Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin played catch with the fastest Steel Commander Superbike time in Q1 on Friday afternoon, but near the end of the session EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro’s Sean Dylan Kelly joined the game and went to the front with some eight minutes to go in the session.
But not long after Kelly did his best, Beaubier struck back in a big way, posting a lap-record-setting 2:07.703 to score provisional pole.
Herrin ended up climbing back to second, posting a 2:08.244 – .541 of a second slower than Beaubier’s best.
Kelly and his 2:08.259 completed the provisional front row, just .059 of a second faster than Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante rounded out the top five.
“I’ve been enjoying this place on the BMW,” Beaubier said. “It’s been five years since I rode a Superbike here. You can go for a ride on the front and backstraight, that’s for sure. It’s so different than a Moto2 bike, but I’m enjoying myself.”
Supersport – Scholtz Fires First
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz fired the first shot by earning provisional pole position for the two Supersport races at COTA, the South African besting his championship rival PJ Jacobsen by .560 of a second. The two are in a battle for the Supersport Championship with Scholtz leading Jacobsen by 25 points with four races left in the season.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis ended the session third fastest, a tick over a second slower than Scholtz and .080 of a second faster than MotoAmerica first-timer Filippo Fuligini. Italian Fuligini is racing as a wildcard entry Ducati Panigale V2 for Team HONOS.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott rounded out the top five on opening day at COTA.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Landers!
The battle for the 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Championship was all the talk coming into the penultimate round at COTA. The chatter obviously centered around Kyle Wyman vs. Troy Herfoss, but RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammates Rocco Landers and Hayden Gillim with those two taking the top two spots while both circulating under the lap record.
Landers’ lap record was a 2:14.779 and it came on his very last lap, bettering Gillim’s best of 2:14.858.
The best of the two championship contenders was S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss, the Australian ending up third despite spending the final minutes of the session in the pits with a mechanical.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara ended the afternoon fourth with Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman fifth, the championship points leader heading into the weekend’s two races.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Di Mario On Top
For a while on Friday afternoon, it didn’t look like BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship points leader Rocco Landers was going to get even a single lap in Q1 as the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki had a mechanical problem that kept him in the pits more than on the track.
That left the others to make hay while the sun shined and Landers’ championship rival Alesandro Di Mario took full advantage to dominate the session and put his Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660 some two seconds faster than the nearest competition, which in this case was Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor. Di Mario lapped at a best of 2:17.742 with Rossi second quickest on 2:20.022.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle rounded out the provisional front row, .9 of a second behind Rossi and .181 of a second ahead of newly crowned Junior Cup Champion Matthew Chapin, who rounded out the top five on his BARTCON Racing Suzuki GSX-R750.
Landers, meanwhile, got in two laps and it was enough to put him seventh at the end of the session.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Here We Go
Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West might have felt a bit ganged up on in Q1 on Friday at COTA with a horde of fast S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed riders out to help Tyler O’Hara successfully defend his Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. But West, the championship leader by just four points over O’Hara, emerged from the fray in fourth and just a tick over a second off O’Hara’s provisional pole position time. O’Hara’s teammate Troy Herfoss was second fastest, .62 of a second off O’Hara’s best with West’s teammate Jake Lewis third and the first of the Harley-Davidson Pan Americas in the field with West fourth and Jeremy McWilliams, in a one-off return ride for Indian, ending up fifth fastest.
