Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong won his sixth MotoAmerica Superbike race of the season in the first of three races at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Saturday. More importantly for the Californian, the victory extended his points lead to 13 over Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier heading into tomorrow’s final two races of the season.
Although the championship is far from over, Fong is likely breathing a little easier on Saturday night.
Fong was in the mix from the get-go as he chased his teammate Jake Gagne in the early laps with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin behind the two Yamahas. Herrin had started 14th on the grid, but a great start and a heroic first corner saw him up to third right off the bat. Beaubier, who started the race eight points behind Fong, was also in the mix in fourth and working hard to latch on to the top three.
Fong took over at the front with a pass on Gagne on the fourth of 20 laps. Shortly thereafter, Herrin moved around Gagne and, at one point, got in front of Fong. Beaubier, meanwhile, had also passed Gagne. Beaubier kept going forward and passed Herrin with the two hoping that they could make a dent in Fong’s lead. A lapped rider played a role in not letting that happen, however, with Beaubier and Herrin badly balked.
Fong didn’t put a wheel wrong in crossing the finish line 3.326 seconds ahead of Beaubier and Herrin, with those two separated by just .051 of a second. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly was hot on the tail of the Beaubier/Herrin battle, finishing fourth and just .147 of a second behind at the finish line.
Gagne slipped down to fifth, some nine seconds ahead of OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe, who had his hands full in barely beating front-row starter Ashton Yates and his Jones Honda to the flag.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee and BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau rounded out the top 10.
Notable among the non-finishers were Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, who crashed on the opening lap, and Flo4Law’s Benjamin Smith who exited with a mechanical issue.
With tomorrow’s two races closing the curtain on the 2025 season, Fong leads Beaubier by 13, 339-326. Herrin is third, 31 points behind Fong and 60 ahead of Gagne. Kelly is fifth with 176 points, 14 more than his teammate Escalante.
Superbike Race 1
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Jayson Uribe (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Andrew Lee (BMW)
- Bryce Kornbau (Yamaha)
Quotes…
Josh Herrin – Third Place
“We just figured out that we had maybe some dirt or something from the crash built up in the floating rotors and it was causing it to not be allowed to float, and then it was pressing the pads out (ruining Herrin’s qualifying). We fixed it, but obviously we’re starting on the back foot with the grid. That’s the farthest back I think I’ve been in a really long time. I was worried about it. I still am, because we’ve got to get that launch two more times tomorrow. It wasn’t just the launch. It was taking a lot of risk weaving in and out of guys that I don’t really like to do. I knew if I didn’t get up to top five, it was going to be almost impossible to have a chance because of how tight this place is. Just in qualifying yesterday, I got stuck behind. Cam (Beaubier) didn’t seem like he was comfortable, and then Richie (Escalante) was right behind him. I was trying everything I could in qualifying to get around them and I couldn’t. So, I knew it would be hard in the race today if I didn’t figure it out. I got lucky with the start. I was with Bobby (Fong) and then I’ve just been having this problem with the tips of my fingers going numb. It happened whenever I was kind of battling with Bobby. I was like, ‘I’d be better off right now if Cam (Beaubier) was in the mix, too. I didn’t know how far back he was, so I kind of relaxed. Bobby got by me. I still relaxed, kind of hoping that Cam would go by me and then catch up to Bobby and slow things up. That didn’t happen. Me and Cam ended up going into a fight. I wanted to take a jab back at Cam, but I was trying to be smart about it and tried to let him lead us back up to Bobby if he could. Whenever I noticed that wasn’t going to happen – we had that lapper that totally screwed us. When I knew it wasn’t going to happen, then I started kind of battling with him. The white flag caught me by surprise because all race, my qualifying pit board was in a good spot, but in the race, it was in a really bad spot. It was like right as I was trying to pull out behind people, so I never saw it. I just completely spaced out and kind of panicked on the last lap that I wasn’t able to get it done. Hats off to these guys. Huge thanks to my team for figuring out what was going on with the brakes. That was kind of a hard one to figure out. Hopefully, tomorrow goes at least this good, maybe a little bit better.
Cameron Beaubier – Second Place
“Today was a lot better than yesterday. That’s all I can say. I haven’t had a day like that since I was in Moto2 probably, where you crash twice and you’re scratching your head why, what was that? Like I said out there, just big thanks to my team for not yelling at me, for one, and staying late and fixing that thing for two. This morning went a lot better. Honestly, just went out and we changed a couple things with the electronics and tried a different link. But more than anything I just wanted to go out and get my head right and shake those crashes off. The worst thing ever is falling down and not knowing why. Looking at the data and comparing it to all your other laps and it not being much different. It’s frustrating. But that’s racing. I’m really pleased with how I rode today. I did everything I possibly could to hang onto Bob (Fong). We had a good battle. (Josh) Herrin and I had a good battle there at the end for second place. The lapper honestly took any hopes of getting back to Bob away, which was a big bummer. Had quite a few moments out there on the front, losing the rear. We’re in a tough spot right now having to use the 7 rear. We’ve been struggling to make the 5 last long enough to be able to race on it. I’m not sure what these guys are on. I can do a good time with the 5, but it goes off really quick. We’ve got some stuff to try in the morning and see if we can take the fight to this guy twice tomorrow. It’s crunch time. We’ve lost five more points to him, and he’s riding awesome. Same with Josh. Going to give it everything we got tomorrow and see what happens.”
Bobby Fong – Winner
“Honestly, it was sliding a lot more than I expected. My tire – compared to these boys, obviously he (Beaubier) was on the 7, but my tire wear and the sliding was a little concerning for me. Halfway through I was sliding a whole bunch, more than I have all weekend. Obviously, it’s a little bit cooler, so we want to improve that a little bit. I know I kind of ride upright, but for myself I was scaring myself out there a little bit, just sliding a lot. We’ve got to improve on that and get a little better start tomorrow. It will be cool to see my teammate up here as well. These guys are riding good. It will be good to get Jake Gagne (up here) for helping out.”
