Photo by Brian J. Nelson
With 100 championship points still up for grabs in the remaining two rounds (four races) of the 2022 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship and a massive 76-point lead in his pocket, all Josh Herrin really needs to do this weekend to be crowned champion is find New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Hey, Josh, it’s in Millville.
With eight wins and 13 total podiums in 14 races, Herrin is in complete control of the Supersport Championship. If at any point in the weekend his lead exceeds 75 points, he will be crowned. In other words, if Herrin wins Saturday’s race one and Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers finishes second, Herrin’s lead will be 81 points. At that point, with only 75 points remaining, Herrin is champion. Win race one and it’s over.
Obviously, there are plenty of other scenarios, but the bottom line is that Herrin and/or his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC team would have to have a massive fail. Two non-points-paying finishes in New Jersey combined with two wins by Landers and Herrin still goes to the Barber Motorsports Park finale with a 26-point lead. Based on how they’ve done this season, that’s a longshot of epic proportions.
Even with the championship likely falling to Herrin, Landers has had a sophomore season of Supersport racing he can be proud of with three wins and 10 podiums on his Landers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
Ditto for Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott with the 16-year-old sitting third in the point standings in a rookie season that featured his career first win in the Superport class.
Scott has a near stranglehold on third with North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith sitting fourth in the standings over N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Kevin Olmedo, despite the fact that the Salvadoran has missed the past four races due to illness.
Luke Power Racing’s Luke Power trails Olmedo by just a single point with part-timer Josh Hayes seventh based on his four races as Olmedo’s fill-in and the VIRginia International Raceway round he competed in (and won a race) on his Squid Hunter Yamaha YZF-R6. Hayes will be racing the Squid Hunter Yamaha at NJMP.
Yuasa Stock 1000 – Alexander On The Verge
By virtue of a seven-win season, Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC’s Corey Alexander will likely clinch the Yuasa Stock 1000 Championship this weekend in New Jersey.
Alexander is currently 39 points ahead of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim with just two races and 50 points left to play for. If he finishes Sunday’s lone Stock 1000 race at NJMP with at least a 25-point lead over Gillim, Alexander will be champion.
Gillim was on the verge of making this a championship battle that would go to the bitter end when he won race one at Pitt Race while Alexander soldiered on to score six points with a mechanical issue. But Gillim threw it all away the following day when the Kentuckian crashed out of race two after making contact with Alexander.
Gillim now leads Alexander’s teammate Travis Wyman by just six points in their battle for second in the championship. Altus Motorsports’ Brandon Paasch and Andy DiBrino are fourth and fifth, respectively, though DiBrino is not entered at NJMP. That should allow VisionWheel/DiscountTire/KWS’s Geoff May an easy pass into the top five if he can keep Danilo Lewis and Ezra Beaubier at bay.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup – Another Wyman
If Travis Wyman ends up coming away with the Mission King of The Baggers Championship on Sunday afternoon, there’s a good possibility that he won’t be the only Wyman crowned in 2022 as Cody Wyman holds down a 49-point lead in the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship heading into New Jersey.
With six wins on the season (and two in a row) giving him a nine-podium season thus far, Wyman’s 49-point lead over Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio has to be 50 points after Sunday’s race two for the New Yorker to wrap up the title early. If he somehow grows his lead to 75 points after race one, that would also wrap things up.
It’s not just Rodio who is mathematically still alive, but also Bauce Racing/JL62 Team’s Joseph LiMandri Jr. and Altus Motorsports’ Kayla Yaakov with those two tied and 52 points behind Wyman – and just three behind Rodio.
With the unpredictability of the class, this one isn’t over until it’s really over.
REV’IT! Twins Cup – Just One Point
The Medallia Superbike Championship isn’t the only one with a one-point margin going into NJMP as the REV’IT! Twins Cup title chase is also defined by a single-point margin at the top.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis is the rider at the top after a run of four podiums in the past four races. Davis has two wins and five total podiums to lead Rodio Racing’s Anthony Mazziotto by just a single point.
Mazziotto’s season hit its stride in the middle rounds with two wins, but he’s fallen on tough times of late with just 16 points coming out of the last two races at Pitt Race.
And his rival for the majority of the season has suffered an even tougher run of late. Veloce Racing’s Jody Barry looked to be cruising to a championship after four straight wins in May and June, but that’s gone to the wayside as he’s gone six straight races without a podium finish. Still, Barry is still alive in the title chase and is only five points behind Davis, setting up a three-rider duel to the end.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Buyck Leads
If not for disobeying a red flag at Road America, Kayleigh Buyck would have a perfect score of 100 points from the four races held thus far in 2022. With her points taken away in Wisconsin, she still leads the way by virtue of winning every race to lead Crystal Martinez by 22 points, 75-53.
And Chloe Petersen, with her three podiums is just a point behind Martinez heading into the NJMP round.
While she is not in the top three, Jennifer Chancellor appears to be the racer most likely to put an end to Buyck’s win streak. Chancellor led Buyck at Pitt Race until crashing out of the race on the final lap. Still, she had served notice that she has the speed to win.
NJMP Support Class Notes…
Jake Lewis topped Ashton Yates by half a second to win the lone Stock 1000 race at New Jersey Motorsports Park last year. Local racer Mike Seipe was a surprised third in his only MotoAmerica appearance.
How close is close? Sean Dylan Kelly beat Richie Escalante to the line by .001 of a second to win the first of two Supersport races at NJMP in 2021. Sam Lochoff finished third in race one but came back to win race two for his first career MotoAmerica victory by beating Kelly by .040 of a second and Escalante by .088 of a second.
Close finishes were also the way of the weekend in the Twins Cup races with Cory Ventura taking race one over Kaleb De Keyrel by just .048 of a second. In race two, it was Italian Tommaso Marcon beating Anthony Mazziotto by .049 of a second. Max Toth and Ventura were third and fourth, respectively, and less than half a second from victory.
Tyler Scott wanted no part of close battles in the two SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup races as he rode to a three-second win over Gus Rodio and Joe LiMandri Jr. in race one. Race two was a complete runaway for Scott as he won by a tick over seven seconds over Rodio with Ben Gloddy third.
