Leave it to a guy by the name of Sean Dylan Kelly to be the fastest MotoAmerica rider on St. Patrick’s Day at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.

Sean’s surname is “Kelly” as in kelly green, one of the colors in the Irish flag. Also, his team is OrangeCat Racing, and orange is one of the other colors in the Irish flag. Oh, but “SDK” was born in Miami, Florida, and his parents are from Argentina (not to mention that his father’s first name is “Pat”).

All that being said, it didn’t take the luck of the Irish for Latino Sean Dylan Kelly to lap COTA with a time of 2:07.358 on the second and final day of the Dunlop Pre-Season Test. He used his prodigious skill to go faster than defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier’s race-lap-record-breaking 2:07.497 set in race two last September.

SDK also was fastest after day one of the Dunlop Pre-Season Test, so it’s pretty clear that the 23-year-old was the man of the meet. And he won his first MotoAmerica Superbike race at COTA two years ago on a BMW M 1000 RR, the same make and model of motorcycle that he is competing aboard this year in the 2026 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, albeit for a different team. Suffice to say that Kelly is fast on Austin’s 20-turn, 2.427-mile road course.

“Really positive test,” Kelly said. “Today, I did my fastest lap ever at COTA. I think that’s a pretty good reference considering that I won a race here in 2024 on the Beemer. So, I definitely hit my objective of this test. I’m really happy with the work that we did. We took it step by step. The team did amazing, between my crew and just everybody else involved. The bikes, everything worked really well. We just went step by step and, obviously, the results came. We waited until the end to do a Time Attack. I’m really happy about the lap time, even though Bobby (Fong) finished close, which was nice to see that we’re in the fight and we’re close. Just, in general, I’m happy with the work but also keeping our feet on the ground because we didn’t have all the competition here. So we have to be realistic. We see that we’re in the fight, but we don’t know everything yet.”

When asked about his former Moto2 teammate and the current MotoAmerica defending Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, who didn’t attend the test per his Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law team’s decision, Kelly commented, “It’s hard to compare straight out of the gate with that. But, it is also a nice sign for me personally to see myself going faster than I ever did on a race tire, when I had done my previous fastest lap here on a qualifying tire. But again, hard to truly look at it. That’s why I said we’ve got to be realistic. We don’t have all our competition here. I think Beaubier is going to be the reference this year. He’s on a new bike (2026 Ducati Panigale V4 R), which is known to be a very, very competitive motorcycle. We know he’s going to be the reference, so we have to be realistic and get to racing and do what we can.

“I want to thank the whole OrangeCat Racing team and also BMW Motorrad motorsport because they’ve put an incredible package together. I have really, really strong people around me, and everyone has been doing their part, and it’s showing so far. It’s early days. We’ve got to get to racing, but I’m just very thankful for everybody, and I’m looking forward to round one next month at Road Atlanta.”

Joining Kelly at the top of the timing sheets in the other five MotoAmerica race classes that participated in the two-day Dunlop Pre-Season Test were the following:

Next up for the MotoAmerica Championship, the Talent Cup season opener will take place at COTA as an undercard for the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas on March 27 through 29.

The 2026 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship gets underway at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on April 17 through 19.

For the full 2026 MotoAmerica schedule, and to purchase tickets for MotoAmerica events, CLICK HERE

For information on how to watch the MotoAmerica series, CLICK HERE