducati 998 RS in yellow and won in 2004 at Misano running a yellow livery while Paolo Casoli led a race using a yellow Ducati at 1996 in Hockenheim, Steve Martin ran it in 2004 and Lorenzo Lanzi claimed a race victory at Valencia in 2008 on a yellow liveried Ducati.

MotoAmerica: Supersport Race One Results From Road America (Updated)

Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy Road America.
Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy Road America.

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC rider Xavi Fores won MotoAmerica Supersport Race One Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Riding his Panigale V2, Spaniard Fores fended off a race-long challenge from Stefano Mesa and Josh Hayes to earn his fourth win in four races so far in 2023.

Mesa, riding his Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R, passed Hayes on the penultimate lap but didn’t have enough to pass Fores and had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Hayes led at several points of the race on his Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 but ended up third.

Fores, Mesa, and Hayes all turned their fastest laps of the race on the last lap.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs beat Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert in a battle of GSX-R750s over fourth place.

 

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More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:

MotoAmerica Winners Keep Winning At Road America

Day One At Road America In Support Class Action

ELHART LAKE, WI (June 3, 2023) – Kyle Wyman, Avery Dreher, Xavi Fores and Ezra Beaubier kept their hot hands as the MotoAmerica Championship visited Road America on Saturday for the first day of two days of racing.

Wyman won his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in front of the partisan Harley-Davidson crowd; Dreher seemingly came out of nowhere to win his fourth Junior Cup race of the season; Fores remained undefeated in Supersport; and Ezra Beaubier won his third Steel Commander Stock 1000 race to extend his lead in the championship.

Steel Commander Stock 1000 – Beaubier!

MotoAmerica’s literbike riders love racing at Road America because the track favors horsepower, and the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class delivers it in spades. In race one, Orange Cat Racing’s Ezra Beaubier exploited the impressive power of his BMW M 1000 RR and won his third race of the year. Second place, and also riding a BMW M 1000 RR, went to Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman. The surprise of the race was Wyman’s younger brother Cody, who was pressed into action as a last-minute fill-in rider for the injured Brandon Paasch on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki. Cody Wyman, who had never before raced in the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class or aboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000R, rounded out the podium in third.

 

Ezra Beaubier (16) took his third win of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 series to extend his lead in the championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Ezra Beaubier (16) took his third win of the Steel Commander Stock 1000 series to extend his lead in the championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

“I knew we would be really strong this weekend,” Ezra Beaubier said. “Obviously, the BMW Alpha Racing package is really, really strong, especially here with all the long straightaways. Yesterday went really well. We found some more with the bike this morning. I wasn’t able to really put a clean lap together. I kind of just got held up with some traffic and didn’t get to show what my full potential was this morning. But I knew going into the race that we were going to be just as strong as anyone. I was ready to bring the fight. I knew those first couple laps it was going to be tough with going with the hard-option rear tire. It was super-slick and super-greasy those first couple laps. I saw Travis almost go down in the second-to-last corner. I kind of felt like that was my chance to try to break away and slowly just tried to inch away and saw I was slowly building a gap. Just kept my head down and kept clicking off my laps and just hitting my marks and did what I could to bring it home in P1.”

Junior Cup – Dreher From Well Back

MotoAmerica’s Junior Cup riders started the day at Road America, and the series’ entry-level riders, who are known to race close together in packs, take advantage of Road America’s four-mile race course and long straightaways to make draft passes at carefully timed moments. The result in race one was a photo finish with the podium decided after carefully studying the still photo captured at the finish line. Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki’s Avery Dreher very solidly won the race, while the second- and third-place finishers ended up being Fairium NGRT- Gray Area Racing Aprilia rider Rossi Moor, the former Mini Cup rider earning his first “big-bike” podium, and Belgian rider Levi Badie, who won race two at Barber Motorsports Park and notched his second-consecutive podium finish aboard his Badie Racing Kawasaki.

 

How close is close? Avery Dreher (99) looks over to witness the photo finish for second place in Saturday's Junior Cup race at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
How close is close? Avery Dreher (99) looks over to witness the photo finish for second place in Saturday’s Junior Cup race at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

“I was kind of anxious coming out of that last lap,” Dreher said. “I went to the race with the plan not leading on the front straightaway, even be third or fourth. Coming out of that last lap, I think I was at the back of the pack, or close to the back of the pack. So, I just had to make my moves. I made a couple moves in the second or third sector, and then I passed another rider on the back straightaway and came out of that front straight only expecting to be on the podium. I said in my head, ‘Man, I better do the best job of my life coming up to this last corner.’ Got on the gas super-early. Everyone was drafting, moving side to side, and then, they moved to the left and I just saw an opening and took it.”

Supersport – Fores, Again

At this still-early point in the season, it’s safe to say that Spaniard Xavi Fores loves racing in MotoAmerica. The Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider is undefeated so far this season, and he notched his fourth consecutive Supersport victory in race one at Road America.

 

Xavi Fores (12) won his fourth straight Supersport race on Saturday at Road America with victory over Stefano Mesa (37) and Josh Hayes (4). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Xavi Fores (12) won his fourth straight Supersport race on Saturday at Road America with victory over Stefano Mesa (37) and Josh Hayes (4). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

Incidentally, Fores has begun his first MotoAmerica season with more consecutive race victories than any other first-year rider in the history of the series. Fores and his Ducati Panigale V2 crossed the finish line just under 3/10ths of a second ahead of Tytlers Cycle Racing Kawasaki’s Stefano Mesa. For Mesa, it was his third podium of the year. Also recording his third podium result of the season was Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, who was third aboard his Yamaha.

“About the race today, honestly I think it was the race I enjoyed more because, especially at the beginning of the race, I didn’t expect Josh to stay with us because during all the sessions yesterday and today, me and Stefano had something else compared to the others,” Fores said. “But you can’t forget Josh Hayes on the racing. He’s a dog. He has a lot of experience. You always have to count with him. So, when he passed me the first time on turn five, I said, ‘Oh, he’s here.’ He’s even strong on brakes, because I brake there really late, and he passed me. He was turning well. So, I said, okay, it’s going to be good fun today. I think all of us three have some strong points on our bike, so my bike is quite good on brakes and on the top of the power a little bit better than previously. Josh in the middle sector, the Yamaha is always amazing and he’s so fast on the long corners. It’s difficult to stay sometimes with him. When he passed me, he pulled some gap away two or three corners and I said, ‘I have to wake up otherwise he’s going to go.’ Stefano, he’s light. He’s quite aerodynamic. The bike is going fast. He showed a lot of potential this weekend and all the season. So, this means that every time we go out, we improve something, we learn something from each other. This is something that I think the fans are enjoying, as well, because we do some overtakes, clean overtakes always. A lot of respect. In the end, even if one of them wins the race I will be happy as well, because we are enjoying on the bike which is the priority. My bike was working well, as I said before. I need to find something on the forks because the last part of the fork, I feel always the bottom. I don’t feel really comfortable, and I run wide a couple of times. But, overall, I’m feeling good on the bike. Coming here and winning races is not that easy. Hopefully, tomorrow we can try again.”

Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman In Control

H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman won his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday at Road America with the Harley-Davidson factory rider passing Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods-backed Tyler O’Hara on the last lap to score the victory.

 

Kyle Wyman (33) hounded Tyler O'Hara (1) until passing him late in the race to win his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Kyle Wyman (33) hounded Tyler O’Hara (1) until passing him late in the race to win his fourth Mission King Of The Baggers race in a row on Saturday. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

At the finish line, Wyman was .567 of a second ahead of O’Hara, who in turn was 1.5 seconds ahead of Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli.

“I definitely planned to get him between (turns) seven and eight, but he made a bigger mistake than I had seen on the last few laps,” Wyman said. “So, the door opened quite a bit earlier. He tried to brake me back into eight, but he was going to be super late. Luckily, I was able to slow the thing and square him up and get back past him. I was hoping I could find a little something. I had not been really that comfortable this weekend, and when the race comes you just got to dig a little bit deeper. We found what we needed. I really thought about going sooner, but since we had a gap and it was just us two, I didn’t want to slow each other up and make it a more complicated chess game towards the end. So, it was going to be a lot easier to win that race one on one. We played our cards right.

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Moore Simply Unstoppable

Nineteen-year-old Mikayla Moore simply dominated Saturday’s opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series with a 17.206-second victory over last year’s championship runner-up Crystal Martinez at Road America.

 

Mikayla Moore won the opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Mikayla Moore won the opening round of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

 

So, in FP1 I ended up doing three minutes and two seconds (lap time),” Moore said. “That was my best, and then in qualifying two I got it down to a 2:56. I had to make some suspension changes, especially in the rear, and it definitely helped a lot.”

Defending series champion Kayleigh Buyck had a mechanical problem that dropped her out of second place early in the race.

Mission Mini Cup By Motul (Friday) – Gouker Dominates

Mission Foods Mini Cup by Motul kicked off the weekend at Road America on Friday with great races across multiple classes.

In Stock 50, Weston Fager and Cruise Texter battled all day with Fager taking both wins and Texter ending up second. Nico Bandel rounded out the podium in both races.

The Stock 110/125 class had a barn burner race one with Ryan Clark and Joel Laub going back and forth multiple times throughout the race. At the finish, Clark narrowly got the win by .105 of a second. Clark was a little more dominant in race two, taking the victory. Jacob Davis was third in both races. Nathan Bettencourt, meanwhile, took the combined-class win.

The Ohvale 160 class has been the most competitive all year and day one at Road America was no different. Nathan Gouker dominated both races by over 13 and 18 seconds. Mahdi Salem put up some good rides to finish second in both races. Kruz Maddison finished third in race one with Reese Frankenfield taking the final podium spot in race two.

Ryder Davis kept his winning streak alive in the Ohvale 190 class by winning both races. Josh Raymond kept him honest in second with third going to

Nathan Bettencourt, who was pulling double duty in addition to the Stock 110/125 class.

Mission Mini Cup By Motul (Saturday) – More Gouker, More Davis

Stadler America’s Nathan Gouker and Alpha Omega’s Ryder Davis continued their domination of the 160 Ohvale and 190 Ohvale classes in the MotoAmerica Mini Cup series at the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex on Saturday evening.

In Stock class racing, Cruise Texter and Weston Fager split wins in the Stock 50 class while Ryan Clark completely dominated the Stock 110/Stock 125 class.

MotoAmerica: Steel Commander Stock 1000 Race One Results From Road America

Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy Road America.
Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy Road America.

Ezra Beaubier, the younger brother of Cameron Beaubier, took a convincing victory in MotoAmerica Steel Commander Stock 1000 Race One at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Orange Cat Racing BMW M 1000 RR, Beaubier took the lead on the first lap, withstood a strong challenge from Travis Wyman, and held on to win by 2.717 seconds. It was Beaubier’s third win and fifth podium in five races so far this season.

Wyman, the pole-sitter, pushed Beaubier to the end but had to settle for the runner-up spot on his Travis Wyman Racing BMW M 1000 RR.

Travis Wyman’s younger brother Cody Wyman, who was riding in place of injured Brandon Paasch on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000R, came from behind to take third on the final lap.

Beaubier’s teammate Kaleb De Keyrel was running third until he was demoted to fourth by Cody Wyman.

Hayden Gillim got off to a slow start on his Disrupt Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000R but was able to work his way up to fifth, just 0.433 second behind De Keyrel at the finish.

 

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MotoAmerica: Junior Cup Race One Results From Road America

Road America. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy of Road America.
Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy of Road America.

Championship leader Avery Dreher used a multi-bike draft on the final lap to win a thrilling MotoAmerica Junior Cup Race One Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was Dreher’s fourth win in five races on his Bad Boys Racing Kawasaki Ninja 400 so far in 2023.

Rossi Moor finished second, earning his first MotoAmerica Junior Cup podium, on his Fairium NGRT – Gray Area Racing KTM RC 390 R.

Levi Badie led a lot of the race on his Levi Badie Racing Kawasaki but got shuffled backward on the run to the finish line and ended up third.

Max Van was originally scored third on his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki, but after the podium ceremony and a video review of the finish he was reclassified fourth.

Hayden Bicknese got fifth on his Bicknese Racing Kawasaki and was just 0.6 second behind behind the winner at the finish.

 

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MotoAmerica: King Of The Baggers Challenge Results From Road America

Road America. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy of Road America.
Road America, prior to its recent repaving. Photo by John Ewert, courtesy of Road America.

Defending Champion Tyler O’Hara won the MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge dash for cash Saturday at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Progressive Insurance/Mission Foods Indian Challenge, O’Hara won the two-lap sprint by 0.316 second, earning the $5,000 cash prize.

James Rispoli was a close second on his Vance & Hines/Mission Harley-Davidson Road Glide.

Kyle Wyman, the 2021 King Of The Baggers Champion, finished third on his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson Road Glide.

Rispoli’s teammate Hayden Gillim was the fourth and final finisher, just 1.241 seconds behind O’Hara.

Bobby Fong, the fastest qualifier, was unable to make the start after crashing in Qualifying Two (Q2) moments before the Challenge.

O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams didn’t crash but a problem with a wheel change in between Q2 and the Challenge prevented him from starting the dash for cash.

 

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MotoAmerica: Fong Gets King Of The Baggers Pole At Road America

Bobby Fong (50). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands Design Indian’s Bobby Fong crashed during MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers Qualifying Two (Q2) Saturday morning at Road America, but the recording breaking lap time of 2:20.817 Fong did on Friday held up to get him pole position.

Hayden Gillim topped Q2 with a 2:20.834 on his Vance & Hines/Mission Harley-Davidson Road Glide, but that was only good enough for the second spot on the grid.

Defending Champion Tyler O’Hara claimed the third and final spot on the front row with a 2:21.029 on his Progressive Insurance/Mission Foods Indian Challenger.

 

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Isle Of Man TT: Supersport TT Race One Report

Michael Dunlop (6) leaving the starting line at the Isle of Man TT earlier this week. Photo courtesy Isle of Man TT Press Office.
Michael Dunlop (6) leaving the starting line at the Isle of Man TT earlier this week. Photo courtesy Isle of Man TT Press Office.

DUNLOP TAKES FIRST WIN OF TT IN MONSTER ENERGY SUPERSPORT TT RACE 1

Michael Dunlop got race week underway at the Isle of Man TT Races with victory in the opening Monster Energy Supersport TT Race, his tenth victory in the class and 22nd in total.

Riding the MD Racing Yamaha, Dunlop grabbed the lead at Ballaugh on lap one and was never headed, eventually winning with a race record time by 12.3seconds with Peter Hickman (K2 Trooper Beer Triumph) getting the better of Dean Harrison (BPE by Russell Racing Yamaha) for second, the gap between the two at the end of four laps just 0.394s.

With superb conditions again all-round the Mountain Course, Harrison led through Glen Helen on lap one, his advantage over Dunlop half a second with Hickman a further second back in third. Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda) was another seven tenths of a second back with Harrison’s team-mate James Hillier two tenths adrift of the Honda rider.

Jamie Coward (KTS Racing powered by Steadplan Yamaha) rounded out the early top six with 3.4s covering the top six riders but Mike Browne was a non-starter having blown an engine in the earlier warm-up lap.

Dunlop nosed ahead on the run to Ballaugh with his advantage over Harrison now 1.5 seconds with a similar distance back to Hickman. Coward had moved up to fourth though having overhauled both Todd and Hillier. Behind them, James Hind and Craig Neve were going well in seventh and eighth.

The lead had stretched to 3.6 seconds at Ramsey and the gap widened as Dunlop went up and over Snaefell Mountain, an opening lap of 128.305mph giving him a 5.4s advantage over Harrison. Hickman remained in third but was now 4.6 seconds adrift of Harrison although he was holding a similar gap over fourth-placed Coward.

Todd and Hillier were locked in battle for fifth with Hind still in seventh but there was change further back with Paul Jordan up to eighth ahead of Rob Hodson and David Johnson.

Lap two and Harrison continued to lead on the road, but he was continually losing ground to Dunlop, the gap at Glen Helen up to 7.3 seconds. Dunlop had also overtaken Coward so had clear track ahead of him and had Harrison firmly in his sights. Third to sixth remained the same but Jordan had now got ahead of Hind for seventh.

Dunlop continued to extend his lead throughout the second lap and as he came into the pits for fuel, an improved lap speed of 129.136mph gave him a healthy 13.4s advantage. Harrison, in turn, was only 8.6s clear of Hickman with Coward still in contention for a podium position as he sat just 6.2 seconds adrift.

Todd and Hillier were still running in fifth and sixth with Jordan in seventh but Hodson and Johnson both moved up a place as Hind was hit with a 30 second penalty for speeding in pit lane, the youngster dropping out of the top ten because of the indiscretion.

After the fuel stop, Harrison cut Dunlop’s lead by two seconds on the third run to Glen Helen with Coward losing time at the pits and falling into the clutches of Todd, the gap between them now down to two seconds.

Back at the front and Dunlop quickly reasserted himself back in the race and going into the fourth and final lap, his lead stood at 17.5s. With a comfortable advantage, all eyes fell on the battle for second with Hickman cutting the gap to Harrison to just 3.9 seconds. Coward, meanwhile, had edged away from Todd once more to the tune of 5.3 seconds with Hillier in a safe sixth.

With a healthy margin, Dunlop was able to ride to his signals on the final lap and duly took the chequered flag for yet another TT victory, but Hickman closed in on Harrison throughout the lap and finally got the better of him on the one-mile dash from Cronk ny Mona to the Grandstand, aided by a 129mph+ lap.

Coward saw off the challenge of Todd to take a fine fourth with Hillier in sixth ahead of Jordan, Johnson, Hodson and Hind who recovered from his penalty to take tenth. Local rider Ryan Cringle was the best newcomer in 22nd after lapping at 120.364mph on his final lap.

MotoAmerica: Herrin Breaks Lap Record, Takes Superbike Pole At Road America

Josh Herrin (2). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Josh Herrin (2), as seen earlier this season at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Josh Herrin broke the lap record and captured pole position during MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Qualifying Two (Q2) Saturday morning at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R on Dunlop’s new Sportmax Slicks, Herrin lapped the four-mile course in 2:09.111, improving on the 2:11.656 he did in Q1 and breaking the All-Time Lap Record of 2:09.629 Cameron Beaubier set on Friday.

The All-Time Lap Record coming into the weekend was Jake Gagne’s 2:10.529.

Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW’s Beaubier held provisional pole with his 2:09.629 on Friday and improved that to 2:09.387 on Saturday, but that was only good enough for second on the grid.

Beaubier’s teammate PJ Jacobsen also improved his time on Saturday, lowering it from 2:10.296 to 2:09.696, earning him the third and final spot on the front row.

Mathew Scholtz also went faster Saturday and claimed the fourth spot on the grid with a 2:10.016 on his Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.

After missing Q1 entirely due to technical issues, Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen (2:11.188) and Jake Gagne (2:11.226) qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, in Saturday’s 30-minute Q2 session.

Qualifying on row three of the grid were Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammates Richie Escalante (2:11.331) and Toni Elias (2:11.396) along with Corey Alexander (2:11.896) on the third Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW.

 

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MotoAmerica: Travis Wyman Snags Stock 1000 Pole Position At Road America

Travis Wyman (10). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Travis Wyman (10). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Travis Wyman snagged pole position during MotoAmerica Steel Commander Stock 1000 Qualifying Two Saturday morning at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Riding his Travis Wyman Racing BMW M 1000 RR, Wyman lapped the 4.0-mile, 14-turn course in 2:13.775, which was just shy of Corey Alexander’s All-Time Lap Record of 2:13.670.

 

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World Supersport: Race One Results From Misano

Misano World Circuit - Marco Simoncelli. Photo courtesy Michelin.
Misano World Circuit - Marco Simoncelli. Photo courtesy Michelin.

Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega won World Supersport Race One Saturday at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, in Rimini, Italy.

Riding his factory Panigale V2, Bulega won the 18-lap race by 1.609 seconds and extended his Chamionship point lead. It was the Italian rider’s sixth win of the season.

Stefano Manzi took second place on his Ten Kate Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, just 0.205 second ahead of Federico Caricasulo and his Althea Racing Ducati in third.

 

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WSS Points after R1

WorldSBK: Race One Results From Misano (Updated)

Misano World Circuit - Marco Simoncelli. Photo courtesy Michelin.
Misano World Circuit - Marco Simoncelli. Photo courtesy Michelin.

Defending World Champion Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, in Rimini, San Marino.

Riding his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, the Spaniard won the 20-lap race by 5.221 seconds. It was his ninth race victory of the season, extending his lead in the Championship point standings.

Bautista’s teammate Michael Rinaldi was the runner-up, and Toprak Razgatlioglu finished third on his Pata Yamaha Prometeon YZF-R1.

American Garrett Gerloff got 13th on his Bonovo Action BMW M 1000 RR, just one second behind Xavi Vierge in 10th.

 

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More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

“Giallo Ducati” makes a triumphant return to WorldSBK in Misano

The Championship leader Alvaro Bautista claimed his 12th win of the season with Ducati. He took his 70th WorldSBK podium boosting his lead to a 78-point advantage over Razgatlioglu.

 

Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Alvaro Bautista won World Superbike Race One Saturday at Misano. Photo courtesy Dorna.

 

P1 | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati

“Today, I’m happy because it has been a good day for Ducati. I had really good feedback again with the bike, even in those conditions. In Race 1, it was really warm, and the feeling with the bike was amazing. Now I can be very consistent and very fast from the first lap, so I’m happy. Maybe it seems easy from the outside, but believe me, I had to push very hard to maintain this race pace. I was in the 1’33s high, 1’34s low for almost the entire race, and it was not easy. However, I was enjoying every corner, and I was able to stay focused and concentrated throughout the race.”

Local hero Michael Ruben Rinaldi finished second in Race 1 for his 18th podium, for the fourth time in 2023.

 

Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammates Alvaro Bautista (left) and Michael Rinaldi (right) went 1-2 in Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammates Alvaro Bautista (left) and Michael Rinaldi (right) went 1-2 in Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.

 

P2 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati

“I’m very happy for myself and for the team because it was a 1-2 and that’s always great! I’m really happy about my kind of performance, I didn’t expect to have this kind of race pace, but I was able to lap quickly. I couldn’t explain how Alvaro was doing his pace, he was riding absolutely unbelievably, so he deserves the win. I’m happy about what we’ve done; compared to last year and in 2021 when I won, I’m seven or eight tenths faster per lap so I’m really happy about this. For sure, I’ll try and win sooner or later. I’m really happy about this result.”

 

Toprak Razgatlioglu (54). Photo courtesy Dorna.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (54). Photo courtesy Dorna.

Toprak Razgatlioglu completed Race 1 podium finishing 8.971s behind Bautista. He remains second in the Championship standing.

 

Axel Bassani (47) leads Jonathan Rea (65) and Dominique Aegerter (77) during Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.
Axel Bassani (47) leads Jonathan Rea (65) and Dominique Aegerter (77) during Race One. Photo courtesy Dorna.

Fourth place went to Italian Axel Bassani who stands in fifth in the Championship standings.

WorldSBK Race 1 Report

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship racing action got underway with a shortened 20-lap Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) led teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi as the pair sported a special yellow livery in Race 1. Bautista had a five-second margin over his teammate has he made it 12 wins from 13 races in 2023 while Rinaldi added to his Misano podium count.

As the lights went out for the 20-lap race, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Rinaldi looked to have got a better start compared to Bautista but the reigning Champion was able to hold on from the pair to keep the lead from pole position. The trio fought it out over the early laps of the race with Razgatlioglu aiming to pass Rinaldi around the outside into Turn 4 with the Italian defending to keep second place.

As the race settled down, Bautista and Rinaldi were both able to gap Razgatlioglu in first and second place respectively to claim a home victory for Ducati on a special liveried Panigale V4 R, with the bike running yellow colours rather than red to pay homage to Ducati’s history.

While the two Ducati riders checked out in front, Razgatlioglu had to withstand some early pressure from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but the 2021 Champion was able to resist that pressure before pulling out a gap over his rivals. As the race hit the halfway stage, Petrucci dropped Bassani behind him and started gaining on Razgatlioglu in the podium fight. By Lap 12, Ragatlioglu started pulling away from the Italian rookie to claim third place. Razgatlioglu’s third place means he closes in on a century of WorldSBK podium while it was Yamaha’s 349th race on the podium.

WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 09:00 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00.

Unveiled before the start of Race 1 for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati riders Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, the yellow livery pays tribute to some historic bikes from Ducati, including the 750 Sport and 750 SS Desmo in the 1970s, before the yellow livery became more popular in the 1990s. Ducati models including the 916, 996, 749, 999 and 1199 have all been run in the yellow livery. Famously, Pierfrancesco Chilli raced the Ducati 998 RS in yellow and won in 2004 at Misano running a yellow livery while Paolo Casoli led a race using a yellow Ducati at 1996 in Hockenheim, Steve Martin ran it in 2004 and Lorenzo Lanzi claimed a race victory at Valencia in 2008 on a yellow liveried Ducati.