Random notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia from the MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America event:
MotoAmericans By The Multitude
I’m reasonably certain that, by now, you’ve heard that, this past weekend, we entertained the largest group of spectators ever in the 45-year history of motorcycle racing at Road America. There have been several comments on our social media channels from people asking, “What’s the number?”
The truth is, we don’t know. Like many other racetracks throughout the world, Road America doesn’t release specific attendance numbers. They definitely know how many people enjoyed our racing in person this past weekend, and try as hard as we did, we couldn’t get them to divulge the info. Even completely off-the-record; in casual conversations between us, them, and a couple of brats; and over a late-Sunday-night shot of whiskey to celebrate Brian J. Nelson‘s birthday, mum’s the word.
Anecdotally, we can tell you that a lot of people in the paddock, including riders and team personnel, were marveling at the number of people enjoying their weekend at the 640-acre “America’s National Park of Speed.” Defending Superbike Champion Josh Herrin said, “I’ve been racing here since 2006, and this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Road America.”
The Polyglot Prodigy
Alessandro Di Mario, the 16-year-old rider from Kentucky, who won last year’s Twins Cup Championship and is currently leading this year’s Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul Championship, is not only fast on a racetrack, he is also a fast learner.
Born in Italy, Di Mario is fluent in his father Luigi’s native Italian language. He also speaks Albanian, which is his mother Manjola’s native language, and a little bit of Spanish, along with, of course, perfect English. The quadrilingual Kentuckian had to skip his high school graduation this past week in order to race at Road America, but his mom brought his cap and gown to Elkhart Lake, so Di Mario donned the ensemble—tassel included—right after winning Sunday’s race two.
By the way, Di Mario won’t turn 17 till way next December 9. So, for those old enough to get the reference, he is the “Doogie Howser” of MotoAmerica.
Road America At The Speed Of Life
The fastest overall rider throughout the weekend at Road America was Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW’s Cameron Beaubier, who officially reached a maximum trap speed of 190.3 miles per hour on lap 10 of Saturday afternoon’s 12-lap Superbike race two.
Unofficially, Beaubier actually did a top speed of 201 miles per hour. And, as a matter of fact, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin also did a top speed of 201 miles per hour. Those top speeds were recorded on the new prototype RaceLink system that is being tested this season and is slated to be fully incorporated into MotoAmerica’s Timing & Scoring in 2026.
Here are the fastest riders in each of the other five race classes:
• Stock 1000: OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe went 186.8 miles per hour aboard his BMW on lap four of Saturday’s eight-lap race one.
• Mission King Of The Baggers: Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman went 168.0 miles per hour on the second and final lap of Saturday’s Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge.
• Motovation Supersport: Rahal Ducati Moto’s Kayla Yaakov went 166.3 miles per hour on lap three of the 10 she did during Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session.
• Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul: Bettencourt Racing’s Nathan Bettencourt reached a highest trap speed of 126.3 miles per hour on lap two of the five he did during Sunday morning’s Warm Up session.
• Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race.: Kira Knebel went 114.0 miles per hour on her first lap of the four she did during Sunday morning Warm Up.
The Constant Quest For Quickness
Coming into the race weekend, Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman held the lap record at Road America in Mission King Of The Baggers. When he took to the track for Practice 1 on Friday morning, Wyman wasted no time in breaking his own record. Then, in Friday afternoon’s Qualifying 1, he went quicker again, and broke the record he set that morning. On Saturday in Qualifying 2, Wyman did a lap of 2:17.452, which broke his own record from Friday. And finally, in his fourth on-track session of the weekend, which was the two-lap, dash-for-cash Challenge race, Wyman set a new race lap record of 2:17.526.
In Sunday’s Stock 1000 race two, OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee set a new lap record and race lap record of 2:12.730, which eclipsed his own freshly minted lap record and race lap record from Saturday’s race one.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, who qualified on pole for the weekend’s two Motovation Supersport races, set a new lap record and race lap record of 2:16.408 in Sunday afternoon’s race two.
It was the Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul riders’ first time racing at Road America aboard their Krämer APX-350 MA motorcycles, so they set a benchmark for lap times in Practice 1, and when their weekend concluded with race two, Jones Honda’s Julian Correa set a new lap record and race lap record of 2:36.727.
The Julian Calendar
Speaking of Julian Correa, the Floridian is competing this season in both the British Talent Cup and the Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul. As a result, Correa has raced for the past three weekends in a row: Donington Park, Silverstone Circuit, and this past weekend at Road America. In the British Talent Cup, he races a Honda NSF250R, while he’s aboard a Krämer APX-350 MA in the MotoAmerica Talent Cup. Correa says the bikes are completely different, and yet, he’s had a lot of success on both. After finishing 8th in race one at Donington Park in England three weekends ago, Correa was fourth in race one at Silverstone. Then, this past weekend at Road America, “JuJu” finished fifth in Saturday’s race one and second in Sunday’s weekend-concluding race two.
Dreher To The Doctor, Then Back To Business
I’m on a roll here when it comes to interesting tidbits about the Parts Unlimited Talent Cup by Motul riders, so I’m going to keep it going. MP13 Racing’s Ella Dreher, the 15-year-old female phenom who wowed everyone last year in the final season of the Junior Cup Championship is wowing people again this season in the brand-new Talent Cup.
She’s an absolute talent, no doubt, but she’s also tough as nails. Last month, while training on a Supermoto bike at Bushnell Motorsports Park in Florida, Dreher crashed and fractured her right clavicle. After having surgery to reset the displaced bone and put in a plate to stabilize it, she resumed her training and surprised her doctor with how quickly she recovered and regained almost full range of motion in her right shoulder and arm. At Road America this past weekend, she said she wasn’t feeling any pain or discomfort, and her fourth-place finish in Saturday’s race one proved it. Adding even further proof, she was unfortunately involved in an incident during Sunday’s race two, which put her, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg, and D&D Certified Racing’s Landen Smith on the ground and brought out the red flag. Relatively unscathed and with her corrected clavicle none the worse for wear, Dreher was able to make the restart, and she successfully finished the race.
Double, Double, No Trouble
How many Superbike riders in AMA/MotoAmerica history can you say “did the double” twice in less than a week? Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin, the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion, helped his wife Rachel and the doctors bring his two twin daughters into the world (yes, he cut the cord twice), and then, Herrin delivered two twin race wins this past weekend at Road America. What else would you expect from the motorcycle road racer who made the number two famous in America, even though he’s got a number one on his bike this year. But, hey, two plus one equals three, and that’s how many children Josh and Rachel Herrin now have. Congratulations to Herrin, Party of Five.
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