By now it’s obvious that Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto w/ XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen are going to swap wins back and forth until someone is crowned MotoAmerica Supersport Champion in the season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park at the end of September. What also became clear this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is that Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen may play a big role in the outcome.
A day after Jacobsen won the first of two Motovation Supersport races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, Scholtz turned the tables and scored the victory on Sunday. On the days those two didn’t win, they didn’t finish second. They finished third. That’s because Petersen was in the battle, and the South African came away with two third-place finishes.
Sunday’s race featured another terrific three-rider battle at the front of the pack. Scholtz did the majority of the leading as the three ran in formation with the race coming to a stop when a red flag was thrown for a downed motorcycle on the eighth of 18 laps.
When the race was restarted, it was much of the same with the top three again the top three. Scholtz and his Yamaha were able to get unmatched drives out of the Keyhole and onto the backstraight, which usually meant Scholtz was out of reach of the other two by the time they got down to turn six, the most popular place on the track to pass.
Jacobsen made one big attempt at out-braking Scholtz into six, but he couldn’t get the Ducati stopped in time to make the corner and stay on line.
Scholtz crossed the finish line just .081 of a second ahead of Petersen with Jacobsen only .323 of a second behind in third.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was fourth, almost three seconds behind, with Strack Racing’s Blake Davis and Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov right on his tail in fifth and sixth, respectively.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes ended up seventh after getting the best of 3D Motorsports’ Brandon Paasch, in his return to racing.
Hayes’ teammate Teagg Hobbs and MP13’s Aiden Sneed rounded out the top 10.
Scholtz leads the title chase by seven points, 283-276. Davis is third with 210 points, with Petersen on the move with 169 points.
“Just being able to brake late,” Scholtz said. “We kind of set up the bike to be able to get into the corners deeper. We did exactly what we wanted to do, get out front and just defend. Brake as late as I could whenever I saw someone close the door. So, a massive thank you to Strack Racing. Yesterday I struggled a hell of a lot. We changed the bike, and we made it happen today. I think that was huge. At a track that the R9s haven’t been at their usual speed up at the front and the V2 seemed to have something, we pulled it out of the bag, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you to my team.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Winner Took All
KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli came into the season finale of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship on the outside looking in. He leaves Ohio as the class champion after sweeping the two races, including the winner-take-all race two on Sunday afternoon.
With championship points leader Cory West having a mechanical problem late in the race while battling in the top three, his teammate Jake Lewis needed to beat race leader Rispoli in order to take the title. In the closing stages, Lewis caught a false neutral in the penultimate corner and ran wide, allowing Rispoli to pull away to a lead he’d not relinquish. Rispoli would cross the finish line with only .758 of a second to spare, and the championship was his – by just four points over Lewis.
With Lewis second in the race, the battle for third went to the finish line with Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle beating ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander by just .138 of a second, thus preventing Alexander from giving ARCH its first podium finish in its debut season. With his fourth-place finish matching yesterday’s fourth, the team duplicated what was its best finish of the year.
Saddlemen Race Development’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top five.
“First off, I’ve got to thank Kyle Wyman, KWR,” Rispoli said. “These guys have put together a package that’s been so good, backed by Harley-Davidson. The Pan America is so good. Nobody was talking about me coming into the weekend and it actually helped me. Kept the pressure low. The championship was on Cory’s (West) and Jake’s (Lewis) heads there. I knew this race was going to be tough. I told you yesterday, these dogs figure it out quick. All I had was those 29.2, 29.3. Every time in the braking zones, I heard these guys. I heard the big, open cylinder and the big exhaust from those Saddlemen boys. I’m like, ‘Man!’ I kept looking at the tower. Saw 85 and then I saw the one (West). I was like, ‘Dang, dude! This guy showed up. He wanted this thing.’ It’s a shame that it had to go down like that. I wanted to race square up, so the fact they had a mechanical really is a shame for the championship. But I’m stoked. I got nothing left. I was screaming the whole cool-down lap. I know it’s the Super Hooligan Championship, but we put so much work into this. Everybody did. Coming from where I came from last year, this feels so freaking good. Hats off to my team. Elvis G, for building these things in his freaking garage. Bob Wyman, Mike. All my boys over there. Everybody. Look at that Factory Harley tent. Everybody is here to support me, and that just means so freaking much.”
Mission King Of The Baggers – Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss and RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley Davidson’s Hayden Gillim took part in an outright war for victory in Sunday’s Mission King Of The Baggers race. With both riders on the edge for the entire race, something had to give on the last lap, and it did.
With the pair side by side going down the backstraight and through the high-speed kink, they arrived together at turn six, a tight right-hander. Herfoss was on the outside, Gillim the inside. And both were going too fast to make the corner. Gillim ran wide and onto the grass while Herfoss was able to get the Indian turned enough to stay on track. Gillim stayed on the throttle, accelerated his way through the gravel and the grass, and rejoined the pack to finish sixth.
Phew.
Once he’d realized that Gillim was out of the picture, Herfoss cruised in for the win, his second of the season, with Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman crossing the line a half-second behind for second place.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara was third after getting the better of SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s James Rispoli rounded out the top five, just ahead of Gillim.
Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers and Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Travis Wyman were involved in a big crash together early in the race. Both were fortunate to escape injury.
“The race played out exactly how I thought it would,” Herfoss said. “It was either the second-to-last lap or the last lap he came past me. I feel like I closed the door enough where he wouldn’t put it in there, and he did. We didn’t touch. It was scary, but I knew that if he did that, I would be closer. I was getting dropped. The final turn and turn one, I was closing in down on the brakes in through that sector. So, I was like, ‘okay, if he passes me here, I can put a move on him in the back straight.’ Of course, he went for it. I knew when I went around the outside of him, he would let the brakes off. So, I let the brakes off early and made sure he had to go inside to the track. He actually didn’t even realize yesterday. He mentioned something in the press conference about having big trouble here this weekend. I was always nearly crashing. When I came back in the morning, I was checking tires and working out if there was an issue there. Then yesterday he mentioned in the press conference that the next time he got… he would end up crashing. Sure enough, went right down the hill. Turn seven, I think. Then he was going to be too close. So then last lap I was celebrating. We know how lucky we are. I’m really excited. It’s never over until it’s over. I will say probably the worst weekend he’s (Wyman) had since I’ve been in this championship. So, we’ll keep the pressure on. Keep trying to enjoy racing and winning races.”
Stock 1000 – Maximum Gain For Lee
The Stock 1000 race got started on Sunday at Mid-Ohio with just one point separating OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee from Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach, but that didn’t last as drama started before the race ever did.
Beach pulled into pit lane at the end of the warmup lap with an electrical issue on his motorcycle. The crew worked on it, and Beach left pit lane to try again. But, again, it failed him. Then a red flag was thrown, and the race would be a complete restart, giving the team more time to work on the bike.
Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t gone, as Beach found out on the sighting lap, and it was game over. As Beach said, “that’s racing.” Yesterday was the highest of highs for him and his team, and today was the lowest of lows.
Back to racing, and it was a four-rider fight at the top with Lee’s teammate Jayson Uribe leading Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, Lee, and BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. And there was more drama to come, as with four-laps to go in the shortened eight-lap race, Yates and Kornbau came together in turn seven with both crashing into the air fence.
That left Lee vs. Uribe with the victory going to Lee, his fourth of the season, by .228 of a second.
BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell earned his first MotoAmerica podium by finishing third with the Californian taking advantage of his team owner Kornbau and Yates crashing together.
Castrol/Lamkin Racing’s Nolan Lamkin and Edge Racing’s Jason Waters rounded out the top five.
Going into the last Stock 1000 round at Circuit of The Americas, Lee holds a 26-point lead over Beach, 163-154. Uribe is third with 134 points. Fifty points will be available in Texas in a few weeks. “It’s not how you want to win races,” Lee said. “JD Beach was a big competitor, and he had a mechanical. Hats off to him. He brought it this weekend. He podiumed in Superbike. It’s just impressive. I’ve got to give a hat’s off to my OrangeCat team. They worked overnight basically to give me a package that we could win on today. Obviously, me and my teammate were ripping today. Jay (Uribe) was putting in a fight. I’ve got to give a hat off to my team manager, Dave. He’s had a rough personal weekend. This one’s for you, Dave. Also, Brandon with the big hat, it’s his birthday. So, this one goes out to you too, buddy.”
