Random notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia from MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey.
BMW: Bavarian Motorcycles Winning
Superbike racing was invented right here in the U.S., and don’t let anyone tell you different. MotoAmerica’s premier race class debuted at Daytona International Speedway in 1976, and Reg Pridmore won the very first Superbike Championship aboard his Butler & Smith BMW R90S.
Thus, it was fitting that Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier won the 50th AMA/MotoAmerica Superbike Championship aboard his BMW M 1000 RR. The Bavarian Motor Works bookended the entire history of Superbike racing with their first championship in 1976 and their second championship in 2025.
Firsts From The Last
The final round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Championship was a weekend of firsts for several riders. Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s Derek Sanchez, who competed this season in the inaugural Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul Championship, notched his first-career MotoAmerica podium result when he finished third in Saturday’s race one. Also, Bettencourt Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt improved on his fourth-place finish in race one when he rounded out the podium with third place in Sunday’s race two for his first-career MotoAmerica podium.
Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim achieved a career milestone of his own on Sunday when he finished third in Superbike race three for the first Superbike podium of his career.
Ashton Yates put his Jones Honda CBR1000 RR-R Fireblade SP on the outside of row one for the weekend’s three Superbike races, marking the first time the Georgian has qualified on the front row in MotoAmerica’s premier race class.
Hitting For The Cycles
Cameron Petersen had himself quite a final weekend of the 2025 MotoAmerica season. Racing in both Motovation Supersport and Mission King Of The Baggers as he had done for the entire season, Petersen got things started when he won Saturday morning’s three-lap Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge aboard his SDI Racing Indian Challenger, pocketing the $5,000 winner-take-all check. On Saturday afternoon, Cam P. finished third in Supersport race one aboard his Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati Panigale V2. Then, he climbed back aboard his SDI Racing/Indian Challenger and finished as runner-up in Mission King Of The Baggers race one. So, all told, he hit for the cycle on Saturday with a race win, a runner-up result, and a third-place finish. And, he wasn’t done yet.
On Sunday, Petersen notched his first-career Mission King Of The Baggers feature-race victory to cap off the 2025 MotoAmerica season and wrap up the South African’s incredible weekend in New Jersey.
Private Tiers
The Mission King Of The Baggers race one podium was historic. Never before in the six years that MotoAmerica’s uniquely American Big Twin touring bike championship has existed has a podium consisted exclusively of riders from non-factory teams. RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson rider Hayden Gillim‘s win on Saturday, Cameron Petersen‘s runner-up result, and Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers‘ third-place finish marked the first time that no rider from either Harley-Davidson’s or Indian Motorcycles’ factory teams stood on the podium.
Thunderbolt & Lap Records
It was a banner weekend for new lap records at New Jersey Motorsports Park. In MotoAmerica’s premier Superbike class, Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong got into the “nineteens” aboard his Yamaha YZF-R1 during Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2 with a new lap record of 1:19.716.
In Motovation Supersport, Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz was in a class of his own all weekend long as he repeatedly broke and re-broke the middleweight lap record that had been owned by Garrett Gerloff since 2016. Scholtz’s 1:20.926 in Qualifying 2 on Saturday was just a little more than one second off the new Superbike lap record set by Fong. And, for good measure, Scholtz also broke JD Beach‘s race lap record from 2016 with a 1:21.554 in Saturday afternoon’s Race 1.
Here are the new lap records set in MotoAmerica’s three other race classes that were in action at NJMP:
• Mission King Of The Baggers:
Lap Record: 1:22.409 – Hayden Gillim, Qualifying 2 (9/27/2025)
Race Lap Record: 1:22.565 – Cameron Petersen, Race 1 (9/27/2025)
• SC-Project Twins Cup:
Race Lap Record: 1:24.940 – Matthew Chapin, Race 1 (9/27/2025)
• Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul:
Lap Record & Race Lap Record: 1:29.624 – Bodie Paige, Race 2 (9/28/2025)
Run What Ya Brung
It was quite a season for Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher. The SC-Project Twins Cup rider finished fourth in the season championship while fully “exploring the space” in MotoAmerica’s two-banger class. The Floridian raced three different brands of motorcycles during the year, starting out at Daytona with a Yamaha YZF-R7, then switching to a Suzuki GSX-8R at Barber, and finally ending up with an Aprilia RS 660 for the remaining four rounds at Ridge, Laguna Seca, VIR, and New Jersey.
