After winning his fifth Motovation Supersport race of the season at VIRginia International Raceway, Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz admitted that he’s been focusing too much on things other than just riding the bike. Mainly things like PJ Jacobsen and the championship they are both trying to win. On Saturday afternoon in Virginia, Scholtz kept his head down, didn’t look back, and stormed to a 4.9-second victory over his championship rival Jacobsen.
Scholtz led every lap, making sure that any on-track battles would not include him. He was rewarded with a two-point lead in the championship at day’s end.
The best race was the one for second with Cameron Petersen and PJ Jacobsen going at it for most of the race before Petersen ran off in turn one. That not only allowed Jacobsen to pull away to a lonely second, but it also allowed Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis to pass the South African to take over third. Petersen wasn’t done fighting, however, and he caught Davis a few laps later. From there to the finish, the pair fought it out with Petersen nabbing the final podium spot, and battled with him for the final laps, beating him to the flag by a scant .014 of a second.
BPR Racing’s Josh Hayes, the Supersport class winner the last time MotoAmerica visited VIR in 2022, was fifth, some three seconds clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, who had his hands full with Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov and her teammate Corey Alexander.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis bounced back from injury at Laguna Seca to finish ninth, some two seconds ahead of 10th-placed Max Van on his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
“The biggest mistakes I made… in qualifying there was a massive problem with guys sitting on the race line,” Scholtz said. “It is one thing if guys are slightly slower, and you’re coming up on them in a qualifying. That’s fine. But if fast guys are touring on the race line, that’s a serious problem and it’s something that we had to deal with. I think a lot of the front guys have been dealing with that with the race now, as well. The one lap I did a 28.4. There were three back-markers. The blue flags were there, and they’re out there racing together, which is all fine. But if you catch them in corner seven all the way up to corner 12 and you can’t pass. This is a very tight, twisty track and the race line is two-foot wide. So, that kind of messed me up a little bit in the middle part of the race. Otherwise, I was just really happy. I was able to kind of reel off 26.3, 26.5 for the first 10 or so laps. Kind of once I noticed I had a couple seconds gap, I was running high 26s comfortable. The R9 has been working great here. From the first session out, I think I had a .7 gap. So, I felt really confident. Kind of took my eye off the ball.
“We didn’t change too much in qualifying 1, and all these guys caught me. So, I woke up this morning for qualifying 2 angry. That kind of helped me push a little bit in some of the sectors that are a little bit faster that I was worried about crashing yesterday. I’ve been maybe just worrying about going down. Like I said at the last race, thinking too much about the championship and not just riding the motorbike. So, I think this race, I just went out there and knew what I could do and just rode free. Not kind of thinking of who was behind me. I didn’t look back once. That’s kind of something that I have been doing. I’ve been looking back, looking to see. If it’s Blake (Davis) or Cam (Petersen), I’ll ride fine. If I see PJ (Jacobsen) there I start riding tight and trying to brake too late. I forced myself not to look back once and I think that helped me just to kind of keep a pace. Thanks to the team. My crew chief, Jordan. Tyler and Josh working on the motorbike. It’s been a really great weekend for me. I think I’ve led almost every single session. Won this race. Obviously, I know PJ has picked up the pace. Cam is going to figure something out. Blake will be there tomorrow. So, I know that if I’m able to get out front, I’d better keep my nose clean and focused and keep those laps in the low 26s.”
After 11 races, Scholtz is now two points ahead of Jacobsen, 217-215. Davis is third with 170 points, Petersen has 129 and Scott rounds out the top five with 117.
Stock 1000 – Not An Easy Day At The Beach
What looked like a two-rider Honda runaway on the opening two laps of the Stock 1000 race with JD Beach and Ashton Yates clearing off at the front, turned into a Beach vs. Bryce Kornbau battle with Yates lurking from third place.
At the finish line, it was Real Steel Honda’s Beach by .194 of a second over the Yamaha YZF-R1 of BPR Racing’s Kornbau with Jones Honda’s Yates third and just 1.4 seconds behind.
Although Beach led every single lap of the 14-lap race, the closing laps were frantic with slower traffic in front of him and Kornbau all over his back tire. Kornbau had come from 10th on the grid, and he got to third on the second lap. That turned into second, and the fight was on.
Beach, who earned pole position in Q2 on Saturday morning, withstood the pressure to beat Kornbau to the flag by just .194 of a second.
With Yates third, fourth place went to the first of the OrangeCat Racing BMWs with Jayson Uribe beating his championship-leading teammate Andrew Lee.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters was some 20 seconds behind in sixth, and he barely beat RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers, who in turn was well clear of Castrol/Lamkin Racing’s Nolan Lamkin. The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis and Limitless Racing’s Joseph Giannotto rounded out the top 10.
“It was a tough weekend,” Beach said after what was his first-career victory in the Stock 1000 class in his rookie season. “We had a motor malfunction this morning and big hats off to my team, not only my team but all the guys under the tent. It was a fire drill, and they just went to work. It was a tough race. I didn’t know who was behind me, but I knew someone was breathing down my neck the whole time. Those last two laps with the lappers it was a little dicey, but we got ‘er done. We got a win. A big thank you to Hayden (Gillim). He brought me on to the team and I just want to get some wins. A big thanks to Honda and everybody. It was a great day.”
With his first Stock 1000 victory on Saturday, Beach has moved to second in the series point standings. He trails Lee by 19 points and is six points ahead of third-placed Yates. Uribe and Kornbau round out the top five in the championship with 74 and 55 points, respectively.
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – Vossberg Does It
After a frantic first two laps, Saturday’s Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul race one turned into an Alessandro Di Mario runaway. Right up until the time when it wasn’t. With three laps to go, Di Mario’s lead quickly evaporated as the shifter on his Krämer APX-350 MA failed, leaving him stuck in fourth gear.
With Di Mario on the rev limiter on the straights, he was a sitting duck for those giving chase and he was fortunate to salvage a fifth-place finish, his first time being off the podium in the first-year Talent Cup.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg took over at the front with Di Mario’s demise, and he had an easy go of it to win his third Talent Cup race of the season.
The battle for what turned out to be second was between MP13 Racing’s Ella Dreher and Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane with Drane getting the best of a drafting battle to the finish line on the final lap. At the stripe, it was Drane by .005 of a second over Dreher.
Team Roberts’ Kody Kopp found some pace at mid-race and started to reel in the Drane/Dreher battle. On the final lap, Kopp was right on the duo ahead of him, and he came up just .155 of a second short.
Notable among the non-finishers was Bodie Paige Racing/Mission Foods/D&D Certified’s Bodie Page with the Australian crashing out on the opening lap. Royalty Racing’s Carson King and Jones Honda’s Julian Correa were involved in a crash together when King lost the front and took Correa down with him.
“I didn’t get the start I wanted to,” Vossberg said. “I was right behind Bodie (Paige) and Alessandro, but Bodie had a really big moment on the first lap, and I just tried to latch on to Alessandro, but he broke away really quick. I tried to catch up, but he kept pushing so I just wanted to manage my gap to third. It sucks what he had with the shifter. That’s not what we want to see, but at least I don’t have to shave my head.”
Di Mario leads the title chase by 29 points over Drane, 179-150. Vossberg is third, 17 points behind Drane and 11 clear of Paige. Dreher has moved up to fifth with 88 points.
SC-Project Twins Cup – Di Mario Wraps It Up Early
Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario won his sixth SC-Project Twins Cup race in a row to go with his three-second place finishes. The result? A second straight Twins Cup Championship for the talented teenager with one round remaining in the series.
When RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin crashed out of the race on the opening lap, the championship was pretty much sealed. But Di Mario did things the right way by racing to the title in style with victory number six.
Di Mario’s teammate Hank Vossberg was second, .002 of a second ahead of Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher with those two finishing over five seconds ahead of Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle, the first non-Aprilia RS 660 to cross the finish line.
Brown Town Racing’s Chase Brown rounded out the top five.
“I’ve been with Robem since I was 13 years old and the whole day today, I was thinking about it,” Di Mario said. “I don’t like doing math so I just wanted to go out there and win, and I can’t control what everybody else does. I just tried to go out there and do my best and it worked out. I just want to thank everybody who has helped me out.”
With three more races left to run (Sunday at VIR and the finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park), Di Mario has a 92-point lead over Chapin, 210-118. Dreher is third with 103 points, Vossberg is fourth on 89, and Levi Badie, who crashed out of today’s race, is fifth with 76 points – one more than Doyle.
Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. – Conrad’s First
Camille Conrad won her first-career Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. battle on Saturday with the Californian beating Shea MacGregor by 1.174 seconds after seven laps of VIRginia International Raceway.
Third place went to Miranda Cain with the Minnesotan well clear of fourth-placed Bryanna Everitt. Cassie Creer rounded out the top-five finishers.
Championship points leader Kira Knebel will have to wait another day to be crowned as she was forced to start the race from pit lane. Knebel knifed her way through the pack to finish seventh, earning nine points.
With just tomorrow’s race remaining in the Build.Train.Race. championship, Knebel is 14 points ahead of MacGregor, 134-120. MacGregor, in turn, is 14 points clear of Cain. Conrad and Creer round out the top five in the point standings.
