With the MotoAmerica Superbike, Supersport, Stock 1000 and Twins Cup Championships all decided last week in New Jersey, all eyes will be on the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park as it will be the last class to crown a champion.
Scott Powersports KTM’s Tyler Scott arrives in Alabama with a 30-point lead over Landers Racing’s Benjamin Gloddy, 340-310, with 50 points up for grabs from the two races at Barber. Simply put, if Scott finishes race one within five points of Gloddy the title is his.
Scott has had an amazing rookie season in the MotoAmerica Series with nine wins in 16 races. The Pennsylvanian also has five podium finishes in addition to the nine race wins. Gloddy, meanwhile, has also had a stellar year as those two have fought it out for the title from the beginning. Gloddy has four wins and 10 other podium finishes.
With his strong weekend in the previous round at NJMP, Gus Rodio now has a firm grip on third in the series standings as he’s 21 points clear of David Kohlstaedt heading into Barber. Kohlstaedt is only four points ahead of Cody Wyman, but Wyman is injured and out of action. Wyman, however, has enough points to hold on to his fifth place in the title chase.
Even though the other championships have been signed, sealed and delivered, there’s plenty to race for. And everybody wants to go into the long off-season with a victory.
In the Supersport class, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly was crowned as champion in New Jersey after two great races with his rival Richie Escalante. New Jersey was also the coming-out party for Kelly’s teammate Sam Lochoff, with the South African winning his first career MotoAmerica race of any kind with a hard-fought win in race two of the Supersport class – a victory over the two riders who have dominated the class for the past two years.
Lochoff’s solid weekend in Jersey puts him in control over third in the standings as he now leads fellow class rookie Rocco Landers by 22 points.
Although the Stock 1000 title has already been wrapped up by Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis, the battle for second will go to the wire as HONOS HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander is just three points ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman, 12 points ahead of Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert, and 22 ahead of Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.
There’s a similar situation in Twins Cup in the battle for second in the championship. With Robem Engineering’s Kaleb De Keyrel wrapping up the title at NJMP, the fight for second will go the distance with Track Day Winner’s Jackson Blackmon currently holding down the spot by eight points over Hayden Schultz Racing’s Hayden Schultz and nine points over Innovative Motorsports/Mike’s Imports’ Teagg Hobbs.
This weekend will mark the debut race for the Mini Cup by Motul Series at Barber Motorsports Park with the races scheduled for Saturday afternoon on a racetrack constructed on the Barber Proving Grounds skid pad. This weekend marks the conclusion of the four-round series.
The women of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race program are also back in action for their season finale at Barber. CJ Lukacs puts her perfect season on the line at Barber as she won both the previous rounds. Lukacs leads Becky Goebel, who finished second in the first two rounds, by 10 points.
Barber Motorsports Park Notes…
The MotoAmerica series finale at Barber Motorsports Park has attracted a whopping 225 entries for the nine classes of racing – HONOS Superbike, Supersport, Stock 1000, SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Twins Cup, Royal Enfield and Mini Cup by Motul (three classes).
Rocco Landers, who now races in the Supersport class, had a perfect weekend last year at Barber Motorsports Park, going two-for-two in both the Junior Cup and the Twins Cup classes.
It was also a perfect weekend a year ago for Cameron Petersen with the South African winning the pair of Stock 1000 classes on his Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000. Ditto for Richie Escalante with the Mexican taking victory in the two Supersport races on his HONOS Kawasaki.
