Crimson-Sizzling Fong Leads The Superbike Pack As MotoAmerica Heads To The Pacific Northwest
Bobby Fong Is Using A Two-Race Win Streak As Metal Commander Superbike Rolls Into Ridge Motorsports Park And Beaubier Is Again
IRVINE, CA (June 25, 2024) – Wrench Bikes’ Bobby Fong and his eight-point lead within the 2024 MotoAmerica Metal Commander Superbike Championship will embark on Ridge Motorsports Park this coming weekend, June 28-30, with little doubt that he can enhance upon his outcomes from a yr in the past on the racetrack in Shelton, Washington.
Fong’s 2023 go to to Washington was a bust as he was disqualified from race one for ignoring a black flag, and he failed to complete race two. That’s zero factors on the weekend for these of you counting at residence.
However that was then and that is now and it’s extremely unlikely that together with his confidence degree at an all-time excessive, and together with his crew working easily and effectively, issues received’t be very totally different than they have been in 2023.
Fong arrives on the observe within the shadows of Mount Rainier after two resounding victories at Brainerd Worldwide Raceway two weeks in the past and it has him atop the standings with the collection set for 2 stops on the West Coast starting with the Ridge spherical.
Fong’s season so far has been one in all up-and-down consistency (pardon the oxymoron) early and flat-out pace of late. He started his 2024 season with a podium in race one at Street Atlanta however adopted that up with a tenth (in moist circumstances) in race two. Within the three races at Barber Motorsports Park, Fong was ninth, fifth and second, and at Street America he was eighth (once more within the moist) and second. Fong was beginning to hit his stride, and he adopted up on Street America together with his pole place and two victories at Brainerd.
Assault Efficiency/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne is the one rider within the prime 10 apart from Fong to attain factors in each spherical, however they haven’t are available in bucketfuls like what we’ve come to anticipate from the three-time and defending Metal Commander Superbike Champion.
All you actually need to know is that Gagne has solely received one race and that got here at Street Atlanta manner again in April. That’s merely extraordinary for Gagne. The trigger? Debilitating arm-pump points which have Gagne barely holding on (actually), and with only one podium up to now six races. It’s been tough to look at and even his rivals really feel his ache. In contrast to Fong, it’s gotten to the purpose the place Gagne longs for moist races as his final podium was a second-place end within the moist at Street America.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin has fought his solution to third within the collection standings after his race-two crash at Barber put a zero in his factors column. Herrin has one win and 4 complete podiums, together with his victory in race one at Street America, and his factors tally options his two second-place finishes to Fong at Brainerd. Herrin sits 19 factors behind Fong and 11 behind Gagne.
Additionally, keep in mind that Herrin was quick final yr at Ridge Motorsports Park, qualifying on pole and ending third in each races.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen has been fast all yr and, after 9 races, finds himself nonetheless within the hunt for the championship. With two wins and 5 complete podiums, Petersen is 28 factors behind Fong and 9 behind Herrin.
9 factors behind Petersen is Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz with the Frenchman incomes his second podium of the season in the latest spherical at Brainerd. Baz solely has one non-score on his season when he was hit from behind by a lapped rider in race three at Barber.
EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly began his season on a tear as he raced to 2 podiums within the first 5 races of his rookie marketing campaign within the Metal Commander Superbike class. Kelly has slipped down the order a bit with crashes within the two of the previous 4 races and he’s now sixth within the championship – 42 factors behind Fong and 5 behind Baz.
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier is seventh, regardless of the non-score from his crash within the rain at Street America and the three subsequent races of zero factors whereas he recovered from his surgically repaired damaged heel. However wait. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s crew introduced this week that Beaubier will return to motion at Ridge Motorsports Park this coming weekend.
Let’s not overlook that Beaubier received three of the primary 5 races to begin the season previous to his damage and he’s received 62 of those Superbike races in his profession. So, in trying on the level standings, Beaubier is 43 factors behind. With a five-point distinction between first and second, and 11 races left to run… okay, it’s too early for that.
Beaubier’s teammate JD Seaside is eighth within the title chase and nonetheless making an attempt to recuperate from the hit his factors tally took with two non-finishes within the three races at Barber. Seaside, nevertheless, confirmed podium pace together with his third in race two at Street America.
Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch had a rocky begin to his season however has turned issues round with 4 robust outings in a row at Street America and Brainerd. Paasch is ninth within the championship heading to Washington.
Regardless of not competing up to now 4 Superbike races, Actual Metal Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim nonetheless finds himself within the prime 10 after a strong begin to his season on his Inventory 1000-spec Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
With Beaubier set to return, Xavi Forés would be the solely Superbike fill-in rider as he’ll proceed to exchange the injured Richie Escalante on the second Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Pre-Race Ridge Notes…
The Superbike males didn’t prime Jake Gagne’s lap file of 1:39.145 from Q2 in 2022 final yr on the two.47-mile Ridge Motorsports Park, although Cameron Beaubier did set a race-record lap of 1:39.633 within the second of two races in 2023.
Jake Gagne beat Mathew Scholtz and Josh Herrin to win race one a season in the past at Ridge Motorsports Park for what was his fifth win in a row. On Sunday, nevertheless, Cameron Beaubier broke Gagne’s win streak by topping Gagne and Herrin to win race two.
Three-time MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne is the winningest rider within the four-year (eight-race) historical past of MotoAmerica holding a spherical of its championship at Ridge Motorsports Park. Gagne has received 5 of the eight races with Cameron Beaubier profitable the primary two races in 2020 and a 3rd in race two final yr.
Together with his two victories at Brainerd Worldwide Raceway two weeks in the past, Bobby Fong has now received 5 AMA Superbike races in his profession. That places him in a tie for twenty sixth on the all-time Superbike win checklist with Larry Pegram, Jake Zemke, Mathew Scholtz and Danilo Petrucci.
With its 5 wins so far in 2024, Yamaha is closing in on the 125-win mark within the MotoAmerica Superbike period. Yamaha has 122 wins in MotoAmerica Superbike and 195 complete AMA Superbike wins, which locations them second to Suzuki’s 216 AMA Superbike victories.
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is North America’s premier motorbike street racing collection. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is residence to the AMA Superbike Championship in addition to further courses together with Supersport, Inventory 1000, Twins Cup, Junior Cup, and King Of The Baggers. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership together with three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Corridor of Famer Wayne Rainey; ex-racer and former supervisor of Crew Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports advertising and marketing government Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. For extra data, please go to www.MotoAmerica.com and observe MotoAmerica on Fb, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. To look at all issues MotoAmerica, subscribe to MotoAmerica’s stay streaming and video on demand service, MotoAmerica Reside+
The put up MotoAmerica: Fong Leads Superbike Championship Heading To “The Ridge” appeared first on Roadracing World Journal | Motorbike Using, Racing & Tech Information.
