English
Italiano
Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne won his second race of the young season at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday, and he did so in the same fashion in which he won 29 races over the course of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He started from pole, put his head down, quickly opened up a two-second-plus lead and maintained that lead to the finish of the shortened 16-lap race.
The win, which was the 31st of Gagne’s Superbike career, moved him out of a tie with Cameron Beaubier in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship and into the lead by himself. He now leads Beaubier by 12 points, 70-58. Beaubier finished fourth on Saturday on his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR.
The man who was closest to Gagne at the finish was his teammate Cameron Petersen, the South African keeping Gagne honest from start to finish and crossing the finish line 1.8 seconds behind the defending two-time Medallia Superbike Champion.
Third place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, giving Yamaha a one-two-three finish at Barber. Scholtz didn’t get a good start and by the time he got through to third, the two Attack riders had distanced themselves from the rest. Scholtz ended up 6.1 seconds behind Gagne and 2.8 seconds ahead of Beaubier.
Beaubier, meanwhile, had rid himself of the battle he found himself in early with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen.
It was Jacobsen who worked his way through that pack to finish fifth, some eight seconds ahead of the Herrin/Escalante battle that went the distance with Herrin beating Escalante by just .289 of a second to take sixth.
Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates got the better of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander by just .299 of a second for eighth with Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim rounding out the top 10 finishers.
Saturday’s race was shortened from 20 laps to 16 due to excessive tire wear and the lap count for Sunday’s race two will be announced after evaluation of the tires following today’s race.
After three races of the 2023 championship, Gagne leads Beaubier, 70-58, with Scholtz third with 43 points.
Race two at Barber Motorsports Park will begin Sunday at 3:10 p.m.
Superbike Gara 1
Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
Josh Herrin (Ducati)
Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
Ashton Yates (BMW)
Corey Alexander (BMW)
Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
Photo courtesy MotoAmerica by Brian J. Nelson
