With five minutes left in Q1 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Friday, normalcy returned to the timing sheet in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike class with the top two in the championship – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci – moving up to first and second, respectively. Or so it appeared.
Prior to the five-minute mark, it was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen with the fastest lap time. Then, with just five minutes left, Gagne and Petrucci threw in their fast laps and moved to the front. But then – with less than a minute to go in the session – Jacobsen showed that he means business this weekend and shot back to the top with his 1:20.365, which put him just half a second from Cameron Beaubier’s Superbike lap record at NJMP.
Jacobsen’s flyer left the two championship protagonists, Gagne and Petrucci, scratching their heads and hoping to restore order in tomorrow morning’s Q2 session.
So, the provisional front row is Jacobsen, Gagne, Petrucci as Friday ended.
“I think we’re putting in the work that we have to be,” Jacobsen said. “We’re on provisional pole right now and we’ll get the qualifying tires tomorrow. I think the lap times can be quite fast, maybe low 19s.”
Jacobsen’s teammate Hector Barbera ended the day in fourth, .491 of a second behind but ahead of Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen. Petersen is the last rider on the same second as Jacobsen. Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz completed the session in sixth.
Supersport – Hayes Over Herrin
Four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes was back onboard his personal Squid Hunter Yamaha YZF-R6 at NJMP after spending a few races as a fill-in rider for Kevin Olmedo on the N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto R6.
Apparently, he found his comfort zone as he ripped off a 1:23.001 on Friday afternoon to lead Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Josh Herrin, Hayes’ former Yamaha Superbike teammate on the verge of earning his first MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.
Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers, the only person mathematically still alive in the championship posted the third quickest time in Qualifying 1. The top seven riders ended the session on the same second as Hayes with the returning-from-injury Sam Lochoff ending up seventh on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Stock 1000 – Gillim Strikes
Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim may have seen his championship aspirations disappear at the past round, but he’s not giving up and is out to finish the season with two strong finishes in the Yuasa Stock 1000 class. Gillim got his NJMP round off to a good start with provisional pole position coming his way on Friday afternoon.
Gillim lapped at 1:21.823 to best Mesa37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa by .261 of a second with champion-elect Corey Alexander third on the Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing BMW third fastest in Q1.
REV’IT! Twins Cup – Barry Back In The Groove
Veloce Racing’s Jody Barry has been on the struggle bus of late, finishing off the podium in six straight races. This after ripping off four wins in a row early in the season. Well, Barry seems to have found his groove again at NJMP as he flew to provisional pole with a recood-setting best lap of 1:24.929.
Robem Engineering’s Teagg Hobbs ended the session second with Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz third. The top two in the championship were fourth and fifth with Anthony Mazziotto fourth and Blake Davis fifth. N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Davis leads Rodio Racing’s Mazziotto by just a single point with three races left in the series.
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup – Rodio Lassoes Provisional Pole
Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio needs to win this weekend’s two SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup races to have any chance of catching Cody Wyman in the championship. So why not start the weekend on the right track by earning provisional pole position on Friday afternoon?
It was Wyman and his Alpha Omega Kawasaki Ninja 400 who ended up second on the day with Max Van surviving a near crash on his SportbikeTrackGear.com Kawasaki to end up third. Altus Motorsports’ Kayla Yaakov finished the day in fourth.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman. Travis.
If the battle for the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship were a prizefight, then H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Travis Wyman has won the first two rounds after leading the way in both Friday’s morning’s practice session and the afternoon’s Q2 session.
Wyman led Q1 with his 1:25.713 to lead his brother and teammate Kyle, the defending series champion just .047 behind his younger brother. Travis Wyman’s championship rival Tyler O’Hara was third and .673 of a second off Wyman’s best on his Mission Foods/S&S Cycle/Indian Challenger.
Roland Sands Design’s Bobby Fong was fourth fastest, riding wingman to O’Hara. Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli ended the session fifth fastest.
