Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier followed up his two wins at Barber Motorsports Park two weeks ago by earning provisional pole position for the two Steel Commander Superbike races at Road America on a sunny Friday afternoon.
Beaubier and Herrin played catch with the top spot for some of the session with Beaubier leading first, Herrin taking over for a short period before Beaubier nabbed it for good with his 2:09.764 coming on his 12th lap of the four-mile Road America. After that, no one would get within a second of the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Beaubier’s lap ended up being 1.2 seconds quicker than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Herrin, who in turn was just .204 ahead of Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong with Fong rounding out the provisional pole position.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés had his best session since taking over the injured Richie Escalante’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 R. Forés was just .131 of a second ahead of TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz ended the day sixth fastest on his Panigale V4 R and just .091 of a second clear of Beaubier’s Tytlers Cycle Racing teammate JD Beach.
Brandon Paasch ended up eighth on the second Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
It wasn’t a good day for Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen and defending three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne with the pair ending up ninth and 10th, respectively. Petersen’s Q1 session ended prematurely due to a mechanical issue with his Yamaha YZF-R1.
“The Tytlers BMW is working really good around here,” Beaubier said. “We’ve got some power and it’s so nice to use it at this track. It’s a pretty special place for me. I’ve had a lot of wins here and I really enjoy this place. Not just the track, but everything around it and the crowds that come out. We are enjoying ourselves this weekend and we just have to keep our heads down. I know everyone is coming. It was a really good day today and we move on to tomorrow.”
Supersport – Mesa Quick
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa hasn’t had the start to his 2024 Supersport season that he would have liked. At Road America he was hoping to turn that around and he began with leading the way in Q1.
Mesa and his Kawasaki ZX-6R led the way on opening day with his 2:17.226, which was .320 of a second faster than TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo, the pole sitter from the Barber Motorsports Park round two weeks ago.
Third on Friday afternoon went to Equitea MV Agusta by MP13 Racing’s Roberto Tamburini with the Italian .410 of a second slower than Mesa.
The top eight riders were within a second of Mesa. Championship points leader PJ Jacobsen, aboard his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2, was ninth with his early season championship rival Mathew Scholtz fifth in Q1 on the Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Di Mario Keeps It Going
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Alessandro Di Mario won his first BellissiMoto Twins Cup race at Barber Motorsports Park a few weeks ago to emerge as a potential class champion. On Friday at Road America Di Mario kept the momentum gained at Barber to earn provisional pole position with his 2:24.625, a new Road America lap record for the class.
Di Mario was chased to the finish by RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers and Di Mario’s championship points-leading teammate Gus Rodio. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor and Koch Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky rounded out the top five.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman’s Record Breaker
Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman broke the Mission King Of The Baggers lap record at Road America on Friday with the New Yorker lapping at 1:19.135 – .724 of a second faster than Bobby Fong’s lap record from a year ago in race two.
Wyman topped championship points leader Troy Herfoss with the Australian and his S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed Challenger by just .150 of a second.
Herfoss’s teammate Tyler O’Hara ended the day third quickest and the last rider to lap in the 2:19s. Defending series champion Hayden Gillim ended up fourth on the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Guess Who?
Mikayla Moore does what Mikayla Moore does and that usually means doom and gloom the rest of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. women. Today was no different.
Moore led Q1 at Road America on Friday, with her 2:51.642 besting Cassie Creer by 7.7 seconds. Emma Betters rounded out the provisional front row heading into tomorrow’s Q2 session and race one.
Although Moore had things in hand at the front, just .281 of a second separated Creer from fifth-placed Aubrey Credaroli.
Junior Cup – Dreher Rebounds
Defending MotoAmerica Junior Cup Champion Avery Dreher hasn’t had a great start to his 2024 season, but things got a lot better for the Bad Boys Racing-backed Floridan in Q1 at Road America.
Dreher led the way with his 2:40.967, but as always it was close at the top. BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin ended up second, just .152 of a second off Dreher’s best.
Championship points leader Yandel Medina completed the provisional front row, and he was only .265 of a second from pole.
