The 2025 Motovation Supersport Championship isn’t in Mathew Scholtz’ pocket yet, but it’s close.
With a doubleheader sweep of the two Motovation Supersport races at Circuit of The Americas, Strack Racing’s Scholtz has put himself in the enviable position of having a 21-point lead as the series heads to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the series finale in two weeks. Two races equal 50 points. If Scholtz gains four points over his championship rival PJ Jacobsen in race one at NJMP, he will be crowned champion.
Scholtz was perfect in Texas, winning both races. The second of the two was a bit harder. The race was stopped before it started as a blown motor left oil on the track, causing a delay in proceedings.
When the race finally started, there was a line of oil dry on the racetrack, and it made everyone a bit leery. Lap times were slower than the day prior, resulting in a tightly knit group at the front.
Initially it was Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Jacobsen and Scholtz’ teammate Blake Davis battling at the front with a horde of riders giving chase – including Scholtz. Davis crashed on the third of eight laps (the race was shortened because of the delay), and it wasn’t long before Scholtz took over at the front from Jacobsen and stayed there.
Scholtz crossed the finish line 1.8 seconds ahead of Jacobsen for his ninth win of the season and his 21-point lead. Jacobsen was left with his 15th podium finish of the season and diminishing hopes of earning the Supersport title.
Third place went to a heroic Cameron Petersen. The South African was back on the bike when most, including him, didn’t think it was possible. Petersen was highsided from his Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati in race one on Saturday and could barely walk on Sunday. But apparently, he could ride.
Petersen took advantage of Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, with the pair going at it on the final lap while in front of Petersen. Both were a bit zealous in the final corner and when they ran wide, Petersen was there to pounce, finishing third on a day when no one expected him to even ride.
Yaakov ended up fourth with Scott fifth.
MP13 Racing’s Aiden Sneed was an impressive sixth, holding off Altus Motorsports’ Torin Collins, 3D Motorsports’ Brandon Paasch, BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes and Rahal Ducati Moto w/Roller Die’s Corey Alexander, with the New Yorker rounding out the top 10.
“The guys were kind of diving each other and really slowing the bike in the middle of the corner,” Scholtz said. “And me probably weighing 20 or 30 pounds more than everyone else, I was getting slowed down more than most people. Also, the final sector, the second-to-last corner, was one of the strongest sectors of the track for me, so that kind of ruined that for me there. So, I was worried slightly in the first couple laps. I wasn’t confident that I would be able to pass PJ (Jacobsen). I could make up by braking super late in all of the right spots. But fortunately, once I got to the front and put some laps, I opened a gap. Thank you to the Strack Racing team. They’ve given me an awesome motorbike. It gives me a lot of confidence that we can take the championship in Jersey.”
Mission King Of The Baggers – Herfoss Strikes Back
What a difference a day makes. Roughed up a bit from a recent crash in an Australian Superbike event, Herfoss struggled on Saturday. On Sunday, the S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed Australian got out front and withstood everything that was thrown at him.
The win was just Herfoss’ second of the season in what has been a difficult year for the defending series champion. But on Sunday he was back to the Herfoss of a year ago.
With newly crowned 2025 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Kyle Wyman breathing down his neck, Herfoss held tough, and it was Wyman who crashed out of the race just a few corners from the finish line.
That moved Herfoss’ S&S/Indian Motorcycle teammate Loris Baz to second with Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith finishing third and ending a rostrum drought that dates back to Road Atlanta in May.
A badly bruised and beaten Cameron Petersen somehow not only finished the race but finished fourth on the SDI Racing Indian Challenger.
Smith’s teammate James Rispoli rounded out the top five.
Wyman wasn’t the only one to crash out of contention as Saturday’s winner, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim, crashed out of third with two laps to go, remounted and finished eighth. Gilim’s teammate Rocco Landers, who was third on Saturday, went out of the race early with a mechanical issue.
“Firstly, congratulations to Kyle Wyman and Harley-Davidson,” Herfoss said. “He’s had an incredible year, and the team has been amazing. He really crushed it, so congratulations to him. I hope he’s okay after a fast crash. Hopefully, he can enjoy the celebrations tonight. It’s been a tough weekend. Not at full fitness. Just really, really slowly trying to get the Sunday ready. Yesterday was basically trying to chase people when our bike doesn’t work the same as theirs. Just not as strong. Yesterday, I shouldn’t have finished that bad. I tried to do a few things with the bike, sort of just tweaked a few things. I was in a bit of pain, and I was struggling. This morning, I felt a little better getting up out of bed. I didn’t push it even more. Just rode a couple laps and got a feel for the bike. It was so much easier to ride. I traditionally don’t exactly enjoy leading races and trying to win a race like that. I like to be the attacker. It’s fun. We tried our best to make the bike as easy for me to ride. They did such a great job. I was able to stop the bike a lot better than yesterday. That took a lot of strain on my body. There was a lot going on behind me.”
Stock 1000 – Beach Wins Again, Lee Crowned
While the battle heated up at the front between his championship rival JD Beach and his OrangeCat Racing teammate Jayson Uribe ahead of him, Andrew Lee was thinking big picture. Finishing fourth was all he needed to do to earn the 2025 Stock 1000 Championship, and that’s exactly what Lee did.
Final points tally: Lee 189. Beach 187. Two measly points separated the two after a thrilling season of Stock 1000 racing.
The season finale for Stock 1000 at COTA was much like Saturday’s race as it turned into a Beach vs. Uribe duel. Again, it was Uribe doing most of the leading and at one point it looked to be enough as Beach made a mistake with five laps to go. Uribe had a bit over a second lead, but Beach had his head down with his normal refuse-to-lose attitude. He reeled Uribe back in and with two laps to go he was back on the BMW’s tailpipe.
With a lap to go, Beach struck and made a pass on Uribe going into turn one. When they got to the all-important back straight, Uribe was in the perfect position to draft past Beach. And he did just that. But it all went wrong in the tight left-hander at the end of the backstraight as Uribe got in too hot and couldn’t get stopped in time. Real Steel Honda’s Beach was right where he needed to be, and he dove under Uribe and stormed away to his fifth victory of the year – by 1.5 seconds.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates was third for the second straight day, some four seconds ahead of now three-time Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee.
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers rounded out the top five.
“I really couldn’t do it without the OCR Team,” Lee said. “My teammate, Jayson (Uribe). Everyone behind the scenes on this team. They put in a lot of hours. I kind of had a little bit of a lull the last three or four years maybe, and they had faith in me.”
“To win the title would have felt great, especially with how we started the year out,” Beach said. “We were a little slow to just kind of build up through the whole season with the last few rounds. The team and I, we’ve been gelling well, and this bike has been going good. To win the title would have felt awesome, but for all the team people that were on pit lane just thumbs up, clapping for me, all the team, that’s an amazing feeling when you have respect like that from a whole paddock. I’m bummed I didn’t get that title. We lost by two points, but that’s just part of racing. We’ve been working so hard this year. The OrangeCat guys, they just got up the tree a little bit too far from this dog, but I’m ready to fight again next year.”
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – Di Mario Does It
Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s Alessandro Di Mario didn’t need to do much to become the 2025 Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul Champion on Sunday at COTA, but he ended up doing more than not much. He took the title in style, with a victory that wrapped up the title with two more races left to run in the debut season of the Talent Cup.
With two wins this weekend at Circuit of The Americas, Di Mario took his victory total to seven and his points total to an insurmountable 254 points.
Second place on the day went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg, even though he was barely beaten to the flag by Roadracing World’s Kensei Matsudaira. Matsudaira, in his Talent Cup debut, was docked two seconds for not obeying track-limits.
Even with the penalty, Matsudaira was third, well clear of the battle for fourth that ultimately went to Team Roberts’ Kody Kopp over MP13 Racing’s Ella Dreher and Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane.
“It’s just been an amazing season,” Di Mario said. “It really helps to have a really good team behind me. I just want to thank Simone and Bobby, just everyone that’s helped me out this year. It’s been amazing. This is the second year, so it’s such a special feeling. I couldn’t have done this without any of my sponsors – Dainese, KYT. Thank you so much. Moto Liberty. Just everyone. Thank you so much. All the fans. Thank you, guys.”
