The second round of the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike class took place this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Round one in Atlanta saw former teammates Jake Gagne and Cameron Beaubier split victories in the first two races of the season. But the main question this weekend was: can the brute power of the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR compare to the established performance of the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha YZF-R1’s?
Last season at Barber, it was the factory Yamaha duo of Jake Gagne and Cameron Petersen showing the R1’s dominance around the tight circuit. And as the weekend progressed, history looked to repeat itself.
Race 1:
After the second qualifying session, it was an all Yamaha front row as Gagne took pole position, his teammate Cameron Petersen in second, and Westby Racing’s Matthew Scholtz in third.
As the race began, the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha teammates took charge at the front, and immediately put a gap to Herrin back in third. Matthew Scholtz was pushing Herrin, and as the two battled, this allowed Cameron Beaubier to close the gap.
Scholtz made his move on Herrin at the end of lap three, as Herrin’s Ducati Panigale V4 seemed to struggle at keeping the required pace.
Cameron Beaubier now found himself at Herrin’s rear wheel, and made his move around on lap five, looking to reel in Scholtz.
Herrin’s troubles were far from over as Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante began to breath down his neck, while Gagne kept a comfortable two second lead ahead of Petersen out front.
On lap nine, Jacobsen made his way around Herrin and pushed forward. Escalante now looked for his opportunity past Herrin, but he just couldn’t seem to get a strong enough drive to seal the deal as Herrin was strong on the brakes all race.
In the end, it was a trio of Yamahas sweeping the podium as Gagne won ahead of Petersen, then Scholtz. Cameron Beaubier finished in a solid fourth place with Jacobsen behind in fifth. Josh Herrin was able to hold off the hard-charging Escalante, while Ashton Yates finished with an impressive ride in eighth place aboard his Aftercare Scheibe Racing BMW.
Race 2:
Race two began in the southern heat Sunday afternoon. Jake Gagne launched with a slight wheelie off the line, but maintained his first position into turn one. It was like deja vu as Cameron Petersen slotted in behind his teammate, but he asked too much too soon of his front tire and lost the front end of the motorcycle around turn five.
With Petersen’s departure, the running order was now Gagne ahead of Scholtz, then Herrin, Beaubier, Escalante, and Jacobsen. Beaubier made quick work of Herrin on lap two in the four way battle for third position. Escalante made his way past Herrin on lap three.
Cam Beaubier seemed eager to better his results from the day prior and immediately began stretching his BMW’s legs to chase down Matthew Scholtz.
Beaubier caught Scholtz lap seven and looked to be flowing, fast, and smooth. He made a pass on Scholtz during lap eight heading down the straightaway towards the museum corner. Scholtz attempted a dive through into the final corner of the same lap, but Beaubier powered back through and cleared a gap.
Their battle raged on as Beaubier made a mistake around turn five on lap ten, allowing Scholtz past.
Herrin and Jacobsen had found themselves in a tight fight for fifth place, where Jacobsen took the position with five laps remaining and never looked back.
With three laps to go, Cam Petersen’s (who remounted his bike a lap down and slotted in behind the Scholtz/Beaubier battle) bike began smoking, causing obvious signs of concern around the paddock. Race Direction notified him as he came around the start/finish straight and pulled him in. Thankfully there seemed to be no signs of on-track spillage.
On the final lap, Cameron Beaubier pushed hard to find a way through on Scholtz, but it came down to the final stretch. As the pair blasted out of the last corner, Beaubier used the dominant horsepower of his BMW to try accelerating past, but Scholtz’s bike moved slightly left as the finish line neared, forcing Beaubier to halt his advance.
In the end it was Jake Gagne with his third victory in a row, Scholtz in second, Beaubier third, and Escalante in a quiet fourth.
Ryan Yearwood is the motorsports correspondent for SoBros Network as well as the pioneer and visionary behind SoBros Outdoors. Follow on Twitter: @OutdoorSoBro.
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