MotoAmerica 2025
Round One – Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama
Superbike Race One
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier had a difficult season last year, missing races due to injury, yet still clawing his way back to finish second in the 2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. This year, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion is hoping for more, and it’s a case of “so far, so good” as Beaubier won the opening race of the series at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday.
But it was far from easy. The race was a Beaubier vs. Bobby Fong battle with Fong’s Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Jake Gagne watching the proceedings from third place. Beaubier led early, stalked by Fong, then Fong took over, stalked by Beaubier. It turns out that Beaubier was saving his best for last as he dropped the hammer with two laps remaining, turning the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.
At the finish line it was Beaubier over Fong by .833 of a second. Gagne held on for a lonely third, 6.5 seconds behind the battle in front of him and a similar distance to the rider behind him.
That rider was Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly. Kelly didn’t get off the start line very well, but he kept pushing until getting into fourth place, a position he would hold to the finish. It was a good result for the Floridian in what was his first Superbike race on a GSX-R1000R.
Defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Josh Herrin was a lonely fifth, well behind Kelly and some seven seconds ahead of Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was seventh with Superbike Cup winner JD Beach eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Notables who failed to finish the race were Jones Honda’s Ashon Yates and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante. Yates was taken out by a mechanical issue while Escalante crashed out of fourth on the third lap.
Superbike Race One Results
- Cam Beaubier – BMW
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha +0.833s
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha +6.503s
- Sean Dylan Kelly – Suzuki +12.402s
- Josh Herrin – Ducati +24.918s
- Hayden Gillim – Honda +32.357s
- Benjamin Smith – Yamaha +38.536s
- JD Beach – Honda +42.481s
- Bryce Kornbau – Honda +42.823
- Danilo Lewis – BMW +71.331s
Superbike Race Two
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne ended a winless drought of 350 days on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, and he did so in dominant fashion with a runaway victory in an Alabama rainstorm.
The three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s previous race victory was a year ago in April when he won race two at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Following his lone 2024 victory, Gagne suffered with carpal tunnel syndrome, which eventually led to him ending his season to forget early.
But Gagne showed that he’s back on form this weekend in Alabama, winning Sunday’s wet race two after finishing third in a dry race one Saturday.
On Sunday, there was no stopping Gagne. He jumped into the lead in turn one and was never headed, leading by as much as 13 seconds before backing off in the closing stages on a treacherous racetrack. At the finish line, Gagne had a comfortable 6.7 seconds in hand.
Saturday’s race-winner Cameron Beaubier finished second on the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR, with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion crossing the line just a tick over a second ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin.
Herrin improved from his fifth-place finish on Saturday to a fighting third on Sunday, right on Beaubier’s tail and five seconds ahead of fourth-place finisher Sean Dylan Kelly. Kelly had a productive first weekend on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, with a pair of fourth-place finishes.
Gagne’s teammate Bobby Fong was in the fight for second when he started to drop back with severe vision issues prompted by a fogged-up faceshield. Fong blindly rode to a fifth-place finish a day after finishing second to Beaubier.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was sixth, a day after crashing out of Saturday’s race. Escalante was well back of Fong and five seconds clear of Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach at the completion of the 15-lap race. With his seventh-place finish, Beach again claimed top honors in the Superbike Cup, which is a race within a race for Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.
Beach’s teammate Hayden Gillim had a tipover, remounted, and finished eighth.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
Notable non-finishers included Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates and FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith, with both riders crashing out in separate incidents.
Race two featured four different manufacturers in the top four: Yamaha, BMW, Ducati and Suzuki.
After the opening round of the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Beaubier leads Gagne by four points, 45-41. Fong is third on 31 points, four ahead of Herrin. Kelly is fifth with 26 points, just one behind Herrin, as the series heads to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for round two, May 2-4.
Superbike Race Two Results
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha
- Cam Beaubier – BMW +6.758s
- Josh Herrin – Ducati +7.781s
- Sean Dylan Kelly – Suzuki +12.893s
- Bobby Fong – Yamaha +45.288s
- Richie Escalante – Suzuki +60.999s
- JD Beach – Honda +65.593s
- Hayden Gillim – Honda +101.477s
- Jason Waters – BMW +1 lap
- Max Flinders – Yamaha +1 lap
Jake Gagne – Race Two Winner
“I just want to be fighting with these guys – Cam, Josh, Bobby. I think they’re going to be the guys. Obviously, defending champ Josh (Herrin), and Cam (Beaubier) is hungry. He hasn’t had enough Superbike championships, I guess. I just want to be in the fight. Yesterday I was actually really happy with that ride. It felt a little better than I thought in the race, just to be kind of staying with those guys for a little while. I was kind of excited for the rain today, but even like you said, watching that Supersport race, the track was really gnarly, especially on the Superbike. It’s so easy to hydroplane. On the warmup lap, I was just really hoping we all could be patient and not see anything bad happen, because it really was gnarly. Like I said, this Yamaha just works so well in the wet. I’ve been on it for so many years. We’ve had a lot of rain races, so it just feels like we got a good setup that we can take anywhere in the wet. Of course, you never know what’s going to happen. Guys like Cam and Josh and Bob (Fong) could throw down at any time, even in the rain, even in tricky conditions. I’m just happy that mainly we kept it on two wheels. Once I got into the lead, having clear track in front of you is so helpful. When you’re looking at splashes and you can’t see where the puddles are, you’re worried about hydroplaning. I don’t even remember how I got into the lead, the first or second lap. Then kind of put my head down. The bike just was working really good. I’m happy to leave with two podiums. I’m psyched with that, honestly.”
Cameron Beaubier – Race Two Second Place
“Win yesterday, second today. To be honest with you, I’m just happy today is over with. I haven’t had nerves like that going into a race… You always have a little bit, but nerves from actually just the track surface. That warmup lap, I saw how much standing water there was and watched the end of Supersport. I was like, ‘Damn, this is going to be a long race.’ Luckily, everyone was safe out there and we got it done. This guy (Gagne) put on a clinic and rode away from us. I couldn’t even see him five laps into the race. Hats off to him. Hats off to Josh (Herrin). Like I said, glad today is over with. I think Josh and Bob (Fong) riding around in front of me, I felt like helped my confidence. I was able to start finding my groove and rolling around the track. There at the beginning, I would go into the fast chicane on the back straightaway, and I was hydroplaning, and I had no idea what was going on. I noticed they started going a little bit inside that, and I was hitting the puddle that I couldn’t really see on the line you would hit in the dry. I tidied up some things. Saw Josh hydroplane big time in front of me a couple times on the short chute from Charlotte’s Web to Museum. That was a little scary. After that, Josh got messed up a little bit with some lap traffic. I darted to the inside, and I was able to put four or five laps together there at the end. Felt pretty good. I was able to open up a little gap and brought it home in second.”
Josh Herrin – Race Two Third Place
“We come into this event knowing it’s going to be difficult for us, and obviously I come into it hoping that the bike feels good. But for some reason, if it only happens at one track, I’m totally okay with it, but this just happens to be that track for us. No matter what we do, we know exactly what the problem is, and we just cannot figure a way to fix it. So, yesterday we just gambled for the race to try something completely different. It was a little bit worse, but the result went probably the same. Fourth, fifth, sixth… Somewhere in that spot. Then I woke up this morning and came to the track just praying that you guys were going to cancel the race because I just suck so bad in the rain on this bike. The guys just made a change today. All of a sudden, I went out the first lap and felt super good. Dragged my knee for the first time in my life in the rain and just had tons of confidence. But then in the race, I still felt good. I was super happy with the bike, but I didn’t have that confidence I had this morning. I came to the podium and Mick from Dunlop said my tire for some reason had seven pounds more pressure in the rear than the other guys, so I don’t know what happened there. If it was a mistake. I was fighting it super hard in the straight up and down areas. I think just that tensing me up so much when I would hit those puddles, it just made me ride a little bit more tense than I wanted. I was having a little bit more momentum in corners than I wanted because of that. So, to walk out of here with a podium in the rain is like winning a championship. It just feels amazing. Last year if you added up the points we lost in the rain, I can guarantee it was probably 50-something points. This is a huge breakthrough for us for the year. Just excited for the rest of the season now.”
Superbike Championship Points
- Cam Beaubier 45
- Jake Gagne 41
- Bobby Fong 31
- Josh Herrin 27
- Sean Dylan Kelly 26
- Hayden Gillim 18
- JD Beach 17
- Max Flinders 11
- Richie Escalante 10
- Benjamin Smith 9
Supersport
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz started the defense of his 2025 Motovation Supersport Championship in perfect fashion on a sunny Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park. He led every session, put his brand-new Yamaha YZF-R9 on pole position, and stormed to victory in the opening round of the series.
Scholtz topped Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen, his championship rival from last year, by 2.9 seconds in the red-flag-shortened 18-lap race with the New Yorker not able to quite match the pace of the South African.
Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was an impressive third with the 18-year-old only five seconds behind his race-winning teammate and almost 10 seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott.
Scott, meanwhile, was busy fighting off Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov, who in turn was just marginally ahead of her Rahal Ducati Moto w/Roller Die’s Corey Alexander.
Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen muffed the start but fought through to fourth only to suffer from brake fade. The South African soldiered on to finish seventh.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, and BPR Racing’s Josh Hayes rounded out the top 10.
“The only thing that I’m kind of bummed about was that I couldn’t do better than a 26 flat,” Scholtz said. “During the morning practice I was able to do 25s consistently. I was blowing a couple of corners. I know that the wind was pretty hard there, so maybe I was just pushing into a couple corners, and braking a little bit sooner than I should have in a couple of other spots where the wind was helping you. Overall, I think it’s definitely going to be on the wets (tires) tomorrow. We haven’t tested the bike in the wet conditions, so it’s going to be a little bit difficult for us. But the bike has been superb so far. I’m looking forward to it.”
Supersport Race One Results
- Mathew Scholz – Yamaha
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +2.919s
- Blake Davis – Yamaha +5.053s
- Tyler Scott – Suzuki +14.964s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +15.097s
- Corey Alexander – Ducati 15.895s
- Cameron Petersen – Ducati +17.425s
- Jake Lewis – Yamaha +20.687s
- David Anthony – Suzuki +23.222s
- Joshua Hayes – Yamaha +28.519s
Supersport Race Two
Josh Hayes came into the 2025 MotoAmerica season with 88 victories across all classes, making him the winningest racer in AMA history. On Friday, Hayes turned 50. Today, he added to the Hayes legacy by winning the 89th race of his career in a rainstorm at Barber Motorsports Park. And all this after sitting out last year’s championship.
Hayes and his BPR Racing Yamaha YZF-R9 didn’t have the pace in Saturday’s dry race, with the four-time AMA Superbike Champion finishing 10th. On a rainy Sunday in Alabama, Hayes definitely had pace. He shot ahead at the start and though he was never headed, he was most definitely hounded from behind. Initially, the challenge came from Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Corey Alexander, then Saturday’s race-one winner Mathew Scholtz took up the cause and was all over the back of Hayes. With four laps to go, Scholtz crashed, leaving Alexander’s Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL teammate PJ Jacobsen to take on the challenge of trying to beat Hayes.
Jacobsen waited for a miscue that didn’t come, and the victory went to Hayes by just .789 of a second over the New Yorker. Scholtz, meanwhile, remounted to finish third on his Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R9.
Scholtz’s teammate Blake Davis was fourth and right on Scholtz’s tailsection. Davis had been in a battle with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, with Scott crashing right in front of Davis, who was forced to take evasive action. Davis rode on to fourth with Scott remounting to finish ninth.
Fifth place went to Scott’s teammate Max Van, who was well clear of Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis. Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov was on Lewis’ tail in seventh.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Teagg Hobbs ended up eighth with Scott ninth. Altus Motorsports’ Jaret Nassaney rounded out the top 10.
With round one complete, Scholtz leads Jacobsen by one point, 41-40, with Hayes third on 31 points.
“I won the last National I rode in the rain in 2023 at New Jersey,” Hayes said. “My expectations were not this today. Somebody asked me and I’m like, ‘Supersport in the rain right now is so stacked.’ We’ve seen what Mat (Scholtz) can do. We’ve seen what PJ (Jacobsen) can do in the rain. Blake Davis has really grown in the rain. Kayla (Yaakov). There’s so many people that have shown great speed in the rain. I just tried to be smart. They had some moments, and I really tried to learn as much as I could this morning and in that warm-up lap that we had. I committed to what my lines were going to be, and I pretty much stuck to them the whole race. I said, okay, when Mat (Scholtz) caught me. ‘If he’s got the speed to go, I’m going to do what I can to learn from him and hang on, but if he goes… If I finish here in this area, I’m in pretty good shape.’ His (Scholtz) confidence has been incredible to watch him. I just feel lucky to be a part of the success of the R9 program right from the beginning. What an incredible weekend. I watched these two guys battle last year, and with any stroke of luck they’re going to have to deal with me more than in the rain this year, and that’s our goal and our hope. I’m looking forward to some more racing.”
Supersport Race Two Results
- Joshua Hayes – Yamaha
- PJ Jacobsen – Ducati +0.789s
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha +33.968s
- Blake Davis – Yamaha +34.151s
- Max Van Den Brouck – Suzuki +39.870s
- Jake Lewis – Yamaha +51.407s
- Kayla Yaakov – Ducati +52.925s
- Teagg Hobbs – Yamaha +59.447s
- Tyler Scott – Suzuki +67.562s
- Jaret Nassaney – Yamaha +78.495s
Supersport Championship Points
- Mathew Scholtz 41
- PJ Jacobsen 40
- Joshua Hayes 31
- Blake Davis 29
- Kayla Yaakov 20
- Tyler Scott 20
- Jake Lewis 18
- Max Ven Den Bruck 16
- Teagg Hobbs 11
- Corey Alexander 10
Twins Cup
A day after walking away uninjured from a big crash, Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher ran down race-long leader Alessandro Di Mario to earn his first win of the season and his second-career SC-Project Twins Cup victory.
This one looked to be a Di Mario romp as the fast qualifier took off from the pack to earn what appeared to be a comfortable victory. But with his grip level fading quickly, the Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660-mounted Di Mario was a sitting duck as Dreher carved his way through traffic to get to the back of Di Mario with just a lap to go. And then he made his pass, crossing the finish line just .058 of a second ahead of the defending Twins Cup Champion.
Third place went to RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin, who came out on top of a fight with Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison by .048 of a second. Chapin’s third-place finish was his third straight podium finish after his two victories in the season opener at Daytona.
With Cunnison fourth, it was Brown Town Racing’s Chase Brown finishing fifth and well clear of Kock Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky, who in turn was well clear of MotorcycleUpholstery.com’s Treston Morrison.
Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh, Wolfe Racing’s Ryan Wolfe, and Duffy Racing’s Tyler Duffy rounded out the top 10.
“This is definitely a good turnaround from yesterday,” Dreher said. “I was laying on the ground at about 12 o’clock. The team worked hard to get the bike back together, so I was able to put it on the front row, which is decent. I wasn’t happy with my times, but we figured out a few things with the bike and I think we’re pretty dialed now. I honestly didn’t think I had the rear tire left there at the end. was spinning around everywhere and I didn’t want to push it too hard and end up on the floor but I just have to say a big thank you to the whole team.”
Twins Cup Race One Results
- Avery Dreher – Suzuki
- Alessandro Di Mario – Aprilia +0.058s
- Matthew Chapin – Suzuki +11.464s
- Logan Cunnison – Aprilia +11.512s
- Chase Brown – Aprilia +18.803s
- Sean Ungvarsky – Yamaha +25.074s
- Treston Morrison – Yamaha +34.884s
- Andrew Weyh – Aprilia +38.023s
- Ryan Wolfe – Yamaha +38.058s
- Tyler Duffy – Aprilia +51.300s
Twins Cup Race Two
Sunday’s SC-Project Twins Cup race was red-flagged on the seventh of 10 laps, and the only thing that was a certainty was that Alessandro Di Mario was the winner. The rest was as clear as mud, and it took a while to sort it all out.
When it was all said and done, it was Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle taking second with Karns/TST Motorsports’ Levi Badie finishing third in the rain-lashed race two. Weyh Racing’s Andrew Weyh was a career-best fourth with Moto-Ace Racing’s Zachary Foster fifth.
Di Mario was one of the few who didn’t crash in the race. With Di Mario out front, Doyle was battling with Speeddemon Racing’s Logan Cunnison until Cunnison crashed out. That left Doyle to fight it out for second with Karns/TST Industries’ Isaac Woodworth. Then Woodworth crashed.
Shortly thereafter, it was RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin’s turn to crash out of fifth place. Chapin remounted only to crash again on the same lap when his throttle stuck wide open going into turn one.
With five laps to go, Doyle crashed out of second place, but a red flag was thrown, and the South African was credited with second place behind Di Mario.
In total, there were six DNFs and six non-starters in Sunday’s race two.
After two rounds of the SC-Project Twins Cup Championship, Di Mario leads Chapin by 19 points, 85-66. Doyle is third with 52 points, five ahead of Saturday’s race winner Avery Dreher.
“I just got flashbacks from last year,” Di Mario said. “In race one last year, it was in the rain, and I crashed, and then I won on Sunday in the dry. So, this year was split. I kinda lost in the dry and then won in the wet. I wasn’t really expecting it. Earlier I was just like, ‘I’m gonna go out there and win.’ I was so pissed about yesterday. I had a big moment in the big esses. I’m really happy, but I can’t really enjoy it right now. I have to go put my other helmet on and go race Talent Cup.”
Twins Cup Race Two Results
- Alessandro Di Mario – Aprilia
- Dominic Doyle – Yamaha +1 lap
- Levi Badie – Suzuki +1 lap
- Andrew Weyh – Aprilia +1 lap
- Zachary Foster – Aprilia +1 lap
- Romeo Chiavini – Yamaha +1 lap
- Sean Ungvarsky – Yamaha +1 lap
- Chase Brown – Aprilia +1 lap
- Treston Morrison – Yamaha +1 lap
- Josef Bittner – Aprilia +1 lap
Twins Cup Championship Points
- Alessandro Di Mario 85
- Matthew Chapin 66
- Dominic Doyle 52
- Avery Dreher 47
- Sean Ungvarsky 45
Royal Enfield Built Train Race
It wasn’t as dominating as most of Mikayla Moore’s victories in the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. series the past two years, but Kira Knebel’s victory on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park shows the rest of the pack that they have a bit of work to do to keep pace.
Knebel, who finished third to Moore and Camille Conrad in last year’s title chase, bested Shea MacGregor by 6.7 seconds. Despite being beaten, MacGregor’s speed has improved greatly as her best result a season ago was sixth place en route to finishing seventh in the championship.
Knebel had this one in hand from the beginning, turning a best lap of 1:47.041 to win the opening round of the championship.
Conrad opened her second season in the class with a third-place finish, 4.7 seconds adrift of MacGregor. Miranda Cain and Cassie Creer rounded out the top five with those three covered by less than a second.
Royal Enfield Built Train Race Results
- Kira Knebel
- Shea MacGregor +6.722s
- Camille Conrad +11.517s
- Miranda Cain +12.061s
- Cassi Creer +12.450s
