MotoAmerica 2025
Round Three – Road America, Elkhart Lake
Images by Brian J. Nelson
Superbike Race One
There are good weeks and there are great weeks. Josh Herrin is having a great one. Just six days after the birth of twin girls, Herrin went out and won his first Superbike race of the year and the 17th of his career on a sunny Saturday at Road America.
Herrin’s 17th career AMA Superbike win moved him out of a tie with three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey and into a tie with 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden for ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Herrin and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R led every lap of Saturday’s race as he took advantage of pole-sitter Cameron Beaubier’s miscue in turn one on the opening lap to take a lead he would never relinquish. Herrin, however, didn’t have it easy as Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong stuck with Herrin and the Ducati for the duration.
At the completion of the 12-lap race, Herrin was 2.827 seconds ahead of Fong.
Beaubier recovered from his first-turn blunder to gradually reel in both Fong and Herrin. But turn one again was a bogey corner for Beaubier and his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR. After passing Fong and setting off after Herrin in the closing stages, Beaubier ran wide in turn one again, recovering again to make a final charge at Fong for second place. At the finish line it was Fong by .009 of a second over the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne was fourth, 21.5 seconds from the front and some five seconds ahead of fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. Escalante’s fifth-place finish was a lonely one as Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim was 10 seconds behind in sixth.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates raced his Honda to seventh, well clear of BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Notable non-finishers included MotoAmerica Superbike Cup series leader JD Beach, who pulled out with a clutch issue on his Real Steel Honda, and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who crashed out in the early laps. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was a non-starter after suffering a mechanical failure in qualifying.
Beaubier now leads the championship by 26 points over Gagne, 111-85, with Herrin moving to third – just a point behind Gagne. Fong, with his third runner-up finish of the season, is fourth – eight points behind Herrin. Kelly holds on to fifth, 59 points behind Beaubier.
Josh Herrin – Winner
“If you look back the last couple years, we’ve ran at the front in some races, but I don’t think we’ve won any of the first two rounds for ’23 or ’24,” Herrin said. “I hear the guys on the broadcast saying, ‘When they can let the Ducati loose…’ I’m not saying the Ducati is not a fast bike, but I think this track suits me well. I’ve won on the Yamaha, the Ducati, the Suzuki, and got a podium on the BMW here. So, I’ve had a lot of success just around this track. I like the vibes here. My first pro race was at this track in 2006. So, it’s been a long time. I just feel good here. I do think that this is kind of like our reset, I guess. Obviously, I want to win at the first two rounds. It’s not like I’m not trying. But I’m also just trying to collect some points because I know that we just need to keep our head up and get out of there. So, to get three podiums in the first two rounds out of four, I was stoked with. Then to top it off with a win here, it’s good. I’m happy to win. I always love to win. But for some reason right now, this doesn’t feel like I thought it would. Maybe it’s just because all the stuff that’s been going on this week. I’m tired. Got a lot on my mind. I was like, I want to say something about the babies on the podium, and it was like hard to remember all of the names now. I’m like, ‘I’m going to mess this up.’ But I’m excited. I look at it, but I’ve got so much going on in my mind right now it’s insane. Hats off to the team for working hard and pushing me this weekend. Hopefully tomorrow goes just as good.”
Bobby Fong – Second Place
“It was good. I was riding so hard to try to keep up with them. I think it was the second-to-last lap, I had a big one. I thought I was going down for sure in turn one. Nearly fell off the thing. I thought Cam (Beaubier) was going to blast me. My pit board was saying “G2,” so I thought that there were two people behind me the whole time. So, I’m like, this is it. I’m getting fourth place. I thought there was more people than Cam. So, I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Once I had that moment, Cam went by. I’m like, ‘I think my race is over. I have to settle in.’ Then he went wide. He just went super wide into turn one. I thought, here’s my second chance. Got in second, and I thought he was going to get me again. But it was good. This guy kept me on my toes. Both these guys kept me on my toes the whole time. Definitely had a lot of moments out there. I was ready to just send it to the grass for sure plenty of times. But it was good to get some points and move forward to tomorrow.”
Cameron Beaubier – Third Place
“I got a good jump, and then I missed a shift slightly going second to third. Then I sent it off in there a little deeper than I should have in turn one. I felt like I was okay. Then I was going to be about mid track, then I got a big front-end push that sent me off the track. Just kind of blended in as safe as I could. Then, after that, I just did not have the same feeling I did in qualifying and practice. But these guys were putting up a great pace. Josh (Herrin) at the front had to be going 2:10s the whole race. I was in there too and I was slowly crawling back. But, for me, it was just kind of a race of mistakes. I was struggling pretty bad getting the bike stopped. Man, when this BMW is working, it feels so good. But when it’s not quite in its window, it’s a beast to ride. But I’m glad we collected some points, especially after a couple mistakes I had and a couple close calls. I’m glad that we were able to at least salvage some points today.”
Superbike Race One Results
Superbike Race Two
Josh Herrin charged to his second MotoAmerica Superbike victory on Sunday, with the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati rider completing a doubleheader sweep of the two races at Road America.
Herrin won Saturday’s Superbike race over Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong and Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, beating those two by almost three seconds. Beaubier had made a few errors along the way, and Herrin felt a bit lucky in nabbing the 17th AMA Superbike win of his career.
On Sunday, Herrin was under pressure from Beaubier at the front when he made the first error of the race with an off-track excursion in the chicane on the second lap. But Herrin fought back and didn’t waste any time in repassing Beaubier for fear of the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion pulling away at the front.
From there the two circulated in formation, with Herrin doing the leading, Beaubier the following. With four laps to go, the much-anticipated final-lap battle was over when Beaubier crashed at speed in the Carousel, ending his day and allowing Herrin to cruise to his 18th career Superbike victory.
With Beaubier’s crash, Fong inherited second place, finishing 8.6 seconds behind Herrin.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante was a popular third with the Mexican milking everything he had out of his dying Suzuki on the final lap. He made it to the finish, just three seconds ahead of Benjamin Smith.
For Smith it was another strong finish with the FLO4LAW/SBU Racing rider again showing speed in racing to a career-best fourth.
Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach was fifth, a little less than a second ahead of his teammate Hayden Gillim. Beach’s fifth also earned him the win in the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup for those racing Stock 1000-spec motorcycles in the Superbike class.
Gillim crossed the line just a fraction of a second in front of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the three Hondas flying in formation in the final laps.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne had an eventful start to his race as he came together with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, with the incident ruining the race for both. Gagne ended up eighth and Kelly was 14th, ending a miserable weekend for the Floridian.
BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Beaubier’s points lead evaporated with his crash, and he now leads Herrin by just two points, 111-109. Fong is third with 96 points while Gagne drops to fourth with 93.
Josh Herrin – Winner
“Like we talked about yesterday, just getting through those first two rounds is important for us. I think for me mentally, I got to get through them. It’s like A1 for Supercross. I’ve just got to do it. Luckily, we had two really good races this weekend. We don’t want to catch Cam (Beaubier) because of crashes, but that’s part of the game. Making mistakes is part of it. You’ve got to try to minimize them. The guys gave me a perfect bike this weekend. Like Bobby (Fong) said, the track didn’t have the grip that it had yesterday, but it seems like when the grip is down, our bikes, the V2 and the V4, always seems to be better for us. I ran off in the chicane and I just knew I had to put in a solid two laps to catch back up to Cam or my race is over. I was able to do that 9.4 which I was shocked by. I don’t know what my best time was this weekend, but I don’t think it was anywhere close to that. So, super happy with how the week went. I got two babies and two wins, so can’t ask for anything more than that. Go race at the Ridge in a couple weeks. Got to say a big thank you to my crew chief, Simone. I think he was the only guy I forgot to say on the podium, and he made sure to tell me about it whenever I got back. Big thanks to Simone for making improvements to the bike today to make it even better than it was yesterday.”
Bobby Fong – Second Place
“I was kind of doing the same thing as yesterday. We always try 100 percent, but I felt like the track was a little greasy today. Either that or I just couldn’t carry the momentum like I did yesterday. I was actually dumbfounded at the end of the race. I was going pretty slow with the times. I was asking Richie (Escalante), but I can’t ask this guy (Herrin) because he did a 9.4, so I can’t ask him if it felt slick. Obviously, it wasn’t that slick. I was a little more disappointed with myself that I couldn’t do the same pace. I lost the draft after the first lap and was just kind of a sitting duck. The crew has been working hard. It’s cool to get two second-place points. I was a little far down in the points leading up to this round. It’s good to move up in the points and to keep the Yamaha on the podium is good. Bummer for my teammate. I don’t know exactly what happened, but hopefully he’s good. I know Jake (Gagne) would have been up here as well if he had a good start.”
Richie Escalante – Third Place
“I’m really happy to be on this. For some reason this year I haven’t had the best feeling with the bike, so I take time every day to feel a little bit better. I think today I was maybe a little bit lucky, to be honest, but it’s part of racing. I’m super happy to finish on the podium. In the last lap, I think I had no fuel. So almost did not finished the race. Super happy. I tried to stay close with Bob (Fong), but I made a mistake in the chicane. After that, I just maintained my pace. To compare Friday to today, I’m super happy. Big thanks to my team, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. To my personal sponsor, Mission Foods. Can’t wait for the Ridge and Laguna. I think it’s special tracks for us. I think the Suzuki is working very good there.”
Superbike Race Two Results
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha) +8.680s
- Richie Escalanate (Suzuki) +25.659s
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha) +28.645s
- JD Beach (Honda) +29.625s
- Hayden Gillim (Honda) +30.556s
- Ashton Yates (Honda) +30.586s
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha) +38.620
- Bryce Kornbau (Yamaha) +45.237s
- Danilo Lewis (BMW) +45.482s
Superbike Championship Points
- Cameron Beaubier 111
- Josh Herrin 109
- Bobby Fong 96
- Jake Gagne 93
- Richie Escalante 57
Supersport Race One
Five riders were in the lead group for the majority of Saturday’s Motovation Supersport race at Road America, with the five narrowing into three on the final lap. The man in the right spot at the right time was Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen, with the New Yorker taking full advantage of others’ mistakes on the final lap to score his second win of the season and further extend his lead in the championship.
Jacobsen topped Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott by 1.3 seconds with the lead pack getting splintered on the final lap. Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was in the battle for the lead on the last lap when he overshot the chicane while trying to pass Jacobsen. The South African lost second place in the process as he was passed by Scott, but he regained his composure to finish a close third – .070 of a second behind Scott.
A fine fourth went to Kayla Yaakov and her Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL Panigale V2. Yaakov ran at the back of the five-rider lead pack and inherited fourth on the final lap when Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen and Scott came together with Petersen forced to take to the escape road on the outside of turn five. Petersen would rejoin to finish fifth after leading the most laps in the race.
Some 10 seconds behind Petersen came a heated battle for sixth with the spot going to BPR Racing’s Teagg Hobbs over Altus Motorsports teammates Jake Lewis and Torin Collins. ADR Racing’s David Anthony and BPR Racing’s Josh Hayes rounded out the top 10.
The race featured plenty of action, and it started on the very first lap when front-row starter Blake Davis and his Strack Racing Yamaha and Scott made contact on the exit of turn five with Davis crashing. Davis would remount to finish 18th.
PJ Jacobsen
“It was a pretty crazy race. It was probably good for the fans to watch. Towards the end there, when me and Mathew (Scholtz) were going into turn five, I was underneath him there and stuff. I kind of knew that Tyler (Scott) and Cam (Petersen) maybe had a little bit of an advantage on us. So, I guess at that point when you go to the last lap and you’re in championship mode and you’re battling with one guy in the championship, you just think about him. So, you’re like, I’ve got to beat him. So then when all that stuff happened, it kind of freed up things. Then I got in a pretty lucky position, to be honest. I just tried to put my head down and go. But I didn’t know how close he (Scholtz) was behind me. I knew someone or him would make a move into the chicane. He went for it. Unfortunately, he just didn’t make the chicane. I think I just got lucky today and was in the right position at the right time to be sitting where I’m at now. But everybody was riding great. It was a good race. I think we have some things to work on for tomorrow because I was struggling in some spots, and I just need to go back and look at some things to try to improve for tomorrow’s race. It will probably be a faster pace and a good race again.”
Supersport Race One Results
Supersport Race Two
Eighteen-year-old Blake Davis races a motorcycle like a 30-year-old veteran, and he used his skill and maturity to win the second of two Motovation Supersport races at Road America, making up for a crash in race one after contact with Tyler Scott.
Strack Racing’s Davis and Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen did most of the leading during the 11-lap race and, deservingly so, they were the two who led the five-rider duel for victory across the line on Sunday.
The win, by just .195 of a second over Petersen, was Davis’ second-career Supersport win and more than made up for Saturday’s miscue.
Rahal Ducati Moto w/ XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen made the best of his situation, with Saturday’s race winner didn’t have the pace to win, but he made hay while the sun shone and beat his championship rival Mathew Scholtz for third, keeping his perfect 2025 podium streak intact and extending his lead in the championship.
Scholtz, meanwhile, tried the only move he could in an effort to win, diving into the last corner low, but ruining his drive on the exit. At the finish line he was only .301 of a second behind his race-winning teammate Davis.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Scott ran with the lead pack and finished fifth, .734 off the lead.
Jacobsen’s teammate Kayla Yaakov rode to a lonely sixth, eight seconds from the lead pack and some nice seconds ahead of Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis.
ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony was eighth with the ageless Larry Pegram ninth on the Team Hammer Suzuki GSX-R750.
Altus Motorsports’ Torin Colins rounded out the top 10 right on the back of the Anthony/Pegram battle.
“I was pretty fired up after yesterday,” Davis said. “Here you can never really say I have it. Even 10 feet from the line, I wasn’t sure if I had it or not. I was definitely feeling really good on the brakes. I felt like I could out-brake just about anyone. So, that was definitely a huge confidence booster. I kept just trying to stay in front of Cam (Petersen), stay in the lead of the race. I still don’t know if I have enough pace to just sit behind people. So, I’m always scared to sit and wait behind people. I always want to lead the race. It gives me that confidence that I’m still here, I’m still with the leaders. I’m always having a chance. It was definitely a super fun race. Battling with Cam was amazing.”
Supersport Race Two Results
- Blake Davis – YAM
- Cameron Petersen – DUC +0.195s
- PJ Jacobsen – DUC +0.235s
- Mathew Scholtz – YAM +0.301s
- Tyler Scott – SUZ +0.734s
- Kayla Yaakov – DUC +8.688s
- Jake Lewis – YAM +17.985s
- David Anthony – SUZ +22.671s
- Larry Pegram – SUZ +22.960s
- Torin Collins – SUZ +22.981s
Supersport Championship Points
- PJ Jacobsen 126
- Mathew Scholtz 106
- Tyler Scott 80
- Blake Davis 78
- Jake Lewis 66
Stock 1000 Race One
OrangeCat Racing’s Andrew Lee was able to break clear in the early going of the first of two Stock 1000 races at Road America, never made mistakes, and pulled himself clear of the threesome battling for second to take his second victory of the Stock 1000 Championship.
With Andrew clearing off at the front to win by 1.94 seconds, the battle for second went to the finish with Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach taking second from Lee’s teammate Jayson Uribe, with Uribe setting a new lap record with two laps to go. Uribe was second at the time, taking advantage of Beach running wide in turn five, but then Uribe did the same thing on the last lap and Beach pounced. He was just .496 of a second clear of Uribe at the finish, with Uribe .410 of a second ahead of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau was fourth, some 13 seconds behind the battle for second and well clear of RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki of Rocco Landers.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters was right on Landers’ rear wheel at the finish line with 3D Motorsports’ Gabriel Da Silva a few seconds behind. Top Pro Motorsports teammates Alex Arango and Christopher Durbin were 10th and 11th, respectively.
Stock 1000 Race One Results
Stock 1000 Race Two
The MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Championship changed at the start of the second lap of Sunday’s race at Road America when OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe crashed out of the lead in the high-speed turn one, handing his teammate Andrew Lee a third victory and an expanded lead in the series point standings.
Even though his main championship rival and teammate was out of the race, Lee didn’t let up and he broke the lap record with his 2:12.730 midway through the eight-lap race.
Behind Lee was an all-Honda scrap between Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates and Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach for second place, with the spot ultimately going to Yates by 1.9 seconds over Beach.
BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau had a lonely race to fourth as he was well clear of Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and 5.6 seconds behind Beach.
3D Motorsports’ Gabriele Da Silva was able to beat The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis to the line with the pair separated by just .705 of a second.
Hot on their heels came RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers, who was just .139 of a second behind. BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell and Top Pro Motorsports’ Alex Arango rounded out the top 10.
With three wins in the first four races, Lee leads the championship chase by 30 points over Yates, 95-65. Beach is third with 62 points, one more than Uribe.
Stock 1000 Race Two Results
Stock 1000 Championship Points
- Andrew Lee 95
- Ashton Yates 65
- JD Beach 62
- Jayson Uribe 61
- Jason Waters 39
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race One
Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane won his first-career MotoAmerica race with victory on Saturday in the Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul after winning a drafting battle to the finish line.
The race turned into a three-way battle for victory with Drane joined by fellow Australian Bodie Paige and championship points leader Alessandro Di Mario, with just .040 of a second covering the top three.
Early on, it looked as though this was going to be a two-way fight between Warhorse Ducati/American Racing’s Di Mario and CTR/D&D Cycles’ Paige as those two gapped the field.
Meanwhile, three riders crashed together in Canada corner with Royalty Racing’s Carson King, Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg and Envy Powered by Warhorse’s Derek Sanchez going down. All three were fortunate to escape injury.
Drane went about catching the two ahead of him and he did so, setting the fastest lap of the race and getting to the lead. From there the three swapped the top spot with no one able to gap the other two. It would come down to the final lap and the three could have been covered with a napkin as they crossed the line side by side.
Sam Drane
“Me and Bodie (Paige) and Alessandro (Di Mario) were battling all race. I got a bad start, got put back, and had to fight my way to the front but I ended up getting it done. It was a good race. I’m thrilled to take my first victory in this series and collect some valuable championship points. Huge thanks to the whole team—this win was a total team effort! After qualifying yesterday we headed to the Dairyland Classic an Annual Flat Track event. I kept my leathers on and hightailed it straight to the track just in time for practise. Finishing practise before the rain set in and we had to call it quits.”
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race One Results
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race Two
Seven riders were separated by a tick over a second in Sunday’s Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul race with championship points leader Alessandro Di Mario celebrating his high-school graduation in the best possible way with his third win of the season.
“I want to thank the whole team,” Di Mario said. “The bike was absolutely amazing. I want to thank (Eraldo) Ferracci. Yeah, dude, I just graduated and I’m 16 so I still went to school, woke up every day, and so I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. That feels kinda weird. I just tried to see how many were in the lead group and I just wanted to position myself. I knew I wanted to be second and I placed myself in the perfect position and was able to win.”
The race featured five riders at the front early on and that number grew to seven in the final laps. At the line it was Di Mario by a scant .021 of a second over Julian Correa, who matched his best finish of the season with a second runner-up. Correa also clocked the fastest lap of the race.
Next up at the finish, and just .029 of a second behind, was yesterday’s winner Sam Drane on his Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing Krämer. Drane’s countryman Bodie Page was just .077 of a second behind his fellow Aussie and only .371 of a second ahead of Royalty Racing’s Carson King.
The fast-improving Cody Kopp was a shadow sixth on his Team Roberts mount, with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hank Vossberg, who started on the back row after crashing in the first start of the restarted race, ending up seventh.
Di Mario now leads Drane by 21 points, 127-106. Paige is third with 86 points, one better than Correa.
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Race Two Results
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Points
- Alessandro Di Mario 127
- Sam Drane 106
- Bodie Paige 86
- Julian Correa 85
- Hank Vossberg 63
Royal Enfield BTR Race One
Kira Knebel kept her perfect win record intact today with her second Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race victory of the season coming in a red-flag-shortened race at Road America. Knebel led all five laps, besting Shae MacGregor by 2.750 seconds.
Miranda Cain rounded out the top three, 3.5 seconds behind, to earn her first podium of the season.
Royal Enfield BTR Race One Results
Royal Enfield BTR Race Two
Miranda Cain won the closest race in Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. history with Cain topping Camille Conrad by a scant .079 of a second.
Cassie Creer finished third, some 13 seconds behind the lead duo.
Yesterday’s winner Kira Knebel crashed out of the race, bringing out the red flag. Shea MacGregor would also lead and would also crash. MacGregor remounted, however, to finish eighth.
Royal Enfield BTR Race Two Results
- Miranda Cain
- Camille Conrad +0.079s
- Cassie Creer +13.669
- Kate West +15.851
- Lucy Blondel +21.758s
- Byranna Everitt +33.859s
Royal Enfield BTR Points
- Miranda Cain 54
- Kira Knebel 50
- Shea MacGregor 48
- Camille Conrad 44
- Cassie Creer 40
