MotoAmerica wrapped up its weekend at Virginia International Raceway with Race 2 action across all three feature classes, under conditions similar to Saturday’s — cloud cover lingered deeper into the afternoon, but it remained a hot, physically demanding day for riders on the technical Virginia circuit.

Supersport delivered the day’s biggest twist as changing weather scrambled the grid and rewrote the script for the championship contenders. Talent Cup and Twins Cup, meanwhile, each saw a rider close out the weekend in style, shifting the title picture in both classes.

Supersport

Josh Hayes (BPR Racing Yamaha) claimed the 90th win of his career at VIR today — a track where he’s tied with Mat Mladin for the all-time Superbike wins at seven victories. Now racing in Supersport, Hayes played the game perfectly and checked out immediately after the championship leaders struggled to make the correct tire decision in a wet-to-dry middleweight thriller.

Race 2 was pushed back due to inclement weather and lightning in the area. Riders were given a 10-minute wet-familiarization session to test the track on rain tires and gauge setup before the race — now declared wet and shortened to 14 laps from the scheduled 18.

With the weather clearing quickly and no further rain in the forecast, tire choice split the grid. Dry patches around the Virginia road course complicated the call: some riders opted for rain tires, others gambled on slicks, and most notably, the two championship front-runners missed their starting positions entirely.

Polesitter Darryn Binder (Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse) missed the sighting lap outright, while Josh Herrin (Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila) left pit lane on rain tires with the rest of the field. But on his out lap, Herrin noticed most of the grid was playing the long game, fitting slicks in anticipation of a drying track. He made a last-second call to skip the grid, return to pit lane, and swap to slick rubber.

Binder’s miscue sent him to the back of the grid; Herrin’s forced him to start from pit lane and wait for the full field to pass before beginning his recovery.

The 51-year-old four-time Superbike champion Hayes checked out in the frantic opening laps and took the uncontested win by more than 26 seconds over a charging Binder.

Binder authored a remarkable comeback, slicing from 18th to second in 14 laps and salvaging crucial championship points over Herrin. He’d reached fourth by lap four; on that same lap, Herrin was still mired in 17th.

Hayes’ teammate, Brenden Ketelsen, capitalized on the chaotic start and rode a smart, measured race to finish third — holding off a charging Herrin in the closing laps to capture his first career MotoAmerica Supersport podium. Tyler Scott (M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) finished fourth, with Kayla Yaakov (Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight) rounding out the top five.

Binder now leads Herrin by 33 points while Yaakov sits 129 points back with only 100 marks remaining this season — leaving the title fight to the two Ducati riders at the top of the standings.

The following quote is from Supersport Race 2 winner Josh Hayes:

 “I’ve been in this situation a few times before and I’ve come out pretty good each time, so I felt pretty confident when the race started that I could do good work and I would be in the fight at least. It went way better than I hoped. I hate that my last two wins were in these conditional-type races, but at the same time I’m racing against warriors, and I don’t give any away, so I know they’ll never give me one. So, I’m really happy — you don’t know if you’re ever going to get another one of these wins, so I’m so thankful to steal another one from these guys. I want one in the dry. I was looking forward to the race today. I get a couple more chances with those guys in the dry. But thank you to Yamaha, thank you to Bryce Kornbau, BPR, Matty, my crew, for giving me this opportunity, for helping me make good decisions, having confidence in me. Here we are. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.”

Talent Cup

Talent Cup action mirrored Saturday’s result, with local favorite Nathan Gouker (Quarterley Racing) completing a dominant sweep of the weekend. The Lexington, North Carolina, native took Race 2 by five and a half seconds over Sam Drane (Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing). Championship leader Kensei Matsudaira (Team Roberts) finished third, 19 seconds back. 

Despite a crash in morning warmups, Drane made a heroic effort on a clearly sore right leg. He stayed within reach of Gouker for the first four laps before losing touch, after which the gap only widened. Further back, a fierce battle erupted for the final podium spot. Matsudaira and Jake Paige (Team Hammer) swapped positions repeatedly before Matsudaira claimed third by just 0.206 seconds, leaving Paige in fourth.

The results tighten the Talent Cup championship picture heading into the season’s final two rounds. Gouker clawed back 18 points on Matsudaira over the weekend and now trails by just five. With 100 points remaining this season, Paige still holds a slim mathematical chance in third, 73 points behind.

Nathan Gouker, Talent Cup Race 2 winner: 

“Yeah, it was a great race. I can’t thank the whole Quarterley Racing powered by Warhorse supported by Wrench Crew enough. They had the bike going fantastic all weekend. It started to be a little iffy before the race because it was a little raining. The track was fine. The Dunlop tires held up great. I can’t thank my whole family for coming out. My Mimi, my Papa Scott, my dad, my mom, my sisters, her boyfriend, Nanny, Bob, Paul, Larry, Ferracci. Thank you for coming out and watching all my races. It was a good race. I led all the laps and I had a much better start than I did yesterday. I kind of just put my head down from the start, and I was putting in pretty much 35s the whole race. Sam was a good bit behind me. I think three seconds, two seconds. We were kind of about the same the whole race. I can’t thank KYT Americas, VO2 Leathers, CP Motorsports, Quarterley Racing, Level 11 Motorsports, Accossato, Precision Track Days, mom, dad, Cornerspin for keeping me physically and mentally fit on the bike. I’ve spent so many years at Cornerspin. So, thank you.”

Twins Cup

Hank Vossberg (Robem Engineering) closed out his Virginia weekend with a win in a red-flag-shortened Twins Cup Race 2. The first segment ran five laps, with Bodie Paige (M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) leading Vossberg in a tight five-rider group that also included Sam Drane (Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing) in third, Kevin Olmedo (Karns/TNT Industries Racing) fourth, and Paige’s teammate Matthew Chapin fifth. 

The red flag came out after Paige crashed out of second position at Turn 3 and was slow to get up; he was able to exit the track under his own power but appeared visibly sore. His teammate, Chapin, had already gone down the lap before in a hard high-side, eliminating both riders from the race.

With the newly crowned 2026 Twins Cup Champion now clear at the front, Vossberg built a gap in the shortened, five-lap restart over a chase pack that included Drane, Olmedo, and Kensei Matsudaira (Team Roberts), the latter aboard an experimental Krämer GP2-790R. Matsudaira ran as high as third during the specially sanctioned test session, evaluating the machine’s compatibility for future Twins Cup competition, but was ultimately disqualified since the bike is still in testing and not yet homologated for MotoAmerica racing.

Vossberg and Drane broke away much as they had in Race 1, trading the lead down to the wire before Vossberg prevailed by 0.122 seconds over the Australian. Olmedo held on for third, his second podium of the season.

Hank Vossberg, Twins Cup Race 2 winner: 

“Sam was on me. I got to give congrats to him. He’s been ripping this weekend. Couldn’t have done it without my whole team. Want to thank all my sponsors, Accossato, Level Eleven, HJC Helmets, Containers 411, Famous Style Racing, Dainese, Erica for the banana bread, Go Fast Bread. Everybody else who has helped me out.”

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

For information on how to watch MotoAmerica, CLICK HERE.