Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin emerged from a race-long battle with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier with his third straight MotoAmerica Superbike victory. The win on Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park was Herrin’s third MotoAmerica Superbike win in a row, a career first for the defending series champion.
The win didn’t come easy as what initially was a three-rider battle between Herrin, Beaubier, and Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, turned into a two-rider fight between the top two in the championship – Herrin and Beaubier.
Herrin did the majority of the leading and even gapped Beaubier by a second-and-a-half mid-race, but Beaubier fought back to take the lead on the 12th of 16 laps. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion held the lead for three laps before Herrin struck back, taking the lead on the 15th lap and holding off the determined Beaubier.
At the finish line, it was Herrin by .194 of a second over Beaubier. With the win came a five-point swing in what is shaping up to be a nail-biter of a championship as Herrin now leads Beaubier by three points.
The win was the 19th of Herrin’s career, and it puts him ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Gagne, meanwhile, lost touch with the Herrin/Beaubier battle, with the pole-sitter finishing 2.4 seconds adrift in third place. The top three raced three different brands of motorcycles to the podium – Ducati, BMW and Yamaha.
Some three seconds behind Gagne came his teammate Bobby Fong with the Californian fending off the advances of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.
Escalante’s teammate Sean Dylan Kelly crossed the finish line some 13 seconds behind in sixth place. BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau was a lonely seventh. Ditto for eighth-placed JD Beach and his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
Notable among the non-finishers was Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, the Kentuckian involved in a bump and run with Ashton Yates in the first corner. Yates crashed and Gillim didn’t, but the melee put him well back in the pack. He went on a charge that saw him climb to seventh before a crash ended his day.
FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith only completed a lap before a mechanical issue knocked him out of the race.
Superbike Race One
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Bryce Kornbau (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Honda)
- Jason Waters (BMW)
- Max Flinders (Yamaha)
Quotes
Jake Gagne – Third Place
“Just foreign territory up there going into turn one not behind a bunch of guys. Compared to how slow I’ve been this year, it’s just good to be up there and finish a few seconds off those guys, and at least that first half kind of be sniffing them. I don’t even remember what happened in turn one. I think we were in there in third. Josh (Herrin), I think, was leading it. Those guys got off to a really good start. It was just a lot for me to learn, to kind of try running with those guys, see what they were doing better, see where we stacked up. It had been a long time, besides the rain stuff, that I’ve ran even close to these guys. So, it’s just good to be up there. I think we can learn a lot and try to make some improvements for tomorrow and see if we can get a little closer. Everybody is going to step it up tomorrow. It’s tough, though. This track with these tires, that second half of the race it was greasy and slippery. That’s where those guys really kind of were able to take off. I’m happy enough to be on the podium. It’s been a long time.”
Cameron Beaubier – Second Place
“Honestly, just to be in the race for the win was a win in itself. Yesterday it was a pretty tough day. We were struggling pretty bad with the bike, mainly on the front end. The guys stayed really late last night kind of looking everything over. They had to rebuild me a bike after I threw it into the fence at Road America. So, a completely new bike. We had a couple things that we were struggling with that we don’t normally struggle with. Big thanks to those guys for working so hard and giving me a good bike that I could fight with today. We definitely have some stuff that we need to go back and improve to really put up a good fight with Josh (Herrin). I felt like I was there in the middle of the race. He started pulling on me a little bit. I went into this race, and I was like, ‘I need to get some points. I need to keep this thing on two wheels.’ I knew how fast Jake (Gagne) was going and Josh this weekend. That was the main target. When Josh started riding away from me, I was like, ‘let’s just be patient.’ Then he started coming back a little bit. I got a sniff and kept going. We had a little battle at the end, but I couldn’t get close enough. He was really good off all the short corners getting that thing hooked up onto the straights. I just wasn’t close enough to make any kind of move.”
Josh Herrin – Winner
“It was fun. Like you guys talked about there, in the middle of the race I saw a plus 1.1 and I think I let it get to my head a little bit. I honestly thought about it a little bit too much. I didn’t know if he (Cameron Beaubier) made a little mistake and I got that gap, or if I earned it. I kind of let off that little bit and you’re not supposed to do that. Just keep looking forward. I felt good. I honestly did get a little bit tired there. I haven’t been feeling great today, but I don’t know if that’s why or if it’s just this track is physical and I’m not there. I just gave it my all there the last three laps. Just held my breath and just went for it and tried to put as many good laps together as I could. I’m happy. The bike feels great. Today, even though we got the win, I feel like I disappointed myself a little bit by letting that lead go away. I know I can do it. I‘ve just got to grind it out a little bit better. The guy’s got a great bike underneath me. I think for sure this is the best bike on the grid and everybody knows it. I’m just trying to take advantage of it while I have it. Thank you to the whole Warhorse HSBK Racing team. I love coming to the Ridge. It’s been a good bike for the Ducati since I got on the Supersport bike. Happy to be up here. Never had three Superbike wins in a row in my life, so that feels good. We got the two for Palmer and Ava last weekend, and I left Griffin out, so I had to get one more at least. Happy to do that. It’s cool. To have three kids and be winning Superbike races – Rachel is obviously the one doing 90 percent of the work at home, but it’s mentally just insane. It’s cool to be able to be up here and to be getting wins with kids. It’s such a special feeling to do that.”
Full Results:
https://www.motoamericaregistration.com/Results/2025/RIDGE/25_8_RIDGE_SBK_R1_res.pdf
