2024 MotoAmerica Metal Commander Superbike Season Is Something However Predictable
Jake Gagne Leads A Championship That’s Tipsy-Turvy With 4 Totally different Winners As Sequence Heads To Minnesota, June 14-16
IRVINE, CA (June 12, 2024) – The one factor predictable in regards to the 2024 MotoAmerica Metal Commander Superbike Championship is its unpredictability because the sequence embarks on its fourth spherical at Brainerd Worldwide Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota, June 14-16.
Working example #1: Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier gave the impression to be teetering on the verge of dominating this yr’s championship after successful three of the primary 5 races. Now Beaubier is out of motion for some time after breaking his heel in his race-one crash at Street America in a rainstorm.
Working example #2: Assault Efficiency/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne leads the title chase however has solely gained a single race. He additionally has unheard-of outcomes for the three-time champion of eighth, seventh and fifth on his scorecard after early-season struggles with arm pump. He’s, nevertheless, solely one in all two riders within the high 10 to have scored factors in all seven races.
Working example #3: There have been 4 totally different winners within the Superbike class within the first seven races. Final yr, there have been 4 totally different winners in all the 19-race sequence.
So, in case you add all that up, it’s straightforward to see the unpredictability of the present season. And there’s a lot extra to return. Subsequent up: Brainerd Worldwide Raceway.
So, what does all of it imply?
Gagne along with his lone victory (in race two at Street Atlanta) and 4 complete podiums leads the best way into the “Land Of 10,000 Lakes” with 113 factors. That places him 18 factors away from the absent Beaubier, who will likely be watching from his California residence and undecided of when his return will likely be as he could also be out of motion till his residence spherical at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Gagne’s arm-pump is one thing we should control. One factor we all know for sure, if Gagne isn’t successful races and isn’t a constant podium finisher, there’s nonetheless an issue. Solely time will inform, and Brainerd will present take a look at as to the well being of these forearms.
Wrench Bikes’ Bobby Fong is having his greatest Superbike season since his three-win season in 2020 on the M4 Suzuki that positioned him third at season’s finish within the championship. Fong’s journey to second place in race two at Street America nearly two weeks in the past was heroic and greater than made up for his struggles within the moist race one the place he soldiered on to complete eighth.
Fong, who’s the one rider aside from Gagne to attain factors in all seven races, is 25 factors behind the three-time sequence champ and simply seven behind Beaubier, who will certainly lose that second rating this coming weekend.
A number of riders are giving chase to Gagne, and third to seventh within the championship is tight with 16 factors protecting the 5 riders.
Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen has two victories on his scorecard, which already matches his career-high of two wins in 2022. Petersen was robbed of extra factors when his Yamaha failed him in race two at Street America the day after his second win of the season.
TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly’s run of constant top-level outcomes ended along with his scary crash whereas main within the quagmire of race one at Street America. Kelly then ran right into a mechanical concern on the ultimate lap whereas dicing for second in race two. He was in a position to salvage a sixth-place end that left him in a tie with Petersen for fourth within the standings. Somewhat higher luck and he would have left Wisconsin third within the championship.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin turned his season round along with his first victory of the season in race two at Street America. Herrin’s Sunday victory moved him to sixth within the championship, 4 factors behind Petersen and Kelly and 34 factors in arrears of Gagne.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz hoped for a bit extra from Street America, however he nonetheless got here away along with his first podium of the season along with his third in race one and a fourth in race two. The Frenchman is seven factors behind his teammate.
JD Seaside got here out of the three-race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in a depressing state as he scored simply 9 factors. What a distinction a weekend makes. Seaside was really smiling on Sunday afternoon in Wisconsin after placing his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR on the rostrum for the primary time. A day earlier, Seaside raced the bike to fourth, so he went from scoring 9 factors in three races in Alabama to 29 factors in two races in Wisconsin.
Actual Metal Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim is ninth within the Superbike standings after sitting out the Street America spherical, only one level forward of Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch, who had his greatest weekend of the season to date at Street America with fifth and seventh-place finishes.
Seaside will likely be joined this weekend on the second Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR by Mission King Of The Baggers Championship factors chief Troy Herfoss with the three-time Australian Superbike Champion set to fill-in for the injured Beaubier on the workforce. Herfoss will do double obligation on his S&S Indian Challenger within the Baggers race and in Metal Commander Superbike on a racetrack he’s by no means seen earlier than.
Pre-Race Brainerd Notes…
PJ Jacobsen gained the primary MotoAmerica Superbike race of his profession final yr in Sunday’s race two at Brainerd Worldwide Raceway, and he did it the fitting manner – by holding off Jake Gagne in a straight combat. Gagne, who gained Saturday’s race one, completed second with Mathew Scholtz third. Jacobsen had completed second to Gagne within the first race with Josh Herrin taking the ultimate podium spot.
Two of the names from final yr’s Superbike podiums at the moment are racing within the Supersport Championship. PJ Jacobsen leads the sequence level standings on his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 with Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz giving chase in second on his Yamaha YZF-R6. These two have gained all six of the Supersport races this yr and Jacobsen leads Scholtz by 12 factors, 131-119.
Pole place for final yr’s race went to Cameron Beaubier along with his 1:30.688. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion was the one rider to interrupt into the 1:30s throughout qualifying. He was joined on the entrance row by PJ Jacobsen and Jake Gagne.
Jake Gagne’s lap of 1:29.922 from 2021 remains to be the Superbike lap report and Gagne additionally has the race report of 1:29.922 from race two in 2021.
Beaubier, a three-time winner to date in 2024, has been dominated out of racing this yr at Brainerd as he recovers from heel surgical procedure after crashing out of race one at Street America practically two weeks in the past.
This yr’s spherical at Brainerd Worldwide Raceway is the fourth straight go to to the Minnesotan racetrack because the sequence ended a 17-year hiatus in 2021.
Of the six Superbike races held at Brainerd within the MotoAmerica period, Jake Gagne has gained 4 of them. The opposite two went to Italian Danilo Petrucci in 2022 and PJ Jacobsen in 2023.
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is North America’s premier motorbike street racing sequence. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is residence to the AMA Superbike Championship in addition to extra 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 Workforce Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports advertising and marketing govt Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. For extra data, please go to www.MotoAmerica.com and comply with MotoAmerica on Fb, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. To look at all issues MotoAmerica, subscribe to MotoAmerica’s reside streaming and video on demand service, MotoAmerica Reside+
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